Yes, you vote for a candidate. Don't kid yourself that people don't treat their politics like baseball teams, though. After the recall election in Wisconsin and the insanity of destroyed signs and verbal attacks here, I have no doubt it's only going to get worse.
Gas Bandit's Political Thread V: The Vampire Likes Bats
- Thread starter GasBandit
- Start date
Mostly I'd like to get him in the debate at the very least. The two main parties have amassed too much power and are coasting on "Well, they'll vote for me because the alternative sucks".
Necronic
Staff member
Yeah, I know how most people vote. The good knews is that these days most people don't decide elections, and from what I understand Walkers election is evidence of that. The deciding factor in that vote was independents, and I think that's becoming more the standard as time goes on. There was something like what, 20% of the people who voted to keep Walker were also planning on voting for Obama.
GasBandit
Staff member
You do understand you are on the internet, right? And that information about him is a google search away?
Well, if you want the super short versions of his stated stances,
http://www.ontheissues.org/Gary_Johnson.htm
I don't agree with him on everything (he doesn't think Iran is our problem and opposes net neutrality), but the important thing to me is the overall ideology (shrink government, grow liberty both social and fiscal) matches my own.
Like most candidates, trying to find where he stands on issues is like trying to walk through a minefield of opinion. The only thing people seem to agree on is that he's very good at talking up the issues that people who come to hear him talk want him to be on their side for - which makes him no different from most politicians.
At the very least, I want to see him in a real debate that isn't a freakishly bizarre echo chamber of people blaming Obama for everything. If he did a lot more of that townhall stuff, that could be very interesting. I know some serious crazy gets involved in those, but I feel like you can tell more about a candidate when he answers that stuff these days then in a circus show debate intended as a launching platforms for the actual leading candidates.
Necronic
Staff member
Does it bother you at all that he may be the creepiest looking politician of all time in that picture?
It bothers me.
You know Gas, it's strange how close you and I are politically yet how different as well. I have very similar views as you about being socially liberal and fiscally conservative, just not as extreme in either direction. That small difference ends up putting me in a very different camp than you politically.
It bothers me.
You know Gas, it's strange how close you and I are politically yet how different as well. I have very similar views as you about being socially liberal and fiscally conservative, just not as extreme in either direction. That small difference ends up putting me in a very different camp than you politically.
GasBandit
Staff member
You Rack Dissaprin.
GasBandit
Staff member
President Obama is backpedaling furiously after his poorly chosen words at a news conference this morning caused a massive backlash:
We’ve created 4.3 million jobs over the last 27 months; over 800,000 just this year alone. The private sector is doing fine.
Mitt Romney’s camp quickly seized on the slipup, calling it the “gift that keeps on giving”:People know what the president said is terribly out of touch. But they also know that his actions have been terribly out of touch. So what he is saying is shocking but it’s not anything that people haven’t felt.
Ours is a reality-based campaign, and this is reality.
Obama attempted to clarify his remarks this afternoon: ”It is absolutely clear that the economy is not doing fine. That’s why I had a press conference.”Ours is a reality-based campaign, and this is reality.
The Department of Justice is now suing the state of Florida for refusing to stop purging eligible voters from their voter rolls.
Even better, the state of Florida is suing the federal government for not giving them the Department of Homeland Securities immigration list.
GasBandit
Staff member
A vote has been set to hold Eric Holder in Contempt. Boy are they behind the times, I've been holding him in contempt for years! (drum fill)
Food for thought on voting rights - the last time the Supreme court ruled on it, they said Indiana's photo ID voting requirement did not violate the constitution.
Food for thought on voting rights - the last time the Supreme court ruled on it, they said Indiana's photo ID voting requirement did not violate the constitution.
GasBandit
Staff member
It was more a reference to the photo ID discussion from a page or two ago, where we were discussing the pro and con of requiring photo ID to vote. I'm content to wait to see how the Florida thing shakes out before making comment.
Necronic
Staff member
This is why FARK has a "Florida" tag.
BananaHands
Staff member
Here's a video I shot at Bonnaroo. Bunch of festival-goers giving their $0.02 on the upcoming election.
GasBandit
Staff member
So, about those tax rates...
GasBandit
Staff member
Just to stir the puddin' a bit... 10 Concepts Liberals Talk About Incessantly But Don't Understand -
1) Being Open Minded: To a liberal, this has nothing at all to do with seriously considering other people's ideas. To the contrary, liberals define being "open-minded" as agreeing with them. What could be more close-minded than assuming that not only are you right, but that you don't even need to consider another viewpoint because anyone who disagrees must be evil?
