TVTropes Now available in the app store!
Open

Follow TV Tropes

Following

The General US Politics Thread

Go To

Nov 2023 Mod notice:


There may be other, more specific, threads about some aspects of US politics, but this one tends to act as a hub for all sorts of related news and information, so it's usually one of the busiest OTC threads.

If you're new to OTC, it's worth reading the Introduction to On-Topic Conversations and the On-Topic Conversations debate guidelines before posting here.

Rumor-based, fear-mongering and/or inflammatory statements that damage the quality of the thread will be thumped. Off-topic posts will also be thumped. Repeat offenders may be suspended.

If time spent moderating this thread remains a distraction from moderation of the wiki itself, the thread will need to be locked. We want to avoid that, so please follow the forum rules when posting here.


In line with the general forum rules, 'gravedancing' is prohibited here. If you're celebrating someone's death or hoping that they die, your post will get thumped. This rule applies regardless of what the person you're discussing has said or done.

Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

Balmung Since: Oct, 2011
#37126: Nov 6th 2012 at 11:27:57 AM

@GMH: Kirby for president! Hi~i!

Also GMH for sharing that avatar with me.

GlennMagusHarvey Since: Jan, 2001
#37127: Nov 6th 2012 at 11:29:05 AM

Which one? I ain't looking through 210 pages to look for it.

Kirby would probably make the most annoying president ever. Imagine "HAIIIIII~" combined with a microphone, being broadcast into every living room TV.

edited 6th Nov '12 11:29:44 AM by GlennMagusHarvey

deathpigeon Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: One True Dodecahedron
#37128: Nov 6th 2012 at 11:29:43 AM

@Glenn: Nah, I actually like Obama, as a person. I just disagree with him a lot on policy. He agrees much more with Romney on policy than with me on policy. Not that it's hard to do that, as he and Romney don't have wildly different views on stuff. I used the metaphor of Sauron and Saruman because they're very similar, but one is decidedly better than the other.

SUCK IT

Nice pun.

@Potatoes: We already have one that looks like that, to me.

Also, his foreign policy isn't a compromise with the GOP. His policy of austerity is mostly not a compromise. His lack of transparency and cracking down on whistleblowers certainly isn't a compromise. He may have compromised on Obamacare, but it was conservative, corporatist, and failing to fix the problems rather than merely the symptoms in the original form, which was thought up by a conservative think tank. The only one I listed that can be chalked up to compromise is his weakness on Civil Rights.

@cut: He's a center-right politician that is being dragged further right by compromises with the Republican Party, but he was always to the right of center.

edited 6th Nov '12 11:30:38 AM by deathpigeon

RavenWilder Since: Apr, 2009
#37129: Nov 6th 2012 at 11:29:49 AM

Not just a bit on foreign policy. Basically, his entire foreign policy (it's basically neocon foreign policy done by a more intelligent man than Bush)

Really? I don't recall Obama overthrowing other countries' governments in order to install new, America-friendly regimes; that's kinda the defining feature of neocon foreign policy. The one regime change he's gotten America involved with was a revolution already in progress, America's role in it was minimal, and has been pretty much hands off with the new government that's been created there.

GlennMagusHarvey Since: Jan, 2001
#37130: Nov 6th 2012 at 11:30:28 AM

Sigh...getting liberals together is really like herding cats...

Swish Long Live the King Since: Jan, 2001
Long Live the King
#37131: Nov 6th 2012 at 11:31:04 AM

How many swing states does Romney need to win? I heard in some places all of them, but I don't think that's right.

Depends on which states you think are swing states.... Let's go with CNN's map for the time being...

If Obama gets Ohio and Wisconson(and every other state remains the same color), then Obama only needs one state(that isn't NH) to win.

Romney needs more states to fall his way, but realistically: Ohio, Virginia, Florida and any state other than NH to guarantee a win...

Balmung Since: Oct, 2011
#37132: Nov 6th 2012 at 11:31:29 AM

@GMH: I was actually asking you to share the one you're using.

[up][up]Meow

edited 6th Nov '12 11:32:01 AM by Balmung

GlennMagusHarvey Since: Jan, 2001
#37133: Nov 6th 2012 at 11:32:37 AM

Oh. Done. But do you really need more?

^ Mew!

edited 6th Nov '12 11:32:57 AM by GlennMagusHarvey

Balmung Since: Oct, 2011
#37134: Nov 6th 2012 at 11:34:52 AM

Need? No, but I like to collect them.

What's she from anyhow?

deathpigeon Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: One True Dodecahedron
#37135: Nov 6th 2012 at 11:35:02 AM

Mrow.

Personally, I look at Obama, and see someone further right than Britain's Conservative Party, so I don't see him as a liberal at all, and trying to get me in the same boat as him would be like trying to get a cat in box with a dog.

higherbrainpattern Since: Apr, 2012
#37136: Nov 6th 2012 at 11:36:01 AM

Voted this morning for Obama. I live in Alabama, which is solidly red. :/

edited 6th Nov '12 11:36:18 AM by higherbrainpattern

cutewithoutthe Góðberit Norðling Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Star-crossed
Góðberit Norðling
#37137: Nov 6th 2012 at 11:36:16 AM

The thing is, you can't judge a politician in regards to other country's politicians, or political spectrums.

Balmung Since: Oct, 2011
#37139: Nov 6th 2012 at 11:38:17 AM

I know Obama, or at least his policy, is far to the right of me, but hell if I'm gonna let the guy even further right win.

Also, only the more conservative third parties are on the ballot here.

