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

Bat178 Since: May, 2011
#113876: Mar 1st 2016 at 1:14:55 PM

And despite the South being the oldest part of the country, having 6 of the 13 original colonies and the very first state (Delaware), they appear to have gone senile, as they truly believe Trump is a great candidate. Then again, the Northeast has also gone senile as they gave us Trump in the first place.

Aszur A nice butterfly from Pagliacci's Since: Apr, 2014 Relationship Status: Don't hug me; I'm scared
A nice butterfly
#113877: Mar 1st 2016 at 1:15:59 PM

Basically the political soil of the united states can be better compared to a modless night at the 4chan image board in the midst of a doxxing controversy than an actual ideological battleground.

It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothes
Silasw A procrastination in of itself from A handcart to hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
A procrastination in of itself
#113878: Mar 1st 2016 at 1:16:03 PM

Obama stands for maintaining the status-quo while allowing small amounts of measured progress, that's pretty conservative to me.

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
Aszur A nice butterfly from Pagliacci's Since: Apr, 2014 Relationship Status: Don't hug me; I'm scared
A nice butterfly
#113879: Mar 1st 2016 at 1:24:27 PM

But he won the nobel priiiiiiiiiiize!

It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothes
Shawnsummer7 Since: Jan, 2016 Relationship Status: Yes, I'm alone, but I'm alone and free
#113880: Mar 1st 2016 at 1:25:19 PM

[up]What did he win that for again?

Aszur A nice butterfly from Pagliacci's Since: Apr, 2014 Relationship Status: Don't hug me; I'm scared
A nice butterfly
#113881: Mar 1st 2016 at 1:26:15 PM

"for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples"

It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothes
DrunkenNordmann from Exile Since: May, 2015
#113882: Mar 1st 2016 at 1:26:22 PM

[up][up] Nice-sounding promises, I suppose.

EDIT: I stand corrected.

edited 1st Mar '16 1:27:03 PM by DrunkenNordmann

We learn from history that we do not learn from history
darksidevoid Anti-Gnosis Weapon from The Frontiers (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: Robosexual
Anti-Gnosis Weapon
#113883: Mar 1st 2016 at 1:27:16 PM

And despite the South being the oldest part of the country, having 6 of the 13 original colonies and the very first state (Delaware)

????????????

Delaware is Southern now?

GM: AGOG S4 & F/WC RP; Co-GM: TABA, SOTR, UUA RP; Sub-GM: TTS RP. I have brought peace, freedom, justice, and security to my new Empire.
TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#113884: Mar 1st 2016 at 1:29:55 PM

He won a Nobel Peace Prize, to be precise. Then gave an acceptance speech about why we need to stay at war.

edited 1st Mar '16 1:30:25 PM by TobiasDrake

My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
Silasw A procrastination in of itself from A handcart to hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
A procrastination in of itself
#113885: Mar 1st 2016 at 1:30:05 PM

[up]X5 Not being Bush, in fairness that was a big contribution to world peace.

edited 1st Mar '16 1:30:24 PM by Silasw

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
Bat178 Since: May, 2011
TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#113887: Mar 1st 2016 at 1:31:19 PM

If it helps, he was just as confused as anyone else by the award.

I receive this honor with deep gratitude and great humility. It is an award that speaks to our highest aspirations — that for all the cruelty and hardship of our world, we are not mere prisoners of fate. Our actions matter, and can bend history in the direction of justice.

And yet I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge the considerable controversy that your generous decision has generated. (Laughter.) In part, this is because I am at the beginning, and not the end, of my labors on the world stage. Compared to some of the giants of history who've received this prize — Schweitzer and King; Marshall and Mandela — my accomplishments are slight. And then there are the men and women around the world who have been jailed and beaten in the pursuit of justice; those who toil in humanitarian organizations to relieve suffering; the unrecognized millions whose quiet acts of courage and compassion inspire even the most hardened cynics. I cannot argue with those who find these men and women — some known, some obscure to all but those they help — to be far more deserving of this honor than I.

But perhaps the most profound issue surrounding my receipt of this prize is the fact that I am the Commander-in-Chief of the military of a nation in the midst of two wars. One of these wars is winding down. The other is a conflict that America did not seek; one in which we are joined by 42 other countries — including Norway — in an effort to defend ourselves and all nations from further attacks.

