Rex Kickass

QUOTE(juddling @ Aug 7, 2006 -> 02:45 PM) Do you have a problem with that statement? That is probably the most level-headed thing a politician has said this decade. Legitimate dissent undermines no policy.

QUOTE(samclemens @ Aug 7, 2006 -> 01:29 PM) perhaps, since you are so fair and unbiased, you should include the reason for israel shelling that beach. nice source, by the way (so credible- electronic intifada). not to mention the fact that hezbollah has released numerous statements which said they had been planning the abductions of the soldiers for months in advance. therefore, the shellings the day before in GAZA had NOTHING to with the abductions on the LEBANESE BORDER, which is on a complete different side of the country. hezbollah is only in southern lebanon, chief. of course, if you respond to my post, be sure not to respond to any of my counterpoints and to cite more crap websites as your "sources". Seriously, you never source. Ever. So I'd even trust his crap sources before I trust your non-sources. So stop with the sourcing crap already.

The UN does nothing without US approval. The UN does nothing without US approval. The UN does nothing without US approval. The UN does nothing without US approval. Maybe part of the reason UN leadership is weak rests with weak leadership at home. And in a handful of other countries that control what the UN does.

QUOTE(EvilMonkey @ Aug 7, 2006 -> 12:24 AM) Well, Ned's manager tried to make Joe responsible for Ann Coulter, of all people. I don't think Joe has ever met her, much less had an ad created by her, or had her travel with his campaign. There is some sort of responsibility you assume when you have people work with you or for you, so yes, to a degree, he is. If she didn't have such close ties to him, then no, he wouldn't. If Rush started calling the next Democratic Presidential candidate a , you know it would only take nanoseconds for the loony-left to start screaming for the Republican candidate to 'disavow' and distance himself from Rush, even if he had never even met Rush before. But you completely skipped over the most important part, about how he lied to cover his ass, just like a seasoned politician when he claims no knowledge of blogs and their doings. Meet Ned, not just your average Joe, but also your average politician! Apples vs Oranges when talking 'supporters' vs 'staffers/volunteers'. The level of hate by the Bush supporters pales in comparison to almost anything you can find on DailyKos and HufPo. Now, if you have campaign volunteers stooping to the level of Hamsher, let me know. He said "I'm not responsible for independent blogs." And somehow that becomes "I don't know that person. Not at all." He refused to comment on independent blogs and that becomes disavowing meeting someone? That's a bit of a stretch. Does that mean the next time he doesn't comment on a story in the newspaper, that he clearly disavows the existence of that newspaper? This is a big stretch for a campaign that's looking at a hard defeat in less than 48 hours.

So candidates are suddenly responsible for what their supporters put on the internet?

QUOTE(samclemens @ Aug 6, 2006 -> 07:40 PM) the current islamofacists in power in iran are impossible to predict That's spoken like someone who's political research comes exclusively from talk radio. There are literally hundreds of people who study this that would disagree with you. Are there options that might end Iran's nuclear capability? Yes. Most of them are relatively unpalatable for the US and they range from eating crow to full out war. None of them are the easy thing to do - and none of them are things that the US may see as a short term interest. But what the Iranians are doing is entirely predictable. They see one thing as abundantly clear. The US is not in a position to invade Iran at the moment, and by going nuclear, Iran will be in a position to never actually be in a position to be under the threat of US invasion. Going nuclear is their seat at the table. The sooner people in our government really understand this, the better chance we have to stop it.

This isn't a warning to one person, Iggy. It's a warning to anyone talking in this thread. This isn't a warning to one person, Iggy. It's a warning to anyone talking in this thread.

My gametracker froze. Whats the situation?

I'm leaving this open - but with a very clear warning. Play nice. Got it?

This is so frustrating. I'm not blaming anyone. I'm simply trying to say this. Within 48 hours, there was definitely an opportunity in the beginning stages of this conflict to not only keep this situation from spiralling out of control as well as acheiving Israel's goal of disarming Hezbollah. But world powers chose not to exercise diplomatic leadership. This doesn't involve military forces. This doesn't involve assigning blame, or yelling at one country to do something. This simply involves powerful governments in the world to be aware of the goings on within certain hotspots of the world. And that's something that powerful governments in the world chose not to do. It involves talking to both the Lebanese and Israeli governments immediately following the start of such a conflict and working quickly toward a resolution for both sides. Only one government stood up to lead any kind of diplomacy in the region. That was France. However, they don't have the influence in the region that a Russia, US, UK or even China would have. So their initiative ends up in a broadly worded call for a ceasefire that isn't really a ceasefire to begin with because the language is so broad and loose that it basically binds Israel to no terms of ceasefire whatsoever as long as they claim it to be a "defensive action." With that kind of language, its no wonder why Lebanon rejects it out of hand.

