Elections 2012: You must choose the lesser of two weevils

[leswp1]

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

Droves of US business execs bow to Japanese every day. Its called cultural awareness.

There is no culture but our own. Don't you know that? Everyone is supposed to do what we want, when we want it and stop all that other stuff.

 

[walrus]

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

Bowing is so important, maybe you should listen to Obama saying he would "step in" (read, privatize profits, socialize loses) to other banks who lost as much much money as JP Morgan and that a bank that just blew a few billion is one of our best run banks.

 

[5mn_Major]

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

Bowing is so important, maybe you should listen to Obama saying he would "step in" (read, privatize profits, socialize loses) to other banks who lost as much much money as JP Morgan and that a bank that just blew a few billion is one of our best run banks.

Always have to check certain posters facts. When in the last year has Obama said he wants to privatize profits and socialize banking losses? Seems to me you're making s* up.

 

[FlagDUDE08]

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

Always have to check certain posters facts. When in the last year has Obama said he wants to privatize profits and socialize banking losses? Seems to me you're making s* up.

How is privatising profits and socialising losses even possible? Unless you're talking about claiming a loss on your income taxes...

 

[FlagDUDE08]

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

So now he's surrendering to the Japanese! I'm sure that makes all the Pearl Harbor survivors happy!

Won-ton!

Pe-ko-ku!

 

[Kepler]

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

Some Congress race polling data. I believe the accepted term is "interesting."

If the poll conducted by the (Democratic-affiliated) Mellman Group, and the poll conducted by the (GOP-affiliated) We Ask America are on the fairway, the GOP might be suffering another two shots in their quest to attain a Senate majority. The general consensus (admittedly fueled in part by polling from the House of Ras) was that Claire McCaskill was in deep trouble, and might have moved into position as the most vulnerable Democrat in the Senate. This poll, while it has her quite a ways below 50 percent, puts her in modest leads, no matter the GOP candidate that emerges from their primary later this year.

Meanwhile, if W.A.A. is correct, we are on the cusp of a major upset in Nebraska, where the state attorney general and the state treasurer appear poised to fall at the hands of an uber-conservative state senator who was polling in the single digits not too long ago. This could be outstanding news for the Democrats, who must defend a brutal open seat here with former Sen. Bob Kerrey. Kerrey polled best against Fischer in the general election trial heats to date. However, those polls were conducted when she was a distant third wheel in the GOP primary, and one has to wonder if the increased visibility that has come with her rise into contention has also changed her general election prospects, as well.

I heard a POTUS story on the morning commute that highlighted the amount of money the Tea Party poured into the NE primary for Fischer. She is apparently a Christine O'Donnell type, with or without the coven, and her nomination could turn a Kerrey 50/50 seat into a 80/20 seat.

It's still very early but the Dems keep racking up these incremental advantages in Senate races that are usually associated with a party on the rise -- the sort of "luck" that precedes a good election night.

Purely inside baseball but my wife made the observation that in 2008 Republican staffers had their resumes circulating, while in 2012 Democratic staffers do not.

 

[Rover]

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

My personal opinion is that any nutjob can win in Nebraska. . However the point is a good one, which is until all these primary races are decided its a bit too early to start calling some of these contests. Who's scalp is next? Don't know, but I thinking Tommy Thompson in Wisconsin is really ripe for the picking. Can't get much more establishment than him. Plus he's even more middle of the road than Lugar. Florida, Arizona, etc - these primaries are yet to be decided and as we saw in Indiana (and Delaware last time) it doesn't take long for one of these candidates to catch fire.

 

[St. Clown]

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

How is privatising profits and socialising losses even possible? Unless you're talking about claiming a loss on your income taxes...

When you bail out a corporation that is failing, you're socializing the losses that business has incurred. When you require a mortgage company to sell its mortgages issued to Fannie or Freddie, and they become holders of the primary loans, they take the brunt of the defaults.

 

[FreshFish]

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

Mildly amusing....the Obama campaign puts out an attack ad on a Bain Capital investment in GST Steel, which went bankrupt in 2001.....two years after Romney had left Bain to run the Salt Lake City Olympics.

The person from Bain who was in charge of GST Steel at the time it went bankrupt is now a major bundler for Obama's campaign cash.....oops.

and the day they aired the commercial, Obama was in Manhattan, attending a fund-raiser, hosted by Tony James, president of Blackstone Group, which is a private equity investment firm just like Bain.

So they attack Bain on one hand while on the same day go to another private equity company to raise money. Nice timing, guys.

 

[FreshFish]

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

When you bail out a corporation that is failing, you're socializing the losses that business has incurred. When you require a mortgage company to sell its mortgages issued to Fannie or Freddie, and they become holders of the primary loans, they take the brunt of the defaults.

Well put. In addition, Fannie ostensibly is a "public" company. FNM shares traded on the NYSE and paid dividends to shareholders, yet it was the Federal government that backed Fannie's bad loans, not shareholder capital.

