Romney Beats Obama 48%-43% In New Rasmussen Poll

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for today has former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney leading President Barack Obama by five percentage points: 

With the perception growing that he will be the GOP nominee, Romney leads President Obama by five points in a hypothetical 2012 matchup. Today's numbers show Romney at 48%, Obama at 43%. That's Romney's largest lead since December. Matchup results are updated daily at 9:30 a.m. Eastern (sign up for free daily e-mail update). 

If Santorum is the Republican nominee, he is up by one point over the president, 46% to 45%. This is the second time since polling began in 2011 that Santorum has had a slight lead over Obama. Romney is the only other candidate to lead the president more than one time in the polls. See tracking history   for Obama vs. all four Republican candidates.

The other day I laid out my arguments — based on voter turnout so far and the differing capacities of the Republican and Democratic machines — for why Obama will defeat Romney in November. I'll defend my logic against all comers, but of course, predictions are hard, especially about the future. 

What dismays me in this is not the risk that I might be the one buying drinks on election day. It's that no matter who wins, Obamacare, with its individual mandate and cementing of a broken employer/insurance cartel, will never go away. Obamacare is by a country mile the worst thing Barack Obama has accomplished. It is an essential change in the relationship of the state to the individual, and thus its poison is more lethal than all the money the administration has wasted, all the laws it has broken, and all the jumping jacks the first lady has pressured tubby schoolchildren into performing. It was passed in a sordid backstairs intrigue on a Saturday night and is hated not only by libertarians but by normal people too. It is the one agenda item where the Obama Administration has beyond any doubt been worse than a John McCain administration would have been. 

And now the only option open to an electorate unhappy with Obamacare is to vote for the man who invented it in Massachusetts. 

Comments

[Hugh Akston]

And now the only option open to an electorate unhappy with Obamacare is to vote for the man who invented it in Massachusetts.

Does anyone else hear that sucking sound?

[Ross Perot]

yep and i warned y'all about sucking sounds years ago when NAFTA was enacted

[protefeed]

And now the only option open to an electorate unhappy with Obamacare is to vote for the man who invented it in Massachusetts.

Right. Because not voting, or voting for the LP candidate, has been prohibited.

It's that no matter who wins, Obamacare, with its individual mandate and cementing of a broken employer/insurance cartel, will never go away.

Right. Because SCOTUS has been disbanded, and no challenge to Obamacare was on their docket prior to disbanding.

Hyperbole much, Tim?

[toxic]

Banking of SCOTUS having the testicular fortitude to tell the federal govt. that it can't do universal health care is not a bet I'd like to take.

[Hazel Meade]

Then be prepared to pay through the nose for other people's health problems, because that is the only chance of it happening.

[Threadjack]

Life imitates art:

In "Higher Education" by Charles Sheffield and Jerry Pournelle, school systems of the future have cameras installed to ensure (among other things) that teachers don't sexually harass their students.

Today, CBS News in L.A. (via the Drudge Report) reports a California Supreme Court ruling may lead to schools installing cameras to keep teachers from molesting students.

I predict this will work about as well in real life as it did in the book. (Executive summary: it didn't.)

[Mr. FIFY]

Exploding neck collars would stop teachers from molesting students...

[Tony]

The noise made as air passes through the void in people's heads who believe that fear and hatred of Obamacare is a top priority for most Americans?

[wareagle]

And now the only option open to an electorate unhappy with Obamacare is to vote for the man who invented it in Massachusetts.
---------------------
the man in MA was working with a hugely Dem legislative majority that was going to pass something. He vetoed many provisions but did not have the legislative numbers to sustain. If Reagan had been the state's governor then, a bill would have STILL passed.

Romney is on the record, repeatedly, as favoring a repeal of Obamacare. Whether that can be done rests to a large degree with Congress, provided SCOTUS has not struck down the mandate before then.

One thing worth pursuing is a resolution to dealing with unpaid expenses incurred by 1) the purposely uninsured, 2) the deadbeats, and 3) illegals. We all know there is no such thing as free care; those groups are a huge reason why folks with coverage get the bills with the $8 Tylenol.

[Tim Cavanaugh]

Oh, well if Romney is on the record about it, that changes everything.

[wareagle]

on record means being held accountable if elected. Being a smartass about it does not change what he has said repeatedly. If elected and he does NOT move on this, then it's fair game, sort of like all the Obama pledges that have gone ignored.

[R C Dean]

If elected and he does NOT move on this,

Then its too fucking late, no?

[wareagle]

then every Repub not named Romney should be looking at electoral defeat in addition to Mitt. As for Obamacare itself, it would be too late, though barring SCOTUS striking down the mandate, it's too late already.

[Joshua Corning]

He has nothing to gain by keeping Obama care.

He has lots to lose by not repealing it.

If someone could show me how the republicans will lose the house and not the senate and show me what Romney has to gain by keeping it then i will consider it a possibility.

yes politicians lie. they say one thing then go do what helps them.

But in this case saying he will repeal Obama care and removing it is popular with the public and his party and he said he would.

It is all win for Romney to do it so i expect he will do it.

[protefeed]

If someone could show me how the republicans will lose the house and not the senate and show me what Romney has to gain by keeping it then i will consider it a possibility.

Repealing Obamacare would mean getting 60+ votes in the Senate. Since the Ds are in virtual lockstep about not repealing, it would mean that Republicans would have to win almost every single Senate Race, hold onto the House, and elect Romney.

That seems wildly improbable.

[Joshua Corning]

Repealing Obamacare would mean getting 60+ votes in the Senate.

No.

The house controls the purse....and without the purse nothing the senate wants gets funded.

[protefeed]

And yet the House has not insisted on repeal of Obamacare as a condition of continuing to fund the fed gvt ...

[Hazel Meade]

Which means it gets funded as soon as the Democrats control the Hosue again.

[jasno]

on record means being held accountable if elected.

Hahahaha... what are you, a fucking 12 year old?

[Joshua Corning]

yes saying one thing and doing another costs political capital.

The only time a politician goes against what he says is when he thinks he can gain more, or lose less, then by doing what he said he would.

If you can show me a net gain for Romney by keeping Obamacare then i will believe that he will not repeal it.

It is weird Romney is described as the empty flip flopping suit who says and does what ever will get him power.

Yet with Obamacare somehow he is suddenly going to do what hurts him most.

WTF?!?!

[Ryan]

The difference is pretty obvious. His goal is to get elected. After that, his verbal flip-flopping is beside the point, and we'll see where his loyalties are.

Every president has been a panderer, more or less. You really think that means they're just going to do what the public wants? Some times they will, but not always.

[Maxxx]

He'll listen to the media a-holes and socialits about how he has an historic opportunity to do something great for the country, blah, blah, blah and he'll propose tweaking Obamacare, but not repealing it altogether.

Look, everything about his record says that he's a big government - big business "partnership" guy, aka happy faced fascist.

Killing Obamacare will go against his core belief system, not least of which is that he's super smart and can create something great.

[protefeed]

Romney's core belief system is that he deserves to be President -- that the Mormon version of God WANTS him to win -- and that Romney should do virtually anything it takes to win and get reelected, because that is God's will.

He won't say that out loud, but that's likely where his head is at.

[Adeline]

137: this does not follow logic. he doesn't need to do ANYTHING if its Dog's will ! DUH!

[protefeed]

Mormons have this thing called "agency", where God does not dictate election results, but lets people screw that up or not.

[Adeline]

137: this does not follow logic. he doesn't need to do ANYTHING if its Dog's will ! DUH!

[Maxxx]

Hahahaha... what are you, a fucking 12 year old?

