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[Diablos]

Why wouldn't people listen to Silver? In aggregate, he's been the most accurate forecaster over a the last decade.

Why do you think people are not listening to Silver now, Diablos? Honest question.

Because I was pretty sure I remember Silver being not so popular around here at some point, for whatever reason.

Because Diablos always believes against all common sense that Obama is doomed and will lose in a bigger landslide than Dukakis.

The only difference between him and PD is that PD actively roots for Obama to fail.

Er... can you cite a post of mine where I said Obama's going to lose in a bigger landslide than Dukakis? I don't believe you can, because I never said it. I've maintained that Obama has a good chance of winning but that it should not be assumed to be as likely as lot of people here think. This election is probably going to be pretty close, and in a close election you can't assume your guy is gonna pull away with a victory without a fight. And just because I react negatively at times to data or news that doesn't bode well for the President doesn't mean I'm a clone of PD. Nor does it mean I want him to lose, even if I'm not "actively rooting" for him to like he does. I want him to win.

Please don't try to paint me into a corner when a mod is present, it's pretty lame.

I think I remember seeing some anti-Silver posts here recently, though I think it was on the basis of his popularity rather than people not liking his numbers. Maybe that's what Diablos is remembering.

Yeah, maybe this.

There you go again.

Rasmussen's wisconsin senate poll caught me completely off-guard: they have Tammy Baldwin leading Tommy Thompson by 7 (48-41). Eric Hovde actually comes closest at 45-42.

Their polls are bunk but I'll take one showing Baldwin up even if it's from rasmussen.

Why in the world would you "take one" if you know it's bunk? This is why I'm inclined to question your rampant enthusiasm at times.

If we're going by the polls than 56% of the country wants lawmakers to move on from the issue.

I'm going to make a bold prediction and say healthcare is here to stay. Sorry PD.

I would say if Obama gets re-elected it's here to stay. By then the law will be mostly in place and people will start to see the benefits of it.

However, if Mittens gets in and the GOP holds the House and wins back the Senate (toss up at this point), I expect a full repeal. They've only voted for it, what, at least 30 times in the House by now? Yeah, it'll be dead.

 

[eBay Huckster]

Why in the world would you "take one" if you know it's bunk?

I can see where he's coming from: if a poll doing all kinds of bullshit with its sample to favor Republicans still shows the Democratic candidate up by 7, it might actually hold some meaning.

if Mittens gets in and the GOP holds the House and wins back the Senate (toss up at this point)

Only one of these things will be the case in November in even a "PD's wet dream" scenario

 

[speculawyer]

Yeah. Obviously, Romney's knowledge of the topic is negligible. But his advisers have been woeful failures. Really, team Romney is awful. Further, I think the difficulty stems from a broader dilemma confronting Republicans. After the repudiation of Bush's foreign policy, the party's platform has been rudderless. Any scholar with a modicum of intellectual credibility has abandoned the neoconservative dogma. The strident isolationist minority hasn't gained traction. There's little coherence and Romney's being forced to assert his policies. Effectively, he's having to lead. And he's failing.

Yeah, I think Romney has screwed himself over by hiring a bunch of Bush people for foreign policy. They have a personal stake in defending those policies which are now hated by most of the population. So they keep trying to polish a turd.

Obama should really take advantage of it. If Romney repeats one of their bone-headed talking points in a debate, Obama should say "Well, I don't think you have a good grasp of the modern situation and your reliance on 20 (whatever the number is) Bush foreign policy advisors has you advocating a failed policy.

 

[pigeon]

I would say if Obama gets re-elected it's here to stay. By then the law will be mostly in place and people will start to see the benefits of it.

However, if Mittens gets in and the GOP holds the House and wins back the Senate (toss up at this point), I expect a full repeal. They've only voted for it, what, at least 30 times in the House by now? Yeah, it'll be dead.

