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October 11, 2008 03:43 PM UTC

Weekend Open Thread

  • 89 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

“Debate is the death of conversation.”

–Kitty O’Neill

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89 thoughts on “Weekend Open Thread”

    2. …be “Don’t feed the trolls day”.  I, for one, will try to refrain from engaging them and thus feeding their overpowering need for attention.

      Besides, it is a beautiful Colorado day–for staying warm on the couch watching college footbal.  

        1. You can’t seriously believe she’ll be here after the election, particularly if the results are what the polls are showing. No, “Nancy” will crawl right back under her rock.  

            1. Middle’s right. In 2006 some clown named Moonraker was here every day bashing Ritter. Although he has popped up on occasion since then he largely disappeared the day after Election Day.

              And if Nancy’s that unbalanced, well, we’ve had other unbalanced posters and they eventually tire of us (or get blocked by Pols…)

              2. at the McCain rally yesterday talking about Arabs?  Even McCain shows that he does not want anything to do with his own brain mush supporters.

    1. Thank You For Smoking is a great book. His last book Boomsday was a good read too–even though I completely disagreed with its message on social security.

          1. Although WFB was a Goldwater conservative, not so much a my-family-values-are-holier-than-yours conservative.  Although there was definitely some of that, too.  Probably more in an anti-godless Soviet/lefty sort of way.

      3. It’s pretty close to where I’m at at the moment.

        But having a first-class temperament and a first-class intellect, President Obama will (I pray, secularly) surely understand that traditional left-politics aren’t going to get us out of this pit we’ve dug for ourselves. If he raises taxes and throws up tariff walls and opens the coffers of the DNC to bribe-money from the special interest groups against whom he has (somewhat disingenuously) railed during the campaign trail, then he will almost certainly reap a whirlwind that will make Katrina look like a balmy summer zephyr.

        Never thought I’d be feeling the way that I am, especially the way I felt immediately after Palin was given the nod as VP pick.

        Stay tuned…

        1. I care far less what the “how” is than whatever it is, works.  Heck, kill the SEC if that will bring back some stability. Yeah, right.

          I’m into chapter four of Krugman’s “Conscience of a Liberal.”  The great American middle class of the 40’2 through the 70’s was built by robbing, via taxes, the plutocrats and using the money for social programs, infrastructure improvements, and WWII.

          Krugman and I both grew up during that great middle class era.  In income distribution, we are back to 1929.  The book is a great read about how the middle class was created almost overnight via politics.

          Maybe Obama will do something similar.  Certainly his proposed tax changes are a great start.

          1. ..but I’m not going to kill myself if he gets elected.

            My main happiness is that we will be able to flush the toilet on the R’s that lost their way from conservative values and became what they campaigned against.

            Anybody Paul Krugman likes makes me like them less.  Here’s the anti-Krugman-opinion du jour:

            FDR’s policies prolonged Depression by 7 years, UCLA economists calculate.

            I’m bothered by Obama’s vagueness on so many things from his associations, to his economic and foreign policies, but he is smart.

            Parsing, you’ve got to be kidding.  The left has been nearly pure vitriol since 2000.  How many examples would you like me to link to?  

  5. But has anyone else gone to Pollster and noticed that the percentage of undecideds in the Udall/Schaffer race is up from six months ago?  The average there is now 15% where it was about 10%.

    I thinks this speaks to both the negativity of the ads by the various campaign committees, 527s, and the candidates and also that Udall and Schaffer are not particularly inspiring candidates who can cut through the negativity with good speeches, accomplishments, etc.

    Pollster

    If I’ve set it up right you’ll see the undecided percentage following that link. Otherwise you’ll need to use the “tools” function to set the range wide enough to see down to 5% and add it in under choices.

      1. The undecideds are still up rather than down.  Over the last six months undecideds in the presidential race in Colorado have gone from about 6% to about 3%.

        Udall is not a mediocrity. The only reason he’s ahead is that Bob Schaffer is an outright bad candidate and the Republican reputation is in the crapper.

  6. Take a look at Pollster.com

    West Virginia is Yellow! Obama may win West Virginia. That’s supposed to be impossible.

