U.S. Presidential race - Democrat Discussion

[belfpala]

Relevant xkcd?

There's always a relevant xkcd.

[obdigore]

There's always a relevant xkcd.

Indeed there is. I particularly like this one. http://xkcd.com/647/

[Wells]

Obama on the Daily Show tonight.

---------- Post added 2012-10-19 at 06:28 AM ----------

Also his answer about the Libya response was a good one. Paraphrasing here but: "Government is a big organization, and sometimes you screw up, and you fix it". So can we move past that stupid "issue" now?

[Felya]

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com...iage-equality/

Kluwe will debate an empty chair over marriage*equality

Vikings punter Chris Kluwe wants to debate a supporter of the proposed Minnesota marriage amendment, which would limit the definition of the term to a union between a man and a woman.* But invitations extended to folks like former Vikings center Matt Birk and Congresswoman Michele Bachmann weren’t accepted.

So Kluwe will be debating an empty chair.

Yes, the tactic has been used recently by Clint Eastwood, but if no one will step up to the stage and take on Kluwe, then he has no choice.

The “debate” will happen Friday night, and it will be “moderated” by local radio personality Tom Bernard.* Here’s hoping he keeps the chair in line.

[belfpala]

Here’s hoping he keeps the chair in line.

Here's hoping he gives it a symbolic punt.

[Felya]

Here's hoping he gives it a symbolic punt.

I get my polotics from sports sites. But, Kluwe is a funny dude. I'd watch that debate if I could.

---------- Post added 2012-10-19 at 07:16 AM ----------

Obama on the Daily Show tonight.

Worth watching, Jon didn't really soft ball the questions. I liked Obama's 'that's cute', to seeing a picture from each debate and asking Obama to guess which debate each was from. The Libya question got an answer, but it's not the 'I don't deserve to be president' that his opponents are looking for.

I think it's interesting to compare how long it took for Obama's opponent's to claim Obama was taking too much credit for Bin Ladin and how long the blaming for this incident is going.

[Mnevis]

I know this is neither here nor there, but I love Samantha Bee.



thank you tumblr person

[Kalyyn]

Random history lesson.

http://xkcd.com/1122/

No Democrat without combat experience has ever defeated a challenger whose name is worth more in scrabble...

Who the hell figured that out?

[Spectral]

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com...iage-equality/

Kluwe will debate an empty chair over marriage*equality

Vikings punter Chris Kluwe wants to debate a supporter of the proposed Minnesota marriage amendment, which would limit the definition of the term to a union between a man and a woman.* But invitations extended to folks like former Vikings center Matt Birk and Congresswoman Michele Bachmann weren’t accepted.

So Kluwe will be debating an empty chair.

Yes, the tactic has been used recently by Clint Eastwood, but if no one will step up to the stage and take on Kluwe, then he has no choice.

The “debate” will happen Friday night, and it will be “moderated” by local radio personality Tom Bernard.* Here’s hoping he keeps the chair in line.

The thing is, I don't think anyone that advocates against marriage equality even believes they can actually debate the issue cogently against someone that's informed. I mean, you can only say, "it's God's will!" so many times, and that's really the only argument that exists. If someone believes that, you'll have won with them. For people reasoning objectively, there's just no plausible argument against marriage equality.

The good news here in Maryland is that Question 6 (the marriage equality prop) is going to bring a fair number of people to the polls, and most of them are voting in favor of equality, according to the most recent polls. This is a really, really huge election day issue, as Maryland is surely the best chance yet to pass marriage equality by popular vote. Count on a storm of new laws for equality across liberal and moderate states if this succeeds by a wide margin.

[belfpala]

The thing is, I don't think anyone that advocates against marriage equality even believes they can actually debate the issue cogently against someone that's informed.

Kluwe is a cool guy. He is (or was) a WoW player, even.

But...