I couldn't agree with you more. If you can't stand to lose a primary, don't run in a primary.

I live in NJ so I'll disagree here. Kean has 1/4 the funds of Menendez, and his name recognition is primarily that of his dad's. The more people see Junior, the less they like him.... His upside is that Menendez will have a lot of baggage - because he's a bit of a thug politically and that neither side is going to run a particularly stellar campaign.... So although it seems a toss-up, there's no Kean momentum in NJ. This race is polling stable with Menendez increasing his lead a point or two in each poll.

You just announced how a lot of people feel about Lieberman. Lieberman is posturing. If he loses decisively enough, no way is he going to stay in the race. If he loses by 8-10 points, he loses any support among his colleagues... and if he loses at all - he loses the support of his state party. He has a weak organization, and may not have the money to run a viable campaign all things being equal. In the primary alone, Lamont is spending a third of what Lieberman is spending.... and Lamont has the private bankroll to fund the entire thing if he needs to.

I really think that this is a situation where most major powers didn't step up fast enough to create a small avenue of opportunity that existed within the first 48 hours of the conflict. I think had a country with enough worldwide clout like the US stepped up quickly and met with Lebanese government officials and Israeli government officials soon enough, a temporary cease fire could have taken place that would have brought the Lebanese government on the side of the Israelis. I'm more and more convinced about that based on what I have heard from analysts in Lebanon. The sentiment seemed to be "we're becoming a democracy, the US will help us." That didn't happen. Not from the US, not from Canada, the UK, Russia or anywhere with any real world wide importance. As a result, you quickly saw opinion in Lebanon shift allegiances behind Hezbollah which to the on the ground observer would probably rather quickly come off as freedom fighters once again - even though that handle is totally false. The only country which took the lead on creating peace in the region here is France, and it took over two weeks to get acceptable language through the UN Security Council - mostly with the hang-ups being on our part. In situations where war breaks out, world leadership should be looking for a way to find a positive outcome that ends in peace. That's world leadership. And sadly, the only ones seeming to want that these days are the French. At least in Lebanon.

QUOTE(samclemens @ Aug 5, 2006 -> 03:01 PM) very true, only people that really care seem to vote in primaries. way more will vote in the actual election. If only the people who "really care" about what our government does votes in primaries, I wish turn out was that low in every election. Because if you don't really care, you shouldn't bother to vote.

I am closing this. Again, we are not opening threads every time someone gets the death penalty celebrating a murderer's death. Although you may view it as justice for the victim, that justice doesn't need to be celebrated in this forum... so here are some guidelines toward death penalty threads on this board. A thread that merits discussion regarding the validity of the death penalty or a specific case where the death penalty is or isn't used that is controversial is welcome here. A "Yay! Death Penalty! Someone is going to/was just executed Yay!" thread is unacceptable. Thanks

NJ Senate (Rasmussen) Menendez (D, Incumbent) 44% Kean ® 38% PA Senate (Rasmussen) Casey (D)50% Santorum (R, Incumbent) 39%

I think saying "I'm not the only problem this year," isn't whining. I thought he was pretty gracious actually.

I'd say maybe they get a trial first.

The problem is that a Primary loss is going to hurt him more in an independent bid. He WILL lose labor. He WILL lose CT party manpower. If he can't get enough paid volunteers to mount a GOTV operation now, what makes you think he'll be able to do it then?

Lieberman has scrapped his GOTV program for the primary - apparently more and more convinced of a primary loss. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...6080300597.html

Both shows have made me laugh so hard I cry. Colbert's show is more consistent because its more traditional satire than an ensemble show like Jon Stewart's.

QUOTE(Heads22 @ Aug 4, 2006 -> 01:15 AM) Nasrallah by far has the most sex appeal of any hezbollah leader. My oh my look at that beard, What do you mean? Mahmoud Yunis is dreeeamee.

Lieberman is running a sort of Anti-Walmart theme in his campaign to be fair.

If the latest Q-poll isn't far off the actual mark, theres no way a Lieberman campaign stands a chance after a 13 point loss in the primary.