Mitt Romney, the human weather vane who always know which way the wind is blowing (from the right), had been looking for a boring white guy to be his running mate.
The right wing mounted a very public campaign to pressure him to choose Rep. Paul Ryan, author of the GOP budget plan that Democrats have successfully used as a truncheon. And Romney did what he does best: he caved.
Or, perhaps more charitably, Romney realized that he was playing a losing hand and needed a joker.
You’d be forgiven if you think you’ve heard this all before: John McCain couldn’t choose whom he wanted in 2008 (Joe Lieberman), because the right wing would never forgive him. Instead, he went for, yes, a game changer in Sarah Palin. And it did change the game—for the worse: After a brief flurry of enthusiasm from the base, it became clear that the main effect of the choice of Palin was to ensure full employment for Tina Fey.
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Romney’s choice was meant to signal that he truly believes in Ryan’s budget plan, which would effectively eliminate federal spending on everything from the FBI to Smokey the Bear—except, of course, for the Defense Department.
What it really signaled was that Romney is still desperate to prove his conservative credentials to the GOP base, which has never really trusted him. He hasn’t the confidence—or perhaps the core–to run as his own candidate. Instead, he chose to run as Paul Ryan’s candidate. You have to wonder how President Romney would govern, given his willingness to bend in any direction if it suits his immediate purposes. One thing would be certain: he wouldn’t do anything to anger the party’s right wing. (You also have to wonder how Vice President Ryan would put up with the invisibility that is the officeholder’s lot.)
As for Rep. Ryan, he’s garnered a reputation as a serious thinker, largely from journalists who seem to believe that anyone who understands the budget must be, even if his proposal would account for the largest redistribution of wealth upwards in U.S. history.
Journalists who understand Ryan know that he’s reshaped the Republican party in his own image, forcing the GOP to play a losing game on topics like privatizing Social Security and the debt-ceiling debacle.
Ryan’s own belief system is based on that of Ayn Rand, the crackpot philosopher of unbridled capitalism who believed that the rich are morally superior beings whom the government (and the poor) are trying to destroy. If you take that as your starting point, it’s not hard to get to the Ryan budget plan. In fact, even Catholic bishops, who are essentially Republicans in clerical garb, felt the need to criticize Ryan’s plan as an attack on the poor. As a Catholic, Ryan seemed stung by the criticism, even though Objectivism is as anti-religion as Marxism.
Ryan has built his career on numbers, so he hasn’t been so visible on social issues. Still, he’s a reliable anti-gay vote. He supported a constitutional amendment to restrict marriage to opposite sex couples, as well as a ban on gay adoptions in Washington, DC. He also opposed the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.
Ryan’s enough of a fellow traveler that the Family Research Council, Concerned Women for America and the Faith and Freedom Coalition all issued statements of praise.
So what does Romney get by choosing Ryan? An ecstatic right wing—and an ecstatic Democratic party. In choosing Ryan, Romney has given the Democrats a gift of immense proportion: The chance to make the campaign a referendum on Ryan’s budget proposal instead of Obama’s economic performance. Combined with the existing meme about Romney’s wealth and taxes (or relative absence thereof), this is a potent theme for Democrats.
For hardcore fans of Ryan, this is exactly the debate that they want to have. For GOP strategists who would prefer to win, this is exactly the debate they don’t want to have, because Ryan’s plan polls dismally with the public.
Now the election is no longer about President Obama’s economic plan, but about what the alternative might look like. If you like the alternative, you’re thrilled—but not many people do.
Plus, we have yet to have the discussion about whether a Congressman from Wisconsin with limited foreign-policy credentials is really qualified to be a heartbeat away from the presidency. The last member of the House to be elected vice president was John Nance Garner, who was on the ticket with FDR. Usually, the choice smacks of desperation. The number of House members who lost their VP bid include Geraldine Ferraro and Bill Miller.
It’s hard to imagine that Romney wants to follow in the electoral footsteps of Walter Mondale and Barry Goldwater. But he’s just taken a giant leap in that direction.
Reader
This article is ridiculous. Tina Fey would have employment no matter what.
TeaPartyGay
When former Governor Sarah Palin takes the oath of office 8 or 12 years hence, I want to revisit this site to see all the heads explode (no pun intended).
Mark
@TeaPartyGay: rofl
XoMoDe
Looks like Reagan. They’ve got my vote.
Chong
We shouldn’t act so cocky. We need people to show up and vote.
jj
Romneys team seems to think this will push the extreme gop voters to vote for him, which in turn will win him the election. News flash idiot, you already had those voters. The only thing picking paul ryan will do is push moderate republicans and independents to vote for Obama.
davidyu
@Reader: LOL
James Lee
John Gallagher who wrote the article was paid for by 0bama and his militant extremists…
Macmantoo
Lets see here. President Obama now has most of the women’s votes, most of the gay’s vote, most of the black vote, most of the poor’s votes, most of the senior votes, and I’m sure most of the Democratic votes not covered by the aforementioned groups. What’s left for the republicans? Oh, the 1% rich and the Log Cabins republicans in denial.
Scott
@Macmantoo: Did you ever want to be an individual and not part of a group?
Rick H.
hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
and the homosexuals were really going to hurt Chick Fil A with their protests too weren’t they?
Now I know why you guys like the Wizard of Oz so much
living in fantasyland
Michael
as a foreigner living in this country my question remains, “what do the republicans want?” – all the money? all the power? corporate domination? – what is it they desire?
UsualPlayers
@Scott: <Non-sensical talking points from GOP Proud.
Paul Ryan and Romney are running as part of a group. Even Libertarians run as part of a group. Ayn Rand was part of various groups, including taking SS in the end to support herself.
In short, politics is about being a part of a group. Only the idiots who buy into the talking points of the right don't seem to realize that. In short, the irony here is that you are the least individual among us because you don't realize what is for the individual and what is for the group so you delude yourself into confusing which one is which. A blind man can not be a true individual because he's dependent by definition on others for sight.
Daez
This would be such an interesting election if it was about Mitt Romney from 2004 versus Obama. Mitt Romney from 2004 was actually likable. To bad he threw that all away simply to pander to his base.
JKB
@TeaPartyGay: Dude….she couldn’t even finish her term as Governor. Why would anyone want to vote for someone who can’t commit?
Bobloblaw
@Michael: What is it democrats desire??? Power over the citizenry
Randall Reynolds
Looks like 4 more years.
hf2hvit
@Rick H.: And we know why you’re here…because you fantasize that your straight
hf2hvit
@Scott: Like what? A self-loathing closet case republican? Still part of a group, you DORK.
Clockwork
No matter who the pick was; This very same article would have been posted.
By the way “the electoral footsteps of Walter Mondale and Barry Goldwater”, try to study electoral history a little better before making absurd comparisons to past elections.
