[QUOTE=Xyzzy;384117][URL]http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/09/mitt-romney-latest-excuse-47-percent-remarks[/URL]

:confused:[/QUOTE]
Does anyone think those 47% remarks actually cost Mitt Romney the presidential election in 2012? (As an outsider I had little insight in the political dynamics of that election so I would appreciate any education on the subject!)

[QUOTE=Brian-E;384172]Does anyone think those 47% remarks actually cost Mitt Romney the presidential election in 2012? (As an outsider I had little insight in the political dynamics of that election so I would appreciate any education on the subject!)[/QUOTE]

He sure seems to think so. I believe it had considerable impact. I believe the same about "Corporations are people, my friend."

[QUOTE=kladner;384199]He sure seems to think so. I believe it had considerable impact. I believe the same about "Corporations are people, my friend."[/QUOTE]
I'd forgotten about that one. Makes me wonder if Romney also had some percentage of corporations in mind about which he would not worry because they would never show any responsibility anyway (and would always choose Obama for their corporate vote).

Supreme Court blocks enforcement of Wisconsin voter ID law
 

Huzzah! :fusion: Also, a federal judge in Corpus Christi, TX blocked enforcement of that state's voter ID law, saying it amounted to an unconstitutional poll tax.
[URL="http://sblog.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/TX_voter_ID_decision_100914.pdf"]Texas Decision here.[/URL]

[URL]http://www.scotusblog.com/2014/10/wisconsin-voter-id-law-blocked/#more-218958[/URL]

[QUOTE]Over a mild protest by three Justices, the Supreme Court on Thursday night barred Wisconsin from enforcing a requirement that voters must produce a photo identification before voting, by absentee ballot or in person. The Court majority’s [URL="http://sblog.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/14A352-Wisconsin-voting-order-10-9-14.pdf"]one-paragraph order[/URL] gave no reason, but the fact that this year’s election is less than a month away may have been the key factor.

The Wisconsin law, challenged by civil rights and citizens’ advocacy groups, was described by them as “one of the strictest voter ID laws in the country.” It would require voters to show one of only nine specific forms of identification to cast a ballot. Apparently, thousands of Wisconsin voters have already cast ballots without producing the kind of ID required, and tens of thousands reportedly do not have the right kind of ID. November 4 is the general election day this year.

The Court’s order was unsigned, but apparently had the votes of at least five Justices, since that would have been the minimum necessary to set aside a lower court’s order.

Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., joined in dissent by Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, would have allowed the law to be enforced for fairly technical legal reasons, but they conceded that “there is a colorable basis for the Court’s decision due to the proximity of the upcoming general election.”

Reflecting what must have been part of the internal discussion of the issue, Alito wrote that “it is particularly troubling that absentee ballots have been sent out without any notation that proof of photo identification must be submitted.”
[/QUOTE]

From an actual news story spotted on the Interwebs:
[i]
‘President Obama blasted Republicans as the party of “billionaires” on Tuesday while mingling with high-rollers at the $26 million estate of Rich Richman — yes, that’s his real name — in Greenwich, Conn.[/i]

Whenever O visits the SF Bay area he attends one or more fundraisers hosted by local tekno-squillionaires, so perhaps he really meant "the party of those other billionaires." (Presumably the bad naughty wicked evil ones.)

Yeah. Sigh.....

(Salon.com)
[QUOTE][URL="http://www.salon.com/2014/10/13/gop_voter_id_law_gets_crushed_why_judge_richard_posners_ruling_is_so_amazing/"]GOP voter ID law gets crushed: Why Judge Richard Posner’s new opinion is so amazing[/URL]
Conservative icon/federal judge changes mind on photo ID laws, issues blistering dissent against them.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE]And remember, once again, this is written by Richard Posner, the conservative Republican icon of a federal appellate court judge — the judge who wrote the opinion on behalf of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals approving of the first such Photo ID law in the country in 2008, the very case that rightwingers from Texas to Wisconsin now cite over and over (almost always incorrectly) in support of similar such laws — now, clearly admitting that he got the entire thing wrong.

One last point (for now): Our legal analyst Ernie Canning, who (along with me) will undoubtedly have much more to say on this dissent in upcoming days, suggests we award The BRAD BLOG’s almost-never-anymore-bestowed Intellectually Honest Conservative Award to Judge Posner. And so it shall be.[/QUOTE]

@only_human: The SCOTUS fab 5 just upheld Texas' photo-ID election law.

====================

[url=http://www.theonion.com/articles/voters-excited-to-use-midterms-to-put-country-back,37167/]Voters Excited To Use Midterms To Put Country Back On Different Wrong Track[/url]

[QUOTE=ewmayer;385511]@only_human: The SCOTUS fab 5 just upheld Texas' photo-ID election law.

:rant:

[QUOTE=ewmayer;385511]

[url=http://www.theonion.com/articles/voters-excited-to-use-midterms-to-put-country-back,37167/]Voters Excited To Use Midterms To Put Country Back On Different Wrong Track[/url][/QUOTE]

The Onion is perhaps one of the greatest ideas ever conceived by mankind.


How many of you live in areas where your vote has a high probability of inconsequential? In my state I would say that the vast majority of people vote an entirely straight ticket every election cycle regardless of whether it is the Sandman, a rotting raccoon carcass, or a rich white man pretending to relate to his constituents. As long as you have the right letter beside your name it doesn't matter.

For the record, I RARELY listen to Bill Maher... but on the occasions I have listened to him this is about the only intelligent thing I've heard him say:

[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqDBz4M9Jkg[/url]

Disclaimer: I don't think this will bother anyone here but the video contains a mild amount of explicit language.

Furthermore, it just paints my state in such a "good" light... Unfortunately, everything he says is true. Our governor has the collective intelligence of a 1,000 acre field of cow pies.

[url=http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-10-25/hillary-business-does-not-create-jobs-washington-does]Hillary: "Business Does Not Create Jobs", Washington Does[/url] | Zero Hedge

For Hillary and her hubby - let's just conflate them as 'HillBillary' which is fairly apt since they hail from Arkansas - that is indubitably true.

Election Day....

Almost done with all of these annoying mudslinging advertisements!

Did anyone have any interesting polling place stories?

I received a (robo)call from Michelle O.
That's about when I said: that's it, I am not going. One candidate is worse than the other. Hoi polloi will undoubtedly take care of itself.

I think the [i]Onion[/i] piece I linked in #493 pretty much predicted the outcome of this midterm.

The one undoubted plus for me is the polling showing 2/3 of Americans are very concerned about the economy. That tells me that despite stawk markits at record levels, 5+ years of looter-oligarchy-targeted bailouts and monetary easing and ceaseless recovery propagandizing, hoi polloi ain't buying what's on offer. Call it a "don't piss down our backs and tell us it's raining" vote. Not that The Other Party will do anything substantively different, mind you.

[QUOTE=ewmayer;386897]I think the [i]Onion[/i] piece I linked in #493 pretty much predicted the outcome of this midterm.

The one undoubted plus for me is the polling showing 2/3 of Americans are very concerned about the economy. That tells me that despite stawk markits at record levels, 5+ years of looter-oligarchy-targeted bailouts and monetary easing and ceaseless recovery propagandizing, hoi polloi ain't buying what's on offer. Call it a "don't piss down our backs and tell us it's raining" vote. Not that The Other Party will do anything substantively different, mind you.[/QUOTE]

Does anyone have the exact number as to what percentage of incumbents were reelected?
I'll bet it was very high.

Despite all of this [b]claimed[/b] dissatisfaction, voters did not do very much about it.

