2012 US Presidential Election

[zherok]

How many conservatives answer the phone, when the pollsters call? Is the percentage different, or do more independent minded people not answer the phone because they are sick and tired of robo-calls asking for money or selling crap no one wants or needs? So is the premise of a scientific poll actually not realized due to an unscientific poll being conducted? Oh, sure, within 5% +-. So it's within the statistical margin of error still that Romney could actually be ahead? I can guarantee Obama is not beyond 6 sigma of certainty of winning a second chance a making America a complete disaster area.

I'm curious why you think only liberals would be interested in answering these polls. I imagine if you're in one of the battleground states you're sick of hearing it regardless of political affiliation.

More specifically though, I'm under the impression that these polls often bias towards households with landline phones. Surely the shift away from landline phones and onto purely cellular phone based coverage is a movement being lead by conservatives, right?

I'll agree it's far from certain yet, but I don't think untapped caches of completely unaccounted for conservatives are going to save your shitty candidate.

[jaybug]

I'm hopping for the non-insane people who might have voted for Osama whoops, YOmama last time will wake up and smell the coffee this time. Vote NObama.

I feel confident that there are tons of middle of the road people who never take part in any poll.

[zherok]

I don't think you get to pretend to be middle of the road with Osama = Obama puns. Also, three Obama puns in one paragraph. Really dude.

There's nothing middle of the road about Romney. Worse, I can't say I even feel he really believes the shit he says. I think he's at a point where getting there is more important than what he's going to do when he has it. I don't want to elect a guy who just sees it as a huge feather in his cap. He's gotta want it for something larger than himself, not accomplishing what his dad couldn't or because it's a killer resume/memoir bullet point.

I don't find his tax plans middle of the road. And for a guy who in 1994 said, "I'll be better than Ted Kennedy" on gay rights, I don't think you could place his position now anywhere in the center. Abortion likewise a position he can't even match up to himself on.

And foreign affairs? Fuck no. I don't want a president who lets Israel drag America around as a shield for it's hyper-aggressive bullshit. I don't want a president who believes diplomacy is best solved with a lot of shit talking and threatening to blow people up.

I can't begrudge Romney his success as a business man, but being a wealthy investment banker and pretending America is a perfect analogue doesn't jive with me. Were he actually middle of the road, I could respect him. But that's not remotely where he's running, and he can't even pretend to have the chops to back the positions he's coming from now.

[Ixarku]

Pretty well spot-on IMO, zherok.  Although I'm not thrilled with Obama's economic policies, I can't countenance Romney's stances on either social or economic issues.  And every time Romney opens his mouth lately, something comes out that should have stayed there.  At the start of the campaign, I disliked Obama and was neutral about Romney.  Now I dislike Obama less and hate Romney.

[Nikkoru]

What I'm skeptical about is whether there are a sufficient number of "undecideds" left to feign suspense in the following two months. I've assumed Obama would win from the beginning simply because the Republicans have done nothing whatsoever to appeal to anyone outside their base -- and really, up to 11 with these tapes -- while the Democratic base is more populous, and still growing. Romney wasn't, as he said, going to change people's minds. Not because its impossible, but because he's representing a party which is securely controlled by its staunchest core members and had no intention of changing that. Also he isn't Latino, which seriously would've helped... hah hah.

So, to the point, I'm curious if anyone really believes anything Romney has done or can do from the convention until November will prove my assumptions wrong. As I see it he's already described why I think he's going to lose, only in the manner of a passive-aggressive douchebag with sour grapes.

When... if... he does lose -- is there going to be any genuine Republican soul-searching, or... more Romneys every four years? Convinced that their job is preach to the converted and hope the Democrats screw up sufficiently to keep their vote down.

[jaybug]

REpublican soul-searching, like last time you mean, when they came up with eh answer of 'we need to be MORE conservative"? Pretty soon the GOP will be the fringe party, and the Libertarians will clean up.

So Zherok, you don't work for a copier company do you?

Anyway, you would prefer to abandon your allies because it was more politically correct, even though to achieve that level of political correctness, you  had to have your people forsake their own culture?

[zherok]

It's been said before, they're running out of angry white guys to fuel the party. If they can't adapt, they have only themselves to blame.

And I don't know what kind of bullshit you want to imply with being politically correct. It's not about appeasement, it's about not allowing Israel to operate as if the US military were an extension of it's own. Defending Israel's right to exist doesn't preclude curbing their aggression. I see no reason to allow Israel to fully dictate the terms of the relationship.

But seriously, middle of the road? If it were contained to over-pandering to Israeli donors, it'd be one thing, but Romney seems hellbent on conjuring up some villain for him to fight. I'm not sure what country besides Israel he hasn't tried to provoke. We don't need a Don Quixote, tilting at Cold War era windmills, or picking yet another fight with a Middle Eastern country for dubious reasons.