    PA is dark blue – it’s over there.

    OH, MI, WI, CO, & NM are all light blue – and will probably turn dark blue in the next week.

    And MT & GA are now light red – we may see them become even by election day.

    This is looking like a larger and larger blow-out.

    1. In the national poll, in Pennsylvania, and Florida. And I’m planning on a diary once he crosses 50% here in Colorado. I expect that will happen sometime next week.

    2. There’s one poll, by ARG, that most people believe is an outlier.

      Since it’s the most recent poll, it’s skewing the slope.

      I want to see another WV poll by a more reputable polling house.

      1. I think it’s the enthusiasm thing.  Most people for Obama are really FOR Obama.  Most people for McCain are more against Obama and/or for Palin.  

            1. While some of my kin do things like that, the real pit of fomenting hatred into action comes from the right wing.

              Nobody is yelling to kill McCain.

              The right wing is a tribe.  You are in the tribe or not.  And if you are not, I’m perfectly justified in inflicting harm on you or your properties for betraying the tribe……even if you were never in it.

              You are in the tribe or not.  Think of most religion, and certainly the Christian fundies….right out of the bible, “You are with us or against us.” It’s one of many reasons the Republicans have such great appeal with such folks.  

              Watch the three bumper sticker categories, political, sports teams, religious. You will often find Republican, Broncos/Avalanche/Rockies, and Christian fish or something on the same rear end (cars, not people!) If a car has a Democratic or liberal sticker, you will seldom see a sports or religious sticker.  Usually just more liberal stickers.

              There you have it, Dr. Verizzo’s “Hidden in Plain Sight” analysis of political minds.

              1. The underlying philosophies of the two parties promote or discourage hatred and uncivil behaviors.

                Republicans, despite all that big tent talk, are the party of tribes, see above. Us/them. “The other.”  Look at the convention faces.

                Democrats are the party of “We are all in this together, so let’s ‘all just get along’ and work out things out.” Look at the convention faces.  

      2. On a completely non-scientific level, I am noticing fewer bumper stickers representing all candidates.  I am still surprised at how many Bush04 stickers are out there. And, how few Mccain (no Palin noted) bumper stickers.  

        During the last two weeks I am seeing more Obama stickers in two of the parking lots I park in several days each week.  And NO old man bumper stickers.  

        I am looking for a Veterans For Obama sticker for my vehicle.  I have not seen any of those locally, but one in a different city than the Aurora-Denver Metro Region.

        1.  it is pretty hard to come by bumper stickers and there are very few. But, I do still have some “Bush/Cheney 1984” stickers on vehicles and a few for souvenirs.

  7. from some company calling itself “Donor Services,” claiming to be contracted with the Obama campaign. The guy calling talked very fast and yet kept going for ten minutes, telling me tons of stuff I already know about the campaign. He asked me three questions about the debate, claiming it was a survey, then asked me to donate the maximum of $2300 to the campaign.

    What was suspicious was that he didn’t know I had already made a large contribution, so it would have been illegal to give that much. Also, when I said I’d rather give through the internet, he claimed they didn’t want that because of fees they have to pay through Visa, Mastercard, and AOL. (??) Finally he asked if he could mail me a “correspondence” that I could fill out and send back. I said no.

    Has anyone else gotten a call like this? Sounds fraudulent to me.

    1. There’s not one bit of that call that sounds legit.

      I wonder if it’s the political equivalent of the police protective association scams.

      How did he propose you donate the money, if credit cards were unacceptable? Or was he happy to take yours over the phone, despite having said the fees were prohibitive?

      I’d call your police department’s fraud unit and report it.

    2. If it is their telemarketer they need to know that they’re not being represented well. If it’s not their telemarketer, they’ll want to know this fraud is going on.

        1. They really need to get some better people doing this. This guy was clearly on commission, and really desperate to get money from me. Huge turn-off. When I get a chance, I’ll contact the Obama campaign and tell them, for what it’s worth.

