The General American Politics Thread

[Balding Spider]

Or we could be positive and change it to "Obama rocks!"

Or to some members it would be "Obama rocks! ...by comparison"

[Solkia]

I wouldn't say Obama rocks, I'd say he just doesn't suck as hard as Romney does.

I know most of you disagree, so no need to enlighten me :U

[Conando]

Mitt Romney: A case in Chronic Foot-in-Mouth Syndrome.

[KHCast]

I wouldn't say Obama rocks, I'd say he just doesn't suck as hard as Romney does.

I know most of you disagree, so no need to enlighten me :U

No, No. most of us Agree. Keep on preachin brotha. Edited September 18, 2012 by Pepsiman

[Autosaver]

I know most of you disagree, so no need to enlighten me :U

Ah, but we all need a Great Awakening.

/puns

[Patticus]

You should just change the title of the thread to "Romney sucks".

Well, it isn't our fault Obama's not in the news much at present. You know, what with him having prior obligations in the Oval Office preventing him from campaigning ceaselessly.

The debates are in a fortnight, and this Middle East hubbub is going to start to make foreign policy a more prominent election issue, so I think they'll both lead to more Obama up in here.

[RedYellowBlueCR]

Rant incoming:

I think most everyone here knows my views on this after my thread in PD a few months ago. I'm disgusted with American politics and I stopped caring who was going to win a long time ago. I didn't even know who won the GOP primary until a week ago because I stopped following it.

As far as I'm concerned, they are both loonies in my book. I get annoyed real quickly when people ask me who I am voting for, (especially the older generation) and I always reply back with a blunt "I'm not voting for anyone." I always get blank stares or a full on lecture on why I should vote. Why should I vote when the country is screwed either way? Why should I pledge my allegiance to one particular brand of crookedness over another? I refuse to be part of the problem.

[Stacy]

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/romney-rocked-secret-video-dependent-americans-222848872.html

Another nail in the coffin there, Romney.

[TheGerkuman]

I always get blank stares or a full on lecture on why I should vote. Why should I vote when the country is screwed either way? Why should I pledge my allegiance to one particular brand of crookedness over another?

I think it's because just a century ago you couldn't vote unless you were a rich, white, male landowner and people fought really hard for universal sufferage. So to see people not vote makes them feel like you're disrespecting those people.

Not that I'm saying that they're right, but you wanted to understand how they felt so an explanation was due.

Edited September 18, 2012 by Gerkuman

[Emmett L. Brown]

I refuse to be part of the problem.

And yet you choose to be. When you don't vote at all you're basically giving both of them free reign. You're better off even voting for a third party with a snowball's chance in hell of ever being within earshot of winning.

[Blackthorne]

And yet you choose to be. When you don't vote at all you're basically giving both of them free reign. You're better off even voting for a third party with a snowball's chance in hell of ever being within earshot of winning.

If I do decide to vote, that's what I'm doing. As I've mentioned before, Ron Paul's the only candidate I've had support for since the race began, and he's still the only candidate I'd willingly vote for, despite the fact that I don't agree with him on everything he says. I despise Obama and Romney equally, and I'm not compromising what I believe in just to try and determine whom I dislike the least.

[RedYellowBlueCR]

And yet you choose to be. When you don't vote at all you're basically giving both of them free reign. You're better off even voting for a third party with a snowball's chance in hell of ever being within earshot of winning.

Fair point. But even then, there is no one running as of right now that I would deem capable of running the United States of America. We need a non-career politician who isn't hell bent on power. I'm a fairly conservative individual, but I would vote for a liberal party if they had the right attitude and intentions for the country.

[Balding Spider]

Jon Stewart is going up against Bill O'Reilly in debates: http://www.theverge.com/2012/9/18/3353960/jon-stewart-bill-oreilly-livestream-comedy

[PSI Wind]

Looks like that video has started making people change their minds. My mom was going to vote for Romney (I don't know why don't ask) but lol she saw the video.

[Nepenthe]

I'm not expecting any noticeable change in the decision to vote for Romney from right-wingers; people do actually believe poor people are just nothing but filthy freeloaders, complete drains on society who contribute nothing, including some of my own family members, that this candid reiteration won't really concern them much. However, it'll be more interesting to see the extent of fallout among undecideds and independents, especially as Obama's campaign team

They seriously need to make a brief ad out of that video and just spam it everywhere.

