The Politics Thread

[MissLlanviewPA]

My favorite line so far was one a poster left on Taegan Goddard's Political Wire:

"Go ahead. Make my dementia."

Yeah, it's kind of sick, but it made me laugh.

[Roman]

I was watching something else, but turned on the RNC briefly. When I saw the man talking to an empty chair, I turned back on "World's Dumbest" and just waited until he was done.

[I Am A Swede]

You don't need to have photo ID to vote in the U.S?

That is definitely a requirement if you want to vote here! I just assumed that was the case everywhere. Or at the very least that you would have to produce some sort of identification.

[Wales2004]

I happen to find this sort of thing an exaggeration and it reminds me of S.E. Cupp on The Cycle making the 70 cases of possible voter fraud the biggest deal. I understand that there is a potential for voter fraud to have an effect on an election (probably more likely at a local level where less people are voting) but this is more of a solution in search of a problem. The requirement itself isn't a problem--the timing of it is. When millions of people vote in an election and there is no evidence of any massive voter fraud then the whole idea of preventing one or two instances of it seems rather trviial. There are way more significant things going on that deserve more time and energy than this specific issue no matter how civic minded anyone wants to be.

And this is the type of partisan response that makes both parties a waste. Somehow what the Democrats might possibly be doing something terrible but the Republicans are just making the nation better by making it harder for a significant number of people to vote even when one of them admitted that this plan would benefit Mitt Romney? In partisan world one side cannot possibly be doing anything with malicious intent when you can point the finger at the other side.

As far as casual dismissal goes, I think it's a stretch to assume someone who is not like minded automatically has an agenda. It's not that clear to me. But true, maybe some people would rather see money go toward education or feeding starving children than spent on trying to prevent people from being able to vote.

Voter I.D. is a fantastic idea. Implement it on January 1, 2013 not just in time to keep some people from voting.

Because what I am hearing and reading is that denying thousands of individuals their right to vote in this upcoming major election is a great idea since it might keep one or two people from fraudulent voting and I guess there's no such thing as fraudulent I.D. either.

[marceline]

If the people pushing these laws were truly interested in the "integrity of the process" they would be more concerned with making IDs easily available and free. They would also encourage early voting instead of trying to curtail it, they would encourage BOEs to accept provisional ballots instead of fighting to have them thrown out and they wouldn't create loopholes that force institutions to spend money like the way a number of Pennsylvania schools have to in order to change school IDs to adhere to the rule that have to have an expiration date. They also wouldn't be training people in voter intimidation and they wouldn't be going after groups like the League of Women Voters or high school teachers who register their students.

This isn't about the process. It isn't about "if even one person votes fraudulently, blah, blah, blah." It's about the fact that Obama won in 2008 because of an unprecedented turnout of minority and young voters and the GOP is going to do everything possible to make sure that never happens again. Honestly, I don't understand how anybody who tries to keep people from the polls can consider themselves an American when they are spitting in the face of one of our most precious rights just because they didn't like the outcome last time.

I'll be voting early but I'll be volunteering to help people get to the polls on Election Day and I can honestly say nothing would make me happier than to come face to face with one of these "True the Vote" thugs.

You could offer that but it would be a lie.

Edited August 31, 2012 by marceline

[DRW50]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2012/08/31/the-most-cringe-worthy-lines-of-the-2012-gop-convention-that-didnt-involve-clint-eastwood/

I'm fascinated at our media friends who are going on about how this convention paves the way for Condi to run in 2016 or 2020. The Republicans will never accept anything about her. This is more of the same fantasyland Beltway crap which believes "T-Paw" is an icon.

[alphanguy74]

I'm surprised Clint Eastwood qualified to speak at the Convention, seeing as how he's had 7 children by 5 different women, and only married 2 of them.

Edited August 31, 2012 by alphanguy74

[marceline]

He's the coolest guy they've got. Otherwise they're stuck with Ted Nugent or Chuck Norris.

[ReddFoxx]

Not just that, he's also pro-choice and pro-environment, his record as Mayor of Carmel was really very strong on environmental issues.

[Wales2004]

He's in the special family values category where all that counts is that he's married now and I'm assuming he must like rifles or his iconic character leads them to believe he does and that apparently is more than enough.

As far fetched as it seems (because it would be jaw dropping to even see any woman in the Republican party reach that high), it's not out of the realm (though I doubt she has that as an aspiration).

Due to America's complicated relationship with race, she's got to be in the "Exceptional" category. Somehow in the minds of people who think like that, she's not like those other people. I once heard a former co-worker say some negative things about black people and when the person to whom she spoke reminded her that she was telling all this to a black woman, she told her that she didn't see her as black because she's not like those others.

Soledad O'Brein's CNN series Black in America would have been a lot different had she explored the whole craziness of black people not really being black as it shows how some have nullified Martin Luther King Jr's line about "color of their skin."

[JaneAusten]

Don't forget Mel Gibson

[Ann_SS]

It is not an exaggeration. It is mendacity as Big Daddy called it in one of my favorite movies, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. The typical lies that Republicans trot when they want to suppress the votes of people they know won't vote for them.

Pretty much. Suppressing the vote of ethnic minorities and women has been the favorite past time of primarily white right-wing conservative males. This imaginary "vote fraud" delusion is just their latest strategy.

Good for you! I love this.

Yep, I am enjoying how the Republicans' pathological lying is finally forcing the mainstream to acknowledge that they are liars and dishonest about everything that they say about their political opponents.

Edited August 31, 2012 by Ann_SS

[Wales2004]

Well a judge has restored Ohio's three days of early voting. Chalk one up for the "eeevil" Democrats who sought to deprive military voters of their rights. Oh wait that was another one of those false accusations that the fact checkers had no business revealing.

[marceline]

And honey, we're going to use the HELL out of them. Trust.

[Cheap21]

I have to say the Republican ticket seems better this time around than last election. Romney/Ryan seem liks less of a joke than McCain/Palin