The Politics Thread

[DRW50]

I wonder if the far right will latch on to this to try to tarnish Obama. He was a big hero to them at one point (they even wanted him to run for President).

[AdelaideCate007]

There's another one?!?!?!?!

Thanks for explaining the "birthers" to me- what a strange and weird thing.

Edited November 9, 2012 by AdelaideCate007

[alphanguy74]

Oh hell, yeah.. my Niece's father in law is convinced the Noreaster on the east coast is God's Judgement.

[alphanguy74]

It comes from the fact that Amercians by and large are crass, entitled dickheads. I don't love this country at all (I love the land, though)... if I knew the language more fluently and didn't have my family here, I'd just assume live in Germany.

Edited November 9, 2012 by alphanguy74

[DRW50]

Ugly, oddly delicious bloodbath between Chris Shays and a man who ran Linda McMahon's campaign. Shays (not a big fan of his, as he was a whiny faux-moderate) tells some brutal truths about the man's incompetence and blood-sucking with money, and the man just unloads in personal attacks.

http://courantblogs.com/capitol-watch/mcmahon-aftermath-republicans-take-aim-at-each-other/

Sean Hannity has the most convenient wakeup call on immigration ever.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2012/11/hannity-ive-evolved-on-immigration-and-support-a-pathway-149078.html?hp=l15

If anyone wants to travel back to 2000, the media has started fawning over George P. Bush again. Remember how they used to go on about how hot he was and he was going to be the great Latino hope for the GOP and help the Bush family dominate politics forever?

Will he and Rubio fight to the death for media darling token status?

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1112/83637.html?hp=r6

[Ann_SS]

When George W. Bush was re-elected, I accepted the bad judgement of the majority of the electorate and got on with my life. All I did was roll my eyes and quote Maistre, "in a democracy people get the leaders they deserve." Four years later, Bush's continued incompetence caused the economy to collapse, the Clinton surplus to disappear, the deficit to explode, and embroiled in us two wars.

After? They were claiming that the President's mother was a S&M bondage porn star during the election. No words for the depth those people are always willing to go.

[wingwalker]

I can't help but feel there has to be more to this Petraeus story than him cheating on his wife. Clinton cheated on his and he didn't step down as President, not sure why the CIA Director would have to either.

[Roman]

This is the bile and vile that is destroying that party. And, if these truly hateful people want to continue, go right ahead.

As far as POTUS saying sorry to Romney...I'll tell him to do that the very day the RP noms a Black American as VP and a gay Latino woman for POTUS.

[quartermainefan]

<iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/9WrEyVOPR8M" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

No seriously, I think this is just a misguided sense of morality and duty. There is nothing written anywhere which says a General or CIA director is less capable of doing his job if he cheats on his wife. Eisenhower himself had Kay Summersby while Mamie was at home.

Edited November 9, 2012 by quartermainefan

[Ann_SS]

I agree that there is more to the story because he admitted the affair publicly in his resignation. However, the consensus from the "intelligence experts" in the media is that he would have had to leave over the affair regardless. Apparently, the CIA extramarital affairs are considered unacceptable because it makes the person susceptible to blackmail and pressure.

I posted several pages ago that I thought that the President was ultimately responsible for the Bengahzi attack, but that the CIA was responsible for the intelligence failure that gave no warning about the attack before it happened so I am all for Petraeus resigning.

Edited November 9, 2012 by Ann_SS

[ReddFoxx]

Apparently, Petraeus kept pursuing the woman after she broke off the affair, he sent her thousands of emails. That calls into question good judgment overall. Affairs are looked at as a problem with officials with high security clearance.

[JaneAusten]

Ultimately it's the person in charge who's responsible and that's Obama. Most presidents have accepted responsibility for events as such in the pas.. What happens is those that serve who failed ultimately pay at some point. I'm sure the affair, after hearing the details, was going to end up being a problem but there is no question the CIA failed in terms of Libya and not having the intelligence to counter or prevent what happened.

[marceline]

That's pretty much how I feel about America these days. If I didn't have family here I'd move to Australia in a heartbeat. My company has an office in Sydney. Although maybe our new Amsterdam office would be more my speed.

It's interesting living in these times. I remember when Obama was elected every talking head shoved a microphone into the face of every black person they could find and asked, "Did you ever think you'd see a black President in your lifetime?" I can honestly say I never considered it but the thing I truly never thought I'd see in my lifetime is the open virulent racism. I'm not naive, mind you, but the right wing in this country has gone to places so ugly that I couldn't have fathomed it. I never would've thought that I would witness the kind of attempted voter suppression we saw in this last campaign. Never.

The other thing that boggles my mind is the absolute unwillingness of neocons to accept objective facts. That's why birtherism makes me so crazy. All the evidence is there: the birth certificate, the birth announcement in the Honolulu paper, the certification by the state of Hawaii, etc.. there is LITERALLY no reason for people to question the place and circumstances of Obama birth except hate and willing blindness. I'll never understand people who choose to be that stupid.

The scary thing for me is that I never thought I could hate so many of my fellow Americans this much. Yeah, I have no problem admitting that I hated Timothy McVeigh or Eric Rudolph but I could tell myself that they were anomalies but when I look at Donald Trump, Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, John Sununu, the Koch Brothers, Karl Rove, Dick Cheney, Sarah Palin, etc., etc., etc., I have to admit that they aren't anomalies but in fact they represent mainstream conservative thought. It's scary because I have conservative friends and more and more I look at them and wonder if they secretly feel the same way.

Edited November 10, 2012 by marceline

[quartermainefan]

If only J Edgar Hoover could see this!

[Ann_SS]

Damn, the FBI investigated Petraeus, intercepting his emails to the woman. Apparently, the Obama Administration delayed asking him to resign until after the election which is considered questionable by some people.