Humorless Politics Thread

[cavorting with nudists]

That video must be part of the campaign's decision to start playing up Newt's "fun side": http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2011/12/gingrich-to-campaign-with-pets-and-music/

I love how their idea of showing his "fun side" includes "involving Callista more in the campaign."  She looks like a fun gal!

[buffcoat]

Final prediction time for the Iowa caucuses, folks.  I've given this a lot of thought, and I really think you're all going to be surprised when the Cain Train pulls into the station.

[nec13]

Final prediction time for the Iowa caucuses, folks.  I've given this a lot of thought, and I really think you're all going to be surprised when the Cain Train pulls into the station.

I think Lyndon LaRouche is going pull this one out, personally.

[Barry in Ireland]

Keep an eye on Perot.

[cavorting with nudists]

Silvio Berlusconi. You heard it here first.

[Kormod]

I think there's a Santorum Surprise a-brewing. Ron Paul better put on his raincoat.

[fonpr]

I think there's a Santorum Surprise a-brewing. Ron Paul better put on his raincoat.

Right this second I'm listening to a John Birch Society report on the U.N..  Ron Paul is featured!

[Barry in Ireland]

I think there's a Santorum Surprise a-brewing. Ron Paul better put on his raincoat.

Given his fairly unpalatable "Google problem," I don't like the idea of a "Santorum Surprise" one little bit.

[Smelodies]

Does Rachel Maddow deserve your ire?  Seems she's more interested in defending Paul from Fox News than she is in trashing him for the newsletters:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/28/rachel-maddow-ron-paul-fox-news_n_1172501.html?ref=media

[buffcoat]

Does Rachel Maddow deserve your ire?  Seems she's more interested in defending Paul from Fox News than she is in trashing him for the newsletters:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/28/rachel-maddow-ron-paul-fox-news_n_1172501.html?ref=media

I think Ms. R. Maddow is most interested in tweaking the GOP Powers that Be, and defending Ron Paul is a good effort in that direction.

[Kormod]

He doesn't want to drown him in a bath tub, but Mitt Romney said Wednesday that if he's elected president, Big Bird will have to sing for his seed.

"We're not going to kill Big Bird, but Big Bird is going to have advertisements," Romney said, while speaking at Homer's Deli in Clinton, Iowa.

Like virtually every other conservative candidate, Romney has had it -- had it! -- with government expenditures like public broadcasting, and he wants to save taxpayers money by cutting federal funding to programs like PBS and the National Endowment for the Arts.

On the campaign trail Wednesday in Iowa, Romney declared that if he is elected president, PBS and the NEA will lose federal funding.

Instead, the man from the private sector will turn to -- where else? -- the private sector to support them.

So what's Romney's test for which programs warrant federal support.

"Is a program so critical that it's worth borrowing from China to pay for it?"

Can someone just sock this guy in the face?

[buffcoat]

The most depressing thing is that we're now beyond the point where something useful can actually happen. 

Romney knows that cutting PBS and the NEA will have exactly no effect on the deficit, much less the debt, but he can't talk about what actually needs to be done because people want their easy ideas and don't want to suffer even the slightest privation.  And that's if you completely accept the idea that what the US must do RIGHT NOW is balance the budget.

The president is also hemmed in.  He knows that the health care plan is a pretty terrible way to go, worse than either a one-payer system or a strongly private system, but it's the only thing he could get through (and it's better than what's in place now).

American politics is crippled.  The next president (or a second-term Obama) will be more popular because the economy will probably be somewhat better, but he (sorry Michele) won't be able to do much to change anything real.  If you get Romney you're going to get a bunch of new and stupid rules about abortion and illegal immigration that don't actually do anything.  Have fun with that, Tea Party.

[nec13]

The most depressing thing is that we're now beyond the point where something useful can actually happen. 

Romney knows that cutting PBS and the NEA will have exactly no effect on the deficit, much less the debt, but he can't talk about what actually needs to be done because people want their easy ideas and don't want to suffer even the slightest privation.  And that's if you completely accept the idea that what the US must do RIGHT NOW is balance the budget.

The president is also hemmed in.  He knows that the health care plan is a pretty terrible way to go, worse than either a one-payer system or a strongly private system, but it's the only thing he could get through (and it's better than what's in place now).

American politics is crippled.  The next president (or a second-term Obama) will be more popular because the economy will probably be somewhat better, but he (sorry Michele) won't be able to do much to change anything real.  If you get Romney you're going to get a bunch of new and stupid rules about abortion and illegal immigration that don't actually do anything.  Have fun with that, Tea Party.

Bingo.

