US Presidential Election 2012

I see Romney is to give a big speech on foreign policy- that should be interesting- according to Fox he will speak against the defence cuts and wants to create a strong military presence and take a proactive approach- well once youve paid for a huge army you have to give it something to do I suppose.

I had rather hoped after the events of 9/11 that the American people were finally waking up to the truth- that it was exactly this sort of approach in foreign policy for decades which created the fertile breeding ground for terrorism that has come back to bite us all on the arse.

If Romney gets elected I guess the message will be 'nothing learnt'.

The typical neo-con response to this, Petty, is "Terrorists hate America because it is successful and they are not. We can either stop being successful, or kill them. There is no other solution."

A nice paraphrase for this may well be "nothing learnt."

I can't imagine that your hope lasted very long, Petty, given that it took us less than a month after 9/11 to have ground troops invading Afghanistan.

Yes but that was the govenremnt- I didnt epect a change from them- but there was signs the people were catching on to the truth of what the US had een doing for the last 50 odd years in other peoples countries.
My disappointment is in the American people who seem to be regressing back into the same mentalitity that got us all in the shit in the first place.

Jon Stewart v Bill O reilly

okay, I just heard on the news that romny is more popular than Obama. Are they stupid? I mean, if you're not white, rich and male, he really don't care about you!

GB and I have had our political disagreements over the years. I have a lot of respect for the guy and we do agree on several things, but I sometimes feel that some of the things he says here and on Facebook border on paranoid regarding "the 1%". However, each time I start to feel like that, stories about people like this fucker come up.

http://gawker.com/5950189/the-ceo-who-built-himself-americas-largest-house-just-threatened-to-fire-his-employees-if-obamas-elected

I'm sorry, GB.

Spoiler:

Republicans torn between maintaining ideological purity and having health care for their children.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/06/health/republicans-conflicted-obamacare/index.html

That's pretty funny.

Frontline had a side by side profile of Obama and Romney. I think their most important insight is that Romney thinks completely like a businessman, where reinvention is seen as a virtue, whatever is needed to be awarded the job then get it done. In other words, he can be expected to be all action rather than principle, but will provide the facade of principle in order to be elected.

I think I'd rather believe that about Romney than what increasingly appears to be the case: that he is an ignorant, out of touch douchebag who is incapable of truly understanding people who are not fabulously wealthy. Just look at his latest comments on health care.

Romney: ‘We Don’t Have People Who Die Because They Don’t Have Insurance’ - ThinkProgress

“We don’t have a setting across this country where if you don’t have insurance, we just say to you, ‘Tough luck, you’re going to die when you have your heart attack,’  ” he said as he offered more hints as to what he would put in place of “Obamacare,” which he has pledged to repeal.

“No, you go to the hospital, you get treated, you get care, and it’s paid for, either by charity, the government or by the hospital. We don’t have people that become ill, who die in their apartment because they don’t have insurance.”

He pointed out that federal law requires hospitals to treat those without health insurance — although hospital officials frequently say that drives up health-care costs.

Gee, Mr. Romney, I sure am glad that there are no uninsured Americans suffering from fatal diseases that require long-term medical care that emergency rooms aren't capable of providing. I sure am glad that emergency rooms are so well-equipped to be a first line of care too and that it's so easy to pay for the costs associated with them. What are those damn poor people complaining about, again? They've got it so easy!

Would love to see Romney put in that position- 1 year- him and all his family to rely on government help and healthcare and nothing else- see if he still thinks its adequate.

What time do the VP debates start US time?

I hope Obama has the balls to go after Romney for some of these comments. The first debate should have been a wake-up call.

The VP debate starts at 9:00 PM Eastern, same as the first Presidential debate. That equates to 2:00 AM in the UK.

Thanks Eldo- late night tonight then!

I'll probably be watching the debate so I might bring my computer downstairs and post my impressions as it happens. I have a dilemma though. The Baltimore Orioles (baseball team) are in the midst of their first post-season run in 15 years and are currently down 2-1 in the American League Division Series against the New York Yankees. The fourth game in the series starts at 7:30 but I was hoping to catch the end of it tonight. Decisions, decisions.

Watch both- watch the game on tv and stream the debate to your laptop- thats what Id do.

That's a good idea. Hopefully no one else in the house will mind having the game on though; we're not a big baseball family but I'm excited for the O's.

I hope that Joe Biden is entertaining tonight though. I still don't think he was a great choice for VP but he can be funny as hell just for the difference between him and most politicians, or him and Cheney. I mean, how many Vice Presidents in history have felt up biker chicks on the campaign trail?



Before you ask; yes, the picture is real.

I like him already.

He's a national treasure.

Folks, I can tell you ... I've known eight presidents, three of them intimately.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-cprE_hwmc

Now is the time to heed the timeless advice from Teddy Roosevelt: "Speak softly, and carry a big stick". I promise you, the President has a big stick.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrmbsKW0d7c

Guess what, the cheerleaders in college are the best athletes in college. You think, I’m joking, they’re almost all gymnasts, the stuff they do on hard wood, it blows my mind.

No video for this one, sadly.

Buckie -check!
Munchies- check!
Cigs- check!
Comfy chair- check!
Something to punch- check!

Ok bring on the VP debates!

I missed the first minute or so but I'm in place now. Paul Ryan is complaining about YouTube videos for some reason.

Also, he is pausing a lot and it's weirding me out.

Straight off on the Ambassadors death issue I see.
In theory this should be an easier one for Ryan as an opener.

Oh shit Biden on the offensive.

"A bunch of malarkey." LOL