No, no, no.

The voters will be werry werry angry witt him and white letters telling him how wery wery angry tey are.

[fried wylie]

on record means being held accountable if elected.

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH....

...AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH....

...AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAH

[Len Bias]

Tim, you voted for a guy who said "I happen to be a proponent of a single payer universal health care program," and we all knew he meant it. Not sure what you were expecting. Unless, you think Obama had changed his mind.

[.]

But... but... but... but... he's our First Black President!

[Len Bias]

This is exactly it. People on this board leaning towards Romney generally think he will probably grow government at a slower rate than Obama and will do less damage. Tim suggests this is unacceptable, because Romney won't overturn ObamaCare.

This is silly, because first of all, Obama passed it. We had every sign Obama was going to pass something awful. Tim must have seen the signs, but voted on other grounds (ie, "historical" grounds). Something those who are leaning towards Romney must never do.

[John Thacker]

Tim, people like you in 2008 are the one thing more responsible for Obamacare than the idiots in the GOP nominating Romney (and having such terrible choices like Santorum and Gingrich) as alternatives.

It's always far, far harder to repeal something than to create it. Even with a strict majority system it would be.

All throughout 2008 I said that Democrats were for structural reasons going to have a huge majority, and that the election was crucial.

This election doesn't matter. Who cares about Romney versus Obama? There's no chance of repeal.

GOP partisans are delusional this year, but plenty of libertarians were delusional about 2008.

[Some Guy]

Is there any position that Romney is not on the record as having taken?

[Episiarch]

...and so begins the shift of the HitAndRunpiblicans over to supporting Romney, the excuses for him, and the endless TEAM bullshit.

We all knew this was going to happen; when was just a matter of time.

[Shorter Epi]

"Voting is merely participating in a rigged, bullshit game where you have no statistical effect but when you participate you give it legitimacy. Fuck that."

[Ryan]

Wow Epi, how can someone so short be so smart?

[Mr. FIFY]

Not me. Unless Paul pulls off a Hail Mary Hat Trick, I'm not voting for a Republican for president this year.

[wareagle]

or we can just help Obama win another four years because it's so much better to stick a principle when you know the outcome will be disastrous.

[Episiarch]

...and so begins the "you have to vote TEAM RED because we have to stop TEAM BLUE!"

You're so predictable I should have bet money on what you'd say and made a killing.

[wareagle]

you are the one making it a team thing. Come up with an alternative who can beat Obama and I'm on board. You're "team team team" rhetoric is so predictable it would not make the board in Vegas.

[Episiarch]

I don't give a shit about your TEAM. I don't give a shit about "beating Obama" with another statist dickhead who will be exactly the same as Obama.

You don't fucking care about beating Obama. You care about having your guy, your TEAM, in charge. Every election, you and your fellow partisan scum on both sides do the exact same fucking thing.

Really, just stop pissing down our backs and telling us it's raining. I know you won't; you will fight with utter tenacity any allegation that you are what everyone knows you are, but...everyone knows what you are, especially you, which is why you fight so hard.

[Government of Wolves]

Please stop swearing at your opponents. It's just... tacky.

As for Romney on healthcare, regardless of his principles or lack thereof, if elected he's likely to be pushed to repeal by a Republican House, and possibly Senate. Even if not able to repeal, he'll be pushed to sabotage the ACA. This isn't to express support for Team Red, just to say that the vast majority of them really don't like the ACA.

[Episiarch]

Fuck you, prude. I'll swear whenever the fuck I want, asshole.

[o3]

perhaps epi could reach a new high in lows if u knew the diff bet profanity & swearing to wit:

profane: ur mom's a craven whore.

swearing: may ur father live a thousand lives mopping-up ur mom's weekly bukkake.

[John Thacker]

There is 0% chance that Republicans will have the vote to repeal the ACA. The only things that can and will be repealed are the cost controls like IPAB, and things that also hit some cultural issue.

To stop Obamacare, the difference had to be made in 2008.

Republican shills are wrong now, but libertarians who thought in 2008 "the GOP deserves a timeout and the Dems a big majority, the overreach will end up okay in the end as it gets repealed" were completely wrong then.

[Francisco d Anconia]

^this

[Francisco d Anconia]

or up a couple

[wareagle]

it's as predictable as the sunrise: disagree with Epi and his thong twists into a knot while his vocabulary goes into hyperdrive. Jesus you are such a woman.

No, it's not team, not if the options are Ricky or Noot. But I can live with Romney, far more so than another round of Obama and evidently more so than some convoluted episode of the world according to Epigarp.

[Episiarch]

Of course you can live with Romney. Of course you can. Of course you're voting TEAM RED. Of course.

It never, ever changes, and, as I predicted, you are spinning and shilling and trying to pretend you aren't exactly what we know you are.

Thank you for proving my point once again. Oh, and for your inevitable response to this: thanks again for proving my point there too.

[wareagle]

the point is you have no point; you're the guy who will twist whatever data exists to fit the pre-determined hypothesis. Anyone who disagrees with great and powerful epi is a team shill, color notwithstanding.

There's no spinning or shilling, just you in the typical tizzy that ensues when the other kids want to play a different game. Frankly, you have no idea who I am, who I have voted for, or much of anything else re: me save for a screen name that speaks to a particular university. You, meanwhile, are ultra-transparent, the perpetual know it all whose way is the only way if only those fools could see it.

[Episiarch]

The projection is strong with this one.

Oh, and thanks for doing exactly what I said you would do. Now do it again.

[wareagle]

nice approach - toss out the "do it again" when all you are really after is the last word. Is that how most epi moments end - the other person simply tires of the bullshit and moves on, leaving you to revel is some perceived victory...

You are, of course, welcome to not respond further, but that might foul the plan.

[Cytotoxic]

the point is you have no point; you're the guy who will twist whatever data exists to fit the pre-determined hypothesis. Anyone who disagrees with great and powerful epi is a team shill, color notwithstanding.

There's no spinning or shilling, just you in the typical tizzy that ensues when the other kids want to play a different game. Frankly, you have no idea who I am, who I have voted for, or much of anything else re: me save for a screen name that speaks to a particular university. You, meanwhile, are ultra-transparent, the perpetual know it all whose way is the only way if only those fools could see it.

It's so beautiful. The best synopsis of Epster ever. This should just be copy-pasted whenever epi goes on a pseudo-intellectual contrarian tear.

[Cytotoxic]

I don't give a shit about your TEAM.

Yes you do. You throw this tantrum everytime a 'who is better?' tactical discussion comes up. The only thing worse than partisan dipshits are anti-partisan purist dipshits who think they are 'rising above' by refusing to vote or only voting for the LP.

[anon]

Come up with an alternative who can beat Obama and I'm on board.

Ron Paul?
Gary Johnson?
My left shoe?

There ARE alternatives, but TEAM RED has chosen Mitt Romney as the successor to the throne.

[wareagle]

anon,
then your argument is with the Red honchos and the process in general. I like Paul, who is the only actual small govt guy on the dais. But the establishment has marginalized him, unaware that may well be marginalizing itself in the process.

[Jeffersonian]

Ron Paul? Gary Johnson?

I was a Johnson guy from the get-go and plenty pissed off at how he was treated. If he's the LP's man, he's got my vote.

That said, neither he nor Ron Paul will be President in 2013. If you are hoping for a repeal of Obamacare, the best bet is a massive Republican landslide in 2012, one fueled by the Tea Party. Or do you think the Democrats are going to overturn it?

[John Thacker]

If you are hoping for a repeal of Obamacare, the best bet is a massive Republican landslide in 2012, one fueled by the Tea Party. Or do you think the Democrats are going to overturn it?

