U.S. Presidential race - Democrat Discussion

[Bobdoletoo]

Considering an annual event is pretty run-of-the-mill, yes, I would say 4 a year would qualify something as fairly run-of-the-mill. Disasters where the Stafford Act have been historically waved have been...astronomical in scale. A disaster that is less than 1/50th the damaging power of Katrina should absolutely not be treated the same.

The stafford act was not waved during katrina. It was paid for by Louisiana using money from the federal government. And I do not think less then 4 a year constitutes run of the mill.

[Chrysia]

The stafford act was not waved during katrina. It was paid for by Louisiana using money from the federal government. And I do not think less then 4 a year constitutes run of the mill.

If the Federal Government paid the money, it wasn't paid for by Louisiana. The Stafford Act was, in essence, waived.

I fail to see how reacting to a much lesser natural disaster differently somehow constitutes hypocrisy on Obama's part. Different situations require different responses.

[Bobdoletoo]

If the Federal Government paid the money, it wasn't paid for by Louisiana. The Stafford Act was, in essence, waived.

I fail to see how reacting to a much lesser natural disaster differently somehow constitutes hypocrisy on Obama's part. Different situations require different responses.

No, the stafford act was paid by the state of Louisiana. It happened after the state was given additional aid by the federal government. Thereby, the state did pay it, albeit with money given to it from the federal government. There were many outspoken people, like obama,who demanded that the government help Louisiana out. It just so happens that obama made it about the federal government not wanting to help black people.

[Chrysia]

No, the stafford act was paid by the state of Louisiana. It happened after the state was given additional aid by the federal government. Thereby, the state did pay it, albeit with money given to it from the federal government. There were many outspoken people, like obama,who demanded that the government help Louisiana out. It just so happens that obama made it about the federal government not wanting to help black people.

The Stafford Act is intended to force states to use their own money to match a percentage of Federal Aid on any disaster relief. In extreme circumstances, that money will be covered by the Federal Government, such as with Katrina. Isaac, while devastating, is not a particularly extreme case, and as such, Louisiana is expected to chip in their part of the relief money. Why is this difficult to understand?

[Wells]

Why is this difficult to understand?

Because Obama.

[belfpala]

Can you please show me where on your information how much relief they received,I could not find it. Can you please show me where on your information that a presidential candidate used it for political gain, then reversed course int he same state years later?

No. Because comparing Katrina to any other recent natural disaster in the the US I can think of is fucking ridiculous.

Sorry about the tornadoes and such, but... yeah.

[Naxere]

Back onto more important things: With the next debate going to be on Foreign Policy, and all of the details still pouring out about the attack in Benghazi, how does the Obama team spin this to not look completely incompetent? At first they said it was because of the video, now that turns out to not be the case at all.


http://abcnews.go.com/International/...0#.UHVXCRXA9TI


http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics...benghazi-post/

[Elegiac]

Back onto more important things: With the next debate going to be on Foreign Policy, and all of the details still pouring out about the attack in Benghazi, how does the Obama team spin this to not look completely incompetent? At first they said it was because of the video, now that turns out to not be the case at all.


http://abcnews.go.com/International/...0#.UHVXCRXA9TI


http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics...benghazi-post/

Mistakes happen. Doubtless the State Department didn't expect the NTC to be such ingrates.

[ptwonline]

What is your definition of run of the mill? According to the link belf gave us, they say 12 events of 1billion+ have already happened this year. It also states there have been 112 from 1980-2011....that means an average of less then 4 a year. Is less then 4 a year considered run of the mill?

For natural disasters? Yes. That doesn't make them insignificant, but they are relatively ordinary and expected to happen at some point, even if the specifics are not known.

[Puremallace]

Lets see I stayed for Isaac. I got like 500 minutes from Verizon...They were going to extend the date that we could pay our car insurance through Progressive, but that fuck Bobby Jindal stopped that. They did give out one of those "food stamp" cards if you waiting in a line for 6 hours to get a card that had like 200$ credit.

Outside of that nothing really. Most jobs down here did not pay people for the days they were out...mine actually did.

[Lenonis]

how does the Obama team spin this to not look completely incompetent?

To people like you, there is no way to spin it because you've already decided Obama is the devil and can do nothing right.

Similarly to your counterparts on the left there is no reason to spin it at all because Obama is the best and can do nothing wrong.

To the ton of people in the middle, there is actually a reasonable explanation. One that you have no interest in hearing, but many do.

And this whole disaster conversation is baffling. It's like comparing me lighting a candle to the great chicago fire and saying they are the same situation that should be handled the same from a disaster response standpoint.

[Bobdoletoo]

To people like you, there is no way to spin it because you've already decided Obama is the devil and can do nothing right.

Similarly to your counterparts on the left there is no reason to spin it at all because Obama is the best and can do nothing wrong.

To the ton of people in the middle, there is actually a reasonable explanation. One that you have no interest in hearing, but many do.

And this whole disaster conversation is baffling. It's like comparing me lighting a candle to the great chicago fire and saying they are the same situation that should be handled the same from a disaster response standpoint.

What is your reasonable explanation for the administration saying this was caused by a youtube video?

[Felya]

What is your reasonable explanation for the administration saying this was caused by a youtube video?

Ignorance.

[Lenonis]

What is your reasonable explanation for the administration saying this was caused by a youtube video?

