Obama wins 2nd term

[ComicBookBoy]

Obama's three and a half years of acting nice are over, now his reign will truly begin!


I'm just joking people.

[Spitfire]

Originally Posted by Type 97 Chi-ha

I already understand, and I have better things to do than watch lame cartoon videos.

Like talking out your ass on the internet?

[Jester]

Spitfire...he's not worth the trouble. It's a real shame one of the loudest voice for "my side" on the Drome is this wacka-doodle.

[Machias Banshee]

I'm with you, Jester... I just keep most of my opinion to myself. Better to read along than get into a constant stalemate battle... and risk losing my job.

[Barkworm]

Jester, I think it's because people like him were so loud in this election that the Republicans lost it. I don't even think Romney would have been a terrible president or anything but the party doesn't deserve to win anything as long as it can't control its insane people.

Nate Silver, Sam Wang and other statisticians had very accurately predicted this election outcome while pundits everywhere tried to discredit them for months (Karl Rove arguing that the Ohio projection was too early was hilarious). I think this is the most positive result of this election: It proved that pundits, no matter if it's Matthews or Dick Morris, are idiots.

[Type 97 Chi-ha]

Originally Posted by Barkworm

Jester, I think it's because people like him were so loud in this election that the Republicans lost it. I don't even think Romney would have been a terrible president or anything but the party doesn't deserve to win anything as long as it can't control its insane people.

Nate Silver, Sam Wang and other statisticians had very accurately predicted this election outcome while pundits everywhere tried to discredit them for months (Karl Rove arguing that the Ohio projection was too early was hilarious). I think this is the most positive result of this election: It proved that pundits, no matter if it's Matthews or Dick Morris, are idiots.

I know I may be abrasive, but I'm neither nutty or stupid. I'm just honest.

Spitfire: All you do is make childish insults and inane comments. I'll waste no more time responding to you.

Jester: My problem is that I'm honest and love to talk to the idiots in the language they can understand.

Barkworm: Republicans lost because they misunderstood the other side's intention to keep one of their own in place even if he's a total incompetent. Romney would have been infinitely better.

[愛]

Ohhhh so edgy!

[Powder]

Originally Posted by Type 97 Chi-ha

There's an old joke about how comedian Jerry Lewis is considered very funny in France.

Or to put it another way, the British royal family are far more beloved outside of Britain than in it.

You don't like that people have opinions that differ from yours, eh guy?

[Type 97 Chi-ha]

Originally Posted by Powder

You don't like that people have opinions that differ from yours, eh guy?

You can say that about Obama supporters.

[Barkworm]

What a terrible retort, man. Seriously.

[GK Punk]

Okay, so the thread was locked temporarily and is now back. Let's remember to keep things as civil as possible. (And Type 97 no longer has access to this section)

[Lampy]

yea i try to refrain from political conversations because of what was going on over here.
over here on guam... the ballots actually contain a vote for either presidential candidate. but our presidential votes don't count in the actual race. so over here... it doesn't matter which one you vote for... because your vote doesn't count.
sucks huh?

[Leo656]

Been having a lot of conversations the last few days, so I figured I'd just vent a bunch of various points on here. Long as hell, as usual, so I won't be mad at ya if ya got better things to do.

I'm one of those weirdos who's basically, generally, a liberal on social issues who leans far conservative on economics. So it's always hard for me to pick either political party's side when so often they both do sh*t that I don't agree with or flat-out makes no sense. I honestly don't see how, or why, anyone would have voted for Romney this time, or at least admitted doing so. I personally have no love for the guy, but I genuinely do feel he would have been better for the economy than Obama long-term. But the way he and his political constituents behaved this time out, they deserved to lose. They made remarks and statements that were so controversial, inflammatory, and flat-out offensive, there was no chance they were going to win. Personally, I never blame politicians for what they say, because they ALL have speechwriters and scripts, and believe it or not, a lot of the speech and script-writers are employed by politicians on BOTH sides, so absolutely anything and everything they say in public should be taken as Total Bullsh*t at worst and a Great Big Maybe at best. I *get* that the Republicans knew they were sunk unless they devoted 100% of their energy to pandering to their uber-conservative religious fanatic base, but they went SO far that way they alienated anyone who wasn't an extreme conservative. I find it hard to believe that Romney or Ryan believed half of the stuff they said along the way, but an election is all about politicians pandering to the people on the fence, the people who only do what Oprah or Jon Stewart or Bill O'Reilly tell them to. I don't like Romney much, but I think if he had the chance he would have been better at the job in the ways it counts than Obama. But he sabotaged himself and now nobody'll ever take him seriously again. It's kinda sad that people turned on him for being a "liar" and a "flip-flopper", since that describes ALL politicians, but he was so blatant about it, he deserves the scorn he's getting.

