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[Narpas Sword0]

Did a27 ever comply with that request from the last thread to lay out his ideology? I remember him saying he'd "do it later can't right now"

If he's going to keep going off half cocked with ten or more posts per page maybe he should at it on the line,

 

[Jason's Ultimatum]

edit-NM. Dead topic.

 

[Particle Physicist]

I don't get it. Maybe I'm missing something really, really obvious here, but are they really about to throw 24 million into the pockets of real estate investors, for free basically? 12 million a year to lease a building you owned two years ago...

It's actually more than 24 million. That is just the price difference between the sell and buy back. They also paid a certain amount to lease the buildings. The whole thing seems shady as fuck

 

[War Peaceman]

We'll probably never know, but I'd really like to find out whether that Arizona business is genuine corruption or just abject incompetence. I'm leaning towards the latter, but I can't be sure.

 

[Tom_Cody]

We'll probably never know, but I'd really like to find out whether that Arizona business is genuine corruption or just abject incompetence. I'm leaning towards the latter, but I can't be sure.

Short-term budget gimmicks like this are unfortunately extraordinarily common in local governments across the US. There was a great This American Life segment on the topic. Sad and disgusting.

 

[AlteredBeast]

We'll probably never know, but I'd really like to find out whether that Arizona business is genuine corruption or just abject incompetence. I'm leaning towards the latter, but I can't be sure.

I am hoping for incompetence. Most of the tea party types seem so illogical in their pursuit of so-called conservative principles that they are blind to true politicians and scumbags pulling the rug out...until they dig their heels in on some meaningless items.

 

[Byakuya769]

Bill Maher is one of my least favorite people ever.

On this we can agree.

 

[AlteredBeast]

On this we can agree.

That's is an old comment to dig up to agree with one line. I agree though. Even back in his Politically Incorrect days he pissed me off. One smug beady-eyed prick.

 

[maximum360]

*breathes in...*

*...breathes out*

*breathes in...*

*...breathes out*

So if you equate dollar amounts to speech, the wealthy will be able to talk a whole lot more. That for the most part eliminates the equity in the whole political process.

 

[GhaleonEB]

This is the typical republican shell game laid bare.

Ding ding.

Newt's ads working in SC? http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/updates/3977

All dat free speech.

 

[Zabka]

I can't stand Gingrich but the dude's a bulldog (not just in appearance) and would be an effective running mate for anyone.

 

[ToxicAdam]

A new Rasmussen survey in Florida shows Mitt Romney with an overwhelming lead over his Republican presidential rivals.

Romney leads with 41%, followed by Newt Gingrich at 19%, Rick Santorum at 15%, Ron Paul at 9% and Jon Hunstman at 5%.

Ovah

 

[Tamanon]

Still time for Giuliani to make a play for Florida.

 

[Kusagari]

Ovah

Huntsman with dat minor percentage gain.

 

[GhaleonEB]

Ovah

I do not disagree. However....

Rasmussen, lol

We've seen the effect that carpet bombing a state with ads (super PACs, woo) can have, with Newt in Iowa thanks to Romney, and now Romney in SC thanks to Newt. Once everyone is focused on Florida things could shift again.

Still over, but there may be some bumps along the way. At least, I hope so. Been terribly boring so far.

 

[ToxicAdam]

Rasmussen, lol

Has Rasmussen been wildly off on the previous contests? I haven't paid close attention.

 

[Invisible_Insane]

Has Rasmussen been wildly off on the previous contests? I haven't paid close attention.

Pretty bad in 2010.

Some 13 of its polls missed by 10 or more points, including one in the Hawaii Senate race that missed the final margin between the candidates by 40 points, the largest error ever recorded in a general election in FiveThirtyEight’s database, which includes all polls conducted since 1998.

 

[AlteredBeast]

Still time for Giuliani to make a play for Florida.

LOL. Every time I turn on Fox News, CNN, or MSNBC and they are still waiting for some savior to jump in and rally the base.

