who should be our next predient

[Mary Alice]

I know it's early but I'm just curious.

Here are some names to throw out just to see what people think of them.

John McCain (the only republican I'll mention, if any of you are republicans I'm curious to hear who you would support - some also say Rudy Giuliani? do you think that one is dying out and it was just big becuase of 9/11?) I don't know if I'd vote for him against a good Democrat candidate but you never know, I kinda like him.

Russ Feingold - what about him, huh? Makes Wisconsin proud, I like him.

Hillary - would any of you vote for her? What about New Yorkers - how do you think she's doing as a senator for y'all? I'd seriously have to wait for the platform but it could be cool.

Obama - too soon maybe? That's my feeling, I like him but maybe the election following this one.

Wesley Clark - should he run again? If Hill runs he won't have the Clinton support this time like he did last time, it will obviously all go to her.

John Edwards? he seems like a nice guy but not my first choice for president.


who do you see running?

[vordabois]

I would love to see John Edwards give it a go. A lot of generally republican-leaning people have mentioned that they'd consider voting for him, and I know that I would for sure. It sucks that there aren't a lot of politicians that actually stand up for what they believe in instead of jumping on that party-line, but Edwards stands out as quite an individual. Thankfully, there is no real dirt the GOP can dig up on him, though they'll undoubtedly find (or fabricate) something...

His record:

http://www.issues2000.org/John_Edwards.htm


I'd consider Biden, too.

http://www.issues2000.org/Senate/Joe_Biden.htm

[Mary Alice]

well the one thing about Edwards is his time as a lawyer he represented a lot of people suing doctors, a lot of medical malpractice suits. So a lot of republicans blame him and lawyers like him for the reason that doctors have to pay such high malpractice insurance, adding to the high price of health care. So democrats say "we want better health care" and the republicans say "if your heroes trying to protect the little man against the big bad doctor wouldn't sue the doctors they could charge less, it's the democrats fault..."

Now as far as I know Edwards only ever represented people who truly did deserve some compensation, and as one who made it mainstream for people to win medical malpractice suits, he was also one of the first ones to support stricter malpractice suit laws, so that less people would be abusing the system. But you know how some politicans can be, just look at Karl Rove with Kerry, people can make anything sound bad. Kerry thought his Vietnam service was a strength, and Rove turned it into a negative. I mean people were criticzing Kerry's involvement in Vietnam when Bush and Cheney didn't even go...genious tactic.

If Edwards doens't have any dirt I'm sure the opposition will create some.

Still I agree a lot of Republicans would like him. He's wholesome seeming, awesome family.

He does fit something I was talking to James about - we need someone with great leadership skills and a great platform, obviously, but they also need to be so likeable that even idiots would vote for this person in order for them to win. People who just vote for style will get more than they bargained for with great leadership along with it, and so even people who vote for the wrong reasons will still be voting for the right person.

I just don't know how strong Edwards is on the issues but I see him as more "likeable" than a lot of the democrats so you could have a point there.

Anyone else like Feingold?

[Drunkenmaster]

There's no such thing as a Republican Party anymore.

[vordabois]

Originally posted by Drunkenmaster
There's no such thing as a Republican Party anymore.

Now how can you say this without any elaboration?! :-p

[Smith Comma John]

byron dorgan (north dakota) maybe? ha ha just kidding.
al franken? i'm kidding again, but i think he's planning on running for the senate.

[Joliet's Green Onions]

"the Al Franken Presidency":lol:


also, i don't know too much about McCain(or really any of the canadates) but for some reason i really think he would be ok



also also, since there is no incumbant, how do you think the race is going to go?

[Smith Comma John]

Originally posted by Citizen Snips
also also, since there is no incumbant, how do you think the race is going to go?

well at the rate republicans are being indicted, i certainly hope the democrats win something.

[Fab]

Oprah.

[ramblingrose]

Originally posted by Fab
Oprah.

Could Dr Phil be VP or have they fallen out properly now?

[ramblingrose]

Seriously, I'd quite like Oprah to be in charge.

[Jackal]

She'd give 90% of the nations money to Africa to build schools and make their life better.

[Kinbote]

I just want a pretty uniform and somebody to hate.

[Smith Comma John]

letterman for vp! :D

[negatifzeo]

Originally posted by Drunkenmaster
There's no such thing as a Republican Party anymore.


I agree with you here, no elaboration needed! I like the Republican's ideal of smaller goverment. Of course, to Republicans, smaller government just means less interference with the big corporations, less social programs, etc. They're all for forming a new government agency to screw us over, but it'll be a cold day in hell before they help someone!

Republicans disgust me, Democrats disgust me. The stupid Dems keep trying to play politics instead of being honest with everyone. It just makes them look pathetic. Stand up for what you believe in, and do it proudly!

