191 replies to this topic

[Johnny Henning]

The election races don't have to actually be close for the news media to report that they are. Really, I treat most television news like any other "reality" television - more scripted than the producers admit. Especially in the case of lucrative campaign races that generate viewers, ready content and advertising dollars.

[Andrew]

The election races don't have to actually be close for the news media to report that they are. Really, I treat most television news like any other "reality" television - more scripted than the producers admit. Especially in the case of lucrative campaign races that generate viewers, ready content and advertising dollars.

That's what I mean though - it's in their interests to spin it as being close - whether it is or not - because a fait accompli is boring, and won't sell papers.

[Will]

Watching Game Change. Julianne Moore is phenomenal. Absolutely phenomenal.

[Ogul]

Ok, we can call it. As of. . . 7PM EST on March the 15th, Rick santorum has bowed out of the 2012 Presidential race, and likely all races thereafter:

Rick Santorum wants to ban hard-core pornography

Santorum criticized the Obama administration for turning "a blind eye ... to the scourge of pornography" and for refusing to enforce obscenity laws.
"If elected President, I will appoint an Attorney General who will do so," Santorum writes. "While the Obama Department of Justice seems to favor pornographers over children and families, that will change under a Santorum Administration."

[Chris D]

Ah yes, the wonderful hypocrisy of The Conservative.

[Arjan Dirkse]

Ok, we can call it. As of. . . 7PM EST on March the 15th, Rick santorum has bowed out of the 2012 Presidential race, and likely all races thereafter:

Great, turning it into a forbidden fruit actually makes it more enticing. Like Eve and the apple etc. (No she didn't stuff it in her ****)

[Rory Abel]

Ok, we can call it. As of. . . 7PM EST on March the 15th, Rick santorum has bowed out of the 2012 Presidential race, and likely all races thereafter:

W. Bush actually did what Santorum is talking about though.

[Ogul]

W. Bush actually did what Santorum is talking about though.

I don't remember porn going away. I think I would have remembered that.

[Jason Hendriks]

I don't remember porn going away. I think I would have remembered that.

The Bush DOJ went after a number of pornographers like Max Hardcore, Rob Black, Lizzy Borden, and John "Buttman" Stagliano. Max was convicted, Black plead guilty, and Stagliano went to trial and had the charges dismissed.

A President can't just make pornography (which is protected under the First Amendment) go away, but they can harass those who produce pornography by prosecuting them with obscenity laws.

[Chewy Sun]

Watching Game Change. Julianne Moore is phenomenal. Absolutely phenomenal.

Watching it hurt my soul as an Alaskan........ but really, none of the portrayal (although not flattering the portrayal of her booksmarts) by Moore was over the top caricature.




Chewy......................................... though if you listen to the Palin PR machine, this movie assassinated their Messiah/Queen. It is an accurate picture of what Palin is: an ambitious, savy, political games type of person who isn't afraid to let her ambition and lack of civility compensate for her lack of intellect and intellectual curiousity.

[M. H. Williams]

Texas loses federal funding Women's Health programs under Medicare over Planned Parenthood.
http://www.huffingto..._n_1349431.html

And Arizona continues the crazy.
http://news.yahoo.co...-045830034.html

[Will]

Watching it hurt my soul as an Alaskan........ but really, none of the portrayal (although not flattering the portrayal of her booksmarts) by Moore was over the top caricature.




Chewy......................................... though if you listen to the Palin PR machine, this movie assassinated their Messiah/Queen. It is an accurate picture of what Palin is: an ambitious, savy, political games type of person who isn't afraid to let her ambition and lack of civility compensate for her lack of intellect and intellectual curiousity.

Completely agree. I thought the book was fair to her and made her look so much better than Climton and McCain.

[Robert B]

I forget where but I saw that an exasperated conservative advisor said soemthing to the effect of, "The Republicans have decided to run against sex, and sex is popular."

Really weird and sad things going on with that party right now, all across the country.

[Jim Ohara]

I blame Romney. He just can't service all sides of the Republican party. He can't satisfy the Paulians, because he can't really argue that he's for smaller government. He can't claim he's a Christian conservative because he isn't. And he attacked Newt so much that Gingrich has got some sort of mad vendetta going on, shitting in the bathwater without caring about the long term damage. Romney really should have given up in 2008 when he realized he couldn't beat McCain or Huckabee, but he didn't learn his lesson. In fact if Huckabee had run I'm sure he'd have the nomination locked up by now.