 

[ToxicAdam]

Pretty bad in 2010.

I was talking about this year.

 

[gcubed]

No, Romney is either going to go hard right for the campaign, or he's going to get a very conservative VP. He has to, or else he's going to lose important sectors of his base.

Moderate Republicans haven't won an election in a very long time.

GHWB... its only been over 20 years! They steadily went downhill from there.

 

[Invisible_Insane]

I was talking about this year.

Hasn't looked that bad so far? If you look at the the link I posted on the first page, you can look through the all polling that's been done in IA and NH. Make sure you expand the list to include sources whose methods don't meet the "methodological standards" of Times.

 

[AlteredBeast]

Hasn't looked that bad so far? If you look at the the link I posted on the first page, you can look through the all polling that's been done in IA and NH. Make sure you expand the list to include sources whose methods don't meet the "methodological standards" of Times.

I wonder what the criteria is. Either way, it looks like Romney is leading in all of them within the last week. If Romney wins SC, it is unequivocally over, as if it weren't already an almost certainty.

 

[RustyNails]

Republican mayor of Manchester, NH wants James O Keefe arrested

In the wake of a stunt pulled by James O'Keefe’s Project Veritas during the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday, a Republican official is calling on those involved to be arrested.

“They should be arrested and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,“ Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas told the Union Leader.

“People who pull stunts like this should be prosecuted,” Nashua City Clerk Paul Bergeron told the newspaper.

I wonder what stunt he pulled this time. I will never forgive NPR for bringing this clown for an interview and let him talk all over them, and in fact, undermining their position when talking about journalistic integrity. He's smart, but in a dickhole kind of way.

 

[ClovingWestbrook]

So the Republican power players are basically rallying behind Romney over Newt and others attacks on Bain. Yes, it's over.

 

[Tamanon]

Republican mayor of Manchester, NH wants James O Keefe arrested

I wonder what stunt he pulled this time. I will never forgive NPR for bringing this clown for an interview and let him talk all over them, and in fact, undermining their position when talking about journalistic integrity. He's smart, but in a dickhole kind of way.

My understanding was they tried to do voter impersonation fraud. Failed from what I've read.

 

[ToxicAdam]

Hasn't looked that bad so far? If you look at the the link I posted on the first page, you can look through the all polling that's been done in IA and NH. Make sure you expand the list to include sources whose methods don't meet the "methodological standards" of Times.

I must be blind, I still can't see it.

:/

So the Republican power players are basically rallying behind Romney over Newt and others attacks on Bain. Yes, it's over.

The establishment has always been behind Romney. He was killing everybody in endorsements. These Newt attacks came well after that reality.

 

[Invisible_Insane]

I wonder what the criteria is. Either way, it looks like Romney is leading in all of them within the last week. If Romney wins SC, it is unequivocally over, as if it weren't already an almost certainty.

Rasmussen’s polls have come under heavy criticism throughout this election cycle, including from FiveThirtyEight. We have critiqued the firm for its cavalier attitude toward polling convention. Rasmussen, for instance, generally conducts all of its interviews during a single, 4-hour window; speaks with the first person it reaches on the phone rather than using a random selection process; does not call cellphones; does not call back respondents whom it misses initially; and uses a computer script rather than live interviewers to conduct its surveys. These are cost-saving measures which contribute to very low response rates and may lead to biased samples.

I assume this has something to do with it for Rasmussen. I've looked around for what their standards are, I'll let you guys know if I find anything.

I must be blind, I still can't see it.

:/

Scroll all the way to the bottom.

 

[Manos: The Hans of Fate]

Republican mayor of Manchester, NH wants James O Keefe arrested

I wonder what stunt he pulled this time. I will never forgive NPR for bringing this clown for an interview and let him talk all over them, and in fact, undermining their position when talking about journalistic integrity. He's smart, but in a dickhole kind of way.

