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Kostya (Unlucky Thirteen)
#36451: Nov 2nd 2012 at 9:16:45 PM

I'm not saying they're not doing that I'm just saying they probably don't have to.

Also Romney flip-flops a ton. I expect that to be reversed in four years if he feels like it.

Swish Long Live the King Since: Jan, 2001
Long Live the King
#36452: Nov 2nd 2012 at 9:17:18 PM

They can't keep it themselves, but I'm sure they are allowed to pay the people who work for their campaign... So long as it's not an exorbitant amount left over(higher than 5 million), I'm sure it can be split up and given as "bonuses" to the people who work on the campaign...

RavenWilder Since: Apr, 2009
#36453: Nov 2nd 2012 at 9:18:44 PM

I dunno, I remember hearing about some presidential candidate once who had so much campagin money left over that they kept running campaign ads after election day. I think it was Bush Sr, but I'm not sure.

Skatepunk Since: Feb, 2011
#36454: Nov 2nd 2012 at 10:02:53 PM

This is outright tyrrany!

Even THE DRUDGE REPORT is reporting this!

The GOP has officially declared war on all inconvenient facts! This is outright disgusting! I cannot believe I ever supported these clowns!

Enkufka Wandering Student ಠ_ಠ from Bay of White fish Since: Dec, 2009
Wandering Student ಠ_ಠ
#36455: Nov 2nd 2012 at 10:08:39 PM

I posted that report earlier. Calling it Tyranny is a bit much. It basically just says that tax cuts for the rich don't work.

Very big Daydream Believer. "That's not knowledge, that's a crapshoot!" -Al Murray "Welcome to QI" -Stephen Fry
deathpigeon Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: One True Dodecahedron
#36456: Nov 2nd 2012 at 10:12:05 PM

That's not what's being called tyranny. What's being called tyranny is the cover-up.

edited 2nd Nov '12 10:12:30 PM by deathpigeon

Skatepunk Since: Feb, 2011
#36457: Nov 2nd 2012 at 10:13:12 PM

Ok, maybe tyranny IS a bit much...

But the fact that this non-partisan report is a target of political censorship is still pretty sickening.

The Republican Party no longer cares about facts! I know I'm being harsh, but if you try to suppress a report because the facts don't support your political views, you are unworthy of holding elected office!

TheyCallMeTomu Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
#36458: Nov 2nd 2012 at 10:20:48 PM

Rachel Maddow reported on it tonight.

PotatoesRock Since: Oct, 2012
#36459: Nov 2nd 2012 at 10:20:51 PM

Not surprising at this point. Romney's campaign said they wouldn't be controlled by fact checkers.

That and the essay I posted before shows there's a really eerie correlation between Republican fear-mongering and the Republican party funding itself through snake oil salesmen, Ponzi schemes, and scams. Well...

The Republican Party ain't the Republican Party of the 80s or even 90s anymore.

I guess we're hitting some sort of a life cycle period here.

TheyCallMeTomu Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
#36460: Nov 2nd 2012 at 10:23:05 PM

If Romney wins, their strategy will be reinforced. If he loses-in an election year when all the economic conditions were slanted to give them significant gains-they will hopefully have to do some soul searching.

Skatepunk Since: Feb, 2011
#36461: Nov 2nd 2012 at 10:36:19 PM

[up]

Tomu, as much as I like you, and as much as I wish it were true, I don't think that's the case. I believe the GOP lost their collective minds. Idealogy over facts, truth be damned.

Or I could be wrong. Maybe I've been watching too much of The Young Turks. I will admit Cenk Uygur is quite the cynic.

But Frank Rich says the GOP "solution" to losing has been "go further right" for decades.

tclittle Professional Forum Ninja from Somewhere Down in Texas Since: Apr, 2010
Professional Forum Ninja
#36462: Nov 2nd 2012 at 10:40:32 PM

I seriously wanted to take a flamethrower to every single campaign sign today, regardless of who it's for.

Story: I was driving down a road I normally drive down when heading to and from work when I noticed one of those "Stop Obama! Vote the R!" campaign signs. There wasn't one there before and I started facepalming at it, but I decided if people wanted to put it there, it was fine by me.

Now here's where the part that really pisses me off. I then proceeded to see 5 more of those damn things within a mile after seeing the first one, and I should note that there was no other signs around them.

I'm perfectly fine with people putting signs on corners or in their yards, but that was just ridiculous, and made me want to go out and torch every single one of them.

But, from the stories I've been hearing from y'all, it makes me kinda glad Texas is a solid Republican state. For once.

"We're all paper, we're all scissors, we're all fightin' with our mirrors, scared we'll never find somebody to love."
AceofSpades Since: Apr, 2009 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
#36463: Nov 2nd 2012 at 10:55:44 PM

I think public property is open for signs of those sorts, though. That or they're not considered enough of a nuisance for any officials to take them down. Also, your comment about Texas distresses me, given what Republicans have managed to do here.

Also, it's becoming less likely to be a solid red state after this year, due to shifting demographics.

GameGuruGG Vampire Hunter from Castlevania (Before Recorded History)
Vampire Hunter
#36464: Nov 2nd 2012 at 11:22:57 PM

Really, the only thing that might get the Republicans soul-searching is if they consistently lose House and Senate seats and the presidency to the Democrats. Basically they need to be put in a position where they would have to rethink their strategy to survive as a political party.