But this will never happen. Obamacare is quite unpopular, but not unpopular enough to be repealed. Only unpopular enough to not be passed without a special lucky majority.

[Jeffersonian]

But this will never happen. Obamacare is quite unpopular, but not unpopular enough to be repealed. Only unpopular enough to not be passed without a special lucky majority.

That is quite possibly true, but the only practical chance we have at it is what I said. Or should we sit around and wait for the LP to pull its head out of its ass?

[A.Slacker]

"you have to vote TEAM RED because we have to stop TEAM BLUE!"

Yes, as painful it maybe.

At least one Supreme Court seat will open. Explain, in fifty words or less, why letting Obama packing the court with his cohorts is worth ideological purity. The power of the presidency is over-estimated in nearly every sphere, except in the presidents power to affect politics many years after his term is up through Supreme Court nominations.

I am not happy with Romney (or any other Rep candidate), but Paul has no chance and Obama is worse. Santorum, Gingrich, etc have never been anything but side-shows pushed by the press so they'd have a story to report.

Libertarian smug is annoying as Liberal smug or conservative self-righteousness.

[A.Slacker]

I take that back about Obama. I hold no bitch over Obama as an individual other than I wish he'd just send his wife on a permanent vacation in Aspen. (First ladies from any party should be seen, not heard. No body voted on them to do anything. Go iron a shirt Michelle) Obama on his own is just over his head. Even if he ever was a person that had the capability to become anything but a footnote in history, he was never given time to develop the skills needed to be an effective president.

[Episiarch]

It's amazing how you TEAM RED assholes always, always end up in this exact same spot. "Yeah, the TEAM RED guy sucks, but we have to vote for them anyway!"

That's amazingly convenient. It's almost like the only thing you give a shit about is your TEAM winning. And when I say "almost", I mean "exactly".

[wareagle]

in the real world, we have options. One is more Obama which, other than tony and shrike, no one here is advocating. A second is a self-righteous vote whose outcome is meaningless. The third is the likely Repub, Romney. I choose the last, not over team loyalty but because it is the least bad of the not so great options. But for you, it's always anyone who disagrees is an asshole or scum or whatever else. Good grief; what a smug, angry, self righteous little prick.

[Episiarch]

keep flailing, TEAM RED asshole. It's interesting how it always ends up this way. Always. But hey, keep telling us that the completely obvious isn't what it is. That always works. I mean, that's what you say to yourself in the mirror each morning, right? How's that working out for you?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[wareagle]

the only thing obvious is the sad little sack of DNA that is you. It's always insults and dime-store psychobabble. Actually, the view in the mirror is not bad; my wife likes it and that works for me.

I've been consistently anti-social conservative for many posts, the lot of which apparently escaped your level of comprehension. That's what makes Ricky and Noot no-gos. But you keep living in your fantasy world where all the world's either red or blue and only you know the real path.

[Episiarch]

Keep up the deinals, dude. They're hilarious.

"I always end up voting TEAM RED...but...but...I'm not a TEAM RED shill! Because I say so! Stop looking at my actions, that's not fair!"

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[wareagle]

actually, I don't always vote red but how you would know that since you know next to nothing else about me? But don't let that stop you; getting a glimpse into the mind of the delusional is a rare thing.

[EPIDOUCHE]

I know everything. My anarcho-asshole friends tell me so. I just wish daddy had loved me.

[Jeffersonian]

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"

The LP is a flawed vehicle at this point. The best chance libertarians have is through doing what the socialists and communists did and infiltrate one of the major parties. They did the long march through the DNC and it now does the bidding of the hardcore collectivist Left. If the LP has any effect at all, it's with a mirage of viability that keeps libertarians from commandeering the RNC. A dead LP is the best chance we have.

[Cytotoxic]

It's interesting how Epi ends up always looking down on others from Mt Smugitude because he didn't get fooled. and has refused to 'play the game'. And we know that because Epi says so. And by 'interesting' I actually mean tedious and boring.

[dunphy]

it's the same kind of smug that makes post after post criticizing how horrible the legal system is, then engages in celebratory wanking about getting out of jury duty unlike all those dumb commoners

[protefeed]

it's the same kind of smug that makes post after post criticizing how horrible the legal system is, then engages in celebratory wanking about getting out of jury duty unlike all those dumb commoners

Ummm, I try to get out of jury duty because the government does not have the right to conscript me, and yet they assert that they have the power to do so anyway.

I don't look down on those who sheepishly go along with this, but damned if I'm going to give up several days of my life without adequate compensation.

[Tulpa]

Ummm, I try to get out of jury duty because the government does not have the right to conscript me, and yet they assert that they have the power to do so anyway.

Of course they do. The right to trial by jury implies the govt has the power to compel jury service.

I know you ancaps don't like to get into the grimy world of actual practical considerations, but how would you produce FAIR juries (as opposed to the dregs of society who have nothing better to do and/or public employees) without compulsion?

[dunphy]

exactly. serving on a jury iow is a way that the whingers here actually have a way, at least in one small case to MAKE A DIFFERENCE and at least to have some influence on whether justice is served.

the same people who whinge about how cops r all thuggish and the criminal justice system is horrible, etc. when given a chance to PARTICIPATE and actually make a positive change , they wank about how the govt. doesn't have the right to "conscript them"

jesus fucking christ.

this entitlement cartman'esque "i'll do what i want" mentality is so fucking ridiculous

practical reality always takes a backseat to some kind of empty price of everything value of nothing rubbish

THANK you for proving my point.

yup just keep sitting back DOING NOTHING to make the world a better place, as long as you can safely whine about the evuls of govt. CONSCRIPTION that you will fastidiously avoid!!

[Katherine Mangles Wards]

Why did you take your facebook page down, Officer joseph?

[Fluffy]

I know you ancaps don't like to get into the grimy world of actual practical considerations, but how would you produce FAIR juries (as opposed to the dregs of society who have nothing better to do and/or public employees) without compulsion?

Guys, I would be delighted to serve on a jury, and would go so far as to lie my way on to one if I thought the prosecution was unjustly planning to exclude me during voir dire - but even I can see this is a foolish question.

How? How? Maybe...raise the compensation rate?

"But the streets have to be cleaned. How can the streets be cleaned if we don't conscript people to clean them for a dollar a day? How, I ask you?"

[Joshua Corning]

A second is a self-righteous vote whose outcome is meaningless.

If you live in a blue state vote for Romney is more meaningless then a self-righteous vote.

!!!!!Gary Johnson 2012 Bitchez!!!!!

[yonemoto]

One is more Obama which, other than tony and shrike, no one here is advocating.
I am advocating this, but because everything is going to shit anyway, and I want the dems to take the blame.

[Rubicon]

Wareagle,If Obama OR Romney get elected the outcome will be the same because neither of them are the least bit serious about dealing with our debt and economic problems in anything other than a purely symbolic fashion. Therefore personally I would prefer the more blatant of the statist-socialists to be behind the wheel when the bus goes over the cliff so the blame falls on the right parties. Romney would be better in the sense of SCOTUS nominees but that is deck chairs on the larger Titanic (economic collapse/hyperinflation) that is all but mathematically inevitable now. In my state (Idaho) every democrat could register 3 people from the graveyard AND if half the repubs stayed home to watch dancing with the stars Romney would still win by a "landslide". For me I would actually be throwing away my vote if I don't do the write in or LP options.

[John Thacker]

This argument would be so much better if GWB hadn't made terrible Supreme Court picks.

[Buddy Bizarre]

I suspect its hard to find more Clarence Thomas's to put up there for confirmation.

