The 2012 Three Ring Circus AKA The US Presidential Election

[Farnhamia]

Love the new Obama ad. No need for a narrator, no need for any words whatsoever except for Governor Romney's own comments playing over images of the people he was referring to. Devastating.

Goddamn that's good.

It's delicious.

If Romney had said that Obama has about 47% of the electorate on his side and left it at that, this wouldn't even have been an issue, but he had to say why, he had to add the entitlement bit and the part about never being able to convince those people to take personal responsibility for their lives. What a maroon.

[Salandriagado]

Goddamn that's good.

It's delicious.

If Romney had said that Obama has about 47% of the electorate on his side and left it at that, this wouldn't even have been an issue, but he had to say why, he had to add the entitlement bit and the part about never being able to convince those people to take personal responsibility for their lives. What a maroon.

Dunno about you, but I'd elect any of the top four (yes, including the baby) over the bottom one.

[Death Metal]

"What a maroon" is such an outdated phrase.

I hereby declare it to now be "What a macaroon".

We will confuse them by comparing people to crunchy snacks!

[The Emerald Dawn]

This is what is stopping communication on issues for many Conservative voters.

"People up there aren't looking for a free ride, but they do expect government to lend a helping hand," said Stupak, now an attorney in Washington. "If you're a community of maybe 3,000 people and the EPA says you need a new sewer system because the pipes are broken and there's danger of E. coli, how are you going to afford that without federal help?"

You are a community of 3,000 people, you aren't looking for a free ride but you do want federal aid. What doesn't occur to them is that the rest of the country has the same problems. A $1.3 million project for a new, updated, sewer system for a community of 3,000 people isn't uncommon for anyone. But raise their taxes to pay for it? Hell no, that's Socialism! So you take the budget for infrastructure, and compare needs. A highway which will reduce costs in the long term for 35 million people along the Northern Corridor, or a sewer that serves 3,000 people. Guess who wins?

Their problems will not be resolved by voting for Romney, like this community of 3,000 people is going to do, by a margin comparable to any other small, rural community. But they don't know that. People are fed up with the guy they elected to the House, who ran on the platform they loved, because he actually followed through on what he said he'd do.

Similar to Bush, isn't it? You order shit, you eat shit.

[Wikkiwallana]

It's delicious.

If Romney had said that Obama has about 47% of the electorate on his side and left it at that, this wouldn't even have been an issue, but he had to say why, he had to add the entitlement bit and the part about never being able to convince those people to take personal responsibility for their lives. What a maroon.

Dunno about you, but I'd elect any of the top four (yes, including the baby) over the bottom one.

Are you kidding? At least two of them are clearly outies, and thus cannot be trusted.

[Alien Space Bats]

No, he's going to lower taxes 20% - I believe that's the amount - and close loopholes. That should occupy most of his first term. That should automatically lower the deficit because reducing the amount you take in as revenue always reduces the amount you're short on your bills.

Oh, absolutely. When I lost my job, all off my bills went away. Then that damned Obama came along with his unemployment compensation, and some of them came back.

That's what kept me from going out and looking for a job for such a long time, too: I knew that once I was back earning a regular paycheck again, I'd be up to my ears in debt. And all that time, America's noble captains of industry were out there just crying for people to come work for them, and millions of unemployment sucking moochers like me were denying them the labor they needed to expand - all because I was able to avoid bone-crushing debt in favor of leaner, less devastating debt by living off the government teat.

<pause>

I only have one question: Given that the Nation's heroic Job Creators™ can Build It™ all by themselves, what do they need to hire me for? I never quite managed to figure that out...

[Not Safe For Work]

No, he's going to lower taxes 20% - I believe that's the amount - and close loopholes. That should occupy most of his first term. That should automatically lower the deficit because reducing the amount you take in as revenue always reduces the amount you're short on your bills.

Oh, absolutely. When I lost my job, all off my bills went away. Then that damned Obama came along with his unemployment compensation, and some of them came back.

That's what kept me from going out and looking for a job for such a long time, too: I knew that once I was back earning a regular paycheck again, I'd be up to my ears in debt. And all that time, America's noble captains of industry were out there just crying for people to come work for them, and millions of unemployment sucking moochers like me were denying them the labor they needed to expand - all because I was able to avoid bone-crushing debt in favor of leaner, less devastating debt by living off the government teat.

<pause>

I only have one question: Give that the Nation's heroic Job Creators™ can Build It™ all by themselves, what do they need to hire me for? I never quite managed to figure that out...

More to the point, why do they keep bitching about unemployment under the current administration?

I mean, if we assume people like Romney are right - and there are in fact two classes of people - the 'moochers' and the 'job creators', and the 'job creators' are these super-self-sufficient people who 'build it by themselves'... then unemployment is THEIR fault, not Obama's.

[Farnhamia]

No, he's going to lower taxes 20% - I believe that's the amount - and close loopholes. That should occupy most of his first term. That should automatically lower the deficit because reducing the amount you take in as revenue always reduces the amount you're short on your bills.