They're free to keep voting for it in the House in the knowledge that it can't pass the Senate and the President. If they actually had the power to repeal it, they'd have to start walking back very quickly, because whatever they say in public, they know that major components of the law are popular with the people. Several reps have already begun laying the groundwork for a flip on this by focusing even more on "repeal and replace," which may as well just be "amend."

 

[Diablos]

I can see where he's coming from: if a poll doing all kinds of bullshit with its sample to favor Republicans still shows the Democratic candidate up by 7, it might actually hold some meaning.

Or it could be all the more reason why they're a bullshit pollster.

Only one of these things will be the case in November in even a "PD's wet dream" scenario

Eh well if there are at least 50-51 GOP seats in the Senate they could use reconciliation to repeal.

They're free to keep voting for it in the House in the knowledge that it can't pass the Senate and the President. If they actually had the power to repeal it, they'd have to start walking back very quickly, because whatever they say in public, they know that major components of the law are popular with the people. Several reps have already begun laying the groundwork for a flip on this by focusing even more on "repeal and replace," which may as well just be "amend."

And what would they replace it with?

They'd kill the mandate, at the very least. Which would scale back preventing insurance companies from discriminating against those with pre-existing conditions. That would just be the beginning.

 

[Vicetrailia]

Poor Romney.

Dude is anti-social, republicans hate him, his campaign is shaky for many reasons and foreigners don't like him at all. His only friends are the ones who are trying to make money off him...but that's only temporary.

 

[Diablos]

Too bad money doesn't talk in US politics!

Oh, wait.

Temporary? Dude has at least $1b in his war chest.

You figure McCain raised ~330 mil in 2008. This was pre-SuperPAC bullshit. Mittens has $1b from these fuckers. We can also expect him to raise more than McCain's $330 mil, outside of PAC money.

Really, we're probably looking at uh, at least $1.5bil overall from the Mittens camp.

Disgusting.

 

[TacticalFox88]

Too bad money doesn't talk in US politics!

Oh, wait.

Temporary? Dude has at least $1b in his war chest.

You figure McCain raised ~330 mil in 2008. This was pre-SuperPAC bullshit. Mittens has $1b from these fuckers. We can also expect him to raise more than McCain's $330 mil, outside of PAC money.

Really, we're probably looking at uh, at least $1.5bil overall from the Mittens camp.

Disgusting.

I really REALLY hope that if Obama's balls drop when he finally clenches a second term, if the opportunity presents itself, he'll start a campaign of destroying Citizen's United.

 

[speculawyer]

This is racist.

Three and a half years into President Obama's first term as president, half of Americans cannot accurately say what religion he is, according to a poll released this week.

Only 49 percent of respondents said that Obama was Christian while 17 percent inaccurately said he was Muslim. Nearly one-third of respondents said they did not know the president's religion, according to the poll released Thursday by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion & Public Life.

More people - 60 percent - knew that Romney, who has not held elected office in a decade, was Mormon than knew which religion the sitting president subscribes to.

And while only 9 percent of respondents said Romney was a religion that he is not, more than twice that amount said Obama adheres to a religion other than Christianity. The vast majority of those claiming Obama is not a Christian said he was a Muslim.

Nearly one in three Republicans said Obama was Muslim, twice as many as in 2008, the Pew study shows.

http://news.yahoo.com/half-americans-not-know-presidents-religion-120055199--abc-news-politics.html

I get it. They hate Obama so they lie and say he is Muslim or say they don't know his religion. But they hated Bill Clinton too . . . but they would never have said Bill Clinton was Muslim. This is naked racism and I'm very sad about it.

 

[Diablos]

The hate for this man is as real as ever, perhaps just a bit more repressed because he upsets them so much. Living in the rust belt, lots of fellow white folks just walk around assuming everyone thinks the same bullshit about him. It's truly awful. I work with people who still think his birth certificate isn't valid. They get so upset about him that they have to tell themselves to shut up mid-sentence so they don't get out of hand. When you poll this nationally, it might not look so bad, but in certain areas? Holy shit. It's crushing.