[Tulpa]

Mr Thacker, you don't like Citizens United or Heller?

They're not perfect by any stretch -- Alito in particular has a strong authority bootlicking streak in him -- but I'll put them up against Sotomayor and Kagan any day.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

Explain, in fifty words or less, why letting Obama packing the court with his cohorts is worth ideological purity.

So you think we should abandon our principles, in order to vote for a candidate with no principles, in the hopes that they will appoint a judge that shares our principles?

[John Thacker]

No point in voting TEAM RED in 2012 for President.

There was an enormous point in voting TEAM RED in 2008 for President. I can think of plenty of ways that McCain would have been better, and only a tiny number of ways where he would have been worse. (Even on foreign policy, I think that Dems would have restrained him more than they have Obama, who has pursued the same foreign policy as Bush.)

Foolish consistency either was is stupid.

[yonemoto]

If McCain were president, I am convinced we would be one year into a war with Iran. There would have been a nuke detonated somewhere by this summer.

[Cytotoxic]

Or we would have won with little effort and liberated the nation. Oh how horrible.

[Killazontherun]

Or, we could all refuse to go along with Obamacare and cancel our insurance policies in 2014 to stop it in its tracks. A much sounder strategy than going full tilt TeamBlue by embracing Romney.

[Whahappan?]

I think you're more right than most will realize. Real change won't be achieved by electoral politics, but by other means.

[fried wylie]

when you know the outcome will be disastrous.

I'm counting on it.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

...it's so much better to stick a principle when you know the outcome will be disastrous.

And it's better to abandon your principles when you know the outcome will be disastrous? None of the candidates have principles, so why should I feel obligated to vote for them?

Sorry to respond to your comment with a series of questions, but I don't see your argument of opposing Obama as anything other than a GOP partisan argument.

[jasno]

I'm writing in 'Ron Paul' no matter what. Of course I live in CA so my vote won't count anyway...

[Public Union Members]

You got that right bitch.

[yonemoto]

me too. If I were in a swing state, I'd vote for obama, for reasons outlined above.

[Tulpa]

..and so begins the shift of the HitAndRunpiblicans over to supporting Romney, the excuses for him, and the endless TEAM bullshit.

Unlike the shift of Episiarch from making arguments to back up his opinions to pretending to be superior and hurling ad hominems at anyone who disagrees with him...which not only began but was completed years ago.

Contrary to your attempt at analysis, Romney supporters here, myself included, are quite up front about his warts and are equally clear about this being a lesser of two evils decision. If you want to argue that we shouldn't be making a lesser of evils decision, go for it. But that ain't what you're doing.

Oh, and I voted every year from 2003 to 2009 and voted for not a single Republican during that span, including votes for LP for president in 2004 and 2008. So take your "OMG Team Red teh partisans!" rhetoric and shove it up your navel.

[rather]

"and shove it up your navel"...doesn't sound like Tulpa; I guess you have spoofs too

[Tulpa]

That was to throw off the NSA.

[rather]

NSA?  They are have a new name, silly

[Fluffy]

I don't think he's talking about you, dude.

He's talking about the (quite large) group of people who have been declaring, "Romney? Nevah!" who will gradually trickle over to "But mommmmm! We GOTTA beat OBAMA!"

[Cytotoxic]

No, he's talking about everybody who doesn't totally agree with him.

[Jersey Patriot]

Obamacare is by a country mile the worst thing Barack Obama has accomplished.

Obamacare is nowhere near as bad as thousands of murdered Third World kids. Get a grip.

[The Anti-War Left]

Who?

[The Anti-?? Left]

Who?

[o3]

makes no sense since war killed those kids

it tries moar harders

[protefeed]

"War" is a philosophical construct that has no volition.

Some sociopathic individual pulled the trigger on starting wars, or continuing ones that the previous sociopath started.

Hint: the sociopath in question has the initials B. O.

[Tulpa]

Brian O'Blivion?

[Commentariat GOP Shill]

Jersey Patriot - disagree.

What is "not seen" is how arresting healthcare development at this stage will indirectly kill hundreds of thousands, if not millions, and cause even more to suffer needlessly.

[Cytotoxic]

Obamacare is nowhere near as bad as thousands of murdered Third World kids.

CITATION NEEDED

[kbolino]

When did opinions start needing citations? Is it not okay to think something if someone else hasn't thought it before you?

[Frank Burns]

Individuality is fine....as long as we all do it together.

[Cytotoxic]

It's the claim of murdered thousands that needs citation.

[Tulpa]

LOL. I hope this is a spoof but unfortunately it seems to reflect Cyto's unspoken attitude, so maybe not.

[Cytotoxic]

It's not a spoof. It says something about you that you think asking for proof of an extraordinary claim is spoofish.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Is there a link to the poll? I think it would be interesting to see how the other candidates match up to Obama. Odd that was left out of the story.

[cw]

[P]redictions are hard, especially about the future.

Don't predictions always concern the future?

[Bill]

I predict cw will make a smart-ass comment.

"Don't predictions always concern the future?"

Not always.

[o3]

please provide an example of a prediction which does NOT attempt to predict the future.

[Chupacabra]

Poor Urine doesn't get the joke.

[Bee Tagger]

Sounded like Cavanaugh making a joke, to me.

[Jeffersonian]

I think it's a Yogi-ism.

[Tim Cavanaugh]

Is an America where people don't recognize Yogi-isms still worth living in?

[Tulpa]

If no one wants to acknowledge Yogiisms, who's going to stop them?

[Brian from Texas]

Dewey beats Truman in all the polls too. Why people pay any attention to those damn things is beyond me.

[sage]

I thought the real story with Truman's victory was that the polling had stopped a whole week before the election. Today they poll right up to election day, so I think now the polls are a more accurate predictor.

[Killazontherun]

I thought the real story of that election was after a sound thrashing at the hands of Dewey the dead awoke headed for the polls to save the favored candidate of the King of the Worms.

[Fatty Bolger]

That sounds more like 1960.

[kbolino]

Your argument only validates the polls taken in close proximity to an election. It is March, the election is in November.

[Fluffy]

Polling methodology in the Truman era was laughably poor.

All poll subjects self-selected, usually by filling out a magazine insert card and mailing it in.

The polls that had Dewey ahead were the 1948 equivalent of the online polls Ron Paul wins.

Those headlines were like running PAUL BEATS ROMNEY headlines based on the results of a Drudge poll.

[Lewis H]

That picture is frightening.

[sage]

Yeah, Obama as a mormon girl is a bit disturbing.

[Joshua Corning]

Those were Mormon girls in The Shining?

[Fatty Bolger]

Postmortem conversion

[sage]

I dunno, I only assumed after seeing the old lady dresses.

[Fluffy]

If they weren't before, they are now.

Mitt baptized them.

[VPOTUS]

Test your might, Test your might,
Test your might, Test your might.
MORTAL KOMBAT!
FIGHT!
MORTAL KOMBAT!
(Excellent)
EXCELLENT!
White Indian, rectal, rather, Tulpa,
Sugarfree, Pro liberate, Res Publica Americana.
MORTAL KOMBAT!
FIGHT!
MORTAL KOMBAT!
(Excellent)
(Excellent)
Warty, strike, John, RoboCain,
Auric Demonocles, Tony, sloopyinca.
MORTAL KOMBAT!
(Excellent)
(Excellent)
(Excellent)
(Excellent)
FIGHT!
Test your might, Test your might.
Loki, Commentariat GOP Shill, invisible furry hand, Fist of Etiquette,
Mr. FIFY, Fluffy, Red Rocks Rockin.
MORTAL KOMBAT!
FIGHT!
MORTAL KOMBAT!
MORTAL KOMBAT!
MORTAL KOMBAT!
MORTAL KOMBAT!

