Support NeoGAF

[jbug617]

Still a thing? Didn't it just happen this afternoon?

This morning I believe but it is still trending on US twitter.

 

[speculawyer]

I hope Obama really ties Romney to Bush's foreign policy, and puts a nail in the coffin of neoconservative cowboy-ism.

17 of 24 FP Advisors Are Bush Neocons

 

[Trurl]

Have you told her about all the goodies she would miss without Obamacare?

She's a home health nurse and blames Obamacare on the drug shortages she has witnessed lately. She can't think of an actual way that Obamacare would have caused the shortages, but supplies were fine under Bush, haha.

She actually does understand some of Obamacare better than many Republicans (she understands what Medicare Advantage is and doesn't like it) but she will never give Obama and today's Democrats for something she sees as good.

She's a crazy lady.

 

[Puddles]

What happens on November 18th?

 

[Black Mamba]

I am fairly certain Obama will get more than 85% of blacks and 60% of hispanics.

And yes, this does matter in states like Nevada, Colorado, etc.

 

[PhoenixDark]

What happens on November 18th?

Xbox 360 re-release

 

[RustyNails]

This tweedle dee and tweedle dum Republicans on Bill Maher are asinine.

 

[HylianTom]

White people, stop embarrassing me!


OK, I can understand people being greedy bastards . . . everyone does that. But most of them won't even benefit from it. But the science. How can they turn their backs on science! Ugh. I guess I'm just a geek.

THIS. This is what I've tried to argue to my father, a fan of Asimov and Hawking and a major sci fi geek. But still, no dice. My first insistence of a politician: live in the world of scientific reality. Not a world where the Earth is 6000 years old and not one where Jesus rode a dinosaur.

Yet, he still votes like he does, and he knows I'm damn disappointed.

Hell.. if you're a white male in the country and you vote Democrat, you're either a queer or a hippie or a godless communist - something's wrong with you.

 

[Forever]

THIS. This is what I've tried to argue to my father, a fan of Asimov and Hawking and a major sci fi geek. But still, no dice. My first insistence of a politician: live in the world of scientific reality. Not a world where the Earth is 6000 years old and not one where Jesus rode a dinosaur.

Yet, he still votes like he does, and he knows I'm damn disappointed.

Hell.. if you're a white male in the country and you vote Democrat, you're either a queer or a hippie or a godless communist - something's wrong with you.

Guess my perceptions are skewed because I live in the beating heart of liberaldom deep in the Northeast.

 

[norinrad]

She's a home health nurse and blames Obamacare on the drug shortages she has witnessed lately. She can't think of an actual way that Obamacare would have caused the shortages, but supplies were fine under Bush, haha.

She actually does understand some of Obamacare better than many Republicans (she understands what Medicare Advantage is and doesn't like it) but she will never give Obama and today's Democrats for something she sees as good.

She's a crazy lady.

Well i guess her back has never been against the wall in the past with a pre-existing condition or she's filthy rich and doesn't care

 

[ivysaur12]

THIS. This is what I've tried to argue to my father, a fan of Asimov and Hawking and a major sci fi geek. But still, no dice. My first insistence of a politician: live in the world of scientific reality. Not a world where the Earth is 6000 years old and not one where Jesus rode a dinosaur.

Yet, he still votes like he does, and he knows I'm damn disappointed.

Hell.. if you're a white male in the country and you vote Democrat, you're either a queer or a hippie or a godless communist - something's wrong with you.

One of the most machismo guys I know (he is also white) is a huge liberal, but won't outwardly admit it because he thinks it makes him look weak.

 

[ryutaro's mama]

So how did the Mitt Romney Libya Information Hour go?

 

[RDreamer]

Guess my perceptions are skewed because I live in the beating heart of liberaldom deep in the Northeast.

Must be nice. I live right in the heart of conservativedom in Wisconsin. The whitest, richest part of the state. Bunch of stuck up asshats around here.

 

[The Technomancer]

Must be nice. I live right in the heart of conservativedom in Wisconsin. The whitest, richest part of the state. Bunch of stuck up asshats around here.

Where at? Which county do rich people congregate in that doesn't always go blue?

 

[Tim-E]

Hell.. if you're a white male in the country and you vote Democrat, you're either a queer or a hippie or a godless communist - something's wrong with you.

I know that feel, bro.

 

[Puddles]

There are 55 people in my MPP class. We had to fill out a survey on the first day that we've been using for various statistics problems. I ran the numbers, and there's 1 Republican out of 55 people. No one knows who it is. Speculation is rampant.

