Stumpokapow said:
I've read this thread like ten times and I can't see "a Republican viewpoint" being expressed... by anyone, let alone by enough posters to say that the thread is "largely" filled with them. I honestly don't know what it is you're seeing. I just read the thread again. There's honestly no one. There may be some Republicans among the thread's posters, but there's no evidence within the thread to support that.
Are you confusing "people think this ad is dumb" with "people here are Republicans"? That's a pretty cynically partisan perspective itself.
And yet, in the media, the only ones attacking the ad is the Republican media, such as The Washington Post and of course, Fox News. The leading progressive YouTube channel, The Young Turks, was impressed by the boldness of the ad and in their response
video their initial comment was "
Damn! That was an aggressive ad." (TYT has previously criticised Obama and the Democrats for not taking the fight to the Republicans). This sentiment is reiterated in Secular Talk's
video, another progressive YouTube channel.
Having previously followed UK politics closely (pre/post Blair era), I am frankly flabbergasted at the broken state of the U.S. political system, where today you can effectively spend
unlimited funds in
any State, to fund the election campaign of your preferred candidate and the candidate with the most funds invariably wins... How is that Democracy?
If politics is largely unchanged in the UK, this Supreme Court sanctioned corruption (donors of course expect
nothing in return for funding a politician's election...) cannot happen in the UK because there are strict limits on how much you can pay towards a Member of Parliament's (MP's) election campaign and they have to declare donations over a certain amount. As a result there is pretty much a level playing field for election candidates (for the main parties), funded by local and sometimes central political offices (I believe for key areas), the net result being, the must popular candidate in the district wins. Essentially, instead of money playing a huge role in an election, it comes down to the mood of the nation as to which party governs.
I was ecstatic when Labour (Blair) booted the long standing Tories (Conservatives) out of office as just like the Republicans, they only represented the well off in society. As it turned out, Blair's government wasn't a whole lot different (
wait a minute, that sounds familiar - thanks Obama), with the chief "spin doctor", Alastair Campbell, becoming the public face of the Labour government (man, I grew to detest Campbell as I wanted to hear directly from Blair etc and not get government spin from Campbell). As I recall, Brown, as Chancellor of the Exchequer (decides monetary policy, such as taxes) was fair and didn't dissapoint. I got the hell out of the UK, in 07, when he became Prime Minister

.