The 2012 Three Ring Circus AKA The US Presidential Election

[Neutraligon]

Judging by the continued retreat of the Republican Party into the wingnut singularity, are we at risk that the Romney campaign will use things like "unskewed" polls as a justification for claiming that Obama and the Democrats stole the election in November?

I'm seriously starting to worry about this.

The Romney campaign won't.

But the GOP in general? Yes, they will. They don't believe he actually won in 2008 already.

...were they using those electronic voting machines. If they were...how do you stuff ballot boxes?

[United Dependencies]

Governor Romney has better plans for the economy and education,

Getting Americans back to work and having better curriculum for education.

My reading has led me to believe that Mr. Romney isn't really getting too specific with any of his plans. So I'm not really sure how we could compare their respective policy ideas.

[Williamson]

how will he get American back to work and improve the curriculum for education.

Well by doing better than Obama on the economy and He will put students first.

by...

[Neutraligon]

how will he get American back to work and improve the curriculum for education.

Well by doing better than Obama on the economy and He will put students first.

How? If you know any specifics on what Romney plans to do you must be very high in the Romney Campaign. Please, I would absolutely love to here the specifics.

[Freedom of United Trevor]

Governor Romney has better plans for the economy and education,

Getting Americans back to work and having better curriculum for education.

Okay...what are they...If you know please tell all, since no one here, or for that matter in the media, can seem to figure out what his plans actually are.

Mitt Romney will put students first and Teacher's Unions Last and Obama was bad since he left millions unemployed, Mitt Romney will get people back to work.

That's all I know.

[Freedom of United Trevor]

Well by doing better than Obama on the economy and He will put students first.

by...

Getting students the chance to be the first,since when Bush spoke at the RNC he said we should reward great teachers and having kids not failing.

[Silent Majority]

Okay...what are they...If you know please tell all, since no one here, or for that matter in the media, can seem to figure out what his plans actually are.

Mitt Romney will put students first and Teacher's Unions Last and Obama was bad since he left millions unemployed, Mitt Romney will get people back to work.

That's all I know.

How will he do those things?

[Neutraligon]

Okay...what are they...If you know please tell all, since no one here, or for that matter in the media, can seem to figure out what his plans actually are.

Mitt Romney will put students first and Teacher's Unions Last and Obama was bad since he left millions unemployed, Mitt Romney will get people back to work.

That's all I know.

So...basically nothing. If you have no idea how Romney will achieve all he claims he will achieve, than how do you know that Romney is any better than Obama? At least with Obama you have a known factor, with Romney you have no damn idea what he is going to do. Again, how will Romney achieve these things.

[United Dependencies]

Mitt Romney will put students first and Teacher's Unions Last and Obama was bad since he left millions unemployed, Mitt Romney will get people back to work.

That's all I know.

What kinds of things will he do to put students first? It can't involve money since it would contradict his pledge to cut the deficit along with Ryan. It also can't involve the apparatus of the DoE since that would go against all those anti-big government principles the tea party espouses.

[Williamson]

by...

Getting students the chance to be the first,since when Bush spoke at the RNC he said we should reward great teachers and having kids not failing.

HOW!

[Freedom of United Trevor]

Well by doing better than Obama on the economy and He will put students first.

How? If you know any specifics on what Romney plans to do you must be very high in the Romney Campaign. Please, I would absolutely love to here the specifics.[/quote

Governor Chris Christie said we believe in teachers not teacher's Unions so what he meant was that kids should be the ones reaching their goals and great teachers helping them.

[Freedom of United Trevor]

Getting students the chance to be the first,since when Bush spoke at the RNC he said we should reward great teachers and having kids not failing.

HOW!

By PUTTING away Teacher's Unions since Republicans believe in teachers.

[Wamitoria]

Okay...what are they...If you know please tell all, since no one here, or for that matter in the media, can seem to figure out what his plans actually are.

Mitt Romney will put students first and Teacher's Unions Last and Obama was bad since he left millions unemployed, Mitt Romney will get people back to work.

That's all I know.

We know that's all you know. Because it's all we know.

Mitt Romney won't tell you his plan because either A: He has no plan or B: His plan is so unfathomably terrible that it would sink his campaign faster than flamethrower in the Mayflower. It's probably a combination of both.

