US Politics: Ballot Mainetenance

[Tywin et al.]

4 hours ago, IheartIheartTesla said:

17% support a third party candidate,

Again, Americans are dumb. Just accept the truth. 

58 minutes ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

Its just the kind of response (Haley's) many racist GOP actually love to hear,

Correct. She thought it would help her. The sick part is she probably didn't even believe it, but hoped only the right people heard what she said. Also she's completely lying when she said she would accept being the VP nom. 

54 minutes ago, TrackerNeil said:

Good gods, yes. We often encounter those folks who are endlessly cynical about politics, who proclaim that every officeholder is on the take and believes nothing, it's all bullshit, blah blah.

No, it's very fucking real. This was a BS take decades ago, but now we have an entire pollical party that is openly doing this.

27 minutes ago, LongRider said:

Kennedy is an anitvaxxer, conspiracy theory grifter and all-around asshole.  There are many articles and podcasts that explain this.  He's running only as a spoiler for Biden.  

Damn him for tricking Cheryl Hines into marrying him! 

[Phylum of Alexandria]

7 minutes ago, mormont said:

RFK Jr is what you get if you take all of Trump's negatives, and all of Biden's negatives, and put them together in one candidate.

So RFK too reeks of armpits, butt, ketchup, and make-up? 

[IheartIheartTesla]

3 hours ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

You don’t think Haley’s incredibly stupid (or telling) flub about slavery being the biggest cause of the American Civil War will hurt her?

In the Republican primary? Is this a serious question? She knew what she was doing.

[Maithanet]

21 minutes ago, IheartIheartTesla said:

In the Republican primary? Is this a serious question? She knew what she was doing.

I think that she wanted to get a round of the media coverage, and to utilize it in the "me vs the world" manner that Trump loves to do.  She isn't nearly as good at it, since it takes a lot more to get people fired up than it did back in 2015, and she apologized/clarified her remarks the following day which basically ended the controversy anyway.

[TrackerNeil]

58 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

No, it's very fucking real. This was a BS take decades ago, but now we have an entire pollical party that is openly doing this.

I think you might be misunderstanding me. I'm saying that taking an ultra-pessismistic view of politics is not only unhelpful, but also a way of evading the responsibility we all have to improve the state of affairs. Sure, there are politicians who are worse than useless, but treating them all that way just ensures that the worse-than-useless get their way.

[Altherion]

10 hours ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

The USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll indicates the president is trailing former President Donald Trump 37% to 39% due to his inability to hold down the coalition of voters that propelled him to victory in 2020."

Such a distribution implies a massive number of voters going for somebody not in the two dominant parties. The last time this happened was Ross Perot in 1992 so it's possible, but it would be really, really surprising.

That said, there is not that much time left: the election is November 5th so today we are 10 months and 3 days away. The campaigning is about to go into full swing so it'll be interesting to see if Biden can turn things around by the summer.

[Kalbear]

I think that trying to say that Obama is physically a different person other than his teeth is a real winning argument and should at least be tried at an appellate level:

https://xkcd.com/2875/

 

[Phylum of Alexandria]

5 minutes ago, Kalbear said:

I think that trying to say that Obama is physically a different person other than his teeth is a real winning argument and should at least be tried at an appellate level:

https://xkcd.com/2875/

If that fails, there's always Obama's anger translator, Luther. Might offer some populist punchiness.

[fionwe1987]

7 minutes ago, Kalbear said:

I think that trying to say that Obama is physically a different person other than his teeth is a real winning argument and should at least be tried at an appellate level:

https://xkcd.com/2875/

 

And since these new cells were definitely born in the US, no more Birtherism!

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

3 hours ago, Darryk said:

What do people think of RFK Junior as an alternative to Biden? He has some controversial positions but he's doing well in the polls.

The anti-vaxx freak who is tight with Roger Stone???  Really?

[Altherion]

Harvard President Claudine Gay has resigned. It appears that her Congressional testimony on calls for genocide was not enough to get her fired on its own, but it led to investigations for plagiarism and criticism from wealthy donors many of whom suspended their donations.

I am slightly surprised she stepped down. Unlike her colleague at Penn, Gay has only been the subject of a campaign since those unfortunate comments and it did not look like a very successful campaign... except apparently it was. A bit of trivia: apparently her tenure of 6 months and 2 days will be the shortest presidency in Harvard history.

[Phylum of Alexandria]

8 minutes ago, Altherion said:

Harvard President Claudine Gay has resigned. It appears that her Congressional testimony on calls for genocide was not enough to get her fired on its own, but it led to investigations for plagiarism and criticism from wealthy donors many of whom suspended their donations.

I am slightly surprised she stepped down. Unlike her colleague at Penn, Gay has only been the subject of a campaign since those unfortunate comments and it did not look like a very successful campaign... except apparently it was. A bit of trivia: apparently her tenure of 6 months and 2 days will be the shortest presidency in Harvard history.

I heard about this. Plagiarism is no joke. Although the president of Stanford rising to prominence on falsified neuropharmacological research data was even worse.