Didn't he get arrested for trying too...in the dumbest fucking manner possible...but a Congressional Office, or was it a local office or State Rep?

 

[MrGame&Watch]

Bill Maher is one of my least favorite people ever.

He's one of my favorite people, but then again I'm pretty antitheist

 

[ronito]

I really think we need to change the primary process. It can't be "You win the first three states you're the nominee!"

 

[ReBurn]

I really think we need to change the primary process. It can't be "You win the first three states you're the nominee!"

I think we need to change the entire electoral process. The road to 270 disenfranchises lots of states. I wonder how people in some states feel when the presidential election is decided before their votes are even counted?

 

[mckmas8808]

Everyone over 100 posts.

WOOHOO! In the top 10 baby!

 

[KtSlime]

He's one of my favorite people, but then again I'm pretty antitheist

While being an apatheist would put him mostly in the rational category for me, he has to mess it up by rolling with Jenny's crew, making him just slightly less nutty than a religious zelot. I also find some of his political views as irrationally based. And it doesn't help that he's not very funny and kind of full of himself.

 

[Invisible_Insane]

I really think we need to change the primary process. It can't be "You win the first three states you're the nominee!"

I agree that the primary process needs revising, but I don't think it's necessarily the case that winning the first three states makes you the nominee; rather, anyone who can win in IA, NH, and SC is likely to be the most desirable candidate in that given field. Keep in mind that Iowa and New Hampshire hadn't been won by the same person for 20 or so years.

I think we need to change the entire electoral process. The road to 270 disenfranchises lots of states. I wonder how people in some states feel when the presidential election is decided before their votes are even counted?

http://www.nationalpopularvote.com/

Everyone over 100 posts.
http://i.imgur.com/Deb8u.png

Random curiosity-how does one go about generating this list?

 

[AlteredBeast]

He's one of my favorite people, but then again I'm pretty antitheist

Congrats, dude.

 

[Something Wicked]

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/71349.html

You can blame Mitt Romney, but not for Bain Capital

By STEVEN RATTNER | 1/12/12 12:02 AM EST

I’m all in favor of piling on Mitt Romney for any number of reasons: his come lately embrace of hard right conservatism, his periodic malapropisms (“I like being able to fire people”) and above all, the nonchalance with which he displays a dazzling shortage of principles by incessantly flip-flopping on issues, sometimes the same day.

But these latest salvos being fired at his service as the founder and head of Bain Capital go too far. Having spent nearly three decades on Wall Street, when it comes to Bain Capital, I feel equipped — some might say too equipped — to parse fact from fiction. (Full disclosure: In the post-Romney era, I worked with Bain Capital on several projects.)

Most important, Bain Capital is not now, nor has it ever been, some kind of Gordon Gekko-like, fire-breathing corporate raider that slashed and burned companies, immolating jobs wherever they appear in its path
Wall Street has its share of the vulture capitalists that Texas Gov. Rick Perry enjoyed mocking in South Carolina earlier this week. But Romney was almost the furthest thing from Larry the Liquidator.

Instead, with modest exceptions (keep reading to learn more about these), Bain Capital was a thoroughly respectable – nay, eminent – investment manager that successfully discharged its responsibility of earning high returns for its investors by deploying capital in companies privately rather than by buying shares in the public market. (Hence the name, private equity.)...

Apparently, Mr. Rattner was involved in the GM/Chrysler bailouts and has worked for private equity firms before.

 

[Invisible_Insane]

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/71349.html

Apparently, Mr. Rattner was involved in the GM/Chrysler bailouts and has worked for private equity firms before.

Why does the Obama administration hate businesses?

 

[ShockingAlberto]

He's one of my favorite people, but then again I'm pretty antitheist

Antitheist or not, it was just plain embarrassing to see him flail against Bill Frist.

Frist is someone who diagnosed a woman and said she'd wake up any day now with video. Maher looks like an intellectual midget next to him.

It's hard to take anything this nutjob says seriously. For fun, Maher whining about people realizing how stupid he is the next week.

