US Politics Mega-thread - Page 2478
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Read the rules in the OP before posting, please. In order to ensure that this thread continues to meet TL standards and follows the proper guidelines, we will be enforcing the rules in the OP more strictly. Be sure to give them a re-read to refresh your memory! The vast majority of you are contributing in a healthy way, keep it up! NOTE: When providing a source, explain why you feel it is relevant and what purpose it adds to the discussion if it's not obvious. Also take note that unsubstantiated tweets/posts meant only to rekindle old arguments can result in a mod action. | ||
Belisarius
Australia6231 Posts
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KlaCkoN
Sweden1661 Posts
On November 03 2015 10:30 ticklishmusic wrote: Oh the irony. + Show Spoiler + I can go into my temp ban in peace now (I'll be requesting a ban at the end of today for personal reasons, but I want to browse until I go to bed). Yo KwarK, who was notes actually? It says he was a PBU in the ban list. He sounded like bookwyrm. | ||
IgnE
United States7681 Posts
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KwarK
United States42738 Posts
I guess I might feel differently if he'd already qualified to be in the debate but this is a guy who across dozens of polls has managed to get 1% in just two of them. The policy of "get 1% three times before the debate" was badly worded, there has to be a cutoff short of running in in the opening statements shouting "I OBJECT" while waving the third poll. It sucks that the cutoff was established in a way that renders it impossible for him to qualify but let's be honest, the main reason he isn't qualified to speak in the Democratic debate is that the Democratic voters, when polled, don't want him there. This isn't a death sentence to democracy. If he'd actually been able to muster some of his party to support him he could speak at his party debates, but he wasn't so he couldn't. | ||
Karis Vas Ryaar
United States4396 Posts
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GreenHorizons
United States23241 Posts
The particulars around Lessig are in my view a distraction from the obvious issue of the DNC intentionally rigging the debate planning to favor HRC. Which takes little imagination starting from the point that the chair of the DNC is a former campaign adviser for HRC. The specific danger Lessig presented to HRC was he isn't beholden to the Democratic establishment power structure the way even a candidate like Sanders is. He could of put in stark contrast Hillary's position on campaign finance reform and Bernie Sanders (or his own) in a way that Bernie couldn't without upsetting people he will need to support him in a presidential run. Lessig wasn't pushed out because of his potential to poll well, he was pushed out because he could of called out on a national stage some of the dirty laundry HRC would like to keep out of the headlines. Whether this specific issue was a direct attempt to push him out at the last minute is largely irrelevant. On November 03 2015 12:52 Karis Vas Ryaar wrote: anyone know how much of the african American vote carson would poll in the general election? I'm curious ~the same as any republican candidate. | ||
IgnE
United States7681 Posts
Democracy is ailing because someone like Lessig can't even get on stage to get more national exposure. He would probably be on stage with a different party/electoral system instead of the corrupt Hillary Machine that we have now. | ||
zlefin
United States7689 Posts
I could easily design a fix for social security, the health system, immigration, and the tax code. The hard part is coming up with one people will agree to. So what has Lessig accomplished? | ||
IgnE
United States7681 Posts
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ticklishmusic
United States15977 Posts
I can see why the DNC, which is trying to find a strong candidate who actually wants the candidacy, would be motivated to excluding him. But I also think their 1% threshold is perfectly reasonable. I'd much rather see Hillary and Bernie discuss and debate policy rather than some Harvard professor spout off about his pet cause. He would be basically a legitimized heckler. This is the presidential debate, not the democratic sit around and discuss policy debate. | ||
IgnE
United States7681 Posts
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zlefin
United States7689 Posts
On November 03 2015 13:28 IgnE wrote: That's a dumb question. We don't and won't know whether people would have agreed with his ideas because he will never get national exposure now. you are wrong. It's a good question. Good ideas are a dime a dozen, it's people who can implement them that are rare. There's no shortage of ideas; we already know how to write legislation that would address the major issues, as the problems have been analyzed plenty. And for someone who seems to like this candidate, you're refusing to actually provide us any info on him. If you care so much, tell us more about his plans so we can judge for ourselves, instead of just being snippy about it. | ||
{CC}StealthBlue
United States41117 Posts
TransCanada, the company applying to build the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline that is designed to run from Alberta, Canada, to the Gulf of Mexico, has suspended its U.S. permit application while it works with authorities to gain approval for its preferred route through Nebraska. TransCanada has asked the State Department to pause its review of the application to build the project, the Associated Press reports. Source | ||
IgnE
United States7681 Posts