Larry
wow after reading these comments can you make people publicly suck a dick before they are allowed to comment on this site….most of these people are either straight or the dumbest queers on the planet
Matthew Rettenmund
Larry wins for best comment ever.
Douggseven
I didn’t know the teacher from Glee was running for office.
Huh, you learn something new every other day.
F Stratford
I agree. But don’t underestimate Ryan just yet. He can put the upper Midwest in play: WI MI IA and MN. He can insulate Romney from Libertarians and Tea partners who have been slow to like him and were actually against him in many things.
Ryan has negatives, that should be exposed to Midwesterners and rust belters (anti union/white working class, anti middle class tax cut, big government for social issues. Those will hopefully keep the upper Midwest blue. But you never know which issues resonate the most.
F Stratford
Oh, add MO to that list. Maybe western PA.
Mark
“Now the election is no longer about President Obama’s economic plan, but about what the alternative might look like”
We’ve seen Obama’s economic plan, and he has his head up his ass. The public always throws out the party in power if the wrong track numbers for the country are higher than the right track.
Every time.
Drew
Macmantoo-Actually a lot of LGBT people are not for Obama since he’s not for same gender marriage or LGBT equality but just will lie and pretend he is just to get our money. We are not for Romney either.
Barefoot Accountant
I have become very disenchanted with President Barack Obama even though I voted for him in 2008. Obama has failed us progressives.
1. He did not even propose the public option healthcare system: he had campaigned on that system, promising to propose it. (Wikipedia: ”President Barack Obama promoted the idea of the public option while running for election.[3] After becoming President, Obama downplayed the need for a public health insurance option including calling it a “sliver” of health care reform,[4] but had not given up pursuing the idea before the health care reform was passed.[5] The preceding statement is disputed by evidence that the Obama administration had agreed to drop the public option from the final plan in the summer of 2009[6] in a back room deal with representatives of the for-profit hospital lobby[7]“)
2. He has appointed countless Wall Streeters to his top economic team, failing to appoint labor voices like Robert Reich.
3. He has bailed out Wall Street instead of Main Street: remember TARP? And then the banks dispensed $6 billion in bonuses in that year to its executives.
4. He failed to attack the mortgage crisis, leaving an elephant still in our “room”, with one-third of home mortgages now underwater.
5. He failed to veto the National Defense Authorization Act, doing away with habeous corpus, allowing the government to arrest and detain indefinitely without a trial or hearing.
6. He agreed to an extension of the Bush tax cuts for the rich, and on top of that, he agreed to an egregious reduction of the estate taxes on the rich, exempting as much as $10 million from any estate taxes and lowering the estate tax rate down to a ridiculous rate of 35%, when our country has a $15 trillion debt. That alone saved the Walton heirs $17 billion in taxes.
7. He has failed to indict and imprison any of those banksters involved in all of that fraud on Wall Street from the subprime mortgage, including robo-signing, and selling shit-backed mortgage securities known to be worthless.
8. He appointed Jeffrey Immelt to head his Jobs Council when GE has been saying “China, China, China,” and shipping all jobs overseas while closing plants here in the US.
9. President Obama is now considering and proposing to lower the corporate tax rate to 26%, when corporations are not only at a low-time rate of paying taxes but getting billions in tax subsidies from our government and opening up offices on the 19th floor of one building on the Cayman Islands to avoid taxes altogether.
10. President Obama spoke in favor of PIPA and SOPA, when the internet is the last vestige of free speech and the availability of free information to the general public.
11. There were no indictments by President Obama of all the contractor fraud reported on by Bernie Sanders and Ron Paul in a Congressional Report released over a year ago. Whenever the rich and big corporations are caught in fraud, Eric Holder adopts a policy of “looking forward”, instead of holding them accountable.
12. President Obama agreed to the “grand bargain” (thank, God, Boehner did not accept it) to cut over $2 trillion in spending, including social security, medicare, medicaid, and other social safety-net programs merely in return for hypothetical “revenue increases” of $800 billion relying on “dynamic scoring”.
13. President Obama has done nothing to level the trade treaties, where corporations are shipping labor to Cambodia (22.5 cents per hour), China, Philippines, etc., where labor is paid 25 cents per hour. This is exporting slavery to other countries. Where is the level playing field for Americans?
14. President Obama in 2009 only proposed $140 billion in infrastructure spending when Paul Krugman and other economists predicted that $1.5 trillion was needed for our economy to recover. And last year only proposed a paltry $108 billion in infrastructure spending.
15. President Obama praised the recent JOBS Act, which allows corporations to go public and raise capital without audited financial information in their public presentations for the first five years, allowing them to present fictitious numbers and defraud investors?
16. President Obama has failed to propose the return of Glass-Steagall, separating commercial and investment banking, which will soon plunge us back into another mega-bailout of Wall Street.
17. President Obama has failed to propose the break up of the big banks and corporations. What ever happened to the Sherman Anti-Trust Act?
18. President Obama touted a $25 billion robo-signing settlement when a trillion dollars of our pension and retirement funds were stolen.
19. While campaigning, President Obama promised to put on his walking shoes for labor, but failed to even show up in Wisconsin and walk the picket line against Governor Walker.
20. President Obama has not declared war on the Supreme Court, as President Roosevelt did, to oppose the corporate/rich posture of Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas, Alito, and Roberts. Why not take them on?
21. President Obama has arrested and raided more marijuana users in less than four years than George Bush did in eight years. Why is President Obama proposing cuts to social security, medicare, and medicaid while spending more on marijuana arrests and raids, especially when a majority of Americans are for legalization of pot and for the open sale of marijuana for medical use?
Time and time again President Obama did not fight the good fight for working Americans, who are losing their jobs, health insurance, homes, dignity, etc.
I am tired of the lame excuse of how we must vote for Obama because of the Supreme Court. How can anyone believe that Obama would not disappoint progressives on that issue after he failed to undertake a recess appointment of Elizabeth Warren to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a position to which she was more entitled to direct than any other American?
I am done with President Obama.
