Republican Primary

I don't cheer for Republicans.

Except for the one I married, but he's not running, so...

He wants me to like Newt but nah, that's okay.

Ha!

Hey, politics is rough. Some people get those kind of hopes.

Unelectable lunatic, unelectable lunatic, and Newt Gingrich.

And Newt is only (maybe) electable because he's so deeply entrenched in the machine. I'm guessing they'll ultimately go with him, but I'm cheering for Santorum.

Because that race would be highfuckinglarious.

I've been trying not to pay attention. They all frighten me too much when I do.

You're wrong about two things. Ron Paul ain't a lunatic and Mitt Romney ain't unelectable. However, Santorum would, in fact, be hilarious.

I won't touch RP here because I know it's a hot-button and I don't want to go to that party with you tonight. Realistically though, I think we both know that this is not the year that the mainstream right embraces him as their candidate.

I do think that Romney's Too-Weird-For-Mainstream-Christianity religion will ultimately drag him down.

Santorum's religion is no-less weird and will play a part in his not being selected, but his main problem is that he looks more like assistant manager at Cracker Barrel than president.

I will be very surprised if Newt doesn't get the nod because he is a rich old white guy looking out for rich old white guys in the party of the rich old white guys and the GOP isn't even pretending anymore.

Yeah... I agree with most of that. But Romney's still leading. He's probably the absolute worst choice, though. Dunno much about Santorum. Never bothered. He's even behind Ron Paul, the guy who's not even a Republican.

Ron Paul's got crazy ideas about how the market should be run (or not run) and though I like his foreign policy, he said he'd let a man die if he didn't have health insurance.

Rick Santorum is a religious conservative, so I'm not a fan of his social policies.

Newt Gingrich is not someone I have a major problem with, though I am concerned about some of his investments and the fact that he was in massive debt to Tiffany's.

Mitt Romney is hardly the worst choice of them all, and I don't care that he's Mormon. I actually prefer it. Call me crazy. I think a lot of his rhetoric in this race is there to appeal to the hardcore base. If elected, he'll be more moderate, in my opinion.

So, you would vote for Mitt because you think he's lying about being a conservative? That's not a great start there.

And Santorum is not a Religious Conservative, he is a Conservative so far wacky religious that dark ages flagellants be all "Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn, he crazee!"

I would prefer a president with no religion.

I didn't say that.

Me too. I'm just saying, compared to other crazy bible thumpers...

Misrepresented ideas are just that. Misrepresented.

Yeah... he's got some other weird book to thump. Bet the stories in it are better too...

Not sure how "market deregulation" can be misrepresented. Especially when the words come straight from his mouth.

"... he'd let a man die if he didn't have health insurance."

Yeah, that's not misrepresentation at all.

Not to mention, deregulation... crazy? ... Surrre... It's nothing new, and nothing that hasn't been proven to work.

It's not misrepresentation. It's paraphrasing. I watched that debate live.

It certainly was not OVER-regulation that led to this financial crisis.

I'm just letting you know now, I'm not going to keep debating you on this. You can attribute this decision to whatever you'd like, but it's honestly just not worth my time.

Yeah, I watched it live, too... like all of the other debates. And yes, it absolutely is misrespresentation, considering his actual answer consisted of a HELL of a lot more than "Yes."

And it absolutely was over-regulation. It's regulation that keeps competition down, which keeps corporate stock up, which makes it overly reliable, which caused a certain near-macroeconomic math nut to come up with a way to predict certain outcomes that worked too well in that form of competition, that when his method predicted a rise in the housing market, waaay too much money was put into it. At the same time, horribly run banks, with a government safety net, lent out way too much money to people who were unable to repay it.

Yeah, brokers and lobbyists.

I hope you're not the voting type.

I'm the voting type. What I'm trying to tell you is that I'm not going to spend my evening arguing with someone on the internet about politics. I don't vote along party lines. I find it to be absolutely ludicrous. If the Republican party puts forth a nominee that I feel comfortable having as a president, I'll vote for him/her. But this group isn't going to cut it. Sorry if that offends your sensibilities, but I'm sorry to say, the Republican party is becoming more and more extreme, and I don't like their policies. I will say that one of the things I can't stand about Romney is that he thinks corporations are people.