Ok, so I have to put in a disclaimer that I'm not terrible vested in this debate because I think both sides got incredibly biased and stupid about it.

Reasonable explanation -- Obama administration did some gun jumping without full information to try to make a statement about what occurred. Given the surge of unrest in the area it wasn't an unreasonable hypothesis given all the chaos.

Or, to put it in other words...they made a mistake.

A mistake with what consequences exactly? They got more information, corrected their statement, and proceeded from there.

Both sides seized on this for political gain, and more damage was probably done with the accusations being flung about from both sides rather than how the state department handled it in the first place!

[Puremallace]

Romney is the gift that keeps on giving

Source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/49358034

The tale of Asimco Technologies, an auto parts manufacturer whose plants dot eastern China, would seem to underscore Mitt Romney’s campaign-trail complaint that China’s manufacturing juggernaut is costing America jobs.

Nine years ago, the company bought two camshaft factories that employed about 500 people in Michigan. By 2007 both were shut down. Now Asimco manufactures the same components in China on government-donated land in a coastal region that China has designated an export base, where companies are eligible for the sort of subsidies Mr. Romney says create an unfair trade imbalance.

But there is a twist to the Asimco story that would not fit neatly into a Romney stump speech: Since 2010, it has been owned by Bain Capital, the private equity firm founded by Mr. Romney, who has as much as $2.25 million invested in three Bain funds with large stakes in Asimco and at least seven other Chinese businesses, according to his 2012 candidate financial disclosure and other documents.

That and other China-related holdings by Bain funds in which Mr. Romney has invested are a reminder of how he inhabits two worlds that at times have come into conflict during his campaign for the White House.

As a candidate, Mr. Romney uses China as a punching bag. He accuses Beijing of unfairly subsidizing Chinese exports, artificially holding down the value of its currency to keep exports cheap, stealing American technology and hacking into corporate and government computers.

“How is it China’s been so successful in taking away our jobs?” he asked recently. “Well, let me tell you how: by cheating.”

But his private equity dealings, both while he headed Bain and since, complicate that message.

Mr. Romney’s campaign insists he has no control over his investments since they are held in a blind trust. That said, a confidential prospectus for one of the Bain funds, obtained by The New York Times, promotes China as a good investment for some of the same reasons that Mr. Romney has said concern him: “Strong fundamentals” like manufacturing wages 85 percent lower than what Americans earn, vast foreign exchange reserves and the likelihood that China will surpass the United States as the world’s largest economy.

“Accordingly, Bain Capital expects to see an increasing array of high-growth companies available for investment,” the prospectus says, noting the relative dearth of private equity in China.

Among the companies in which the Bain funds have invested is a global auto parts maker that is in the process of closing a factory in Illinois and moving most of the equipment and jobs to Jiangsu Province, where the Chinese government has built it a new plant; a Chinese electronics retailer accused by Microsoft [MSFT 29.075 -0.205 (-0.7%) ] of selling computers with pirated software; and a Hong Kong-based Chinese appliance maker that was sued for copying another company’s design for a deep-fat fryer.

Asked if Mr. Romney sees any conflict between his Bain investments in China and his policy positions, the campaign said: “Only the president has the power to level the playing field with China. No private citizen can do that alone.”

[ptwonline]

Romney is the gift that keeps on giving

If you think that anything like information is going to sway Romney voters...good luck. They are not low-information, they are ANTI-information. Simply presenting them with info will do no good if it contradicts their preferred worldview. That's why a job report that appears to favor Obama is not real, but the product of corruption. That's polls favoring Obama are part of a media conspiracy to help him win.

Liberals often have the same problem, but not nearly to the same degree. It's why conservatives in far greater numbers reject global warming outright (nevermind just the man-made part), Evolution, the age of the Earth/universe, the efficicacy and safety of immunization, and the list goes on and on.

[Dakia]

If you think that anything like information is going to sway Romney voters...good luck. They are not low-information, they are ANTI-information. Simply presenting them with info will do no good if it contradicts their preferred worldview. That's why a job report that appears to favor Obama is not real, but the product of corruption. That's polls favoring Obama are part of a media conspiracy to help him win.

Liberals often have the same problem, but not nearly to the same degree. It's why conservatives in far greater numbers reject global warming outright (nevermind just the man-made part), Evolution, the age of the Earth/universe, the efficicacy and safety of immunization, and the list goes on and on.

Haha, wow. The generalizations and outright dismissal of the views of others, since they don't adhere to yours, in this post is nothing short of comical.

[ptwonline]

Haha, wow. The generalizations and outright dismissal of the views of others, since they don't adhere to yours, in this post is nothing short of comical.

You mean it would be comical if it were not sadly so true. A lot of these things aren't just "views", but are facts backed up with evidence.

[Dakia]

You mean it would be comical if it were not sadly so true. A lot of these things aren't just "views", but are facts backed up with evidence.

Right, so every person who supports Romney is anti-information. Every person who is a Republican doesn't believe in evolution, science, medicine. Every Republican thinks that the job numbers were a hoax.

Please, show me the facts that back up those generalizations.

[mistuhbull]

Right, so every person who supports Romney is anti-information. Every person who is a Republican doesn't believe in evolution, science, medicine. Every Republican thinks that the job numbers were a hoax.

Please, show me the facts that back up those generalizations.

Please show me the facts where he said every