Barefoot Accountant
For a more complete list, see Hugh’s list at http://obamascandalslist.blogspot.com/2009/10/table-of-contents.html:
1. Reneged on pledge to filibuster FISA Amendments Act (July 2008)
2. Lobbied for $700 billion Paulson TARP bank bailout
3. Pushed for no sanctions against Lieberman despite his support for John McCain
4. Nominated healthcare company lobbyist Tom Daschle as Secretary of HHS
5. Had neoliberal Robert Rubin as his chief economics adviser
6. Then had the equally neoliberal Larry Summers assume this role
7. Chose the failing upwards Timothy Geithner to head Treasury
8. AIG bonuses and money to Goldman under Obama
9. Doubling down in Afghanistan
10. Delay and reduction of withdrawal from Iraq
11. Moving Guantanamo activities to Bagram
12. Military commissions for some detainees
13. Support for indefinite detention
14. Refusal to release torture photos under FOIA
15. Refusal to investigate and prosecute Bush era criminality
16. Geithner’s DOA economic rescue programs: the PPIP and TALF
17. Minimal help for homeowners and no cramdowns
18. Treatment of Chrysler and GM with bankrupcy compared to bank no fail “stress tests”
19. Kabuki of TARP repayment by banks while still dependent on government credit lines
20. Extra-Constitutional use of the Fed by the Executive for fiscal policy
21. Credit Card bill without usury caps and with 9 month delay for other reforms
22. Business friendly Mary Schapiro named to head SEC
23. Gary Gensler who helped deregulate derivatives named to head CFTC
24. $787 billion stimulus: too little, too late, poorly structured
25. Use of financial crisis to attack Social Security and Medicare
26. The great healthcare non-debate
27. Continued use of state secrets argument in ongoing Bush era cases
28. Use of signing statements, including one to punish whistleblowers
29. Vetting process problems, especially tax related ones
30. Leaving Dawn Johnsen’s nomination to head OLC twisting in the wind
31. Eric Holder, failure to reform DOJ, not removing worst of Bush USAs
32. Failure to move against new oil bubble
33. Retention of Bush Defense team: Gates, Patraeus, and Odierno
34. Continued missile strikes inside Pakistan
35. Keeping Bush’s domestic spying programs and adding a new one, cybersecurity
36. Choice of Elena Kagan who favors expansive Presidential powers as Sollicitor General, her subsequent nomination to the Supreme Court
37. Leaving EFCA (to help counter anti-union companies) to wither in Congress
38. Welcoming Arlen Specter who brings nothing to the Democrats into the party
39. Weak ineffective proposals for financial reform
40. Obama wanted John Brennan at CIA but settled for making him his counter- terrorism adviser
41. Chas Freeman with broader Mideast perspective done in by AIPAC
42. Dennis Blair made DNI; failed to act to stop atrocities in East Timor
43. Choice of McChrystal involved in torture in Iraq to head Afghanistan command
44. Obama threat to suspend intelligence cooperation with UK over Binyam Mohamed case
45. Efforts to keep Bush and Obama White House logs secret
46. Playing games with “Don’t ask, don’t tell”
47. Filing a brief to overturn Jackson (access to lawyer) in the Montejo case
48. Not withdrawing Bush brief in Osborne DNA case
49. Egregious brief in challenge to Defense of Marriage Act
50. The Supplemental which made Iraq and Afghanistan Democratic wars
51. Choice of Rahm Emanuel as the President’s Chief of Staff
52. Choice of Dennis Ross as Iran envoy and then his move to the White House
53. Politically embarrassing processes to fill Obama and Clinton’s Senate seats
54. Choice of Bill Richardson, then Judd Gregg to head Commerce Department
55. Reneging on pledge to re-negotiate NAFTA
56. Obama’s throwing his pastor Jeremiah Wright to the curb, then reaching out to religious conservative Rick Warren
57. Continued challenges to habeas corpus petitions over indefinite detention, the Janko case
58. The Obama White House website
59. Continuing an ineffective program that Iran can exploit politically
60. Going slow on climate change when there is no time to
61. Not withdrawing a Bush-era amicus brief in the Ricci v. DeStefano reverse discrimination case and supporting a rollback of Title VII
62. Appointment of a CIA General Counsel who doesn’t know if waterboarding is torture
63. Appointment of a DNI General Counsel who doesn’t know if waterboarding is torture
64. CIA delay in a FOIA request concerning torture
65. The influence of Goldman Sachs in the Obama Administration
66. Attempt to keep secret the Cheney interview on the Plame affair
67. Mountaintop removal under Obama
68. Attempt to restrict Congressional notification on intelligence matters
69. Opposition to a second stimulus
70. Another egregious attempt to fight a habeas corpus petition in the Jawad case
71. Continuing charter schools and standardized tests
72. Holder’s decision to support a weak, narrow review of torture
73. Re-appointment of Ben Bernanke as Fed Chairman
74. Continuing renditions
75. Politically dubious company was used to vet reporters in Afghanistan
76. Judge vetoes a too weak SEC plea bargain with Bank of America
77. Justice’s argument for making Bagram a new Guantanamo, the al Maqaleh case
78. Defense to turn over databases to poorly controlled fusion centers
79. Obama changes but keeps Bush’s Star Wars program
80. Failure to win an Israeli freeze on settlements
81. White House refuses to back its own staffer environmentalist Van Jones
82. Politicized US Attorney in the Siegelman case cleared by Office of Special Counsel
83. Criticism of Iranian nuclear program; support of Israeli nuclear weapons
84. Support for a weakened reporter’s shield law
85. Use of the Zazi case to retain broad Patriot Act surveillance provisions
86. Wilner v. NSA, continuing the coverup of warrantless surveillance of communications between attorneys and detainees
87. Attempt to spike the Goldstone report on Israeli-Hamas war crimes in Gaza
88. Slowness in filling federal judgeships
89. Inadequate aid to overwhelmed state budgets
90. Attempting to dodge the Supreme Court deciding whether innocent Guantanamo detainees can be resettled in the US
91. Allowing drilling in the waters off the north coast of Alaska
92. Keeping detainee accounts of CIA torture secret
93. Current FBI manual allows for widespread domestic spying
94. Securitization invalidates most foreclosures
95. Geithner wanting unlimited powers to save large banks
96. Another state secrets defense to conceal domestic spying
97. Circuit Court dismissal of Maher Arar suit
98. Weakening Sarbanes-Oxley and calling it financial reform
99. Unemployment
100. Inspector General for Fannie and Freddie ousted for investigating fraud
101. Gaming courts to convict Guantanamo detainees
102. White House counsel removed for his principled stands on torture and Guantanamo
103. US seizes mosques claiming Iranian connection
104. Howard Dean removed as head of the DNC
105. Scientist with close ties to Monsanto put in charge of all governmental agricultural research
106. Pesticide lobbyist nominated as Chief Agricultural Negotiator for trade
107. Effort to let some government contractors avoid paying taxes
108. A bad US Attorney nomination for Northern Iowa
109. Hunger in America
110. The breast cancer recommendations fiasco
111. Ongoing confusion and disorganization in the military commissions process
112. Phillip Carter another official in closing Guantanamo resigns
113. Refusal to sign anti-land mine treaty
114. The Ghizzawi case and the legal limbo of “cleared for release”
115. Black prisons at Balad and Bagram
116. Delay in declassifying historic documents
117. Max Baucus’ conflicts of interest in healthcare and with his girlfriend
118. Major security breach at a White House party and a ridiculous assertion of “executive privilege”
