US Presidential Election 2012

When I was teaching in a former British colony in West Africa, the students not only insisted on pluralizing 'math', they also wanted me to 'efface' the board. I thought I was simply erasing, but apparently wasn't bringing enough violence to the task.

conservative estimates put the losses in the hundreds of thousands-David

Indeed- I did underestimate the numbers after a quick check about. I knew it was high but not how high when I made the post so erred on the low so as not be accused of exagerating the losses- but you are right the numbers are shocking and frightening. Still showed those Al-Queda a thing or two eh?

This is exactly the ingenuity that first let to putting Cola Cola into good Scottish Whiskey!-David

Thats true and those people should be properly punished, hung drawn and quartered for preference. But mashmallow in cereal does have the ring of a 3 in the morning drunk idea. And after all Scotlands long history of inventions rest on being pissed at 3 in the morning.

We just choose to save the extra "s" when type-setting. You Scots can be so wasteful some times!- David

Lazy! Thats what Americans are- all sitting on your couches eatng chips (there bloody crisps! Chips are things you get when you chop potatos into slices and fry them!!!) out of an animal feed bag and stuffing your faces with hamburgers they have to lavishly coat in garnish to stop you being able to actually find out what they taste like!

Halfwise sounds like you had a sensible class- insiting on pluralising maths, quite bloody right!

Pettytyrant101 wrote:I too grew up in the belief the world was probably going to end in a blinding flash at any minute.
Where I grew up was No. 1 on the Soviet hit list for Europe- if there had been a nuclear war we would have been the first to know about it at least- just not for very long.
We did nuclear attack drills in our primary school, covering the windows, piling up desks in the corner to get behind- it was a joke of course we would have been at ground zero of any nuke going off and all the desks in the world would not have offered any protection.

I grew up at Ground Zero, too! I remember an old World Book Encyclopedia article (published in Chicago) on "H-Bomb" that showed the blast radius of a nuke centered over Chicago's South Side (my wife's old nieghborhood). Oak Park, the suburb where I still live, was just inside the ring labled Total Destuction. I figured dying by vaporization was better than dying later due to heat wave or blast effects, or radiation, or whatever else the future might have held.

Vaporization would be better than death by Cancer or Alzheimer's Disease, which (based on my family history) seems to be where I'm headed sooner or later. But if I had been nuked, I would have missed the most recent 30 years of my life. And despite some great sadnesses, I wouldn't trade those years for anything.

Halfwise- You're right, "Efface the blackboard" does sound pretty violent!

David H- Scotch with Coke in it? I drink bourbon, but that STILL seems like a mis-use of scotch!

Whilst the Cold War fortuntely never got hot and round here most people don't think about a nuclear threat any more the irony is its still a possibility, just not from the Russians at the moment but from ourselves. The UK nuclear arsenal is more than close enough to where I live that should anything serious go wrong it would be no different than if Russia had dropped a nuke.

Seeing this rather simple summary article put me back on topic. I think it neatly summarizes how the conservative leaders in America aren't so much backing themselves into a corner as walking straight into it, flags flying proudly.

http://theweek.com/article/index/224771/are-tone-deaf-republicans-ignoring-mainstream-voters

Good article, seems likely. But got a question I have been meaning to ask for ages and keep forgetting what the hell does GOP stand for?

Haha. "Grand Old Party". It goes back to before Lincoln. I think their arch rival the Democratic party was a reorganization after the civil war. I could look it up, but am suffering a bout of laziness at the moment. Okay, got curious and looked it up. The democratic party split and merged several times, so while in a sense being older than the republican (GOP) party, it didn't keep as strong a unified identity.

An interesting historical reversal: the GOP was the party responsible for freeing the slaves, so was supported by Blacks until the great depression, at which point the Democrats became the party of the lower classes. This shift was somewhat underway before the depression with the operation of corrupt political machines in the inner city, but the democrats were buying the support of the inner city poor, not earning it. Roosevelt earned it. As the Democrats became the party of Civil Rights (via the poor), the old South that used to HATE the GOP (due to Lincoln) became its supporters in opposition to desegregation.

Probably too complicated for the non-USA crowd to be interested in, but an interesting study in how institutions can completely reverse course over time.

Grand Old Party- thats quite funny.

I similar shift happened here- the Tories were once the main party in Scotland now pandas outnumber them here.

"pandas"? I'm showing my insularity. I had skimmed through some of the scottish politics thread but this escaped me. Great name.

Pandas- you know Chinese, black and white bear things (not sure they are actually bears! ) China 'gifted' Scotland 2 as part of our preparing to be independent . Its part of the 'coozing up to crazy regimes with appaling human rights records but who have lots of money policy'. And 2 pandas is 1 more than there are Tory MP's left in Scotland! Hence Tories are now rarer in Scotland than pandas.

halfwise wrote:Seeing this rather simple summary article put me back on topic. I think it neatly summarizes how the conservative leaders in America aren't so much backing themselves into a corner as walking straight into it, flags flying proudly.

http://theweek.com/article/index/224771/are-tone-deaf-republicans-ignoring-mainstream-voters

Gotta love that scene. Monty Python? No - it's the Republicans! Actually, it's scary thinking about this trait in Godfearing Americans. Reminds me of those old lemming tales....

