The Politics Thread

[Roman]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/19/andy-gipson-gays-mississippi-facebook-apology_n_1529677.html?ref=politics

It's so heartening that this party is so open-minded.

[Max]

It really pisses me off how the honorable Cory Booker was crucified by liberals after he blasted the nauseating negative attacks employed by both sides. After being trashed by liberals for defending Bain, Booker was forced to make an about-face.

I thought that Obama was supposed to be the guy who would bring an end to petty partisanship. So much for that. Booker--who has been a great mayor and who also recently saved somebody's life in a building that was being consumed by fire--is actually the politican who lives up to all the hype liberals had for Obama.

Edited May 22, 2012 by Max

[DRW50]

Booker is a typical panderer, one who cowers to the Beltway by talking about "both sides." It is a dated and pathetic view which only Democrats have, and I am glad that people are tired of it. It is nonsensical to compare the Bain ads to the ad campaign planned about Jeremiah Wright, which blatantly involved race-baiting. Not everything is equivalent. Year after year after year, anything the GOP does is shrugged off because "both sides do it." Cory Booker enables this view, and he deserved to be criticized. No one asked him to go on Meet the Press and give us the David Broder worldview.

This is why Democrats lose. They are terrified of everything. Meanwhile, Republicans are - on taxpayer dollars - sending people to Hawaii to investigate Obama's birth certificate, and no one gives a damn.

[Max]

Obama's never done any pandering? His whole 2008 campaign was about how he would rise above partisanship and be an entirely different type of politican. (He also pandered to the anti-war left when he said he would close Gitmo, and pandered to the popular opinion of the day when he said he was opposed to gay marriage.)

I'd venture to guess that among people of all ideological stripes, Booker is a lot more respected than Obama is. And the man is hardly some Zell Miller-type DINO. Mayor Booker has also returned the once disgraced city of Newark to respectability. For instance, crime has dropped dramatically. (So much so that March 2010 was Newark's first murder-free month in over forty years.) He has also doubled the amount of the city's affordable housing.

Edited May 22, 2012 by Max

[DRW50]

If you see Booker as being the same as Obama then why are you defending him?

[DRW50]

Newt Gingrich money woes.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/22/us-usa-campaign-gingrich-idUSBRE84L0G620120522

[ReddFoxx]

The problem with what Booker said is that there is nothing "nauseating" about the Bain Capital ads, there were no lies or distortions in them and Romney uses his business experiences as a reason why he should be elected, that is fair game.

And a lot of people have a problem with it, because no elected Republicans have really stepped out to condemn attacks on the President that are based on personal character, yet Booker offers a defense for Romney on something that can't be defended.

Republicans stepped up the partisanship the minute Obama was elected. Why aren't they expected to stop partisanship?

[Max]

Both Obama and Romney are serial panderers. I certainly don't see Booker anywhere near that league. (The only time I recall him pandering was when he retracted his statement on Meet the Press.)

If Obama actually was this great post-partisan politician that he camapigned as, then such statements in 2008 couldn't be classified as pandering. Booker, however, has a record of putting people over party, such as when he challenged the views of the Sharpe James-led Newark Democratic establishment, and the productive working relationship he has with Chris Christie (whom he may challenge for governor in 2013).

Actually, the Obama campaign recently ran an ad where Bain was blamed for the closure of a steel company. However, the problem was that Romney wasn't even the head of Bain when that company went out of business. Thankfully, CNN's Ashleigh Banfield pointed out to viewers the disgusting nature of the highly misleading ad:

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/eoTYnnGV-ZM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Given that Obama has been such a "highly successful" president anyway, I really don't understand the Democratic need to resort to these type of scare tactics.

Some have already stated that Bain and Jeremiah Wright are not comparable with each other. I agree. Obama is using attack ads on Bain to scare voters, wheres Romney (despite all his flaws) has disavowed efforts by others to play the Wright race card:

http://www.politico.com/politico44/2012/05/romney-repudiates-jeremiah-wright-plan-123737.html

I'm guessing the reason why a different standard exists is because the GOP leaders--unlike Obama--did not go parading themselves around as the most honorable politicians in generations.