119. Dana “Pig Missile” Perino nominated to the Broadcasting Board of Governors
120. Cass Sunstein, an anti-regulator in a regulatory position
121. Warrantless for profit electronic surveillance by telecoms and search engines
122. The government sides with torture lawyer John Yoo and attacks Bevins actions again
123. The TSA publishes its security manual online
124. Toxic legal arguments in al Zahrani v. Rumsfeld, yet another Bevins action
125. The Nobel Peace Prize and a neocon acceptance speech
126. Blackwater’s involvement in military and CIA assassination and drone programs
127. Congressional Research Service censorship in the firing of Morris Davis
128. AIG writes off $25 billion in debt and sticks taxpayers with the bill
129. The Administration plays hardball to kill an amendment that would lower drug costs
130. A poorly considered blank check to Fannie and Freddie
131. Continuing a Bush botch in the Nisoor Square massacre case
132. Jonathan Gruber, a major defender of Obamacare was also a paid consultant for it
133. A Geithner related cover up of the AIG at par payments on swaps
134. Adoption of stealth signing statements
135. al Bihani, more bad legal reasoning in another Guantanamo habeas case
136. Cutting Medicare and Social Security by deficit commission proposed
137. A 3 year non-freeze budget freeze proposed
138. NASA flights privatized
139. OPR report on Yoo and Bybee watered down and its relation to the Padilla case
140. Government targeting of US citizens for assassination
141. Abuse of informants by ICE agents
142. Obama leaves Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board empty
143. Obama backs firing of teachers in Rhode Island
144. Irish human rights advocate Edward Horgan has US visa pulled
145. Threatened veto of 2010 Intelligence Authorization Act over Congressional notifications
146. Obama Administration intimidation of whistleblowing site: wikileaks
147. Fish and Wildlife Service continues to ignore science on endangered species
148. Senate vacation more important than jobless benefits
149. Government seeks to compel turnover of emails without a warrant
150. Obama goes after an NSA whistleblower: the Thomas Drake case
151. Obama goes after a CIA whistleblower: the James Risen case
152. Weakening Miranda rights in national security cases
153. Advocating the privatizing of public housing
154. Another step in making Bagram the new Guantanamo, the al Maqaleh case, the appeals court edition
155. Massey mining disaster, 29 die because of corporate greed and poor regulation
156. Obama proposal for a line item veto
157. A military commander allowed to use military forces for intelligence operations without Presidential approval
158. Political pandering in sending 1200 National Guardsmen to the Southwest border
159. A sad record on resisting Guantanamo habeas petitions
160. Israel attacks an aid convoy for Gaza; Obama punts
161. A further erosion of Miranda: Berghius v. Thompkins
162. Naming James Clapper, a Bush appointee, to be the next DNI
163. DOJ seeks to protect Vatican in sex abuse scandal
164. Yahya Wehelie, an American exiled without charge
165. Failure to replace National Labor Relations Board members means hundreds of decisions must be reviewed
166. SCOTUS opts for overly broad definition of material support to terrorist groups
167. Speaker Pelosi backstabs Social Security
168. Complaints by government scientists of political interference at Bush era levels
169. Flip flop on free trade agreement with Colombia
170. SEC declares major victory but lets Goldman off easy
171. Private contracting of intelligence continues under Obama
172. Two Guantanamo prisoners to be deported back to Algeria against their will
173. The Shirley Sherrod affair: trumped up charges of racism and a bungled response 174. Whitewash report on Bush era US Attorney firings
175. Despite its record, Blackwater still gets big US government contracts
176. Wikileaks releases government files showing Pakistan involvement with Taliban and admission that things are going poorly in Afghanistan
177. Obama seeks to get access to everyone’s web histories without a court order
178. Teacher funding sacrificed to keep Education Secretary Arne Duncan happy
179. State’s top Iran hand resigns over Obama’s Iran policy
180. Citizens United: validation of unlimited corporate political funding
181. Push to expand US arms sales around the world
182. Project Vigilant, Infragard and “volunteer” corporate spying for the government
183. Obama’s approval hits Bush levels in Arab world
184. Effort to pre-empt state environmental lawsuits involving green house gases
185. Justice’s Anti-trust division asleep at the wheel
186. Kagan’s recusals render her even more ineffective on the Supreme Court
187. Poverty level highest since 1994
188. Courts run interference for corporate violators of international law
189. Warren named to set up but not to run Consumer Financial Protection Board
190. Chief economic adviser Larry Summers leaves; Obama looks for someone even more pro-business to replace him
191. DOJ IG report goes soft on Bush era surveillance against peace groups and other activists; meanwhile the Obama Administration conducts raids against similar groups
192. Move to put backdoors in the internet to facilitate spying and more requirements on banks on international money transfers of any size
193. HHS Secretary Sebelius delays for at least two years required insurance coverage for contraception
194. Americans on Medicaid increased to 48.5 million in 2009
195. Big home lenders suspend foreclosures as their documentation gets challenged in court
196. HR 3808, a bill passed by Congress, to facilitate the acceptance of false documentation by banks in foreclosure proceedings
197. ICE raids and deportations increase under Obama
198. Social Security COLA frozen for second straight year; no action taken
199. Waivers for military aid to countries with child soldiers
200. Big and deserved losses in the 2010 elections
201. 42 million Americans on food stamps at the end of FY 2010
202. No indictments for those involved in the CIA destruction of the torture tapes
203. The Bowles-Simpson Cat Food Commission proposals
204. $3 billion in aid for Israel for a 90 day settlement freeze
205. No change in Democratic Congressional leadership after 2010 election disaster
206. Forced proselytizing still prevalent at US Air Force Academy
207. TSA harassment and violation of the 4th Amendment
208. More TSA idiocy: full body scans and invasive pat downs
209. The response to the 2009 coup in Honduras
210. Use of diplomatic personnel to spy at the UN
211. Fed proposes rule change to Truth in Lending Act to protect bank fraud
212. FCC head Genachowski takes an axe to net neutrality
213. Lieberman and Amazon.com seek to censor wikileaks
214. Pressuring the Spanish government into dropping torture prosecutions against 6 high level Bush officials
215. Neoliberal free trade deal with South Korea at a time of high unemployment
216. Hamfisted banning access to wikileaks by government departments
217. Massive screwup in printing $100 bills
218. Extending tax cuts for the rich in a poor compromise on jobless benefits
219. Dancing boys of Afghanistan paid for by US contractor Dyncorp
220. EPA backtracks on smog standards
221. Former OMB director Peter Orszag goes to Citigroup
222. Obama breaks the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to supply Israel with nuclear fuel
223. DREAM Act for children of illegal immigrants done in by Senate Democrats
224. DOJ drops investigations of corrupt members of Congress
225. The FBI’s Guardian database, another useless, intrusive surveillance program
226. Pentagon weakens rules on contractor conflicts of interest
227. Investigation by state Attorney Generals into foreclosuregate: no criminal charges
