US POLITICS SPRING 2011: Let's just call off this country.

lol J0rdan c'mon man. if the script is calling The President of the United States an "outside the beltway alternative" that deserves some mockery imo

― w of in the attic (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Saturday, May 21, 2011 9:19 PM (55 minutes ago) Bookmark

yeah josh in chi wasn't mocking, he was feigning shock that someone called him & was reading off the script & sticking to the script aka doing what he was trained to do

also josh should realize that anyone calling him this early in the cycle is probably a very well trained, experienced operative of the dem party who's not gonna get swayed by someone telling him that obama needs to "grow a pair"

What did shock and disappoint me was the audacious decision to couch the Obama 2012 debate as a "grassroots" "outside the beltway" effort. Like, really? That's the line they're taking? I did tell the guy that such a cynical position was bound to lose Obama "grassroots" support, but again, dude would not be swayed from script.

― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, May 21, 2011 9:03 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

i don't think it's cynical but jeez what is the campaign gonna call you up and go "hey listen obama is pretty entrenched in washington at this point and he has a pretty good war chest from the 08 election & he'll get a lot of corporate money & hey you know what between me & you there's a pretty good shot that he's gonna win anyway. now w/ that said, how about a small donation?!"

eh

I think josh & anybody is making good use of their time if they tell somebody who's on the same rough side of things & is calling for donations: "here is the reason you're not getting a donation from me" - if you think a simple "no, thanks" is fine - ok - but you're gonna get read the same script anyway - might as well get your three minutes' worth

xp if they called with that last one that'd basically be the only way I'd re-up for the campaign instead of sending that money to nnaf instead

I think josh & anybody is making good use of their time if they tell somebody who's on the same rough side of things & is calling for donations: "here is the reason you're not getting a donation from me" - if you think a simple "no, thanks" is fine - ok - but you're gonna get read the same script anyway - might as well get your three minutes' worth

no i agree w/ this! but i wouldn't hang up the phone & go "weird, that guy just wouldn't deviate from the script!"

fwiw if he asked why i wasnt donating id be straight up about it -- no money, shit job, dont even have health insurance -- so im not completely opposed to that -- this felt more like, lets get involved in a political debate w/ a phone bank man which i can understand making ppl o_O

yah j0rdan otm

also phone bank people are supposed to find a good exit from the call cause political debates aren't super time efficient.

iatee also otm

'discuss politics with Josh from chicago for 45 mins -> he doesn't give any money' vs 'make 45 calls'

I just talk super-slow and make 'em think I'm considering a donation and then I pretend I thought they were the pizza delivery guy

hai guys so I'm drunk and you people are debating the sincerity of a robocall?

to couch the Obama 2012 debate as a "grassroots" "outside the beltway" effort. Like, really? That's the line they're taking?

why not? worked for Reagan and Clinton.

heartfelt lol that yr conclusion is otm but I mean it's kinda heartless for ppl to be "lol, you did literally the only thing you can do to possibly maybe reach somebody with a connection to the machine" - chiding people for being powerless is kind of a bummer imo

aero otm

^Sort of this. I generally don't get to engage that much about politics, aside from here. And I rarely answer the phone if I don't know who's calling. So the fact that the guy actually caught me on the line, was a living human being, and was asking for money for something I care about encouraged me to engage rather than simply say "no, thanks." And again, there was the novelty of the script, which I've literally never sat through before. I didn't think I was being naive; it never occurred to me that the guy was not a volunteer was being paid to stick to a script. Any similar conversations I've had with folks asking for money have been like actual conversations, and I wanted to hear what this guy (who I assumed was an honest to goodness Obama supporter) had to say to my legitimate issues. It was like he was following the scripts for "Obama supporter" or "not an Obama supporter," when I was trying to convey to him that "Obama supporter with serious reservations" is a legit position that I thought warranted an actual human response , or at least a third script.

Here's how I look at it: if it helped clarify in your mind how the president failed you, it's enough.

Also, I didn't literally say Obama had to grow a pair, lol.

Really want to prankcall some of you pretending to be a phonebank volunteer following a script, tbh

Indiana governor Mitch Daniels says he's not gonna run for president. He says he's having too much fun cutting off money for Planned Parenthood in Indiana

George Will's cock was limp this morning, by the way.

