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[Casiella]

As mentioned above: there are non-economic social reasons to prefer one candidate over the other. Those reasons can't be as easily discounted because they affect real human suffering and potential.

[Reyd Karris]

As a Republican, I have to say this:

I prefer Obama. Not because he does everything right, but because Romney isn't a better option. I'm also not of the illusion that every problem occurring in the U.S. is one man's fault.

Logic and reason left both parties after '08, when they realized they could appeal to the lowest common denominator and win through social media and memes over actually doing a better job at running the U.S. or educating their voter base on what was really at stake.

To quote the best movie ever made:
I don't want to live on this world... let's go play some football!

[Saede Riordan]

Honestly at this point, it really doesn't matter who wins. Mitt Romney is a Captain Planet villain, his running mate is Scrooge McDuck, Obama has shown repeatedly to be weak willed, and just be a walking banner for all the problems with the democrats. Frankly, we're fucked either way. The corporations win, the banks win, the citizens lose. We're all distracted with social issues which in the long run don't really mean anything. I'm a lesbian, I support gay rights obviously, but the amount of people frothing at the mouth over chick fil a is just outright silly. Don't get me wrong, the social issues are important, but they won't really mean much if everyone is living in tent cities anyway. Dealing with social issues at all is a luxury that we as a culture just cannot afford right now, and all it does is distract us from the real problems with the nation. I'll bet anything that within 5 years, the gays will have won their rights and the republicans will have immediately jumped onto the back of a different minority group. Because as long as social issues sit at the forefront, it distracts people away from the real problems, keeps them polarized and divided and fighting amongst themselves, and overall, in the long run, will mean very little.

[Lyn Farel]

What are the real problems ?

[Saede Riordan]

What are the real problems ?

wage slavery, a declining middle class, banks that do nothing but extract money from the populace using fees and interest, less and less opportunities for advancement, the 14 trillion dollar deficit, the fact that paying off that deficit would bankrupt the country. Rampant pollution and climate destruction, an utterly broken education system dedicated to teaching people what to think, not how to think, the fact that the two party system has set itself up in such a way as to ensure that a 3rd party candidate won't have a chance, corporate control of the media, corporate control of the politics to far to great a degree, rampant debt and loss on the part of the middle class, a collegiate system that takes your money but leaves you with few opportunities in the current cultural climate, disdain for the arts and science, growing dangerous versions of fundamentalism, shall I go on?

[orange]

I would suggest list form next time - you repeated some items.   



Saede listed many things that some of us have already been discussing.

• Wage Depreciation
• Growth of Global Megacorporations
• Mismanaged Educational System*
• Lack of Political Options $
• 24-hour Entertainment News Channels $
• Highly monetized Political Campaigning $
• Culture of Consumption
• Willful Ignorance

$ - highly interrelated
* - repairing may help resolve some of the other issues mentioned

[Casiella]

All of those things matter, no doubt, but that doesn't mean the other things don't also matter.

[Saede Riordan]

Oh I agree with that Cassie, it absolutely matters, but it is being focused on as a way to hide all those structural issues, people are concerned about fried chicken while the foundations of their lives crumble around them.

[Nmaro Makari]

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/08/14/paul-ryan-mitt-romneys-running-mate-attacks-nhs_n_1774738.html?utm_hp_ref=uk-politics&utm_hp_ref=uk

Huh, so this is what it's like when someone you've never met, who's probably never been to your country, let alone used it's facilities, and cherry picks his facts from the wikipedia controversy section makes a sweeping statement and insults your Country and it's institutions. I think I should just take the opportunity to apologise if I've ever been guilty of that.

[Reyd Karris]

Don't worry; it'll get worse before it gets better.

 

[orange]

For some levity.

Yes, they are all articles from TheOnion.

[Silas Vitalia]

Let's not forget the VP choice in American politics is pretty much irrelevant.  At the very best it grants you a small advantage in the VP's home state.

It's the smart choice  to try and pick up a few contested states in the midwest, things like Wisconsin, etc.   


Long story short none of the other VP candidates were going to help him much, and I'm pretty sure a few outright refused and instead will make a play in 2016, rightly assuming Romney will probably lose. Current prognostication is it will be close but bearing any disastrous events (Israel/Iran war, new recession, Obama will eke it out)  People like Rubio, Christie (perhaps for VP slot), and even Jeb Bush are staying way the hell away from this one and trying next go-around.

 

[Tiberious Thessalonia]

Hilariously, they kept poking at Condi Rice even though she said, explicitly, that she had absolutely no interest whatsoever in the VP slot.

[Casiella]

More than that, she's got no interest in politics. I heard an interview with her where she talks about getting up in the morning, making her coffee, opening the newspaper, saying "oh that's interesting..." and then turning the page because she doesn't have to do anything about it.

I would imagine that, after many years in government, that's a welcome change.

[Casiella]

Also: FiveThirtyEight currently gives President Obama ~70% chance at winning re-election, and his model right now projects a 300-238 Electoral College victory. OTOH, he also projects a 51-48 split in the popular vote.

Maybe this will convince conservatives that getting rid of the Electoral College is a good idea.