All the illusions I had after I took my high school government class are wearing off. This isn't a free country, they just tell us it is. Don't get me wrong, the potential is there, but we're going the wrong way.

[Static Split Screen]

I'd vote for Hilary!

[Kinbote]

Originally posted by Drunkenmaster
There's no such thing as a Republican Party anymore.

Terry, do you know anything about cloning, or voodoo zombies? I bought a chunk of Barry Goldwater's scrotum from Amazon Marketplace.

[Drunkenmaster]

Originally posted by Kinbote
Terry, do you know anything about cloning, or voodoo zombies? I bought a chunk of Barry Goldwater's scrotum from Amazon Marketplace. No, but I'll get right on it!

[Drunkenmaster]

Originally posted by negatifzeo
I agree with you here, no elaboration needed! I like the Republican's ideal of smaller goverment. Of course, to Republicans, smaller government just means less interference with the big corporations, less social programs, etc. They're all for forming a new government agency to screw us over, but it'll be a cold day in hell before they help someone!

Republicans disgust me, Democrats disgust me. The stupid Dems keep trying to play politics instead of being honest with everyone. It just makes them look pathetic. Stand up for what you believe in, and do it proudly!

All the illusions I had after I took my high school government class are wearing off. This isn't a free country, they just tell us it is. Don't get me wrong, the potential is there, but we're going the wrong way. Haha, yeah! Evil corporations! Uh, no. I'd trust a rich man over a poor man anyday.

[vordabois]

Originally posted by Drunkenmaster
Haha, yeah! Evil corporations!

Evil? I don't think that's what he was trying to say. Unless you consider "self-serving" an evil thing... It's just reality.

[negatifzeo]

Originally posted by Drunkenmaster
Haha, yeah! Evil corporations! Uh, no. I'd trust a rich man over a poor man anyday.

Depends on the man, rich or poor. And corporations don't have to be evil, they're just allowed to be.

[Jackal]

Payola! The American way.

[vordabois]

Speaking of money in politics, this website has won several national awards. It's quite remarkable. It's definitely worth a look if you're interested in cold, hard truly unbiased facts.

http://opensecrets.org/

[XenonDreams]

Bob Barr? Was he the guy who was a republican congressman from texas?

I don't know, I can't think of anyone I might support. I'm pretty pissed with Republicans. I could vote against them in hopes a little time out of power would make them return to their small government roots, which it might, but of course they'll quickly abandon that as soon as they're back the helm. As marginalized as the democratic party is presently at the national level, I see them having big wins in 2006, maybe retaking the whitehouse in 2008, and the republican party going down in the flames of a small government/liberterian versus religious/neocon split. I suppose the two party system will endure for a long time, so it's a moot point.

Back to the subject at hand, I would only vote for a Republican if (s)he wasn't part of the Bush establishment (sorry Jeb, Condi) and not John McCain. And could really offer something. I don't think I could vote for a Democrat, unless it was to go against Cheney or Sanotorum for the Republicans. I'll probably vote for some third party loon again, oh well, so ends my life.

[Narcissistic Nihilist]

Originally posted by Jackal
She'd give 90% of the nations money to Africa to build schools and make their life better.
That would be worth voting for.

[Narcissistic Nihilist]

Originally posted by Drunkenmaster
I'd trust a rich man over a poor man anyday.
What a bizzare choice.

[XenonDreams]

Originally posted by Narcissistic Nihilist
That would be worth voting for.

especially in your magical little fantasy world where that kind of thing would work

[vordabois]

More aid should be sent to fourth-world countries for construction and operation of schooling institutions, but also many other things should be explored including debt relief and favorable trade agreements. Lots of things must come together in order for development to succeed... straight-up aid (which is currently woefully insufficient) is only a small part of it.

[vaya con dios]

http://www.walken2008.com

end of thread

[Kinbote]

Originally posted by vordabois
More aid should be sent to fourth-world countries for construction and operation of schooling institutions, but also many other things should be explored including debt relief and favorable trade agreements. Lots of things must come together in order for development to succeed... straight-up aid (which is currently woefully insufficient) is only a small part of it.

Killing our agriculture subsidies would be a fair help. And would reduce our own food prices.

Inventing a time machine and going back a bunch of years and drawing LOGICAL borders - that is, based on common ethnic identities and economic interests - for the various soon-to-be-ex-colonies would be good, too.

[Narcissistic Nihilist]

Originally posted by XenonDreams
especially in your magical little fantasy world where that kind of thing would work
Yes, just as it would in reality

[revgoozen]

Originally posted by negatifzeo
I agree with you here, no elaboration needed! I like the Republican's ideal of smaller goverment. Of course, to Republicans, smaller government just means less interference with the big corporations, less social programs, etc. They're all for forming a new government agency to screw us over, but it'll be a cold day in hell before they help someone!