The reason is clear. They may want change, but they generally hate the [I]other[/I] party so much
that they are willing to return the incumbent rather than vote for the other party.

[QUOTE=R.D. Silverman;386920]Does anyone have the exact number as to what percentage of incumbents were reelected?
I'll bet it was very high.

Despite all of this [b]claimed[/b] dissatisfaction, voters did not do very much about it.

The reason is clear. They may want change, but they generally hate the [I]other[/I] party so much
that they are willing to return the incumbent rather than vote for the other party.[/QUOTE]

if [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_elections,_2014#Change_in_composition"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_elections,_2014#Change_in_composition[/URL] is correct using find suggest 22 got re-elected, 3 lost re-election, 8 retired, 3 are still TBD and 1 withdrew, and I think the rest had no election.

[QUOTE=science_man_88;386925]if [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_elections,_2014#Change_in_composition"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_elections,_2014#Change_in_composition[/URL] is correct using find suggest 22 got re-elected, 3 lost re-election, 8 retired, 3 are still TBD and 1 withdrew, and I think the rest had no election.[/QUOTE]

The Democrats could lose up to 10 seats in the Senate. That would be a huge swing in power if they lost all 10.

[QUOTE=R.D. Silverman;386920]Does anyone have the exact number as to what percentage of incumbents were reelected?
I'll bet it was very high.

Despite all of this [b]claimed[/b] dissatisfaction, voters did not do very much about it.

The reason is clear. They may want change, but they generally hate the [I]other[/I] party so much
that they are willing to return the incumbent rather than vote for the other party.[/QUOTE]
Nice analysis and map at [url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-29919793[/url]

[QUOTE=xilman;386931]Nice analysis and map at [url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-29919793[/url][/QUOTE]

I predict that the first thing Congress will do is to try to repeal Obamacare.
This will be vetoed.

They will then continue to push the Republican agenda: tax breaks for corporations and
the wealthy, cutting social program spending while maintaining military spending,
pushing bigotry and hatred toward immigrants (legal or not) and minorities, and trying to
force their religious agenda on everyone.

And Obama will be forced to veto.

Attach Obamacare repeal to a Continuing Resolution, then blame Obama for the shutdown when he vetoes it.

[QUOTE=R.D. Silverman;386933]I predict that the first thing Congress will do is to try to repeal Obamacare.
This will be vetoed.

They will then continue to push the Republican agenda: tax breaks for corporations and
the wealthy, cutting social program spending while maintaining military spending,
pushing bigotry and hatred toward immigrants (legal or not) and minorities, and trying to
force their religious agenda on everyone.[/QUOTE]

Do you still believe Obamacare is anything but a massive giveaway to the for-pay medical-industrial complex? Sure, it undoubtedly helps some folks with preexisting conditions, but the vast majority of working Americans seem to be facing crapification of their health insurance: Huge-deductible policies which cost more than lower-deductible ones did before. In short, overpriced catastrophic-event policies. Do you think that may have had just a little bit to do with the electoral revulsion expressed yesterday?

And, all but the cuts social programs and religious nuttery are firmly part of Team Blue's ongoing agenda, too. Anyone who still allows himself to be conned by the fake read v blue partisan Kabuki is deluding himself.

And let's face it -- the bipartisan support for rampaging wealth inequality these past 30 years (via deregulation, tax breaks for offshoring, financialization of the economy) make massive and ever-increasing social program spending necessary, to stave off mass revolt.

I could go on about bipartisan support for shredding of the Bill of rights, bipartisan support for perma-warmongering - how many countries has Obama bombed while in office? - etc, but I think most people in possession of a sub-cheesehead level of blinkered knee-jerk partisan faith don't need any convincing of the bipartisan nature of those various "government initiatives".

It looks like the Democrats lost four incumbent senators (Pryor of Arkansas, Udall of Colorado, Hagan of North Carolina, and most likely Begich of Alaska) and Landrieu of Louisiana looks like she will be in a difficult run-off election. That is huge considering that incumbents usually don't have that much trouble getting re-elected.

On the other hand, the Republicans did not make Obamacare much of an issue during this election, probably because polling indicated that this stance would not be popular, considering the number of people who now have healthcare insurance but didn't previously. I think that it might just improve the Dems' chances in 2016 if Congress continues sending repeal bills to Obama for him to veto.

[QUOTE=R.D. Silverman;386920]
The reason is clear. They may want change, but they generally hate the [I]other[/I] party so much
that they are willing to return the incumbent rather than vote for the other party.[/QUOTE]

I could not agree more with your statement. "Most" people in my state would vote for a rotting opossum corpse so long as it had an (R) behind its name. It is the ONLY thing that matters in the elections here.

[QUOTE=ewmayer;386953]...

- etc, but I think most people in possession of a sub-cheesehead level of blinkered knee-jerk partisan faith

...[/QUOTE]Was this reference really necessary ? You are a moderator of the forum and should use some restraint. Disagree with somebody and express it, but don't attack other forum users while they are not even participating in the discussion.

Thanks,

Jacob

[QUOTE=S485122;387006]Was this reference really necessary ? You are a moderator of the forum and should use some restraint. Disagree with somebody and express it, but don't attack other forum users while they are not even participating in the discussion.

Thanks,

Jacob[/QUOTE]
Agreed.

[QUOTE=S485122;387006]Was this reference really necessary ? You are a moderator of the forum and should use some restraint. Disagree with somebody and express it, but don't attack other forum users while they are not even participating in the discussion.

Thanks,

Jacob[/QUOTE]

I've known for years that (at least some of) the moderators are hypocrites.

[QUOTE=R.D. Silverman;387019]I've known for years that (at least some of) the moderators are hypocrites.[/QUOTE]

Coming from arguably the most flame-prone, serially-abusive, intemperate M-forum user of all time, that seems a tad ... what's the word I'm looking for?

I invoked cheesehead because his extreme myopic brand of political partisanship is well-known to all longtime regulars in the Soap Box.

================

Getting back to the election results, I find it very interesting that while the faux-progressive Democratic party got smacked down hard, lots of progressive ballot proposals (e.g. minimum wage iniatives in AR,AK,NB,SD - all 'red' states! - marijuana legalization, fracking bans, including [url=http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/05/us-energy-texas-fracking-idUSKBN0IP1K120141105]one in the Texas birthplace of the technology[/url]) passed, which tells me the broad theme was less one of giving the GOP a mandate than of punishing the Dems. The famous aphorism about governing parties needing to be changed regularly like diapers, and for the same reason, comes to mind.

So the silver lining for GOP-loathers is this: If they mis-read this as a mandate for their right-wing's pet causes they will similarly get smacked down in 2016. And I for one hope the voter-administered beatings will continue until the lying and fringe-issue bullshit stops.

Your opinions about, and descriptions of, a couple of other forum members, Ernst, are certainly well known to long time regulars and even to less longtime people like me, but they are simply your own opinions which others won't share. I certainly don't. Perhaps we can view them in that context, then those you describe can hopefully live with your opinions about them, you can live with that, and this thread does indeed return to the election results as you rightly direct.:smile:
===
This phenomenon of alternative smacking down of alternately one political side, then the other, is often observed here in Europe too. It's a bit like a game of Nim I suppose: each side will ideally want to be in favour at the moment when the most important elections are due and will need to plan their popularity ahead on that basis.

[QUOTE=Brian-E;387089]
This phenomenon of alternative smacking down of alternately one political side, then the other, is often observed here in Europe too. It's a bit like a game of Nim I suppose: each side will ideally want to be in favour at the moment when the most important elections are due and will need to plan their popularity ahead on that basis.[/QUOTE]

Is it as polarized as it is in the USA?

