FROM 2012 INTO 2013 POLITICS THREAD

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

Say goodbye to Medicare and Medicaid is what. As I've said before, I don't think Romney will go to war with Iran. There's too much downside for a guy who is if nothing else an angle-calculator. But at my age, changing Medicare could ruin the rest of my life.
LTL, go on Nate's blog. He lists the damn polls. He also says that it's close enough that the polls could be off by just a bit and Romney could win. But Silver's just playing percentages. As we all know from sports, percentages are not guarantees.

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

You really think a Romney presidency is going to do that?

And you really think "changing" Medicare could ruin the rest of your life?

I think it might be a good idea to step back from the ledge.

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

--SCOTUS/fed court appointments
--policies would increase wealth/income gap
--dismantling of safety net programs (voucher Medicare, SS cuts)
--scary lack of foreign policy understanding combined with neocon advisers
--beholden to the likes of Koch Bros Shelly Adelson

Plus, my dog, Harry, is concerned about a potential executive order mandating that he will need to be strapped to the roof of our car on 500-mile road trips.

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

Liberal voters scare me much, much more than liberal politicians.

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

Well, when (not if, when, age works that way) I need major surgery and the insurance I bought with my voucher only covers one-third of the six-figure cost, that'd do a pretty good job of ruining me financially. Or long-term cancer treatment, or some other indignity of the human condition.

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

Why?

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

I still don't get this concern.

Say a future President's policies allow for everyone's standard of living to increase. Would it matter if the folks on the high end do better, and the "gap" grows?

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD


Meanwhile, we have Rupert Murdoch threatening Chris Christie that he better publicly blow Mitt or take the blame for a loss.

I'd love to see Christie unleashed on Rupe.

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

Because so many of them truly believe all the hateful, scary stuff the politicians say. The rhetoric is good business, and the Democrats have gotten really good at delivering their message. But aside from a few, I don't think most Democrats in Washington really believe the "we're all going to die if the other guy wins" talk. On the other hand, the percentage of Democratic voters who think the next Republican president will "ruin their life" is significantly higher in comparison. We've gotten to a point where too many people have lost all perspective in their rush to say the most ridiculous things. The country as a whole seems to have lost perspective. Too many Starmans, on both sides of the aisle. I worry about what another Obama term will mean for the nation, over the next four years and in the long-term, but if I'm willing to buy into the worst-possible scenarioism of today's political discourse, what is the point? I think the system is broken, and I don't have much faith in it getting fixed. But I'm not willing to give up if voting doesn't go my way. I'm not willing to write off my future, or more importantly, my son's future, because the guy I didn't vote for won an election. I'm pretty damn cynical at times, but I have to keep myself from embracing the Chicken Little approach. Otherwise, I might as well just tell my son as he grows older, "If things don't go the way you want them to, you're fucked." What kind of irresponsible message is that? That's not the way life works. I'm not willing to invest so completely in the often meaningless words of politicians. That so many otherwise intelligent people are willing to scares the crap out of me.

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

The New Yorker on how Obama governs (from January):

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/01/30/120130fa_fact_lizza?currentPage=all

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

Nate is still denying that 2010 ever happened and that the conservative ground game is even stronger now.

 

Re: THE 2012 POLITICS THREAD

Funny. I thought the left has been claiming for years that there is no voter fraud.