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

"and the G.I. Bill"--crowd starts to cheer, quickly stops itself!

lol @ dude with the hat made out of yuengling boxes, you are a star

Ryan Miner ‏@RyanRMiner
What war on women? Ann Romney is the epitome of a woman. #GOP2012

Ryan Miner ‏@RyanRMiner
I want to marry a woman just like Ann Romney.
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*scratches head* An actual MittBot?

That almost pained look of confusion fixed on Romney's face is just so weird. Christie's doing a good job, and Mitt looks miserable.

Ryan Miner ‏@RyanRMiner
Ted Cruz went to Princeton and Harvard Law School. The real deal. #GOP2012

is this a chris christie 'vote for me in 2016' speech, effectively?

yeah mitt did not look appreciative

There isn't a single interesting line or original intonation in this stupid speech.

He's doing what he's supposed to, and he's not saying idiotic things about Obama. I'm not sure what you were expecting.

anyone else notice how ann romney applauds by scratching her palm?

xp lol i guess

Expecting a good performance...? This is like someone working hard for an Oscar nomination.

christie generally comes off as disgusted with people imo

kind of an awkward catchphrase at the end there

"second american century" for this you will need: 1. strong military. 2. unwavering values. 3. Unmatched work ethnic. Also I am the truthteller, this is the new era of truthtelling. Also the democrats want the status quo and we are the true revolutionaries. But in barking.

I don't know, I thought he was fine. And yes, in talking all about what he'd done back home (no idea how true any of that was), he did seem to be looking after his own future prospects as much as Romney's.

What a bunch of fluff. F'n Chuck Todd of NBC liked it

This look:

http://media.winnipegfreepress.com/images/280*217/WX108-820_2012_111136_high.jpg

Romney had it the whole way through Christie's speech. It was like he was suddenly having second thoughts about running.

NJ's current unemployment rate is higher than Michigan's. i bet Fat Fuck didn't talk about that.

well they're locked in now, no turning back from the romney train

Ann Romney says her husband will lift up America, Chris Christie ... Newsday

And yes, in talking all about what he'd done back home (no idea how true any of that was), he did seem to be looking after his own future prospects as much as Romney's.

btw the city of camden is laying off its entire police force. didn't hear him bragging about that.

but whatever helps balance the budget, right?

speaking of train, 3 doors down apparently is playing at the RNC

Lynyrd Skynyrd's scheduled concert at this week's Republican National Convention – originally planned for Sunday night at Tampa's Liberty Plaza – may have been canceled thanks to Hurricane Isaac. But to the surprise of anyone who assumes rockers wouldn't be caught anywhere near a GOP event, plenty of other musicians will be entertaining the Mitt Romney-Paul Ryan crowd in Florida this week. At press time, the lineup includes Kid Rock, Journey, the Zac Brown Band, 3 Doors Down, Dave Navarro, Guns N' Roses/Velvet Revolver drummer Matt Sorum and past American Idol winner Taylor Hicks. The house band for performances at the convention itself will be led by former Saturday Night Live guitarist-bandleader, G.E. Smith.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/journey-kid-rock-and-more-set-to-play-republican-national-convention-20120827#ixzz24u0izMHy

GE Smith and Dave Navarro, wah

enh, maybe the dosh is good

i walked by a TV today that was during reporting from the convention and went "why the fuck is GE Smith on C-Span?"

Andy Daly
‏@TVsAndyDaly

Wait a minute - he saved the winter Olympics?! That changes everything!

are you guys legit watching this?? man

i don't think i could take more than a couple minutes of it...

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2012/08/arthur-davis-latest-betrayed-democrat.html

Davis’s very earnest denunciation of his former party spanned the general gamut of Republican talking points, a full-scale repudiation of his former beliefs. Perhaps his most entertaining claim is that the old, virtuous Democratic Party used to meet the other party in the middle, in contrast to Obama “ramming through” health care bill. The president he cited for having done so, the president Davis thinks would never “ram through” a bill in Congress, was Lyndon Johnson. I would urge paramedics to immediately check up on Robert Caro.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/dk-production/images/4489/large/romneyreacts.jpg?1346208609

Joy, love, happiness.