[anon]

Dude, freaky pic.

[shrike]

Regarding Obamacare.

The system we have now levies a regressive income tax on WAGES so that those 65+ can absorb as much expensive medical care as they shovel down for 20-30 years.

There is no free market solution to this craziness. Obamacare could kill this system outright or at worst smooth it out so the guy stacking boxes has a chance to pay for affordable healthcare.

The GOP failed to offer an alternative to the monstrosity we have now called Medicare.

The mandate sucks but paying for others healthcare is worse.

[juris imprudent]

Ya see there is a big part of the problem - conflating health insurance with health care in general. It's about as well thought out as a Tea Partier hollering about keeping govt hands off Medicare.

[wareagle]

the free market solution died when govt stuck its nose into things. Medicine used to be fee-for-service, then the elected class made it an entitlement for some, meaning others would seek to expand the entitlement. You are right that the GOP failed, and it had 6 years of the WH + Congress to do something. However, that does not make Obamacare worthwhile.

[anon]

The GOP failed to offer an alternative to the monstrosity we have now called Medicare.

Shriek, the alternative is to not have medicare, which you don't seem to accept. Don't say there isn't an alternative, because there is: Get out of the fucking business.

[wareagle]

and had the GOP offered that alternative, shrek would have led the chorus of the offended. As it was, Paul Ryan offered something of an alternative and his side lost its mind.

[shrike]

No, that is my goal. Kill Medicare dead. Start with the doc fix now - TODAY.

Romney is pissing on Obama for the cuts he made to Medicare.

[John Thacker]

Romney is pissing on Obama for the theoretical cuts to Medicare in the future that are supposed to offset the extra spending that comes in play first.

But yeah, it's annoying. OTOH, those cuts had 0% chance of ever happening, while OTOH Obamacare could have been stopped. Obamacare is clearly an expansion of health care spending.

[John Thacker]

So what you're saying is that we need even worse partisanship and gridlock than we have today? Because that's the only way that the doc fix won't happen, and even that is slight.

You're right to an extent that the only way we could believe that Obama's Medicare cuts will actually happen is if the doc fix doesn't pass today. Cuts in the distant future never happen.

[Mr. FIFY]

Needs more Christ-fag and fawning over Obama, shrike. You're off your game today.

[Jerry]

Since FICA is so regressive, why are you complaining about keeping Social Security and Medicare alive?

[shrike]

If your going to have government in healthcare smooth out the benefits. That is all I am saying. Who fought Obamacare the hardest? Medicare beneficiaries did.

[Joe]

This time they're correct. It's not about them, it's about Obama.

Romeny is unprincipled. Obama has a lot of principls, they are just the exact wrong kind principles. Unfortunately, he is everything the more strident members of Team Red way he is: a Marxist ideologue who will hasten this country's decline and possibly worse.

Yes I despise Team Red as well. They are phony liberty-lovers and free-marketers who have never met a foreign incursion that they didn't support. But for all their faults, and there are many, they pale in comparison to the radical left-wing that produced Obama.

I am voting for whomever the Republican nominee is in November because I am voting to end the Obama administration. I am voting for the obvious lesser of two evils.

[juris imprudent]

...hated not only by libertarians but by normal people too.

Damn Tim. I expect that kind of kick in the balls from Chait or Maddow or Krugman - but from you?

Nice work on the pic and text though.

[St?phane Dumas]

Could we wish then Obama do a similar gaffe to what John Turner did in the Canadian Federal elections of 1984
http://archives.cbc.ca/politics? /prime_ministers/topics/2106-13007/

[St?phane Dumas]

Oups, here the fixed link. Sorry for the inconvience.

[Res Publica Americana]

Average Joe and Everyday Jane voting, with good intentions, for Obama because they were genuinely ignorant of his actual record and worldview? Sure. It happened, and it happened a lot. You can and should criticize people of that sort for their ignorance. But voting for Obama while simultaneously, 1) having any knowledge whatsoever of his machinations and beliefs AND, 2) believing, unless you're a socialist, that he'd be anything but an illustrious abomination was fucking retarded, and I've had the misfortune of knowing a few people like that, too.

To them: You assholes voted a threshold-pushing social democrat into the most powerful position in the history of the world, as the commander-in-chief of a superpower and a constitutional republic. Expecting anything other than disaster was doubly fucking retarded, and fuck you.

[o3]

stick to railing about statist DST if radio entertainment is ur only contribution

[Res Publica Americana]

Pull the hammer out of your asshole and the sickle out of your vagina, you progressive sack of broken hammers. You're a fucking pinko degenerate, so until the voting stations open on election day and you're given another opportunity to vote for that traitorous despot whose cock you've had lodged firmly in your throat since his last campaign, fuck off and stay in that latrine of an imagination of yours, because your dumb ass sure as shit isn't suited to reality.

[o3]

emotional = hit the nail

[Mr. FIFY]

I think you hit a nerve, Res.

[shrike]

You're an idiot who doesn't know what a "disaster" is.

Financial/Credit disaster = 2004/08
Iraq War disaster = 2003-2007
Budget deficit disaster = 2001-2009
Job loss disaster 2008-09

The worst thing Obama has done is mandate that your sorry ass must buy insurance.

[fish]

All of those things are still going on! Did Black Kennedy plan on fixing any of them?

[shrike]

None of them are.

The pain of each still exists though.

(the deficit is still a disaster but is coming down slowly)

[Fatty Bolger]

Preach on, brotha!

[shrike]

Obama Christ I'm so fucking delusional.

[fish]

Yeah! Those thing have all been fixed....in your moms basement! Really Shrike you need to get out more often.

[Mr. FIFY]

Actually, shrike should stay in more often... in a pit filled with rabid weasels.

[Joshua Corning]

Job loss disaster 2008-09

Job loses did not bottom out until 2010

So what movie did your mom take you to last night? You totally missed a thread about Adam smith that you could have ruined with your unicorn fantasyland numbers.

[Joshua Corning]

Budget deficit disaster = 2001-2009

Bwuahahahahahahahah!!!

I guess in shrike's mind the budget deficit disaster was fixed by increasing it and not passing a federal budget for 3 years.

[Francisco d Anconia]

The budget deficit disaster?

Fuck off and die in a fire shrike! Obama has spent more in three years than Bush did in eight.

http://www.usgovernmentspendin.....chart.html

And here's the debt:

http://www.usgovernmentdebt.us/

Go sell that fucking bullshit somewhere else!

[Tulpa]

shrike disaster 2006-present

How's Libya doing, shrike?

[R C Dean]

Here's the deal on voting third-party:

The "don't waste your vote" argument seems to be based on the assumption that, if you vote for anybody but the winner, your vote is wasted. What difference does it make if I vote for Rep/Dem A, and they lose, or Libertarian B, and they lose? How is my vote more meaningful if I vote for the guy who lost by less?

For that matter, how is my vote more meaningful if I vote for the winner?

My vote is what it is. I choose to cast it for the candidate that I want to win, not the candidate that I think will win.

To me, casting your vote for a candidate on any other basis than you actually want them to win is wasting your vote.

[Jeffersonian]

I agree with this. The 2000 election showed that your vote means zip in the Presidential election. Vote for whom you like. I am.

That said, libertarians need to start doing the ward-level politicking required to build credibility and experience.

[John Thacker]

Yes, if you really want to have an effect in politics, you need to do a lot of things besides voting. Voting isn't going to do much, so vote for whom you lie.

