Palin

[tombom]

What I do not like is all the people who hang on every word of these public figures. I mean fuck, the american media does such a chop job on interviews that seldom we see something real and it is always spun. any fast camera cut can be used to hide dialogue edits.

it#'s true/....

sarah palin stands as an idiot without needing to look at a shitty interview about it

ps not hot

[Forboding Angel]

Shes a complete fucking fool. shes pro war FFS, only in america will you get people supporting some stupid tart that wants to start a fight with Russia, a country that could and probably would, if it came to it, utterly destroy the US.
She should get out from behind her desk and go off to Iraq, see if shes still sold on the idea of war when a roadside bomb takes her arms and legs off, or her redneck son comes back home in a box?

The fact she can criticise russia for defending itself against georgia while her own country has its army, illegally in Iraq, killing people and stealing their oil using a bunch of made up weapons of mass destruction as their excuse, should set alarm bells ringing, if they haven't already, she just got her first passport in 2006, shes 44... gufawww!

Put neddie in for president or summat.

Wow. You need to lurk moar my friend.

Is the wall street journal big enough for you?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122212856075765367.html

Don't forget "lipstick on a pig...". The moment he said that he had a mental "o fuk" moment. Obama says "uh" more than anyone in recent history. Get him off that teleprompter and all of a sudden he has no idea what is going on nor what he believes.

[tombom]

Don't forget "lipstick on a pig...".

Ha, you're really fucking stupid.

[AF]

Im astounded theres an actual mini slagging off war here, you do all realize neither side is fit for presidency??

Lets take it apart point by point

McCain

A pensioner, most likely a political puppet of the republican part that was optimistic and somehow managed to gain the nominations to run for president when it turned out the competition nominees were all worse off than he was.

Obama

Everybody outside the US loves him and they don't really care what hes like because he's not bush and hes the democrat candidate. Either way I would vote for him but when I look at him I dont trust him. He reminds me of a scally in a suit, I expect him to turn around and go a'right mate and try to knock me out, I can imagine him walking around in a track suit trying to make out he's hard.

Biden

He seems respectable but there has been little attention on him and I dont know much about him, maybe this is a good thing.

Palin

An attempt to cash in on those dissapointed by Hilary Clintons failure. Voters who will vote Palin simply because she has breasts and a bit of makeup, even if she's the worst person for the job simply because it would be a statement and a landmark to have a female in that position. Either way Palin is a joke, and I would consider her a religious nut. Yous ee documentaries about the march of christendom in America with religious extremism and I believe shes a part of that and I wouldn't be surprised if mccain was in there too, we already know Mr.Bush gets visits from Pastors of these churches to advise him on a weekly basis. We've already seen Palin try to spin her way out of this like Obama did. And that's before we get into the whole Palin witchcraft blessing debacle.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/lin ... 1818133717

As for politicians, they all say um er well hmmm etc. Politicians have the added problem that they really have to think about what they're saying because its too easy to slip up. That and most politicians are not skilled in this are either.

For someone skilled in thsi art please refer to Michael Howard of the UK Conservatives in interviews with Paxman:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BklT7Qy07Is

More Paxman:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCo7qbzEX3c

Yes we outside America do watch the news and the US presidency campaigns feature prominently, along with US finances. Its amusing how American people think the rest of the world is ignorant to their internal affairs, for example the Clinton obama race had more news time than many important UK issues on the evening news, and the sub-prime crisis and its many knock on effects is in the papers everyday.

May I point out that firefox spellchecker recognises clinton but not obama.

[Pxtl]

I'm less concerned about Palin than what her selection says about McCain - I mean, despite the fact that I find her political viewpoints utterly revolting (she's a young-Earth creationist, hard-line no-exceptions right-to-lifer, book-banner, etc.), I think she's got some impressive achievements under her belt for her short political career. The trooper Wooten scandal is worrying - I mean, on the one hand the cop was a piece of work, on the other hand it looks like Palin's family was fighting dirty in a nasty divorce and brought in Palin's governor role as an abuse of power. Using the governorship to handle a personal dispute is disgusting - but of course, the news spins it as "Wooten tazed a kid, Palin's a hero for going after him and his employer" and that's all we hear, completely ignoring the nuances of the situation.

But McCain picked her not because of her suitability for the job, but because she brings some youth and energy to a tired old man's campaign, and because she's a fundy that McCain's fundy base can relate to. That says a lot more bad about McCain than it does about Palin. While Obama's inexperience is a problem, Obama wasn't picked by a politico - he was picked by the Democratic constituency. You can't point a finger at somebody and say they shouldn't have picked Obama, because that's half the Democratic party. Palin's selection, on the other hand, lands squarely on McCain's shoulders. And so you can see his decision making process, instead of an ambiguous group of primary voters.