[ludwigrm]

so... apparently half of you guys from u.s. are a bunch of lazy asses. 
i mean, i already knew romney is stupid, but i didn't know he was that stupid.   

p.s.: before someone starts "yelling" at me for no reason: of course this is not what I think of u.s. people.

[Ixarku]

so... apparently half of you guys from u.s. are a bunch of lazy asses. 
i mean, i already knew romney is stupid, but i didn't know he was that stupid.   

p.s.: before someone starts "yelling" at me for no reason: of course this is not what I think of u.s. people.

Yeah, that's what I was alluding to when I said, "And every time Romney opens his mouth lately, something comes out that should have stayed there."  Sure, go ahead and insult half of the people you're trying to get to vote for you, half the people you expect to govern.  That's SURE to put an end to partisanship and divisive politics in the U.S.  Fucking politicians.

[vicious796]

Jon Huntsman weighs in, now a few months removed from the running. I like what he has to say. Specifically:

"We're not expanding our demographics. We're not thinking in terms of big, bold, optimistic solutions for this nation, we're doing a little too much pandering. We're doing a little bit too much in the way of pledge signing," says Huntsman. "We've got to get back to the big, bold visionary stuff, where we're not going to pander, we're going to talk about trust deficit, just like we talk about our fiscal deficit."

[Ixarku]

Yeah, I'd say the Republicans have quite a huge trust deficit right now.  And the Democrats are only marginally better from where I stand.  It depends on whether you see the world through donkey-colored glasses or elephant-colored glasses.

[jaybug]

For all those who get their news from leftist sources, I heard on the radio last night that Romney has been sound bit bad, by lefty journalists trying to make Romney bad. It's been a big re-editing job, because they have the ink instead of the microphone.

So you want Iran to have the bomb then eh? That's what's going to happen, and guess where they will test it? You have two guesses.

You know that American Top 40 radio had long been controlled by the tastes and dictates of 13 year old girls? Why? Because they were the ones who bought the frickin' 45's, and that is what was counted in the Billboard top 100 hits for each week. What do you think both parties are doing? Yeah, selling to the noisy children who do stuff that gets counted by some weird ass anoonymous organization that seems to be the be all and end all of politics.

Rich individuals are bankrolling the right, unions are bankrolling the left, and no one is bankrolling common sense.

[AceHigh]

So you want Iran to have the bomb then eh? That's what's going to happen, and guess where they will test it? You have two guesses.

I need 3 guesses: Under ground, under water or atmospheric.

[jaybug]

Underwater only if they miss and hit the sea of Galilee.

[AceHigh]

The recent trend seems to be testing the warhead under ground, like the US "ally soon to be enemy" did.

Hey, they were sheltering Bin Laden himself and nobody gives a fuck that Pakistan already has nukes 

[jaybug]

The recent trend seems to be testing the warhead under ground, like the US "ally soon to be enemy" did.

Hey, they were sheltering Bin Laden himself and nobody gives a fuck that Pakistan already has nukes 

Well, Pakistan's nukes are all trained on India, not America or Israel. And I guess they've been quite successful as using it as diplomatic blackmail, in order to keep those funds flowing from America, even if we are borrowing oodles.

[zherok]

Well, Pakistan's nukes are all trained on India, not America or Israel. And I guess they've been quite successful as using it as diplomatic blackmail, in order to keep those funds flowing from America, even if we are borrowing oodles.

Why does that make Iran more likely to use them than Pakistan? If anything, Iran is far worse off in the hypothetical exchange, given they currently DON'T have any, while Israel most certainly does. Nuclear retaliation would be assured just as it would if Pakistan irrationally attacked with them against India. Never mind trying to "test" one by using it on them.

[vicious796]

Underwater only if they miss and hit the sea of Galilee.

I have to admit laughing for a couple minutes at this.

[surdumil]

Does anybody else get the impression that Mitt Romney is a contestant of Monty Python's "Upper Class Twit of the Year" sketch?

Wikipedia description

YouTube rendition

I mean, I don't really follow American politics much, but every time I learn more about this pompous clueless jerk, I wonder how on earth such idiots become "National Leaders" of such a populous country.  Were his competition all worse than he was?

So which one does Mitt Romney resemble the most?

1) Vivian Smith-Smythe-Smith
2) Simon Zinc-Trumpet-Harris
3) Nigel Incubator-Jones
4) Gervaise Brook-Hamster
5) Oliver St. John-Mollusc

What would he excel at?  Kick the beggar?  Backing into the old lady?  Waking the neighbour?  Insulting the waiter?

Oop!  Maybe this post should have gone into the games forum.

[Nikkoru]

Were his competition all worse than he was?

Yes.

They should have taken my advice, Trump/Cain 2012.

It would've been huge.