RadicalTaoist scratching at .8, just hopin' from the #GUniverse Since: Jan, 2001
scratching at .8, just hopin'
#37140: Nov 6th 2012 at 11:38:37 AM

Ex-CUSE me???

-____________-

On a side note, that third party checkbox meme is more tolerably than the "Obamney" shipping meme on tumblr. No, Romney was not running just so Obama-sempai would notice him.

Share it so that people can get into this conversation, 'cause we're not the only ones who think like this.
cutewithoutthe Góðberit Norðling Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Star-crossed
Góðberit Norðling
#37141: Nov 6th 2012 at 11:39:50 AM

If cats and dogs were the equivalents to the political parties, then cats would be Republicans, and dogs would be Democrats.

CaissasDeathAngel House Lewis: Sanity is Relative from Dumfries, SW Scotland Since: Oct, 2010 Relationship Status: Pining for the fjords
House Lewis: Sanity is Relative
#37142: Nov 6th 2012 at 11:41:49 AM

deathpigeon is right, Obama is further right than our Conservatives (almost all of whom support him, incidentally). But Romney is further still to the right.

As I posted on my facebook (quoted verbatim): Americans! Make sure you vote today and make sure it's for Obama! If you're old, poor, female and/or non-white then you are brutally sodomising yourself by voting for Romney. And if you're none of those things? Then you're a selfish bastard who is knowingly voting for social horrors and economic distaster by voting for Romney. Do not let that disgusting plutocrat win!

And in response to the suggestion of third party candidates like Jill Stein (also verbatim): The system needs fundamental reform before a third party candidate becomes anything other than a wasted vote. Though for that exact reason, I encourage Republicans to instead vote for laughable failures like the Constitution Party and the Libertarians.

edited 6th Nov '12 11:42:27 AM by CaissasDeathAngel

My name is Addy. Please call me that instead of my username.
cutewithoutthe Góðberit Norðling Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Star-crossed
Góðberit Norðling
#37143: Nov 6th 2012 at 11:43:43 AM

Oh, if only I had the courage to put that as my status.

Almost every single status I've seen has either been the "They're both horrible so me no care :)" or "ROMNEY RYAN 2012". Or oh, oh, even more than that, "God will decide whoever will win and he will bless them" bullshit.

Completion oldtimeytropey from Space Since: Apr, 2012
oldtimeytropey
#37144: Nov 6th 2012 at 11:44:25 AM

Good lord people, using a static left-right spectrum does not work. Our right wing is further to the right than yours. Our left is about the same as yours. Thus, our left has to move towards the center of our spectrum to be able to get anything done. If our right was closer to the center, we would have the same situation as in your country. Obama is not further to the right of your Conservative politicians - he's merely having to work with an expanded Overton window. Plop him in your country, he'd be a center-left candidate.

edited 6th Nov '12 11:46:43 AM by Completion

deathpigeon Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: One True Dodecahedron
#37145: Nov 6th 2012 at 11:45:55 AM

@cut: Like hell I can't. I judge every politician by the same standards and political spectrum, regardless of where they are from. Anyone who is further right than the Tories is not a liberal, and I won't support. It's why I dislike the Labour Party, which has become just right of the Conservative Party, but not by much. They pale to the Republican party, at the very least.

@Balmug: Shame. Here we had both the Green Party and the Peace and Freedom Party, but, to extend the metaphor with Sauron and Saruman I had going earlier, I'm ok with voting for Gandalf over Sam, when Gandalf faces a far less chance to win, despite much preferring Sam to Gandalf.

edited 6th Nov '12 11:46:22 AM by deathpigeon

cutewithoutthe Góðberit Norðling Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Star-crossed
Góðberit Norðling
#37146: Nov 6th 2012 at 11:48:20 AM

Well, you're going to have to inform people of that when participating in discussions, because they're not going to know what the hell you're talking about in regards to the real world.

GlennMagusHarvey Since: Jan, 2001
#37147: Nov 6th 2012 at 11:49:08 AM

^^ So basically you're saying that if a politician isn't good enough, you won't support him/her, even if he/she is the most capable of delivering improvement?

That's like saying that you won't support Moussavi because he's not that far away from Ahmedinejad. Even when he's clearly taking those positions in order to be palatable to the voting public and powers that be.

edited 6th Nov '12 11:50:14 AM by GlennMagusHarvey

LostAnarchist Violence Is Necessary! from Neo Arcadia Itself Since: Sep, 2011
Violence Is Necessary!
#37148: Nov 6th 2012 at 11:50:38 AM

@Completion[awesome], as usual.

Oh, and if anyone asks - I voted Straight Democrat. Damn shame there few to no sane Dems or Indies to tick Repugs off with here in South Carolina. Sooner or later (once I manage to get out of college) I'll head someplace else, maybe...

FTR, I just hope Obama is kicking some straight ass right now and the Senate doesn't shift to red (the house is a lost cause for now, so I expect more gridlock and sacrifice at the people's expense unless something is done about these obstructionists that will take more than just voting to solve, as far as I'm concerned!).

Also, Megaman Zero for President!

edited 6th Nov '12 11:52:03 AM by LostAnarchist

This is where I, the Vampire Mistress, proudly reside: http://liberal.nationstates.net/nation=nova_nacio
deathpigeon Since: Jan, 2001 Relationship Status: One True Dodecahedron
#37149: Nov 6th 2012 at 11:50:58 AM

[up][up][up] ...In the real world, people who support austerity, neocon foreign policy, the death penalty, and corporatism in health care are conservative. In fact, Obama is only really liberal when it comes to civil rights, but, even there, he's only mildly liberal.

edited 6th Nov '12 11:53:55 AM by deathpigeon


Total posts: 417,856
Top