Elections 2012: You must choose the lesser of two weevils

[Old Pio]

Re: Elections 2012: You must choose the lesser of two weevils

Anyone who was undecided and uses this as the deciding factor is worthless. However, to think no one in the opposition camp is going to make hay with the story is the height of naivete. It's what campaigns are about. It isn't anything new. Everyone says they want a high-minded campaign on the economy, jobs, foreign policy etc but they tune out anytime a politician mentions those issues. The classic example is Al Gore being skewered on SNL for being a policy wonk. Bob Dole spent a great deal of his campaign in 1996 talking about the issues and he got slaughtered in the election. After the campaign, we learned he had a sharp sense of humor - which wouldn't have changed the outcome of the election, but if he had let the American people into that side of himself it would have been closer.

If this had been a story about Barack Obama, do you suppose for a minute Fox "News" or the rest of the right-wing media would have shown restraint and said, "No, this is a story from so long ago it doesn't matter now." If you believe that, I have some oceanfront property in Montana to sell you.

"Rest of the right wing media?" This compulsion for the truth by the MSM evidently doesn't include His Oneness' dietary habits and drug habits and college grades. Nothing to see here, move along. You are exactly correct, as the man once said: "poitics ain't beanbag." The issue to me is the willingness and extent to which the MSM are willing to go to see "their" president re-elected. And if that includes downplaying or ignoring incidents in His Majesty's past then so be it. And if it includes doing the work of the Obama oppo people and enhancing a story with fraudulent quotes, and timing its release for the maximum positive impact to His Oneness, then so be it.

You really didn't mean to compare the WaPo to Fox, did you?

Yeah, SNL used to be pretty even handed in its treatment of politicians. Dana Carvey's Ross Perot was other worldly funny. And Gore's "lockbox" was hilarious. As was Bush's "strategery." Now, however, SNL sh*tcans a sketch mildly critical of His Wonderfulness and replaces it with a sketch making fun of (wait for it) Fox News. How refreshing. How daring. How predictable.

His Cocaineness has no choice. He (and his surrogates) can't talk about his record. So he and they will talk about how much better things will get if he's reelected (with no mention of how worse they got after he got elected). And Seamus and Cranbrook are part of that narrative. Mr. "Let's put partisanship behind us" will run the most negative campaign ever. And if it turns out to be worse than the campaign run against Goldwater, it'll be a doozy.

[Slap Shot]

Re: Elections 2012: You must choose the lesser of two weevils

Foster kid.

Sorry for the edit but I quoted the wront post. This is a tremendous act by you and your wife. If you don't mind the invasiveness of the question, have you had kids of your own? Either way nice step. I know it in no way compares in convication and commitment but my wife and I have considered taking in an exachange student this next fall.

Occupy MN just walked by my office along Marquette Ave a few minutes ago. More than a few of them could stand to occupy a bath. I know it's an old joke, but it's not so much a joke when you look at them.

[amherstblackbear]

Re: Elections 2012: You must choose the lesser of two weevils

And if it turns out to be worse than the campaign run against Goldwater, it'll be a doozy.

I'm not sure we'll see things get that far. I don't have any direct experience to draw on, but that's always seemed like a different era -- the wild west of political advertising. There were no boundaries yet.

We went from "A vote for Goldwater is a vote to incinerate your daughter in an atomic inferno" to the much more milquetoast "Do you want Obama to be the one answering the phone at 3am?"

[Old Pio]

Re: Elections 2012: You must choose the lesser of two weevils

I'm not sure we'll see things get that far. I don't have any direct experience to draw on, but that's always seemed like a different era -- the wild west of political advertising. There were no boundaries yet.

We went from "A vote for Goldwater is a vote to incinerate your daughter in an atomic inferno" to the much more milquetoast "Do you want Obama to be the one answering the phone at 3am?"

That spot aired only once, IIRC. A related ploy these days is for a campaign to unveil a spot in a news conference that it has no intention of paying to air. They hope to "earn" media coverage instead. It frequently works.

Among other things, Fact Magazine a (published by the pornographer Ralph Ginzburg) accused Goldwater of being a "latent homosexual." Remember, this was '64. Goldwater subsequently sued. . .and won, but not before his wife had to testify that he was an ardent lover, etc.

Recall that CBS' Daniel Schorr said Goldwater was "going to link up with the right wing in Germany" (and we all know who they are, wink, wink, nudge, nudge) in "Hitler's old stomping ground at Bertshesgaden." CBS couldn't get away clean with that one today.

Although decades later they tried to influence the outcome of a presidential election by airing a story based on forged documents. A story the producer of which was thoughtful enough to let the Kerry campaign know was coming. The producer and anchor both lost their jobs over that one. Dan Schorr went merrily on his way after attempting to link Goldwater to Nazis. Some things have changed, but not CBS and the rest of the MSM.