However, I'm taking some courses in the MBA school, and the split there is probably closer to 60/40 conservative, with more than a few of those being libertarians.

 

[MasterShotgun]

So, my mom thinks it's possible that the Obama administration encouraged riots throughout the muslim world as a way to distract people from their screw up in Libya.

:-(

I understand your pain. My mom thinks Romney will be like Reagan, which is hilarious on multiple levels. She also continues to hold an incident against Obama when he didn't place his hand over his heart during the national anthem at some event before he took office, claiming it's one of the most Un-American things a President can do. I'm certain it's just a thinly veiled excuse to dislike him. I know she still thinks he's a Muslim after hearing Obama praise God for something and she tried to call bullshit.

I've completely given up arguing with her for this election.

 

[teh_pwn]

Xbox 360 re-release

Can we impeach Xbox 360? I swear there are smart phones, tablets, and calculators more powerful than that relic.

 

[empty vessel]

Must be nice. I live right in the heart of conservativedom in Wisconsin. The whitest, richest part of the state. Bunch of stuck up asshats around here.

I suggest you move, when you can. You will be happier elsewhere.

 

[RDreamer]

Where at? Which county do rich people congregate in that doesn't always go blue?

Well, the richest part of the state is the River Hills and Mequon area where I worked for quite a while. I live about ~5 miles from there now, but still in a richer white suburban area in Ozaukee county. River Hills is kind of a gated type community that I had to pass by every day on the way home for a while.

The district I'm in now has Glenn Grothmann (the "Money is more important to men," guy that wrote the bill that would have made single parenthood child abuse) as a representative for the state. My representative for US congress is Jim Sensenbrenner. I suppose River Hills is in a different district for the state, and Alberta Darling was their representative. She did end up getting into a recall election, so I guess that whole state district isn't quite so red (I think it has parts of Milwaukee in it).

And down where I work Paul Ryan is the representative.

I suggest you move, when you can. You will be happier elsewhere.

Hah, we actually just moved here from just outside Milwaukee. We like the area better. As I've said before, we have to do a sort of compromise between my wife and me. She wants to live in the middle of nowhere, and I have to keep near the city for my profession. So we kind of live on the outskirts. We have a really nice place now, and we love this little town. They have a lot of awesome festivals and things throughout the year. It's really kind of movie creepy how suburban America it is. There's a baseball game or two going on nearly every day int he summer, etc. My dad was making fun of us when we moved here because of that. And outside of politics everyone's really nice in this particular town. (In Mequon, however they are NOT...)

But, yeah, it's nice. I'll probably end up having to move south (and probably end up in Paul Ryan's district....) eventually.

My wife would absolutely love to move to Madison, though. I'm jealous my sister gets to live there in liberal paradise. I'd love to move there, too, but I've gotta find a job there if I want to do that.

 

[Puddles]

My extended family in Indiana and Grand Rapids, Michigan are pretty hardcore Republican.

A little while back someone forwarded a chain email about how Obama planned to raise taxes in such a way that a middle-class older couple selling their home would get absolutely soaked. I did two minutes of research, then replied all to tell them that this tax increase, if ever enacted, would have such a high threshold that no one in the middle class could possibly be affected.

Some people replied angrily to me. They were angry that I'd have the gall to tell them that they had nothing to worry about, that this horrible, middle-class-gouging tax increase was completely fictitious, that they didn't have to rush to sell their homes, and that their President wasn't actually going to screw them over on this. It made no sense to me.

 

[speculawyer]

My extended family in Indiana and Grand Rapids, Michigan are pretty hardcore Republican.

A little while back someone forwarded a chain email about how Obama planned to raise taxes in such a way that a middle-class older couple selling their home would get absolutely soaked. I did two minutes of research, then replied all to tell them that this tax increase, if ever enacted, would have such a high threshold that no one in the middle class could possibly be affected.

Some people replied angrily to me. They were angry that I'd have the gall to tell them that they had nothing to worry about, that this horrible, middle-class-gouging tax increase was completely fictitious, that they didn't have to rush to sell their homes, and that their President wasn't actually going to screw them over on this. It made no sense to me.

So basically just like all the right-wing pundits that got all mad at Candy Crowley for verifying a completely true statement.

DON'T FUCK WITH MY BUBBLE, MAN!

 

[RDreamer]

My extended family in Indiana and Grand Rapids, Michigan are pretty hardcore Republican.

