the most important election of your lifetime: 2012 american general election thread

welcome to America dude.

greatest country on earth iirc

Looks like Obama's nice but pointless declaration has now become an issue in this election: http://thinkprogress.org/election/2012/05/10/481772/romney-adviser-gillespie-constitutional-marriage-ba/

We've had the lesser of two evils system since 1776! (xp)

Actually for a while there were the articles of confederation so nobody got to be president

haha

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qel2_d-kNX4

she is awesome. also, i think carney's 'o look i am pulling back the curtain on your media trickery' schtick here only really connects with the dumber and more gullible corners of the voting public.

"i'm trying to go meta-meta on you" - oh please

he may be a jackass, but there's nothing more awful about american broadcast news (and election-cycle political coverage in particular) than its completely tunnel-visioned focus on only a small handful of "major stories" each day, many of them completely asinine and in fact invented by the brain-dead news cycle's desperate hunger for the next big thing. i understand her frustration, she's just trying to do her job, and he's arrogantly fucking with the program. but that interview plays mostly like the hostility of the news cycle as an entity to any suggestion that there might be something wrong with its monomania, hostility to the idea that there might be other questions to ask, other stories to tell.

If news persons are always wondering "is there a better question I could be asking?" they would never ask any questions. When the cameras are rolling you have to ask one question at a time. Usually these questions are what people are thinking about currently.

how would anyone in the MSM know what ppl are thinking about?

A story hits the news*, people think about it.

* yeah, yeah. Should it not have been reported?

i kind of think that "i understand the question, but rather than answer it directly, i'd instead like to talk about the way certain stories and questions are privileged over others by the media and how that limits the discourse" is a perfectly acceptable response to an interview question.

He seemed to be acting as if this was a "gothcha" surprise attack when she indicated that that was what he had been invited on the show to discuss. And she wasn't going to let him pretend for all the viewers that this was another MSM blindside attack.

i kind of think that "i understand the question, but rather than answer it directly, i'd instead like to talk about the way certain stories and questions are privileged over others by the media and how that limits the discourse" is a perfectly acceptable response to an interview question.

― 10. “Pour Some Sugar On Me” – Tom Cruise (contenderizer), Sunday, May 13, 2012 1:41 AM (51 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

haha no it isn't

it's perfectly annoying and insufferable tho

Maybe if it was a contributor questioning the point of the story (as was done on other programs on MSNBC that day, or at least Alex Wagner), as opposed to some Romney supporter unsure about how to respond to the negative press by shouting about how he's going to PUT THE MEDIA ON TRIAL!

wrt to this particular point, i don't care what side of the political fence he's on, or whether or not he imagines he's pulling some tiresome "gotcha". i didn't see anything so terribly impertinent in his response, myself, but he clearly intended to challenge the interviewer. i figure it was her call, and i don't object to her decision to snub him. he asked for it.

that said, i wish more interviewees, when asked about dumb shit like this - even if they've previously agreed to be asked about it - would take the "you know, let's talk about something else" route.

He seemed to be acting as if this was a "gothcha" surprise attack when she indicated that that was what he had been invited on the show to discuss. And she wasn't going to let him pretend for all the viewers that this was another MSM blindside attack.

― nickn, Sunday, May 13, 2012 2:46 AM (7 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

OTM

http://www.mittromney.com/issues/gun-rights

As president, Mitt will work to expand and enhance access and opportunities for Americans to hunt, shoot, and protect their families, homes and property

it's funny, but it's also true

in fact, one could say it's kind of lol but mostly sad

would totally vote for candidate who would work to expand my opportunities to hunt and shoot my family

Mitt Romney now holds a three point national lead over President Obama according to the newest NYT/CBS News poll. The poll found that 46 percent of registered voters say they would choose Romney while just 43 percent say they would back Obama. This represents a small drop in support for Obama compared to last month when the same poll found the race perfectly tied at 46 percent each.

http://elections.firedoglake.com/2012/05/15/romney-holds-small-national-lead-in-nytcbs-poll/

http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/15/a-30000-foot-view-on-the-presidential-race/

I shake my head in amazement and wonder how Silver can write paragraph after paragraph full of stats and equivocations, week after week.

don't worry, Roseanne's gonna save the day!

he's a numbers machine, Alfred!