Romney will say and do anything to get elected. He's an absolute phony who is concerned only about his own political self-preservation. He won't dare broach that so-called "third rail" of American politics (the trinity of entitlements: Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security), at least not while he's in campaign mode.

And like you, I continue to be amused by those individuals that believe by cutting funding to PBS, ending foreign aid and eliminating "waste, fraud and abuse" all of our debt problems will somehow magically disappear. Those things are only a drop in the proverbial bucket; they're only a nominal (and that's being generous) part of the federal budget. If we want to make a significant dent in current and future federal spending outlays, then there has to be some type of meaningful reform of these government entitlement programs, Medicare in particular. Putting your hands over your ears and screaming "Keep your government hands off my Medicare!" isn't going to solve anything. Some of these Tea Partiers don't seem to understand that. They want to have their cake and eat it too.

[fonpr]

The most depressing thing is that we're now beyond the point where something useful can actually happen. 

Romney knows that cutting PBS and the NEA will have exactly no effect on the deficit, much less the debt, but he can't talk about what actually needs to be done because people want their easy ideas and don't want to suffer even the slightest privation.  And that's if you completely accept the idea that what the US must do RIGHT NOW is balance the budget.

The president is also hemmed in.  He knows that the health care plan is a pretty terrible way to go, worse than either a one-payer system or a strongly private system, but it's the only thing he could get through (and it's better than what's in place now).

American politics is crippled.  The next president (or a second-term Obama) will be more popular because the economy will probably be somewhat better, but he (sorry Michele) won't be able to do much to change anything real.  If you get Romney you're going to get a bunch of new and stupid rules about abortion and illegal immigration that don't actually do anything.  Have fun with that, Tea Party.

Bingo.

Romney will say and do anything to get elected. He's an absolute phony who is concerned only about his own political self-preservation. He won't dare broach that so-called "third rail" of American politics (the trinity of entitlements: Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security), at least not while he's in campaign mode.

And like you, I continue to be amused by those individuals that believe by cutting funding to PBS, ending foreign aid and eliminating "waste, fraud and abuse" all of our debt problems will somehow magically disappear. Those things are only a drop in the proverbial bucket; they're only a nominal (and that's being generous) part of the federal budget. If we want to make a significant dent in current and future federal spending outlays, then there has to be some type of meaningful reform of these government entitlement programs, Medicare in particular. Putting your hands over your ears and screaming "Keep your government hands off my Medicare!" isn't going to solve anything. Some of these Tea Partiers don't seem to understand that. They want to have their cake and eat it too.

I guess war/defense doesn't cost much.  Seven hundred over-seas bases seem a tad much though.

[nec13]

The most depressing thing is that we're now beyond the point where something useful can actually happen. 

Romney knows that cutting PBS and the NEA will have exactly no effect on the deficit, much less the debt, but he can't talk about what actually needs to be done because people want their easy ideas and don't want to suffer even the slightest privation.  And that's if you completely accept the idea that what the US must do RIGHT NOW is balance the budget.

The president is also hemmed in.  He knows that the health care plan is a pretty terrible way to go, worse than either a one-payer system or a strongly private system, but it's the only thing he could get through (and it's better than what's in place now).

American politics is crippled.  The next president (or a second-term Obama) will be more popular because the economy will probably be somewhat better, but he (sorry Michele) won't be able to do much to change anything real.  If you get Romney you're going to get a bunch of new and stupid rules about abortion and illegal immigration that don't actually do anything.  Have fun with that, Tea Party.

Bingo.

Romney will say and do anything to get elected. He's an absolute phony who is concerned only about his own political self-preservation. He won't dare broach that so-called "third rail" of American politics (the trinity of entitlements: Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security), at least not while he's in campaign mode.

And like you, I continue to be amused by those individuals that believe by cutting funding to PBS, ending foreign aid and eliminating "waste, fraud and abuse" all of our debt problems will somehow magically disappear. Those things are only a drop in the proverbial bucket; they're only a nominal (and that's being generous) part of the federal budget. If we want to make a significant dent in current and future federal spending outlays, then there has to be some type of meaningful reform of these government entitlement programs, Medicare in particular. Putting your hands over your ears and screaming "Keep your government hands off my Medicare!" isn't going to solve anything. Some of these Tea Partiers don't seem to understand that. They want to have their cake and eat it too.

I guess war/defense doesn't cost much.  Seven hundred over-seas bases seem a tad much though.

Absolutely, Fredericks.

America's current national defense structure isn't sustainable any longer. Defense spending HAS to be targeted.

Another government program that needs to be reformed, or eliminated outright, is the utterly insane War on Drugs. If anything epitomizes government waste, that's it.