I think a great solution is to have the two parties play full-contact football or hockey. Oh, and with no pads or helmets. I think inherently the two parties want what is best for America but they (often) have different ideas on how to achieve that goal. Perhaps a few concussions and splinted limbs would make them more agreeable to being compromising.

Edit: I also like the idea of putting them in a giant Hunger Games type arena filled wild and hungry predators. Cooperate or become bear food. Yep, it is time to wake up now... cooperation will never happen in an environment where putting your foot in the "demilitarized zone" between the left and right will get you crucified/stoned by your own party.

.

[FONT=Arial][SIZE=3][SIZE=6]↑[/SIZE] SIGH[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial].....[/FONT]

[QUOTE=Primeinator;387128]Is it as polarized as it is in the USA?

I think a great solution is to have the two parties play full-contact football or hockey. Oh, and with no pads or helmets. I think inherently the two parties want what is best for America but they (often) have different ideas on how to achieve that goal. Perhaps a few concussions and splinted limbs would make them more agreeable to being compromising.

Edit: I also like the idea of putting them in a giant Hunger Games type arena filled wild and hungry predators. Cooperate or become bear food. Yep, it is time to wake up now... cooperation will never happen in an environment where putting your foot in the "demilitarized zone" between the left and right will get you crucified/stoned by your own party.[/QUOTE]
The polarisation varies of course from one European country to another, and some of Europe might be just as divided as the USA is. But a lot of Europe has the huge advantage that there are more than two electable parties. The poles are there and dominating (in Poland and elsewhere, and I meant poles with a small 'p'), but there is quite often sufficient in-between to allow just one pole plus fillers in the resulting coalition. But the coalition does still keep swapping its pole from one election to the next, meaning that the work of one coalition gets undone by the next one. The two poles certainly don't co-operate with each other now that they are further apart than ever.

[QUOTE=Primeinator;387128]Is it as polarized as it is in the USA?[/QUOTE]As Brian says, it depends. For a very long time the UK has been essentially a two-party state with a small admixture of minor parties. Whigs & Tories, then Conservatives and Liberals, then Conservatives and Labour.

Hmm, I wonder where the US got their ideas from.

[QUOTE=xilman;387169]As Brian says, it depends. For a very long time the UK has been essentially a two-party state with a small admixture of minor parties. Whigs & Tories, then Conservatives and Liberals, then Conservatives and Labour.

Hmm, I wonder where the US got their ideas from.[/QUOTE]

From men like Shakespeare, Locke, Newton, many others in our common ancient history.

[URL="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dana-milbank-good-riddance-to-the-worst-congress-ever/2014/12/19/1f25b99e-8796-11e4-9534-f79a23c40e6c_story.html"]Good riddance to the worst Congress ever[/URL]
[QUOTE]The 113th Congress this week went the way of the dodo — literally.

The lawmakers of the 2013-2014 legislative session finally put themselves out of their misery but not before Harry Reid’s Senate passed one final piece of legislation: S. Res. 564, marking “the centennial of the passenger pigeon extinction.”[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE]The 113th Congress was responsible for the 16-day government shutdown in 2013, preceded and inspired by the “Green Eggs and Ham” filibuster by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.).[/QUOTE][QUOTE]According to a tally by the Library of Congress, 296 bills were presented to the president by this Congress — nearly the same as the 284 presented by the previous Congress, the fewest of any Congress since the counts began in the 1940s. (The “do nothing” Congress of 1948 passed about 900.) More than 10 percent of the bills presented were about naming or renaming things and awarding medals.

House Speaker John Boehner said last year that Congress should be judged not by laws passed but by “how many laws we repeal.” To calculate that, you add the ones column, the tens and the hundreds, and you get — let’s see here — zero.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE]The gushing sewer of money into politics — some $4 billion spent on this year’s midterm elections, a record — further undermined Americans’ trust. Gallup found that Americans’ approval of Congress averaged 15 percent in 2014 and a record low 14 percent in 2013. Disdain was shared equally by Republican, Democratic and independent respondents.[/QUOTE]

[url=www.nakedcapitalism.com/2014/12/jeb-bush-forest-gump-financial-improprieties.html]Jeb Bush: The Forrest Gump of Financial Improprieties?[/url] | Naked Capitalism

[QUOTE=ewmayer;390699][URL="http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2014/12/jeb-bush-forest-gump-financial-improprieties.html"]Jeb Bush: The Forrest Gump of Financial Improprieties?[/URL] | Naked Capitalism[/QUOTE]

From the article, regarding Tiny Turbo Tim-
[QUOTE] It is remarkable that Turbo Timmy [URL="http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2009/01/geithner-blames-.html"]not only failed to clean up his non-reporting of IMF income prior to his nomination to the Treasury Secretary post[/URL], but then was cheeky enough to not pay back the underpayment that was past the statute of limitations. Played like the banker he is.[/QUOTE]

Another great mind, like that of Clarence Thomas, which could not figure out forms encompassed by its purported area of expertise. Also, someone high and mighty, like Clarence, who got away with years-late tax amendments without penalty.

[URL="http://www.politico.com/story/2015/01/koch-2016-spending-goal-114604.html"]The Kochs put a price on 2016: $889 million[/URL] - politico.com
[QUOTE]Told of the $889 million goal, Mark McKinnon, a veteran GOP operative who has worked to rally Republican support to reduce the role of money in politics, quipped: “For that kind of money, you could buy yourself a president. Oh, right. That’s the point.”[/QUOTE]

US 2016 elections
 

Placeholder.

(or teaser)

[QUOTE=tha;394006]Placeholder.

(or teaser)[/QUOTE]

I will start. :smile:

We need a law that limits how long pre-election campaigning/publicity/debate/etc. can be conducted. :smile:

A modest proposal:

No one is allowed to announce that they are running until 6 months before the election date. (yes; this is in conflict
with free speech)

I want to suggest that this entire thread be deleted until next year.

We struggled to find as thread to post this in. Hopefully this one is okay:

[url]http://www.chron.com/news/politics/texas/article/Texas-Muslim-Capitol-Day-marred-by-anti-Islam-6048881.php[/url]

[QUOTE]Earlier in the morning, Rep. Molly White, R-Belton, commented on the gathering.

"I did leave an Israeli flag on the reception desk in my office with instructions to staff to ask representatives from the Muslim community to renounce Islamic terrorist groups and publicly announce allegiance to America and our laws. We will see how long they stay in my office," she wrote on Facebook.[/QUOTE]

Well, that was quick: [URL="http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/mitt-romney-2016-presidential-run/story?id=28604278"]Mitt Romney Says No to 2016 Presidential Run[/URL].[quote]For Mitt Romney, it appears that the third time is not the charm.

On a conference call with supporters on Friday, Romney said he was taking a pass on another White House bid.[/quote]

[QUOTE=schickel;394018]Well, that was quick: [URL="http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/mitt-romney-2016-presidential-run/story?id=28604278"]Mitt Romney Says No to 2016 Presidential Run[/URL].[/QUOTE]The political version of a [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_cat_bounce"]dead cat bounce[/URL].

