The Joke that is the Republican Field...

[rareboy]

to this:

There's no question that the election agenda is set by the interests that benefit the most.

We have enjoyed watching as Stewart and Colbert try to get the other candidates out in front of the viewing audience, but america is addicted to dysfunctional like a wino to Thunderbird.

At the end of the day, it may yet be a sleeper who gets chosen to lose to Obama.

At this point though, the GOP/RNC cabal know that they will lose the moderate vote to the incumbent president if they push one of the quiet, nice guys forward.

The Republicans aren't really known for this approach.

 

[palemale]

I refer to a group of people who espouse the idea that the wealth should be broken up from the top and dispersed to them because their life sucks really bad.

This is s rather silly statement about what OWS and their supporters espouse. This is a "straw man" argument one would likely hear from some over-the-hill, dead-end tea bagger.

OWS is demonstrating against a corrupt system that concentrates wealth in the hands of the very few who have used their wealth and influence to legally bribe the government to do their bidding. They advocating more just government policies that will benefit all of the people and further the common good. That's a more fair characterization of what they are after.

 

[JayHawk]

Pale male I know that it is chaffing but i do enjoy throwing bricks every once in a while just to see the breath holding and leg kicking tantrums that ensue. It was meant to piss ya off if you support the ideas of the OWS.

Yet I do find it ironic that OWS espouses these ideas (Of which i agree with the idea of a fair tax code) and then tells those without anything who show up to their camps that they need to do something or stop taking from the collective. I actually agree with that as well. You should be required to do something for anything that is handed to you for free.

Oh and how is this a straw man argument? Please explain me through my ignorance. I thought OWS was for a fair tax code to get more out of the hands of the rich AND deliver that via taxes to the whole. I also saw in NYC where they complain that the homeless are taking their food and supplies and not doing anything. But hey i am wrong about everyday on different things.... learn me up.....

 

[Kulindahr]

It's sad that the one candidate who has an actual record of fighting the growth of government is left out of the debates -- Gary Johnson.

Though the biggest strike against all the Republican candidates is they have no problem with the idea of corporations having political rights.


As for the Occupy people and the homeless, I haven't heard anything where they say someone has to bring anything, only that they shouldn't be coming to get fed if they're not going to participate.

 

[quasar]

...His religion should not be a relevant issue at all, and I don't believe it will be to any but the most intolerant of evangelical voters.

Whilst I agree that one's religion shouldn't necessarily be a relevant issue, I'd personally be very wary of any politician that is 'fanatical' about religion. In the case of the US, you only have to look at gay issues to see how religion is capable of hampering progress. I wouldn't want to be represented by someone who turns to religion as part of his/her decision making process.

As for the Republican candidate field, you'd think that if Obama was as bad as some would paint him, it would be easy to pick a 'winner' capable of running against him. The sheer number of candidates and the constant dropping out and entering of candidates gives the impression (to this outsider) that the Republicans are running around like headless chickens without a clue. They are helping the Democrats more than the Democrats are helping themselves.

 

[rareboy]

It seems in the US though, that ever since the days of McCarthy and brought to fruition by Falwell's 'moral majority', American politicians can't shut the fuck up about their special relationship with the god of the Old testament while evangelizing for Christ.

It is all chicanery when it isn't frighteningly sincere. It is why I see absolutely no difference between Bachmann or Santorum and Mullah Omar.

The fundamentalists want a theocracy. They believe in the End Times.

At the moment though, the weakness of the Republican field actually poses an existential threat to the safety of the incumbent. In order for there to be at least the appearance of a legitimate contest in 2012, it has to be Romney or Huntsman on the ticket....with no batshit crazy stupid VP candidate.

Because if it ever gets to the point where the GOP supporters figure out that the only way to get into the White House in 2012 is to be running some weak nutjob Christo-fanatic candidate against Joe Biden, it could very well be the scariest year in US politics.

 

[BostonPirate]

As far as I'm conerned, the nation is in limbo, until the tax code is fixed and revenue is increased.

nothing else can be taken seriously until that is addressed