2008 Presidential Election - Page 396

Extremely sigged.

But it will take place around the sesquicentennial (150 years) of Lincoln's inauguration so that's good enough.

Did we talk about this Krugman piece yet?

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/200...monster-years/

I think President Obama needs to be introduced to President Michael Wilson. And then he needs to invest in a giant fucking robot.

Also: Krugman is awesome. The Nobel prize only enhances that awesome.

I like hanging onto the belief that even if he cleared a schoolteacher's salary, Scorsese'd still want to do the same job.

Sorry for the derail.

Interestingly, the first comment posted hit the sordid nail on the head...

Reverse Idiocracy!

What does that say about the American People?

Nothing new. There is a hateful strain of intolerance hardwired into American history. We finally excised slavery, only to replace it with economic discrimination and judicial 'justice'.

America is a great nation because our government often attempts to elevate America from the ugly realities to its aspirational ideals. If anything, what this says is that the Reagan lie that 'government is the problem' is increasingly being replaced by outright cultural hostility. Dealing with that sort of thing is never easy; at the same time, it never wins out in the end. Fuck em.

I've actually been busy (and still am) but the election wasn't a surprise after the debates I said McCain was toast and I believed it. I held out hope that America would wise up on their own and not vote for Obama but without a little poking and prodding I knew that wouldn't happen.

While Obama won the election, he didn't win my support. That, has to be earned.

I didn't vote against him because I felt he was a "secret Muslim" or because he was black or because he was supposedly buddy buddy with some terrorist from before I was born. I voted against him because of his spending policies. Because he wants to add roughly 1.1 trillion dollars in increased spending to an already bloated 3.1 trillion dollar budget and even after all his costly (ultimately, to the all citizens) increases, he still will have nearly a trillion dollars in deficits and that's if all of his plans cost exactly what they're projected to cost and all of his savings are at maximum potential.

If it turns out to have been all pandering to get elected (as that's what politicians do) and he cuts spending enough and only raises what he has promised and ends up with only minor deficits and he's on track to balancing the budget by the end of his first term then he will have won me over and I'll gladly switch from Republican to Democrat because obviously, they'll have the total package at that point.

At heart, I am only a fiscal conservative. Abortion is a woman's right, Gay & Lesbian's should be able to do whatever they want, the death penalty should only be used in extreme circumstances (children), and while I think everyone should have the right to bear arms, that doesn't mean it needs to be an AK47... or heck, an arsenal. (Don't get me wrong... I'll change my stance the minute the zombie apocalypse hits and I'm left defending my home with nothing but some really harsh words, a can of air and a lighter).

So, to all of his supporters out there in pixel land, congratulations and for all of our sakes, I hope you were right.

How the hell did this thread turn into a debate on Communism?

Devin is right about the impossibility of "small government" in this age. Even Reagan actually grew government (i.e. the military).

What is sometimes missed is the fact that a strong central government can in fact provide it's citizens with a large degree of freedom.

If you lived in the Roman Empire you could travel all around the Mediterranean, Europe and parts of Britain using one language, one currency, without being hassled, your religion would be respected etc

In turn you would have to swear allegiance to Rome, pay your taxes and worship the Roman gods in addition to your own (Christians were not persecuted for what they worshiped but for dissing the Roman pantheon)

Fair enough Sniaiaike.

The problem I have with the numbers you are throwing out is that they have no context. We should be talking about deficits and budgets in terms of their relative proportion to GNP and GDP. Sure, the numbers are historically extreme (thanks in no small part to Bush2), but taken as a percentage, they're not so bad. No one is pretending that fixing America's problems at this point, after 8 years of spectacular mismanagement, is going to be cheap. Infrastructure and energy will require significant initial outlays. Done properly, though, there is no reason these investments cannot be net benefits to America.

Communism, democracy, and in fact, every other form of government have the same problem. They all work great in theory, but once you plug a couple hundred million people into them, they all fall apart at roughly the same rate. The more citizens you have to deal with, the greater the size of the bureaucracy you need. The bigger the bureaucracy becomes, the easier it becomes for corrupt individuals to cheat the system in order to benefit themselves. Eventually, the entire system becomes a platform dedicated to the benefit of those cheating the system, and the cheaters become the most powerful and influential members of that system, and naturally, they dedicate themselves to making certain that the system doesn't change. In the end, it almost doesn't matter what the original guiding principles of governance were. Human nature asserts itself.