It's amazing that Santorum is a serious contender. It's unthinkable. But really, I think all countries have their total weirdos that somehow end up doing really well in politics.

[Robert B]

I blame Romney. He just can't service all sides of the Republican party. He can't satisfy the Paulians, because he can't really argue that he's for smaller government. He can't claim he's a Christian conservative because he isn't. And he attacked Newt so much that Gingrich has got some sort of mad vendetta going on, shitting in the bathwater without caring about the long term damage. Romney really should have given up in 2008 when he realized he couldn't beat McCain or Huckabee, but he didn't learn his lesson. In fact if Huckabee had run I'm sure he'd have the nomination locked up by now.

It's amazing that Santorum is a serious contender. It's unthinkable. But really, I think all countries have their total weirdos that somehow end up doing really well in politics.

Oh I wasn't even talking about the election. I was talking about the party's ongoing war on women, which they have really ramped up this year.

[Johnny Henning]

That's a great point - and I think a lot of that is due to Democrat strategy as well. They are certainly taking advantage of Republican and conservative vulnerabilities with Hispanics and women interest groups this election.

[Patrick A]

Completely agree. I thought the book was fair to her and made her look so much better than Climton and McCain.

Really? I thought the book portrayed Palin accurately but made her look- not bad necessarily- but obviously totally out of her depth.

I thought Clinton came off very, very well in it. in fact, I had a dislike for Clinton (not really based on anything, I just did) but the book went a long way to changing that (also, I think she's done a really good job as SoS).

I thought McCain came off as a good guy who was sort of swept along- maybe a little out of touch.

[Will]

Really? I thought the book portrayed Palin accurately but made her look- not bad necessarily- but obviously totally out of her depth.

I thought Clinton came off very, very well in it. in fact, I had a dislike for Clinton (not really based on anything, I just did) but the book went a long way to changing that (also, I think she's done a really good job as SoS).

I thought McCain came off as a good guy who was sort of swept along- maybe a little out of touch.

I agree with you on how Palin came across. But to her credit they did say that despite her attitudes and mood swings she did work hard to close the knowledge gap.

And I agree that McCain came across as out of touch; he didn't seem like a bad guy, just disinterested in running a competent campaign. I don't think he came across as a bad person, just one head scratcher of a decision after another.

It's been a while since I read the book, but I thought Clinton came off as desiring the power and willing to do anything for it.
And I didn't care for her either but looking back I think she'd have made a much better president than any of the candidates, though.

[Johnny Henning]

It's been a while since I read the book, but I thought Clinton came off as desiring the power and willing to do anything for it.
And I didn't care for her either but looking back I think she'd have made a much better president than any of the candidates, though.

Clinton was sort of the Romney of the Democrats. The best choice no one wanted.

[al-x]

Hello:

WASHINGTON (AP) — Rick Santorum says oil drillers in the Gulf of Mexico are being slammed by "worse and worse and worse" delays in getting federal approval even as gas prices go through the roof. Actually, the wait for permits is getting better and better. Newt Gingrich boasts that small donors are powering his Republican presidential campaign. In reality, one deep-pocketed financial angel and other big money people have been doing loads of heavy lifting, too.

The claims of the Republican presidential rivals are not getting the exposure they once did, ever since the crackling series of debates drew to a close. But in smaller venues or turns on TV, the assertions still fly, as do exaggerations, oversimplifications and outright mistakes.

So, too, on the Democratic side. A polished new film from President Barack Obama's campaign, out Thursday night, pushes the gauzy hero worship beyond what has really happened in recounting the auto industry bailout and recovery. Called "The Road We've Traveled," the fundraising film takes Republican front-runner Mitt Romney out of context in the process.

A look at recent claims from the campaign trail and how they compare with the facts:

OBAMA CAMPAIGN on the automakers' recovery: "With business booming, they repaid their loans."

THE FACTS: The General Motors and Chrysler aid has not been paid back in full, and it is unlikely to be, contrary to the film's narrator, actor Tom Hanks.
More than $1 billion of the $12.5 billion Chrysler bailout is not expected to come back to the government. The government has recouped more than $22 billion of its nearly $50 billion GM bailout after agreeing to take stock in return for most of its investment. But the government's remaining stock would have to rise massively in value for taxpayers to get all their money back. If the stock were sold at some recent values, taxpayers would still be out more than $10 billion.
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SANTORUM, speaking this week in Lafayette, La., a city heavily dependent on the oil and gas industry: The Obama administration "almost put this town under with the moratoriums, the delays in permitting that are getting worse and worse and worse — and as a result, the ability for the men and women who go out and drill these wells and service these wells, to go out and earn an income, and more importantly for them to get that oil and gas into the shore so we can use it here in this country."