Nobody will debate a freakin' FOOTBALL PLAYER over an issue that got on the ballots? Related: I see VOTE NO (to the anti-gay marriage thing) signs all over the place. I have seen a single VOTE YES sign.

[obdigore]

Kluwe is a cool guy. He is (or was) a WoW player, even.

But...

Nobody will debate a freakin' FOOTBALL PLAYER over an issue that got on the ballots?

I would imagine Berk isn't coming back to MN to debate because he is playing football in Baltimore now.

I miss HAMS. Chris Warcraft FTW!

[Spectral]

Kluwe is a cool guy. He is (or was) a WoW player, even.

Yeah, he actually was on the same server I used to play on. Good raiding guild that he was in at the time, so I assume he was a pretty solid player. I passed him in progression though!

Nobody will debate a freakin' FOOTBALL PLAYER over an issue that got on the ballots? Related: I see VOTE NO (to the anti-gay marriage thing) signs all over the place. I have seen a single VOTE YES sign.[/QUOTE]

Like I said, there's just not really a debate to be had. One side presents reasons why equality is relevant and just, the other says, "well God doesn't like it!".

[Reeve]

No Democrat without combat experience has ever defeated a challenger whose name is worth more in scrabble...

Who the hell figured that out?

It's a very Randall Munroe thing to figure out.

[Lenonis]

I mean, you can only say, "it's God's will!" so many times, and that's really the only argument that exists.

Both of my parents are very religious (extremely so) and very conservative (extremely so).

I've learned never to debate with them because everything ends up turning into a "but God told me so" defense. And even if I point out in the bible where it is contradictory they just respond with "well God told me so".

And I have learned that there is not a single argument that can be used against that. It ends up being an unbeatable defense...because you cannot argue against someone's religious beliefs and expect to win.

[ptwonline]

Obama took China to the WTO over tariffs on US steel. Guess what? He won.

I wonder how long it will take Republicans to spin this as a loss, credit Romney for it, or mostly ignore it.

http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNew...89H10920121019

This is a relatively small case, of course. But Obama is also challenging China on bigger cases.

[Reeve]

Obama took China to the WTO over tariffs on US steel. Guess what? He won.

I wonder how long it will take Republicans to spin this as a loss, credit Romney for it, or mostly ignore it.

http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNew...89H10920121019

They could comment on the things we're still being stupid about regarding the WTO, like how we subsidize Brazilian cotton farmers so that we don't have to repeal the domestic cotton subsidies under the WTO.

A link to the podcast I learned this from

[Deleted]

Its absolutely ridiculous that the US has subsidies for agriculture at all. I can understand a country like Iceland having some subsidies so that they have some domestic production as security for potential disasters. But the US has some of the best farmland in the world.

[belfpala]

But the US has some of the best farmland in the world.

And an incredibly powerful lobby. And states that are interested in seeing their agriculture succeed. The Democratic party in my state is actually called the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. And that's just at the state level.

I'm not saying the subsidies are a good thing. Just that it would be incredibly difficult to get rid of them.

[ptwonline]

Its absolutely ridiculous that the US has subsidies for agriculture at all. I can understand a country like Iceland having some subsidies so that they have some domestic production as security for potential disasters. But the US has some of the best farmland in the world.

A lot of the individual subsidies I have heard about seem ridiculous, but overall I think a lot of farmers (especially smaller ones) rely quite a bit on subsidies in one form or another. I think most nations want food security if possible.

[Felya]

Its absolutely ridiculous that the US has subsidies for agriculture at all. I can understand a country like Iceland having some subsidies so that they have some domestic production as security for potential disasters. But the US has some of the best farmland in the world.

Tell me if this sounds familiar:
http://eightiesclub.tripod.com/id395.htm

Reagan's solution to a farming bubble, that was described as the worst crisis sense the great depression, was a bail out that had indefinite subsudies. The result was so successful, the largest producer of corn in US, has a giant statue of Reagan at their headquarters.