And his decision making process is not becoming of a president - he picked the candidate that was the most exciting, not the most qualified.

Biden, while being a whore for about a million special-interest groups (both corporate and non-profit), is an experienced politician with, if you agree with his viewpoints, an impressive resume - foreign policy experience, VAWA, etc. I don't like him, but you can't say he's not qualified for the job. So Obama's VP selection says better things about him than McCain's - Obama went and picked the man who looked to be the one he thought was the right guy for the job, while McCain went and picked the woman who he thought could win him an election.

And yeah, Palin is hawt. If my wife looks half that good at 44, I'll count myself a winner.

[BaNa]

Sorry bana we are friends but you left me no choice.

P.S. Biden has a very long history of being one of the most soft-on-communism politicians in congress. I suppose if you love the Soviet Union you would love this guy, even if you're not American.

Hah :D Ownt

Still I did not bring him into the picture at all. And cmon car, show me 1 country in the world that counts and is still communistic (china isn't). You guys have got to get over the red scare.

+1 to Palin being hot

and

+1 to her politics being fucking scary

but then again, a sizable chunk of the US voter base has those same scary views. These interviews stood out for me because they sort of capture the raw gaping void that is her intellect.

oh and AF:

He reminds me of a scally in a suit, I expect him to turn around and go a'right mate and try to knock me out, I can imagine him walking around in a track suit trying to make out he's hard.

>_>

[Peet]

And cmon car, show me 1 country in the world that counts and is still communistic (china isn't). You guys have got to get over the red scare.

North Korea, Cuba, Laos, Vietnam

[smoth]

redneck

rednecks only exist in the US south steve.
Hillbillies are in the states like Tennessee and Arkansas

Alaska is well, Alaska.

people say that she is scary I keep trying to tell you guys she is a fundie. That doesn't mean money it means fundamentalist christian. Again, I still find Biden just as scary for other reasons.

also bana I don't think the right-wing nut jobs give a shit about hungary, really they don't. The care about those sand n*ggers, blacks and "those damn chinese." Russia is largely seen as broken and shattered to them. If anything they would go to war with IRAN.

I like how you guys in other countries think you know americans. I wonder, if I wasn't in the thread would you merely start saying we are all warmongering christians. I have heard it before from people when I was on my trip to europe.

[Pxtl]

And cmon car, show me 1 country in the world that counts and is still communistic (china isn't). You guys have got to get over the red scare.

North Korea, Cuba, Laos, Vietnam

Emphasis mine. North Korea matters since Il's got nukes... but Cuba, Laos, and Vietnam? When was the last time you heard anything (other than posturing from Cuba) about any of those countries? Laos and Vietnam have been loosening their hard-line communist policies since the '80s, following China's successful path from totalitarian communism into fascism (albeit with less success), which will hopefully eventually lead to a free democracy.

edit: as for the Palin/McCain ticket, I'm utterly baffled that anybody could vote for a Republican right now, seeing the last 8 years and the economic nightmare it's shaping up to be.

I mean, I could totally understand supporting a guy like McCain back in 2000 - but now? He's a pathetic, cynical, toady version of the man he used to be, and has tied himself to a group of vultures that have done a spectacularly bad job running the country. The only reason I could see voting for him is being American Taliban fundamentalist guy who hates the idea of anything that doesn't conform to their twisted view of Christianity. I mean, I understand the other Republican ideals of hard-line, shoot-the bastards justice and military combined with libertarian economic policies... but the current cadre of Republicans has so utterly failed at properly applying those latter policies that it seems like the party should be abandoned on principle. The only thing the current batch seems successful at is fundamentalism, and McCain has spent the last 8 years sucking up to this batch and is using the same losers for his plans.

[smoth]

actually mccain has pissed off the hardline republicans to the point that bill clinton supports him.

[Pxtl]

actually mccain has pissed off the hardline republicans to the point that bill clinton supports him.

Oh, I know that. It's not like they're gonna vote Obama, though, right?

I mean, my point is that the Republicans have two platforms - religion and conservatism, and they've failed at everything conservatism stands for. So unless you're crazy-religious enough for it to be your sole voting criteria, why support them? If McCain had sufficiently distanced himself from the people responsible for the failures (something he's trying to do, but scratch the surface and you realize it's meet-the-new-boss-same-as-the-old-boss) then he'd be passable, but his political compromises through the Bush term and leading into this election have lost him that "Maverick" image he had back when he was running against GWB.