My feelings on Obama are mostly dictated by my own sense of self-interest and self-preservation, as I feel is only natural for anyone; when it comes down to it, you support who you feel does the best for you personally and your family. And my family has NOT done well over the last 4 years, and neither are the people I used to work with at my old job. It's gotten harder and harder for some of us to find work, and a few of my relatives and their young children have lost their homes, and/or been neglected and mistreated by the very social programs supposedly designed to help people like them, programs Obama supports expanding and giving lots more taxpayer money to. Which sounds lovely on paper, but the reality is that these programs are too often slanted and selective and even racist, and the abuse and fraud that runs rampant throughout is a decent indicator that rather than expanding them, someone really ought to be making sure they benefit the right people. When people born and raised in this country sit in a welfare office for 6 hours every day just to "earn" $400 a month and food stamps, and they are docked $50 of that for taking their sick kid to a doctor, and are subsequently kicked completely off the program for not having a signed doctor's note for those visits, and then are evicted from their apartment because they needed that welfare check to pay rent, that's an injustice. It becomes an even BIGGER injustice when that person sees and hears a welfare worker giving advice to illegal immigrants on how to hide income from the government so as to keep getting full food stamps and unemployment benefits. In fact, that's CRIMINAL. I'd like to see things like that get fixed before we spend any more money on expanding social programs. Fact: The relative I'm speaking of who got evicted was replaced in their former apartment by a family of 6 immigrants, all working full-time and collecting welfare and food stamps and living in one dwelling. This needs to stop, and it has nothing to do with discrimination and everything to do with what's fair.

The real problem, though, is that reforming welfare is only part of the job, people need to be given jobs that pay a decent living wage. Ten years ago, anyone in NY or NJ could get work as a construction worker or a mover, but as things have gotten tougher, those jobs have dried up because of too many people and not enough work, and too many people willing to work for $5/hr off the books for an 18-hour work day. People working three jobs still often can't pay their bills, Something's wrong there. It's very possible they're living beyond their means, but while a lot of things have gotten more expensive wages have not gone up to compensate, and in fact have been stagnant for longer than any period in recent history.

Point of fact, a lot of employers would be more than happy to give their workers a raise, if it were feasible. My old boss ran a company of 30-50 full-time and seasonal employees, and at some point each and every one of them has had to ask for more money at some point. Sometimes, you'd get it. Other times, you got nothing, BUT our boss was a straight-up guy, and had zero problem sitting down with a person and explaining in crystal clear detail what the company was making, what it was spending, and what it cost to employ one person for one year. It was a very transparent company, and for a long time, very successful, but the last 4 years have been awful for them. Not specifically because of Obama's policies, but the uncertainty around them. Last time I spoke with my old boss about it, he talked about how hard it was to hire new people or even pay the guys he had enough, since nobody knows for sure what even one employee could cost for a year after taxes, health benefits, etc. And of course, nobody knows what parts of Obama's more controversial policies will stick and which will eventually be repealed. Uncertainty kills job growth and job creation more than anything else, more than over-spending, more than bad investments, uncertainty is the root cause which leads to all those things and makes businesses fail.

