When Mitt Romney becomes president.... *FLUX THREAD!*

[Jason]

Both sides may be guilty but when both sides resort to code words to discourage or bully their critics, then it proves that their argument isn't as sound as one would think. Like the whole "if you criticize Obama you're a racist" or "if you criticize Israel you're an antisemite". Needless to say that the constant dropping of those terms do nothing but cheapen the negativity behind the words.

There are many valid, policy-based criticisms of Obama to be made.  (The Romney campaign doesn't seem to be making many of these, though.)

But, the whole birther thing was racist.

Notice, I never said "if you criticize Obama you're a racist".  Plenty of valid criticisms out there.

If the Republicans had spent the last 3 years on valid policy criticisms, instead of the birther racist nonsense, then they might have a shot now.

Many major Republican donors, as we speak, are moving their money into Senate races.  Romney is a lost cause.  A dead dog you might say.   

Oh, no doubt the birther thing was racist. In fact...there might actually be more evidence to suggest that Mittens wasn't born in the United States.

[Heysaboda]

Mitty seems to be a brilliant financial guy, and a kind and charitable (sometimes) person.  But his transition to "severe conservative" was foolish.

[FatherOfTheMan Sr101]

Mitty seems to be a brilliant financial guy, and a kind and charitable (sometimes) person.  But his transition to "severe conservative" was foolish.

I agree, I'm definitely more conservative, and still some of the things he says just sound plain
crazy to me.

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

I agree. McCain was a good man too who just got eaten up by the machine......

[guitarfool2002]

A totally random question and observation which really hit during the DNC convention:

Where has Al Gore been hiding, or where is he in general?

I thought as this campaign started heating up, and we started to see names like Bill Clinton join in the activities, the ol' "First Carbon Billionaire" himself, Gore, would join in too.

[Jason]

I was hoping Al Gore would have disappeared up into his own asshole...he's still around?

[Dunderhead]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=4FnSULxtcSw

[guitarfool2002]

I was hoping Al Gore would have disappeared up into his own asshole...he's still around?

Right this minute, he's probably relaxing in one of his several luxurious mansions, driving in a fleet of luxury SUV's to or from some paid speaking gig, cooking up yet another carbon-based Ponzi scheme to make millions for absolutely nothing of value in return, or flying on a private jet to or from an ersatz "conference" that meant nothing.

I found his absence from the public spotlight at the DNC to be very suspicious. A few years ago he was the perfect man - complete with Nobel Prize, Oscar, Grammy, etc. Now he's a ghost at his party's convention.

Just wondering if there was a reason for that. (I think we know the answer, but anyway...) 

[Awesoman]

Well Debate 1 was interesting.  I thought the Onion really summed things up:

http://www.theonion.com/articles/mitt-romney-adopts-new-ronnie-ferocious-persona-fo,29789/

[hypehat]

It seems all Mitt had to do was not say 'F*** the proles' and conduct himself as basic humans do for some people to say he won. Although Obama srsly did not bring his A game, a zinger on Big Bird would have probably disrupted Mitt's zen (also, PBS takes up less than 1% of the Federal budget, so WTF Mitt?)

Also, it's not 'Obama's plane' or 'Obama's house', it's f***ing Air Force One and The White House, you imbecile.

[Dunderhead]

http://image.slidesharecdn.com/socialsecurity-121002122842-phpapp02/95/slide-24-1024.jpg?1349200596

hurrah social security! only 80% of people end up losing money on social security. Social security is literally a program where we take money from people and give them back less money in the future. Think about that, it's a retirement fund with a negative return for over 3/4 of people enrolled. Why exactly do people like social security exactly? It provides less than 0 return

[stack-o-tracks]

http://image.slidesharecdn.com/socialsecurity-121002122842-phpapp02/95/slide-24-1024.jpg?1349200596

hurrah social security! only 80% of people end up losing money on social security. Social security is literally a program where we take money from people and give them back less money in the future. Think about that, it's a retirement fund with a negative return for over 3/4 of people enrolled. Why exactly do people like social security exactly? It provides less than 0 return

i've always wondered this. it's been said that the government created it as a way for them to get more money from taxpayers and they never had a plan to sustain it for the long run.

you can opt out of it and have them not take it out of your paycheck. contact your local social security office for more information.

[Dunderhead]

http://image.slidesharecdn.com/socialsecurity-121002122842-phpapp02/95/slide-24-1024.jpg?1349200596

hurrah social security! only 80% of people end up losing money on social security. Social security is literally a program where we take money from people and give them back less money in the future. Think about that, it's a retirement fund with a negative return for over 3/4 of people enrolled. Why exactly do people like social security exactly? It provides less than 0 return

i've always wondered this. it's been said that the government created it as a way for them to get more money from taxpayers and they never had a plan to sustain it for the long run.

you can opt out of it and have them not take it out of your paycheck. contact your local social security office for more information.

That's not true, I don't know, you may be able to opt out of receiving the benefits but the tax is mandatory isn't it? If you could opt out of payroll tax I think 80% of Americans would do so immediately.