[QUOTE=R.D. Silverman;394007]I will start. :smile:

We need a law that limits how long pre-election campaigning/publicity/debate/etc. can be conducted. :smile:

A modest proposal:

No one is allowed to announce that they are running until 6 months before the election date. (yes; this is in conflict
with free speech)

[/QUOTE]

I wish this were possible, Dr. Silverman. Since we are violating one piece of the Bill of Rights- why not violate another? Any politician who announces his/her candidacy outside of this six month window shall be subjected to their choice of the following:
1) Close-range BB gun fire
2) Forced to sit in a chair with their hands tied while two dozen tarantulas are placed onto their lap

Any candidate that strays away from the issues during their campaign shall be subjected to standing in a pit of rattlesnakes for the amusement of the caucus that opposes them. Lastly, any candidate found to have taken money under the table, given fellatio to the Koch Brothers/Big Business/{insert interest group} or otherwise defaulted on their promise of public service shall be thrown into Mount Doom (leading to the probably extinction of the slimy species [I]Politicianus scumbagus[/I].

Now that I've had my fun... it is hard to understand how every single American is not completely jaded regarding politics.

[url]http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/jeb-bushs-dubious-new-pitch-i-am-my-own-man[/url]

[QUOTE]In fact, Philip Bump [URL="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2015/02/18/jeb-bushs-foreign-policy-team-is-eerily-familiar-in-1-venn-diagram/"]reported[/URL] that of the 21 people reportedly advising Jeb Bush, 19 are veterans of the first Bush administration, the second Bush administration, or in a few cases, both.[/QUOTE]

[url]http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/sc-county-gop-if-you-ve-had-pre-marital-sex-you-can-t-be-a-republican[/url]

[QUOTE=chappy;396580][url]http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/sc-county-gop-if-you-ve-had-pre-marital-sex-you-can-t-be-a-republican[/url][/QUOTE]
Yeah, that will work. :rolleyes:
Ibid.:
[QUOTE]Before you can join the Laurens County Republican Party in South Carolina and get on the primary ballot, they ask that you pledge that you've never ever had pre-marital sex -- and that you will never ever look at porn again.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE]From the Chronicle:

You must favor, and live up to, abstinence before marriage.

You must be faithful to your spouse. Your spouse cannot be a person of the same gender, and you are not allowed to favor any government action that would allow for civil unions of people of the same sex.

You cannot now, from the moment you sign this pledge, look at pornography.[/QUOTE]

Too Long; Don't Read:
[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_federal_political_sex_scandals_in_the_United_States"]List of federal political sex scandals in the United States[/URL], [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_state_and_local_political_sex_scandals_in_the_United_States"]List of state and local political sex scandals in the United States[/URL]

Newsflash! White American Males between the ages of 18 and 25, who self-identify as "Conservative" like Rand Paul!

[url]http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2015/02/28/rand-paul-wins-cpac-straw-poll-narrowly-topping-walker/?hpid=z1[/url]


Discerning readers may remember Paul as the Senator so full of shit that his toilets didn't work: [YOUTUBE]FAn1FWInBi0[/YOUTUBE]

They may also remember that The CPAC strawpoll rarely translates into electoral success.

[url]http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/03/judicial-elections-fundraising-115503.html[/url]

In-depth NC piece on the Hillary e-mail scandal:

[url=http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2015/03/no-secretary-state-not-get-privatize-email-not-even-hillary-clinton.html] No, the Secretary of State Does Not Get to Privatize Their Email, Not Even Hillary Clinton[/url]: [i]Is converting public property to private use what we expect and demand of a President?[/i]

[QUOTE=ewmayer;397131]In-depth NC piece on the Hillary e-mail scandal:

[URL="http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2015/03/no-secretary-state-not-get-privatize-email-not-even-hillary-clinton.html"] No, the Secretary of State Does Not Get to Privatize Their Email, Not Even Hillary Clinton[/URL]: [I]Is converting public property to private use what we expect and demand of a President?[/I][/QUOTE]

:bangheadonwall: (I agree.)

[url=http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/04/06/jeb-bush-listed-himself-as-hispanic-on-voter-form/]Jeb Bush marked 'Hispanic' on Florida voter form[/url] | NYT

One commenter sums it nicely:

"Pretty ironic that he didn’t list himself as ‘Black'; if he had, he could have been purged from the voter rolls when the Republicans were trying to steal Florida 2000."

(Imagining how Jebbie might 'splain away if he *had* 'accidentally' voted while black: "Ich nicht bin Schwarze Neger, er der gut Führer von Kalifornia war. Ich ja bin Mexikaner - bitte votar mucho conmigo, amigos!")

Echoing the theme of a recent exchange of quips in the Lounge "Things that make you go Hmmm other than having learned how to purr..." thread:

[url=www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/campaign-2016-hillary-clintons-fake-populism-is-a-hit-20150416?page=2]Campaign 2016: Hillary Clinton's Fake Populism Is a Hit[/url] | Matt Taibbi, [i]Rolling Stone[/i]:
[quote]It doesn't matter that these [later "cooler heads must and will prevail" followup] op-eds usually come in the conservative or centrist press. They're part of a psychological cycle, designed to make voters think that the things that they really want, like tax fairness or prosecution of white collar crooks or ends to wars or illegal surveillance or torture or whatever, are just pie-in-the-sky aims that inevitably perish when they run into the "reality" of governance.

The campaign season is a time of promises. Election and subsequent rule, we are to understand, are a time of disappointments, coupled with the behind-the-scenes repayment in favors for financial support – usually described to us using more gentle names like "pragmatism" or "reality."[/quote]

And on the 'R' side of the Pharisaic-hypocrisy aisle:

[url=http://pando.com/2015/04/15/how-silicon-valley-almost-joined-the-confederacy-and-the-rand-paul-speechwriter-who-wishes-it-had/]How Silicon Valley almost joined the Confederacy; and the Rand Paul speechwriter who probably wishes it had[/url] | Mark Ames, [i]PandoDaily[/i]

Say as little as possible
 

[QUOTE=ewmayer;400409]Echoing the theme of a recent exchange of quips in the Lounge "Things that make you go Hmmm other than having learned how to purr..." thread:

[url=www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/campaign-2016-hillary-clintons-fake-populism-is-a-hit-20150416?page=2]Campaign 2016: Hillary Clinton's Fake Populism Is a Hit[/url] | Matt Taibbi, [i]Rolling Stone[/i]:


And on the 'R' side of the Pharisaic-hypocrisy aisle:

[url=http://pando.com/2015/04/15/how-silicon-valley-almost-joined-the-confederacy-and-the-rand-paul-speechwriter-who-wishes-it-had/]How Silicon Valley almost joined the Confederacy; and the Rand Paul speechwriter who probably wishes it had[/url] | Mark Ames, [i]PandoDaily[/i][/QUOTE]


Hillary now proposes an overhaul of the tax code......

[url]http://www.aol.com/article/2015/04/21/clinton-floats-tax-code-changes-as-she-campaigns-in-new-hampshir/21174508/?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl3%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D647275[/url]


Right..........

Of course, she says nothing about how it will be done......

One thing that I think we need is an AMT (Alternative Minimum) for corporations.

We already have one for individuals.

o [url=www.nakedcapitalism.com/2015/05/nomi-prins-the-clintons-and-their-banker-friends.html]Nomi Prins: The Clintons and Their Banker Friends[/url] | naked capitalism

o [url=http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-05-07/state-department-says-no-review-of-undisclosed-clinton-foundation-donations]State Department says no review of undisclosed Clinton Foundation donations[/url]
[quote]The State Department does not plan to review previous donations to the Clinton Foundation that went undisclosed, despite an agreement that the charity run by former President Bill Clinton would make its financial backers public during Hillary Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state.

In response to a question about whether the State Department is looking into numerous reports, including one by Bloomberg, that the Clintons did not live up to their end of the deal, spokesman Jeff Rathke on Thursday told reporters it was not.