[Freedom of United Trevor]

Mitt Romney will put students first and Teacher's Unions Last and Obama was bad since he left millions unemployed, Mitt Romney will get people back to work.

That's all I know.

What kinds of things will he do to put students first? It can't involve money since it would contradict his pledge to cut the deficit along with Ryan. It also can't involve the apparatus of the DoE since that would go against all those anti-big government principles the tea party espouses.

By leaving no child left behind.

[Avenio]

Oy vey, Romney just doesn't know when not to insert vapid, awkward and factually-incorrect anecdotes.

Mitt Romney: I believe in basic science, and by "basic science" I mean "cold fusion"

I'm not entirely sure what to say about this excerpt from a Washington Examiner interview other than, "*headdesk*".

Mitt Romney: I do believe in basic science. I believe in participating in space. I believe in analysis of new sources of energy. I believe in laboratories, looking at ways to conduct electricity with -- with cold fusion, if we can come up with it. It was the University of Utah that solved that. We somehow can’t figure out how to duplicate it.

I'm putting the entire quote after the jump, so you can get the full context of where this came from. It is worth noting that Romney seems to be referring to the 1989 experiments done by Stanley Pons (who worked for the University of Utah) and Martin Fleischmann. If you've ever dug into that particular bit of history, you'll find it sounds a lot like the arsenic life story from 2010—scientists announce huge news by press conference (in the case of Fleischmann and Pons the press conference happened before the research had even been through peer review); media goes apeshit; other scientists try to replicate the results and the vast majority fail miserably; finally, it eventually becomes clear that the researchers made some big errors in their data analysis and the original conclusions turn out to be incorrect.

Wikipedia has a pretty good breakdown of this history. Another good place to read about Fleischmann and Pons is in Charles Seife's book Sun in a Bottle, which details the history behind why fusion, in general, has long been more hype than happening. There is some good science going on the world of "hot" fusion, and there's some spotty evidence of weird anomalies that might or might not be cold fusion, but Fleischmann's and Pons' work is almost certainly not going to pan out. And, as energy technologies go, cold fusion is not the one most likely to give us the best bang for our buck.

CARNEY: What role should government have in promoting certain industries or economic activities such as homeownership, or manufacturing, renewable energy or fossil fuel energy, exports, or just advanced technology? What sort of subsidies and incentives do you favor? You had some of these in Massachusetts, I know.

ROMNEY: Very limited -- my answer to your first question. I’m not an advocate of industrial policy being formed by a government. I do believe in the power of free markets, and when the government removes the extraordinary burdens that it puts on markets, why I think markets are more effective at guiding a prosperous economy than is the government.

So for instance, I would not be investing massive dollars in electric car companies in California. I think Tesla and Fisker are delightful-looking vehicles, but I somehow imagine that Toyota, Nissan, and even General Motors will produce a more cost-effective electric car than either Tesla or Fisker. I think it is bad policy for us to be investing hundreds of millions of dollars in specific companies and specific technologies, and developing those technologies.

I do believe in basic science. I believe in participating in space. I believe in analysis of new sources of energy. I believe in laboratories, looking at ways to conduct electricity with -- with cold fusion, if we can come up with it. It was the University of Utah that solved that. We somehow can’t figure out how to duplicate it.

[Neutraligon]

HOW!

By PUTTING away Teacher's Unions since Republicans believe in teachers.

...SO how will that help deal with the rest of the economy. For that matter, is the president allowed to disband a union? Also, you do know the purpose of unions,don't you?

[United Dependencies]

By PUTTING away Teacher's Unions since Republicans believe in teachers.

How will governor Romney remove Teachers' unions? The federal government doesn't really hire teachers.

[Williamson]

HOW!

By PUTTING away Teacher's Unions since Republicans believe in teachers.

so his whole plan is fuck the teachers

[Silent Majority]

HOW!

By PUTTING away Teacher's Unions since Republicans believe in teachers.

Who do you think is in teacher's unions anyway?

[Alien Space Bats]

Governor Chris Christie said we believe in teachers not teacher's Unions so what he meant was that kids should be the ones reaching their goals and great teachers helping them.

So you think teachers are trying not to help students?