Or maybe I'm just getting cynical in my old age.

hmm in that case Greg:
It took the Soviet Union 80 years to crumble, it took Bushland 8 years for the same thing.

Comparisons between America and any great Empire throughout the history of Western Civilization is valid. America is essentially following the pattern laid down by the likes of Egypt, Greece, Rome, and other ancient Mesopotamian (or the NE) civilizations that once were.

Funny how things never change like that. Or maybe it's just human nature.

I think you underestimate how technology and our freedom have changed the game. We're a far more dynamic and adaptable empire than any of those. Though it remains to be seen if we're adaptable enough.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

President-elect Obama won't be able to govern without the added legitimacy of a Snaieke endorsement.

No Mandate!

It basically says:
Bye bye Bush - An end to the madness. From today on hope once again reigns in America - and the world breathes a sigh of relief.

haha that's the best headline so far and it's by a German newspaper.

That picture is so fucking funny!

Sorry if it has been posted, but this is awesome.
http://obama2008.s3.amazonaws.com/headlines.html

I'm going to Copenhagen in a few weeks, and it will be the first time I won't be embarrassed about my country in front of the Danish half of my family. Bush was always a topic.

You should do Shaq's "Kobe, how my ass taste?" rap in front of them, subbing "Denmark" for "Kobe".

Just to re-assert yourself as the selfish American, mind.

I do point out how they'd all be speaking German if it weren't for me (even though all of them do speak German).

Hey Denmark is cool! I once said a girl there "jeg elsker dig"

Neeeej

Well, I really hope that Obama does solve your economic crisis, because many canadians are overly freaking out about it and not doing anything or closing their bank accounts, leaving me with little work to do and idle time for CHUD - I'm not sure whether they'll want to fire me or lay me off.

USA! USA!

Ten times better than the Ruskies! Now if we only had a wall we could tear down.

Well you can always start with the one the US of A was busy building on the boarder to Mexico as soon as the one in Berlin fell.

ETA: To stay true to the shaky metaphor it should actually be Mexico tearing down this wall like those pesky Germans did.

Here's a fun fact. A massive Pacific / West Coast Earthquake would not have saved McCain. Obama could have lost California (55), Oregon (7), Nevada (5), Hawaii (4) AND Washington (11) and still won the election 282-256.

This is amazing. Thank you Ohio, PA, Virginia, and Florida!

For those still interested, NC has falllen to Obama. 364 EV baby. If this isn't a landslide it's at least a spanking.

NC, the state I just happen to live in also got rid of Elizabeth Dole. I guess its safe to say that the Doles' political careers are over.

It's a landslide, but the right wing noise machine is desperately clinging to their ability to control the narrative in spite of reality.

When Carville predicted 365 on CNN a couple days before the election I thought he was crazy. Oh how I have been humbled.

Nebraska 2 STILL not called but is now leaning Obama.

Gordon Smith lost today. Fuck that.

I tried the google but I can't find the map I'm looking for. Has any one seen a map or chart that records the presidential results by congresional district? I'm interested to see what the EC would look like if every state distributed their electoral votes like Maine and Nebraska.

I want a Google Earth app where I can zoom in and see who won by County. If there actually is one, a link would be great.

Basically, I want what they had on CNN on my computer.

Go here: http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/new...scoreboard.php

I think there's an embeddable one available from the google. But I need CDs.

If you go here and click on each state you can see results for the counties...is that what you wanted?

http://www.cnn.com/POLITICS/

http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/re...ident/map.html

This is a good map because you can see how each state changed from 04 to 08.

That works, thanks! I really wanted to know where the Red is in my state, and the percentages per County.

And where the best vantage points for sniping are?

I'd need those if McCain won.

(incase you didn't notice, that's the secret service)

Some secret.

Yeah, I didn't even have to squint or anything.

They look like they have power bars.

The guy on the right lost the ability to control his optic beams so he must always wear sapphire quartz lenses.