Presidential Politics

Well, that didn't take long. Of course it's Obama's fault. And the dim witted electorate seem to like that idea.

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/06/candidates-give-obama-an-f-for-aa-rating/

http://video.foxnews.com/v/1106072154001/santorum-paul-spar-over-war-on-terror

Do you guys (here) think we need to do anything against Iran?
I have stated here that I think we will not take any action that will result in Iran not getting nukes. I just don't think we have or should have the resolve to do anything against them. And where would it end?
That's the first time I've seek Rick however you spell his name.

There's how you spell it...

http://spreadingsantorum.com/

Best. Googlebombing. campaign. ever.

We can't stop Iran from getting the bomb unless we conquer them, which is probably not possible and would lead to worse problems. All we can do is delay them, and piss them off more. You can't embargo a law of physics. I think that we should refrain from military activity (other than traceless Stuxnet kinds of activities), try to develop policies dealing with them once they have nukes, and support peaceful democratic opposition movements. A nuclear Iran will suck, especially for Israel, but it's going to happen and we need to deal with the world as it is, not as we want it to be.

I agree.

Nice of Romney to reduce the GOP platform to its basics, "Corporations are people." So we can update Lincoln:

"...that government of the corporations, by the corporations, and for the corporations shall not perish from the earth."

Agreed. Asymmetrical warfare is the future. The biggest military successes we've had recently are the special ops teams that surgically assassinate bin Laden types, Stuxnet, and drones (though collateral damage with that last one). Our war with China will clearly be mostly on computer systems, and we need to move resources there. Stuxnet-type roadblocks will buy us time until Iran becomes less radical.

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John Willoughby
Nice of Romney to reduce the GOP platform to its basics, "Corporations are people." So we can update Lincoln:

"...that government of the corporations, by the corporations, and for the corporations shall not perish from the earth."

And Romney defends the remark with this:

Quote

“At that time, there was a sentiment somehow that businesses were bad, that it was anti-people. And the Obama administration seems to think that the 60s is here again. Business is good. I am talking about repair shops and gas stations and beauty salons and restaurants. I am talking about Apple Computer and Facebook and Microsoft,” Romney said.

Why does that last sentence make me feel dirty?

People were telling him corporations should pay more taxes. How the hell is that a clarification of his comment? He's just trying to bury his statement in more verbiage.

If businesses are people, let's get rid of their special tax breaks so they actually pay taxes. GE pays no taxes. On the other hand, they are creating jobs for 1100 accountants. (In China?)

I think I'm already ready to turn off all political coverage this season. Bachmann is getting some really nasty pictures published of her just because she's crazy enough to be herself. Yeah, I laugh at them, but lord, ain't her stances enough to laugh about without looking like pigs? This is why politicians learn to be fake and controlled.

She won the Iowa straw poll. Be afraid.

I actually don't know much about her policies. Is it the typical tea-party "starve the beast" fodder?

Fundamentalist Christian Tea Party. Her husband "cures" gay people.

This is how crazy looks: http://photogallery.thestar.com/1039192

edit; I think someone else may have posted this Rolling Stone article about Michell Bachman earlier; http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/michele-bachmanns-holy-war-20110622

Whatever you do, don't laugh at her/them. It'll make the movement stronger.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/14/2011 12:37AM by tliet.

A more important read about Bachmann is from the New Yorker: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/08/15/110815fa_fact_lizza -- see how serious she is about imposing her idea of christian law on america, and her place in the semi-underground parallel intellectualism that states America is and should be Christian. I know that sound like a conspiricist talking, but look up "dominionism" and "christianism" and you'll see that you can't make anything sound weirder than what these people are explicitly espousing.

That's why I think, johnny, that it's your responsibility (both as an ammurican and as someone who is smart) to pay attention. You don't need to follow the horse-race bullshit -- and, sadly, that is about 95% of media coverage -- but you should know more than just press releases.

I'm not enthused by the use of that photo at Newsweek, but then again I challenge you to find me ever defending Tina Brown (you find that, I'll mow one acre of Mitt Romney's lawn). One point to Bachmann: she hasn't pulled the perpetual victim card like Palin, Newt, and others do. Then again, others are doing it for her... .

ddt

Yeah, I've read that NYer piece. I hadn't realized how religious she is. The overt religiosity will polarize opinions of her and Perry, if not be a direct turnoff for independents. That's why Team Obama is stealthily trying to sink Romney in the primaries.

I'm not interested in that bullshit. As entertaining as it is, I think I'd rather treat baseball like a sport. Wake me when Huntsman wins the nomination. (So don't wake me.) He's the only guy I can see actually offering Obama a substantive debate. Otherwise, I know how I'm voting.

Now, the congressional races are much more important. That's a choice between more unproductive Barack-blocking and getting something, anything done.

Sorry, I probably wasn't clear... I definitely do not encourage politics as a sport (playing or watching that way). In fact, I want to discourage that very thing, the horse-race, who's-on-who's-off, because that completely blocks anything substantive. That is, indeed, bullshit, so I'm agreeing with you.

Definitely, there's little if any point in paying attention to the pundits chatting. Where I don't agree is the idea that becoming inactive, ignoring, and blocking out actual information is combatting that. In fact, it's enabling and encouraging the whole bullshit that you (correctly, in my opinion) dislike... . If you don't know, for example, that Bachmann is using words and phrases that sound innocent as dogwhistles (see Popkin and shortcuts, low-information decision-making), you're helping the very thing you hate.

"The More You Know",

ddt



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/14/2011 10:51AM by ddt.

A) I'm not sure if I could ever actually block it out, don't worry.
B) What more do I possibly need to know about Bachmann?

What frustrates me about this presidential election is that Obama's soundest narrative is a negative one. "It could've been worse" is not as compelling as "Those motherfuckers have blocked our progress at every turn." But even if Obama could muster that tone, it doesn't really suggest any hope if he's reelected, unless the Democrats get accompanying gains in Congress. What a trick to pull off. I haven't seen the kind of backlash against the Tea Party necessary to swing the balance.

Seems like the best-case outcome, if you're a liberal, is that he gets reelected as the lesser of two evils, and we have four more years of Barack-blocking. Or maybe better is that we give everything over to the Tea Party for a while to just get it out of our system.

B) What more do I possibly need to know about Bachmann?

I just meant that as an example... another would be not just letting the "narrative" of "Rick Perry got jobs to Texas" overrun the facts, etc.

Actually -- again, not that I'm proposing/suggesting/endorsing -- running against Congress has proven to be a successful re-election strategery more than once. But I don't see Obama doing anything negative... and that's a shame. Negative ads are poison, of course, but glossing over the real facts and problems of working with the current dysfunctional Tea Party/Republican Congress just ends up making the lack of GTD fall in his lap.

ddt