I am beginning to become scared that Romney/Ryan will win. Can smart people please post here and say reassuring things to convince me that he won't?

Since the most likely outcome is a Republican-controlled Congress and Obama in the White House, then I guess it was appropriate that his entrance music on Wednesday night was Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down". The main thing he can offer Democrats for the next 2 years is that he'll take a hard line in negotiating with Republicans in Congress.

may 1000 vetos bloom

so my bet is on a Senate with 51 GOP, 47 Dems, and 2 Independents (who will caucus w/ Dems)

what's everyone's feeling on the House? are the Dems going to pick up any seats, or will they lose even more?

Dems ain't getting the House.

they'll pick up seats but won't take it

oh yeah, no way they're taking it. just typing out loud when i saw that that electionprojection site has Dems actually losing 2 seats

http://2012presidentialelectionpredictions.com/images/top2012.png

http://2012presidentialelectionpredictions.com/images/rightonline12.jpg

i'm not sure romney won't govern pretty closely to how obama will

Ho-lee shit. Was Mordy visited by an angel?

Romney can only lead the party in the direction the party wants to go. This would be forcefully impressed upon him if he won the presidency. This means that Romney would be strongly pulled to the right of Obama, no matter what his personal ideology might be.

it doesn't matter if you turn RIGHT or LEFT when BOTH ROADS lead to the SAME PLACE.

-- http://www.guzer.com/pictures/mr_cool_ice.jpg

yup. dude would be more right-wing than bush, not because he 'actually is' but because he doesn't have an ounce of credibility within the gop. xp

So okay, let's say that the knee-jerk anti-tax, anti-government, anti-gay, anti-abortion, anti-environment folks win out this time. One might nurture a small hope that the public will see the results of that body of policy being enacted, and realize (again) that it doesn't work. The electorate may need to really see (again!) that "get government out of the way" does not, in fact, lead to a cascade of prosperity that lifts all boats. Such as result may not totally kill that idea, but it will make the Tea Party argument harder to make credible in future.

This feels supremely optimistic. The ties between big money, government, and the media are being tied tighter and tighter every election cycle, and the Tea Party argument is not going away. If anything it will get worse. Our only hope is the total collapse of mainstream media via some kind of asteroid or EMP aimed at all cable TV satellites.

As for Romney not really being that different than Obama, I wouldn't be surprised if he severely ramped up defense spending, goes on a government subsidy binge, and takes a chainsaw to whatever economic regulations are still holding up our precariously set house of cards. His whole career has been making a fortune while playing with other people's money, and it's silly to think he would stop doing this if he suddenly found himself in the White House with a stack of blank checks.

The most important of the many lessons learned from George W. Bush is how much lasting damage one president can manage in just four years.

BOTH ROADS lead to the SAME PLACE

The GOP has become considerably crazier in 2012 than it was in 2000, when Nader made his pitch that both parties were alike, because both were captive to corporations. Both roads do not lead to the same place atm.

I think imagining a Romney presidency is basically, take whatever issue, and imagine how it would be approached from a purely "Make as much profit as possible" perspective.

The most important of the many lessons learned from George W. Bush is how much lasting damage one president can manage in just four years.

And how easy it is to completely erase that from the public's memory.

I think imagining a Romney presidency is basically, take whatever issue, and imagine how it would be approached from a purely "Make as much profit as possible" perspective.

pretty sure he won't approach tax revenue from this perspective

or defense spending

"Fellow Americans, I have looked at the numbers and it is my conclusion that the American people can no longer afford a National Park system. This sale of the parks to the Disney Corporation will strengthen our country, by contributing to the economy, not stealing from it in the form of grotesquely overblown subsidies that benefit only a few RV owners."

"Myself and my cabinet will be granted a one time special dividend of $100b, any questions."

Last two posts remind me that, even though I think it's possible, it really is hard to imagine Romney as president.

The Dems have become considerably more militaristic and authoritarian in 2012 than they were in 2000 -- permanent kill lists for the POTUS, warrantless everything, "USA" chants over a dead old has-been, etc. They are basically 1992 Republicans who like gays.

sexi party

the debate here really devolves to "obama is a war criminal but he's the lesser of two evils" vs "obama is the lesser of two evils but he's a war criminal"

saying he's the lesser -- which I do not sign on to -- is using nothing but what O & R *say* they will do as the criteria. Not a sound basis when you have two proven liars.

I don't have the stomach for arguments about that stuff, but seeing as I'm just about to step out for a while, a good excuse to avoid getting dragged into one, I will of course dissent from the war criminal charge--just way too big a leap for me. You can not approve of things he's done without making it.

but but morbs is an expert on the geneva conventions

when he says war criminal he really means it its not just some childish ploy

i prefer to think of it as the lesser of two goods anyway, same diff

i realize calling someone a war criminal is almost as likely to cause butthurtness as calling someone a racist, and I'm being reductive - though less so than claiming we having nothing to gauge O & R by other than their promises.

anyway we should def replace these proven liars w/some of those other people in the world who dont lie, brb looking around for them

I've never lied in my life, I am constantly hooked up to a lie detector and I do not know how to fool it
I love my family (cept my dad)
I know the chorus to 'we are the champions'
bison4prez 2024

i know ive made this point before but every single presidential candidate regardless of party will do different stuff if put in office, thats how it is w/people, theyre all different, now you can argue that the things they will do different dont matter because theyre not different enough, but being as the president of the usa is an exceedingly powerful positions even minor decisions will have major impacts on peoples lives

I will primarily on my ILH mod experience xp

strawman alert, rrrrrr, rrrrrr

xxxp

also, I'll be over on I Love Baseball

also people conflating obamas war record w/bushes just stop you are being ridiculous, im sure all the way more people killed under bush would like to have a word w/you if they could

also heres some maths re total wars started and ended

bush 2
obama -1

also, I'll be over on I Love Baseball

now here's a man you can take at his word

"ended"

really it's all bullshit

why do you go to hear Communists like the Mekons anyway, croup?

really it's all bullshit

― kizz my hairy irish azz (Dr Morbius), Saturday, September 8, 2012 3:50 PM (44 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

*nods condescendingly*

because they're funny and remarkably not smug or pious, give me hope that one can age without turning into a kneejerk crank

Because most people on ilx were adults during the admisitrations of both Bush Jr. and Obama, I don't think you'll get very far trying to convince them that the two are essentially identical. They will be much more convinced by their own perceptions and experiences than any argument you can make.

though if the mekons kept claiming they were going to retire from the game and crawled back to the clubs every so many months i'd be pretty embarrassed for them

Dems taking the military stance formerly the wheelhouse of the Republicans is depressing, but Romney saying he'd bring back waterboarding etc and threatening Iran indicates to me that with him it would only get worse. Not to say that he'd go to war with Iran or Russia - the people don't want that and Mitt is only swayed by political expedience (see: abortion) - but the citizenry loves the living hell out of our warmongering and our military so as long as it's good politically both will continue to blow the hell out of whatever they can.

To say they would have essentially the same presidency is just idiotic though.

should be mentioned that obama has proposed defense cuts, not sure who the last candidate was to pull that out of their hat

though if the mekons kept claiming they were going to retire from the game and crawled back to the clubs every so many months i'd be pretty embarrassed for them

― da croupier, Saturday, September 8, 2012 7:55 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

<3

give me hope that one can age without turning into a kneejerk crank

croup, next time, "walk on by."

stick with your optics, kids, and no crocodile tears later on.

Glad you're in love again, Que.

leave me the fuck alone dude