 

[Bob Gray]

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

Mildly amusing....the Obama campaign puts out an attack ad on a Bain Capital investment in GST Steel, which went bankrupt in 2001.....two years after Romney had left Bain to run the Salt Lake City Olympics.

The person from Bain who was in charge of GST Steel at the time it went bankrupt is now a major bundler for Obama's campaign cash.....oops.

and the day they aired the commercial, Obama was in Manhattan, attending a fund-raiser, hosted by Tony James, president of Blackstone Group, which is a private equity investment firm just like Bain.

So they attack Bain on one hand while on the same day go to another private equity company to raise money. Nice timing, guys.

But hardly anybody connects those sorts of dots, and we know most of the media has no interest in reporting things like this.

 

[FlagDUDE08]

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

Mildly amusing....the Obama campaign puts out an attack ad on a Bain Capital investment in GST Steel, which went bankrupt in 2001.....two years after Romney had left Bain to run the Salt Lake City Olympics.

The person from Bain who was in charge of GST Steel at the time it went bankrupt is now a major bundler for Obama's campaign cash.....oops.

and the day they aired the commercial, Obama was in Manhattan, attending a fund-raiser, hosted by Tony James, president of Blackstone Group, which is a private equity investment firm just like Bain.

So they attack Bain on one hand while on the same day go to another private equity company to raise money. Nice timing, guys.

We don't get the liberal ads in this part of the state. I never saw them where I grew up, either (I remember in 1998 we got ALL of the D'Amato ads in that Senate race).

 

[Kepler]

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

But hardly anybody connects those sorts of dots, and we know most of the media has no interest in reporting things like this.

I think this is actually wrong -- with the internet it takes about ten seconds for somebody to connect the dots, and then the connection of those dots becomes news, at least with the providers whose axe grinding is served by that narrative.

The main problem is focus, not lack of connections being made.

As for releasing an accusation which has an impact, then having to clarify one of its claims weeks later in the small print on page 8, that's a tale as old as time.

 

[Rover]

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

Always amused by when the righties start calling for fairness in political adverstising. Didn't Mittens repeat the Sarah Palin line that ratifying the new SALT treaty (you know, the stuff that Reagan supported all the time) would leave the US unable to defend itself in case of a nuclear attack?

Bain capital ads will be devastating. They already were when he ran for Senate, and job anxiety is a lot worse now in most of the country than it was in Massachusetts in 1994. Unless you are a fat cat Republican, nobody likes an outsourcer. I am in no way blaming Romney for his actions back then as his job was to make money for his investors. However, good luck to him explaining to people who got laid off that they're better off now that those jobs are sitting in China. Lets hope that exchange comes complete with videotape!

 

[Kepler]

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

Bain capital ads will be devastating.

Agree. There are certain "contrast" (i.e., negative) narratives that really strike home with the electorate. Dukakis in the tank. Kerry wind surfing. Romney's Bain photo is one of those lethal images. It takes all the abstract negatives of the candidate and gives them a simple, clear form. That's what affects the 50% of the electorate that pay no attention until October 15.

 

[Bob Gray]

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

I think this is actually wrong -- with the internet it takes about ten seconds for somebody to connect the dots, and then the connection of those dots becomes news, at least with the providers whose axe grinding is served by that narrative.

The main problem is focus, not lack of connections being made.

As for releasing an accusation which has an impact, then having to clarify one of its claims weeks later in the small print on page 8, that's a tale as old as time.

But people have to be willing to take ten seconds to make the connections online. I hold forth that the average American voter doesn't make that much of an effort to connect dots. If focus is a problem, how do people make connections if they lack focus?

 

[FreshFish]

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

. I am in no way blaming Romney for his actions back then as his job was to make money for his investors. However, good luck to him explaining to people who got laid off that they're better off now

like, the people who work for Staples, one of Bain's biggest success stories, or the sporting goods chain whose name i forget? On a net basis, Bain and the like have created hundreds of thousands of jobs....we'll see how that plays out in the campaign.

 

[5mn_Major]

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

Bain will be a mixed bag for him.

I wouldn't paint it as any big experience advantage. I'm sure Romney has nothing on team Obama at this point in regards to experience in fixing the economy.

In regards governing experience, team Romney could be very light depending on who he picks...and potentially short of an Obama/Biden ticket in 2008.

 

[Rover]

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

like, the people who work for Staples, one of Bain's biggest success stories, or the sporting goods chain whose name i forget? On a net basis, Bain and the like have created hundreds of thousands of jobs....we'll see how that plays out in the campaign.

Yes, all those minimum wage retail jobs are capitalism at its best. He can put that in his campaign ads as a response! I can see it now, a smiling Mittens surrounded by uniformed Staples workers saying how happy they are to be working for 7 bucks an hour part time with no benefits....

 

[Kepler]

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

But people have to be willing to take ten seconds to make the connections online. I hold forth that the average American voter doesn't make that much of an effort to connect dots. If focus is a problem, how do people make connections if they lack focus?

I actually meant focus of the news media (though focus of the voter is also a problem). The news media has a first in / first out queue, so the next white girl down a well will completely obliterate everything that has happened in world history up to this moment.