228. Obama names Mr. NAFTA Bill Daley as his new Chief of Staff
229. Obama names neoliberal free trader Gene Sperling to replace Larry Summers
230. Executive Order to make regulations more business-friendly
231. Gulet Mohamed: Detention and torture of US citizens by proxy
232. Nelson v. NASA: government can demand intrusive, unnecessary information about its employees
233. Choice of GE’s outsourcing CEO Jeffrey Immelt as Obama’s Jobs Czar
234. Failure to weaken or eliminate the filibuster
235. Corporate targeting of Wikileaks and liberal organizations
236. Reaction to the popular revolution in Egypt
237. HHS Secretary Sebelius helps states cut Medicaid rolls and funding
238. Petraeus accuses parents not US attacks for burns to children in Afghanistan
239. US general in Afghanistan sets up illegal propaganda program targeting Americans
240. Obama plans to devastate small block grants program for the poor
241. Silence on the Wisconsin labor protests
242. Former Senator Christopher Dodd quickly becomes lobbyist after promising not to
243. Obama reinstitutes sham review tribunals at Guantanamo
244. DOJ colludes with Bush era official Scott Bloch to keep him out of jail
245. The treatment of Bradley Manning
246. State Department spokesman PJ Crowley forced to resign over Manning comments
247. Massive conflicts of interest in David Stevens at HUD and soon to be head of main lobbying group for the mortgage industry
248. Mild reaction to bloody anti-democratic repression in Bahrain and Yemen
249. Torture psychologist appointed to White House task force
250. FBI program which allows them to investigate anyone doesn’t work (surprise)
251. In his Libya war, Obama has completed the unconstitutional process of Presidents’ usurpation of Congress’ power to make war
252. Obama accepts award for transparency in secret
253. Democrats create PACs to receive unlimited contributions from anonymous donors 254. 2011 government shutdown threat as Shock Doctrine
254. The 2011 “great” biprtisan budget deal
255. The OCC deal to cover for banks in foreclosuregate
256. Reshuffling neocons at DOD and the CIA
257. Leak of Detainee Assessments shines light on the weakness of cases against many Guantanamo inmates
258. Geithner shields foreign exchange derivatives from Dodd-Frank regulation
259. Crazy new application for some US passports
260. DOJ wants SCOTUS to allow for GPS tracking without a warrant
261. An industry stacked panel to study fracking
262. SCOTUS attacks small claim class actions
263. SCOTUS okays fraud in financial presentations
264. SCOTUS attacks large class actions and Title VII
265. DOJ’s non-investigation of torture produces few results
266. Department of State threatens participants of Gaza flotilla with terrorism charges
267. Detainees now held on ships to avoid judicial scrutiny
268. CIA operating a black site prison in Somalia
269. SCOTUS and DC Appeals Court torpedoing detainee habeas petitions
270. SCOTUS greatly expands warrantless searches; Obama DOJ approves
271. Tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve after the 2011 spike in gasoline prices
272. Christine Varney, head of DOJ Anti-Trust Division, goes to law firm that had case before her
273. Senseless 2011 debt ceiling crisis, budget cutting, and attacks on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid
274. TSA closes US airspace to Mexican human rights activist
275. DHS guts its unit monitoring right wing terrorism in US
276. “Recovery” benefited corporations, not workers
277. Harassment of a government scientist Charles Monett because his work clashes with drilling in the Arctic
278. African Americans and Hispanic wealth took hardest hit from financial crises
279. Cass Sunstein sitting on labor rules to protect child workers
280. Oil leasing in Gulf resumes
281. Administration pressures NY AG Schneiderman to go along with bogus mortgage settlement
282. DOJ dumps responsibility for its bungled gun running sting on handy US Attorney
283. US ranks 41st in the world in infant mortality
284. White House engages in selective prosecution of Dan Choi over DADT protest
285. COBRA extension ditched
286. Obama spikes EPA ozone limits
287. 2011 Obama fictional jobs plan
288. Contractors cost twice as much as unionized federal workers doing the same work
289. New EPA greenhouse gas limits also being drawn out
290. CFTC proposes ineffectual limits on commodity speculation
291. State Department targets career officer Peter Van Buren for writing critical book
292. Secret Law and the OLC legal justification for killing a US citizen abroad
293. US incomes fall more after recession than during it
294. Another Afghanistan fail: torture rampant in Afghan prisons
295. Bank of America dumps derivative exposure on to the FDIC with Fed approval
296. New rule to legitimize government lying in response to FOIA requests
297. Cronyism and the Keystone XL pipeline
298. Despite pledge, Obama still taking money from lobbyists
299. Secure Communities and deportation as a business
300. The Occupy movement and the attacks upon it
301. DOJ prosecuting financial fraud at the lowest rate in 20 years
302. US stops funding of UNESCO
303. 42% of Americans living paycheck to paycheck
304. The Post Office facing cuts because of unnecessary prefunding mandates
305. Arab Spring and allowing Fundamentalist Islam to take over Egypt making it the next Afghanistan.
He has to govern
@Barefoot Accountant: That list makes my head hurt. Who would you think, as President, would support and have completed all those things? With a reluctant legislature? 301 complaints?
bee
I’m still voting for Obama/Biden 2012.
Neo
You ever notice that those on this site who claim to not support Romney then list hundreds of things Obama does wrong are Agent Provacateurs, that being conservatives that post on gay sites to make the right wing seem less like America and world hating Neo-theologian dinosaurs and more like reasonable, rational people.
They are anything but, and here in the UK and everywhere in the world we don’t want a radical christian with his finger on the largest military in the world. The real threat to the US is Romney and the people he will submit too, not any Islamic regime thousands of miles away struggling to get water on a daily basis.
The Real Mike in Asheville
@Barefoot Accountant: And you think a President Romney will be better on these issues? You think a President Romney will do more to protect the environment? End CIA torture? Enact/enforce banking and Wall Street regulations?
Oh, and your President Romney has signed on to NOM extreme anti-gay civil rights call.
Forget the “Barefoot” and go with the more accurate, Stupid.
Neo
@The Real Mike in Asheville: All these people are just three or four people who troll all the LGBT sights posting as “Gay friendly” people and are nothing but middle aged republican parasites.
The sooner people just laugh at them, like I do the better, there’s a group of 5 or 6 people from South Carolina who troll Technology sites every day looking for mentions of topics relating to gun laws and tech freedom laws, it’ll be a connected group who troll LGBT sites.
They are not gay friendly, nor should they be listened too or attempted to be reasoned with, they post and then will not read the replies, it was the same people poisoning the binaries years ago as it is now.
samwise
@TeaPartyGay: Sarah can’t host a reality TV show AND be President at the same time.
Barry Battle
Face it, boys: Mitt Romney could have picked Elton John as his running mate, and you militant types would still bemoan his choice. So very predictable.
samwise
@Clockwork: As far as I know, Portman or Pawlenty didn’t write legislation to kill the poor and senior citizens. And I guess you’re living in some alternate universe where Mondale and Goldwater were elected President.