A little while back someone forwarded a chain email about how Obama planned to raise taxes in such a way that a middle-class older couple selling their home would get absolutely soaked. I did two minutes of research, then replied all to tell them that this tax increase, if ever enacted, would have such a high threshold that no one in the middle class could possibly be affected.

Some people replied angrily to me. They were angry that I'd have the gall to tell them that they had nothing to worry about, that this horrible, middle-class-gouging tax increase was completely fictitious, that they didn't have to rush to sell their homes, and that their President wasn't actually going to screw them over on this. It made no sense to me.

Reminds me of the email my dad sent me a while back that I had told everyone here about. He said if Obama was re-elected and Obamacare was enacted my mom's beauty salon would go out of business. I did a ton of research and replied with specifics on why those things shouldn't affect him. He just replied with "Nice lefty talking point letter, but that's not how it works in the real world."

 

[PhoenixDark]

Reminds me of the email my dad sent me a while back that I had told everyone here about. He said if Obama was re-elected and Obamacare was enacted my mom's beauty salon would go out of business. I did a ton of research and replied with specifics on why those things shouldn't affect him. He just replied with "Nice lefty talking point letter, but that's now how it works in the real world."

:jnc

I'm glad all my family is black. Feels good man. Well, outside of the homophobia...actually it kind of sucks

 

[Cloudy]

And the truth trickles out. Like I said weeks ago, it makes no sense that the administration would purposefully mislead on something that hurts them anyways.

 

[isoquant]

I'm stealing this from the Romnesia thread. It's brilliant.

 

[Cheebo]

I suddenly realize how lucky I have it to have both my parents be liberal democrats.

 

[The Technomancer]

I suddenly realize how lucky I have it to have both my parents be liberal democrats.

Same. If anything my mother is more pissed off about Romney and the conservative movement this election than I am.

 

[stressboy]

I suddenly realize how lucky I have it to have both my parents be liberal democrats.

Both mine used to be, but these days whenever I talk to my dad, he starts going off on taxes, regulations, and "the illegals".

 

[Gotchaye]

My extended family in Indiana and Grand Rapids, Michigan are pretty hardcore Republican.

A little while back someone forwarded a chain email about how Obama planned to raise taxes in such a way that a middle-class older couple selling their home would get absolutely soaked. I did two minutes of research, then replied all to tell them that this tax increase, if ever enacted, would have such a high threshold that no one in the middle class could possibly be affected.

Some people replied angrily to me. They were angry that I'd have the gall to tell them that they had nothing to worry about, that this horrible, middle-class-gouging tax increase was completely fictitious, that they didn't have to rush to sell their homes, and that their President wasn't actually going to screw them over on this. It made no sense to me.

This is something the (very good) progressive evangelical blog Slacktivist talks about fairly often. The blogger argues that these people aren't /really/ terrified of Obama destroying the country, or satanic child sacrifice, or whatever the cause du jour is. But they're bored, and they're looking for meaning of the nice, clear titanic battle of good vs evil kind. So they need a Sauron to oppose, and they find meaning in opposing it. Then suggesting that the battle is unnecessary is deeply insulting to them. Instead of being relieved that there's nothing to worry about, they're angry that someone's telling them that they've been wasting their time (and more importantly that their source of meaning isn't, actually). It's the same dynamic that's behind conservative Christians becoming entirely about homosexuality and abortion and very resistant to changing their minds; what's important is having something Evil to oppose.

 

[Kusagari]

Everyone in my close family is a democrat.

I often wonder what it'd be like to have conservative family members like you guys.

 

[Owzers]

And the truth trickles out. Like I said weeks ago, it makes no sense that the administration would purposefully mislead on something that hurts them anyways.

Luckily Fox made their Benghazi special before waiting for pesky facts.

 

[RDreamer]

Everyone in my close family is a democrat.

I often wonder what it'd be like to have conservative family members like you guys.

I wonder what it'd be like to have liberal family members. Just that concept is so foreign to me.

Growing up my dad was always the most conservative guy in the room. Any room. Anywhere. He was the tea party before there was a tea party, since from before I can remember he said he disliked Republicans because they were too "pussy" as he always put it. He lived and breathed politics, too. He always had talk radio on whenever we went somewhere, and politics on TV at night.

 

[Effect]

:jnc

I'm glad all my family is black. Feels good man. Well, outside of the homophobia...actually it kind of sucks

There are other things you have to deal with. That being one of them (thankfully I never noticed that being an issue with my immediate family on both sides). However none of this political craziness that a lot of other people have to go through. I really feel for you all that have to deal with family that are like this.

