2012 US Election -- Round 2

[Gawdzilla Sama]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ ... ml?hpid=z2

I never saw a party self-destruct before. I'd love to be around 25 years from now when they try to figure out what happened. Shit will be buried deep.

[kiki5711]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xwh8kWui ... ure=colike[/youtube]

[Coito ergo sum]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ ... ml?hpid=z2

The article makes a great point, and it's something I've been hollering about in my circles since the 1990s. The fucking religious right has done this to the Republican Party. Most of the folks in the GOP that meet this description are bastions of the religious fundamentalist right -- Sarah Palin -- Pentecostal nutjob -- Perry -- southern evangelical nutjob --- Bachmann - Liberty University (or equivalent) nutjob -- it is this wing of the GOP that is drained of brains, not Romney's side. Romney is not among these folks. John Huntsman was another one who is not among these folks, and neither is Newt Gingerich.

The divide within the Republican party is obvious. It started in the 1980s. Unfortunately, the non-religious nutters, like Dole, Reagan, Bush I, and that generation of Republicans were of the ilk that religion is something you pretty much keep to yourself. They, of course, like most people believed in god and more or less went to church now and again, but they were not the in-your-face god must be the foundation of our laws christian fundamentalist wanker. The mistake that was made was that the Reagan/Bush generation let the evangelicals in the door, with Jerry Falwell, Richard Reid and the Christian Coalition and Moral Majority as political forces. They were likely just being used to garner votes among the masses of religious people across the country, but what happened was that these jack-a-lopes ended up getting real power. They started picking candidates. And, many of those candidates have been idiots.

[Ian]

I very much agree with everything you said, except for one detail. I'd say the bible-thumpers' rise in the GOP began in the 1970s. Jerry Falwell and the Moral Majority - that was the vanguard of a re-awakened evangelical movement. They were the ones who supported Reagan's not-insignificant challenge to Gerald Ford for the nomination in 1976.

And it is a sad irony that a Democrat bears a fair amount of blame for accelerating their rise in American politics. Jimmy Carter was a President who was unafraid to discuss his religious convictions and factor them into his decisionmaking (the frequent rhetoric of "universal human rights" was something featured in his term much more prominently than in previous administrations). He turned out to be something of an anomaly among Democrats, but his religious counterparts in the GOP were emboldened further.

[Coito ergo sum]

I don't disagree -- I would just point out that Reagan and Bush I used the religious right. And, as a result, the unintended consequence was the religious right gaining power and using it. I don't think Reagan and Bush I thought there was any serious risk with the really religious groups helping them out in getting votes. They were wrong. Ultimately, they pulled the switcheroo and out came the usual religious antiintellectualism and intolerance that forced out folks like Dole and his ilk, and that prevent accomplished, intelligent Republicans like Jon Huntsman from rising.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

More reason not to put them in the White House.

[Coito ergo sum]

More reason not to put them in the White House.

Of the two choices we have at present, I'll take a Romney first term over an Obama second term. Romney is not of the religious right, and his Mormonism is such that it has to be kept sort of behind the scenes or the Christians will hang him. So, maybe, just maybe, he can stick to fiscal issues.

[Drewish]

Been a while since I posted one of these:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dk0fHhTU0kE

[Kristie]

Been a while since I posted one of these:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dk0fHhTU0kE

[SteveB]

Isn't Gary Johnson the guy that website picked for me to vote for after that survey? I think that was your thread, Kristie.

[Kristie]

Isn't Gary Johnson the guy that website picked for me to vote for after that survey? I think that was your thread, Kristie.

I remember the thread, but not who you got. I do remember almost everyone should be voting for some woman we've never heard of. Except me, of course. I'm Team Obama all the way!

[Drewish]

Isn't Gary Johnson the guy that website picked for me to vote for after that survey? I think that was your thread, Kristie.

I remember the thread, but not who you got. I do remember almost everyone should be voting for some woman we've never heard of. Except me, of course. I'm Team Obama all the way!

Oh trust me, we all know that.

[Kristie]

Isn't Gary Johnson the guy that website picked for me to vote for after that survey? I think that was your thread, Kristie.

I remember the thread, but not who you got. I do remember almost everyone should be voting for some woman we've never heard of. Except me, of course. I'm Team Obama all the way!

Oh trust me, we all know that.

Shut up. You love me anyway.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

[Drewish]

So Obama supporters, what (honestly) do you think of this?

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc ... ma/262861/