Nice watch, tho

Well first, I have said that politics isn’t about policy, i.e., that we quite reasonably care more about how our political views make us look to our associates than how they effect policy outcomes. I’ve also said a lot about overconfidence, which applies in spades to politics. Being overconfident usually looks better, even it leads to less accurate judgements. So in general I can recommend: just confidently take positions that look good to your associates; forget about policy outcomes.

http://www.overcomingbias.com/2012/08/how-to-vote.html

hurr

So, as a professor of economics who has studied politics, my advice is to not vote if you know an average amount or less, to copy a better informed close associate if you are willing to appear submissive, and otherwise to just reelect incumbents when your life goes better than you expected. And if you care a lot more about the outcome than most do, help create presidential decision markets, so other info-seekers will have a better place to turn.

Well first, I have said that politics isn’t about policy, i.e., that we quite reasonably care more about how our political views make us look to our associates than how they effect policy outcomes.

this is the kind of shit that people who think they are way smarter than they are say about politics. like forget about elections or any of that, politics go deeper and are far older than the "policy oriented" late capital/democratic order. what was politics not about back then, dr overcomingbias?

Found out about GE Smith from this Gawker post, where the poster noticed that they're warming up with selections from "The Wall":

So Ya Thought Ya Might Like to Go to the Show: On the RNC Floor

And the party continues to collapse in on itself.

TAMPA, Fla. — Mitt Romney’s supporters passed new rules governing future primaries over the loud boos of Ron Paul supporters and other conservative activists who had objected to what they said was a power grab by the party’s establishment leaders.

...

Advisers to Mr. Romney had proposed rules that would make it harder for a candidate like Mr. Paul to amass delegates to mount a challenge to a more established candidate.

Under the compromise, delegates would be selected by the state and local level without interference or control by the party’s presidential candidate. That would allow competing voices inside the convention, both sides said.

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/28/over-loud-boos-romney-supporters-pass-new-rules/?partner=rss&emc=rss

Punditocracy whipping themselves into believing that Ann Romney is a star.

xpost GE Smith has been playing bass in Roger Waters' band touring The Wall.

Did they let her prescription therapy horse dance?

Christie reminds me of the fat-suit from that crap movie "Thinner."

http://i688.photobucket.com/albums/vv249/darkwingduck11/thin1Small.jpg

i cant believe i watched all of that, i feel hung over, ann romney is really weird

She seems incredibly dim.

she got up there and the first thing she did was go like 'yaaay miiit!' crinkle her nose and throw her fists up in the air

Punditocracy whipping themselves into believing that Ann Romney is a star

Sullivan's round-up seems pretty mixed. I thought she was okay, nothing more.

I was so glad that Christie didn't get up there and launch into the typical socialist/not-one-of-us mantra that I missed a couple of things (I still think his delivery was fine): 1) as get bent and others have pointed out, he probably just made up a bunch of stuff about his own record (I read up a bit on Camden, and that sounds like a real mess), and 2) he really spent a lot of time talking about himself, which wasn't exactly his job. I'd almost grant that that's why Romney looked so perplexed, if it weren't for that fact that Romney often wears that expression.

Heard bits of Mizzus Romney on the radio this morning. Really straining for populist connection: I had five kids running around the house! (And no nannies? Really?) I've been sick! (With the best health care money can buy.) Etc. I mean, all to be expected, but still really insulting.

I watched about a minute of Santorum's speech. I straight cannot deal with these assholes and have gotta sit this convention out for my health.

Andy McCarthy, unimpressed:

I, I, yay, yay …
By Andrew C. McCarthy

August 29, 2012 9:01 A.M. Comments0

If someone had said the main speech would be an out of place exercise in auto-biography and self-adulation that couldn’t have had more I’s in it if every other word had been Mississippi, you’d have figured we must be talking about the other guys’ convention, right?

Was the GOP’s goal to add self-absorption to Big Government, the Arab Spring, and suppression of conservatives on the list of things they can do just as well as Democrats?If so, they’re off to a flying start.