 

[Puddles]

This is something the (very good) progressive evangelical blog Slacktivist talks about fairly often. The blogger argues that these people aren't /really/ terrified of Obama destroying the country, or satanic child sacrifice, or whatever the cause du jour is. But they're bored, and they're looking for meaning of the nice, clear titanic battle of good vs evil kind. So they need a Sauron to oppose, and they find meaning in opposing it. Then suggesting that the battle is unnecessary is deeply insulting to them. Instead of being relieved that there's nothing to worry about, they're angry that someone's telling them that they've been wasting their time (and more importantly that their source of meaning isn't, actually). It's the same dynamic that's behind conservative Christians becoming entirely about homosexuality and abortion and very resistant to changing their minds; what's important is having something Evil to oppose.

If this election really was the titanic clash of good vs evil, wouldn't God have sent forth a better champion than Mitt Romney?

 

[Tim-E]

My conservative grandmother read Dreams from my Father a few years ago for some reason and her takeaway from it was "He really doesn't like white people, does he?"

 

[empty vessel]

I suddenly realize how lucky I have it to have both my parents be liberal democrats.

Me, too, especially being from the deep South and that my parents, in their younger days, voted for Reagan twice, Perot and/or Bush I, and even, at least my dad, Bush II the first time (2000). They miraculously managed to get wiser in their old age, and now they're both bomb-throwing radicals. In Texas, no less. If they hadn't wisened up, there is no telling what our relationship would be like. I'm very grateful. Unfortunately, some of their relationships with their immediate relatives have been ruined in the process.

 

[Stinkles]

My conservative grandmother read Dreams from my Father a few years ago for some reason and her takeaway from it was "He really doesn't like white people, does he?"

I really don't think she read it properly.

 

[Forever]

I have a crazy conservative uncle with whom I don't talk politics. He's a Fox News watcher and has been going extra crazy since Obama took office so I try not to talk to him at all anymore.

 

[GaimeGuy]

I understand your pain. My mom thinks Romney will be like Reagan, which is hilarious on multiple levels. She also continues to hold an incident against Obama when he didn't place his hand over his heart during the national anthem at some event before he took office, claiming it's one of the most Un-American things a President can do. I'm certain it's just a thinly veiled excuse to dislike him. I know she still thinks he's a Muslim after hearing Obama praise God for something and she tried to call bullshit.

I've completely given up arguing with her for this election.

I roll my eyes at the national anthem/America the beautiful/god bless america circle jerk faux patriotism at sporting events. Your mom would demand I be stoned to death.

Also, this post has disqualified me from ever running for any political office. Ever.

 

[ryutaro's mama]

I have a crazy conservative uncle with whom I don't talk politics. He's a Fox News watcher and has been going extra crazy since Obama took office so I try not to talk to him at all anymore.

Perhaps you will be able to talk to him again soon.

 

[RDreamer]

I have one uncle that's pretty damned liberal. He used to get into arguments with my dad a bunch of times.

The funny thing is that he's the richest person on either side of my family by far. He's probably partially more liberal though because his business takes him all around the world, so he isn't scared of foreign ideas just because they're foreign. More open minded.

 

[Stinkles]

Perhaps you will be able to talk to him again soon.

He won't. Xboxtradamus has spoken.

 

[ryutaro's mama]

I said this before but Skinny Al Sharpton looks so weird.

 

[Stinkles]

I said this before but Skinny Al Sharpton looks so gross.

Fixed.

 

[Forever]

Anyway! Here's the passage from Game Change dedicated to one Willard Mitt Romney circa 2008:

THE CANDIDATES LINED UP at the urinals, Giuliani next to McCain next to Huckabee, the rest all in a row. The debate was soon to start, so they were taking care of business—and laughing merrily at the one guy who wasn’t there. Poking fun at him, mocking him, agreeing about how much they disliked him. Then Willard Mitt Romney walked into the bathroom and overheard them, bringing on a crashing silence.

Romney was the guy on whom much of the smart Beltway money had been betting from the start. His resume was impressive: former CEO of Bain and Company and founder of Bain Capital; savior of the blighted 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics; one-term governor of Massachusetts. His pedigree was glittering: his father, George, had been a governor of Michigan and a presidential candidate, too. His personal life was impeccable: he had married his high school sweetheart, Ann, with whom he had had five strapping sons. He was well spoken and terrific looking, with blindingly white choppers, a chiseled jaw, and a helmet of glossy dark hair.