  8. According to this the Governor of Illinois is sweating but the Obama campaign has nothing to worry about. This from a leading Illinois Republican.  I am not so sure.

    http://apnews.myway.com/articl…

    Does anyone have any thoughts on Tony Rezko’s apparent cooperation with the US Attorney’s Office.

    Yes, I understand the rules. If you praise Democrats you are OK. If you suggest anything mildly critical of Senator Obama you are a “sock puppet” I am genuinely interested in what others think will be the fallout if any from the whole Rezko mess as the campaign winds down.

      1. But what Rezko doesn’t know about Chicago Politics in the last 20 years is probably non-existent.  The investigation could most likely bring down Gov. Blagojevitch and who knows how many others, politicians, mobsters, businessmen, and the go-betweens, like Rezko, who where the lubricant keeping the machine greased.  Who knows what may shake out during the investigations as everyone starts making deals to try and avoid jail time.

        Chicago has been a political pit for over a century, and I have found it incredible that anyone coming from that machine could be considered a positive agent for “Change”.

        1. it would have been thrown at Obama long ago.  I’ve got to laugh about the whole Chicago thing as if it’s the home of the  most corrupt  politics on the planet.   I lived in Oklahoma for a couple of years in the early 80s and the majority of the County Commissioners were being indicted at the time.  And Arkansas made Oklahoma look like Mayberry.  

          The Chicago of today, not to mention the Mayor Daley of today, is a far cry from the Chicago of my youth. And those bible belt states are no slouches when it comes to corruption.

  10. It wasn’t just him–the people around him cheered.  Where are the people who say “I support John McCain and that is just inappropriate.”

    2. I know people have grown up in racist families, or in towns with racist attitudes, but that guy knows that it is not appropriate to compare a black man to a monkey. He knows it’s racist, but he doesn’t care.

      I’m with you Danny, where is the outrage or shock from the others in the crowd? There are plenty of Republicans who would punch that guy out for doing something like that.

      To those who say Obama getting elected will mean we will be living in a post-racial America where affirmative action will no longer be necessary, I give you that asshole.

    1. A person who registers just 9 minutes before posting a video that I absolutely must watch?

      Naah, I don’t think so.

      I wish Pols had a 24 hour waiting period between registration and posting.  Would cut down on a lot of these weekend shills.

    2. Oh, lots of practice these last few months.

      Oh, wow, thanks for that info!  Like we all haven’t seen this shit for months from pebble brains like yourself.

      Will we see you after the gales of November?

      Not likely.  

  12. No, this has nothing to do w/ Colorado…but it’s the weekend…get over it  🙂

    I’m back home in the Bay Area for a friend’s wedding and there’s an (seemingly really effective) ad running for the “Yes on Prop 8” campaign here.  Prop 8 is our version of the anti-gay marriage amendment.

    A few weeks ago, it looked like there was no way it was going to pass.  Then this ad came out, money started flooding into the “Yes” campaign, and the polls have completely flipped..all in a couple weeks.

    From a purely political perspective, this is fascinating.  CA’s a huge state and this isn’t just a random initiative people don’t care about…most people have a pretty strong opinion.  I’m basically amazed.  Just goes to show that a “good” ad doesn’t have to be good at all…

    Again, this is about politics and messaging, not my feelings about gay marriage.  If I was voting here, I’d most certainly be voting No on Prop 8.

  13. ‘…A carpet was laid down and Palin, dressed in a beige trench, walked on to the ice joined by her daughters Willow and Piper.

    The GOP Vice-Presidential nominee said at an earlier fundraiser that she would stop some of the booing from the rowdy Philadelphia fans by putting her seven year old daughter, Piper in a Flyers jersey. She said, “How dare they boo Piper!”…’

    And that’s from Fox.  

    1. That’s a joke from the Philly paper’s blog.

      It was referring to her getting booed by some of the crowd, and it’s a joke about the Philly fans, notoriously heartless and cruel, yet hilariously so.

      The blogger told her not to worry:

      “The boos were for Trig.”

      1. No, what she said at the fundraiser was widely reported. It’s nice to see she still has a sense of humor, but she still got roundly booed by Flyers fans.

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