So that convention...

[Grandpa's Spells]

Are we calling this now? Obama with about 330 electoral votes?

Funny tweet about the Eastwood thing:

This is a perfect representation of the campaign: an old white man arguing with an imaginary Barack Obama.

[Alfred_E._Neuman]

I think Obama will win, but it'll be close. Plenty of people are still hurting from the economy and they'll think the President actually has some magic wand he should be able to wave and fix the problems, so they'll look to oust one CIC for another.

But there are more people who go with the devil they know over the devil they don't. When there's no enormous distinction between the two, most idiots will stick with the incumbent.

[Turdacious]

Are we calling this now? Obama with about 330 electoral votes?

Only if voters in Chicago graves are able to vote in Ohio, Virginia, and Florida. This will be a close election.

[Andy83]

I think Obama will win, but it'll be close. Plenty of people are still hurting from the economy and they'll think the President actually has some magic wand he should be able to wave and fix the problems, so they'll look to oust one CIC for another.

But there are more people who go with the devil they know over the devil they don't. When there's no enormous distinction between the two, most idiots will stick with the incumbent.

I hope you're right. I don't know what the hell he's talking about. All I know is that he's hip and gonna give me lots of free stuff!

[Pinky]

The only people who watch conventions are party loyalists and people who want to laugh at how stupid the convention is. H. L. Mencken summed up every political convention ever:

"It is vulgar, it is ugly, it is stupid, it is tedious, it is hard upon both the higher cerebral centers and the gluteus maximus, and yet it is somehow charming. One sits through long sessions wishing all the delegates and alternates were dead and in hell - and then suddenly there comes a show so gaudy and hilarious, so melodramatic and obscene, so unimaginably exhilarating and preposterous that one lives a gorgeous year in an hour."

They are all the same.

[TerryB]

I think the biggest story this election cycle will be how few people show up to vote.

[Andy83]

That's good Proto. As long as more Democrats show up and you keep working hard so I will keep getting my free stuff

[buckethead]

I've read through most of the approved platform. Looks like 2012 will be the first time ever for me not to vote republican. As usual, the financial and governing ideas are generally appealing, but the social platform looks like something from the middle ages and national security platform reads like we're about to invade Austria and kill the jews.

So I guess it's down to Obama or Gary Johnson

[TerryB]

That's good Proto. As long as more Democrats show up and you keep working hard so I will keep getting my free stuff

ZZZzzzzzzzzz

I don't think anybody really cares about your pretending, Andy.

[Grandpa's Spells]

When there's no enormous distinction between the two, most idiots will stick with the incumbent.

This is actually one of the few times where there is a pretty big policy gap between the two. McCain v. Obama, not so much, but this current version of Romney is a pretty stark difference.

[Pinky]

When there's no enormous distinction between the two, most idiots will stick with the incumbent.

This is actually one of the few times where there is a pretty big policy gap between the two. McCain v. Obama, not so much, but this current version of Romney is a pretty stark difference.

This is less true if you consider every version of Romney to be a bag of hot air.

[TerryB]

When there's no enormous distinction between the two, most idiots will stick with the incumbent.

This is actually one of the few times where there is a pretty big policy gap between the two. McCain v. Obama, not so much, but this current version of Romney is a pretty stark difference.

They are supporting radically different corporations?

[Pinky]

So I guess it's down to Obama or Gary Johnson

Or you could go to work, play with your kids, or do whatever else you like. Either way, the outcome of the election will be the same.

[Andy83]

That's good Proto. As long as more Democrats show up and you keep working hard so I will keep getting my free stuff

ZZZzzzzzzzzz

I don't think anybody really cares about your pretending, Andy.

It's well known that you don't think right.

[climber511]

I had a friend who went to all the political conventions - said it was the best place to get laid he ever saw. Cared less than nothing about whose convention it was - he went for the women.

[TerryB]

I had a friend who went to all the political conventions - said it was the best place to get laid he ever saw.

How's that??

[kreator]

Eastwood's speech was really bad.

I've read through most of the approved platform. Looks like 2012 will be the first time ever for me not to vote republican. As usual, the financial and governing ideas are generally appealing, but the social platform looks like something from the middle ages and national security platform reads like we're about to invade Austria and kill the jews.

So I guess it's down to Obama or Gary Johnson

Not saying I disagree with you that the GOP social platform is bad. As a libertarian I am no fan of them either.

But I've been hearing people say this a lot, that the GOP is in the middle ages or similar. What part of it specifically? Just genuinely curious what makes people so repulsed, because most of those social issues aren't new values they came up with. Is it just that as the years pass you're expected to become less restrictive or what?

