FROM 2012 INTO 2013 POLITICS THREAD

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

Because he is a terrible candidate with no base constituency and no new ideas and because Obama and company are using the "these people will take away old people's social security if you elect them" scare tactic.

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

That is because these people want to take away old people's Social Security.

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

Poverty has increased significantly under Obama. Why does that not bother anyone on the left?

(And I'm not saying you're necessarily on the left. I have you pegged as pretty moderate right now.)

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

Twice. Nov. 8, 1988 still falls within that last 24 years. And Nov. 6 will make it three.

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

Any Presidential candidate who is not talking about these things ----

1.) Significant LEGITIMATE budget and spending cuts
2.) A complete restructuring of the tax code so that it makes sense, brings in enough revenue to run the government and is not a constant loop hole waiting to happen.
3.) REAL deficit reduction to the point where the national debt is actually coming down
4.) Nuclear power/wind power/alternate energy and reduction of dependence on oil
5.) Significant reduction in the size of the federal government - as in the actual number of people on the payroll of the government.
6.) Significant cuts in our military budget, significant troop withdrawals from many areas we have no business being...

---- Is not truly interested in trying to put this country back on the right track.

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

A lot of people in Michigan and Ohio calling Romney a liar over his ads about GM and Chrysler this week, including GM and Chrysler. But I get the whole "weasel word" thing and I've seen plenty of wilful ignorance by politicians. So how about profound, desperate and cynical lack of truth? It doesn't jump off the tongue as nicely but I'm willing to work with it in the name of civil political discourse.

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

There's a difference between disagreeing, and ignoring facts.

For example, saying "I like pizza," and the other one says "I don't like pizza," is a disagreement.

Saying "There's a pizza on the table" and the other person says, "No, that's a hamburger," when there really is a pizza sitting on the table is more than a disagreement. The other person is either being inaccurate by accident, or they're telling a lie.

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

Because people are smart enough to know the recession started under Bush. Obama was given the after-effects.

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

Now this is a good question. When George McGovern got his ass handed to him in '72, he said something to the effect that he had assumed that any reasonable Democrat would have no problem beating Nixon. The intensity of that primary season suggests that he wasn't alone in that assumption -- Muskie, Humphrey, McGovern et al. fought like hell for that one. But after the election, McGovern said something to the effect that he had come to the conclusion they (the Democrats) had no chance at all. I wonder if this election shapes up like that. You'd think that the President would have had a tougher go of it, and Romney was the most reasonable of the Republican candidates. I think Romney perhaps let the President define him for too long this summer, when some workable portion of the swing-state electorate was fluid. Romney's performance in the debates stopped all that and pretty much instantly reset the election. The only trouble for him was it reset where he needed it to be before his nomination, not well after. Assuming Romney loses (and I'd bet it that way), I think future candidates will think long and hard about that lull time between when the nomination is sewed up but the convention hasn't been held.

Also, I think the timing of the Supreme Court's Obamacare decision played a role in strategy. If I am Romney, I am probably thinking it's going to be overturned (many punduts other than uber-sage Dick Whitman seemed to feel that way). If Obamacare had been thrown out, the President's turnout potential would have been much lower, making an electoral path easier for Romney.

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

Actually, to be fair, the roots of the recession began in the final two years of Bill Clinton's term and really took off after 9/11.

And the last four years under Obama has made things worse.

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

If you want to talk about blatant lies, Obama said just the other day "We don't leave anyone behind."

Yeah, unless they're under fire in a Libyan consulate where sending help would be an admission that we never had things under control over there. Just four "not optimal" deaths and bumps in the road.

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

Fuck you Creosote. Hamburger pizza is what's ruining America. Any pizza with non-pork-based meat is to some degree, but hamburger pizza is awful.