“The State Department has not and does not intend to initiate a formal review, or to make a retroactive judgment about items that were not submitted during Secretary Clinton’s tenure,” he said.[/quote]
Hey, I'm sure if there had been any pay-to-play influence-peddling action going on here it would have come out already, because after all the Secretary of State is required by law to place all official correspondence such as e-mails in the public-recordkeeping domain. I mean it's not like Hillary was conducting official state business using a private phone or e-mail account, was it? Oh, wait...

==================

Both Rand and Hillary are in Silicon Valley this weekend ... Rand actually made the right kinds of noises about internet privacy (i.e. ending warrantless government bulk surveillance) at a tech-startup-farm gathering; Hillary was busy raking in $ from the tech oligarchy. (But while remaining a "reg'lar folks populist", or something.)

I hope Bernie Sanders' announcement at least gives a large fraction of the Dem base pause about the 'inevitability' of Hillary getting the nomination. I am appalled by the thought of another Bush or Clinton presidency, but I fear that is what Boobus Voterus Americanus will dutifully sign off on.

[url]http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/16/us/politics/some-ask-what-george-w-bush-would-have-done-with-different-iraq-data.html[/url]

[QUOTE]So Jeb Bush now says he would not have invaded Iraq if he knew then what he knows today. Neither would Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, John R. Kasich, Rand Paul, Rick Santorum or Marco Rubio. In fact, Mr. Rubio said, “Not only would I not have been in favor of it, President Bush would not have been in favor of it.”[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;402344][url]http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/16/us/politics/some-ask-what-george-w-bush-would-have-done-with-different-iraq-data.html[/url][/QUOTE]

So we are to believe that Dubya would not have invaded Iraq had he known that the same not-just-'flawed'-but-actively-falsified-to-fit-a-preconceived-narrative-intel his administration was disseminating to the lapdog MSM was as bogus as he must have known it was? Really?

BTW, note the NYT - which uncritically regurgitated the same bogus (again not 'flawed' - actively falsified) intel, is as loath to use the right desciptor as they are to use the correct word 'fraud' in their coverage of the TBTF banks' 'missteps', the multitrillion-dollar-fraud-based house of cards which blew up the global financial system in 2007-2008.

[url=http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/17/us-usa-election-trump-song-idUSKBN0OX04U20150617]Canadian rocker Neil Young strikes sour note on Donald Trump's use of song[/url] | Reuters

Another Bernie Sanders supporter - [strike]bloody Canadian socialists[/strike]good on Neil. Maybe The Donald could use a campaign anthem which pays homage to the world's most famous combover, such as 'Blowin in the Wind' or 'Muskrat Love'.

[QUOTE=ewmayer;404303][url=http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/17/us-usa-election-trump-song-idUSKBN0OX04U20150617]Canadian rocker Neil Young strikes sour note on Donald Trump's use of song[/url] | Reuters

Another Bernie Sanders supporter - [strike]bloody Canadian socialists[/strike]good on Neil. Maybe The Donald could use a campaign anthem which pays homage to the world's most famous combover, such as 'Blowin in the Wind' or 'Muskrat Love'.[/QUOTE]
His trending theme: We shall over comb.
You know else had a hideous comb-over? Hitler!

Coincidence? I think NOT!

The invisible hand that rocks the cradle paid astroturfers to attend his big escalator ride:
[URL="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/donald-trump-campaign-offered-actors-803161"]Donald Trump Campaign Offered Actors $50 to Cheer for Him at Presidential Announcement[/URL]

Godwin's law in action!

In unrelated news, Neil Young really just wants Trump toupee.

[QUOTE=chappy;404307]In unrelated news, Neil Young really just wants Trump toupee.[/QUOTE]

Is it just me, or does Neil look like Donald Knuth's slightly-less-nerdy long-lost brother?
[i]
Hey, hey, my, my
Machine code can never die
There's more to the threading than meets the eye
Hey, hey, my, my

Out of the mem and onto the stack
You fully traced this, but it still goes splat
And once it segfaults, you can't trace it back
When you're out of the blue and into the black

The context is gone but it's not forgotten
Is this the story of the Compiler Rotten?
It's better to memcheck out 'cause RAM never sleeps
The context is gone but it's not forgotten

Hey, hey, my, my
Machine code can never die
There's more to the threading than meets the eye[/i]

"D00d, this band really bytes..."

A more humble Trump would have channeled Garth Brooks:
[CENTER][B]"We Shall Be Free"[/B]

This ain't comin' from no prophet
Just an ordinary man
When I close my eyes I see
The way this world shall be
When we all walk hand in hand

When the last child cries for a crust of bread
When the last man dies for just words that he said
When there's shelter over the poorest head
We shall be free

When the last thing we notice is the color of skin
And the first thing we look for is the beauty within
When the skies and the oceans are clean again
Then we shall be free

We shall be free
We shall be free
Stand straight, walk proud
'Cause we shall be free
When we're free to love anyone we choose
When this world's big enough for all different views
When we all can worship from our own kind of pew
Then we shall be free
We shall be free

We shall be free
Have a little faith
Hold out
'Cause we shall be free

And when money talks for the very last time
And nobody walks a step behind
When there's only one race and that's mankind
Then we shall be free

We shall be free
We shall be free
Stand straight, walk proud, have a little faith, hold out
We shall be free

We shall be free
We shall be free
Stand straight, have a little faith

We shall be free[/CENTER]

An NC reader/commenter who goes by the dual guises of craazyman and craazyboy - they often carry on long conversations with each other - has started a series of very funny mock-news posts riffing on Hillary's shameless self-draping of the Rooseveltian mantle in her [url=http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2015/06/hillary-clintons-campaign-rollout-speech-the-s-s-clinton-sails-from-roosevelt-island-in-new-york-harbor.html]campaign speech last weekend[/url] at - of course! - Roosevelt Island in NY harbor. Here are links to the first 2 installments of what promises to be an entertaining series of "fireside snarks":

#1: [url=http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2015/06/links-61515.html#comment-2457706]Hillary and Her Antique FDR Vacuum Tube Radio[/url] | 6/15

#2: [url=http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2015/06/200pm-water-cooler-61815.html#comment-2459440]Hillary and Her Very Exceptional Press conference[/url] | 6/18

This is especially apt in the current climate of yet another DINO (Democrat in name only) president counting on and currying Republican support to pass his deeply regressive (in the sense of being welfare for big business and/or flagrantly unconstitutional) "legacy" pieces of legislation:

[url=www.nakedcapitalism.com/2015/06/15-ways-bill-clintons-white-house-failed-america-and-the-world.html]15 Ways Bill Clinton’s White House Failed America and the World[/url] | naked capitalism

Contrast the facts laid out there with the rosy picture Hillary is painting of her hubby's tenure in office.

o [url=http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/07/01/1398372/-Jeb-trashes-Obamacare-in-public-but-privately-he-made-a-cool-half-million-off-it?detail=email#]Jeb Bush trashes Obamacare in public, but privately made a cool half million off it[/url] | Daily Kos

I think DK means "Romneycare, federal edition".

o [url=https://pando.com/2015/07/03/sorry-trump-average-texans-are-3-times-more-likely-commit-sex-crimes-undocumented-immigrants/]Sorry, Donald Trump: Average Texans are 3 times more likely to have committed sex crimes than undocumented immigrants[/url] | Pando

Yeah, but the Texans are here committing their sex crimes *legally*, or something.