Cam
@Barefoot Accountant:
Nice try liar. Somebody from Log Cabin posted this EXACT SAME POST on another board.
Nice try, but when your group came out and ATTACKED President Obama when he came out in favor of gay marriage, and attacked Pelosi when she was pushing through the repeal of DADT and they even crowed about the defeat of the politician who INTRODUCED the DADT repeal.
Your group has become an anti-gay group. You are actively supporting people who want to take away gay rights, and you are doing your best to try to cover up their rabid anti-gay behavior.
Again, nice try liar, but go back to your every shrinking group and beg the bigtots to let you in the back door of their little club house.
Clockwork
@samwise:
>As far as I know, Portman or Pawlenty didn’t write legislation to kill the poor and senior citizens.
Not a very bright statement so I will respond with a cliche;
The poor are already dead under the Obama economy.
>And I guess you’re living in some alternate universe where Mondale and Goldwater were elected President.
If you think this election will be won by either side with the margin of 1964 and 1984; Then you need to catch up and read some current polls and election analysis.
Most of you could not debate a stuffed animal
Robert in NYC
Ryan voted 59 times against women’s reproductive health. Women voters, including many younger catholic women and independents won’t like that and won’t vote for Romney either. This is the moderate republicans’ worst nightmare legitimizing the Tea Party. Romney will fail because of it. The GOP has lost any chance it has to use the economy as the number one priority. They’ve handed the election to the Democrats with this choice for VP, something they had hoped for.
the other Greg
I’m guessing the pizza boxes are really stacking up in the Barefoot Accountant’s mama’s basement. He might want to put on some slippers because of the mice and fleas.
At least none of the GOProud types have said that Paul Ryan is “cute”! (Yet.) Just because Mitt has a crush on him doesn’t mean we have to. My theory is that his slightly odd haircut is covering up his devil horns.
KARUADAM
@XoMoDe: Unless you are fucking Christian, and republican..
Chris
@Barefoot Accountant: That’s quite a list of complaints, so you prefer Romney, since you are “done with Obama”. This isn’t a multiple choice test, there are only two options, if you have decided you are not for Obama, then you are Pro Romney….could you explain to us why, please. Please give us one verifiable positive thing about a Romney presidency, from your alleged “progressive” standpoint? I mean you even blame Obama for the actions of the Supreme Court…which makes me believe you are nothing but a paid shill, or wingnut…because no one who claims to be progressive blames Obama for the actions of the Roberts court (262, 263, 264)Most of the rest of your post is drivel.
Chris
@Clockwork: Nor could you debate a stuffed animal. You spew long disproven right wing talking points and pretend its intelligent. It’s not.
Chris
@Barefoot Accountant: ON a more thorough look, you have “The Obama White House Website” listed as a scandal, how is the website a scandal? A lot of it is just filler that has nothing to do with the Obama administration, if you are going to troll you gotta come up with something better than that, what you have posted now just makes you look foolish, or crazy
JayHobeSound
Paul Ryan is only too eager to swing the austerity hatchet for the benefit of his fellow One-Percenters.
JayHobeSound
@TeaPartyGay: Stop eating the lead paint chips.
JayHobeSound
@Larry: Too bitchy to be straight, LoL. Back to your bridge, Troll.
Barefoot Accountant
To everyone who thinks I support Romney I don’t. I am however going to vote for the green party candidate. I know my list has been spread all over the internet ever since I first made it but that’s what people do.
nineinchnail
@Barefoot Accountant: Just imagine the amount of b-tching that would go on if Apple built its iPhones in the USA and charged $1000 a pop for one. Seems some people want it both ways but its either one way or another.
Do I care who wins the US election? No. I am not American but you’d have be pretty stupid to want a president who has about as much appeal as a dose of the clap. Yes Obama isnt perfect but the alternative is a f—-ng nightmare!
jj
Ugh i second the comment about forcing people to publicly suck a dick if they want to comment on queerty. Not sure why the gop would even try to be swaying queerty readers opinion on obama. Were voting for him no matter what.
raisedsouth
@Matthew Rettenmund: agreed Larry has best comment so far!
raisedsouth
I miss when there were legitimate sex scandals in D.C. Where’s are present day Monica? Where’s our Oral Office oopsie? Black Dick in a White House that screams make me a porno and put it on Fox News lol. Come on!!!! Give me hard core porn or give me a chocolate milkshake!
juicer
Larry ahs my vote
Steve
@Michael: Yes. That is what they want.
the other Greg
Out of boredom (because it’s hot outside, and one baseball team is waaay ahead), I’ve read through Barefoot Accountant’s long, long list.
I can’t argue with some things – TSA and Eric “Dick” Holder, yuk – but many of the problems on the list were CAUSED by the Republicans. Can you really blame Obama for failure to close Gitmo, “COBRA extension ditched” or “slowness in filling federal judgeships”?!? The Republicans wouldn’t let him!!!
What I find most weird is the legitimate complaint about the unconstitutional bombing of Libya coupled with “Arab Spring and allowing [!] Fundamentalist Islam to take over Egypt.” Wow, I didn’t realize the Green Party objected to the US “allowing” a foreign country to – gasp – have elections. How dare they. Should Obama have forcibly kept the Mubarak dictatorship in power forever? (That’s usually a neo-con talking point.) But apparently Arab Spring next door in Libya should have taken its natural course without US meddling? Isolationists used to be more consistent; look up Mark Twain and Grover Cleveland.
Some odd moot points: war in Iraq and DADT (both over with), Bill Richardson and Judd Gregg (both withdrew their nominations almost immediately), even GM/Chrysler and TARP (money paid back).
Chris Dodd and Peter Orszag, really? They may be a bit slimy but I didn’t realize they’re Obama’s slaves and he *ordered* him to take those jobs. You can argue that “Speaker Pelosi backstab[bed] Social Security,” but she doesn’t take orders from Obama. Nor was it his job to rearrange the House minority leadership after the 2010 election. At points the list is obviously just an anti-Democrat screed. Is Obama responsible for everything any Democrat does, ever?
Like another poster I wonder why SCOTUS is mentioned at all on the list, never mind several times. Obama has only appointed two of the 9. So how is everything the court does his fault?
And I never heard of the “Dancing boys of Afghanistan paid for by US contractor Dyncorp,” but perhaps Queerty is the wrong forum to complain about that one. Afghanistan probably needs more dancing boys!
Neo
@jj: They’re trying to attack the self loathing types, the ones who aren’t political enough to join those gay republicans who loathe themselves and everyone else in the world into voting by making up packs of lies.
It is exactly like someone with a cold sore [Obama] been told repeatedly that Cancer [Romney] is better because at least you can’t see it. I say exactly like meaning the most literal of comparisons.