And if you are about to tell me that they are, don't bother. I really don't want to hear/read it. Because I'll laugh in your face. Or, rather, at my computer screen, which I will imagine to be your face.

Lobbyists I'll agree with. I fucking hate lobbyists.

This is why I don't like politics or religion. They don't unite. They divide. They make me feel confrontational. I don't like it. I really don't. It makes me sad.

See, that is EXACTLY the damn problem I see with what you've said about "not arguing with someone on the internet". My sensibilities are towards ignorance. You don't seem to understand much, and I'm guessing it's because you don't like talking about it. No, Ron Paul is not a Republican. No, he DOESN'T believe corporations are people, and the only reason lobbyists are doing as much damage as they are is because government is given the power to regulate in favor of the highest bidder, easily passing it off as "regulation is good, cuz it helps people".

But sure, whatever. Go do whatever you want. Obama's gonna get re-elected anyway.

Yeah, not everything that has to be done is pleasant. In fact, almost nothing that has to be done is pleasant.

I know I said I don't enjoy discussing these things, but really I've got no problem discussing it. I have a problem discussing it when you get condescending with me.

There are things about each of these candidates that I like, and things about them that I don't. If it makes you feel better, I probably won't be voting in the next election, because I might be abroad. So, you go ahead and think that you've got all the answers and that I'm misinformed.

Well, when you act condescending towards a platform I've already said I root for, and in a horribly ill-informed, slogan-like manner, you kinda have to expect to get called out on it in an equally condescending way.

You've already shown me you're misinformed. I know I don't have all the answers, but that's the process of debate. When you can actually refute the argument, then you have something worth listening to, and will actually get me to change my way of thinking. This is how people of opposing beliefs discuss, and it IS going to get emotional and a bit painful, but in the end it's about learning.

Liberum made the most sense.

Thank you for your contribution.

Hahahahahahahaha

Well, this ain't facebook and there ain't no like button. I've really come to appreciate it as a feedback mechanism.

Sometimes I wish I could just "like" things in real life and move on.

corrected.

I didn't speak a word in the thread til I said Liberum made the most sense (not total agreement, just the most sense). Unless you're accusing him of possessing telekinetic powers, there's no way he could know what I'm thinking and agree with me when I'm not volunteering any info.

Corrected!

Yeah, no.

The thing that annoys me (about me) is that I don't have enough of an understanding of the issues to form an informed opinion. For example, I don't have anywhere close to an understanding of economics to even try to fathom how returning to the gold standard would effect things. I don't have enough of an understanding of geopolitics -- pretty much none -- to form an opinion about so much foreign policy. And because I'm so ill-informed, the candidate that wants to make the most change, RP, kind of scares me. Other than that, he's my favorite candidate.

These sorts of things irk me as well.

Add to that that the only way to form a truly educated opinion is to devote every bit of time you have for interests outside of regular everyday getting by stuff to educating yourself and it is easy to get bummed out.

I find most politics boring. They do not spark any passion in me at all. This does not mean that I have no interest in forming my world or being informed about my world. But the stuff bogs me down, the amount of information one has to absorb and pay attention to in order to be truly informed is just flat out disheartening.

Yeah, you should probably kind of refrain from voting. Like forever.

You have internet? Each candidate has a website where they state their positions. You can also find their record of voting on issues. And if you're clever, you can find which multi-billion-dollar corporation is backing each.

Generally speaking, this is all you really need to know about any candidate - what they say they're going to do, what they've actually done in the past, and who is paying them to do it.

Educate yourself. It's not that difficult.

It's a bit more difficult than that. To educate yourself on the effects of the policies they stand for is just as important, and that really does take quite a bit of time and effort.

http://www.selectsmart.com/president/

It's easier in some states than others, but all the information is there for you.

Remember that I've been voting for longer than several of you have been alive.

The information you described, yes. But again, the effects of such policies are still subject to debate, and usually take quite a bit of study. Gun control laws, economic policies, government spending (and on what), what should be up to the states, etc. These are issues where both sides have a case for very complex reasons.

Excuse me while I light my joint.

I thought you were posting high again.

Liberum made the most sense.

fixed.

It's really not as complicated as you make it out to be; you're not drafting legislations, you're saying yes or no to the final texts as written.

But, you know, go on feeling overwhelmed by the process.