-------------

EDIT: Of course [url=http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/07/02/1398702/-Bernie-Hillary-and-the-Liberal-Realignment]this other[/url] contemporaneous Daily Kos piece trying to fob off some of Bernie Sanders' recent campaigning success onto the thoroughly Neocon, looter-elite-beholden "progressive" Hillary gets a [url=http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2015/07/links-7415.html#comment-2468304]thoroughly deserved reaming by the NC commentariat[/url], especially from former/longtime DK readers.

[QUOTE=ewmayer;405322]
o [url=https://pando.com/2015/07/03/sorry-trump-average-texans-are-3-times-more-likely-commit-sex-crimes-undocumented-immigrants/]Sorry, Donald Trump: Average Texans are 3 times more likely to have committed sex crimes than undocumented immigrants[/url] | Pando[/QUOTE]
Well the the troll doll thought he had weighed the reaction with reality show judgement but southern stalwarts like Nascar stunned him by evolving.

[URL="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-i-didnt-expect-business-backlash-to-be-quite-this-severe/"]Donald Trump: I didn't expect business backlash to be "quite this severe"[/URL]
[QUOTE]These political reprimands might seem par for the course to Trump, but criticism from his business partners seems more unexpected. On Fox News, Trump also said that he was "very surprised" at NASCAR, which recently said it would move a series of banquets and conferences -- previously scheduled to be held at the Trump National Doral Miami resort -- to a different location.

"Because I have so many fans at NASCAR. I love the NASCAR people. I'm really surprised with NASCAR to be honest with you," Trump said. "You know, I have properties in the best locations. The property you are talking about in the case of NASCAR is Trump National Doral, which is probably one of the top resorts in the world. If they don't go, somebody else does, so, you know, it's not a big deal."

All in all, Trump said, his presidential run so far has been "bad for my brand."

"For the people who say I'm doing it for my brand - this isn't good for my brand. I think it's bad for my brand," he said. "You know, maybe I'm leading in polls, but this is certainly not good. I lose customers, I lose people.[/QUOTE]
Bear in mind this is the south:
[URL="http://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1qm22p/til_hosts_of_british_show_top_gear_once_tried_to/"]TIL Hosts of British show Top Gear once tried to drive through Alabama with slogans like 'Nascar Sucks' and 'Man-Love rules' painted to their cars. This offended the locals and they were chased out of town...[/URL] (Reddit)
[QUOTE]Patches67 94 points 1 year ago
This was one of my favourite episodes of Top Gear. I also love how James May couldn't give his car away at the end of the show and how a lawyer attempted to sue them for their act of charity.[/QUOTE]
[URL="https://youtube.com/watch?v=4jG0D2nRGrQ"]Extra: "Top Gear" in Alabama[/URL]
[YOUTUBE]4jG0D2nRGrQ[/YOUTUBE]

Today's snake inspired post shamelessly uses the snake rule to be considered on-topic. It does not offer suggested title entries because the deck is overstacked by this contributor.

[URL="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/broward/article26860765.html"]Court orders Florida’s congressional districts redrawn[/URL]
[QUOTE]
In a precedent-setting ruling Thursday, the Florida Supreme Court overturned the state’s congressional districts drawn by the GOP-led Legislature and ordered a new map with eight districts redrawn in time for the 2016 election.

In the 5-2 ruling, with Justices Charles Canady and Ricky Polston dissenting, the court provided unprecedented and specific direction to the Legislature, such as redrawing the [B]snake-shaped[/B] district of Congressional District 5, now held by Congresswoman Corrine Brown, in an east-west direction.

The ruling is likely to shake up Florida’s political landscape as incumbents face the prospect of a new set of boundary lines close to the 2016 election.
[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE]
GOP political consultant Frank Terraferma and other political operatives testified how proposed maps with shadowy names such as “Sputnik,” “Schmedloff” and “"Frankenstein” were created and then secretly shared during the months legislative staff were also drawing maps.

For the first time in state history, sitting legislators were called to testify and they admitted to routinely deleting redistricting records. A legislative staffer admitted to giving a flash drive of maps to a GOP political operative two weeks before they became public.
[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE]Testimony showed that the Legislature’s professional staff drew the maps and, their lawyers argued, “were not part of the conspiracy.” They noted that plaintiffs could not point to anyone who admitted using the fraudulent map to create the final congressional plan.

The plaintiffs, however, urged the court to conclude that the process constituted an “intentional violation by the Legislature” because GOP leaders “disproportionately relied on maps secretly drawn by the same operatives to whom it provided special access, and destroyed any evidence revealing what it had done.”
[/QUOTE]
In other news a water snake receives, [I]ahem[/I], honorable mention:
[QUOTE][URL="http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2015/07/09/tom-selleck-stealing-water-for-calif-ranch/"]Tom Selleck stealing water for Calif. avocado ranch?[/URL]
Fox News‎ - 9 hours ago
A water district has sued Tom Selleck, claiming the star of the crime shows "Magnum, P.I." and "Blue Bloods" stole truckloads of water from a ...

Tom Selleck Investigated for Stealing Water for His Estate Amid ... Gizmodo

Tom Selleck's sex appeal isn't having a drought - New York Post

Actor Tom Selleck Accused of Taking Water From Thousand Oaks ... - KTLA[/QUOTE]

I will review the parameters and try to come up with something. However, this caught my eye-
[QUOTE]GOP political consultant Frank Terraferma .....[/QUOTE]

I guess he has his feet firmly on the earth. What a name for a political consultant!

It reminds me of something tangentially related. A friend of ours once had a "personal banker" named Dick Stickrod. :lol:

A brother in law of my partner, whose last name is a common British slang word for masturbation, at least goes by Rick.

[QUOTE=kladner;405580]I will review the parameters and try to come up with something. However, this caught my eye-


I guess he has his feet firmly on the earth. What a name for a political consultant!

It reminds me of something tangentially related. A friend of ours once had a "personal banker" named Dick Stickrod. :lol:

A brother in law of my partner, whose last name is a common British slang word for masturbation, at least goes by Rick.[/QUOTE]

Ah, yes, time to remind (or educate) the readership of a collective noun in finance: a wunch of bankers.

[QUOTE=kladner;405580]A brother in law of my partner, whose last name is a common British slang word for masturbation, at least goes by Rick.[/QUOTE]

"Wank" in all its various-suffixed forms is a common German surname. As is "Kuntz"...

Thus, "I was thinking of Kuntz and Wanking" is a perfectly innocuous reference to a pair of German-named friends.

[URL="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-world-map_559c48f3e4b04e28f1e52bb4?"]The world as seen by an anatomically correct troll doll.[/URL]

[QUOTE=ewmayer;405601]"Wank" in all its various-suffixed forms is a common German surname. As is "Kuntz"...

Thus, "I was thinking of Kuntz and Wanking" is a perfectly innocuous reference to a pair of German-named friends.[/QUOTE]But only if you pronounce the latter as "Vankink"

[QUOTE=xilman;405675]But only if you pronounce the latter as "Vankink"[/QUOTE]

Will it suffice if I say that I was thinking of pronouncing his name that way while thinking of him and 'Koontz'?

---------------------

[url=www.nakedcapitalism.com/2015/07/the-times-condescending-attitude-toward-bernie-sanders.html]The [NY]Times' Condescending Attitude Toward Bernie Sanders[/url] | naked capitalism

Why would one expect different from a leading organ of the state media apparatus?