[Larry of the Lawn]

1 hour ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

The anti-vaxx freak who is tight with Roger Stone???  Really?

He's probably getting some numbers from people who are antivaxx freaks themselves and probably some from just being a Kennedy.  His freak status might even go beyond just being a doofy crank; he was posting some shit over the summer on social media that had some less-than-ambiguous white supremacist numerology associated with it. 

[IheartIheartTesla]

4 hours ago, Tywin et al. said:

Again, Americans are dumb. Just accept the truth. 

While that is true, what is also true is that flirting with third party candidates is very common at this point in the cycle. Everyone is displeased with their top choices, but after the conventions the majority of that ~15% will go back to whichever partisan camp they favor (and if they are somewhat elastic voters, make some sort of decision on who they want to support as the election approaches). I doubt 2024 will break this pattern (the 3rd party candidates are as woeful as any in the past....4 cycles).

[Kalbear]

2 minutes ago, IheartIheartTesla said:

While that is true, what is also true is that flirting with third party candidates is very common at this point in the cycle. Everyone is displeased with their top choices, but after the conventions the majority of that ~15% will go back to whichever partisan camp they favor (and if they are somewhat elastic voters, make some sort of decision on who they want to support as the election approaches). I doubt 2024 will break this pattern (the 3rd party candidates are as woeful as any in the past....4 cycles).

This isn't really true. It wasn't the case in 2016 (where 3rd parties had even less support) and definitely wasn't the case in 2020 (where there was very little 3rd party support at all). 

While some of it may dissipate what this usually is a sign of is major incumbent/current party trouble, and is one of the main signs that they may lose. 

In any event because things are so close even a small shift is probably a bad thing, and given how loyal Trump voters are to Trump chances are good that it would benefit him.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/third-party-candidate-spoiler-trump-biden/

[Zorral]

5 hours ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

Its just the kind of response (Haley's) many racist GOP actually love to hea

Yes.  It's exactly the same word salad she's been using for years in South Carolina.  Which is what, as you say, South Carolina white folks approve of and wish to be told.  No nasty words like slavery.  (I am not pointing this out on my own, let me haste to add. I've read quite a few Haley watchers from over the years who have pointed this out since New Hampshire -- she wasn't expecting the response she got from saying it in New Hampshire, because she never got trouble about the word salad in the other places.)

5 hours ago, Darryk said:

RFK Junior as an alternative to Biden

You've brought this up and asked this question before, and the answers are always the same: he's a racist anti-vaxxer, anti-contraception, bigot who is also an idiot.

[Tywin et al.]

4 hours ago, TrackerNeil said:

I think you might be misunderstanding me. I'm saying that taking an ultra-pessismistic view of politics is not only unhelpful, but also a way of evading the responsibility we all have to improve the state of affairs. Sure, there are politicians who are worse than useless, but treating them all that way just ensures that the worse-than-useless get their way.

Eh, I think it's more about treating the entire process coldly. Problem is most people can't or just don't care at all.
 

55 minutes ago, IheartIheartTesla said:

While that is true, what is also true is that flirting with third party candidates is very common at this point in the cycle. Everyone is displeased with their top choices, but after the conventions the majority of that ~15% will go back to whichever partisan camp they favor (and if they are somewhat elastic voters, make some sort of decision on who they want to support as the election approaches). I doubt 2024 will break this pattern (the 3rd party candidates are as woeful as any in the past....4 cycles).

Sure, I just worry that a lot of people from Biden's key demographics won't turn out and that will cost him in some tight races. You just have to hope a lot of reluctant Trump voters also won't turn out.

 

In other news, I GOT MY LETTER FROM FDR TO MY GREAT-GRANDFATHER BACK FRAMED!!!! I was so worried it would get wrecked or stolen. It was sent just before he officially took his oath of office, dated  February 25, 1933. 

 

[Jace, Extat]

27 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

 

 

In other news, I GOT MY LETTER FROM FDR TO MY GREAT-GRANDFATHER BACK FRAMED!!!! I was so worried it would get wrecked or stolen. It was sent just before he officially took his oath of office, dated  February 25, 1933. 

 

That's dope! Was your great-grandpa a supporter from his days as governor? '33 is pretty early.

[Darryk]

3 hours ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

The anti-vaxx freak who is tight with Roger Stone???  Really?

I was just curious.

1 hour ago, Zorral said:

You've brought this up and asked this question before, and the answers are always the same: he's a racist anti-vaxxer, anti-contraception, bigot who is also an idiot.

Sorry if I did, I don't remember.

[Tywin et al.]

32 minutes ago, Jace, Extat said:

That's dope! Was your great-grandpa a supporter from his days as governor? '33 is pretty early.

Idk, he named my grandfather after the first person he could vote for and that was Warren Harding. Never met him, he died 31 years before I was born, but the impression I always got was he was an immigrant who was just happy to be able to vote. Probably more than anything he just wanted to fit in and be proud of his new home. But it's pretty clear my family's love of politics and belief in serving the country started with him.