Edited May 22, 2012 by Max

[Roman]

You know, I've asked on two seperate occasions what the presidentcan do while he's in office. Both times I received no response. Which tells me that the ONLY thing Republicans can do is spout garbage, lies and BS, because they have NO SOLUTIONS to what they say ales us today. Not one. Well, not one that doesn't include bringing up Wright (After they and the "liberal" media pushed to hell 4 years ago), calling that man and his family every disgusting name in the book, going after Gay and Lesbian Americans for something that is NONE OF THEIR BUSINESS (even though they say they hate big government and wants them to stay out of people's lives), and then this birther crap, because that's the ONLY way they can beat him (Funny. I never heard any other POTUS asked for their birth certificate. Strange).

And, Republicnas can't parade around as honorable. They are, next to some Dems, gigantic liars, cheats amd crooks, who have ripped this country off for over a decade and then get ticked when they're called out on it. The only people they want in that party are rich, crazy white people who will spend more time going after others because they can't stand that they will no longer be in the majority in 20 years.

They whole damn system is corrupt. But I don't hear that. And I will be welcomed to a calm, good disccusion on what BOTH PARTIES can do to come up with solutions. But when one party is being called out with FACTS, I just laugh when the response is, "Well...the Dems do it too, but the "liberal" media is in Obama's hip pocket".

Really?

[Roman]

Bokker ran off at his mouth, got a serious lashing from the campaign, and is now trying to blame the Republicans for what he said. If he still wants to be a surrogate (and get help from the DNC for his re-election) he knows he has to eat crow and take this on the chin. But, maybe this will teach him...don't say dumb crap in front of a mic.

Did Steve King compare immigrants to dogs?

[Max]

Wingwalker, I actually agree with you on this matter, which is why I don't understand why Democrats are so panicked. Assuming that there are no unforseen major changes in the election, Romney starts out with a floor of 206 electoral votes: the 22 states McCain won plus IN (11), NC (15), and that one Congressional District from NE. (All of these were places Obama barely won. This time, only NC is considered "swing," and I disagree with that assessment.) Then, Romney has to win three big states where Obama had his weakest showings (outside of IN, NC, and the CD in NE): FL (29), OH (18), and VA (13). Unfortunately, this still gives the former MA governor only 266 electoral votes. Thus--and this is where it becomes most challenging--Romney will need to win one of the small states that GWB carried at least once: NV (6), CO (9), IA (6), NH (4), or NM (5). (I listed these states in order from most to least favorable for Romney.)

I strongly doubt that Romney will win a state that GWB lost twice. This means that I don't consider MI, PA, or WI to be swing states (despite what the conventional wisdom says).

Edited May 23, 2012 by Max

[juppiter]

This. "Liberal" became a dirty word because of the hippies, and the Democrats have been playing defense ever since. It was 50 years ago, it is time to grow a pair!

[DRW50]

Longtime Michigan GOP Congressman apparently couldn't be bothered to get enough signatures for the ballot.

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120526/OPINION03/205260374/1361/McCotter-foul-up-risks-GOP-hold-on-delegation

[DRW50]

Donald Trump continues to push birther garbage and Romney continues to shrug this off. And what a surprise, the "liberal" media makes sure to devote several pages to talking about why it makes sense for Romney to support Trump, and to even have other Romney surrogates push their own birther theories. Romney is so gutless that he hides behind such stale and offensive conspiracy theories, and the media heaps praise on him for it.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0512/76820.html

[DRW50]

Another member of Congress ousted (and not in a primary with another member of Congress). Longtime Texas Congressman Silvestre Reyes lost his seat, in spite of endorsements from Obama and Bill Clinton, in a primary fight which involved hysteria of marijuana legalization and his running an ad blasting his opponent for having a criminal record and falling down on a floor.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/drug-legalization-democrat-beats-rep-silvestre-reyes-texas/story?id=16459144#.T8ZWebBYunc

http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_20687030/new-reyes-ad-attacks-orourkes-character?source=most_viewed

Here's O'Rourke. Kind of cute, although the veneers spoil it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OF0A-1B70nw