Happy Birthday Barack

[SAM_Hard8 50]

and you always call yourself a proud and loyal american. ripping and hating your president is probably the most unamerican thing you can do. now make a quirky comeback because you're too dumb to make a real argument, like you always do.

LOLRipping and disliking your President is very American.

[Pot Odds RAC 23]

do you think right before you make a post on politics, "i'm going to try to look as dumb and foolish as possible."? because if so, you're doing a great job. keep it up.and i looked at pics of obama when he was elected and today, and it looks like hes aged 10 years. aint easy running a country with the us and global economy in its current state. and its even harder with dumb ass republicans like balloon guy twisting anything he does into socialism or comparing him to hitler, which im sure you've called him balloon.

Seriously?Were you actually alive during the Bush/Cheney Presidency (Much less Bush/Quayle)? Did you hear how the Liberals and media spoke of our president and VP? Seriously? It ain't easy running this Country? Really? You're telling me you NEVER called Bush stupid (or worse) during his Presidency, you waited - like a good American - until after he was out of office to ridicule him. I'll call BS on that.

[CaneBrain 95]

Wow you say that others don't understand American politics, this post shows that you don't have a clue.All republican that I now had to hold their noses to vote for McCain. Only reason he did as well as he did was because he picked a true conservative (although wacky one) for a running mate.Conservatives stayed home in droves last election. They had nothing to vote for. A true conservative may not have won but it would have been a damn sight closer election.

Still PATIENTLY waiting to hear who would have done better in 2008 than McCain. And who will be this new, great candidate in 2012. Any day now....

[SAM_Hard8 50]

Still PATIENTLY waiting to hear who would have done better in 2008 than McCain. And who will be this new, great candidate in 2012. Any day now....

The bottom line was no good candidate was going to put their neck on the chopping block last election. So we got what we got. For 2012 we can start with my own Governor Mitch Daniels. We could put a AA of our own out there, JC Watts. The background is full of strong conservatives. Heck even Newt can get out there.

[CaneBrain 95]

The bottom line was no good candidate was going to put their neck on the chopping block last election. So we got what we got. For 2012 we can start with my own Governor Mitch Daniels. We could put a AA of our own out there, JC Watts. The background is full of strong conservatives. Heck even Newt can get out there.

I have never heard of Mitch Daniels. That's a bad start. Ditto JC Watts. Newt is an interesting idea but talk about a guy with accumulated baggage. If that's the best the GOP has, I feel good about my bet with akoff.Glad to hear someone admit that 2008 was a lost cause. Frankly, only a fairly popular centrist like McCain was going to keep it from being a blowout.

[mk 11]

Some really bad posts in this thread. Good work, guys.

post #2 in the thread should've been:lock this shitttt up

[SAM_Hard8 50]

I have never heard of Mitch Daniels. That's a bad start. Ditto JC Watts. Newt is an interesting idea but talk about a guy with accumulated baggage. If that's the best the GOP has, I feel good about my bet with akoff.Glad to hear someone admit that 2008 was a lost cause. Frankly, only a fairly popular centrist like McCain was going to keep it from being a blowout.

Not being known can be a good thing, ask Jimmie Carter.I totally disagree on your last statement.

[SAM_Hard8 50]

post #2 in the thread should've been:lock this shitttt up

Why, I can't wish the president a happy birthday?

[CaneBrain 95]

Not being known can be a good thing, ask Jimmie Carter.I totally disagree on your last statement.

Who do you think would have done better in 2008?

[speedz99 145]

Wow you say that others don't understand American politics, this post shows that you don't have a clue.All republican that I now had to hold their noses to vote for McCain. Only reason he did as well as he did was because he picked a true conservative (although wacky one) for a running mate.Conservatives stayed home in droves last election. They had nothing to vote for. A true conservative may not have won but it would have been a damn sight closer election.

Sigh. What do you think I don't understand? Of course McCain isn't conservative and many Republicans didn't enjoy voting for him. And of course some conservatives stayed home, although it wasn't as many as you think. But you're drastically underestimating how badly a true conservative would have been stomped. Why the fuck do you think that the party ran McCain in the first place? They knew running a non-republican republican was the only shot they had, even though that was still a long shot. Polls taken during before the primaries were very, very clear about who the Republicans had to run and how they had to run him. Welcome to extremely old news that you somehow missed.I don't see how anyone with a brain doesn't understand that.Edit: Actually, I do see how someone might not understand that. But that someone would have to be an extraordinarily hard-headed conservative with no clue about the pulse of the country outside his (or her!) point of view.