[Francisco d Anconia]

It's the duel edged sword of libertarianism. It's not in our nature to tell others what to do, which is exactly what politicking is.

So we bitch instead of organize.

My .02

[Jeffersonian]

I think that the real conundrum for libertarians is that our philosophy works best at the higher levels of government, not quite as well at the lower, where that nuts-and-bolts experience is gained. So we tend to run in Congressional elections and up, when we have little or no experience to run on against Ds and Rs who have been school board members, state reps, etc.

[protefeed]

Our philosophy works fine at any level of government. The problem is that the vast majority of the electorate thinks otherwise.

[Tulpa]

The 2000 election showed that your vote means zip in the Presidential election.

Actually the 2000 election showed how important even small blocs of votes can be in the electoral college system. You think anyone would have given a care about Broward County's ballot layout if there were a direct nationwide popular vote?

[Dave]

And yet the difference was still hundreds of votes in the closest states. That totally proves your vote makes no difference and eviscerates the "throw your vote away" idiocy.

[Team Red/Blue]

You have committed thought-crime. Please report to reeducation tomorrow morning so that you may once again be reminded how your vote only counts if it is for one of the accepted parties.

[o3]

oooh is that the infamous FEMA camps which the gop predicted?

[Buddy Bizarre]

Citation?

[Fatty Bolger]

You know, those FEMA camps that radical leftist and anti-Republican Glenn Beck debunked on Fox News.

[Mr. FIFY]

Doesn't mean plans aren't stored somewhere in the Oval Office, just in case...

[Mr. FIFY]

And I'll say again: It's a fifty-fifty chance shit like internment camps would happen, Team-wise. If there were an opening for martial law to be imposed, it wouldn't matter which party had all the power - and the party NOT in power would likely go along with it.

Yeah, I'm that cynical. Freedom is dying in this country, and all it takes is a nudge to kill it off. Obama would jump at the chance as quick as any Republican figurehead.

[Whahappan?]

Tru dat.

[Fatty Bolger]

I'm not nearly as cynical as you are. I agree, though, if it were to happen it would take both parties going along with it.

[Tulpa]

You're a sports fan, RC, right? You've heard of "garbage time" have you not?

ie, some touchdowns, home runs, scoreless appearances, goals, etc are less important than others. So it is with votes.

Voting for LP is, unfortunately, like hitting a home run for the Pirates in late September.

[SCOTUS]

Obamacare, with its individual mandate and cementing of a broken employer/insurance cartel, will never go away.

We'll see about that.

[West Texas]

I'm a little more sanguine about Romney. He's not as good as Paul would have been, but compared to Santorum and Gingirch, at least Romney has never spent a day of his working life in Washington, which to me is a positive in his favor.

And I do think he'll do his best to cut/gut/eliminate/repeal Obamacare to the best of his ability. He will need control of both houses of Congress to do get rid of it completely, though.

[John Thacker]

The only redeeming thing to me about Romney is that he comes off as being stiff. Being a "centrist" politician trying to win a national election, he has to lie and pander and say both sides of an issue even more than most. If you only say what you believe, you'll never win a national election.

The fact that he's pretty bad at it I think actually speaks well of him, compared to people who actually have people believing their self-contradictory BS (and who may believe it themselves).

In the actual policy matters, though, I can't imagine him being much different than Obama.

It would take a huge landslide to get get rid of Obamacare, and that won't happen. It's too unpopular to pass normally, but just popular enough that it's impossible to repeal.

Dems had a once in a blue moon size majority and used it. Too late now.

Despite my views, I will focus more on Congress.

[shrike]

The campaign will force Romney to describe what he would replace Obamacare with. He will fail miserably in this.

The right won't care. The center will when it comes to pre-existing conditions, no-drop, etc.

Romney will probably then lie and say he would keep all the popular stuff.

This assumes SCOTUS upholds. Romney is boxed in either way.

[Joshua Corning]

The campaign will force Romney to describe

You are equally as terrible at political science as you are at economics.

[Killazontherun]

The most funny thing about shrike is his desperate need for our approval. I've played on that weakness of his several times to mighty lulz at his shrill reaction.

[Mr. FIFY]

He might as well come out of the socialist closet while he's at it. Pretending to give half a shit about anything free-markety, is just as obvious as if he were gay but had a "girlfriend" to prove otherwise.

[Tulpa]

The campaign will force Romney to describe what he would replace Obamacare with. He will fail miserably in this.

Actually describing nothingness is surprisingly difficult, so you may be correct that Romney will fail to explain what he will replace Obamacare with.

[West Texas]

Also, what happens if the GOP gets only a simple majority in the Senate and tries to repeal via the same budget gimmicks that foisted Obamacare on the country? Will the Dems scream bloody murder? Will the parliamentarian (whom no one knows anything about) even allow it?

Man, if SCOTUS doesn't do anything this whole thing is liable to be even more ugly the second time around.

[VPOTUS]

Test your might, Test your might,
Test your might, Test your might.
MORTAL KOMBAT!
FIGHT!
MORTAL KOMBAT!
(Excellent)
EXCELLENT!
Brandon, rectal, rather, Tulpa,
Sugarfree, Pro liberate, Res Publica Americana.
MORTAL KOMBAT!
FIGHT!
MORTAL KOMBAT!
(Excellent)
(Excellent)
Warty, strike, John, RoboCain,
Auric Demonocles, Tony, sloopyinca.
MORTAL KOMBAT!
(Excellent)
(Excellent)
(Excellent)
(Excellent)
FIGHT!
Test your might, Test your might.
Loki, Commentariat GOP Shill, invisible furry hand, Fist of Etiquette,
Mr. FIFY, Fluffy, Red Rocks Rockin.
MORTAL KOMBAT!
FIGHT!
MORTAL KOMBAT!
MORTAL KOMBAT!
MORTAL KOMBAT!
MORTAL KOMBAT!

[Joshua Corning]

I am always left out of these things.

http://i0.kym-cdn.com/entries/.....tled-1.jpg

[Killazontherun]

Of course we are. Testament of how we are perceived as a threat compared to the other candidates, er, commenters.

God, that was lame, I'm just going to erase it before I hit sen

[VPOTUS]

Test your might, Test your might,
Test your might, Test your might.
MORTAL KOMBAT!
FIGHT!
MORTAL KOMBAT!
(Excellent)
EXCELLENT!
Brandon, Joshua Corning, Killazontherun, Tulpa,
Sugarfree, Pro liberate, Res Publica Americana.
MORTAL KOMBAT!
FIGHT!
MORTAL KOMBAT!
(Excellent)
(Excellent)
Warty, strike, John, RoboCain,
Auric Demonocles, Tony, sloopyinca.
MORTAL KOMBAT!
(Excellent)
(Excellent)
(Excellent)
(Excellent)
FIGHT!
Test your might, Test your might.
Loki, Commentariat GOP Shill, invisible furry hand, Fist of Etiquette,
Mr. FIFY, Fluffy, Red Rocks Rockin.
MORTAL KOMBAT!
FIGHT!
MORTAL KOMBAT!
MORTAL KOMBAT!
MORTAL KOMBAT!
MORTAL KOMBAT!