[smoth]

That is the thing Mccain is a moderate, Obama kinda is to. Now their vice presidents, that is another story. Ultimately I don't like the idea that Mccain is likely to die leaving Palin and Obama likely would get assasinated leaving that damned Biden. Liberal politics are just as bad as conservatives, they want to take away rights and force us to financially cover the lazy and failures of our society. On the other hand the conservatives do like to hardline the religious angle.

I think both MCCain and Obama are full of shit and I hate both their VPs. I might not even vote this time. My state always votes republican anyway. in before one vote... ELECTORAL COLLEGE.

[BaNa]

And cmon car, show me 1 country in the world that counts and is still communistic (china isn't). You guys have got to get over the red scare.

North Korea, Cuba, Laos, Vietnam

which of these counts?

[smoth]

North Korea, we are still in an indefinite cease fire with them.

[Sleksa]

I like how you guys in other countries think you know americans

Its not like the USA is a walled up enigma of a country like soviet union once was.

Iltasanomat (a large newspaper in finland) Is covering the US elections with as much publicity as finnish county elections
http://iltasanomat.fi/uutiset/t/usavaalit/
Scrolling down you can see dozens of articles written about the upcoming elections in the usa.

I wonder, if I wasn't in the thread would you merely start saying we are all warmongering christians. I have heard it before from people when I was on my trip to europe.

Need i recite the past wars waged/being currently waged by usa again?
Also dont you think the europeans wouldnt regard you as warmongering fundamentalists if there was no basis for such assumptions?

North Korea, Cuba, Laos, Vietnam..

North korea: Dictatorship
Cuba : socialist
Laos: ???
Vietnam: socialist

Emphasis mine. North Korea matters since Il's got nukes

. . . not?

people say that she is scary I keep trying to tell you guys she is a fundie. That doesn't mean money it means fundamentalist christian.

Fundamentalist christian = scary shit

[BaNa]

Liberal politics are just as bad as conservatives, they want to take away rights and force us to financially cover the lazy and failures of our society.

you do know that the republicans tend to spend more than the dems (leading to bigger deficits), right?

I don't really understand what you mean by liberal, smoth. Being liberal just means you keep the individuals rights in focus. Laissez-faire and abortion, dontherknow? What has that got to do with redistribution. I think the word you are looking for is social-democrat, but AFAIK in the US calling someone anything "social" is like screaming murder.

[Forboding Angel]

you do know that the republicans tend to spend more than the dems (leading to bigger deficits), right?

I don't really understand what you mean by liberal, smoth. Being liberal just means you keep the individuals rights in focus. Laissez-faire and abortion, dontherknow? What has that got to do with redistribution. I think the word you are looking for is social-democrat, but AFAIK in the US calling someone anything "social" is like screaming murder.

According to whose unbiased data? First 6 years of bush's terms were horrible on the part of the repubicans that were in congress. A freaking disgrace tbh. However, previous to that it was pretty much the opposite. The current democrat congress has accomplished nothing since they were elected.

Your second paragraph proves that you know nothing about US politics. Sorry. A liberal is a hardcore left wing socalist (in the US, they also are comprised of mostly the dregs of society). "Liberal" doesn't mean the same thing outside of this country as it does inside.

Socialism works very well in little itty bitty ass countries (see germany, england, etc blah blah), in large ones it fails miserably.

Ha, you're really fucking stupid.

You realize that violence makes me totally hot for you right?

[Pxtl]

"Sorry. A liberal is a hardcore left wing socalist (in the US, they also are comprised of mostly the dregs of society). "Liberal" doesn't mean the same thing outside of this country as it does inside."

That definition was invented by Rush Limbaugh, and just might be the stupidest thing I've ever seen come out of American politics. Look, it's not that hard - right across the northern border you've got a country where the centrist/left part is called the Liberal party - how hard is it to grasp that Liberal just means left-wing, just like conservative just means right-wing? Why is this such a strange concept?

Although I'll agree that providing social services (or Socialism, in the American conservative perversion of the English language) to a country as sprawled as the USA is much more challenging than nations that are highly urbanized (size doesn't matter, urbanization does - again, look at Canada).

Also:




Obviously, the colouring is by presidency and not congressional or senate control... but still. Seriously, the choice isn't between "fiscal conservatives" and "tax and spend liberals" but "treasury looters" and "tax and spend liberals".

