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[Suikoguy]

Because it's an overblown comment only the left is desperate enough to mis-characterize. Being president is one of the hardest jobs in the world, especially now with rapid response technology. Of course a wife would worry about whether that would change her husband, and worry about the strain involved. Just look at how quickly Obama, W Bush, and Clinton aged in four years

Oh PD, hahaha.

I will say the act is starting to get old though.

 

[johnsmith]

The real story should be why is Ann Romney still allowed to give interviews. The woman is an awful surrogate.

 

[GhaleonEB]

Des Moines Register Iowa poll

Obama 49
Romney 45

Not too bad I guess considering Obama's romping in early voting there.

The Iowa Poll is a Register exclusive since 1943. The new poll was conducted Sept. 23-26 by Selzer & Co. of Des Moines.

Gold standard of Iowa polling. Definitely a bad time for early voting to be starting for Romney.

The result: Almost all likely voters in Iowa have made their choices. Four percent support someone other than the two major party candidates. Just 2 percent remain undecided, the poll shows.

If accurate, that would make it impossible for Romney to take the state.

The real story should be why is Ann Romney still allowed to give interviews. The woman is an awful surrogate.

Well, she is Mitt's better half.

 

[polyh3dron]

Oh PD.

Presidents age that quickly in 4 years because of how old they are when they take the presidency. When you get into your 50s and up you start aging faster. We see these presidents on TV more often than anyone so we can usually notice it more than we do other people.

 

[electricpirate]

Pd is right here, there's no smoke nor fire there.

 

[ryutaro's mama]

Obama isn't a soundbites guy at all

I see you've never heard Obama stumping on the campaign trail.

 

[Byakuya769]

What do you mean? That they should be talking about it but haven't or that they are and shouldn't be?

They are comments without merit. The presidency is an intense mental taxation, she should be concerned. No spouse shouldn't be.

Yea. Pretty silly "issue."

 

[jamesinclair]

I'm shocked the tax thing didn't gain traction

 

[RDreamer]

It was probably pretty careless of Ann to say, but it's very reasonable and understandable for her to be concerned about that. Silly/stupid issue to me, too.

 

[talisayNon]

i had to turn off Game Change half way through.

Awkward as shit.

 

[Tim-E]

i had to turn off Game Change half way through.

Awkward as shit.

I really hope they make a movie about the Romney campaign. I think it could out-awkward that one.

 

[Jackson50]

These graphs represent the medium voter theorem.

Median, but yes. That largely illustrates the logic of Downs' spatial model. It's a bit simplistic, if not too parsimonious, but it's sound assuming a single peak. That's why Romney should have drifted towards the center. But he failed to heed it, and he'll suffer the consequences.

It looked like a typo but that's actually a real word.

I'll never use a fake word. You can take that to the bank.

Gingrich was always a long shot even after he won SC, I don't think most people were that surprised that Romney could beat Gingrich of all people in a debate. But Romney is going to make the upcoming debates all about Obama's failure as a president, without actually looking petty by using zingers.

I think the primary debates taught Romney to never express his own past/current opinions on anything. Best case scenario, he gets Obama to sound confusing or look stumped and makes clips of it to use in campaign ads. That could sway whatever undecideds are left his way.

But there's a high chance that his flip-flops will catch up to him and he'll have no legitimate response ready, making his whole campaign finally go into china syndrome. If Romney hasn't given up already, then he's desperately relying on these debates to go well.

Gingrich was not even a long shot. His viability was baseless despite an anomalous victory in SC. But that's irrelevant to my point. He adduced Romney's performance against Gingrich as evidence of his prowess when it matters. But Gingrich was a nitwit. His performance barely qualified as adequate. And Gingrich even kicked Romney's ass a few times. There's no reason to sweat.

I think Obama has to appear not presidential and fair new. That can cause missteps to occur. E.g. in the 60 minute interview he is asked about false ads and says some of his might be over the top, etc. That would be a bad debate answer. Romney will stand by his ads no matter what proof you give him.