[Naked_Cowboy 0]

being conservative has nothing to do with it. They just are not good candidates. There is no one exciting (like Obama was anyway). Just name a guy you think would make a good candidate. Even better, name someone you feel would have done better than McCain in 2008.Conservatives have had lots of good candidates over the years.....they just don't now....and it is not that they are "unelectable" it is that being the incumbent is a huge advantage and the GOP lacks star power outside Palin who has uber-baggage.

Vote NakedCowboy in 2020

[CaneBrain 95]

Vote NakedCowboy in 2020

GOP could do a lot worse. Promise you will use baby Rickles as a prop?Damn, he will be all growed up by 2020. Forget it.

[Naked_Cowboy 0]

GOP could do a lot worse. Promise you will use baby Rickles as a prop?Damn, he will be all growed up by 2020. Forget it.

I can have more babies. As previously noted, I'm dangerously fertile.I would think i'd be a republican a lot of democrats could get on board with. Despite my Christianity and conservative views, I don't think the federal government should be legislating morality. If california wants to have gay-only marriages and drugs on every street corner or whatever, they're welcome to it. I think it's wrong, but the federal government shouldn't be applying broad homegenous laws or social policy to a huge country whose success is built upon a diversity of people, ideas and cultures. I mean, if I let the hippies do whatever they want to themselves and each other, how pissed could they possibly be about how I try to streamline the government and improve the economy?

[CaneBrain 95]

I can have more babies. As previously noted, I'm dangerously fertile.I would think i'd be a republican a lot of democrats could get on board with. Despite my Christianity and conservative views, I don't think the federal government should be legislating morality. If california wants to have gay-only marriages and drugs on every street corner or whatever, they're welcome to it. I think it's wrong, but the federal government shouldn't be applying broad homegenous laws or social policy to a huge country whose success is built upon a diversity of people, ideas and cultures. I mean, if I let the hippies do whatever they want to themselves and each other, how pissed could they possibly be about how I try to streamline the government and improve the economy?

I would love this of course but didn't you just lose the primary? Getting a GOPer like that through a primary is a problem. Look at poor McCain pretending he is not a maverick anymore. It is sad.

[CaneBrain 95]

I can have more babies. As previously noted, I'm dangerously fertile.I would think i'd be a republican a lot of democrats could get on board with. Despite my Christianity and conservative views, I don't think the federal government should be legislating morality. If california wants to have gay-only marriages and drugs on every street corner or whatever, they're welcome to it. I think it's wrong, but the federal government shouldn't be applying broad homegenous laws or social policy to a huge country whose success is built upon a diversity of people, ideas and cultures. I mean, if I let the hippies do whatever they want to themselves and each other, how pissed could they possibly be about how I try to streamline the government and improve the economy?

I would love this of course but didn't you just lose the primary? Getting a GOPer like that through a primary is a problem. Look at poor McCain pretending he is not a maverick anymore. It is sad.

[speedz99 145]

I mean, if I let the hippies do whatever they want to themselves and each other, how pissed could they possibly be about how I try to streamline the government and improve the economy?

That sounds pretty good, the only problem is what is done to streamline the government and improve the economy. The priorities of what to cut differ greatly across the line, right? As with most things, I'm somewhere in the middle, I guess.

[DrawingDeadInDM 0]

I have never heard of Mitch Daniels. That's a bad start. Ditto JC Watts. Newt is an interesting idea but talk about a guy with accumulated baggage. If that's the best the GOP has, I feel good about my bet with akoff.Glad to hear someone admit that 2008 was a lost cause. Frankly, only a fairly popular centrist like McCain was going to keep it from being a blowout.

Never heard of Mitch Daniels but I know that JC Watts is a pretty prominent, popular, black, (former?) senator from Oklahoma.

[Naked_Cowboy 0]

That sounds pretty good, the only problem is what is done to streamline the government and improve the economy. The priorities of what to cut differ greatly across the line, right? As with most things, I'm somewhere in the middle, I guess.

Obviously that could be a dissertation, but at a very basic level, i think the way the internal economic motivators within government agencies work is about as broken as possible. There is no accountability to be cost effective due to the way government accounting is done and budgets are determined, there is no incentive to be good at your government job (positive or negative), and I think we need to quit sending so much money to countries that hate us and pay down our debt load so we're not paying so much in interest. Additionally, I think we need major entitlement reform so that those systems at the very least balance. You can haven't a social security system designed for people to live to 70 when people live to 90, the math doesn't work. It would be a 40-50 year adjustment to get that system back in balance, but someone needs the balls to start the process asap. I think my healthcare reform ideas are more than fleshed out in the appropriate threads.

