Meet The Candidates: 2012 GOP Thread

[firstdown]

Originally Posted by saden1

Are you getting richer? If you are then you're an exception to the trend. I doubt you are getting richer considering the current economic environment and if your income is at the same level it was back in 2007 you have been getting poorer.

If you feel this way then why are you thinking of opening a business?

[saden1]

Originally Posted by firstdown

If you feel this way then why are you thinking of opening a business?

There is an opportunity and it won't cost me much...the software business is different than a brick and mortor shop.

[saden1]

Originally Posted by budw38

So .... you say that since the DEMS took control of Congress ( 07 ) , and had a " Super Majority " in 2008 , people are getting poorer ? Yet everyone should want to re-elect the President ? That is the new slogan for the President , hope for Obama's sake you are not running adds for him next year .... talk about a buzz kill ! Vote for more .... unemployment , more debt , more gov't takeover ( it works so well ) and higher gas prices ... CHANGE we can live with Maybe they should stick with what works " we want economice justice " ... we want free education , free housing , free medical care .... you are entitled to it all !!!!

You guys keep hoping the shit you are chucking at the wall sticks. No one wants to go back to Bush era policies and I can't imagine your leading candidates would fair well in a debate about healthcare since one inspired it and the other lobbied for it.

[firstdown]

Originally Posted by saden1

There is an opportunity and it won't cost me much...the software business is different than a brick and mortor shop.

Not really plenty of software businesses go belly up all the time. You have a product and you have to market and sell the product to make money which is no different then any other business. If you have the thinking that the economy is bad and that people don't have money to spend your forming your own objections before you even go into business. I have been down that road before like most people who have owned a business for any amount of time. I'd also think that if the over head is low to start a software business then the competition is going to be very heavy.

[mlmpetert]

Originally Posted by Dirtbag59

"War" on Christmas and gay marriage bans are two issues that are motivated heavily by religious beliefs. Now I'll be the first to admit that the War on Christmas is petty and a pointless cause for those that believe heavily in separation of church and state. Maybe it's to distract the far right from pushing creationism in public schools. I don't know. Personally I don't care for it either way. To me Christmas is purely a commercial holiday.

Gay marriage on the other hand is simply motivated by mass-hysteria promoted by religion and virtually every argument for the ban is motivated either by religious beliefs and/or pure homophobia. Neither of which provides just cause to produce such a ban. Scientific, peer reviewed studies on the other hand fail time and time again to produce any factual evidence for the myth's about gay marriage produced by the far right.



The constitution states, plain as day, that religion is not to have a place in determining policy. That means that if the Far Right can't provide anything beyond the Leviticus passage they can't seek legal means to invoke a ban on civil unions and gay marriage.

And even if the majority of Americans were opposed to gay marriage there are controls in government designed to protect the interests of the minority. Provided those interests aren't based in religious beliefs and/or hate unless said issue is explicit religious persecution, which is a violation of the first amendment.

The only legitimate arguments I've seen against gay marriage cite potential exploitation regarding spousal privilege in criminal cases and green card marriages. And even then we have to admit that spousal privilege is a huge exploit in our legal system. Not to mention an outdated concept that shouldn't have existed in the first place.

Anyway bottom line is this. Anyone with a far in front of their name should encourage you to run like hell.

I dont think you hear me. These stances cant be considered far right, left or far anything else in our country. When nearly half of the people believe in them you cant consider them extreme or "far" type issues from the norm.

So while these issues may make people very divided, both sides express mainstream views no matter how rational or irrational those opposing views are. There are plenty of times i dont like it either, but that doesnt mean someone that who disagrees with me is an extremist, its statistically implausible.

[NC_Skins]

Greatest Rick Perry quote ever and possibly quote of the century:



"I am truly offended that the American public would be hoodwinked by stories that do not scientifically hold up."






Punchline: He believes in God.

[NC_Skins]

About time the media gets called out and flat out curb stomped.




This is what pisses me off to no end about corporate media. It doesn't matter how good of a candidate you are, if they don't want you, they aren't going to give you the time of day.

[NC_Skins]

[Dirtbag59]

[Dirtbag59]

Originally Posted by mlmpetert

I dont think you hear me. These stances cant be considered far right, left or far anything else in our country. When nearly half of the people believe in them you cant consider them extreme or "far" type issues from the norm.

So while these issues may make people very divided, both sides express mainstream views no matter how rational or irrational those opposing views are. There are plenty of times i dont like it either, but that doesnt mean someone that who disagrees with me is an extremist, its statistically implausible.