2) Racism: Liberals start with the presumption that only white people who don't belong to the Democratic Party can be racist. So, for example, even if Jeremiah Wright can make it clear that he hates white people because of their skin color or if liberals take an explicitly racist political position, like suggesting that black people are too stupid and incompetent to get identification to vote, they can't be racist. White Republicans, on the other hand, are generally assumed to be racist by default, no matter how much evidence there is to the contrary.
3) Fairness: In all fairness, I must admit that fairness is an arbitrary concept. So, you could make the argument that no one could get "fairness" wrong. Still, liberals do because they don't make any effort to actually "be fair." As a practical matter, liberals define "fairness" as taking as much as possible from people who they don't think are going to vote for them and giving it to people who may vote for them in return for their ill gotten largesse. Certainly conservatives, libertarians, and moderates might disagree about how much money to take from the wealthy to redistribute to the poor or how to help the disadvantaged, but the only liberal answer to the question, "How much is enough?" is "more."
4) Greed: To a liberal, believing that you pay too much in taxes or even opposing paying more in taxes is greedy. In actuality, wanting to loot as much money as possible that someone else has earned to use for your own purposes, which is what liberals do, is a much better example of greed.
5) Hate: Liberals often define simple disagreement with them on issues like gay marriage, tax rates, or abortion as hatred. No matter how well a position is explained, or the logical underpinnings behind it, it's chalked up to hate. Meanwhile, the angriest, most vicious, most hateful people in all of politics are liberals railing against what they say is "hatred." This irony is completely lost on the Left.
6) Investment: Actual investments involve putting money or resources into a project in hopes that they will appreciate in value. Liberals skip the second half of that equation. To them, an "investment" is taking someone else's tax dollars and putting it into a project that liberals approve of and whether a profit is made or lost is so irrelevant that they typically don't even bother to measure the results.
7) Charity: Contributing your own money or time to a good cause is charity. Liberals view themselves as charitable if they take someone else's tax dollars and give it away to people they hope will vote for them in return. At a minimum, they should at least credit the taxpayers who paid for the money they gave away for the charity, although it's not really charity if it's involuntary. Of course, there's nothing charitable about asking someone else to sacrifice for your gain, which could actually be better described as selfish.
8) Patriotism: Liberals love America the way a wife beater loves his spouse. That's why they're always beating up the country "for its own good." Doesn't the country understand that liberals have to hit it in the mouth because they LOVE IT SO MUCH?!?!? Of course, the conventional definition of patriotism, which is loving your country and wishing it well, isn't one that liberals can wrap their heads around.
9) Tolerance: In a free, open, and pluralistic society, there are all sorts of behaviors that we may have to tolerate, even though we don't approve of those activities. Liberals don't get this distinction. For one thing, they don't understand the difference between tolerance and acceptance. They also don't extend any of the tolerance they're agitating for to people who disagree with them. Liberals silence people who disagree with them at every opportunity which is, dare we say it, an extremely intolerant way to behave.
10) Diversity: What liberals mean by "diversity" is that they want a broad range of people from different races, colors, and creeds who have identical political views. A black or Hispanic conservative doesn't contribute to "diversity" in liberal eyes because he actually has diverse views. Incredible role models for women like Sarah Palin can't be feminists to liberals because she doesn't share the same liberal beliefs as sexist pigs like Anthony Weiner and Bill Maher. How can you have any meaningful "diversity" when everyone has to think the same way?[DOUBLEPOST=1343828923][/DOUBLEPOST]Different story now - Obama is trying to prevent thousands of layoff notices from going out a few days before the November election.
1) Being Open Minded: To a liberal, this has nothing at all to do with seriously considering other people's ideas. To the contrary, liberals define being "open-minded" as agreeing with them. What could be more close-minded than assuming that not only are you right, but that you don't even need to consider another viewpoint because anyone who disagrees must be evil?
2) Racism: Liberals start with the presumption that only white people who don't belong to the Democratic Party can be racist. So, for example, even if Jeremiah Wright can make it clear that he hates white people because of their skin color or if liberals take an explicitly racist political position, like suggesting that black people are too stupid and incompetent to get identification to vote, they can't be racist. White Republicans, on the other hand, are generally assumed to be racist by default, no matter how much evidence there is to the contrary.
3) Fairness: In all fairness, I must admit that fairness is an arbitrary concept. So, you could make the argument that no one could get "fairness" wrong. Still, liberals do because they don't make any effort to actually "be fair." As a practical matter, liberals define "fairness" as taking as much as possible from people who they don't think are going to vote for them and giving it to people who may vote for them in return for their ill gotten largesse. Certainly conservatives, libertarians, and moderates might disagree about how much money to take from the wealthy to redistribute to the poor or how to help the disadvantaged, but the only liberal answer to the question, "How much is enough?" is "more."
