US Presidential Elections 2

[Strix]

Alaska taxpayers picked up tab for Palin church visits

[Meshugger]

First, Palin is "guilty" on ethical misconduct of her office, and now McCain is booed by his own supporters for being a man of character, instead rallying around charades with racists undertones.

 

I am starting to feel sorry for the guy.

[Tigranes]

But then you have to ask, why is McCain making public calls for campaigns of respect? If he really cared about that he would have reined in his own campaign managers before this ever happened. This is just standard image manipulation.

 

The bit about church visits seems a bit stretchy to me, mainly because the journo is clearly pulling at all sorts of loose ends just to bank up the argument. Does anyone know how often other state leaders/etc take such religious or quasi-official visits on public money?

[Killian Kalthorne]

Well, I do know that Governor Vilsack, Iowa's previous governor, took a lot of trips on tax payer money. I don't know if they were religious in nature but some of them most certainly were not for official reasons no matter how much his PR guys said otherwise.

[Guard Dog]

Much has been made about Obama's Marxist assertion of the need to redistribute wealth. In a rare (for him) moment of sparkling clear honesty he said it in so many words at a campaign event. I wish I could have asked one of the questions in last nights debate for Obama. If I could have it would have been this:

 

Senator Obama. Suppose for a moment that on the night of Nov 4 the election results are 50% for you, 45% for Senator McCain and the remaining 5% spread out between Mr. Barr and Mr. Nader. Now according to your taxation philosophy it is inherently unfair that Mr. Nader and Mr. Barr should have so few votes. Nevermind the fact that their campaigns did not involve nearly the effort that yours did. So for the sake of fairness to those two candidates would you be in favor of "taxing" yours and Senator McCains vote totals and giving the proceeds to Mr. Barr and Mr. Nader. For example we could "tax" your total by 33% (not coincidently the top income rate). After all you have more than everyone else, you can afford it right? That leaves you with 33.5% of the vote. Mr. McCain did not campaign as well as you and ended up with fewer votes so we will tax him 25% (the median income tax rate before YOU get hold of it). That leaves him with a total of 33.75%. Since Mr. Nader and Mr. Barr are the victims of your success, we won't tax them and we will give them the proceeds of the tax against the middle and upper classes (You and McCain in this case). So that leaves the vote totals at 33.5% for Obama, 33.75% for McCain, and 16.375 for Mr. Nader and Mr. Barr. well, what do you know, that makes Mr. McCain the President. How about that Mr. Obama? I guess it IS possible to tax someone out of their success and hard work. It is not just, but according to you it is fair. So I'll ask you Mr. Obama, are you really in favor of spreading the wealth around when it punishes YOUR success? I didn't think so. Now you understand why I don't want someone like you taxing me out of MY hard work.

[Hurlshort]

I'll be honest GD, that analogy did nothing for me.

[taks]

it didn't make you randy?

 

quite frankly, whichever path we go, we've got a socialist in disguise in office. obama is just a bit more open about it. they're both drinking the kool-aide. if there's one benefit to the current economic crisis, it may slow down spending and prevent changes to the tax code simply to keep from pissing off the electorate. you can't really raise taxes on anyone during a recession (whether or not we enter a recession, things are ugly), and cutting taxes for everyone won't get through congress anyway. iraq seems to be slowly moving towards autonomy, so troop withdrawal has become a relative non-issue, and will likely happen in due course irrespective of which of the two socialists actually holds the office. pretty much everything else is noise compared to the economy, which probably should be noise but lo, we insist on meddling and making things worse, republican and democrat alike. sigh...

 

taks

[Guard Dog]

I'll be honest GD, that analogy did nothing for me.

 

It sounded better when I tried it at the bar. It did well there but the crowd was a little less sophisticated. Just a little...

[taks]

than here? maybe just drunker?

 

taks

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

than here? maybe just drunker?

 

taks

 

You'd be surprised how sophisticated this site is... relatively of crouse.

[Deadly_Nightshade]

Edited October 17, 2008 by Deadly_Nightshade

[taks]

that was a joke as evidenced by the ...

 

relatively speaking, simply being able to use a computer puts you into the top half, as sad as that is.

 

taks

[Meshugger]

 

Gotta love his laughter there

[Hildegard]

Well the Obama campaign as I am informed raised more money then the McCain campaign did. Therefor the candidate that collects a significant number of money for his campaign more then the other has virtually assured his victory. For that matter in the US and other democracies the one that has more money to convince voters he's the man for the job in the end wins assuring Elitism is always in power. If Obama wins, the ordinary American won't profit, but the ones financing Obama's election will because his politics will be shaped accordingly to them, just like the ones backing Bush did. Obama or McCain, as an non American I really do not care because it doesn't make a difference for me, US interests abroad will be pursued and protected as they always did and do so now, and no Barrack Hussein Obama gonna change that.

