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PolliGaf 2012 |OT5| Big Bird, Binders, Bayonets, Bad News and Benghazi

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D

DragonSworne

Banned
RoninChaos said:
He gets at the heart of one of the things that bugs me. Republicans are all about saving a fetus but wen it's out of the womb it's on it's own. And with Murdock's comment it goes a step further and one can then assume that the woman, who is the victim here, is further victimized with a child she didn't ask for. Republicans talk about family but don't talk about the kind of psychological damage would persist after something like this. To the whole family.

It's really just fucked all around.
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It is never about the baby. It's punishment
 
M

Manmademan

Member
Tamanon said:
Honestly, the Federal holiday wouldn't have too much impact and would probably serve to disenfranchise the poor.

Many places are still open on holidays.
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Disagree with you completely here.

Putting election day on the same footing as Independence Day or Thanksgiving Day would mean substantially more people available to vote. There are businesses open, sure (movie theatres, a few retail outlets) but the vast majority of businesses are shut down.

But the biggest benefit is this: those long lines you see for polls where people scramble to get in immediately before and after work would vanish. lines would become manageable. I voted in a reasonably small town in 2008, and the line to vote was 2 hours long. At 6am. There have been horror stories in this very thread about 5 hour lines in florida, due to amendments.

I've also worked the polls before checking signatures, etc- and the pattern was the same for lower profile elections. Everyone tries to get in before 8am, and after 6pm. Between those hours is a ghost town because unless you're a retiree, you are working. Ever wonder why old people vote out of proportion to everyone else? because they can.

Some might say that adding another holiday is a burden on business, and maybe that's true. But moving voting to a weekend (as some early voting states do), or shifting it to a pre-existing holiday (labor day?) would have 90-100% of the same effect, without that burden.

There is no legitimate reason at all why voting is still restricted to business hours on a non-holiday Tuesday.
 
E

el retorno

Member
PhoenixDark said:
Sandy is worse for Romney tbh, barring major voting problems in the northeast. Romney needs this last week to attempt to close the deal. Obama is leading in Wisconsin and Ohio...Romney needs to be there fighting for votes as much as possible
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Now its bad news for Romney?

cartoon_soldier said:
Definitely good for Obama if they delay it. With the sharp UE rate drop last month, most expected this time to tick up slightly.
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Obummer thugs
 
R

RDreamer

Member
Manmademan said:
Disagree with you completely here.

Putting election day on the same footing as Independence Day or Thanksgiving Day would mean substantially more people available to vote. There are businesses open, sure (movie theatres, a few retail outlets) but the vast majority of businesses are shut down.
Click to expand...

I don't see that doing too terribly much. The businesses that get off on Thanksgiving and Independence Day are generally offices and more sort of well-to-do jobs. The jobs that the young and the not so well off have to do stay open on these days, and even have more people come in so as to capitalize on the business of those who are off.

If we're doing an election holiday I'd say we should force pretty near everything non-essential to be closed. Specifically outline places that do not need to be open, and maybe require special waivers for anything that wants to open. That way the poorer and the well-to-do can be off nearly equally.
 
The Lamonster

The Lamonster

Member
phosphor112 said:
They shouldn't accept it at all, on all sides. It's annoying. =/
Click to expand...

Yep, this election cycle has been pretty fucking unbelievable and infuriating. After the first debate (actually every debate), watching the pundits talk about how great Romney did, I kept thinking "did we watch the same debate?"
 
C

Cheebo

Banned
Can you imagine if they delayed the UE numbers till after the election and it goes back up to over 8% and Obama wins without the popular vote?

Republican mass hysteria like we'd never seen before.
 
P

pigeon

Banned
Manmademan said:
Disagree with you completely here.

Putting election day on the same footing as Independence Day or Thanksgiving Day would mean substantially more people available to vote. There are businesses open, sure (movie theatres, a few retail outlets) but the vast majority of businesses are shut down.

But the biggest benefit is this: those long lines you see for polls where people scramble to get in immediately before and after work would vanish. lines would become manageable. I voted in a reasonably small town in 2008, and the line to vote was 2 hours long. At 6am. There have been horror stories in this very thread about 5 hour lines in florida, due to amendments.