 

[speculawyer]

Poor Romney.

Dude is anti-social, republicans hate him, his campaign is shaky for many reasons and foreigners don't like him at all. His only friends are the ones who are trying to make money off him...but that's only temporary.

But despite all that, he is doing very well. He basically has a campaign that is run on Obama-hate.

 

[TacticalFox88]

This is racist.

http://news.yahoo.com/half-americans-not-know-presidents-religion-120055199--abc-news-politics.html

I get it. They hate Obama so they lie and say he is Muslim or say they don't know his religion. But they hated Bill Clinton too . . . but they would never have said Bill Clinton was Muslim. This is naked racism and I'm very sad about it.

All of the bullshit about being born in Kenya, Birthism, a Muslim, socialist, etc.

To me all it is just a substitute for the N-word. Which is what they REALLY want to call him but can't, publicly.

 

[Diablos]

But despite all that, he is doing very well. He basically has a campaign that is run on Obama-hate.

Yep. It's an overstatement to say Obama's unpopular because of his policies and whatnot -- that has something to do with why some people may be turned off, sure -- but there's a huge chunk of voters in crucial states who think he's not American and practices Islam. For that reason alone they want him out. Romney, to them, puts a face to that agenda no matter how out of touch they are.

That's why I'm cautiously optimistic and don't get super excited every time a good Obama poll comes down the wire. The results of this election, I fear, are going to be driven less by the more practical indicators of what gets a President re-elected, and more driven by purely hateful emotions coming from white voters in swing states. Obama's lost a lot of youth voters, male voters, swing voters in general in those areas.

 

[speculawyer]

They'd kill the mandate, at the very least. Which would scale back preventing insurance companies from discriminating against those with pre-existing conditions. That would just be the beginning.

And this is very annoying . . . the supposed 'fiscal conservative' people want the no-rejecting-pre-existing conditions and they want the keep-your-kids-on-your-plan stuff. But they don't want the mandate because that costs money. They want a magical happy plan

It is just like the budget . . . they want cut the deficit but they want to cut taxes and spend more on the military. More magical thinking.

Deal with some reality people.

 

[The Technomancer]

It is incredibly sad that a candidate like Romney is a serious competitor. I can't tell which I find more depressing: the segment of the population that supports him out of a truly irrational hatred of literally anything Obama, or that every bullshit aspect about Romney is going to get swept under the rug because he can afford to flood every type of media with the message "Obama sucks and I am so awesome"

 

[RustyNails]

I'll leave this here

 

[speculawyer]

Yep. It's an overstatement to say Obama's unpopular because of his policies and whatnot -- that has something to do with why some people may be turned off, sure -- but there's a huge chunk of voters in crucial states who think he's not American and practices Islam. For that reason alone they want him out. Romney, to them, puts a face to that agenda no matter how out of touch they are.

Meh . . . I disagree . . . maybe I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt. I think they hate him because he is a Democrat and supports Democratic policies, not because he is black. But since they hate him so much and he happens to be black, they spew the Muslim lie. It is a secondary latent racism but still racism. It is a latent racism that they don't even realize they have and thus they'll deny they are being racist at all. But calling Obama Muslim but not Bill Clinton Muslim is racism because dem Moo-slimes are darkies.

 

[cartoon_soldier]

Poor Romney.

Dude is anti-social, republicans hate him, his campaign is shaky for many reasons and foreigners don't like him at all. His only friends are the ones who are trying to make money off him...but that's only temporary.

And he still has a 50/50 chance of being the next President.

 

[CHEEZMO™]

All of the bullshit about being born in Kenya, Birthism, a Muslim, socialist, etc.

To me all it is just a substitute for the N-word. Which is what they REALLY want to call him but can't, publicly.

I need to stop posting political cartoons >_>

 

[gutter_trash]

And he still has a 50/50 chance of being the next President.

more like 30% chance

 

[Chichikov]

I'll leave this here

I demand a porn parody.