[Guard Dog]

Well the Obama campaign as I am informed raised more money then the McCain campaign did. Therefor the candidate that collects a significant number of money for his campaign more then the other has virtually assured his victory. For that matter in the US and other democracies the one that has more money to convince voters he's the man for the job in the end wins assuring Elitism is always in power.

 

Al Gore will be glad to hear that... He had almost double the war chest of Bush in 2000.

 

Obama or McCain, as an non American I really do not care because it doesn't make a difference for me, US interests abroad will be pursued and protected as they always did and do so now, and no Barrack Hussein Obama gonna change that.

 

You are a wise man. I have said it here often enough, after four years of Obama only a trained eye would notice any real change in the US. Even after eight the changes would be infinitesimally small.

[Pop]

Jacob Weisberg drops the knowledge.

 

Kick 'em when they're down, I guess.

 

For anyone still interested in the mortgage / credit crisis, there's an excellent NPR report (originally aired on This American Life) you can download here, which explores the origins and the particulars of how it all happened.

Edited October 18, 2008 by Pop

[Deadly_Nightshade]

Is that the first or second part? They did two.

 

EDIT: It's part one, the better episode in my opinion.

Edited October 18, 2008 by Deadly_Nightshade

[Hildegard]

Al Gore will be glad to hear that... He had almost double the war chest of Bush in 2000.

 

Well as writing the previous post I was sure somebody would correct me by a event in the past. But campaigns with more money have a better result then those with a smaller budget, I believe statistics would back me up on that. Assured, money isn't always a sole factor that is gonna give you victory, but nevertheless one of the most important ones. Because in the end it doesn't matter what your qualities are as a statesman and an individual, but the effort of selling your agenda and plan as a more appealing one to the voter then the other candidate. The more money you have, more ears and eyes are gonna hear it and be influenced by.

 

 

You are a wise man. I have said it here often enough, after four years of Obama only a trained eye would notice any real change in the US. Even after eight the changes would be infinitesimally small.

 

Obama wouldn't be in this position if he wasn't backed by similar or same people and groups who got/helped the previous presidents elected, therefor significant change isn't gonna happen. Although I believe those small and visible changes are going to be more visible domestically then abroad. True victors of these elections are gonna be IMO those big campaign contributers of the candidate elected. That money isn't just given away, it's an investment.

[Meshugger]

 

Judging from his monologue, you really notice that he is fed up with his own party.

[Hildegard]

 

Judging from his monologue, you really notice that he is fed up with his own party.

 

Poor little Colin wasn't pick as a vice presidential candidate, the guy goes where the wind blows.

 

Judging from his monologue it was like: Hey Obama pick me for a spot in your administration.

[Pop]

That seems to be the consensus amongst the right-wing blogosphere. I mean, you have to expect that these people would stick together.

 

So Colin Powell has endorsed Obama. Let's see, Powell is pro-abortion. So is Obama. Powell is pro-affirmative action. So is Obama. Powell has stated repeatedly that tax policy should ensure fairness. Obama likewise wants to "spread the wealth." The endorsement of Obama only demonstrates what unpaid prognosticators could have told those million dollar a year experts years ago. Powell never was a Republican. He has been aligned with the Democrats from the day of his retirement from service.

 

...Affirmative action is now at its zenith here. A unqualified candidate for president who has never run anything; who has never governed anything; and who has policies precisely on line with Karl Marx -- is going to be put into our highest office solely due to his race. Doubt me? Just ask if Obama would be where he is at if he were a white man. The answer is inevitable.

 

POWELL IS DESPICABLE!! He owes EVERYTHING to Republicans, but BLACKNESS is the ONLY thing that matters!!! Obama want to RUIN THE MILITARY and bring down MAERICA to THIRD WORLD STATUS!!

 

...Dr. King's dream is dead. It's totally about the color of skin for these people. The content of ones character has ZERO bearing on their decision.

 

O' course, this all conveniently ignores the only part of Powell's endorsement that was unexpected and important, which was his admonishment of the republican party for its unapologetic and rigorous fearmongering vis a vis Islam. No doubt McCain will parrot those words with a rigor he somehow couldn't find before. But it won't matter, because the real, representative voice of the McCain campaign for its devotees, Sarah Palin, will do no such thing. No words of comfort for the enemies of God.

[Strix]

Rock the Quote! - fun little game I ran across...

[Killian Kalthorne]

 

Judging from his monologue, you really notice that he is fed up with his own party.

 

Poor little Colin wasn't pick as a vice presidential candidate, the guy goes where the wind blows.

 

Judging from his monologue it was like: Hey Obama pick me for a spot in your administration.

 

If Obama is smart, he will.

[taks]

oh, yeah, smart... that would describe it. now he announces that powell will be in his administration.

 

everybody that is falling for this load of claptrap is a moron.

 

taks

[Gorgon]

On foreign policy Obama would be less likely to invade another middle eastern country surely. He would probably be more popular in the rest of the world as well, making it easier to get things done by consensus. The national priorities of the US will be the same regardless though, and in the end that drives everything.