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

the shrinking GOP voter pool means that the citizens who vote for the GOP will eventually coagulate into a new, more formidable and loathsome political party. That's why human nature is awesome.

They're deomstrably on the wrong side of economics (eg. the Bush years and present refusal to ever envision any tax increases), race relations, foreign policy, civil rights, esp. LGBT rights, the environment and future nat'l security issues and however much the big money ppl think they can "take the Tea Party out and shoot it", the tiger they're riding's contumely will only increase as they represent a smaller and smaller percentage of the whole and they get increasingly fucked.

― Love Max Ophüls of us all (Michael White), Friday, July 6, 2012 12:38 PM (19 minutes ago)

this sounds true, but isn't, i don't think. the republican party represents not reactionary anger about this or that, but reactionary anger in general. therefore, they can keep shifting the goalposts. this is america, after all: there's always gonna be a big bloc of scared, angry reactionaries out there.

^ at least 60 years of republican politics in america seem to bear this out

Americans aren't more stupid than other peoples. Plenty of stupid French people. Look at Le Pen voters!

sure. i do think that we're a notably fearful, angry and puritan nation, though.

not like it's a contest

It's true: certain pockets of Brooklyn are like Mars.

shouldn't overestimate the influence of the crazies or underestimate the influence of the "small business owner" -- the top 20%-thru-2% of the income ladder has more money than the 1%, put together

On a lighter but still serious note: how I wish pundits would stop wasting time covering where candidates take vacations.

sure. i do think that we're a notably fearful, angry and puritan nation, though.

― contenderizer, Friday, July 6, 2012 4:05 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

compared to the rest of the world not really so much, maybe compared to a few select european countries

The rest of the world is full of fearful, angry, and partisan nations!

There are certain aspects to America though I think make the population (generally speaking) worse though. Yeah, there are Le Pen voters, or National Front people in UK, etc..., but there's also a huge majority in those countries that understands that health care should be provided for all, and if anyone had to set up a travelling camp of doctors to treat the sick in their country would cause an unholy outrage (this has a lot to do with a better informed populace in countries like the UK, though smaller population might play a role). I think it has a lot to do with those hallowed myths of America as the land of opportunity that justly rewards hard work and everyone can just Pull Themselves Up By Their Bootstraps. When the ACA ruling came out, my Republican friend posted about how he had to get a shitty job to get health insurance when he got out of college, so why don't these lazy kids today - the mentality is "i had to go through shit and you should too" as opposed to "I had a shitty time of it so we should change things so future generations don't have to."

There's not much of an emphasis on critical thinking in our education system, at least not as much as there seem to be in certain European countries, and I think that + our cultural emphasis on tight family groups = individuals makes questioning things more difficult.

but people are shitty everywhere. I think in Europe there tends to be a more accepted out-and-out racism on a larger scale, while in America that's generally frowned upon, but that has also left the door open for huge swathes of passive racism that goes unchecked.

what abt places that are not america or certain european countries

you mean, like, Oregon?

*sniff* I prefer my Brooklyn joke *sniff *

There are certain aspects to America though I think make the population (generally speaking) worse though.

Base of operations for the scarier destructive fundies for two major world religions (xtianity & capitalism) imo.

you mean Israel and the Middle East?

well it's basically ridic to try to compare countries with such sweeping generalizations anyway, but i guess white, judeo-christian developed countries are the easiest way to go. it's easy to say that 'people are the same everywhere', and there's a truth to it, but the US is lagging behind other countries on a lot of issues like healthcare/social justice/basic quality of life, and that's despite being the wealthiest country in the world.

xposts

yeah, anti-intellectualism/family-based culture/honour thy father plays a role. Also the capitalism thing - we're trained to consume and buy into all the marketing bullshit creating a very narrow idea of freedom and happiness that is conformist etc etc etc

Sullivan turned up a great YouTube today:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArRj-dQXX3Y

Is stuff like this going to be enough to overcome barely so-so jobs reports like today's? No idea anymore--but they are inconvenient.

glorious

The Romney campaign's Venn diagram problem is now a tumblr: http://mittvennandnow.tumblr.com/

That's great--I saw one earlier today, but didn't realize it was an ongoing series. Love the newest one about the auto industry.

http://www.rollcall.com/issues/58_1/John-Boehner-Voters-Need-Not-Love-Mitt-Romney-215934-1.html?pos=hftxt

The Ohio Republican made the remarks when an unidentified woman asked during a question-and-answer session: “Can you make me love Mitt Romney?”
“No,” Boehner said. “Listen, we’re just politicians. I wasn’t elected to play God. The American people probably aren’t going to fall in love with Mitt Romney. I’ll tell you this: 95 percent of the people that show up to vote in November are going to show up in that voting booth, and they are going to vote for or against Barack Obama.

lol wow

well msnbc is going to be more unbearable than usual this week.

the rest of boehner's comments are pretty fucking amazing too

“Mitt Romney has some friends, relatives and fellow Mormons ... some people that are going to vote for him. But that’s not what this election is about. This election is going to be a referendum on the president’s failed economic policies.

“Mitt Romney believes, just like we do, that if we’re going to get the economy back, if we’re going to put the American people back to work, we need to fix the tax code, we need to stop the regulatory juggernaut that’s going on in Washington and we need to fix our economy. Solid guy, he’s going to do a great job, even if you don’t fall in love with him.”

some friends, relatives and fellow Mormons

Mitt Romney: beloved Mormon to some, not Barack Obama to all

Mitt Romney has some friends, relatives and fellow Mormons ... some people that are going to vote for him

he's already got about 300 votes in the bag

Mitt Romney has some wives, relatives, fellow Mormons ... some people that are going to vote for him

Looks like the issue of Romney's undisclosed tax returns, investment decisions, and the $100 million IRA is starting to move to center stage a bit. Was surprised to see Dick Durbin spend so much time talking about it on TV this morning and then there's this new Vanity Fair piece:

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/2012/08/investigating-mitt-romney-offshore-accounts

Obama's got a video out 'asking the questions' about why he won't disclose those tax returns.

the $100 million ira is just unbelievable

http://i.imgur.com/zNQva.jpg
im running for office for petes sake, i cant have a 100 million dollar ira!

how is the IRA even possible. aren't there limits?

thats the thing, youre only suposed to be able to put $6000 in a year but i guess theres a loophole where you can put partnerships in there and declare the value as you see fit, so you could say this partnership is worth zero and then it produces $100m in returns and youre all oh how nice $100m tax free money

i mean conceivably you could put $6000 a/y in and come away w/$100m if you were the best investor in the history of time but thats not how romney did it

ppl absolutely do not give a shit about stuff like this, see other elections.

i don't know, let's say he put in 6K a year for 40 years, that's $240K. i think ending up with 100 million off of that based on portfolio investments alone is actually impossible

Morbs otm. This is just more "narrative" writing.

you guys are both for sure wrong

i mean conceivably you could put $6000 a/y in and come away w/$100m if you were the best investor in the history of time but thats not how romney did it

― lag∞n, Monday, July 9, 2012 8:33 AM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

or if you retired at 119

romney the plays by rich guy rules rich guy is his defining negative characteristic

As a campaign question where and how Romnicon got his dough matters less than how he plans to tax and regulate people with his dough.

you have it exactly backwards

all the research shows people vote based on character much more than any campaign plans and promises

The only way Obama could frame it is in the Nixonian sense. "Now I believe Gov. Romney is an honest man with a right to earn his money in a lawful manner. However, I am asking that he pay his share of taxes."

all the research shows people vote based on character much more than any campaign plans and promises

right - and most Americans don't give a shit how pols earn a living.

where are you getting this from