Okay now I understand what you're getting at. Make no mistake about it though. A lot of those numbers for those that oppose gay marriage and civil unions are from the over 50 crowd. If it's not far right by the numbers now then it will be in time. Only 35% oppose both civil unions and gay marriage.

Another interesting aspect of the poll

In other news though it's nice to see that Ron Paul has a chance to win the GOP. In fact if he wins the nomination I might just register to vote for him. Then again I live in a red state so it might be a moot point.

[budw38]

Originally Posted by saden1

You guys keep hoping the shit you are chucking at the wall sticks. No one wants to go back to Bush era policies and I can't imagine your leading candidates would fair well in a debate about healthcare since one inspired it and the other lobbied for it.

Not my guys . I never lose sleep over who gets in the White House , just a reply to your feeling that Obama could not lose . If we defualt on our loans and the dollar tanks .... so does Obama .Should we see job growth and higher wages , he gets re-elected . It was Clinton's and your far left policies that brought us the housing collapse , not Bush's ... New Agency Proposed to Oversee Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae - NYTimes.com

Democrats Fighting Regulation of Freddie & Fannie...

sorry if the truth hurts .

[Dirtbag59]

Clinton is one of the greatest presidents in American history. We would be lucky to get another president that was committed to balancing the budget, creating jobs, and handling foreign affairs in a way that doesn't bankrupt the economy (see the Balkans). From what I understand Obama and Bush are two sides of the same coin in that they both created debt at an alarming rate.

The way I see it you need a Clinton in the white house in the event of the dem's getting the White House and a Regan if the GOP gets the election. Seeing as how Obama is not a Clinton we're left keeping our fingers crossed for a Regan-esque President to emerge from the GOP. Such is the life of an independent.

[12thMan]

@Dirtbag59: I tend to stay away from comparing one presidency to another. My only exception would George W. Bush's time in office. But each presidency should be judged and compared through the lens of history. Every president inherits a different world than his predecessor and we can always think of areas for improvement regarding policy. I think it's really difficult to argue that Bill Clinton would have handled the Libyan crisis and Egypt any better or differently, for that matter, than President Obama. One of Clinton's biggest regrets until this day is not intervening in the Rwandan genocide and most foreign policy experts believe his response to the Balkins was a bit tardy. On the other hand, no matter how the economy turns out Obama will be known for ordering the killing of Bin Laden.

That being said and bias removed, I think history will look favorably on President Obama's eight years in office. Bill Clinton was the right guy for that time, but he didn't inherit two and oversee two theaters of war, a global financial crises, an auto industry on the brink of bankruptcy, and a country literally spiraling into depression. In some ways we really are comparing apples and pears.

[12thMan]

Originally Posted by Dirtbag59

Okay now I understand what you're getting at. Make no mistake about it though. A lot of those numbers for those that oppose gay marriage and civil unions are from the over 50 crowd. If it's not far right by the numbers now then it will be in time. Only 35% oppose both civil unions and gay marriage.

Another interesting aspect of the poll

In other news though it's nice to see that Ron Paul has a chance to win the GOP. In fact if he wins the nomination I might just register to vote for him. Then again I live in a red state so it might be a moot point.

I wouldn't waste too much time analyzing Gallup presidential polls. They're all snapshots, but Gallup in particular is becoming more of an outlier and usually lags about +5 points behind public sentiment. There's zero chance Ron Paul becomes the GOP nominee, in my opinion. His views on foreign policy resonate with his base of followers and a small faction of liberals, but on the whole they don't reflect conservative values and I think the direction he wants to take government is pretty radical. I think a Ron Paul victory in Iowa is an indicator of how irrelevant Iowa has become in primary voting and not a reflection of Ron Paul's strength as a candidate. But we shall see.

[mlmpetert]

Originally Posted by Dirtbag59

"War" on Christmas and gay marriage bans are two issues that are motivated heavily by religious beliefs. Now I'll be the first to admit that the War on Christmas is petty and a pointless cause for those that believe heavily in separation of church and state. Maybe it's to distract the far right from pushing creationism in public schools. I don't know. Personally I don't care for it either way. To me Christmas is purely a commercial holiday.

UPDATE: Camera put up to monitor vandals | LoudounTimes.com

What they gathered to be the meaning of the skeleton Santa was Christmas was being fueled by commercialism and didn’t understand why residents were so up-in-arms over the display.
“Christmas has already been destroyed,” Maria Zumer said. “It’s so commercialized.”

Serious question DirtBag: Are you the Loudon County Courthouse Holiday Display vandal?????