Geo
Ooo, Romney might put Wisonsin into play! Forget that he just pretty much took a great big dump all over Florida– one of about three states that one absolutely has to have these days to actually win a presidential election. By nominating Paul Ryan, whose views on things like Medicare and Social Security will scare the Holy BeJeebus out of the old folk from now until election day, Romney might as well have put on a T-shirt declaring “Screw You Seniors and Your Sunshine State” and then gift-wrapped Florida’s 27 electoral votes and personally handed them to Obama. But, hey, Mitt might now possibly, maybe, potentially, get Wisconsin. What a freakin’ genius.
the other Greg
@Geo: Not only that, but the seniors in Florida are old enough to remember who Eddie Munster was.
Those of you who are too young can look him up. The resemblance is eerie!
Cyndi Brady
@Larry #20 and/or @Reader #1: Will one of you Fed€x yr sp€rm to me, so my child will be smart and funny, please? I am 44, the eggs are running out fast and furious, so you must do this with a quickness! Thankyou gentlemen!
KIDDING OF COURSE.
Ryan has actually stated he no longer supports Ayn Rand because he found out she was atheist. Even his RC church has criticized his budget. Oww, that hurts.
His only advantage over Rom-Knee is that probably wears more conventional undergear.
Me and the missus are thinking about moving far far north if the GOP prevails.
Iceland, here we come!
UsualPlayers
Neo,
I think they either (1) know you are right and don’t care (2) are troll themselves for the site trying to generate traffic or (3) just are idiots
Either way, you are also wasting your time as likely am I
I have tried to point ou what you are pointing out to which Cam etc continue to respond pretending not to see comments pointing out that they aren’t talking to real people
UsualPlayers
barefoot
I am going to take a bite
if you support the Greens, what value do you derive from not knocking ROmney
Lets pretend you aren’t a liar
Why then are you and others like you only attacking Obama?
I am for the record a leftist, and I am really not usre what I am going to do this fall because I see all choices as bad
We got Obama, a right winger, against Romney, a front for a fascist like movement that Ryan represents
Thsoe are out choices
Not good ones
So why focus just on the right wing one while not pointing out the absolute insanity of Romney?
Why not a chart (shorter one at that) showing how both are right wingers and that one is far right wing than the other but both are right wingers?
I suppose my point is nuance. If you sare what you claim, then prove it by being an actual third party attacking both at the same time and explaining how both are just right wing parties
There will be people against that too, but at least then, they will get you are not endorsing HEir Ryan
whatever12345
Paul Ryan is hottt but really evil. I am strong and can resist the attraction. I just wonder if any women/gay men are going to vote for Ryan simply ’cause he’s good looking. Obama has the upper hand on policy, but let’s face it: some people are shallow enough to vote on looks. Once people realize that Ryan’s going to reduce the 99% to serfdom, hopefully even the shallow people will snap out of it and vote Obama.
whatever12345
Oh, should’ve wrote “straight women” instead of just “women”. Sorry for overlooking lesbians (thank God they don’t think Paul Ryan is attractive!) though bi women might find him attractive 🙁 Anyway, all LGBT folk have to come together against Ryan, who is so anti-LGBT that I don’t even want to think what he’d do to us if he got anywhere near the White House.
UsualPlayers
He’s actually not all that attractive. As someone pointed out, he looks like eddie from the Munsters all grown up. And his eyes really do look kind of dead in side. Like you are looking into the eyes of a serial killer.
kingkuy
@jj: i couldn’t possibly agree with you more
JohnD
@TeaPartyGay: lol
Jeff
@TeaPartyGay: Yeah POTUS doesn’t pay enough for Palin to actually want to do it
UsualPlayers
@jj: I also had a friend, who is friends with moderate Republicans who feared this choice for exactly those reasons.
jeff4justice
Why Is LGBTI Media Ignoring Alternative Political Parties
http://outwordmagazine.com/index.php/inside-outword/glbt-news/927-why-is-lgbti-media-ignoring-alternative-political-parties
Ryan
I just want to say that this is a poorly written hit piece: you’re using whom incorrectly and any use of the pluperfect tense should be banished immediately. No shocker you’re a liberal with horrible political insight.
Barefoot Accountant
Usual Players: TL;DR
Excellent essay Jeff.
the other Greg
Well if Barefoot Accountant is a sincere Green Partier, and not a right-winger trying to stir up trouble, he should return to high school civics class. Obviously he was too stoned the first time to learn how the American government actually works.
The list blames the presidency for a lot of things that are the responsibility – or fault if you prefer – of the Supreme Court or Congress. It even blames the presidency for problems in foreign countries, a suspicious position for someone *claiming* to be a Green.
But I’ll take Barefoot’s word for it that he’s a Green. They’re all stoners!
Daez
@He has to govern: Apparently Barefoot Dumass does not understand that the president does not even have the amount of power they are assigning to them. If these are valid points then he needs to look at congress not Obama when assigning blame.
I personally got lost when he blamed Obama for TARP after sighting Wikipedia as a source. If he would look up TARP on Wikipedia he would quickly realize TARP was passed in 2008 WHEN GW was in OFFICE!
Daez
@Barry Battle: Seems well suited since Elton John did take a $1,000,000 gig at Rush Limbaugh’s fifth wedding.
Daez
@Barefoot Accountant: As another poster has said, this is not a multiple choice test. You get two options. Every vote for a third party candidate that could have been for Obama is in fact a vote for Romney.
the other Greg
Someone who was never a stoner:
In high school, Paul Ryan’s classmates voted him as his class’s “biggest ‘brown noser.'”
– http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/08/paul-ryan-brown-noser-the-wikipedia-edit-wars-begin-for-romneys-running-mate/261022/
Daez
@the other Greg: Your last comment was over the top. You need to do some research. What you just said is tantamount to saying that the Catholic Church probably needs more alter boys.
The “Dancing Boys” are boys that are taken from their families at young ages (sometimes kidnapped but often purchased) and then owned (as sex slaves) by masters who kill them when they try to escape. These boys then “perform” in women’s clothing at large parties filled with “straight” men that often use them afterwards for sexual escapades.
There is a really good documentary about this on Netflix.
Also, you forgot to mention that TARP passed in 2008 under GW Bush. How you can blame Obama for something that Bush did is interesting. How you can do so after citing Wikipedia as a resource and then ignoring that Wikipedia clearly tells you that Bush passed TARP is even worse.
Robert in NYC
@Daez: Exactly right, TARP was instigated by Bush in the latter half of 2008, something the GOP ignores and at the time, NEVER condemned him for it or showed any lack of support. Where were the Tea Partyers then?