Really? Hm.

 

[jamesinclair]

Median, but yes. That largely illustrates the logic of Downs' spatial model. It's a bit simplistic, if not too parsimonious, but it's sound assuming a single peak. That's why Romney should have drifted towards the center. But he failed to heed it, and he'll suffer the consequences.

Indeed, i concur

 

[Diablos]

so wait... this is currently law in NH? not being debated, but LAW?

 

[Marvie_3]

CSPAN is showing some old presidential debates tonight. Mondale vs. Reagan is on right now, and its kind of interesting. I was alive at the time, but way too young to be aware of politics. Even though I agree with him on the issues, I can see why Mondale lost. His lack of charisma is almost stunning.


(yes, I'm having a really rockin' Saturday night)

I'm doing the same thing. One of the '92 debates is on right now.

 

[pigeon]

Really? Hm.

God, that's a terrible moment for Romney. "Oh, you want to know what about my SuperPAC ad? Why don't you ask Newt Gingrich what he thinks of it?"

 

[Suikoguy]

so wait... this is currently law in NH? not being debated, but LAW?

I have no idea how it has not been struck down if it is.
I guess if no-one filled a lawsuit?

A judge would not even have to deliberate.

 

[Black Mamba]

I'm not sure this is true. Republicans won control of multiple state levels of government two years ago, and they held the presidency for eight years shortly before that. Elections tend to be decided on business cycles and the political talent of candidates; ideas certainly matter, but a good politician can sell many contradictory things to the public. Romney is literally the worst candidate in nearly half a century. McCain was the wrong candidate for the wrong time due to the financial crisis (perhaps we'd say the same of Obama if a war broke out in September 08 instead of a financial crisis).

Note that I said "nationally." Local politics is a different beast and they are concentrated in the South, so they still will be big players there. The other thing is the business cycle matters more because Presidents run from the center.

Look, 4 years ago I predicted Obama would be a 1 term president. I predicted a slow recovery and that it would hurt him. But what I didn't expect was the GOP moving so far right and that turned everything upside down.

Romney is the worst candidate for a reason and that reason is because the GOP is outdated on a national level. Do you see who ran for the nomination?

The point being that the GOP has not fielded a decent politician in eight years; plus the business cycle was on a downturn during their tenure, and people still blame them for it four years later. A better candidate would certainly outperform Romney, in fact it wouldn't be hard. This will be put to the test soon, given the crop of non super crazy GOP governors gearing up for 2016 or 2020

There is no "better candidate" than Romney. That's the part you're missing. Those possibly better candidates can't get nominated right now (ie Rubio) thanks to the party. That's why it's Romney. Now, don't get me wrong, he's still running a terrible campaign, but he was going to lose regardless.

The thing is, Romney is much more of a centrist than he's put on. Romneycare. He railed against Bush's tax cuts. Socially, I don't think he gives a shit about civil unions or abortion much. He raised fees and taxes in Mass. But he is incapable of running as the Massachusetts Romney because of his party. Now he's ALWAYS CUT TAXES and FREE MARKER LOLZ tripe with the added war hawk crap.

The Romney we are seeing is the result of a political party gone off the rails. It's not his fault, it's the party's fault.

People still generally favor conservative economic ideas - tax cuts, small government, etc. Obama has managed to move the country left on taxes because of how extremist the current GOP is, but ultimately economic issues are still fought on Reagan's idealogical grounds in this country. And as you said people still support drilling. The GOP's problems are more fixable than people think.

I agree but people no longer actually believe the GOP represent smaller gov't or that we should cut taxes for the wealthy. (in fact, a majority support raising their taxes).

I agree they're fixable. Imagine if they ran with an actual economic plan to create jobs. Cutting taxes on those under $250k and reducing deductions above $250k. Less military spending. They could have won this election if they weren't ridiculous.