[VPOTUS]

Test your might, Test your might,
Test your might, Test your might.
MORTAL KOMBAT!
FIGHT!
MORTAL KOMBAT!
(Excellent)
EXCELLENT!
Brandon, Joshua Corning, rather, Tulpa,
Sugarfree, Pro liberate, Res Publica Americana.
MORTAL KOMBAT!
FIGHT!
MORTAL KOMBAT!
(Excellent)
(Excellent)
Warty, strike, John, RoboCain,
Auric Demonocles, Tony, sloopyinca.
MORTAL KOMBAT!
(Excellent)
(Excellent)
(Excellent)
(Excellent)
FIGHT!
Test your might, Test your might.
Loki, Commentariat GOP Shill, invisible furry hand, Fist of Etiquette,
Mr. FIFY, Fluffy, Red Rocks Rockin.
MORTAL KOMBAT!
FIGHT!
MORTAL KOMBAT!
MORTAL KOMBAT!
MORTAL KOMBAT!
MORTAL KOMBAT!

[John Thacker]

Of course there's no real point in preferring Romney to Obama. They're both going to continue the George W. Bush policies.

The only real chance to stop Obamacare was in 2008. It was inevitable after it passed that it stay in.

Even if the Republicans elected an anti-Obamacare president, there is no way to get the votes to completely eliminate it. Government programs just don't go away. I will concede that the chance of repeal is higher this year than in any future year, and thus the GOP is making an enormous mistake (but I sure can't support Santorum or Gingrich).

The only error worse than nominating Romney, though, is supporting Obama and Democrats in 2008.

[Joshua Corning]

no matter who wins, Obamacare, with its individual mandate and cementing of a broken employer/insurance cartel, will never go away.

What the fuck are you talking about?

Why is it so hard to think Romney is a federalist on this issue?

He said he would remove it and it is popular to remove it and his whole fucking party wants it removed.

What could he possibly gain by keeping it?

[Joshua Corning]

Today's numbers show Romney at 48%, Obama at 43%.

In the 2008 election I remember Rasmussen getting it wrong.

It was probably only a few polls still it is enough to make me doubt these poll numbers...at least until others back it up....or after the election when they are proved right.

[Try again]

In the 2008 election I remember Rasmussen getting it wrong.

Was it drugs, or just wishful thinking?

[Joshua Corning]

wishful thinking

lol

I have been predicting that Obama will lose in 2012 since 2008.

Try again Try again.

[Comcast Sucks (Coxswain Hardy)]

He said he would remove it and it is popular to remove it and his whole fucking party wants it removed.

What could he possibly gain by keeping it?

More power for govt and Team Purple.

[Joshua Corning]

More power for a thing without his name on it.

You guys know the story about Firefly right?

You see Firefly was green lit by a group of executives....then those executives got fired and new ones came in....if the show was a success then the old executives would get credit....so the new executives gave it a shitty time slot, did not advertize it, screwed with the order of the episodes, and preempted it multiple times insuring it could never build an audience. Then they killed it.

Romney has no interest in keeping Obamacare alive.

Will he come up with his own bullshit giant interventionist government program?

Sure...but he will put his name on it.

[Joshua Corning]

I should point out Bush killed Clinton's Head Start program....then came up with No child left behind.

I expect Romney to do somehting similar with Obamacare.

[Mr. FIFY]

And Team Blue had a hand in NCLB, but you don't hear them apologizing for that clusterfuck...

[Apatheist ?_??]

barf

[Have I Said This Already?]

This is like the worst chat room ever.

[Len Bias]

Is this becoming a muck-mocked Reason board cliche, like "For a magazine called Reason..."?

[Have I Said This Already?]

No. Or yes. Discuss.

[Joshua Corning]

And now the only option open to an electorate unhappy with Obamacare is to vote for the man who invented it in Massachusetts.

I don't know about you but i am voting for Gary Johnson.

If people here don't do the same then they can go fuck themselves.

There are always options.

[Nice]

they can go fuck themselves

That's the spirit!

[sloopyinca]

If people here don't do the same then they can go fuck themselves.

That's a bit harsh, dontchathink?

I'm voting for Paul either way it all works out. The only way I vote for Romney is if Ron Paul (or maybe Rand) in the VP nominee.

Besides, Johnson is too much of a utilitarian for my tastes.

[Joshua Corning]

Ok i make an amendment.

If you write in Ron Paul or some awesome libertarian gets the VP spot then you do not have to fuck yourself....only heavy petting of oneself will be required.

[sloopyinca]

Can I fuck my wife if we're both libertarians and we don't vote for Johnson?

[Have I Said This Already?]

Can I fuck my wife if we're both libertarians?

Is she your wife if The Wedding of The Century of the Libertarian Blogosphere? hasn't actually happened yet? I need a clarification on this. Because Banjoz has been hitting on me pretty hard lately. Not that there is anything wrong with that...are you swingers? 'Cause, like, Banjoz has a nice rack. Just sayin'.

[Killazontherun]

Newlyweds.

[Tulpa]

No, you have to have an angelic marriage.

[SIV]

Gary Johnson isn't going to be on any ballots in November.

[Cytotoxic]

Besides, Johnson is too much of a utilitarian for my tastes.

And in one sentence we have distilled 'why libertarians don't get anywhere'.

[Amakudari]

Not really.

When someone has a chance of making headway, libertarians have pooled together (i.e. Ron Paul). There was more enthusiasm behind that than any other Republican. I have several things I don't like about Paul, but I voted for him in my state's primary and even had to register Republican to do it.

But when we're voting for a candidate who doesn't have a chance, there's no point voting for someone you don't agree with.

[Killazontherun]

I'm voting Johnson as well. But I got to ask, with the wife being her usual pissy self this weekend, is it still okay for me to fuck myself?

[yonemoto]

make your wife vote for Johnson. By which I mean, Wiener. Or Wang. Or Humperdinck.

[Joshua Corning]

When the 2012 election roll call comes around at reason I expect this for Tim:

"I voted for Romney becouse it was the best option to repeal Obamacare. I hate myself now."

here will be my reply to that thread:

"You fucking idiot you live in California!!! The state was going for Obama no matter how you voted!!! Why the fuck did you not vote for Gary Johnson?!?!?"

[How Tim Cavanaugh Voted]

http://reason.com/archives/200.....singlepage

Tim Cavanaugh

1. Who are you voting for in November? Barack Obama. All my life I've been waiting for a black president; Obama's not monumentally unqualified, and his solid-if-boring book at least had some unkind words for teachers unions. Also my kids like him.

Thanks a heap for putting the public-union-fellating Buttcrack 0'Commie in office just for the color of his skin and because your retarded little brats liked him, Timmy Boy, you racist rimjobber!

[Joe]

Missed that one by a mile.

[sloopyinca]

Haha. tOSU is beating scUM by 20.

[Reality]

Are you sure about that?

[Jeffersonian]

58-38 as of this moment

[sloopyinca]

You're right. It's 24.

Suck it, scUM!

O-H...

[Methodist]

I don't believe you. Prove it.

[Brett L]

FSU went 2-1 this year against Duke. If they win the ACC tourney, they'll have gone 2-1 against UNC. I'm still picking them to lose in the 2nd round.

[The Wizard of Santorum]

Hey Kansas! Tap your heels together three times as we all think to ourselves - "Get the fuck out of our Union!"

Kansas Primary
--------------------
Santorum - 51%
Romney - 21%
Gingrich - 14%
Paul - 13%

[GILMORE]

Photo. Scary.

[Dori Woods]

Wow thats a very scary image dude, I mean like seriously.

http://www.Got-Privacy.tk

[Fist of Etiquette]

How very delicious. The polls have proven it. Mitt Romney will defeat Barack Obama and he will be our president-elect when the Mayans come back on December 12th to kill us all. And on that day (Election Day not Mayan Armageddon Day) Tim Cavanaugh will weep because he had been bested by me and my apt prediction.

[db]

Mitt Romney and "Weird Al" Yankovic: Separated at Birth?