I worry Obama cares too much about his approval ratings and whether other countries think we're "nice" or not. I don't think he knows how to really fix things; I believe he has good intentions and some good ideas but a lot of them are not feasible or sustainable. He looks too comfortable hanging out joking around with Jon Stewart and David Letterman; he looked like a fish out of water at times during the debates. I also think the fact that he has such a sterling reputation despite very little accomplishment is why a lot of people have so much resentment for him. The single biggest accomplishment he's had so far, is simply proving that America is a tiny bit less racist than it was 50 years ago. Which sounds great in a history textbook, until you read the next line, which reads "He also was President during the longest period of economic downturn and stagnation since the Great Depression", which I doubt anyone will be crowing about 50 years from now. He made so much big talk about how projects like Solyndra were going to create jobs and get America up and running again, and that was a gigantic waste of time and money that even he's too embarrassed to ever talk about anymore. Since then, all he's done is blame Bush for everything, which not only isn't accurate, it's an excuse even his fiercest supporters aren't going to want to hear anymore if 15% of the country's still unemployed in 2015. (Since that 8.9% statistic they brag about only counts people currently collecting unemployment benefits, and conveniently ignores homeless people and those whose benefits have dried up already.)

I'unno, it's a big mess. I don't think either guy we had this time was gonna be able to fix it. I think Romney would have been better at it, but only marginally so, and like Bush, his big mouth would have constantly kept people focusing on what he did wrong and not whatever he'd do right. As far as Chris Christie, 4 years from now is a long time, and unless Republicans can pull someone credible out of thin air, he's literally all they got, so they'd better pucker up and realize he was only Playing The Game. Who else is gonna run against Hillary in 2016? Palin? Trump? Never happen. Or maybe, just maybe, they'll pick one of the extremely rare and few high-ranking NJ politicians who's neither 1. A Democrat, or 2. Been arrested and/or investigated for embezzlement, extortion, drug trafficking, fraud, or criminal conspiracy. Guy's a bit rough around the edges, but compared to anyone else the GOP can throw their weight behind (no pun intended), he's a friggin' Saint.

[BubblyShell22]

Well said, Leo. My dad and I were talking about Obamacare and how ridiculous it is. Look, I get that people need health insurance and should have it, but the thing is, the economy is so bad right now, people aren't getting jobs that carry health insurance. And a lot of jobs these days can't afford to even carry health insurance. Even if they do, a lot of people would be using their paycheck to pay for it. That's what would've happened to my mom if she'd taken it when she worked at the school, but she didn't do it.

So, the main thing I want to know is: How the hell is this going to work out? It doesn't sound like a very good idea to me anyway. Seems the only way they can do this is if they make jobs carry health insurance so that people can have it. But then again, you need a good job market, and I don't see that happening anytime soon. Plus, the jobs have to be able to afford the health insurance in their budget, so they have to work that out, too. And what about affordable healthcare? What exactly does that entail for people? I'm just interested to see where this goes.

And, Leo, I agree with you about Romney and a few other Republicans. They shot themselves in the foot. Then again, what gets to me about politicians is that they often bring up their religious and personal beliefs into their campaigns. If they would just leave that at the door and realize that not everyone is going to believe the same way they do, maybe things would be different. Work on the bigger issues such as the economy and the job market. Don't focus on a woman's right to choose or gay marriage, which frankly aren't the things we need to be focusing on as a nation. That's the way I look at it. Unfortunately, that probably won't happen, and until it does, or until they have the "None of the above" option for those who feel neither candidate is worth running the country, I'm never going to vote for anybody.

And they also need to get rid of the smear campaigns. I'll give Indiana's new governor Mike Pence a lot of credit. His ads weren't negative or inflammatory. He just explained what he was going to do for Indiana and didn't slam his opponent in any way. That's what I'd like to see more of. Just talk about what you want to accomplish and leave it at that. No need for the negative sh*t.

And, that's my two cents on that.

[Xav]

Originally Posted by GK Punk

Okay, so the thread was locked temporarily and is now back. Let's remember to keep things as civil as possible. (And Type 97 no longer has access to this section)

Wow really? You ban a guy because you don't like his political views? Real mature.

[Barkworm]

It was because he was insulting people, not because he is crazy.

[Xav]

So why didn't you kick out Spitfire or yourself?

[Barkworm]

You are very funny, keep it up!

[The Stryker]

Originally Posted by BubblyShell22

Don't focus on a woman's right to choose or gay marriage, which frankly aren't the things we need to be focusing on as a nation.

Gay rights and women's rights aren't important? What the?

[Jester]

Why are all the "conservatives" on this forum so abrasive.
You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar, or so the saying goes.
People only got bristly with Type 97 because he started out, as he always does in political threads, bristly himself.