Wizard Needs Food Badly
HilarityEnsues Since: Sep, 2009
#36465: Nov 2nd 2012 at 11:26:46 PM

I don't think we'll see any change come from the GOP unless they absolutely have to undergo some in order to survive as a party. Look at how close the race is in spite of who they picked. Romney is essentially a real, living version of an evil capitalist strawman straight out of some leftist propaganda piece.

If I was some shadowy political puppetmaster and I had a candidate like Romney, I'd be pleasantly surprised if he even had a fighting chance. Assuming the election results were significantly close, the first thing I'd do is assume that my party could probably get away with getting someone with essentially the same views to run if they had a bit more charisma and were more convincing liars.

PotatoesRock Since: Oct, 2012
#36466: Nov 2nd 2012 at 11:30:13 PM

But Frank Rich says the GOP "solution" to losing has been "go further right" for decades.
I suspect this game plan will start falling apart on them at some point here, especially should Romney lose. There's only so much farther right you can go here before you offend everyone who isn't a middle-aged White Anglo-Saxon Protestant. (And arguably they've already gotten there).

While I don't think this is the end of the world or anything, the 2012 Election Cycle feels very much like the GOP's "Gandor Calls For Aid" moment. The party seems to have cashed in every favor and every string it could pull.

And well, as we're seeing, their back-up, as it were, is failing. Or at least not doing as well as it should be despite a massive financial advantage.

Skatepunk Since: Feb, 2011
#36467: Nov 3rd 2012 at 12:00:41 AM

Most polls, however, show the GOP keeping the House this cycle.

Although I'd like to believe most of that is due to gerrymandering.

PotatoesRock Since: Oct, 2012
#36468: Nov 3rd 2012 at 12:06:41 AM

Although I'd like to believe most of that is due to gerrymandering.
It is.

They're still set to face a Democrat held Presidency (83.6% chance) and Senate (91.6% chance). That's still a massive screw job, and the potential murder of the Republican Super PA Cs. If the Republicans fail to pull in extensive results, the Super PAC donors are going to be demanding answers out the ass from the Koch Brothers and Rovey why their moneyed advantage meant jack-freaking-shit.

Skatepunk Since: Feb, 2011
#36469: Nov 3rd 2012 at 12:15:07 AM

In some cases, it works.

A cigarette tax was leading in polls for California's Proposition system until the money poured in.

NativeJovian Jupiterian Local from Orlando, FL Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: Maxing my social links
Jupiterian Local
#36470: Nov 3rd 2012 at 12:27:18 AM

So, I went to early voting this afternoon. Took almost two hours, and that's pretty typical from what I've heard.

I live in Florida. Early voting was reduced from 14 days to 8 days this year. Clearly those extra days were unnecessary.

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.
DeviantBraeburn Wandering Jew from Dysfunctional California Since: Aug, 2012
Wandering Jew
#36471: Nov 3rd 2012 at 4:17:20 AM

[up][up]

Please that's small potatoes.

Governor Jerry Brown's Prop 30 (which would temporarily raise taxes on the rich, along with a temporary quarter-cent sales tax hike) was thought to surely pass until some pacs from Arizona started running ads against it.

Now the whole things a toss-up.

Everything is Possible. But some things are more Probable than others. JEBAGEDDON 2016
Greenmantle V from Greater Wessex, Britannia Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: Hiding
V
#36472: Nov 3rd 2012 at 4:19:56 AM

Aren't there any Democrat SuperPACs?

Keep Rolling On
DeviantBraeburn Wandering Jew from Dysfunctional California Since: Aug, 2012
Wandering Jew
#36473: Nov 3rd 2012 at 4:26:31 AM

[up]

There are but like I said, the proposition passing was thought to be a sure thing, so they were caught off-guard by this sudden turn of events.

There just now starting to respond to the anti-Prop 30 groups.

I should point out that if Prop 30 fails to pass, public schools could be forced to cut a month out of the school year.

edited 3rd Nov '12 4:26:55 AM by DeviantBraeburn

Everything is Possible. But some things are more Probable than others. JEBAGEDDON 2016
Kostya (Unlucky Thirteen)
#36474: Nov 3rd 2012 at 7:05:26 AM

I know I sound extremist but it's shit like this that makes me wish the GOP would just roll over and die so the Democrats could take over the country. They are incredibly corrupt in their own ways but they're not the disaster in the making the GOP is turning out to be. Who knows we might even get a good second party like the Greens in power if the GOP is shown to be full of fools.

Either way I blame Fox News and the conservative media for this. It has spent so long perpetuating the myth of this alternate reality where these things work that short of forcing Rove, O'reilly, Beck, Limbaugh, and all those nutbags to say on air that they lied is going to do nothing to sway the 30% of the country or more that believes this bullshit. Obama should be killing Romney in this election because, frankly, Romney is a fucking moron whose plan will bankrupt us and destroy every improvement brought about in the 20th century. The fact that he's not proves that people are influenced too easily by liars who have no plays billing themselves as news outlets.

pvtnum11 OMG NO NOSECONES from Kerbin low orbit Since: Nov, 2009 Relationship Status: We finish each other's sandwiches
OMG NO NOSECONES
#36475: Nov 3rd 2012 at 7:17:04 AM

Maybe we need conservatives that aren't stark raving mad...? Tea-party isn't the answer, talking heads isn't the answer, either. But somehow, that's what a lot of people want.

So what is the answer? What would a rational Republican party actually look like, that would still play counterpart to the Democrats?

edited 3rd Nov '12 7:17:49 AM by pvtnum11

Happiness is zero-gee with a sinus cold.

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