 

[richiek]

It is incredibly sad that a candidate like Romney is a serious competitor. I can't tell which I find more depressing: the segment of the population that supports him out of a truly irrational hatred of literally anything Obama, or that every bullshit aspect about Romney is going to get swept under the rug because he can afford to flood every type of media with the message "Obama sucks and I am so awesome"

Same shit happened in 2004. The vast majority of people who voted for Kerry only did so because they hated Dubya, not because he was the better candidate.

 

[TacticalFox88]

Same shit happened in 2004. The vast majority of people who voted for Kerry only did so because they hated Dubya, not because he was the better candidate.

In retrospect and hindsight, Kerry was a terrible candidate, regardless of Bush being a factor.

 

[fallagin]

I'll leave this here

I have the weirdest boner right now.

 

[cartoon_soldier]

Well Romney wrong about

Spoiler

Phelps winning gold over Lochte it seems

 

[speculawyer]

Same shit happened in 2004. The vast majority of people who voted for Kerry only did so because they hated Dubya, not because he was the better candidate.

Nah . . . it is not the same. Admittedly John Kerry was a bit of a cold stone-face lacking personality. But people liked him in that he served in the military but then opposed the war. There is nothing they really didn't like about it.


But with Romney . . . well a sizable portion of the GOP base really views Mormonism as a non-Christian cult. And many don't like him as the very rich management consultant guy who comes in a fires you from your job in order to save the company 5% on costs. And Romney passed Romneycare and was pro-choice! They really don't like him . . . yet they'll vote for him because they hate Obama even more.

So one was hating dubya but being OK with Kerry.

This time it is hating Obama with passion and not-liking (or hating) Romney but going with Romeny because the hate of Obama is greater than the dislike for Romney.

 

[cartoon_soldier]

Nah . . . it is not the same. Admittedly John Kerry was a bit of a cold stone-face lacking personality. But people liked him in that he served in the military but then opposed the war. There is nothing they really didn't like about it.


But with Romney . . . well a sizable portion of the GOP base really views Mormonism as a non-Christian cult. And many don't like him as the very rich management consultant guy who comes in a fires you from your job in order to save the company 5% on costs. They really don't like him . . . yet they'll vote for him because they hate Obama even more.

They will take a Mormon over a Muslim any day.

 

[thatbox]

“I have to tell you, this is Ann’s sport,” he said, preferring to not even say the word “dressage”—which is a French word meaning “training” and sometimes described as horse ballet.
“I’m not even sure which day the sport goes on,” Romney said. “She will get the chance to see it; I will not be watching the event. I hope her horse does well.”​

Speaking in code for "no I will not let cameras catch me at a rich people sporting event and I'm going to pretend to know nothing about it despite how important it is to my wife," presumably.

 

[Diablos]

Meh . . . I disagree . . . maybe I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt. I think they hate him because he is a Democrat and supports Democratic policies, not because he is black. But since they hate him so much and he happens to be black, they spew the Muslim lie. It is a secondary latent racism but still racism. It is a latent racism that they don't even realize they have and thus they'll deny they are being racist at all. But calling Obama Muslim but not Bill Clinton Muslim is racism because dem Moo-slimes are darkies.

Republicans have no shame in admitting how they feel about the President's faith and citizenship. They are the loud, dumb, and opinionated chunk of the electorate. But I think it's safe to assume there are a lot of Independent voters who may share the view that he's not American and/or a Muslim, but too afraid to say it in public. They may not care as much about it, but regardless, just because they aren't foaming at the mouth like they're at a tea party rally doesn't mean it's something that never upsets them. Combine that with general disdain for the state of economic affairs and the President's leadership in general, and there's a lot of momentum riding against the him that we might not even be taking into consideration.

They will take a Mormon over a Muslim any day.

Precisely. Mittens knows this too. The mere perception that Obama is Muslim (even though he's not) has helped Romney immensely. Of course they'll finally break down and vote for a Mormon if they think the President is a Muslim.