Do you realize that the single biggest complaint teachers have is class size?

Do you realize that the reason teachers don't want huge class sizes is because it makes it impossible for them to provide students with the personal attention they need to learn?

[Neutraligon]

What kinds of things will he do to put students first? It can't involve money since it would contradict his pledge to cut the deficit along with Ryan. It also can't involve the apparatus of the DoE since that would go against all those anti-big government principles the tea party espouses.

By leaving no child left behind.

Again no specifics, these are great goals and all, but the problem is the how this will happen. If you can't tell us how this will be achieved, what policies in exact will be passed, than all this is empty rhetoric, utterly useless.

[United Dependencies]

By leaving no child left behind.

Do you have anything on Romney's plans other than blanket statements on what (supposedly) will happen in a Romney presidency?

[Wamitoria]

By PUTTING away Teacher's Unions since Republicans believe in teachers.

Who do you think is in teacher's unions anyway?

I've got $5 on 'socialism'.

[Neutraligon]

Who do you think is in teacher's unions anyway?

I've got $5 on 'socialism'.

I actually was wondering if this was just an unions are all evil, without understanding what a union is and why they exist. Unions have issues, the teacher's union being no different, but that doesn't mean we just oust them. Does anyone know if the president can disband a union?

[Alien Space Bats]

Oy vey, Romney just doesn't know when not to insert vapid, awkward and factually-incorrect anecdotes.

Mitt Romney: I believe in basic science, and by "basic science" I mean "cold fusion"

I'm not entirely sure what to say about this excerpt from a Washington Examiner interview other than, "*headdesk*".

Mitt Romney: I do believe in basic science. I believe in participating in space. I believe in analysis of new sources of energy. I believe in laboratories, looking at ways to conduct electricity with -- with cold fusion, if we can come up with it. It was the University of Utah that solved that. We somehow can’t figure out how to duplicate it.

I'm putting the entire quote after the jump, so you can get the full context of where this came from. It is worth noting that Romney seems to be referring to the 1989 experiments done by Stanley Pons (who worked for the University of Utah) and Martin Fleischmann. If you've ever dug into that particular bit of history, you'll find it sounds a lot like the arsenic life story from 2010—scientists announce huge news by press conference (in the case of Fleischmann and Pons the press conference happened before the research had even been through peer review); media goes apeshit; other scientists try to replicate the results and the vast majority fail miserably; finally, it eventually becomes clear that the researchers made some big errors in their data analysis and the original conclusions turn out to be incorrect.

Wikipedia has a pretty good breakdown of this history. Another good place to read about Fleischmann and Pons is in Charles Seife's book Sun in a Bottle, which details the history behind why fusion, in general, has long been more hype than happening. There is some good science going on the world of "hot" fusion, and there's some spotty evidence of weird anomalies that might or might not be cold fusion, but Fleischmann's and Pons' work is almost certainly not going to pan out. And, as energy technologies go, cold fusion is not the one most likely to give us the best bang for our buck.

CARNEY: What role should government have in promoting certain industries or economic activities such as homeownership, or manufacturing, renewable energy or fossil fuel energy, exports, or just advanced technology? What sort of subsidies and incentives do you favor? You had some of these in Massachusetts, I know.

ROMNEY: Very limited -- my answer to your first question. I’m not an advocate of industrial policy being formed by a government. I do believe in the power of free markets, and when the government removes the extraordinary burdens that it puts on markets, why I think markets are more effective at guiding a prosperous economy than is the government.

So for instance, I would not be investing massive dollars in electric car companies in California. I think Tesla and Fisker are delightful-looking vehicles, but I somehow imagine that Toyota, Nissan, and even General Motors will produce a more cost-effective electric car than either Tesla or Fisker. I think it is bad policy for us to be investing hundreds of millions of dollars in specific companies and specific technologies, and developing those technologies.

I do believe in basic science. I believe in participating in space. I believe in analysis of new sources of energy. I believe in laboratories, looking at ways to conduct electricity with -- with cold fusion, if we can come up with it. It was the University of Utah that solved that. We somehow can’t figure out how to duplicate it.

You know, a motor that runs off static electricity is possible. Paul Ryan said he read about such a motor in a book by Ayn Ran.

<nods>