The Quietest News Story this week

[Walsingham]

Anyone else cheered by the almost unreported fact that Iraq had a round of entirely peaceful elections last week?

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7877203.stm

 

I'm not saying it's all done and dusted, but they've come a hell of a long way.

[Wrath of Dagon]

I'd celebrate if I wasn't so depressed about the outcome of our own political process.

[Calax]

I'd celebrate if I wasn't so depressed about the outcome of our own political process.

You are depressed because we have a president who's taking responsibility and is concerned about civil rights? You frighten me

[Trenitay]

No, he's depressed because the democratic process worked and there is a president who was elected by the people.

[Gorgon]

Good news without puppies or a handicapped child just doesn't lead.

[Aristes]

See, I'm proud of our political process. It showed all the folks who said that Bush would lead us into world war 3 and equated him with despotism that we are free and we still determine our own fate. In four or eight years, if you think that Obama is the root of all evil and his administration spells the end of our democracy, then you will have reason to take heart in the process. Our constitution has never been perfect. No constitution ever will be. ...But it has served us well.

 

God bless the Iraqis. I fervently pray for their success as a free people.

[Walsingham]

I'd celebrate if I wasn't so depressed about the outcome of our own political process.

 

He's not THAT bad, surely?

[Enoch]

I'd celebrate if I wasn't so depressed about the outcome of our own political process.

 

He's not THAT bad, surely?

Welcome to the consequences of 20 years of predominantly negative political campaigns! Both parties have long known that the most effective way to get people likely to support them to the polls is to scare them into thinking that, if the other candidate wins, all hell will break loose and it will be the end of America as we know it. There used to be a noticeable backlash that would prevent campaigns from being "too mean." But, beginning with Bush Sr.'s campaign in 1988, national parties (and their interest group proxies) have been a lot less shy about going to the scare tactics.

 

Compound that over a generation, along with 1) the fact that party identification in America tends to run along cultural and regional lines (such that in many communities, people rarely meet others with strongly differing political views), and 2) the internet and competing 24-hour cable news networks allowing people to choose the news source that challenges their predetermined ideology least, and you get an electorate that is deeply cynical and very eager to believe the worst about the people on "the other side."

 

 

Anyhow, elections in Iraq are good things, but we're by no means out of the woods yet. Democracy is good, but time will tell which model Iraq ends up following: democratic, pluralist, mostly tolerant Turkey, or democratic, theocratic, bellicose, and intolerant Iran.

[Wrath of Dagon]

Ha, ha, you lecture me about American political process yet say Iran is democratic, what a joke. As far as Obama and the complete control of Dems in Congress we'll see, so far the signs aren't good.

[Enoch]

Ha, ha, you lecture me about American political process yet say Iran is democratic, what a joke.

I'll grant that the theocratic leaders in Iran place tight restrictions on the operations of the elected government. But you must remember that those theocrats began as a populist, democratic movement, overthrowing the country's existing monarchy. (Hamas' success in the Palestinian elections would also be an apt analogy.) My point was simply that the existence of elections is no guarantee that the people won't vote theocrats into office, oppress dissenting views, and take a bellicose attitude toward their neighbors and the rest of the world.

 

As far as Obama and the complete control of Dems in Congress we'll see, so far the signs aren't good.

In many ways, I think that whoever won this election in the states was probably doomed from the start. As a nation, we're finally paying for what has been, if you will, a "sub-prime" generation of financial and governmental elites. Obama and the Dems in congress will react in pretty much the only way they can, which is only marginally different from what GOP leadership would do in this circumstance. (They'll make a big deal about some limitations on executives taking government assistance, and direct a little more of it towards things like loan modification for individuals, but on the whole, 90% of the policy is going to be the same as what Bush and Paulson would've done had they stayed on.) Will it be enough to make a difference? Nobody knows, but even if it does, it might take too long to do so and end up dooming the political careers of those involved.

[Killian Kalthorne]

Ha, ha, you lecture me about American political process yet say Iran is democratic, what a joke. As far as Obama and the complete control of Dems in Congress we'll see, so far the signs aren't good.

Better than under Bush. At least Obama admits he makes mistakes unlike Bushie.

[Volourn]

He also flat out lies just as Bush was accused of Obama fnaboys claimed he would never do. *shrug*

[Wrath of Dagon]

In many ways, I think that whoever won this election in the states was probably doomed from the start. As a nation, we're finally paying for what has been, if you will, a "sub-prime" generation of financial and governmental elites. Obama and the Dems in congress will react in pretty much the only way they can, which is only marginally different from what GOP leadership would do in this circumstance. (They'll make a big deal about some limitations on executives taking government assistance, and direct a little more of it towards things like loan modification for individuals, but on the whole, 90% of the policy is going to be the same as what Bush and Paulson would've done had they stayed on.) Will it be enough to make a difference? Nobody knows, but even if it does, it might take too long to do so and end up dooming the political careers of those involved.

The big mistake was Clinton, Bush, and now Obama hiring Goldman Sachs guys to run the economy. These are the same guys who made billions trading in the $50 trillion legal pyramid scheme called the Derivatives market. Bush should've hired Steve Forbes instead. But what most worries me is not the current crisis, but the excuse and the power it gives them to do real, permanent damage to the country, to the point that no one will have any reason to run their own business, unless it's some sort of a scam.

[kirottu]

They should have elected Carth, because he was so well developed, interesting character.

[Hurlshort]

They should have elected Carth, because he was so well developed, interesting character.

 

Genius.

[Wrath of Dagon]

OK, I get what you guys are saying. I'm wasting my time.

[Kelverin]

I'm wasting my time.

Welcome to political discussion on the internet, or anywhere else for that matter.

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

They should have elected Carth, because he was so well developed, interesting character.

That's just not getting old, is it?

 

 

 

OH SHI- I'm a mage. What powers do I get?

Edited February 10, 2009 by WILL THE ALMIGHTY

[taks]

I'm wasting my time.

Welcome to political discussion on the internet, or anywhere else for that matter.

obviously i missed something "angry" so the context is lost on me, but i think i understand the follow-up: we're retarded for doing so, right?

 

taks

[Calax]

I'm wasting my time.

Welcome to political discussion on the internet, or anywhere else for that matter.

obviously i missed something "angry" so the context is lost on me, but i think i understand the follow-up: we're retarded for doing so, right?

 

taks

I don't know what Wrath's second post said before "I'm wasting my time" but his first post caused a lot of ire.

[Walsingham]

More time has passsed, and the biggest attacks have been sectarian, Sunnis killing Shias to try and spark a race war. Yet I was strolling past the Houses of Parliament last week and saw a dinky lil' village of protesters camped out with a placard reading "the true face of the enemy in Iraq and Afghanistan" covered in shrapnel and bomb fragments.