the most important election of your lifetime: 2012 american general election thread

man those responses are like samples in a Steinski track

the prediction of economic collapse in the fall is there for all to see, the prediction of obamas loss is i admit only implied but if there one example of how obama can lose the election that will be followed by many more of them its stands to reason that they will add up to a loss CASE CLOSED

unless of course Spain and Italy collapse and then I'm not sure they can really do anything at all xposts

― stay in school if you want to kiw (Gukbe), Thursday, April 12, 2012 10:23 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

obvs this stuff is v complex and i dont have a super good handle on it but its my understanding that its generally thought to be within the eu's power to prevent a total meltdown

going back to the Anne Romney thing

1) Does Ann Romney being rich preclude her from speaking out about (or understanding) economic anxiety?

The "she's never worked a day in her life" thing is terrible and stupid, BUT Anne Romney also reminds me of that scene in Sex and the City 2 where Charlotte is bitching about how her kid ruining her fancy dress and wondering how people raise children without full time help.

I'm not saying that raising five kids isn't tough, but it's a hell of lot easier if you have an incredible amount of money and resources and presumably hired help to clean the mansion. She doesn't know what its like to raise five kids on a median income, or share a car with the husband or wonder how you're going to stretch your shopping budget to feed growing children.

I don't like the comments and obviously they were politically stupid, but somebody should raise the point much more loudly that her husband is talking about defunding Planned Parenthood from the federal level, there have been hearings about women's health coverage, and on a state level a slew of these personhood and ultrasound laws as well as repealing certain rights for women to get Equal Pay. The media finds Anne to be likeable and 'sympathetic' (for whatever reason she deserves sympathy other than being married to Mitt), but somebody should call her out on distorting the reality of what's going on with women right now by saying the "real war" is by Obama by not giving them jobs. It's utterly reprehensible.

i'm no expert either, but from my understanding it's not as simple as "we'll bail them out" because at some point it can get so bad that there's just not enough money for the EU to do that. keep in mind that by "the EU" we generally mean Germany right now. Greece is having trouble getting the austerity measures through that the bailout requires, and Italy's political troubles and economic issues have just last week created a lot more tensions. If the Greece bailout once again fails, its not out of the question that there'll be a domino effect. The EU never had contingencies for if someone left the Euro, and if that happens you're looking at not only a panic but a hell of a rough transition. I'm not saying "Weimar Germany" or anything but that result is not totally out of the question.

xpost

lag∞n, i mean everything i post just as much as you do. Christ on the cross, I save my sincerity for important shit like the comedy canon, not the unavoidable fall of the American empire.

it was all fun and games until Apatow came along

also Obama is running against a zillionaire Fred Willard imitator who makes John Kerry look like FDR

SCREEN DOOR CLOSED

why does it matter whether ann romney ever held a real job or not? most employed ppl don't know anything about how the economy works.

most successful businessmen don't either tbf

SHHHHHHHH

next you'll be telling me Bloomberg's wealthperience didn't pull NYC out of the shitter

if anything, not working and having someone take care of your domestic stuff probably frees up enough time to survey economic theory

"rosa, can you take the kids to the park? Martin Wolf just published a book..."

enough time to survey economic theory

...especially when taking up heavy drinking is not allowed by your religion.

lag∞n, i mean everything i post just as much as you do. Christ on the cross, I save my sincerity for important shit like the comedy canon, not the unavoidable fall of the American empire.

― World Congress of Itch (Dr Morbius), Thursday, April 12, 2012 10:43 PM (19 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i was just messin w/you morbs, dont worry im not gonna hold you to that prediction

i do think you should eat yr keyboard tho, just because

doc forbade qwerty

lol

gubke yaeh things can obvs spiral out of control but my reading of the situation is that a messy divorce is unlikely, tho in the long term imho itd be good to get rid of the euro in some orderly fashion that doesnt ruin the world economy if at all possible, either that or make the e.u. more like an irl country, cause what they got now dont make no sense, also i feel like its fundamentally wrong how even tho spains economy is weak i still cant go there eat their hams for cheap, worst of both worlds really

the great jamon crisis is deserving of its own thread

otm

i can't believe a pundit on tv said something controversial. this changes everything.

the allan west thing was obviously a lame "dad" joke. actually the timing was pretty good.

I dunno, it took a looongg time. I think he was pausing for effect and then was surprised by how long the crowd murmured. When he finally said it he didn't even say it very loudly.

The media finds Anne to be likeable and 'sympathetic' (for whatever reason she deserves sympathy other than being married to Mitt), but somebody should call her out on distorting the reality of what's going on with women right now by saying the "real war" is by Obama by not giving them jobs. It's utterly reprehensible.

Romney's (i.e., Anne's) health issues obviously figure into the media's treatment of her, and just in general (as long as their "wifely," and don't speak out too much) wives get treated well by the media. Rosen wasn't very artful, but I think calling Romney out was exactly what she was trying to do.

Or not. As someone who of course has 100% faith in Obama's genius at the political long-game, I think the whole episode was engineered so he'd have a chance to rush in and magnanimously defend stay-at-home moms.

"They're," not "their." Teacher.

Why can't this just be a personal attack? Why does it have to turn in to a serious discussion on the role of women as perceived by The Mets vs. The Yankees?

Plus, yeah, Anne raising 5 kids is a full time job. FOR YOUR NANNY

nannies

i did a lot of research on this yesterday and as far as i can tell the romneys never hired a nanny

gdamn it

au pairs?

satellite bigamy wives?

http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/26495387/Au+Pairs+the.jpg

nanny or no, the crucial distinction is between a single working mother trying to raise kids on her own and a married woman whose husband is so wealthy that she never even had to consider working outside the home. it's not unreasonable to suggest that the latter might lack insight into the concerns of and issues facing the former.

yeah well she is not gonna be president and this is just a game

John Dickerson tries to quantify controversies on a four-point scale:

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2012/04/ann_romney_and_umbrage_the_four_kinds_of_campaign_controversies_and_which_ones_actually_matter_.html

Yesterday's Rosen/Romney whatever, which most people here dismissed, is a level 2 ("frivolous and noteworthy"); Obama's Russian live mic from last week, which even more people here dismissed, is awarded a level 4 ("serious and noteworthy"). My point: no one's going to agree on which of these things mean anything.

thanks!

They are all little points of light that dot the void.

i heard mitt romney was cuaght masterbating on a hotel balcony in connecticut.

That's a level 3: "serious but unimportant."

the whole dumbass megillah: hopeless but not serious

Connecticut's solidly blue these days. If it had been an Ohio balcony, level 4.

So sad when the only place you can masturbate in peace is a hotel balcony. And even then you don't get any privacy!

pictures plz

Reasons given in News Hour piece for the Republican primary challenge to Dick Lugar's senate seat in Indiana: he voted for the debt ceiling increase, the auto bailout, and the two Obama Supreme Court nominees.

http://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/rschwart/hist151/French%20Revolution%20II/album/slides/execution%20Robespierre.jpg

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj242/donaldparsley/MatsterMitt.png

I've been checking all over this morning, and I have to say that I find the conspiracy of silence surrounding the Romney masturbation story very troubling--especially in light of the documentation above.