On November 03 2015 13:39 zlefin wrote: you are wrong. It's a good question. Good ideas are a dime a dozen, it's people who can implement them that are rare. There's no shortage of ideas; we already know how to write legislation that would address the major issues, as the problems have been analyzed plenty. And for someone who seems to like this candidate, you're refusing to actually provide us any info on him. If you care so much, tell us more about his plans so we can judge for ourselves, instead of just being snippy about it. As if someone who spent his life seriously thinking about problems as a law professor at the nation's top universities should be penalized for not being a politician. Let's say Lessig became President. Do you think he would have a harder time "getting things done" than Obama or ANY of the other candidates? | ||
{CC}StealthBlue
United States41117 Posts
Jeb Bush's attempt to stabilize his tailspinning presidential campaign began Monday in a Tampa auditorium with a retooled stump speech and an unlikely pitch to Florida voters: Remember me? The moves to shore up a once taken-for-granted home base has left Florida GOP insiders in disbelief — their formerly sure-footed governor is fighting for relevancy on turf he's supposed to own. It's a sign, they say, of how far he's fallen in the presidential pecking order. He's trailing badly in polls of critical early-voting states like Iowa and New Hampshire, he's mired in single digits in national polls, he's polling way behind Donald Trump in Florida and he's racing to stem anxiety of donors. Another depressing statistic: only 46 percent of the Republicans who voted for Bush in his 2002 reelection are on the rolls. "To be blunt, a whole lot of people who voted for Jeb are dead," said Alex Patton, a Florida Republican strategist. "Even though Jeb was a great conservative governor, there’s a whole lot of people who know or remember nothing about it." Thus, Bush's comeback tour kicked off with a speech heavy on nostalgia for his eight years as governor, which ended in 2007. And it doubles as a book tour, promoting Bush's new tome "Reply All," based on decade-old email correspondences with aides and constituents during his time at the Florida governor's mansion. At the event, Bush regaled a receptive crowd with the minutiae of his tenure, from helping an elderly woman get a raccoon out of her attic to his 2,500 line-item vetoes of the Florida budget. Monday's event, the first of three Florida stops billed as the launch of his "Jeb Can Fix It" campaign tour, was crammed with rosy reminiscing about the Bush era in Florida. Supporters were led in a call-and-response chant describing different parts of the state as "Jeb Country." Attorney General Pam Bondi fondly recalled her days as a prosecutor during Bush's governorship, and she remembered his leadership "in the eye of a hurricane," a reference to Bush's much touted stewardship of the state through natural disasters. Quickly, #JebCanFixIt started trending on Twitter, but not necessarily in a good way. Memes started popping up, mocking the slogan, accompanied by tweets such as "BREAKING! @JebBush quits #GOP race, signs deal with @hgtv for new reality show: #JebCanFixIt!" and "The 2000 US Presidential election. #JebCanFixIt" Even beyond the unfortunate side effects of the slogan, some Florida Republicans say his new pitch is a tough one to sell. Source | ||
zlefin
United States7689 Posts
On November 03 2015 13:49 IgnE wrote: As if someone who spent his life seriously thinking about problems as a law professor at the nation's top universities should be penalized for not being a politician. Let's say Lessig became President. Do you think he would have a harder time "getting things done" than Obama or ANY of the other candidates? It's hard to say, since you seem more interested in venting than in actually telling us about his plans, or his accomplishments, and I don't know of them myself. Nothing wrong with venting of course. | ||
IgnE
United States7681 Posts
To go back to a point we were discussing earlier in this thread: Lessig would have been the most intelligent candidate on the debate stage from either party if he hadn't been shut out. If I had a criticism of him it would be that his time at Stanford has probably made him softer on the tech industry than I would like, and he doesn't seem to have the economic agenda of Sanders. | ||
Yoav
United States1874 Posts
As a R primary voter, you get to choose between at least five different ideological camps, with multiple representatives and blendings, attached to different personalities. The D debate has two people who are both pretty similar on the issues, but one is political royalty with a history of scandal and the other is a political insurgent currently running at about half the numbers of the frontrunner. I mean, I get that everybody thinks it's Hillary's "turn", but seriously, you gotta have a real debate. Yes, the R debate is likely to boil down to moderate vs. extremist like the D debate, and yes, the moderate will probably win. But at least the R's get to pick whether the establishment candidate is a moderate like Kasich or Bush or a mainstream R like Walker or Rubio, while they get to pick if the extremist is of the evangelical variety (Huck or Carson), the tea party variety (Cruz), the libertarian variety (Paul), or the general asshole variety (Trump). They've already basically chosen to not go moderate, kick out the libertarians, and there will be more weaning in the future. I may disagree with those choices. I do, in point of fact. But choices are being made! Democracy is happening. If only the general election looked more like the R primary. | ||
IgnE
United States7681 Posts
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ticklishmusic
United States15977 Posts
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