Romney was running a textbook Republican campaign. He had hired a squad of A-list consultants, pollsters, and media wizards. He’d raised more money than anyone in the field and had millions of his own to draw on. He’d courted the GOP Establishment; worked to neutralize the most vocal potential sources of opposition; racked up oodles of endorsements; and carefully tailored his policy positions to appeal to social, economic, and national security conservatives, the three legs of the Republican stool.

But Romney’s efforts to get right with the right landed him in trouble. For most of his life, he had been a middle-of-the-road, pro-business pragmatist, unequivocally pro-choice, moderate on tax cuts and immigration. Running against Ted Kennedy for the Senate in 1994, he pledged that he’d do more for gay rights than his opponent, and declared, “I don’t line up with the NRA” on gun control. By 2008, Romney had reversed himself on all of this, which quickly gave rise to charges of hypocrisy and opportunism. Even before he announced his candidacy, a YouTubevideo began making the rounds that captured him firmly stating his liberalish social views, comically juxtaposing them with his newly adopted arch-conservative stances. From then on, the flip-flopper label was firmly affixed to Mitt’s forehead.

Unlike Giuliani, Romney had no reticence about slashing at his rivals. But the perception of him as a man without convictions made him a less-than-effective delivery system for policy contrasts. The combination of the vitriol of his attacks and his apparent corelessness explained the antipathy the other candidates had toward him. McCain routinely called Romney an “asshole” and a “fucking phony.” Giuliani opined, “That guy will say anything.” Huckabee complained, “I don’t think Romney has a soul.”

His own team’s view was more generous, but no less damning. For all Romney’s business acumen and affectations—he sometimes gave PowerPoint presentations instead of stump speeches—his advisers found him indecisive, an incorrigible vacillator. He would wait and wait, asking more and more questions, consulting with more and more people, ordering up more and more data. The internal debates over his message and even his slogan went on for months, without end or resolution.

By the summer, Romney was stuck in single digits almost everywhere except New Hampshire, where his status as a former Bay State governor and the owner of a vacation home on Lake Winnipesaukee made him a quasi-hometown boy. In trying to explain his failure to catch on, his advisers pointed to another issue, which they shorthanded as TMT—The Mormon Thing. For the Evangelical portion of the Republican base, with its suspicions about Mormonism, Romney’s religion was a significant roadblock. (Friends of President Bush would call him from Texas and say of Romney’s chances, You’ve got to be kidding; he’s in a cult.) Compounding the problem was the candidate’s unwillingness to talk openly about his faith, until it was too late.

Worse, Romney had a propensity for stumbling into the wrong kind of headlines. There was the story about how his gardeners were illegal aliens. There was the one about the time that he and his family went on vacation and put their dog in a crate strapped to the roof of their car for the twelve-hour drive. Oh, and also the one about his “lifelong” devotion to hunting, which turned out to mean he’d done it twice. “I’m not a big-game hunter,” Romney said, then explained that his preferred prey were rodents, rabbits, and such—“small varmints, if you will.”

Romney found his failure to break through frustrating. “It’s not fair,” he said to his aides. He was being defined as a flip-flopping Mormon—or a Mormon flip-flopper. He couldn’t fathom why the caricature of him was sticking, had no ability to see himself as others might. When Romney’s staff showed him the devastating You-Tube video, his first reaction was, “Boy, look how young I was back then.”

So to no one's surprise, Mitt Romney completely lacks any self-awareness and is a narcissist.

 

[Kusagari]

I wonder what it'd be like to have liberal family members. Just that concept is so foreign to me.

Growing up my dad was always the most conservative guy in the room. Any room. Anywhere. He was the tea party before there was a tea party, since from before I can remember he said he disliked Republicans because they were too "pussy" as he always put it. He lived and breathed politics, too. He always had talk radio on whenever we went somewhere, and politics on TV at night.

Yeah, I mean the opposite, your situation, is just so foreign to me.

All my close family, I don't talk to my extended family enough to know what they think of anything, are even for things like gay marriage - even my 80 year old grandma.

So just remember there's good people in Florida next time you guys bash this state .

 

[MasterShotgun]

I'm the odd one out in my family. I have an aunt and uncle and possibly a few cousins who may be closet liberals, but it's only a hunch. What's worse is I'm stuck in Georgia. I have some hope it might swing blue one day, but moving out of state when I get the chance is definitely on my mind.

 

[Aaron Strife]

SurveyUSA - Florida: Obama 47 Romney 46

Lost cause!

 

[Paches]

SurveyUSA - Florida: Obama 47 Romney 46

Lost cause!

Show is over, folks.