StrangeSox

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Oct 28, 2008 -> 11:23 AM) Here's a flier distributed in white neighborhoods of Wisconsin: So what's the source of this? The actual GOP? A couple of jerks in the GOP?

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Oct 28, 2008 -> 06:59 PM) Question: shouldn't this be something on the ballot and not passed by legislation? (sorry, this may be in the thread and I didn't read the entire thing). It is on the ballot. They passed one a few years ago but it was struck down as unconstitutional. These become law through a ballot measure. That's another part of the "Yes on 8" campaign -- deriding judges for "thinking they know more than the people" when they overturn unconstitutional laws. Its as if they don't understand how our system of judicial review works. I would tend to agree with putting these on the ballot instead of the hands of the legislature, but we must have strong judicial review to ensure that a simple majority cannot repress the minority.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Oct 28, 2008 -> 07:29 PM) See, all these places that are "non-biased" forget to tell you the "facts" - or only those you want to be true so the medicine all tastes better going down. Obama has voted for extended some of the Bush tax cuts in the past while letting others expire. Has he explicitly stated that he will let them all expire? I can't find any direct quotes through the googles, just a bunch of right-wing blogs and Hannity's website. http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/20...enate-tax_n.htm

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Oct 28, 2008 -> 07:09 PM) but thats 2009 tax rates. the Bush tax cuts expire in 2010, i believe. the tax situation would look a lot different in 2010 if Obama lets all the Bush tax cuts expire. Ah, good catch. My mistake.

QUOTE (kapkomet @ Oct 28, 2008 -> 06:57 PM) But that's not going to happen. They conveniently forget to tell you that. I guess that's another issue, but what Biden said really isn't inconsistent (as far as I remember) with what Barack has said, regardless of whether their plan is legitimate. I didn't realize Obama didn't count the Bush tax cuts expiring as tax increases. That is disingenuous. However, the net tax effect is still a reduction in taxes for all but the top quintile according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center's analysis. http://mediamatters.org/static/images/item...-taxes-full.jpg http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...8060900950.html

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Oct 28, 2008 -> 05:41 PM) I'm just telling you what their side is trying to say. They would also argue that persons marry multiple persons would be the next step in the degredation of marriage after same sex persons marrying same sex persons. So calm down, it's not even my view of the situation. someone asked what their whole point is and I'm am merely responding to that question. I understood what you were saying, and I agree with you. Those who support prop. 8 and other laws like it typically rely on either religious arguments or ridiculous slippery slope arguments. I'll always have a hard time voting Republicans to national offices while the party contains a large dose of that element, and its one reason I was really, really turned off by the Palin pick.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Oct 28, 2008 -> 05:00 PM) http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/200...28/1600845.aspx Read that article, it's actually hilarious. This tax plan is such a fraud, there is no way that the taxation plan Obama has promised is what the actual rates will be. Even the Obama campaign is inconsistent and can't get it completely straight. Even with MSNBC's best spin it still comes off as total bs. I don't think that's inconsistent. There's always been a group getting a tax cut (or tax 'relief'), a group in the middle with no net change (which I seem to remember being in the mid-100's through $250k), and a group at the top (250k+) getting a tax raise.

QUOTE (mr_genius @ Oct 28, 2008 -> 04:36 PM) The issue is that there are large gaps in Obama's spending and taxation plans. The Obama definition of ultra wealth has already dropped form $250,000 to $150,000. Link/ source?

Ronald Reagan loved himself some bloated government. I'm not sure why he's so idolized by many fiscal conservatives.

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Oct 27, 2008 -> 05:20 PM) Please explain. ACORN clearly stole the election. Clearly.

QUOTE (Texsox @ Oct 28, 2008 -> 11:15 AM) I look at it differently, do we really want to live in the country that the poorest among us can build? Are those the schools we want? The roads? The military? It's not about supporting the other half, it's about the military, schools, interstate roads, CIA, FBI, and all the other stuff that comes along with it. All that is greatly reduced when we start living on what the poorest can afford. I agree 100%, and that's why I agree with a slightly progressive tax system. I think what we currently have now, where some people get a bigger refund than they pay in, is wrong. I think that Obama is wrong for hitting the wealthy as hard as he plans to. I also think McCain is wrong for giving them as big of a break as he plans to. I disagree with some of what Obama was saying in that interview, but I don't know how you can deny that what he said was taken out of context and heavily distorted to make it appear that he's left of Lenin. His tax policies are more-socialistic than McCain's, but he's not a socialist. Progressive taxation =/= socialism.