 

[Stinkles]

“I have to tell you, this is Ann’s sport,” he said, preferring to not even say the word “dressage”—which is a French word meaning “training” and sometimes described as horse ballet.
“I’m not even sure which day the sport goes on,” Romney said. “She will get the chance to see it; I will not be watching the event. I hope her horse does well.”​

Speaking in code for "no I will not let cameras catch me at rich people sporting event and I'm going to pretend to know nothing about it despite how important it is to my wife," presumably.

Fucking liar. Jesus. Can he even tell the truth? What's the Mormon line on lying?

 

[cartoon_soldier]

“I have to tell you, this is Ann’s sport,” he said, preferring to not even say the word “dressage”—which is a French word meaning “training” and sometimes described as horse ballet.
“I’m not even sure which day the sport goes on,” Romney said. “She will get the chance to see it; I will not be watching the event. I hope her horse does well.”​

Speaking in code for "no I will not let cameras catch me at a rich people sporting event and I'm going to pretend to know nothing about it despite how important it is to my wife," presumably.

The fakeness is so obvious

 

[Diablos]

Another weird-ass comment from Bubble Boy. Well, Bubble Man.

 

[KtSlime]

Fucking liar. Jesus. Can he even tell the truth? What's the Mormon line on lying?

I believe it is the same as the other Abrahamic religions, no bearing false witness, but it is okay to lie as long as you do it in accordance with God's Plan or in the defense of the faith.

 

[metalslimer]

The whole stealth muslim Obama thing having so much support depresses me. If only Kosmo were here to tell me that there is just as much hate for white people on the other side to make me feel better.

 

[speculawyer]

They will take a Mormon over a Muslim any day.

I wonder what they would think if they had to choose between a Mormon that was black and a Muslim that was white. Dilemma!

Would the black guy with the Christian-ish (in their view) faith be trusted more? Or would the white guy be viewed as "one of the few good Muslims"?

 

[cartoon_soldier]

I wonder what they would think if they had to choose between a Mormon that was black and a Muslim that was white. Dilemma!

Would the black guy with the Christian-ish (in their view) faith be trusted more? Or would the white guy be viewed as "one of the few good Muslims"?

America will not elect a Muslim President in our lifetime.

 

[kehs]

The Obama campaign train appears to be getting ready to make stops at immigrant stops.

This jumped out at me from this week's weekly address:

As soon as they pass that bill, I’ll sign it right away. And in the meantime, I’m going to keep fighting for an economy where we’re not just putting folks back to work, but making sure that work pays off – an economy where every American, no matter who you are, what you look like, or where you come from, can have the confidence that if you work hard, you can get ahead.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press...entatives-must-act-middle-class-tax-cut-exten

 

[Stinkles]

I believe it is the same as the other Abrahamic religions, no bearing false witness, but it is okay to lie as long as you do it in accordance with God's Plan or in the defense of the faith.

Yeah, fibbing about Dressage to appear more blue collar definitely fits.

 

[Dan]

“I have to tell you, this is Ann’s sport,” he said, preferring to not even say the word “dressage”—which is a French word meaning “training” and sometimes described as horse ballet.
“I’m not even sure which day the sport goes on,” Romney said. “She will get the chance to see it; I will not be watching the event. I hope her horse does well.”​

Speaking in code for "no I will not let cameras catch me at a rich people sporting event and I'm going to pretend to know nothing about it despite how important it is to my wife," presumably.

It's hilarious how he's more comfortable appearing to be a shitty husband who doesn't give a shit about his wife's interests than he is just admitting his rich and does silly rich people things.

 

[TacticalFox88]

America will not elect a Muslim President in our lifetime.

And sadly, they'll elect a Muslim before they'll elect an Atheist.

 

[Dram]

America will not elect a Muslim President in our lifetime.

An Atheist president would be picked before a Muslim one.