[ed]

Obama was the lesser of two evils verse Mcain.Now Romney will be the lesser of two evils verse Obama.This game is old,the evil will never go away until most of the government does.

[Hugo Longbone]

GUYS! A third party does not need to win 270 Electoral votes, just enough to deny the Reds and the Blues 270. If the third party can win a few small states like those Upper New England (usually D), Upper Midwest (usually R) and the Mountain States (also R) and maybe play spoiler in a few big states like California (big D) and some "swing states" the "Third Party" could have massive leverage in the Electoral College.

[smartass]

Yes. And Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy could be based on a true story.

[Mr. FIFY]

That WOULD be sweet, though... it would make the "hanging chads" fiasco look like a minor scuffle at a bingo parlor.

I would, personally, love to see the whole country descend into massive breakdown over Hugo's scenario. Might as well get it over with, so the impending martial-law shithammer can come down sooner rather than later. At least we'd KNOW it was coming.

[kbolino]

All states except Nebraska and Maine award their electors on a winner-takes-all basis.

Nebraska and Maine combined have 9 electoral votes; the likelihood of swinging more than 1 in each state, for a whopping total of 2, is nil.

That means you would have to convince the already-pledged electors from other states to be faithless electors.

This is a) extremely unlikely, b) historically unprecedented (the only major electoral college revolts were against VP, not POTUS, and happened in the early 19th century), c) almost guaranteed to invite Supreme Court involvement, and d) will earn you the permanent ire of the voting public for "tampering" with the election.

Even so, the most that you would accomplish is sending the vote to a contingent election in the House, which is 55.6% Republican, and would thus result in the Republican candidate being elected.

[Fluffy]

Isn't the House vote by state delegation and not by head?

Does anyone know how the state delegations break down?

I imagine there's a lot of concentration, but I don't know who's more concentrated as of today.

[Tulpa]

This map may be helpful

Looks pretty red to me.

[Tulpa]

Dem majority: HI, WA, OR, CA, NM, IA, NC, MD, DE, NJ, NY, CT, RI, MA, ME, VT

MN is half Dem, half GOP.

everyone else is GOP majority in the House delegation. So the GOP wins at least 33-17 in a House election.

[Tulpa]

Actually, I just remembered that it's the new House that votes in the event of an EC deadlock...so it would depend on how the parties do in the 2012 congressional elections. But usually the GOP has an advantage because there are more red states thanks to the mountain west being divided up more finely than California.

[smartass]

Obamacare is by a country mile the worst thing Barack Obama has accomplished.

There are days when I feel like I'm the only person in the world that sees this glaring truth.

You confuse me Tim. You see this and many other things, yet you voted for this asshole?

[kbolino]

"This glaring truth" is that health insurance in this country was fucked up before Obama ever set foot in the Oval Office (Medicare, HMO, HIPAA, etc.). It will still be fucked up when he leaves. Did he make it more fucked up? Probably. Catastrophically so? No.

The public debt has increased drastically and our credit rating has been cut for the first time in our history. That's catastrophe potential right there, and it's got nothing to do with ObamaCare.

[Tulpa]

Wow. Epi's performance on this thread is beyond what we've seen before.

Anyone else think that rather was on to something with her theory about the origins of the Alabaster Indigenous troll (ie, that Epi/Warty/SF are behind it)?

[rather]

I can prove it but I'm saving it for a rainy day. You'll die laughing on the who is who of this blog

[Tulpa]

I have my own Skeletors in the closet on some of the less severe aliases and different-name-spoofs so I hope you don't go too far with your revelations. But I'd love to know who's behind WI and the megatroll.

[rather]

I do believe life slaps you with poetic justice and that leaves me without sin
-I'm no into hurting anyone but someday we will need to share bottle of dry red wine; you'll confess your sins, and I will give you absolution

[fish]

God...could you be anymore pretentious?

[EDG reppin' LBC]

^^^No shit. I don't understand why someone would continue to visit a website where she was not liked, and continually abused. Is she a libertarian? I don't remember her adding to a conversation in any meaningful way with a libertarian viewpoint, or even a dissenting viewpoint. Whatever...

[Tulpa]

Don't know about rather but I'm continually abused here by some very vocal elements (a vocal minority, I hope). I come back because I hold out hope that they may one day change their minds and embrace utilitarian law and order libertarianism as I have.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

I understand you, Tulpa. Because you come here and present an argument. I may not agree with you, but at least you participate in the conversation by presenting your arguments. Rather, on the other hand, just links to her blog, or interjects non sequiters (usually both). I don't recall ever seeing her write more than two sentences, and never anything about libertarianism (pro or con). So what's the point of going to someone's house, just to drop a deuce on the living room floor?

[fish]

Hot unless they are building a seriously comprehensive legend for Jason....on multiple websites. White Idiot is like a rash on the Intertubez.

[fish]

Not! Not unless.

I really need to proofread.

[Amakudari]

If Santorum is the Republican nominee, he is up by one point over the president, 46% to 45%.

I've learned that many things are possible in politics. If an under-qualified blank slate from Illinois can not only win the election but have his likeness so popular that an impersonator can use it to sell satellite TV in Korea, Santorum can win the Republican nomination. If he does, he's a credible challenge to Obama.

Please, not this. Seriously.

[joanne]

You seem so sure that your king will win. He is a one man wrecking ball to our country, economy, and way of life. I can see every day how this nut has his foot on the accelerator. I hope that the reason is that he knows that Americans have HAD IT with him. He is anti American and hopefully the fools who chanted his name 4 years ago...the ones with no job, no money, no future,living in mom;s basement will wake up to the dismal no future prospects.

[Res Publica Americana]

Ron Paul should run for the governorship of Texas and troll/fuck with the feds.

[db]

Now THAT is a hell of an idea. Do you think he could win? On one hand I can see the business elites in Dallas and Houston running scared from his stated goal of destroying the big government/big business collusion of crony capitalism. On the other, I've read that Texas' state government is relatively weak compared to other states, and so perhaps those interests would rather see him in the Governor's seat than a national executive position.

[Cytotoxic]

The Best Idea Ever.

[Mary Wilbur]

Good idea.

[Gonzales]

That is just one poll stating that; let's see the status as later stages...

For professional polls and surveys done for your company and / or your research on any subject contact CWIIL GROUP; contact details: http://www.cwiilgroup.com.

[Tony]

Rasmussen is always biased at least 5 points for Republicans.

[db]

Like when he called the 2008 election for Obama at 52-46 when Obama won 53-46?

[fish]

Tony always gets upset when they bash his "Justin Bieber"!

[Hazel Meade]

Ok, here is a slight possibility.

Maybe the R's can do what the Democrats did in passing the bill, and force a repeal through via reconcilliation.

It would be fair game to do so.

[Len Bias]

That is an idea that would be so wonderfully appropriate and fitting on so many levels that it couldn't possibly work.

[Fatty Bolger]

Excellent idea.

[Tulpa]

Wasn't it only the conference committee bill bridging differences with the House version, rather than the original bill, that was "rammed through" in reconciliation?

[Hazel Meade]

Hmmm, well, couldn't you effectively do the same thing with two different "reform/revision" bills, repealing various different aspects of the bill and then ram through reconcilliation a combo that effectively repeals most of the central elements.

Again, of course this could only happen if the R's control both houses and the Which House.

[Len Bias]

That is an idea that would be so wonderfully appropriate and fitting on so many levels that it couldn't possibly work.

[db]

In Honor of White Indian

[Mary Wilbur]

I'm not as pessimistic as you are. I think Obamacare is eventually going to be nothing but a bad dream.

[HVanDorp]

http://www.freedomworks.org/bl.....arty-budge
How about an article on this budget?