Americans in Afghanistan acidentally burn the Koran. Obama apologizes for the mistake. Yeah 'mistake' I say dubiously, but the apology is made. The Republicans rant about Obama being a weaky. What, showing proper respect to the offended of Afghanistan is weak? It's not good manered and sensible (and, dare I say it, Christian)? The Republicans scare me. Not so much by their sabre rattling as by their arrant stupidity.

Apologizing means that you admit America did something wrong. That's something that the Republican candidates are loathe to do on principle, but especially when the offense was against those evil Islamofascists.

Eldorion wrote:Apologizing means that you admit America did something wrong. That's something that the Republican candidates are loathe to do on principle, but especially when the offense was against those evil Islamofascists.

Good point Eldo. I'm voting Republican in that case; I mean - that's if Americans think apologizing for an error (or deliberate act, who knows? ) is 'wrong' --- and me being a loyal Americophile from long past.

"The Republicans scare me. Not so much by their sabre rattling as by their arrant stupidity." - Orwell

You've got quite a split personality Sir Orwell. Saber rattling is okay against Iran but one should be polite to the Afghans?

What mischievous post, Halfwise!

Ah, but Orwell is specifically NOT objecting to Republican saber rattling, just to the Republican's arrogant stupidity, something he would never indulge in himself.

More mischief making!

You guys are activating my innate paranoia...

No doubt you guys are taking a jaundiced view on my 'take no prisoners' debate with Eldo on a certain BBS thread? Must I take up the fight on two threads? It's the German takeover of Poland and France all over again, what! {{{Heil! }}}


{{Btw have you guys noticed how Eldo attacks my ideas and belittles me? He's got a hard side, and make no mistake! }}}

{{Hee hee --- win the psychological war first, then I can rule them all! }}}

Surely you're not referring to me, Admiral? I was just trying to defend you against Halfwise's unjust criticism. The humility and wisdom of your saber rattling on the BBS thread should be clear to everyone!

{{{Halfwise, he sounds more Republican with every paranoid post, doesn't he? }}}

I may not be able to read encrypted posts, Captain, but I can smell peppermint all right --- and, while I'm in no way a paranoid sort - like those Republicans! - I do suspect you're disparaging my reputation in a cowardly encruypted message to someone! No doubt, one of my many enemies!

I'm at a loss to see where my sabre rattling is? I'm just stating facts. (1) If the Iranians build a bomb, Israel will bomb them. (2) Whatever the reason for Irak's invasion, it brings the solid hope of freeing the Iraki people of tyranny in the end - but it could take years and years. Still worth persevering. Being apologists for Islamic Extremism won't help the democratic cause.

{{{{{Note to self: These spineless chaps make my blood boil! --- And they call me a 'Republican'! What! There is only ever Black and White in discussing the reality of global affairs? Ludicrous! I'm in the company of mental lightweights... Oh poo! These extra encryption brackets make things stink expoentially! }}}}}

Romney wins six of ten (so far) states on Super Tuesday, moving closer to his inevitable nomination. Gingrich manages to win only his home state of Georgia, which was to be expected. Meanwhile Santorum the homophobic douchebag picks up another three states as he continues to drag out the race. God Bless America.

Damn I wanted Santorum to win on the basis even a majority of Americans must be able to see he's crazy. They might just fall for Romney.

Pettytyrant101 wrote: They might just fall for Romney.

Don't worry. Obama has it in the bag. He'd win against Romney today if the vote were held, and he's only just now starting to warm up his campaign machine. What I'm hoping for is that Romney and Obama may actually get a chance to talk about some real issues in between the inevitable mud slinging. The other Republican candidates wouldn't even have known how...

I just watched HBO drama of the McCain/Palin campaign, 'Game Change'- I'd highly recommend it, its very watchable the acting is superb.
How accurate it is in details is hard to tell, however two things about the US process struck me whilst watching- the first was how seperate the candidate and the running mate seem to be. McCain and Palin didn't it seem sit in for meetings together, corodinate their campaign, but were almost running two seperate campaigns with occasional coordination through intermediaries.
The second, and I felt more worrying thing, is that had they worked out how to brief Palin in the manner which suited her earlier she might have swung it. In essence, for those who havent seen it, she is portrayed as incapable of learning or remembering the information she ought to know as someone running for such High Office- particularly on foreign policy. The solution they come up with is instead of trying to get her to understand the questions they just give her a script to learn like an actress, ('the best actress in US politics' as they call her in the drama)- and it worked to a very large degree. This is a worrying thought to me that someone could end up so close to the Presidency with no undestanding of the issues whatsoever.

Sadly competence in a VP has often been considered a bonus rather than a prerequisite. I think that in the past some presidents have actually considered an incompetent vice president as a form of life insurance.

I haven't seen the movie but I understand it was well researched.

The thing to bear in mind is that Palin was only chosen as a running mate after extensive analysis had shown that McCain was certain to lose unless he could reach out to the Tea Party AND bring out a large block of conservative women voters AND possibly swing some independent votes away from Obama. Once the statisticians had told them what they needed for a longshot chance, they went looking for somebody unknown to groom for the role, figuring they had nothing to lose.


To me that's the unsettling part. Now all our candidates at national level go through this kind of analysis. If the battles are fought behind the scenes by the statisticians and analysts, then the candidate can become just clay to be molded.