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

out of curiosity, are there any cases where a president was elected because people were jazzed up by their VP selection?

Ryan would be a horrible choice imho in every way except covering mitts ass against conservative pundits, and tbf that won't even work

this is a p good summery of the thinking that basically boils down to the vp nom can move the needle a lil bit in his home state maybe aka doesn't matter much xp http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/08/how-romneys-pick-of-a-running-mate-could-sway-the-outcome

and that piece notes ryan is actually one of the less popular options in terms of home state advantage

exactly

It just might work.

http://i1059.photobucket.com/albums/t427/sayhey1/ryan-1.jpg http://i1059.photobucket.com/albums/t427/sayhey1/smith.jpg

at the very least it probably keeps them bringing in $$$ and getting to the convention without party mutiny

http://www.wolfgnards.com/media/blogs/photos/celebrities/Eddie-Munster.jpg

I repeat Harry Reid is a mfn gangster http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/11/business/in-the-superrich-clues-to-romneys-tax-returns-common-sense.html

cant someone just leak romeys returns idgi

if I don't get to see these things, at this point, ffs

Ryan advocated letting the country default during the debt ceiling fight.

Just realized Romney will never stop running for president. When he loses this year make a ten-thousand dollar bet he'll be back in 2016, Nixon style.

I don't completely believe that but I think it's a possibility.

the gop will have nothing to do w him tho

I mean they already hate him just image when he loses to nobama to bam

as far as I can tell no human being has ever liked mitt romney, not even for a moment

his dog maybe liked him at one point, which is prob why he put him on the roof

loooooooool current lead photo on nytimes.com

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/04/03/us/politics/0403romney/0403romney-blog480.jpg

http://a.abcnews.com/images/Politics/ap_mitt_romney_paul_Ryan_sub_sandwich_thg_120403_wg.jpg

potato chips crunchy potatoy congratulations

"how about those submarine sandwiches? I love lunches."

lool

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/08/11/paul-ryan-will-be-mitt-romneys-vice-presidential-pick-heres-seven-thoughts-on-what-that-means

mostly I think it's funny that ezra klein felt it nessisary to post abt this in the middle of the night, bloggers they are just like us, I wonder if he is drunk, this is a v good point tho, until the last line at least

5. It’s worth recalling how Ryan became a semi-household name. It wasn’t a Republican strategy to put him forward. As Ryan Lizza recounts in his New Yorker profile of Ryan, it was a Democratic strategy to put Ryan forward. Ryan, he writes, “was caught between the demands of the Republican leaders, who wanted nothing to do with his Roadmap, and his own belief that the Party had to offer a sweeping alternative vision to Obama’s. Ryan soon had an unlikely ally, in Obama himself.” While Republicans were trying to keep Ryan quiet, the Obama administration was trying to make him famous. They saw his plans as the clearest distillation of the GOP’s governing philosophy — and they thought it would drive voters towards the Democrats. We’ll know in November whether that was a genius strategy or an epic miscalculation.

http://i.imgur.com/kS3Ls.jpg

9. Joe Biden has a lot of debate prep ahead of him. I’ve interviewed Ryan three times. Twice on health care (here and here), and once on economics (here). He’s very quick on his feet, and he’s got a lot of experience explaining his plans to skeptical audiences. He’s also a likable and, while I don’t know him very well personally, decent-seeming guy. He’s repeatedly won reelection in a moderaste district. Democrats underestimate his political skills at their peril.

yeah yeah sure sure just like Rick perry was a bare knuckle brawler, I mean he impressed a blogger in an interview he must be legit

repeat Harry Reid is a mfn gangster

duh, Nevada

hate the guy, myself

Romney/Ryan just isn't very fun to say out loud. Obama/Biden has an inherent jolliness to it.

Harry Reid is a fucking worm.

Paul Ryan Rick Scott Chris Christie who are these people

hate the guy, myself

― Pangborn to be Wilde (Dr Morbius), Saturday, August 11, 2012 3:06 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is fair, its just amazing how hard he hit the Romney campaign w/like ten seconds of work

sorry, what *fatal* blow is Reid alleged to have dealt? starting to think icey is gettin some DNC money. "He paid zero taxes" w/ no documentation, big whoop.

I was living in Florida when Rick Scott was elected. He just scraped out a win and his approval rating dropped about 25 points in four weeks. Also, he's from the planet Xflyzt 500-B.

Harry Reid dominated campaign news for a week based on saying like 20 words, not easy, credit where credits due

admittedly Romney makes an easy target for an operator like reid, but still

i would support Chris Christie as Veep just to get his fat ass outta Trenton. but since Romney is probably gonna lose we'd be stuck with Fat Fuck for at least another year.

I was living in Florida when Rick Scott was elected. He just scraped out a win and his approval rating dropped about 25 points in four weeks. Also, he's from the planet Xflyzt 500-B.

haha his collapse and its speed were pretty stunning. I've literally met no one who voted for him in 2010 who doesn't look away in embarrassmet.

Well they deserve what they get, ie opprobrium.

"It’s worth recalling how Ryan became a semi-household name." - whose household is this?

red states

going to synagogue shortly. i'm going to conduct an informal poll of the 95% conservative congregation about what they think of ryan. i suspect 90% of them haven't heard of him.

(lowercase c conservative obv)

Harry Reid dominated campaign news for a week based on saying like 20 words, not easy, credit where credits due

^^^^

i think it was actually closer to two weeks, even?

quite a few liberal bloggers/pundits were like "that's so awful what harry reid is doing" and i'm like DO YOU NOT WANT TO WIN AN ELECTION ffs

tbf most leftists/libs do not in fact want to win an election

Ryan is gonna be a giant anchor around the neck of Romney's already-sinking campaign. Joe Biden should just move down to Florida till November and drive around in a loudspeaker truck shouting, "If Romney wins, you can kiss Medicare goodbye" over and over. Not only that, Ryan has fucked himself by taking this gig. Had he stayed in the House or even run for Senate, he might have had a chance at getting his nightmarish agenda passed, but name me one piece of legislation originating with and championed by the Vice-President. It's the single least powerful position in DC.

quite a few liberal bloggers/pundits were like "that's so awful what harry reid is doing" and i'm like DO YOU NOT WANT TO WIN AN ELECTION ffs

― seriously, THIS GUY (daria-g), Saturday, August 11, 2012 10:52 AM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it was totally not awful either, it was hilarious, and if these spurious charges were so hurting mitts feelings he could just like release his returns

I read someone suggest that harry reid release his tax returns, which woulda been a super lol move

haha yes

LBJ needs to return from the dead and slap each liberal blogger who got the vapors over Harry Reid these past few weeks upside the head with a frozen fish.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCwLirQS2-o

the worst part of this decision (or best maybe) is that it recreates same dynamic as last election - moderate president and radical vp so that when they lose republican moderates can blame far right-wing for radicalization of party and radicals can blame moderates for being RINOs that turned off America and then we can do it all over again in 2016.