[url]http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jul/15/monica-crowley-the-real-reasons-donald-trump-is-su/[/url]

[QUOTE]Donald Trump doesn't need the presidency. With a multibillion-dollar empire, he'll be just fine without it. That has liberated him to say and do things that may be unconventional and not particularly graceful, but which resonate strongly with an electorate parched for truth — and for the battle for the future.[/QUOTE]

Trump is an idiot blowhard, but I see him as a useful idiot blowhard, in that he has no qualms about getting 'truthy' not just about the media-beloved 'wedge issues', but about his fellow Republicans, who richly deserve any odium that comes their way for being a pack of cheating, lying, hypocritical scoundrels. LOL, his dissing McCain a couple days ago for being "a war hero only because he was captured ... I just prefer guys who weren't captured" [I paraphrase] was classic Trump. Now personally I would prefer taking McCain to task for being a psychotic warmonger and financial crook (Keating Five, anyone?), but any dissage that comes his way is OK by me.

[QUOTE=ewmayer;406136]LOL, his dissing McCain a couple days ago for being "a war hero only because he was captured ... I just prefer guys who weren't captured" [I paraphrase] was classic Trump.[/QUOTE][url]http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/trump-says-he-heroically-avoided-capture-in-vietnam-by-staying-in-u-s[/url]

Trump that, GOP 'serious candidates'!
 

[url=www.theonion.com/blogpost/admit-it-you-people-want-see-how-far-goes-dont-you-50895]Admit It: You People Want To See How Far This Goes, Don’t You?[/url] - The Onion - America's Finest News Source

The mere sight of the muskrat-pelt-like hairdo must make McCain grip his 'stress relieving pen' so tightly as to cause tennis elbow.

Speaking of the war hero, an NC reader posted this snip from an old piece on McCain by the late Alexander Cockburn, "[url=http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/07/20/the-horrors-of-john-mccain-war-hero-or-war-criminal/]The Horrors of John McCain: War Hero or War Criminal?[/url]":
[quote]McCain flew 23 bombing missions over North Vietnam, each averaging about half an hour, total time ten hours and thirty minutes. For these brief excursions the admiral’s son was awarded two Silver Stars, two Legions of Merit, two Distinguished Flying Crosses, three Bronze Stars, the Vietnamese Legion of Honor and three Purple Hearts. US Veteran Dispatch calculates our hero earned a medal an hour, which is pretty good going.[/quote]
I bet that kind of medal-a-minute heroism even puts Chuck 'I single-handedly refought and won the Vietnam war' Norris in the shade.

Pando's Mark Ames on The Donald - I had subscription to [i]Spy[/i] for a couple years back in the 90s, but in the end it was simply too New-Yawk-upper-crust-insiderish for me:

[url=https://pando.com/2015/07/23/short-fingered-vulgarian-cometh/122708227cad321a955b986ac019f084b58ee8cd/]Pando: The short-fingered vulgarian cometh[/url]

That one is worth reading all the way through - some hilarious satire in there. But [i]Spy[/i] is long gone, the Donald's fortunes have been revived thanks to reality TV and a flood of central-bank-mandated cheap credit intended to inflate precisely the kinds of asset bubbles Trump projects peak during, and The Donald is left forever wondering 'Why that bankrupt satyr [sic] magazine called me a Bulgarian.'

[URL="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/carly-fiorina-super-pac_55b79747e4b0074ba5a6233c"]One Email That Proves Campaign Finance Laws Are A Joke[/URL]
[QUOTE]WASHINGTON -- Carly for America, the super PAC backing former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina’s presidential campaign, invited supporters to join a conference call on Thursday with -- Carly Fiorina. Think this required any "coordination" between the supposedly independent super PAC and the candidate?[/QUOTE]
Hmm, but the FEC enforces election laws, right? Well...
[QUOTE]The problem is that federal campaign coordination laws ban only certain types of cooperation and association between candidates and supposedly independent groups. A candidate cannot have input on the content -- text, video, imagery or other materials -- or the conduct -- strategy, timing or payment -- of a communication. This leaves a lot of other activity open to the interpretation of the Federal Election Commission, which rarely enforces the anti-coordination rules in particular and at this moment is deeply divided on how to enforce its regulations overall.

FEC gridlock is just one of many reasons why the 2016 presidential campaign has seen a complete meltdown of the notion that candidates don't work with the super PACs and nonprofits supporting them.

Few have gone as far as Fiorina, whose campaign is essentially being run out of the super PAC. The joint conference call with supporters featuring Fiorina but hosted by the super PAC is just one example of this. Staffers at Carly for America -- which has raised $3.4 million so far and will report its donors on Friday -- have taken on such core campaign functions as managing rapid response to press questions, rolling out endorsements of the candidate, funding grassroots organizing and organizing advance work for Fiorina’s appearances.

This is all a far cry from 2012 when Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney distanced himself from attack ads made by Restore Our Future, the super PAC supporting his bid, by stating that he would go “to the big house” if he so much as urged the super PAC to stop running the ads.

This year, people are talking to each other. Just as Fiorina will speak on her super PAC-organized conference call, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry delivered his anti-Donald Trump speech at a July 22 event hosted by his super PAC, Opportunity and Freedom PAC.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=only_human;406845][URL="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/carly-fiorina-super-pac_55b79747e4b0074ba5a6233c"]One Email That Proves Campaign Finance Laws Are A Joke[/URL]

Hmm, but the FEC enforces election laws, right? Well...[/QUOTE]

Maybe Carly can get more potential donors to listen in the call by offering to give them a bunch of high-end telecom gear, no payments or interest until they get their eyeball-metrics-based eCommerce site up and running, by which is meant 'losing money at internet speed'. Hey, that visionary strategy worked really well for the company she was starring in back around 1999-2001, didn't it?

BTW, the initialism FEC is properly pronounced not letter-by-letter but rather like the singular of 'feces.' Important to know the things - ya just never know when such factoids might come up as the question in Final Jeopardy.

[url]https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2013/11/08/which-of-the-11-american-nations-do-you-live-in/[/url]

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;407739][url]https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2013/11/08/which-of-the-11-american-nations-do-you-live-in/[/url][/QUOTE]L: None of the above.

[QUOTE=xilman;407754]L: None of the above.[/QUOTE]

Methinks the right honourable gentleman from East Tidewater doth protest too much.

o [i]Dilbert[/i] creator Scott Adams blogs on Trump and the art of persuasion, and makes a bold prediction: [url=http://blog.dilbert.com/post/126589300371/clown-genius]Clown Genius[/url]:
[quote]If you’re keeping score, in the past month Trump has bitch-slapped the entire Republican Party, redefined our expectations of politics, focused the national discussion on immigration, proposed the only new idea for handling ISIS, and taken functional control of FOX News. And I don’t think he put much effort into it. Imagine what he could do if he gave up golf.

As far as I can tell, Trump’s “crazy talk” is always in the correct direction for a skilled persuader. When Trump sets an “anchor” in your mind, it is never random. And it seems to work every time.

