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?

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

looooooooooooooooooooooooooool

lol me the fuck alone dude

Morbs, did you really bring up the Mekons

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

― iatee, Saturday, September 8, 2012 2:46 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

or defense spending

― a regina spektor is haunting europe (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, September 8, 2012 2:47 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Profit is not a concept in his or his party's vision of the government of America. Defense and taxes are the two main things Republicans have repeatedly stated are OFF THE TABLE in any approach towards debt reduction. Besides, there is a LOT of corporate profit to be made selling of the military to the highest bidder, and plenty of opportunity for very legal manipulation of the markets in order to help his friends. Obama has problems making friends, we are told. What kind of friends would he have if he were a corporate plunderer rather than a community organizer?

Every Republican has pledged to drown the government in a bathtub, and though Romney may be a flip-flopper, I don't see why he would jeopardize a position of global power to vote against this mindset.

romney will sign whatever a republican congress sends to him, obama will not, just to mention one completely obvious distinction

not that necessarily there will be a republican congress

even if the only difference between them was whether or not to repeal obamacare thatd be enough

yup

Obama may have hired the same financial idiots who ruined things in '08, but if Romney was in that position, would you really expect him to pick anyone less corrupt? Maybe having the same crooks in charge kept them under the gun, a bit more in the public spotlight.

I'm going to stfu before i go further in apologist mode, but damn the Republicans are doing a great job campaigning for Obama.

thats not a wholly accurate description of obama financial team fwiw

i mean im not sure how you blame academics for the financial collapse, im sure you could if you tried hard enough, but thats casting a p wide net

always confused w/ who adam bruneau is arguing w/

While politicians may be an unsavory lot on the whole, and while it may be true that any electable person who makes it to the Oval Office is likely to do some odious nonsense, I'm in no way prepared to support the notion that they're all just interchangeable sacks of shit and that it doesn't matter one way or another who you vote for because whoever's in charge is just as bad as the other guy who coulda been in charge, maaaaaan. If Bush II's presidency isn't the clearest sign that one person in particular can do more catastrophic damage in that office than another, I dunno what it could possibly take to convince you.

ftr, i'm not saying it's likely romney will govern the same as obama. i'm just saying that i can imagine a variety of scenarios where it's not significantly different. mind u, this assumes that romney will not feel beholden to his party and will govern differently than he has claimed he will. but that's not impossible being as how romney is an enormous liar. (and didn't govern like a tea partier in MA.)

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

for sure the strangest thing about our conversations on ilx morbz is that despite having argued about political issues like a million times on here you still seem to have no clue about what i believe beyond your conviction that i'm the strawman obama groupie you think everyone on ilx is.

Mainly Geithner, Summers, and Bernanke.

Continuity for the markets.

bernanke has been horrible but he wasnt much of a player as far as ruining things in 08, giether and summers for sure have blood on their hands, tho its not like either of them was out there creating collateralized debt obligations or managing aig or w/e