I've also worked the polls before checking signatures, etc- and the pattern was the same for lower profile elections. Everyone tries to get in before 8am, and after 6pm. Between those hours is a ghost town because unless you're a retiree, you are working. Ever wonder why old people vote out of proportion to everyone else? because they can.

Some might say that adding another holiday is a burden on business, and maybe that's true. But moving voting to a weekend (as some early voting states do), or shifting it to a pre-existing holiday (labor day?) would have 90-100% of the same effect, without that burden.

There is no legitimate reason at all why voting is still restricted to business hours on a non-holiday Tuesday.
Click to expand...

There's actually a point I think people are missing here, too, which is the ritual aspect of American holidays. If we declared Election Day a national holiday, people would be more inclined to vote just because of the statement that made, and families and other groups would go together. Don't underestimate the power of phatic declarations.
 
T

Tamanon

Banned
Manmademan said:
Disagree with you completely here.

Putting election day on the same footing as Independence Day or Thanksgiving Day would mean substantially more people available to vote. There are businesses open, sure (movie theatres, a few retail outlets) but the vast majority of businesses are shut down.

But the biggest benefit is this: those long lines you see for polls where people scramble to get in immediately before and after work would vanish. lines would become manageable. I voted in a reasonably small town in 2008, and the line to vote was 2 hours long. At 6am. There have been horror stories in this very thread about 5 hour lines in florida, due to amendments.

I've also worked the polls before checking signatures, etc- and the pattern was the same for lower profile elections. Everyone tries to get in before 8am, and after 6pm. Between those hours is a ghost town because unless you're a retiree, you are working. Ever wonder why old people vote out of proportion to everyone else? because they can.

Some might say that adding another holiday is a burden on business, and maybe that's true. But moving voting to a weekend (as some early voting states do), or shifting it to a pre-existing holiday (labor day?) would have 90-100% of the same effect, without that burden.

There is no legitimate reason at all why voting is still restricted to business hours on a non-holiday Tuesday.
Click to expand...

It would be smarter to just have an election week. The only businesses that are open on holidays tend to overwhelmingly be staffed by the young and poor.
 
P

Plinko

Wildcard berths that can't beat teams without a winning record should have homefield advantage
"You notice that he's canceling his trips over the hurricane. He didn't cancel his trips over Benghazi," former GOP presidential candidate and ex-House Speaker Newt Gingrich said on ABC's "This Week."
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I know it's old, but Gingrich is a humongous douchebag.
 
E

ErasureAcer

Banned
Hope Romney's FEMA comments make the news. Amazing that since he's gotten the nomination the dismantling of a Federal Agency hasn't even gotten a second of airplay. Thank you Sandy!
 
T

The Librarian

Banned
I'm feeling especially bullish about October's jobs report. Either way, the numbers probably won't matter.

Also: Last Rasmussen poll of Ohio in 08 had John McCain and Obama tied.
 
S

syllogism

Member
Obama campaign sounding extremely confident on their media conference call. Saying they are leading in "every" battleground state and tells press to focus on facts rather than intangibles. I'm actually surprised how Romney campaign still isn't claiming that they are ahead in the states that matter, just saying it's dead heat and they have the momentum.
 
C

Cheebo

Banned
syllogism said:
Obama campaign sounding extremely confident on their media conference call. Saying they are leading in "every" battleground state and tells press to focus on facts rather than intangibles. I'm actually surprised how Romney campaign still isn't claiming that they are ahead in the states that matter, just saying it's dead heat and they have the momentum.
Click to expand...

They are probably leading but lets be honest, even if they weren't they would say they are. It's a press conference from Obama's campaign. They aren't going to claim they are losing a week out from the election.
 
S

syllogism

Member
Cheebo said:
They are probably leading but lets be honest, even if they weren't they would say they are. It's a press conference from Obama's campaign. They aren't going to claim they are losing a week out from the election.
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So why isn't Romney campaign saying the same
 
R

Rocket Scientist

Member
There have been pretty good arguments against a federal holiday in various Poligaf threads. A few weeks of early in person voting really seems like the best solution.
 