Oh, absolutely. When I lost my job, all off my bills went away. Then that damned Obama came along with his unemployment compensation, and some of them came back.

That's what kept me from going out and looking for a job for such a long time, too: I knew that once I was back earning a regular paycheck again, I'd be up to my ears in debt. And all that time, America's noble captains of industry were out there just crying for people to come work for them, and millions of unemployment sucking moochers like me were denying them the labor they needed to expand - all because I was able to avoid bone-crushing debt in favor of leaner, less devastating debt by living off the government teat.

<pause>

I only have one question: Give that the Nation's heroic Job Creators™ can Build It™ all by themselves, what do they need to hire me for? I never quite managed to figure that out...

Well, no, I mean, they aren't going to actually ... do the work of building things ... *giggles* ... Really, ASB, let's no be silly, they might get their hands dirty or break a nail or something. I hate that, breaking a nail, I never seem to have a file handy and then it gets caught on everything ... what were we talking about?

[The Emerald Dawn]

Oh, absolutely. When I lost my job, all off my bills went away. Then that damned Obama came along with his unemployment compensation, and some of them came back.

That's what kept me from going out and looking for a job for such a long time, too: I knew that once I was back earning a regular paycheck again, I'd be up to my ears in debt. And all that time, America's noble captains of industry were out there just crying for people to come work for them, and millions of unemployment sucking moochers like me were denying them the labor they needed to expand - all because I was able to avoid bone-crushing debt in favor of leaner, less devastating debt by living off the government teat.

<pause>

I only have one question: Give that the Nation's heroic Job Creators™ can Build It™ all by themselves, what do they need to hire me for? I never quite managed to figure that out...

Well, no, I mean, they aren't going to actually ... do the work of building things ... *giggles* ... Really, ASB, let's no be silly, they might get their hands dirty or break a nail or something. I hate that, breaking a nail, I never seem to have a file handy and then it gets caught on everything ... what were we talking about?

How planes don't have windows that roll down.

[Not Safe For Work]

Well, no, I mean, they aren't going to actually ... do the work of building things ... *giggles* ... Really, ASB, let's no be silly, they might get their hands dirty or break a nail or something. I hate that, breaking a nail, I never seem to have a file handy and then it gets caught on everything ... what were we talking about?

How planes don't have windows that roll down.

Hey now, his wife already addressed that - Romney isn't incredibly ignorant, he's just got the sense of humor of a paint can.

[Telesha]

How planes don't have windows that roll down.

Clearly Obama's oppressive anti-business policies have stifled this grand new innovation in plane-window technology.

Hey now, his wife already addressed that - Romney isn't incredibly ignorant, he's just got the sense of humor of a paint can.

But he makes her laugh.

Damn if she can remember a funny thing he's ever said, but he makes her laugh.

[Khadgar]

How planes don't have windows that roll down.

Clearly Obama's oppressive anti-business policies have stifled this grand new innovation in plane-window technology.

Hey now, his wife already addressed that - Romney isn't incredibly ignorant, he's just got the sense of humor of a paint can.

But he makes her laugh.

Damn if she can remember an intentionally funny thing he's ever said, but he makes her laugh.

Fixed that.

[The Emerald Dawn]

Clearly Obama's oppressive anti-business policies have stifled this grand new innovation in plane-window technology.



But he makes her laugh.

Damn if she can remember an intentionally funny thing he's ever said, but he makes her laugh.

Fixed that.

Indeed, because I can point out a host of funny things he has said, just never one that he meant to be funny.

[Not Safe For Work]

How planes don't have windows that roll down.

Clearly Obama's oppressive anti-business policies have stifled this grand new innovation in plane-window technology.

Hey now, his wife already addressed that - Romney isn't incredibly ignorant, he's just got the sense of humor of a paint can.

But he makes her laugh.

Damn if she can remember a funny thing he's ever said, but he makes her laugh.

In her defense, spoken comedy is not the only thing that makes people laugh. He might just have a really, really small penis.

*nods*

[Telesha]

Indeed, because I can point out a host of funny things he has said, just never one that he meant to be funny.

Having a sense of humor was deemed too moderate, so he removed it from his platform.

[Neo Art]

That's what kept me from going out and looking for a job for such a long time, too: I knew that once I was back earning a regular paycheck again, I'd be up to my ears in debt. And all that time, America's noble captains of industry were out there just crying for people to come work for them, and millions of unemployment sucking moochers like me were denying them the labor they needed to expand - all because I was able to avoid bone-crushing debt in favor of leaner, less devastating debt by living off the government teat.

There is nobody on this board who is more familiar with social welfare in the United States, as a system than I am. I'm quite sure there are some who are more familiar with being a recipient of those social welfare programs than I (and I say that without judgment, merely that I've been fortunate enough to have had my one forray into receiving unemployment be short enough that I was back to work before the first check cleared my direct deposit).