I won't call the current GOP's death until the religious right truly gets their Goldwater moment. They need a presidential candidate so bad that he clearly demonstrates that social conservative ideas are toxic nationally; basically Santorum. Romney is the worst GOP candidate in decades but he is no social conservative; his loss will just convince the grass roots to move further right. They need a Santorum type to lose in 2016 for things to change IMO.

Again, I agree it will be 2016. This is the point where the GOP is stabbed, 2016 is when it bleeds all over the floor as it screams. And they probably will get their Bachman in 2016 (not actually her, of course).

 

[Jackson50]

so wait... this is currently law in NH? not being debated, but LAW?

Yeah, although it's not as egregious as it sounds initially. I don't think it requires you to own a vehicle to register. That would clearly violate the Voting Rights Act, and the state is subject to Section 5 restrictions. Rather, if you declare NH as your "domicile," you are required to obtain a NH driver's license and register your vehicle with the state. It's intended to prevent college students from voting because many retain the registration and license from their native state.

God, that's a terrible moment for Romney. "Oh, you want to know what about my SuperPAC ad? Why don't you ask Newt Gingrich what he thinks of it?"

Every moment is a terrible moment for Romney. Except when he's singing.

 

[CHEEZMO™]

In Bennett we trust.

 

[Black Mamba]

Every moment is a terrible moment for Romney. Except when he's singing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ud3mMj0AZZk

 

[Cloudy]

Watching the first Bush/Gore debate. Bush is owning so far. Gore sounds like Eric Cantor lol

 

[codhand]

Watching the first Bush/Gore debate. Bush is owning so far. Gore sounds like Eric Cantor lol

Bush is owning?

=/

 

[pigeon]

Public Policy Polling helpfully released the unskewed version of one of their recent polls for comparison.

http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/2011/FloridaUNSKEWEDResults.pdf

 

[Cloudy]

Bush is owning?

=/

Seriously he is surprisingly sharp at this point in his career

 

[RustyNails]

Gold standard of Iowa polling. Definitely a bad time for early voting to be starting for Romney.


If accurate, that would make it impossible for Romney to take the state.

But CNN told me it's a dead heat

Oh btw CNN reads gaf confirmed. They just ran the Ann Romney story about her concern for Mitt's mental well being.

 

[Amir0x]

Public Policy Polling helpfully released the unskewed version of one of their recent polls for comparison.

http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/2011/FloridaUNSKEWEDResults.pdf

hahah that's troll as shit lol

 

[Jackson50]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ud3mMj0AZZk

Mellifluous. I could listen to him croon all night.

 

[cartoon_soldier]

Obama campaign may hit 10 million donors soon!

 

[The Technomancer]

Public Policy Polling helpfully released the unskewed version of one of their recent polls for comparison.

http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/2011/FloridaUNSKEWEDResults.pdf

Haha, Q7

 

[Black Mamba]

http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytime...-have-no-history-of-consistent-partisan-bias/

Seems like Silver addressed the unskewed polls guy indirectly.

 

[Cloudy]

Crazy how Bush was the anti-war candidate in this debate

 

[Chichikov]

Crazy how Bush was the anti-war candidate in this debate

Just wait until they start arguing about what to do with the budget surplus.

 

[thefit]

NYtimes has caught onto the Florida GOP registration shenanigans story. Apparently that youtube video of the girl only registering republicans is not an isolated incident but rather the mo of the firm hired by the republicans.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/30/us/politics/suspicious-voter-forms-found-in-10-florida-counties.html?hp&gwh=33DA0E9352558A0D9CACD3BE390ADC53

MIAMI — The number of Florida counties reporting suspicious voter registration forms connected to Strategic Allied Consulting, the firm hired by the state Republican Party to sign up new voters, has grown to 10, officials said, as local election supervisors continue to search their forms for questionable signatures, addresses or other identifiers

In Colorado, a young woman employed by Strategic Allied was shown on a video outside a store in Colorado Springs recently telling a potential voter that she wanted to register only Republicans and that she worked for the county clerk’s office. The woman was fired, said Ryan Call, chairman of the Colorado Republican Party.