He's trying to get excited about Pawlenty, but I guess it's not working

so either Romney or Pawlenty is going to become the "serious person's" GOP Prez candidate of choice then.

xpost

Rick Perry!

the odds of 'romney or pawlenty' seem 75% at this point

romney/pawlenty would be the Human Centipede of presidential candidates.

where does huntsman fit into all this

no chance in modern gop

huntsman doesn't seem to have the willingness to devour Teabag shit that romney or pawlenty do. though time could prove me wrong about that.

Huntsman is an excellent, reasonable public servant who has no business running for president in 2012.

ok kinda figured that would be the case

he's the sort of guy who would inspire Betty Draper's new husband to mount a campaign for.

Pawlenty would lose his home state. NEVER a good look.

it's like if mitt romney just spent 3 years working for obama to improve his resume xp

huntsman is kind of like a real-life Bill Henrickson (minus the polygamy). also, the universe (and the GOP) can't handle two viable Mormon presidential candidates.

With a caveat: I'm amazed by how forthrightly Huntsman has been about his moderateness.

Huntsman gave a very sound, reasonable explanation this morning of why he took the Obama post. As one of the commentators more or less said, he's going to earn a lot of admiration on his way to fifth place.

if I were him and I rly rly wanted to be president I would have stuck w/ china, done something harmless for a few years, used some 'outrage moment' to switch parties, run as a dem in 2012

Good New York article on Roger Ails and the trouble in FOX News this quarter. Excerpts:

Beck had been hired to solve a problem that had vexed Ailes for years: The five-o’clock hour continually failed to attract an audience, which delivered a weak lead-in to the shows that followed. Fox executives dubbed the slot the “black hole.” Ailes had unsuccessfully cycled through a slew of anchors, from John Gibson to Laura ­Ingraham. Ingraham’s turn was especially rocky. She would scream so loudly at her staff off-camera that producers in the newsroom would turn on the monitors for fun and watch the unfolding drama.

---------------------

All the 2012 candidates know that Ailes is a crucial constituency. “You can’t run for the Republican nomination without talking to Roger,” one GOPer told me. “Every single candidate has consulted with Roger.” But he hasn’t found any of them, including the adults in the room—Jon Huntsman, Mitch Daniels, Mitt Romney—compelling. “He finds flaws in every one,” says a person familiar with his thinking.

“He thinks things are going in a bad direction,” another Republican close to Ailes told me. “Roger is worried about the future of the country. He thinks the election of Obama is a disaster. He thinks Palin is an idiot. He thinks she’s stupid. He helped boost her up. People like Sarah Palin haven’t elevated the conservative movement.”

In the aftermath of the Tucson rampage, the national mood seemed to pivot. Ailes recognized that a Fox brand defined by Palin could be politically vulnerable. Two days after the shooting, he gave an interview to Russell Simmons and told him both sides needed to lower the temperature. “I told all of our guys, ‘Shut up, tone it down, make your argument intellectually.’ ”

best part of that nymag article is when ailes tells david axelrod that he believes Obama wants to create a national police force

Huntsman is an excellent, reasonable public servant who has no business running for president in 2012.

He's now flipflopping on nearly everything, and being called a fibber on other things-

from Washington Monthly blog:

Yesterday, Huntsman told reporters, “I didn’t push mandates with the legislature. You want to get that right.” But there’s ample evidence that he did push mandates with the legislature, and he’s not getting this right.

Flip-flopping can be embarrassing for a presidential candidate, but dishonesty has the potential to be far more damaging. Huntsman isn’t even a formal candidate yet, and he seems to already be slipping into some disturbing habits.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_05/flipflopping_is_bad_lying_is_w029741.php

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_05/political_whiplash_huntsman_sc029709.php

romney/pawlenty would be the Human Centipede of presidential candidates.

― I-95 Phuck Phace (Eisbaer), Sunday, May 22, 2011 10:27 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

where does huntsman fit into all this

― cop a cute abdomen (gbx), Sunday, May 22, 2011 10:28 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

i really wish these two posts hadn't been back to back

Why do I get the feeling this same group of four or five Republicans will run again and again for the next 20 years?

Also, is it too early to even hypothesize who the Dems will run for 2016?

Will we have a country left?

probably hilary lol

i kind of think that all of these guys are sacrificial lambs. next year's Bob Dole.

get the feeling huntsman wants to place or show max.

if I were him and I rly rly wanted to be president I would have stuck w/ china, done something harmless for a few years, used some 'outrage moment' to switch parties, run as a dem in 2012

lol totally just remembered that next year is 2012, jesus

talking about the year 2016 makes my brain hurt

is gabbneb around to dull the pain