If only you would let her, Shakes.

Yeah, Shakey - stop stopping Roseanna from becoming president!

I think it's major-party stans who expect the prez to SAVE them, because HE IS THEIR ROCK STAR

Speaking of rock stars:

Barr moved several people in Saturday's audience when she teared up talking about her modest roots.

There is little mention that Barr, who spends most of her time on a $1.7 million, 46-acre macadamia nut farm in Hawaii, is among the wealthiest of Americans. She's done little in-person "barnstorming" outside of a near-constant stream of Twitter postings. She told The Chronicle that airplane travel makes her sick.

She's the FDR of the Green Party

Not as much fun as that Slate thing where all the Republican candidates ran an actual horserace, but pretty neat nonetheless. I'm sure "the model" is fairly reliable; inputting the numbers is a guessing game:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/2012-election-predictor/

sorry to be so cynical about Barr's candidacy guys

GOP Superpac's plan for expensive nasty ad attacks on Obama:

“The world is about to see Jeremiah Wright and understand his influence on Barack Obama for the first time in a big, attention-arresting way,” says the proposal, which was overseen by Fred Davis and commissioned by Joe Ricketts, the founder of the brokerage firm TD Ameritrade. Mr. Ricketts is increasingly putting his fortune to work in conservative politics.

The $10 million plan, one of several being studied by Mr. Ricketts, includes preparations for how to respond to the charges of race-baiting it envisions if it highlights Mr. Obama’s former ties to Mr. Wright, who espouses what is known as “black liberation theology.”

The group suggested hiring as a spokesman an “extremely literate conservative African-American” who can argue that Mr. Obama misled the nation by presenting himself as what the proposal calls a “metrosexual, black Abe Lincoln.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/17/us/politics/gop-super-pac-weighs-hard-line-attack-on-obama.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120517

that ad!

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m464sfoVlO1qa9bmvo1_250.png

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m464s48mM31qa9bmvo1_250.png

The ad plan proposal says this:

“Our plan is to do exactly what John McCain would not let us do: Show the world how Barack Obama’s opinions of America and the world were formed,” the proposal says. “And why the influence of that misguided mentor and our president’s formative years among left-wing intellectuals has brought our country to its knees.”

But also this:

Lamenting that voters “still aren’t ready to hate this president,” the document concludes that the campaign should “explain how forces out of Obama’s control, that shaped the man, have made him completely the wrong choice as president in these days and times.”

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/05/17/us/politics/super-pac-storyboard.html?ref=politics

Mr. Obama misled the nation by presenting himself as what the proposal calls a “metrosexual, black Abe Lincoln.”

Uhhh...

this surely isn't going to succeed.

The insular right-wing bubble trying to foist their paranoia on everyone

That storyboard is totally... something.

Medium shot directly into a beautiful little home on a beautiful little street... BO enters from the left, rapidly pushing a gurney... he looks to us and gives us "that grin."

Soccer mom, hopeless and lost, in utter despair.

Surely the 2008 election would have gone the other way had anyone known about this rev wright fellow

Should we have KNOWN?! Perhaps there is no more important question.

It would have been better if a snake came out of the egg

http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2012/05/joe-ricketts-man-behind-new-super-pac-loves-corporate-welfare

He owns the Chicago Cubs and they need taxpayer dollars. He's probably glad Obama is a White Sox fan and not a Cubs fan.

Joel
He should spend that $10M on a pitcher.
The Tick and Marino Eccher like this.
31 Minutes Ago from slate.com · Reply

LOL!