[blackherox]

And yet you choose to be. When you don't vote at all you're basically giving both of them free reign.

And when you do, your blamed for being part of the problem. Its a no win situation.

[Kevin]

http://www.motherjon...vate-fundraiser

I don't care where Romney stands on the political aisle. The last thing you ever do as a presidential candidate is write off nearly half of your country's voters let alone people in that group who would vote for you!

To understand where I'm getting at, a non-partisan group called The Tax Policy Center recently did a study on who pays no income tax and why. One of groups who don't pay any federal income tax are senior citizens who benefits from tax breaks. The senior citizen voting bloc tend to vote Republican. But it gets even better, want to know where the majority of people who pay no income tax live? The deep south. These states are considered red states since they mainly go Republican in the elections. Those same red states also get more federal spending than what they give to the federal government.

Jon Stewart is going up against Bill O'Reilly in debates: http://www.theverge....vestream-comedy

Oh man! I can't wait to see that debate!

[PSI Wind]

Oh. My. God. George Romney was on welfare. So according to Mitt Romney's own logic, Mitt Romney could not win the vote of his dad!

....

Let me give you a better example to illustrate the dichotomy between the message Mitt Romney is sending verbally, and the message he's sending visually. Ladies and gentlemen, I take you to a cruise ship somewhere in the North Atlantic.

"Hey, ladies and gentlemen, it's me, your captain. I understand there's been some talk of ice on the starboard side of the ship that's attracted some attention."

"*blows on liferaft* Anyway, I just want to take a moment to reassure everybody we have it under control. Obviously, we all look forward to reaching the other side of the ocean with everybody not in a watery grave."

"*blows liferaft* This would be so much easier if I was latino......"

http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/tue-september-18-2012-salman-rushdie (For those in the US and Canada only)

[Patticus]

Jon Stewart is going up against Bill O'Reilly in debates: http://www.theverge....vestream-comedy

Comedy debates. Methinks they'll poke fun at one another, as well as both presidential and vice-presidential candidates and their respective parties.

In other news today...

Romney Campaign Releases, Then Removes Video Titled 'Mitt Doesn't Disdain The Poor'

http://videocafe.cro...en-removes-vide

http://www.buzzfeed....isdain-the-poor

Hilarious. Mitt seems to wheel her out every time he gets himself in the shit, but he needs to be careful and sparing in using her as a political prop - he doesn't want us to grow tired of her, after all!

[PSI Wind]

Is using her like this and saying "use her carefully" means he's sexist?

[Patticus]

Is using her like this and saying "use her carefully" means he's sexist?

Well, in the leaked video he said that he and the campaign team didn't want to bring her out too much in case folks get weary of her... so I'd say it's less that he's sexist and more that he's treating her like a prop, using her for his own political gain; commoditizing her like corporations are commoditizing workers across the world. This in itself isn't unusual among politicians, but you don't often see them talking about it. But then again, it was a closed door, $50k-per-plate event and he didn't expect to hear that stupid rant on the news later in the year...

[Solkia]

>Tell my mother about Mitt Romney 47 Percent

>"you can't believe everything you see on the internet"

God, it's so fucking predictable that I don't even know why I bother trying.

[Autosaver]

>Tell my mother about Mitt Romney 47 Percent

>"you can't believe everything you see on the internet"

God, it's so fucking predictable that I don't even know why I bother trying.

>Sees Solkia's post

>"you can't believe everything you see on the internet"

Damn right. *Headsmash

[Patticus]

>Tell my mother about Mitt Romney 47 Percent

>"you can't believe everything you see on the internet"

God, it's so fucking predictable that I don't even know why I bother trying.

Show her the video. Get her to watch NBC, ABC et al's nightly newscasts. Do whatever it takes, for the sake of your democratic ideals I beg of thee!

[-Robin-]

Obama has an 8 point lead over Romney among likely voters, according to last week's Pew poll.

http://www.people-press.org/2012/09/19/obama-ahead-with-stronger-support-better-image-and-lead-on-most-issues/

It is the largest lead in polls leading to the fall since 1996. Obama currently has a stronger lead in every issue listed except in belief that he'd reduce the deficit. Obama almost has a 3-times lead over Romney in connecting with everyday Americans, among other categories.

And this poll was taken before the 47% debacle. So that gap may widen even further.

Edited September 20, 2012 by Hades