[speedz99 145]

Obviously that could be a dissertation, but at a very basic level, i think the way the internal economic motivators within government agencies work is about as broken as possible. There is no accountability to be cost effective due to the way government accounting is done and budgets are determined, there is no incentive to be good at your government job (positive or negative), and

You're like the Murray to my Dave!I agree. I have no idea how to fix it, and I'm pretty sure nobody else does either, but hopefully we'll eventually get someone in office that doesn't just pay lip service to stuff like the above and actually gets something done.

I think we need to quit sending so much money to countries that hate us.

I'm not going to see this is fully incorrect, but there is a whole lot more going on in these situations than meets the eye. It's not nearly as simple as that, as I'm sure you know.

Additionally, I think we need major entitlement reform so that those systems at the very least balance. You can haven't a social security system designed for people to live to 70 when people live to 90, the math doesn't work. It would be a 40-50 year adjustment to get that system back in balance, but someone needs the balls to start the process asap.

Are you for privitization?

[WordsOfTheProphet 0]

hopefully we'll eventually get someone in office that doesn't just pay lip service to stuff like the above and actually gets something done.

And if you find him, please clone him 194 times for all the other countries in the world!

[Naked_Cowboy 0]

You're like the Murray to my Dave!I agree. I have no idea how to fix it, and I'm pretty sure nobody else does either, but hopefully we'll eventually get someone in office that doesn't just pay lip service to stuff like the above and actually gets something done. (a)I'm not going to see this is fully incorrect, but there is a whole lot more going on in these situations than meets the eye. It's not nearly as simple as that, as I'm sure you know. (b)Are you for privitization? ©

(a) I'm reminded of this SNL skit, http://snltranscripts.jt.org/91/91sperot.phtml, specifically

Now, here's the deal. Here's what I'm trying to tell you. 3% growth in our economy, $120 billion growth in our GNP - I get a billion dollars. Now, think about it, that's a bargain! You're up $119 billion. I'm telling you, 2.99% growth, I don't see a penny, not one red cent. But don't feel sorry for me - I got $3 billion. I'm gonna be fine.

It can be done, you just need cabinet members who have run businesses and who understand that I will fire their asses if they don't treat their departments like a business (yes, I over-generalize, it's what the people want).(b) yes, i'm aware. that doesn't mean it isn't a good ideal. right now we're passing laws based on ideals instead of reality anyway, so I guess i'm just following the status quo here.© I'm open to basically any suggestions at this point. Right now I'm more concerned with the basic input / output formula. It's not my job to fix for a few years though, so I have a while to weigh the options. It is frightening though the long term projections of the unfunded deficits if you carry out most of these programs on any reasonable set of assumptions.

[strategy 4]

© I'm open to basically any suggestions at this point. Right now I'm more concerned with the basic input / output formula. It's not my job to fix for a few years though, so I have a while to weigh the options. It is frightening though the long term projections of the unfunded deficits if you carry out most of these programs on any reasonable set of assumptions.

most of the "reasonable set of assumptions" I've seen tend to fail to include the loss of faith in the dollar. once we have about $30T in debt by 2020 (I'm making all of these numbers up), it will become virtually impossible to continue to borrow to pay out for social security etc. it will be a crisis, and it will be way more painful than it needs to be, but this is more likely than the "$60T in unfunded liabilities" you see in documentaries like IOUSA coming to fruition.it will be corrected one way or another, as you kinda hinted, and the only choices are mildly or extremely painful. I'd just as soon see it fixed now, before I pay in too much at these ponzi scheme rates...

[Balloon guy 158]

everything i said there is true. he can bring it all he wants, but he has already proven to be a wacko when it comes to politics. if he actually believes that obama had a fake birth certificate, is from another country and is secretly still a devote Muslim, along with 100's of other conspiracy theories he probably believes, he is dumber than a sack of hammers. if obama was a republican and doing pretty much the same stuff he is doing now, BG would be leg humping him to death.

So you admit that Obama used to be a devote Muslim?Probably when he was attending fundamentalist muslim school while growing up in Indonesia?

when bush was president, i supported him, even though he was one of the worst presidents in history and did so much damage to our global image, and our economy that it will take at least 40 years to recover from. you know why i supported him? because im an american and you support your leader. to trash him daily on an internet forum is cowardly and stupid.

Worst president in history?You obviously haven't been paying attention to the last 18 months.

[SAM_Hard8 50]

I don't see how anyone with a brain doesn't understand that.

Making statements like that means that you are closed minded and not worth arguing with.

[CaneBrain 95]

Worst president in history?You obviously haven't been paying attention to the last 18 months.

And I guess you missed 2000-2008. The real answer is franklin pearce.Still waiting to hear who would have done better than McCain in 08 Samhard.