M

Manmademan

Member
Tamanon said:
It would be smarter to just have an election week. The only businesses that are open on holidays tend to overwhelmingly be staffed by the young and poor.
Click to expand...

Smarter, but not really feasible. Giving an entire week off just wouldn't happen- employers would never go for it. But several weeks worth of weekend voting is probably the next best thing, and it's good to see some states like Ohio getting on that.

And making election day a holiday like memorial day? sure. not everyone is off, but most people are. And of those that aren't (say, the very young, or the poor) those tend to work part time or shift work and are unlikely to be impacted by the 9-5 rush. These are your retail workers, your wait staff, your bartenders, your warehouse workers, your dock workers, etc.

There's a reason travel spikes on memorial day weekend, and thanksgiving weekend- because most people are not working. Sure, there are jobs that will still be employing people- again movie theatres never seem to close- but if you could guarantee that 60% of workers had off that day and could get to the polls at the time of their choosing without impacting their workday (instead of say, zero, as it is now) why wouldn't you do it?
 
P

Paches

Member
Cheebo said:
They are probably leading but lets be honest, even if they weren't they would say they are. It's a press conference from Obama's campaign. They aren't going to claim they are losing a week out from the election.
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Because they aren't losing. Why would they lie and say they are?
 
G

gutter_trash

Banned
do employers allow workers to leave early in the US to go vote like they do in Canada?

polls closing at 7PM is way to early IMO, they should let people vote till 9PM
 
P

PhoenixDark

Banned
Cheebo said:
They are probably leading but lets be honest, even if they weren't they would say they are. It's a press conference from Obama's campaign. They aren't going to claim they are losing a week out from the election.
Click to expand...

Still, it's a blatant contrast from the Romney camp's claims that the race is a "dead heat" in every toss up state.
 
P

phosphor112

Banned
A

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
Cheebo said:
They are probably leading but lets be honest, even if they weren't they would say they are. It's a press conference from Obama's campaign. They aren't going to claim they are losing a week out from the election.
Click to expand...

They're doing the same thing Romney is doing and getting slammed for unjustifiably in this thread.
 
Y

Y2Kev

TLG Fan Caretaker Est. 2009
Is Obama speaking to the media soon? INCOMING BUMP but probably not enough to dent the romney surge
 
H

HylianTom

Banned
I just don't see the harm in trading Columbus Day for Election Day. I mean.. who celebrates that one any more? Election Day off would enable lots of folks to drive others to the polls, and it'd probably lead to a lot of four-day weekends.

Actually, my ulterior motive: it'd be one step closer to giving the U.S. a European-style holiday season where work for the last quarter of the year is a bit lighter due to various events, celebrations, festivals, etc. We work ourselves to death here, and making Election Day a holiday would be a baby step towards countering this disturbing trend.
 
A

apana

Member
You guys have probably discussed this but it looks like Romney is up in Ohio by 2 points according to Rasmussen eventhough their national polls have tightened up. I want to see some more polls but it looks like this could be the start of new Romney momentum in Ohio. I think it will be very close in Ohio on election day, just about 50-50.
 
T

The Librarian

Banned
apana said:
You guys have probably discussed this but it looks like Romney is up in Ohio by 2 points according to Rasmussen eventhough their national polls have tightened up. I want to see some more polls but it looks like this could be the start of new Romney momentum in Ohio. I think it will be very close in Ohio on election day, just about 50-50.
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..............................................................
 
A

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
apana said:
You guys have probably discussed this but it looks like Romney is up in Ohio by 2 points according to Rasmussen eventhough their national polls have tightened up. I want to see some more polls but it looks like this could be the start of new Romney momentum in Ohio. I think it will be very close in Ohio on election day, just about 50-50.
Click to expand...

ahahahhahahahahahhahahahahahahhahahaha
 
S

syllogism

Member
apana said:
You guys have probably discussed this but it looks like Romney is up in Ohio by 2 points according to Rasmussen eventhough their national polls have tightened up. I want to see some more polls but it looks like this could be the start of new Romney momentum in Ohio. I think it will be very close in Ohio on election day, just about 50-50.
Click to expand...
Why does it look like that, pray tell
 
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