[Jasper1984]

P.S. Biden has a very long history of being one of the most soft-on-communism politicians in congress. I suppose if you love the Soviet Union you would love this guy, even if you're not American.

The soviet union is not communistic anymore. And the republicans are only going to bring more idiotic wars to 'fix' states. Also, maybe soft-on-communism would have prevented the cold war, did anyone even try diplomacy?

North Korea, Cuba, Laos, Vietnam

And you think aggression is going to solve this? China seems to going roughly the right direction currently. (Compare to when Mao was in charge!) The Soviet union eventually disintegrated itself, it seems, although some US-aided conflicts might have helped this. Being soft works, aggression effectively only got half a Korea, a nudge, and a world rigged to explode.

As for Palin.. No good reasons given for choosing her afaik. She must have been chosen to increase the republicans chances. This is a bad bad reason.. You are voting for them the run the country!
If i had to choose between McCain and Obama, the latter would win. McCain seems to have lost a lot of sharpness, and seems simply too old. Where is Spain? Putin is president of Germany? and Czechoslovakia doesnt exist (since 1989) His projected path seems in line with what Bush failed with. Idiot ideas about science/education.
The American people needs to learn to focus on the public debate rather then the mud. Both parties have done some lame things in campaigning, it is somewhat considered necessary. It seems, though, that Obamas campaign does try to focus on the public debate more. Also, i feel that democrats are more diplomatic there is no reason at all for that there should be bad relations with Venezuela, for instance.
IMO there is also plenty to be done beside the crisisses, public image, the wars and normal affairs of state. Corporations need to have less influence on democracy, the presidency is OP, congress is focussed too little on, and elected positions are elected too indirectly. It needs to be easier to make third parties.

Don't forget "lipstick on a pig...".

Taken out of context.. Go find out what the pig is and what the lipstick.

Obama says "uh" more than anyone in recent history. Get him off that teleprompter and all of a sudden he has no idea what is going on nor what he believes.

If he used a teleprompter, he wouldnt have to say 'uh'. And saying 'uh' is not even bad, as long as he answers questions. I am sure he uses politician question avoidance and delaying tricks as others do, though.

Oh, yeah, don't be stupid and chose someone because he/she is a woman/black/blue/purple/a five-year-old, goddammit.

Socialism works very well in little itty bitty ass countries (see germany, england, etc blah blah), in large ones it fails miserably.

Those are not socialistic. Their markets are fully based on capitalism, they just ask a lot of tax for education, healthcare, etc. German population 82,2M, Britain population 58M(England is officially a province!), French population 64.5M These are not small countries, hmmkey? I live in The Netherlands, and i think the idea of asking for enough tax for universal education up to the highest level for people able to do so, healthcare, buffer/help for getting work after unemployment are good ideas, although i would like to see more clarity how it is spend exactly.

[smoth]

currently waged by usa again?
Also dont you think the europeans wouldnt regard you as warmongering fundamentalists if there was no basis for such assumptions?

I think it is a convenient excuse to be petty and bigots. I think it is a closed minded and very shallow view yes. Do I think they have any basis or grounds for it FUCK no. I like how most people who rail on the US for it's history choose to ignore the history of the EU and all of it's atrocities. I am sure that what little I do know is only scratching the surface.

you do know that the republicans tend to spend more than the dems (leading to bigger deficits), right?

Again, assuming I don't know what is going on in my own country.

What has that got to do with redistribution. I think the word you are looking for is social-democrat, but AFAIK in the US calling someone anything "social" is like screaming murder.

Well AFAYK is incorrect but good to know you completely generalized us. Also, no maybe in some other countries social systems are larger but here in America independence also refers to personal affairs and many Americas feel that you should take care of yourself rather than have to take care of others. Other Americans believe that if you are doing well you should share whatever excess. Others believe there should be no wealth and all people should be given things equally with no rewards or penalties based on success.

This country is large and diverse with many different cultures and people. To simply classify us are a bunch of warmongering christians is an insult to the world population. At my work place I want to say that half of the people are indian or chinese, some are black others are white from other countries. Yet we are all citizens even if many of the people here are first generation citizens. It is the fact that I can mix and learn about cultures that makes this country great to me.

I remember what I saw in europe a bunch of ethnocentric pricks who treated anyone not from their country with hateful disdain(not just americans) oh wait that was just france, Italy was filled with polite and accepting people no matter where I went I found people willing to even speak to me in english or teach me a few words. Anyway, if I had stayed on my line of thought that I had from meeting a few french people and judged all of the EU by them, well I would be as bad as you guys.

You make me ashamed to know you online.