THE FACTS: Permit approval rates are actually getting faster for exploration wells, the type that was being drilled at the time of the BP well disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.
In 2009, before the Macondo well blowout, it took the government 46 days to approve a drilling permit for a new deep-water well. After the accident, the administration imposed a five-month moratorium on new deep-water drilling while it worked on new safety regulations to minimize the risk of another spill. The BP disaster released an estimated 200 million gallons of oil into the water, killing wildlife, soiling sensitive tidal estuaries and beaches, and closing vast areas of the Gulf to commercial fishing.

Once the moratorium was lifted, processing times for deep-water exploratory drilling permits were longer than before the spill — an average of 97 days.

But contrary to Santorum's claim, the government's performance is improving. Permit approvals are now happening on average in 62 days, more than a month faster. That's 16 days longer than before the spill, but regulatory protections are tougher now.

Santorum also implies that the entire drilling industry was shut because of the moratorium. Yet, the temporary ban only covered wells drilled to explore or produce oil and gas in deep water. Wells already in production were not covered by the moratorium.
___
GINGRICH, emphasizing the importance of small donors to his campaign, at a rally Wednesday in Rosemont, Ill.: "We have over 175,000 donors now. Most of them are small. Over 95 percent of our donors give $250 or less."

THE FACTS: Gingrich's assertion is probably correct on its face, but not too meaningful. In almost all campaigns, the number of small-dollar donors far exceeds the number of major givers. President Barack Obama's campaign, for example, makes a similar boast — that 98 percent of its 1 million contributors gave small amounts.

A more significant number is how much of the money Gingrich raised came in small denominations and how much in big checks. Federal Election Commission reports show that through Jan. 31, roughly $11.5 million came from donations under $250. That's about 63 percent of Gingrich's total fundraising. For Obama, the comparable figure is nearly 80 percent.

And the whole calculus leaves out the biggest influence on the Gingrich campaign's financial fortunes — the group Winning Our Future, an independent super PAC that has been running ads supporting him. Of that group's $13.1 million in total contributions, about 75 percent — or $10 million — came from just two people: Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam.
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CHICAGO MAYOR RAHM EMANUEL, quoted in the Obama campaign film on Romney's opposition to the auto bailout: "A lot of conventional wisdom wanted to do what Mitt Romney did — let it go, can't be saved, why put good money after bad?"

THE FACTS: Emanuel, Obama's former chief of staff, joins some of Romney's Republican rivals in twisting the meaning of his 2008 New York Times article opposing the bailout. The article's headline, "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt," has caused Romney plenty of grief, and the film displays it. But his prescription was meant to save the automakers by having them go through bankruptcy, with the government guaranteeing financing afterward and backing up new car warranties. There is plenty of skepticism that such an idea would have worked, given the chaos in private lending institutions at the time, but he never argued that the auto industry could not be saved.
___
ROMNEY on whether Obama is responsible for high gasoline prices, speaking Thursday on Fox News: "Absolutely. He has not pursued policies that convince the world that America is going to become energy secure and energy independent. He held off drilling in the Gulf. He's held off drilling out of ANWR. He said no to the Keystone pipeline from Canada."

THE FACTS: Despite the former Gulf moratorium, Obama's opposition to drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and his decision to delay — not kill — the Keystone XL project, the U.S. produced more oil in 2010 than it has since 2003, and all forms of energy production have increased. Offshore production alone surged in the first two years of the Obama administration after being on a downward trend since 2003.

Rising energy demand in developing countries, a cold winter in Europe and tensions with Iran have put pressures on the world oil market and are among the contributors to higher gasoline prices that presidents have little if any power to control.
___
VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN, in a speech to autoworkers Thursday in Toledo, Ohio: "One more thing: the president's historic fuel economy efficiency standards that nearly doubled the efficiency of cars, saving the American families $1.7 trillion at the pump, helping free us from foreign oil dependence. "

THE FACTS: Biden is about 13 years ahead of things. The doubling of mileage standards is to be achieved by 2025. Estimated savings at the pump, though considerable, will be partly offset in the showroom, because the standards will add thousands of dollars to the cost of a car.

Al...