[leswp1]

Re: Elections 2012: You must choose the lesser of two weevils

High school? Seriously, high school is the best the Dems can come up with? You may want to take a look at a few of the things that Obama brags about in his book that he did in high school if this is such a concern for you. Anything to keep people from talking about the economy I guess.

That's not it. Or hey, maybe it is and I am completely biased.

Are you telling me it didn't bother you in the least? I'm asking that seriously -- if enough people tell me it didn't bother them, or if whether or not it bothered people seems to correlate 100% with their political leanings, then it could just be a case of seeing what you want to see.

I wouldn't decide my vote - I watched him as governor and that would cure me voting for him even if he sudden'y could walk on water. It gives me pause not just for his reaction now but that he act in that way at any age.

I have been asking myself all day why I had such a visceral reaction to the incident. I understand that he was a kid. They were both talking about the same age but my reaction to Romneys 'incident' was much stronger reaction than to Obama saying he got wasted the last few yrs of HS. I don't applaud what Obama did. What he did was stupid for sure but it wasn't aimed at making someone else feel bad. Having the ability to act that way to another person is something that I think of as a personality trait that usually doesn't go away. They may grow up and figure out how to behave with more finess but most people wouldn't consider acting that way to another person no matter how old we were/are. Probably an extreme analogy but if the person kicks his dog and is nice to his mother I still would be wary even if it was yrs later and the person seemed nice.

The lesson here is don't pass yourself off a Mr Clean when that's not the case. We've seen it time and time again with rigthies (Vitter, Craig, Ensign, Hyde, etc).

I have one word. Edwards

[Old Pio]

Re: Elections 2012: You must choose the lesser of two weevils

I wouldn't decide my vote - I watched him as governor and that would cure me voting for him even if he sudden'y could walk on water. It gives me pause not just for his reaction now but that he act in that way at any age.

I have been asking myself all day why I had such a visceral reaction to the incident. I understand that he was a kid. They were both talking about the same age but my reaction to Romneys 'incident' was much stronger reaction than to Obama saying he got wasted the last few yrs of HS. I don't applaud what Obama did. What he did was stupid for sure but it wasn't aimed at making someone else feel bad. Having the ability to act that way to another person is something that I think of as a personality trait that usually doesn't go away. They may grow up and figure out how to behave with more finess but most people wouldn't consider acting that way to another person no matter how old we were/are. Probably an extreme analogy but if the person kicks his dog and is nice to his mother I still would be wary even if it was yrs later and the person seemed nice.


I have one word. Edwards

Practicing psychology without a license again, I see. "Oh Magic 8 Ball, am I right to judge Romney based on a biased story with made up quotes? Is it okay for me to play mindreader?" *shake shake shake* YES.

The "victim's" family has denounced the story. The quoted Romney school mates are all Democrats (one even worked in the Obama campaign) whose quotes were still edited to make them seem worse then they actually were.And they've amended their statements. This hit piece is unraveling, yet you believe every word of it (insofar as it smears Romney). And are prepared to attribute "homophobia" to Romney. Evidence? Or are you wearing your turban again? The fact that this dovetails nicely into His Oneness' campaign is, just as the timing of this piece, merely a coincidence.

Romney's had a couple of subsequent incidents where he jumped into the water to save total strangers. Does that count in your "fair and balanced nuanced analysis" of what his teenage behavior may or may not tell us about how he would perform as president? No.

If the WaPo did a story that in high school Romney was a "well known thespian," you'd be shocked and blather on about how that would be predictive of his behavior nearly half a cerntury later. And you'd worry that he'd be likely to launch into the Mikado song in the oval with no warning. This sh*t is pathetic. And not persuasive in the slightest. At least not to anyone who isn't hitching a ride on the Freedom Train (to the Maldives, no doubt).

I'm truly sorry your viscera are in a tizzy over what Romney did in high school. I'd recommend a crap and a nap.

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

Re: Elections 2012: You must choose the lesser of two weevils

Anyone who was undecided and uses this as the deciding factor is worthless. However, to think no one in the opposition camp is going to make hay with the story is the height of naivete. It's what campaigns are about. It isn't anything new.

Possibly the nastiest election campaign in history was Andrew Jackson's first campaign, when the Adams camp started rumors that his wife was a bigamist.

Politics never changes.

[Old Pio]

Re: Elections 2012: You must choose the lesser of two weevils

Possibly the nastiest election campaign in history was Andrew Jackson's first campaign, when the Adams camp started rumors that his wife was a bigamist.

Politics never changes.

One campaign of which mercifully I have no personal knowledge. My father gave me a campaign button with the famous picture of Adlai's shoe with a hole in it. It said: "Don't let this happen to you. Vote for Ike."

[joecct]

Re: Elections 2012: You must choose the lesser of two weevils

Anyone want to live in Floatastan?