My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
Aszur A nice butterfly from Pagliacci's Since: Apr, 2014 Relationship Status: Don't hug me; I'm scared
A nice butterfly
#113888: Mar 1st 2016 at 1:33:02 PM

Basically the Nobel peace prize laureates were just very drunk and had to come up with a winner at the last minute

It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothes
SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#113889: Mar 1st 2016 at 1:33:48 PM

Did ISIS and the Ukraine conflict already exist back then?

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Greenmantle V from Greater Wessex, Britannia Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: Hiding
V
#113890: Mar 1st 2016 at 1:34:38 PM

[up] Not in 2009. The Arab Spring hadn't even started then.

edited 1st Mar '16 1:35:26 PM by Greenmantle

Keep Rolling On
Shawnsummer7 Since: Jan, 2016 Relationship Status: Yes, I'm alone, but I'm alone and free
#113891: Mar 1st 2016 at 1:35:13 PM

Fair enough for me. America needed diplomacy after Bush and it got us where we are now, from making peace with Cuba, preventing a nuclear Iran, etc. If Obama manages to prevent a nuclear North Korea, he'll be hands down one of the best foreign policy presidents of all time (alongside domestic, provided the ACA doesn't get scrapped).

[up][up]ISIS and Ukraine aren't his fault anyway.

edited 1st Mar '16 1:36:26 PM by Shawnsummer7

3of4 Just a harmless giant from a foreign land. from Five Seconds in the Future. Since: Jan, 2010 Relationship Status: GAR for Archer
Just a harmless giant from a foreign land.
#113892: Mar 1st 2016 at 1:38:54 PM

I think he deserves it for not breaking down years ago, grabbing a Katana and go to town on Congress.

I mean. Who'd stop him, the Secret Service works for him?

"You can reply to this Message!"
Luminosity Since: Jun, 2012 Relationship Status: Lovey-Dovey
#113893: Mar 1st 2016 at 1:55:57 PM

Depends on you mean by Conservatism — after all, would you oppose someone who calls themselves a "One Nation Conservative", or follows a non-US style of conservatism? And is change for changes sake a good thing?

I would have to do research on non-US conservatism before I come up with a suitable answer. The only other conservatism I'm personally acquainted with is Russian, and anyone who knows me would say I oppose both branches of that(Putinist conservative and opposition conservative that masquerades as "liberal").

Each change needs to be measured in context. But the US is so behind the entire first world(and some other places, like Russia, as surprising as it is for me) on so many things, change is alarmingly necessary.

Any conservative who is actually sane and reasonable can be debated, they can be negotiated with, and they can work with you towards a common goal. A sane, reasonable conservative recognizes that yes, the government needs to run, hearings need to happen, inspectors and workers and soldiers need to do their jobs. The problem is that the last 20 years has seen sane, reasonable conservatives lose out to the shrill hate-mongers of the Tea Party and the Christian Taliban. Regularly and repeatedly.

I don't know what that common goal would be, but it wouldn't be mine. Unless there exists a conservative who opposes abortion restrictions, privacy invasion, corporate welfare, tax cuts, warhawk foreign policy, religious freedom to oppress, and copyright in general, and supports free healthcare, better job conditions(things like guaranteed paid leave, which we fucking have but USA doesn't) and unemployment support, minority rights, women rights, gun control, and sexual freedom. And not just in lip service, as conservative Democrats often do, but in practice. But the ultimate question is how would someone like that be a US conservative to begin with?

edited 1st Mar '16 1:56:47 PM by Luminosity

LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#113894: Mar 1st 2016 at 1:59:44 PM

NVM.

edited 1st Mar '16 2:00:35 PM by LSBK

DrDougsh Since: Jan, 2001
#113895: Mar 1st 2016 at 2:01:33 PM

[up][up][up][up] Don't we kinda already have a nuclear North Korea?