[milosz]

http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/

Nate Silver was frighteningly accurate in 2008, Obama wins 70% of the time in his simulations. In the middle of Romney's presumptive convention bump.

[buckethead]

- In a free society, the primary role of government is to protect the God-given...
- The Republican Party, born in opposition to the denial of liberty, stands for the rights of individuals, families, faith communities...
- That assurance has never been more needed than it is today, as liberal elites try to drive religious beliefs – and religious believers – out of the public square. The Founders of the American Republic universally agree that democracy presupposes a moral people and that, in the words of George Washington’s Farewell Address, “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.”
- We support the public display of the Ten Commandments as a reflection of our history and of our country’s Judeo-Christian heritage
- We assert every citizen’s right to apply religious values to public policy and the right of faith-based organizations to participate fully in public programs without renouncing their beliefs, removing religious symbols, or submitting to government-imposed hiring practices.
- We condemn the hate campaigns, threats of violence, and vandalism by proponents of same-sex marriage against advocates of traditional marriage and call for a federal investigation into attempts to deny religious believers their civil rights.
- We acknowledge, support, and defend the law-abiding citizen’s God-given right of self-defense.
- We support the appointment of judges who respect traditional family values and the sanctity of innocent human life.
- We condemn decisions by activist judges to deny children the opportunity to say the Pledge of Allegiance in its entirety, including “Under God,” in public schools and encourage States to promote the pledge.
- We support the prohibition of gambling over the Internet
- Current laws on all forms of pornography and obscenity need to be vigorously enforced
- We renew our call for replacing “family planning” programs for teens with abstinence education which teaches abstinence until marriage as the responsible and respected standard of behavior.
- We call on State officials to ensure that our public colleges and universities be places of learning and the exchange of ideas, not zones of intellectual intolerance favoring the Left.

[Grandpa's Spells]

http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/

Nate Silver was frighteningly accurate in 2008, Obama wins 70% of the time in his simulations. In the middle of Romney's presumptive convention bump.

Nate was a poker buddy when he lived in Chicago. Pretty incredible example of how in the Internet era a guy can have zero credentials in a given arena, but shoot up to the top of a field with enough smarts and hustle in a blink. He went from poker player/baseball writer to Time Magazine's World's Most Influential 100 People in about 12 months.

[TerryB]

where did you get that list buckethead?

[buckethead]

I pulled it verbatim from the GOP official platform that I linked earlier

[Blaidd Drwg]

- In a free society, the primary role of government is to protect the God-given...
- The Republican Party, born in opposition to the denial of liberty, stands for the rights of individuals, families, faith communities...
- That assurance has never been more needed than it is today, as liberal elites try to drive religious beliefs – and religious believers – out of the public square. The Founders of the American Republic universally agree that democracy presupposes a moral people and that, in the words of George Washington’s Farewell Address, “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.”
- We support the public display of the Ten Commandments as a reflection of our history and of our country’s Judeo-Christian heritage
- We assert every citizen’s right to apply religious values to public policy and the right of faith-based organizations to participate fully in public programs without renouncing their beliefs, removing religious symbols, or submitting to government-imposed hiring practices.
- We condemn the hate campaigns, threats of violence, and vandalism by proponents of same-sex marriage against advocates of traditional marriage and call for a federal investigation into attempts to deny religious believers their civil rights.
- We acknowledge, support, and defend the law-abiding citizen’s God-given right of self-defense.
- We support the appointment of judges who respect traditional family values and the sanctity of innocent human life.
- We condemn decisions by activist judges to deny children the opportunity to say the Pledge of Allegiance in its entirety, including “Under God,” in public schools and encourage States to promote the pledge.
- We support the prohibition of gambling over the Internet
- Current laws on all forms of pornography and obscenity need to be vigorously enforced
- We renew our call for replacing “family planning” programs for teens with abstinence education which teaches abstinence until marriage as the responsible and respected standard of behavior.
- We call on State officials to ensure that our public colleges and universities be places of learning and the exchange of ideas, not zones of intellectual intolerance favoring the Left.

I can find not a single supportable idea in that entire load of shite.

Not even the self defense bit....pfffffft @ "god given." Our Rights are thankfully not god given, they're written down. It's more reliable that way.

[Testiclaw]

I can find not a single supportable idea in that entire load of shite.

JOBS JOBS JOBS. LASER. LIKE. FOCUS. ON. JOBS.

You just don't understand it, you stupid lib.

THANKS A LOT OBAMBI.

[johno]

Our Rights are thankfully not god given, they're written down. It's more reliable that way.

Of course you don't care about "God-given rights." You're an atheist. But >90% of Americans do believe in God, so enjoy the concept as a useful myth.


http://www.gallup.com/poll/147887/ameri ... e-god.aspx