However I'm comfortable enough assuming that on a systems level I probably know more about them, as institutions, than anyone else here. I deal with people who are part of those programs.

And I can tell you, anyone, anyone whose real true belief that the #1 concern of people collecting unemployment benefits isn't "getting back to work" doesn't deserve to be president of this country.

[The Emerald Dawn]

Clearly Obama's oppressive anti-business policies have stifled this grand new innovation in plane-window technology.



But he makes her laugh.

Damn if she can remember a funny thing he's ever said, but he makes her laugh.

In her defense, spoken comedy is not the only thing that makes people laugh. He might just have a really, really small penis.

*nods*

If we're not allowed to call him "Mittens" or "Mitthead" or even "Willard" I think that perhaps inferring that his cock is the size of a down-quark is probably right out.

[Frisivisia]

I have a new title for this thread:

ELECTION 2012:
When Mitt hits the fan.

[Yumyumsuppertime]

Romney advisers pushing him to bring back "enhanced interrogation"/torture techniques eliminated by President Obama's executive order.

In one of his first acts, President Obama issued an executive order restricting interrogators to a list of nonabusive tactics approved in the Army Field Manual. Even as he embraced a hawkish approach to other counterterrorism issues — like drone strikes, military commissions, indefinite detention and the Patriot Act — Mr. Obama has stuck to that strict no-torture policy.

By contrast, Mr. Romney’s advisers have privately urged him to “rescind and replace President Obama’s executive order” and permit secret “enhanced interrogation techniques against high-value detainees that are safe, legal and effective in generating intelligence to save American lives,” according to an internal Romney campaign memorandum.

I can't see how this could possibly be a winning proposition on a campaign level outside of those who were already planning to vote for him.

[The Emerald Dawn]

Romney advisers pushing him to bring back "enhanced interrogation"/torture techniques eliminated by President Obama's executive order.

In one of his first acts, President Obama issued an executive order restricting interrogators to a list of nonabusive tactics approved in the Army Field Manual. Even as he embraced a hawkish approach to other counterterrorism issues — like drone strikes, military commissions, indefinite detention and the Patriot Act — Mr. Obama has stuck to that strict no-torture policy.

By contrast, Mr. Romney’s advisers have privately urged him to “rescind and replace President Obama’s executive order” and permit secret “enhanced interrogation techniques against high-value detainees that are safe, legal and effective in generating intelligence to save American lives,” according to an internal Romney campaign memorandum.

I can't see how this could possibly be a winning proposition on a campaign level outside of those who were already planning to vote for him.

So...his advisers are asking him to go against the CIA, FBI and DoD? Yeah, not the winning stratagem.

[Enadail]

Romney advisers pushing him to bring back "enhanced interrogation"/torture techniques eliminated by President Obama's executive order.



I can't see how this could possibly be a winning proposition on a campaign level outside of those who were already planning to vote for him.

So...his advisers are asking him to go against the CIA, FBI and DoD? Yeah, not the winning stratagem.

Also... which interrogation techniques are safe and effective in gathering information? Haven't a number of high ranking military personnel already said that its not effective?

[Wamitoria]

So...his advisers are asking him to go against the CIA, FBI and DoD? Yeah, not the winning stratagem.

Also... which interrogation techniques are safe and effective in gathering information? Haven't a number of high ranking military personnel already said that its not effective?

Neocons like the idea of intelligence agencies and the military. They don't actually give a shit about what those individuals in those agencies and the military think.

[Salandriagado]

So...his advisers are asking him to go against the CIA, FBI and DoD? Yeah, not the winning stratagem.

Also... which interrogation techniques are safe and effective in gathering information? Haven't a number of high ranking military personnel already said that its not effective?

Yup. You want something that's "safe and effective"? The methods that everybody actually uses.

[Not Safe For Work]

In her defense, spoken comedy is not the only thing that makes people laugh. He might just have a really, really small penis.

*nods*

If we're not allowed to call him "Mittens" or "Mitthead" or even "Willard" I think that perhaps inferring that his cock is the size of a down-quark is probably right out.

Well I wasn't actually doing that, per se. I was riffing on Mrs Romney's claims that her husband makes her laugh, and yet when pressed, she's not got one single anecdote that comes to mind. And the one incident she writes off as 'joking'... is him saying he doesn't know why plane windows don't open.

If he makes her laugh, but he's completely unfunny... what is he doing that makes her laugh? See?

[The Emerald Dawn]

So...his advisers are asking him to go against the CIA, FBI and DoD? Yeah, not the winning stratagem.

Also... which interrogation techniques are safe and effective in gathering information? Haven't a number of high ranking military personnel already said that its not effective?

High ranking military members like the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
High ranking people from intelligence agencies like D,CIA and D,FBI as well as a comment from DIRNSA.

Yeah, "Enhanced Interrogation" has long been decried by every facet of DoD.