 

[Vicetrailia]

It's hilarious how he's more comfortable appearing to be a shitty husband who doesn't give a shit about his wife's interests than he is just admitting his rich and does silly rich people things.

Romney really should have owned this response, wear the right badge. The whole paper trail goes back exactly to what he doesn't want to "be", so who are you fooling? This is the fakest guy on the planet. But yet people will forgive him.

 

[Dan]

Washington Post: Romney bans media from Jerusalem fundraiser, violating pre-established protocol

JERUSALEM — Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, who touched down here Saturday night for a day of meetings with top Israeli and Palestinian leaders, plans to wrap up his visit to Israel by collecting money from some of his biggest benefactors behind closed doors.

Some of Romney’s Jewish donors are flying here from the United States to attend the Jerusalem fundraiser on Monday morning, including Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, who has pledged to personally give tens of millions of dollars to a pro-Romney super PAC.

But Romney’s campaign announced Saturday that it would block the news media from covering the event, which will be held at the King David Hotel. The campaign’s decision to close the fundraiser to the press violates the ground rules it negotiated with news organizations in April, when Romney wrapped up the Republican nomination and began opening some of his finance events to the news media.

Under the agreement, a pool of wire, print and television reporters can cover every Romney fundraiser held in public venues, including hotels and country clubs. The campaign does not allow media coverage of fundraisers held in private residences.

Romney's spokesperson didn't even attempt to offer an explanation. Just kept saying it was now "closed press".

Romney really should have owned this response, wear the right badge. The whole paper trail goes back exactly to what he doesn't want to "be", so who are you fooling? This is the fakest guy on the planet. But yet people will forgive him.

Exactly, he should just own it, but he's seemingly uncomfortable in his own skin at all times. At this point, I doubt he even knows himself. He's spent so much time and effort being so many different people for different audiences, I don't think he could own anything.

 

[Diablos]

Washington Post: Romney bans media from Jerusalem fundraiser, violating pre-established protocol



Romney's spokesperson didn't even attempt to offer an explanation. Just kept saying it was now "closed press".



Exactly, he should just own it, but he's seemingly uncomfortable in his own skin at all times. At this point, I doubt he even knows himself. He's spent so much time and effort being so many different people for different audiences, I don't think he could own anything.

wtf

 

[Stinkles]

Romney really should have owned this response, wear the right badge. The whole paper trail goes back exactly to what he doesn't want to "be", so who are you fooling? This is the fakest guy on the planet. But yet people will forgive him.

I would have made a joke acknowledging the sport's obscurity, then got serious about the fact that I was effectively representing the US in the goddamned Olympic games and fingers crossed we might bring our country back a medal, no matter how obscure the sport.

But then, I am a hu-man.

 

[thezerofire]

“I have to tell you, this is Ann’s sport,” he said, preferring to not even say the word “dressage”—which is a French word meaning “training” and sometimes described as horse ballet.
“I’m not even sure which day the sport goes on,” Romney said. “She will get the chance to see it; I will not be watching the event. I hope her horse does well.”​

Speaking in code for "no I will not let cameras catch me at a rich people sporting event and I'm going to pretend to know nothing about it despite how important it is to my wife," presumably.

So instead of coming across as a good husband who's rich and does rich things, he comes across as an asshole and a shitty husband by trying to deny he does rich things.

 

[ErasureAcer]

Romney blows yet another thing in London

banned.

get that shit out of here dude. Thanks for ruining my night.

 

[cartoon_soldier]

banned.

get that shit out of here dude. Thanks for ruining my night.

Ouch, sorry, forgot about the tape delay.... I spoiler-ed it, might want to edit your post too.

 

[ErasureAcer]

Ouch, sorry, forgot about the tape delay.... I spoiler-ed it, might want to edit your post too.

apology accepted. I take back my ban request.

 

[Tim-E]

banned.

get that shit out of here dude. Thanks for ruining my night.

It's news; it isn't the ending of a movie or TV episode.