Now that Trump owns FOX, and I see how well his anchor trick works with the public, I’m going to predict he will be our next president. I think he will move to the center on social issues (already happening) and win against Clinton in a tight election.[/quote]

o Sometimes the article is less important than the edit notes - from the LA Times op-ed [url=www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-0811-goldberg-bernie-sanders-democrats-20150811-column.html]GOP's Trump problem will fade, but Democrats' Bernie Sanders troubles are just beginning[/url]:
[quote][i]FOR THE RECORD

An earlier version of this column said that Hillary Rodham Clinton makes five times the average American’s annual income. She makes that amount per speech.[/i][/quote]

Corrupt & Ruinous Political Dynasty Update:
[b]
HillBillary Clinton of the NYArkAtherton Clintons:
[/b]
o [url=www.nakedcapitalism.com/2015/08/hillary-clinton-how-does-your-student-loan-debt-make-you-feel-tell-us-in-3-emojis-or-less.html]“@ Hillary Clinton: How does your student loan debt make you feel? Tell us in 3 emojis or less.”[/url] | naked capitalism

[There were multiple NC readers who suggested 'three middle-finger emojis' by way of reply to this condescending invitation]

[i]"I want every hard-working parent out there to get the chance to see his or her child cross a stage — or to cross it themselves. America should be a place where those achievements are possible for anyone who’s willing to work hard to do their part."[/i]

Notice the dual points of emphasis here:

[1] 'Kodak Moment' feel-good-ishness is what it's all about, not "whether one's college education was a sound investment, justifying the multidecadal trend of such an education doubling in price roughly every 10 years, at the same time actual [url=http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/08/13/progressives-and-the-economic-inequality-in-academia/]academic tenure and salary trends are in full-blown 'race to the bottom' mode[/url] as administrative bloat, corporatist graft and the rentier model of education metastasize";

[2] "Hard-working" - As hard-working as Hillary is when she gives each of those quarter-million-dollar speeches, presumably.

Hillary's proposals need to be viewed in light of the fact that she takes big money from the banking and debt-slavery-peddling sector. At the same time she does her usual double-talking 'triangulation' BS when it comes to policy: Consider her bizarrely [url=http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/08/08/clinton-and-the-bankruptcy-law/comment-page-1/]all-over-the-map voting & advocacy history[/url] with respect to the [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bankruptcy_Reform_Act_of_2005]2005 bankruptcy reform act[/url], which - among other bank-subsidizing things - made student loan debt into 'odious debt', that is, non-dischargeable in bankruptcy. She says she 'would have voted against' the final version of the bill, but as she was the only senatorial abstainer, we'll never know. In any event, like her husband, it's clear that her only guiding 'principle' is avarice for money and power - she will say and do whatever she thinks will further her accumulation of same. We can only hope that the Team Clinton's ongoing efforts to obstruct justice in re. private-email-server-gate eventually rise to such flagrancy that even the DO(in)J will have choice but to indict, in classic Nixonian "it's less the initial crime than the ever-more-desperate attempts to cover it up" fashion.
[b]
JawjHDubya JebBush of the FlorConnTexifornia Bushes:
[/b]
o [url=www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/jeb-bushs-appalling-idea-of-a-good-deal/]Jeb Bush’s Appalling Idea of a “Good Deal”[/url] | The American Conservative

Jeb also has been trying to pin the blame for the 'cowardly withdrawal of U.S. troops from iraq' (I paraphrase) on Obama and Hillary, when it was his own unindicted-war-criminal elder brother who signed the status of forces agreement which set the timeline for said withdrawal before he left office. With warmongering complete-ignoramuses like this representing the 'serious Republican presidential candidates,' no wonder Trump is dominating the polls. He may be an own-ego-masturbating blowhard, but at least he has the faintest glimmer of a frickin' clue, rather than an invisible set of neocon/bigbiz/oligarch hands working the ventriloquist dummy's mouth, as all the 'serious' candidates do.

And more on (moron?) Jebbie, since he has done so much to deserve the odium: From 'the definition of insanity' files - in DC, in foreign policy as well as economics, proven-bad ideas never die, they simply get spun as 'no one could have foreseen' or 'the policy was correct, it simply wasn't implemented properly/with-sufficient-aggressiveness/by-me-and-my-team' by the next generation of corrupt pols:

o [url=http://www.marketwatch.com/story/jeb-bush-says-paul-wolfowitz-is-a-foreign-policy-adviser-2015-08-14]Bush Identifies Wolfowitz as Advisor[/url]: [i]Jeb Bush on Friday identified Paul Wolfowitz, one of the architects of the Iraq war, as one of his foreign-policy advisers.[/i]

[i]Mother Jones[/i] has more - 17 of 21 ashcan-of-history rescuees! Good grief:

[url=http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/05/jeb-bush-adviser-paul-wolfowitz]The Jeb Bush Adviser Who Should Scare You[/url]: [i]Paul Wolfowitz not only championed the Iraq War—he obsessively promoted a bizarre conspiracy theory[/i]

[i]In February, his campaign released a list of 21 foreign policy advisers; 17 of them served in the George W. Bush administration. And one name stood out: Paul Wolfowitz, a top policy architect of the Iraq War—for the prospect of Wolfowitz whispering into Jeb’s ear ought to scare the bejeezus out of anyone who yearns for a rational national security.[/i]

Senator Woodchuck Schumer- Animal Nuz
 

Please forgive the [URL="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/08/08/1409827/-Cartoon-Animal-Nuz-263-Shame-on-Schumer-Edition"]link to dkos[/URL]. The cartoon is four large, separate panels. It also does not appear on the Blogspot site for the comic itself.

I post it here because it involves a domestic political issue, if not quite 'electile disfunction' related. It does relate to the distortion of our political processes by pressure groups such as AIPAC.

[url]http://www.funnyordie.com/articles/3da2218436/abraham-trump-s-gettysburg-address?_cc=S5d___&_ccid=kemmre.nsham8[/url]

I got pretty close to The Donald at the Iowa St. Fair over the weekend. Could have grabbed the silly red hat kind of close. But my pork chop on a stick was more interesting.

[URL]http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/08/jeb-bush-crypto-makes-it-harder-for-the-american-government-to-do-its-job/[/URL]

:ouch2:

[QUOTE=chappy;408293][url]http://www.funnyordie.com/articles/3da2218436/abraham-trump-s-gettysburg-address?_cc=S5d___&_ccid=kemmre.nsham8[/url]

I got pretty close to The Donald at the Iowa St. Fair over the weekend. Could have grabbed the silly red hat kind of close. But my pork chop on a stick was more interesting.[/QUOTE]

Did he do the signature mouth-tube thing? I've heard it's rather awe-inspiring to see it live.

@Xyzzy: Piling on the Jeb!ster:

[url=gizmodo.com/jeb-bush-thinks-we-havent-given-the-nsa-enough-power-t-1724925017]Jeb! Bush Thinks We Haven't Given the NSA Enough Power to Spy on Us[/url] | Gizmodo

Compared to mere buffoonish blowhards like Trump, true believers like Jeb (who is also [url=http://www.ibtimes.com/election-2016-jeb-bush-got-13m-job-lehman-after-florida-shifted-pension-cash-bank-2059224]massively corrupted by money[/url]) scare me.

.

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;408388].[/QUOTE]
:davieddy: :loco::no:

Wanna bet she also thinks Africa is a country?

We assume (?) that she didn't really say that. It is still funny!

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;408390]We assume (?) that she didn't really say that. It is still funny![/QUOTE]

It certainly replicates her style. In looking for background I decided that this probably is a fake. On the bright side, I picked up an MB animated gif. Crude, but it gets the idea across. I remember a similar photo of Rick Perry stuffing a corn dog in his festering gob.

Unfortunately, or maybe fortunate for other readers, the animation is over a megabyte, so here's the [URL="http://sportshoop.la/threads/michelle-bachmann-declares-chinas-great-wall-keeps-illegal-mexicans-out.187490/#post-7044033"]link.[/URL]

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;408390]We assume (?) that she didn't really say that. It is still funny![/QUOTE]

[url]http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2015/aug/20/facebook-posts/no-michele-bachmann-did-not-say-there-are-no-illeg/[/url]

[QUOTE=Xyzzy;408388].[/QUOTE]

What isn't fully understood is the "Great Wall of China" wasn't only meant to keep people out, but also to delay those trying to escape....