 

[Cyan]

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/71349.html



Apparently, Mr. Rattner was involved in the GM/Chrysler bailouts and has worked for private equity firms before.

Bain Capital is a pretty good fund.

 

[Frank the Great]

i think it's pretty interesting that romney has defended bain by saying obama was a private equity investor with the auto industry.

is he thereby conceding the point that obama "saved" the auto industry and "created jobs" in michigan? because according to him this is what private equity firms do. i thought part of romney's strategy would be to downplay the effectiveness of the auto bailout, unless he is conceding michigan. smart move i guess, he stood no chance there anyway.

 

[Cyan]

i think it's pretty interesting that romney has defended bain by saying obama was a private equity investor with the auto industry.

Should've gone the Al Gore route. "Al Gore is a billionaire thanks to private equity and pushing his incredibly profitable global warming scam!"

 

[A27_StarWolf]

Ramussan was polling Huntsman at 7 percent two days before the New Hampshire Primary.

A little off

 

[AlteredBeast]

i think it's pretty interesting that romney has defended bain by saying obama was a private equity investor with the auto industry.

is he thereby conceding the point that obama "saved" the auto industry and "created jobs" in michigan? because according to him this is what private equity firms do. i thought part of romney's strategy would be to downplay the effectiveness of the auto bailout, unless he is conceding michigan. smart move i guess, he stood no chance there anyway.

Perhaps he was merely against the government doing it, rather than allowing PE firms to step in and restructure. I think many people take issue with how things were divvied up and restructured with the bailout.

 

[ToxicAdam]

Ramussan was polling Huntsman at 7 percent two days before the New Hampshire Primary.

A little off

According to that NYT link, they had Huntsman at 15% on Jan 8. 12% on Jan 5.

 

[Invisible_Insane]

Perhaps he was merely against the government doing it, rather than allowing PE firms to step in and restructure. I think many people take issue with how things were divvied up and restructured with the bailout.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/19/opinion/19romney.html

 

[BotoxAgent]

it would be funny if Romney "went there" with Gingrinch and brought up his abandonment of his cancer-stricken wife. Gingrich would EXPLODE!! lol

 

[Kosmo]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/19/opinion/19romney.html

The government basically did exactly what Romney suggested, with the exception that the government chose to protect the UAW and screw the bond holders who had a legal right to be paid first. Which part of this do you disagree with:

It is not wrong to ask for government help, but the automakers should come up with a win-win proposition. I believe the federal government should invest substantially more in basic research — on new energy sources, fuel-economy technology, materials science and the like — that will ultimately benefit the automotive industry, along with many others. I believe Washington should raise energy research spending to $20 billion a year, from the $4 billion that is spent today. The research could be done at universities, at research labs and even through public-private collaboration. The federal government should also rectify the imbedded tax penalties that favor foreign carmakers.

But don’t ask Washington to give shareholders and bondholders a free pass — they bet on management and they lost.

The American auto industry is vital to our national interest as an employer and as a hub for manufacturing. A managed bankruptcy may be the only path to the fundamental restructuring the industry needs. It would permit the companies to shed excess labor, pension and real estate costs. The federal government should provide guarantees for post-bankruptcy financing and assure car buyers that their warranties are not at risk.

In a managed bankruptcy, the federal government would propel newly competitive and viable automakers, rather than seal their fate with a bailout check.

 

[Cyan]

The government basically did exactly what Romney suggested, with the exception that the government chose to protect the UAW and screw the bond holders who had a legal right to be paid first. Which part of this do you disagree with:

Bondholders have a legal right to be paid before stockholders. Not "first."

 

[adamsappel]

I asked this in another thread. If Romney is elected, do Mormons expect him to swear the oath of office on the Book of Mormon?

 

[JetBlackPanda]

I asked this in another thread. If Romney is elected, do Mormons expect him to swear the oath of office on the Book of Mormon?

No.

does it really matter either way?