4) Greed: To a liberal, believing that you pay too much in taxes or even opposing paying more in taxes is greedy. In actuality, wanting to loot as much money as possible that someone else has earned to use for your own purposes, which is what liberals do, is a much better example of greed.
5) Hate: Liberals often define simple disagreement with them on issues like gay marriage, tax rates, or abortion as hatred. No matter how well a position is explained, or the logical underpinnings behind it, it's chalked up to hate. Meanwhile, the angriest, most vicious, most hateful people in all of politics are liberals railing against what they say is "hatred." This irony is completely lost on the Left.
6) Investment: Actual investments involve putting money or resources into a project in hopes that they will appreciate in value. Liberals skip the second half of that equation. To them, an "investment" is taking someone else's tax dollars and putting it into a project that liberals approve of and whether a profit is made or lost is so irrelevant that they typically don't even bother to measure the results.
7) Charity: Contributing your own money or time to a good cause is charity. Liberals view themselves as charitable if they take someone else's tax dollars and give it away to people they hope will vote for them in return. At a minimum, they should at least credit the taxpayers who paid for the money they gave away for the charity, although it's not really charity if it's involuntary. Of course, there's nothing charitable about asking someone else to sacrifice for your gain, which could actually be better described as selfish.
8) Patriotism: Liberals love America the way a wife beater loves his spouse. That's why they're always beating up the country "for its own good." Doesn't the country understand that liberals have to hit it in the mouth because they LOVE IT SO MUCH?!?!? Of course, the conventional definition of patriotism, which is loving your country and wishing it well, isn't one that liberals can wrap their heads around.
9) Tolerance: In a free, open, and pluralistic society, there are all sorts of behaviors that we may have to tolerate, even though we don't approve of those activities. Liberals don't get this distinction. For one thing, they don't understand the difference between tolerance and acceptance. They also don't extend any of the tolerance they're agitating for to people who disagree with them. Liberals silence people who disagree with them at every opportunity which is, dare we say it, an extremely intolerant way to behave.
10) Diversity: What liberals mean by "diversity" is that they want a broad range of people from different races, colors, and creeds who have identical political views. A black or Hispanic conservative doesn't contribute to "diversity" in liberal eyes because he actually has diverse views. Incredible role models for women like Sarah Palin can't be feminists to liberals because she doesn't share the same liberal beliefs as sexist pigs like Anthony Weiner and Bill Maher. How can you have any meaningful "diversity" when everyone has to think the same way?[DOUBLEPOST=1343828923][/DOUBLEPOST]Different story now - Obama is trying to prevent thousands of layoff notices from going out a few days before the November election.
Sorry, I am normally more verbose in my answers, but that list is a load of crap.
Wow... what a fucking hilarious article. I actually started laughing at "Incredible role models for women like Sarah Palin..."
Also, a conservative complaining that people are trying to make everyone think the same way is laughable.
Also, a conservative complaining that people are trying to make everyone think the same way is laughable.
You know, the idea for this list is not bad. It may even have some got points under all that crap, but I stopped reading at
This is just "Whatever liberals say doesn't make sense to me I won't make an effort to understand they are the stupid ones haha". So I read 4) because it was short and left it there.
I've always thought that taking away half of what a person earned was a reasonable upwards bound on income tax, although lately I am starting to question if, over a certain income, you couldn't maybe tax MORE
Man, I love where I live... max tax bracket of 39%.
If I wanted to pay 50% or more I would live in one of the nordic countries.
Of course taxing 100% makes no sense in the real world, but the fact that such an extreme as GasBandit provided wouldn't cover a years worth of government expenses does demonstrate a real problem with the current system. People can keep pretending they're ostriches if they want, but the the US Government is far beyond the stage where "it's the fault of those greedy rich people."
GasBandit
Staff member
And let's just revisit this whole Sarah Palin thing mentioned. Granted, I didn't edit out the role model quote because I knew it would be more irritating left in, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with Palin that isn't the exact same case for every single other politician of either major party. The difference is the media hit squad made it their primary duty to annihilate Palin, no holds barred, no subject taboo, while they cover for other politicians. The only reason the 08 republican campaign had any vigor behind it at all was because they added Palin to the ticket - a great number of conservative voters were (and are, see tea party darling Ted Cruz's 13 point runoff victory in Texas yesterday) completely fed up with moderate, big government establishment republicans like Bush and McCain. She had an 87% approval rating as governor of Alaska, and a reputation for "busting up the good ol' boys club." And frankly, she was more qualified to be president than Obama and Biden combined.
GasBandit
Staff member
Papa John's Pizza will cost $0.20 more cuz ObamaCare.
Really? That's it? I would gladly pay an extra quarter for my pizza if it means the delivery folks are actually getting benefits now. Really, if that's all it cost, it just makes me wonder why they weren't getting it before.