Robert in NYC
Interesting, Ryan is only going to release 2 years of his tax returns and claims since Romney only released two, he will do the same. For Ryan’s information, Romney, in fact, has not yet released two years of tax returns. He released his 2010 return (with some elements missing, I wonder why?) and an estimate for 2011. The campaign has said that a full 2011 return will be made public before the election. It makes me wonder if the 2011 return is being doctored to put it in a more positive light which leads me to believe over the past ten years, he has something to hide. Obama produced returns from 2000-2006 during the 2008 campaign. Romney should do the same and so too should Ryan. If they’re not hiding anything, why the refusal?
the other Greg
@Daez: I was genuinely unaware of what the Dancing Boy phenomenon in Afghanistan was. When I look it up, yes, it’s awful. I don’t know the particular incident Barefoot is referring to, “US contractor Dyncorp” – he doesn’t say – but like so many things on the list, this seems unlikely to be something Obama could be personally blamed for. Unless you just want to say he should have withdrawn the US military from Afghanistan sooner than he’s doing (and I’d agree). But sadly, after the US leaves, Afghanistan will revert to its usual barbaric ways and there will be nothing we can do about it. I suppose Barefoot will blame Obama for that too.
I was well aware that TARP started under Bush. (Obama continued it.) I didn’t cite Wikipedia at all – you seem to be confusing me with another poster? I merely said it’s a moot point by now, since the loans have been repaid. TARP wasn’t even a bad thing IMO. If someone wants to b*tch about TARP they are usually a right-wing or Ron Paul libertarian troll, although I’m aware there are some loonies on the left who b*tch about it too. After the Republicans had killed regulations and let the banks get out of control, there was no other way to prevent a complete meltdown. Now we need to bring back regulations – some of the few good points on Barefoot’s list!
the other Greg
TARP was never going to be popular but it was totally necessary. Sure, it started under Bush, and Obama fully supported and continued it because he’s not, you know, fucking insane.
There are suspicious signs that Barefoot’s list is coming from a right-wing point of view, because usually it’s the libertarian loons who complain in conspiratorial tones about TARP, and the Federal Reserve Bank for that matter. And the comment about Obama “allowing” elections in Egypt is verrrrrry suspicious.
But I’ll give Barefoot the benefit of the doubt and assume he’s just a confused stoner, not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Daez
@the other Greg: I was referring to Barefoot citing Wikipedia in the same post where it became evident he did not bother to do simple research on other talking points.
Barefoot would blame Obama if Bohner pulled a muscle while taking a crap. In Barefoot’s world Obama must be the anti-Christ, Satan and Saddam Husein reincarnated with just a splash of Hitler. Apparently, Barefoot holds Obama responsible for every evil ever. I’m surprised his list does not have a way to blame Obama for The Trail of Tears, slavery, the Holocaust and the Catholic Church.
Biting Truth
I’m a registered democrat, but this year I’m voting for Romney/Ryan. Voted for Obama last time, but he lost me. Not doing that again.
FunMe
With an EXTREMIST freak like Ryan in the republiCON ticket, this has just sealed the deal for the reelection of President Obama.
jeff4justice
@Barefoot Accountant: Thanks.
Woody
@Barefoot Accountant:
yawnnnn…
Red Meat
What’s with all the gay republicans posting on fake accounts.
El Guapo
@Babbling Accountant.. I’ll be thinking of you when I cast my vote for Obama!
B
Queerty wrote, “Ryan’s own belief system is based on that of Ayn Rand, the crackpot philosopher of unbridled capitalism who believed that the rich are morally superior beings whom the government (and the poor) are trying to destroy.”
Not exactly – she wanted laissez-faire capitalism because she had an “every critter for himself” belief with personal achievements being somehow noble. She wouldn’t have thought much of a person who was rich because he merely inherited a bundle from a rich relative or won the lottery. He’d have had to have gotten rich on his own. Her philosophy might work if each of us lived on his or her own desert island. It fails abysmally in a more tightly coupled society where one can purposely or inadvertently pass costs on to someone else, or where (to get technical) user optimization and system optimization produce significantly different results.
She grew up in Russia. It wouldn’t be surprising if her opinions weren’t a reaction to the excesses of the Soviet Union under Lenin and Stalin.
UsualPlayers
Well, since people here are fond of discussing civics (which is apparently where you stopped your education at in school), not do defend Barefoot, but the way new parties have risen to power to over one of the two major parties in history requires exactly what Barefoot is doing.
Neither the Democratic or Republican Parties existed in the form they do now even century and half ago. In fact, if you really want to dig into political history, neither existed in their modern form until the 1970s. Before that, the Democrats were a mix of Dixiecrats and Liberals with a touch of leftists.
The Republican party, the one that most people may think they are voting for, ceased to be what it was sometime in the 80s under Reagan (who was very different from the Eisenhower/Goldwater conservatism (what I call real conservatism versus the nut jobs that now call themselves conservatives that are actually just Randoid cult members).
Anyway, the point being if you are lecture someone on history- know the history.
UsualPlayers
@Barefoot Accountant: the funny part is I was defending you and its also funny you complaining about length
Just goes to figure, on the internet most people are unthinking douches.
UsualPlayers
@B: she was also a real hypocrite (took government benefits) and really loved a socio path
the other Greg
@UsualPlayers: Ideally should fall under the category of “common knowledge.” I know the history and find it fascinating (hey I remember way too much of it personally at this point), but it is all that relevant to a prospective voter in 2012? Not really. Yeah, the parties were re-aligned by the ’70s-80s and if someone is younger than that, they’re in the current world.
You’re actually not entirely correct about the long-ago third parties which were usually grass-roots movements that elected people at the lower offices (Progressives, Prohibitionists, “Know-Nothings,” Socialists etc.) which never happens now.
But as I said we have no way of knowing how stoned people here were in high school, or for that matter whether they were ever awake in high school. As for college, I just assume they were all stoned there if they went. The young, smart ones nowadays probably didn’t go and have no student debt now.
I’m not trying to start a fight with you and I’m glad you agreed with me about “Eddie Munster”! (Ryan).
the other Greg
@UsualPlayers: Ideally should fall under the category of “common knowledge.” I know the history and find it fascinating (hey I remember way too much of it personally at this point), but it is all that relevant to a prospective voter in 2012? Not really.
But as I said we have no way of knowing how stoned people here were in high school, or for that matter whether they were ever awake in high school. As for college, I just assume they were all stoned there if they went. The young, smart ones nowadays probably didn’t go and have no student debt now.
B
No. 92 · UsualPlayers wrote, “@B: she was also a real hypocrite (took government benefits) and really loved a socio path”
She probably rationalized getting social security benefits as simply getting back some of the money the government shouldn’t have taken from her in the first place (maybe that’s silly, but it would probably satisfy her followers).
charles place
Lets face some facts folks….both parties telling lies about the other party and one party wants proff of IRS taxes from the other….Look, why dont both parties just do what the amwerican people want and that is to lead America back to what America was before…To do this they must be truthful, honest and most of all stop all the gripping and get this country back to what we use to stand for. God didnt bless America for us to turn around years later and slap God in the face and say this is what freedom is all about….I have a few words for those politicans who are in it for there good not the country. “Shame on you….’ Get this country back on the right track and maybe…just maybe God will Bless America once again!!!!!!!