Mary Blackwell, a volunteer for the League of Women Voters in Okaloosa County, said she was registering voters this month at Northwest Florida State College. Sitting nearby was a man who said he was registering voters for the Republican Party of Florida. The man told her he received $12 an hour but had to bring in at least 10 forms to get paid.

 

[cartoon_soldier]

Crazy how Bush was the anti-war candidate in this debate

Just wait until they start arguing about what to do with the budget surplus.

That's the thing though. It is easy in the debates to mislead the public. I expect Romney to do very well in that regard.

 

[Black Mamba]

Bush was legitimately anti-war and stuff. The Bush Doctrine he released after election was quite isolationism compared to the past.

9/11 changed his views on things. He adopted the neoconservative ideas of Cheney, Rumsfeld, etc. Bush was sincere in that debate regarding foreign policy, the israel-palestine conflict, etc. This was one time were someone actually changed their stance rather than lying about it. Personally, I think after 9/11 the neocons in his admin were all "SEE, SEE, WE TOLD YOU" and that's how they got him.

 

[The Technomancer]

Bush was legitimately anti-war and stuff. The Bush Doctrine he released after election was quite isolationism compared to the past.

9/11 changed his views on things. He adopted the neoconservative ideas of Cheney, Rumsfeld, etc. Bush was sincere in that debate regarding foreign policy, the israel-palestine conflict, etc. This was one time were someone actually changed their stance rather than lying about it. Personally, I think after 9/11 the neocons in his admin were all "SEE, SEE, WE TOLD YOU" and that's how they got him.

I sometimes wonder just how different things would have played out without 9/11

 

[markatisu]

That's the thing though. It is easy in the debates to mislead the public. I expect Romney to do very well in that regard.

2010 really did a number on you lol

 

[cartoon_soldier]

2010 really did a number on you lol

Hopefully 2012 redeems it. The success of republican misinformation and lies in 2010 really stillis scary to me.

 

[Stinkles]

Bush was legitimately anti-war and stuff. The Bush Doctrine he released after election was quite isolationism compared to the past.

9/11 changed his views on things. He adopted the neoconservative ideas of Cheney, Rumsfeld, etc. Bush was sincere in that debate regarding foreign policy, the israel-palestine conflict, etc. This was one time were someone actually changed their stance rather than lying about it. Personally, I think after 9/11 the neocons in his admin were all "SEE, SEE, WE TOLD YOU" and that's how they got him.

? Bush was always pro war in Iraq. He might have been "anti-war" on some general principle but he spent, or was told to spend, his presidency cooking up a way to go into Iraq.

It cannot be expressed strongly enough that Iraq had fuck all to do with 9/11 and plans were already in place, they simply morphed to adapt to that reasoning. So I can't even see how he's anti-war at all. I am probably missing something.

 

[Diablos]

Yeah, although it's not as egregious as it sounds initially. I don't think it requires you to own a vehicle to register. That would clearly violate the Voting Rights Act, and the state is subject to Section 5 restrictions. Rather, if you declare NH as your "domicile," you are required to obtain a NH driver's license and register your vehicle with the state. It's intended to prevent college students from voting because many retain the registration and license from their native state.Every moment is a terrible moment for Romney. Except when he's singing.

That's so ridiculous. What an intrusive law for purposes that are hardly a concern.

This is an example of where Romney can kick ass in debates:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLn24Z9bKos&t=1m57s

 

[RDreamer]

Man, Obama's facebook posts are always trolled to hell. I found this reply particularly funny, though:

So Mr Obama, once again I hear a campaign ad about how you want millionaires to pay a little bit more, Buffet rule of 30% minimum, and I have to ask why aren’t you? You are a millionaire, you made several million last year and only paid 20% tax on it. By his own free will, Mitt Romney did not claim all the deduction allowed to him by the law to raise his tax rate by an additional 4% to keep a promise he made to the American people. You can’t even practice what you preach, why should others do what you ask when you are not willing to do it yourself?

