Last election, the economy was such a crisis that the election had to be suspended so the candidates could go to Washington and do… something.
Now, we’re not even into the election, but the pre-election debates are too important to be postponed. Or that unemployment isn’t a crisis. Or something.
Well, sure, unemployment is a crisis. But the deficit is The Crisis! Nobody knew that until early January, 2009. Before that, it was, yeah, kinda important. Sort of a big deal.
Few more days, you’ll see it. Or, actually, on review, all you have to do is read a few more of the posts in this thread.
Yeah, that was in the OP - so? Which one of my points are you pretending that contradicts?
Shoot, it could have been done that way and the media (and certain Dopers) would still blow it all out of proportion.
Oh, is that why the OP has his knickers in a twist??
I don’t blame you for that decision, and in fact, I support it. But a protest vote can be a powerful thing if enough people do it. As much as I disagreed with Bush and his policies, and I voted against him in 2004, at least HE GOT THINGS DONE the way that he wanted to. Which I respect far more than Obama.
Maybe I missed it…did anyone mention that Obama made a formal announcement BEFORE making the date request, which in itself was unprecedented? In 200-plus years of tradition, the President has issued a formal and private request for a joint session of the houses before announcing any dates to the public. This is common courtesy, it seems to me, and is normal practice in business, or parties, or anything else.
Obama’s people swear, up and down, that they sent a letter/e-mail/memo to Boner advising him of their intention, and heard nothing back, which they took for consent to a standard operating procedure. Having no reason to expect otherwise. Boner’s people say they never actually said “OK”, and change the subject when you ask whether they said anything else.
So the Obama people’s point is they asked, didn’t hear an objection, and assumed it was all hunky-dory. Reasonable, in my estimation.
Good reference, from Talking Points Memo, a center lefty site that I offer without hesitation because they have yet to burn me.
Obama’s in the right on this one, but it doesn’t matter because he looks wrong. He continues to fail Impression Management 101.
A lot of historical figures got things done the way they wanted. Want me to name the most obvious?
As an Obama supporter, I have to blame the Pres on this one: surely his team knew that the date was a Republican debate night and this particular “fight” could have been avoided merely by Obama not picking it. Even worse for him to back down after starting it.
Speechifying isn’t going to put a dent in public opinion. How many people do you think listen to these speeches? I bet more people will get info on the speech from Rush, Hannity and that crew than will actually watch said speech.
You know what happens when you assume?
If this is a request for another stimulus, I say fuck 'im. The previous stimuli didn’t alleviate the economic malaise, and another won’t, either. Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result, and all that…
Jesus Christ, do you even read your own posts? What the fuck is wrong with you? You said
I pointed out that I specifically said
Are you able to see at all that you are 100% wrong and that you seem to not be bothering to read?
Why don’t you slink off somewhere and shut the fuck up?
The first stimulus did help a little, but it wasn’t big enough. It needed to be huge. We did it half-ass. We need a massive stimulus package, and we need to put the screws to the rich piggies, finally.
It will definitely piss me off, as I have received special dispensation from the Druidess to watch the Saints game during our honeymoon. Let Obama give his speech the next day, or during lunch, or whatever time he likes that doesn’t interfere with football. He knows nothing substantial is going to happen between now and the election anyway. He’s essentially a lame duck unless and until he gets re-elected, which hopefully will not happen. Let him quack quietly in a corner somewhere. Football > politics.
**
GEAUX SAINTS!**
According to this article, Boehner’s office was consulted about the date.
Snerk.
Honey, calm down. I know it’s hard to have your shortcomings pointed out in public, but if you’d cut your losses a few posts ago, you would have been forgotten by now. However, to the point -
“Obama wants to address congress on the date of some long planned Republican candidate debates” does not necessarily mean that Obama knew of the debates, being held across the county, by the party he doesn’t belong to. Or that Obama himself was even the one who actually chose that first date, as it could have been an aide who did so. You have decided that Obama is at fault here, that for some bizarre reason he decided to pick a public fight with the Republicans, yet you have provided no proof, and if you bother to read this thread, you will see that I am not the only one who has noticed this.
Intelligent people know that there are multiple scenarios that could have lead to this result, and since you couldn’t even be bothered to supply a link to whatever news story you read, we have no way of knowing what you think the facts are. Idiots post reactionary Pit threads and then flail their bitty fists when someone questions their “logic”.
I am not saying that Obama is not at fault, I am saying that based on the information you have provided and what little I bothered to look up, such a decision cannot be made. Unless you have some bias.
Jesus Christ, I hate people like you.
2012 isn’t an election between Obama and Some Republican that I Disagree With But Isn’t a Raving Lunatic. It’s an election between Obama, with whom I am disappointed and who needs to step up his game, and a field of utter, complete, unbelievably delusional and crazy people.
With the POSSIBLE exception of Huntman, there’s not a single Republican candidate who isn’t on record as supporting a host of completely lunatic if not actively evil policies.
A protest vote in this case is throwing a temper tantrum that will fundamentally damage things that are incredibly important to me - the overturning of DADT, the possible repeal of DOMA, the continuation of a woman’s right to choose health care according to her needs vis a vis Roe v. Wade and Casey v. Planned Parenthood, the health care reform that was half a loaf but that’s better than zero loaf, and a host of others.
I can overcome disappointment to support four more years of someone who in most ways at least doesn’t actively work against things I value in order to prevent the possibility of DECADES of policies that violate some of my values.
If ever I wanted a “like” button, now is the time.
You pretty much epitomize Bill Clinton’s general point about the whims of the electorate: “Strong and wrong will beat weak and right, every time.”