Republicans disgust me, Democrats disgust me. The stupid Dems keep trying to play politics instead of being honest with everyone. It just makes them look pathetic. Stand up for what you believe in, and do it proudly!

All the illusions I had after I took my high school government class are wearing off. This isn't a free country, they just tell us it is. Don't get me wrong, the potential is there, but we're going the wrong way.


the democrats are damned if they do and damned if they don't. the fact of the matter is that they took a fucking beating after 9/11 and have spent the last several years regaining their collective spine... of course, now that they are actually fighting back, the standard talking point is that they are playing "the blame game"... fuck that, i say. people should be held acountable for their screw ups, in this life and the next. if republicans are unwilling to put their house in order in an open and transparent fashon, then someone has to hold them accountable for that.

as for the other neocon talking point regarding a lack of conviction in the democratic party - it's baseless.

[Squirrel]

I am starting to suspect that the next president may be a Democrat because the way things are going at the moment, it may actually be in the Republican's best interests to lose the next election. The troop withdrawal is going to go badly no matter what, with the worst case scenario still being a full-blown civil war in Iraq, and I don't know if Bush's approval ratings can handle it, especially if they remain the way they are now.

So I wouldn't put it past this administration to simply draw it out for another two years, cut their losses and let the democratic incumbent sort out the double whammy of troop withdrawal, and the budget which Bush has well and truly fucked in the arse. So the Democrats come to power, Iraq finishes horribly, taxes inevitably will have to rise, oil prices get even worse and the stage is set for the 2012 Jeb ticket or whatever other nastiness they have planned for us.

Unless the Democrats twig onto this as well, and then it could end up like that episode of South Park where the two teams keep coming up with more and more elaborate strategies to lose the baseball game. Except slightly less tasteful.

[DrHibbert]

Damn, very true. Thanks Mark. Now I need to go shoot myself.

[Drunkenmaster]

Originally posted by Squirrel
I am starting to suspect that the next president may be a Democrat because the way things are going at the moment, it may actually be in the Republican's best interests to lose the next election. The troop withdrawal is going to go badly no matter what, with the worst case scenario still being a full-blown civil war in Iraq, and I don't know if Bush's approval ratings can handle it, especially if they remain the way they are now.

So I wouldn't put it past this administration to simply draw it out for another two years, cut their losses and let the democratic incumbent sort out the double whammy of troop withdrawal, and the budget which Bush has well and truly fucked in the arse. So the Democrats come to power, Iraq finishes horribly, taxes inevitably will have to rise, oil prices get even worse and the stage is set for the 2012 Jeb ticket or whatever other nastiness they have planned for us.

Unless the Democrats twig onto this as well, and then it could end up like that episode of South Park where the two teams keep coming up with more and more elaborate strategies to lose the baseball game. Except slightly less tasteful. Nobody who's calling for a troop withdrawal has a snowball's chance in hell. That's why I like John Kerry. He doesn't want to withdraw the troops, he just wants to set a timetable for the troops to withdraw. That way the insurgents can go on vacation and regroup until we leave.

[Nak Nak]

Bill Hicks.

[Narcissistic Nihilist]

Originally posted by Nak Nak
Bill Hicks.
If only. :(

[Nak Nak]

Originally posted by Narcissistic Nihilist
If only. :(

His skeleton/ashes would have more wisdom than everyone in the present administration combined.

[Squirrel]

In a way, I'm almost kind of glad Bill Hicks isn't around to see the state the world is in at the moment. I mean, he was pissed off enough when we had one term of Bush Sr and he got booted out for Clinton. And that seems like some kind of liberal utopia compared to what's going on nowadays...

[Nak Nak]

Originally posted by Squirrel
In a way, I'm almost kind of glad Bill Hicks isn't around to see the state the world is in at the moment. I mean, he was pissed off enough when we had one term of Bush Sr and he got booted out for Clinton. And that seems like some kind of liberal utopia compared to what's going on nowadays...

No, for by now he would have evolved with the times and become a 12ft tall robot with a loudspeaker mouth, black cock of death arm attachment (shotgun arm) and a cigarette which also doubles as a flamethrower.

Picture him stomping into the white house and hurling LSD grenades willy nilly.

[Narcissistic Nihilist]

Originally posted by Squirrel
In a way, I'm almost kind of glad Bill Hicks isn't around to see the state the world is in at the moment. I mean, he was pissed off enough when we had one term of Bush Sr and he got booted out for Clinton. And that seems like some kind of liberal utopia compared to what's going on nowadays...
I think its tragic he isnt around to see it. Imagine the material he would have come out with over 9/11, Britney. Lewinsky etc etc

[Squirrel]

He'd probably be in Guantanamo Bay by now.