Is this guy making a uniquely stupid argument or did I miss the right running this wonderfully hilarious argument for a bit after Mitt released his latest taxes?

 

[tranciful]

Man, Obama's facebook posts are always trolled to hell. I found this reply particularly funny, though:



Is this guy making a uniquely stupid argument or did I miss the right running this wonderfully hilarious argument for a bit after Mitt released his latest taxes?

This is the same tired argument. Not practicing what you preach would be supporting legislation to raise taxes on rich people, excluding himself. By supporting the buffet rule, he is supporting raising his own taxes. Period.

 

[RDreamer]

This is the same tired argument. Not practicing what you preach would be supporting legislation to raise taxes on rich people, excluding himself. By supporting the buffet rule, he is supporting raising his own taxes. Period.

I know it's stupid. I meant the whole Romney out of the goodness of his heart raised his own taxes thing. Did the right actually push that after he released it? If so that'd be hilarious. It just sounds so obvious and drudge-like I'm surprised after reading it that it wasn't from Drudge.

 

[Black Mamba]

? Bush was always pro war in Iraq. He might have been "anti-war" on some general principle but he spent, or was told to spend, his presidency cooking up a way to go into Iraq.

It cannot be expressed strongly enough that Iraq had fuck all to do with 9/11 and plans were already in place, they simply morphed to adapt to that reasoning. So I can't even see how he's anti-war at all. I am probably missing something.

Not the case pre-9/11. His worldview changed.

Also, there was no invasion of Iraq planned by Bush and there was a lot of in-fighting in his administration between Rice, Powell, and Tenet against the neocons with Bush not taking a stance, much. Bush wanted Saddam out but not via invasion (more from within, maybe a Libya approach like Obama took).

In fact, all indications form the fist year's security meetings made it seem like they wanted to do something about Iraq but were kicking the can down the road. Bush was also against nation-building.

Right before 9/11 it was looking more and more Rice/Powell were winning the argument (sanctions, pressure, but no force) versus wolfowitz-rumsfeld-cheney.

9/11 changed everything. No way we invade Iraq without it even though they were not directly related.

 

[timetokill]

Obama's tune has similarly changed on foreign affairs/war as well, as compared to his rhetoric as a candidate.

 

[ErasureAcer]

That's so ridiculous. What an intrusive law for purposes that are hardly a concern.

This is an example of where Romney can kick ass in debates:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLn24Z9bKos&t=1m57s

Haha. Mitt stared down Newt pretty good. Newt can't even look at Mitt.

 

[Cake Boss]

Watched that debate, pretty entertaining stuff, huge banter back and forth.

Santorum was a much better politician than all 3 of them, a much better speaker and got his ideas and his message across well, too bad some of those ideas backfired because he would have put up a better fight than Romney is right now.

 

[Diablos]

Yeah, I can't believe I'm saying this but Santorum would have probably been doing better right now.

 

[RDreamer]

Watched that debate, pretty entertaining stuff, huge banter back and forth.

Santorum was a much better politician than all 3 of them, a much better speaker and got his ideas and his message across well, too bad some of those ideas backfired because he would have put up a better fight than Romney is right now.

I don't know what to make of this post...

Santorum would have been slaughtered, because he's a crazy nutjob. Perhaps he gets his crazy nutjob message across too well?

Yeah, I can't believe I'm saying this but Santorum would have probably been doing better right now.

No way. Santorum just couldn't help himself when it came to crazy ass stuff. He just had to open his mouth whenever he could. No way would he be doing better.

He also would have scared the shit out of anyone younger than... say 35. I think you'd see young people just as enthused to vote this year as they were in 08, just to vote against someone rather than for. (though I swear we're not far off of that as it is)