The entire, not-completely-hacked-up clip is available on WBEZ's website. It's the January 18th episode. This specific discussion starts about half way through. http://www.wbez.org/audio_library/od_rajan01.asp Matt Drudge thinks this is the biggest thing to ever happen in politics, Daily Kos thinks it is nothing. At least you can listen to the full interview instead of the chopped youtube video to decide for yourself. Drudge was also pimping the 28 second clip of Obama saying the Constitution is "fundamentally flawed" (OMG BOOGA BOOGA!). It was another hacked together clip with zero context, and the parts that did give context were intentionally cut out of the middle. It's a 54 minute discussion on slavery/ racial equalities. Here's his full answer (starting at ~46 min): "I think it's a remarkable document, as well as the civil war amendments, but i think it is an imperfect document, and I think that it is a document that reflects some deep flaws in American culture -- the colonial culture -- at that time. African Americans were not --first of all they weren't african-americans -- the africans at the time were not considered as part of the polity that was of concern to the framers. I think that, as Richard said, it was a nagging problem in the same way these days that we might think of environmental issues or some other problem where you have to balance cost benefits as opposed to seeing it as a moral problem involving persons of moral worth, and in that sense I think we can say that the Constitution reflected an enormous blindspot in our culture that carries on until this day and that the framers had that same blindspot. I don't think the two views are contradictory to say that it was a remarkable political document that paved the way for where we are now and to say that it also reflected the fundamental flaw of this country that continues to this day." http://www.wbez.org/audio_library/od_rasep01.asp September 6th episode. Clearly, Obama hates America. I hate Matt Drudge.

QUOTE (knightni @ Oct 24, 2008 -> 12:11 PM) You're missing my original comment. People who come out election day and right-lean, are people who are less likely to use the internet or answer polls (conservative church-goers, retirees, military personnel, etc.) If this were true, we'd see this bias against polls again and again. If this effect is real, the pollsters make attempts to correct for it.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Oct 24, 2008 -> 07:56 AM) Damn, they have it 375-157 Obama. So does 538.com this morning. You have to filter out Nate Silver's obvious (D) bias in his comments, but his statistical analysis seems to be solid.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Oct 24, 2008 -> 06:42 AM) I was overseas at the time but I don't remember the '04 race ever being comfortably in Kerry's court before the inaccurate exit polling (probably the source of people remembering it this way), not once. Every time I looked at the polls that summer, which was about twice a week, they were a dead heat within the margin of error, usually Bush would be up 1 or 2%. And Kerry definitely didn't have this massive polling gap that Obama has right now. There's plenty of internet-using Republicans... you just don't see them here because this is a Chicago-centric board and there's like 17 Republicans in the entire city. Electoral-vote.com (another poll-of-polls website) had Kerry winning it close, but that's because they got OH wrong. They nailed every other state.

Electoral college landslide, but not a 55/45 popular vote split. How many republicans post on a message board isn't my barometer. Barack is now opening up even bigger leads in the polls after McCain's "dead cat bounce."

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Oct 23, 2008 -> 03:28 PM) Holy crap - I wonder if that's even legal. We're in Illinois. "Legal" is a relative term.

IBD/ TIPP has the race at Obama +1.1. Don't worry, Obama supporters. Something is very, very wrong with their model. http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/10/wha...e.html#comments

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27341031

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 23, 2008 -> 01:42 PM) The exit polls were actually surprisingly accurate in hindsight IIRC...the oddity appeared because people took the mid-day exit polls and published them and said "Oh, Kerry won!" That and absentee/ early voting, right?

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Oct 23, 2008 -> 10:35 AM) Beat you by 2 days. With a better view of the thing too. McCain says he's proud of the mailer. http://www.nypost.com/seven/10222008/news/...tack_134696.htm I've lost just about all of the respect I had for him this time last year.

The East Atlanta Mustangs actions are just baffling. I'm not sure I can fully comprehend refusing to play a football game because a there's a girl on the other team and then using the Bible to support this nonsensical sexism? What? Good for her and her team, though. Hopefully she continues to do well and ends up kicking for a DI school somewhere.

QUOTE (Athomeboy_2000 @ Oct 22, 2008 -> 12:19 PM) The full quote: “To me, (McCain's sinking Poll numbers) motivates us, makes us work that much harder...And it also strengthens my faith because I know at the end of the day putting this in God’s hands, the right thing for America will be done, at the end of the day on Nov. 4.” Ok, so I'm kinda willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. While she MAY have been implying her and John are God's choice, i'd need to hear the audio to know for sure (voice inflection). I say that because, while I support Obama, when I do pray about the election (not all that often), I always say something to the effect of "may the person whom you feel is the right choice for America win... but I'd prefer Obama". I was raised to believe that you ask God's will be done, not yours. She clearly believes that her and McCain are the "right thing for America," based on the rhetoric of her speeches. I don't think there's any implication that she is God's choice; she explicitly states it (imo).

I didn't know I could dislike this woman any more than I already did. Palin: God Will Do The Right Thing On Election Day

QUOTE (NorthSideSox72 @ Oct 21, 2008 -> 12:02 PM) About as many Dems who blame voting machines for Kerry losing. In both cases, there may be a small sliver of real effect in there, but its not enough to tip any scales. So, a massive amount?