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/technolo...212749580.html

[FreshFish]

Re: Elections 2012: You must choose the lesser of two weevils

Possibly the nastiest election campaign in history was Andrew Jackson's first campaign, when the Adams camp started rumors that his wife was a bigamist.

Politics never changes.

or one of the campaigns involving Grover Cleveland, in which it was asserted that he fathered a child out of wedlock. There was a campaign slogan against him, "Ma, Ma, where's my Pa?"

[Priceless]

Re: Elections 2012: You must choose the lesser of two weevils

Anyone want to live in Floatastan?

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/technolo...212749580.html

Is that the plot of the next James Bond movie? Having failed at trying to start a new race under the sea, Stromberg tries to start one above the ocean?

[geezer]

Re: Elections 2012: You must choose the lesser of two weevils

If this had been a story about Barack Obama, do you suppose for a minute Fox "News" or the rest of the right-wing media would have shown restraint and said, "No, this is a story from so long ago it doesn't matter now." If you believe that, I have some oceanfront property in Montana to sell you.

Now that you mention it.... I heard it related to me from an unknown right-wing media source where someone wrote, if we wanted to, all we'd have to do is copy down quotes word-for-word from Obama's own self-glorifying tome about how he brags about beating up some little girl when he was in school. The funniest part was where he said, "I wonder if it was a composite of all the women he's beaten?"
But no, you're exactly wrong in your stupid assumption. The story has never been used against Obama because it's about some childhood bullying incident that JUST DOESN'T MATTER.

[5mn_Major]

Re: Elections 2012: You must choose the lesser of two weevils

Possibly the nastiest election campaign in history was Andrew Jackson's first campaign, when the Adams camp started rumors that his wife was a bigamist.

Politics never changes.

Wiki:

The battle between Bush and McCain for South Carolina has entered American political lore as one of the nastiest, dirtiest, and most brutal ever. On the one hand, Bush switched his label for himself from "compassionate conservative" to "reformer with results", as part of trying to co-opt McCain's popular message of reform. On the other hand, a variety of business and interest groups that McCain had challenged in the past now pounded him with negative ads.

The day that a new poll showed McCain five points ahead in the state, Bush allied himself on stage with a marginal and controversial veterans activist named J. Thomas Burch, who accused McCain of having "abandoned the veterans" on POW/MIA and Agent Orange issues: "He came home from Vietnam and forgot us." Incensed, McCain ran ads accusing Bush of lying and comparing the governor to Bill Clinton,[14] which Bush complained was "about as low a blow as you can give in a Republican primary."[14] An unidentified party began a semi-underground smear campaign against McCain, delivered by push polls, faxes, e-mails, flyers, audience plants, and the like. These claimed most famously that he had fathered a black child out of wedlock (the McCains' dark-skinned daughter Bridget was adopted from Bangladesh; this misrepresentation was thought to be an especially effective slur in a Deep South state where race was still central[49]), but also that his wife Cindy was a drug addict, that he was a homosexual, and that he was a "Manchurian Candidate" traitor or mentally unstable from his North Vietnam POW days.

[Old Pio]

Re: Elections 2012: You must choose the lesser of two weevils

Wiki:

The battle between Bush and McCain for South Carolina has entered American political lore as one of the nastiest, dirtiest, and most brutal ever. On the one hand, Bush switched his label for himself from "compassionate conservative" to "reformer with results", as part of trying to co-opt McCain's popular message of reform. On the other hand, a variety of business and interest groups that McCain had challenged in the past now pounded him with negative ads.

The day that a new poll showed McCain five points ahead in the state, Bush allied himself on stage with a marginal and controversial veterans activist named J. Thomas Burch, who accused McCain of having "abandoned the veterans" on POW/MIA and Agent Orange issues: "He came home from Vietnam and forgot us." Incensed, McCain ran ads accusing Bush of lying and comparing the governor to Bill Clinton,[14] which Bush complained was "about as low a blow as you can give in a Republican primary."[14] An unidentified party began a semi-underground smear campaign against McCain, delivered by push polls, faxes, e-mails, flyers, audience plants, and the like. These claimed most famously that he had fathered a black child out of wedlock (the McCains' dark-skinned daughter Bridget was adopted from Bangladesh; this misrepresentation was thought to be an especially effective slur in a Deep South state where race was still central[49]), but also that his wife Cindy was a drug addict, that he was a homosexual, and that he was a "Manchurian Candidate" traitor or mentally unstable from his North Vietnam POW days.

A single state party primary which, oddly enough, gives you a chance to bash Bush. Give it up.

[MountieBoyOz]

Re: Elections 2012: You must choose the lesser of two weevils

Is that the plot of the next James Bond movie? Having failed at trying to start a new race under the sea, Stromberg tries to start one above the ocean?

I thought Stromberg used the plans to build this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marlins_Stadium