The funny thing is, right now there's a false sense of security created by the trust fund. The program supposedly has some reserve, but that reserve exists only as bonds issued by the Treasury Department. The US Government spent all the trust fund money already, and gave itself an iou, and now will have to pay back that 2 Trillion dollars by either raising taxes, borrowing the money, or just printing it. It's ironic that the trust fund was conceived as a prudent measure, a way to save for the future, when in reality it was just an underhanded tax. Social security is really just an awful awful program. We're just trapped in it at this point.

[stack-o-tracks]

you can do it, but you will no longer be entitled to the "benefits" when you reach their specified retirement age. you're paying into the fund so they can give it back to you so they dont have to pay for all the horrible things old people have to go through.

and the fact it was created at the tail end of hte great depression.  government saw a way to suck more money from the people and they did.

[hypehat]

Rick Santorum, Ladies & Gentlemen!

“I’ve voted to kill Big Bird in the past,” Romney’s ex-primary rival said. “I have a record there that I have to disclose. That doesn’t mean I don’t like Big Bird. You can kill things and still like them, maybe to eat them, I don’t know. That’s probably that. Can we — can we go back on that one?”

(http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/election-2012/wp/2012/10/05/rick-santorum-you-can-kill-things-and-still-like-them/)

[Dunderhead]

We do we *have* to have PBS and NPR? LIke I get that those things are nice but why is it that advocating a cut to NPR or PBS is considered so heinous? "oh no, boo-hoo, Mitt Romney wants to kill Big Bird", shut up. Of course everyone pretends to love PBS when it's politically convenient, but how many of the people feigning outrage have donated to PBS in the last year? How many have sat down and watched sesame street in the last year?

I listen to NPR all the time, I like it well enough, it's an ok thing to turn on when you're really bored, and for the most part, it's not super educational or impartial. It's liberal talk radio, that's it, they have a guy on, "Joe Blow wrote a new book, "X: How Y did Z and created the Modern World", Joe Blow is here in the studio with us", then they have a 10 minute interview in which this 2nd rate author summarizes his completely non-scholarly position. After that people call in and say random things for 40 minutes.

Is that vital? People need to stop being so histrionic, cutting NPR and PBS wouldn't hurt anyone, it's sort of nice to have when your bored. That's it. America isn't hinging on its' existence of something.

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

It's vital as long as we HAVE to have ABC/NBC/CBS/CNN/MSNBC/FOX ........

NBC is my employer, BTW, so I don't say this lightly......

But c'mon, why do we have to have beer or cigarettes or ice cream?

[Dunderhead]

So why don't we go to the fcc and deregulate the airwaves?

Also it's not really at all, if it comes down to sending out some social security checks or running a rerun of antiques roadshow, PBS becomes a luxury that we can't afford.

[Dunderhead]

I've also heard multiple shows on NPR where the host and expert said that NPR would be better off if it were private.

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

I'd be fine with NPR being private. I mean, we pay for NBC/CBS/ABC anyhow, so why not NPR?

I'm also fine with deregulating the airwaves, but good luck on that one.....

[hypehat]

It is less than 1% than the Federal Budget. It's a pointless cut, and I'm really not sure why he mentioned it.


I just brought it up to laugh at Santorum saying he kills things he likes!

[Jason]

1933 was the year this slippery slope became just too slippery. The United States has been bankrupt since 1933, hence the abandonment of the gold standard and the surrender of American sovereignty over the dollar to the Federal Reserve. Then Social Security, World War II, Medicare, al-Qaeda, and Obamacare...it's a slippery slope. We're never going to repay all of this debt. Sooner or later the creditors will come calling...and not with lawyers.

I'm all for defunding PBS and NPR for one very simple reason - federal money going to both organizations is negligible; both PBS and NPR raise most of their money through donations. Given the response to "kill Big Bird", I'm sure that people will continue to donate. sh*t, if Wikipedia runs with six hundred-some odd crew and completely on donations, I'm sure PBS and NPR would do just fine.

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

1933 was the year this slippery slope became just too slippery. The United States has been bankrupt since 1933, hence the abandonment of the gold standard and the surrender of American sovereignty over the dollar to the Federal Reserve. Then Social Security, World War II, Medicare, al-Qaeda, and Obamacare...it's a slippery slope. We're never going to repay all of this debt. Sooner or later the creditors will come calling...and not with lawyers.

I'm all for defunding PBS and NPR for one very simple reason - federal money going to both organizations is negligible; both PBS and NPR raise most of their money through donations. Given the response to "kill Big Bird", I'm sure that people will continue to donate. sh*t, if Wikipedia runs with six hundred-some odd crew and completely on donations, I'm sure PBS and NPR would do just fine.

Great sentence


I agree, but NPR/PBS want more money too. Just like everyone else....

I think the only point to be made is that Romney (who has more chance being elected President of the Mike Love fan club than of the U.S) mentioning Big Bird at the debate in order to get a laugh or to endear himself to .....anyone.... didn't quite come off as planned.

[Jason]

Well, don't get me started on the debates...I saw two clowns trying to convince an audience that the other guy was more full of sh*t.

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

At least Romney TRIED...... Even standing there lying counts as doing SOMETHING as opposed to Obama!

How about we get Brian to moderate the next debate??