Elle Since: Jan, 2001
#113896: Mar 1st 2016 at 2:11:22 PM

You're ignoring cases where a liberal and a conservitive might agree on something and agree to disagree on others for the sake of making progress on the agreed-on thing, either because the issue is bipartisan or is one that person is willing to break ranks with their party on. Unfortunately, bipartisanship is darn near a dirty word to too many people right now and especially on the Tea Party side, any deviation from the party ranks makes you a target.

BlueNinja0 The Mod with the Migraine from Taking a left at Albuquerque Since: Dec, 2010 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
The Mod with the Migraine
#113897: Mar 1st 2016 at 2:12:56 PM

Unless there exists a conservative who opposes abortion restrictions, privacy invasion, corporate welfare, tax cuts, warhawk foreign policy, religious freedom to oppress, and copyright in general, and supports free healthcare, better job conditions(things like guaranteed paid leave, which we fucking have but USA doesn't) and unemployment support, minority rights, women rights, gun control, and sexual freedom. And not just in lip service, as conservative Democrats often do, but in practice. But the ultimate question is how would someone like that be a US conservative to begin with?
The ones I italicized? Conservatives, though not a majority of them, have supported those points. They've opposed invasion of privacy and corporate welfare because they're "big government". They've supported minority rights and gun controlnote .

But the main thing is that, being sane and reasonable means they're capable of compromising. Unlike the current batch who refuse to do anything.

That’s the epitome of privilege right there, not considering armed nazis a threat to your life. - Silasw
LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#113898: Mar 1st 2016 at 2:14:40 PM

Luminosity's entire post just seemed pretty narrow and unwilling to actual talk to anyone who disagrees with her (him) about anything. Which might be the point considering what they were responding to but, like, that's not very workable (or reasonable).

TheWanderer Student of Story from Somewhere in New England (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: Wishfully thinking
Student of Story
#113899: Mar 1st 2016 at 2:17:28 PM

I mean. Who'd stop him, the Secret Service works for him?

Well, unless they don't really work for him. See the page quote for Bodyguard Betrayal. wink

Basically the political soil of the united states can be better compared to a modless night at the 4chan image board in the midst of a doxxing controversy than an actual ideological battleground.

More or less. Very few people vote on or even learn policy, a lot of it is based on things like how much someone likes a candidate, how honest or genuine they are, (why anyone expects a lawyer or politician to be honest or genuine without holding their feet to the fire I can't fathom, but I guess they live in a world on the other end of the cynicism-idealism spectrum) how affable the candidate is, political memes spread by their friends, family, and media of choice, peer pressure/group dynamics, the political strawman they've built of the other side, and who will strick it to those people more, etc. Hell, a political study found that people will vote for who they think is going to win just so they can have the feeling of the thrill of victory.

Is Obama a conservative? I've spoken to some people who seem to think so, and he seems like a pretty reasonable person as far as I can see.

Obama would have been a very natural fit as a Conservative up until the Gingrich takeover in the mid 90s, and even after that would have been entirely unremarkable as, say, a Northeast or West Coast Republican. It's not since the invasion of Iraq and the Bush administration coming to rely mostly on hardcore religious conservatives as their main base of support that Obama wouldn't fit at all in the Republican party. In most of the first world he'd be an unremarkable moderate conservative.

As for the discussion of change from the prior page and accepting it as inevitable, sadly I think that one the biggest problems with general attitudes in the US is the refusal to accept change, and particularly the attitude that somehow the world owes it to you to stay the as what you've experienced and known. It's, in my opinion, one of the worst aspects of the It's All About Me attitude that many people have.

edited 1st Mar '16 2:19:00 PM by TheWanderer

| Wandering, but not lost. | If people bring so much courage to this world...◊ |
TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#113900: Mar 1st 2016 at 2:18:29 PM

In unsurprising news, the GOP continues to refuse to do their f*cking job.

Obama Makes Case to G.O.P. Senators to Fill Supreme Court Seat

“The chairman has turned the impartial reputation of the judiciary committee into an extension of the Trump campaign,” Mr. Reid said.

Mr. Grassley fired back: “It’s another day and another tantrum from the minority leader. But it doesn’t matter how much he jumps up and down and stomps his feet, we aren’t going to let the far left get away with denying the American people the opportunity to be heard.”

Yeah, I hope the American people "are heard" by firing you assholes.

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