[Nak Nak]

Originally posted by Squirrel
He'd probably be in Guantanamo Bay by now.

Hicks would be a good guy to have in your cell block. The guards would probably kill him because of his big mouth though.

[vordabois]

Originally posted by Nak Nak
Hicks would be a good guy to have in your cell block. The guards would probably kill him because of his big mouth though.

Yeah, you wanna know who the top comedian in America is right now?

This guy:

http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/_/id/7277749?pageid=rs.Home&pageregion=single1&rnd=1114619480502&has-player=true&version=6.0.12.1059

Seriously.

It never fails to astound me how so many people in this country are just plain... well, "stupid" is a bit too kind. It's almost heartbreaking.


Larry the Cable Guy Bared
The new king of comedy plugs into red-state fervor

This is the most successful comic in America: a paunchy forty-two-year-old white guy in a sleeveless flannel shirt and a crappy baseball cap. At a sold-out show in Pittsburgh, he grips the mike and slouches his way across the stage like he's coming to fix a busted carburetor. With an exaggerated Southern drawl and a mouth that seems full of chaw, he launches into his routine: "They have Bibles in hotel rooms now. What's that for, to swear in the hookers?" gets a good laugh. Describing Michael Moore as "three M&M's away from holy shit!" gets a better one.

Then he does a double-take: He spots something behind him. "Aw, those are my shadows," he says, relieved. "I thought a couple black guys were sneaking up behind me." Huge laugh.

Meet Larry the Cable Guy -- the slightly dim, often racist, completely redneck, 100 percent Republican alter ego of Dan Whitney. If you don't live in a red state, you've probably never heard of him, but after nineteen years of doing stand-up gigs and right-wing political commentary on the radio, he's king of the hill. Comedy albums have been roadkill in recent years, but now people are eating fried possum: Larry's second album, The Right to Bare Arms, debuted at Number Seven earlier this month, the highest-charting comedy record since Steve Martin in 1978. Only four comedians have ever charted higher. This is heady stuff for a guy best known for the WB's Blue Collar TV, where he's part of an ensemble of good-ol'-boy comics led by Jeff Foxworthy. Still, his fans fill theaters and even arenas: Last year, Larry had the top-grossing comedy tour, beating Chris Rock. Far more than Rock or even Foxworthy, Larry seems to have tapped into something powerful and unexpected in America. But what, exactly?

"My crowd is good, honest, hard-working Americans," Larry says after the show. "They don't hate anybody, they just want to enjoy themselves, and they're not into that PC crap." They may not think of being a Larry fan as an expression of cultural identity, but of course humor requires a shared set of assumptions. In this case, the worldview includes the beliefs that Hilary Clinton is Satan, The Dukes of Hazzard got canceled because Hollywood hates country boys, and NASCAR is the world's greatest sport. But some of Larry's punch lines reflect uglier attitudes:

"I was more pissed than a queer with lockjaw on Valentine's Day."

"This is a song about an illegal Mexican hitchhiking through Texas. I call it 'El Paso.'"

"There'll be a new show out next week called Black Eye on the Queer Guy."

"He's good at what he does," concedes fellow comedian David Cross. "It's a lot of anti- gay, racist humor -- which people like in America -- all couched in 'I'm telling it like it is.' He's in the right place at the right time for that gee-shucks, proud-to-be-a-redneck, I'm-just-a -straight-shooter-multimillionaire-in-cutoff-flannel-selling-ring -tones act. That's where we are as a nation now. We're in a stage of vague American values and anti-intellectual pride."

Larry shrugs off such criticism. "The only people who are uptight at my shows are politically correct white people," he insists. "They have to take in the social implication of the joke before they can laugh. Just lighten up!" Larry does have his own set of taboos, and they're very red-state-centric: "I don't say the f-word, and I don't take the Lord's name in vain."

Offstage, with his drawl dialed down, Dan Whitney is smarter than his creation but shares most of his opinions. At a Wal-Mart in Washington, Pennsylvania, he signs hundreds of autographs for fans ranging from toddlers to grandparents. They're almost all white, and some wear T-shirts extolling Christ ("Not in Vain") and deer hunting ("Fear No Deer"). Sitting between Housewares and Artificial Flowers, Larry exudes the aura of a country star. Says eighteen-year-old Jessica Cummings, "Whenever he talks, he just understands how everyone is."

[Narcissistic Nihilist]

Originally posted by vordabois
It never fails to astound me how so many people in this country are just plain... well, "stupid" is a bit too kind. It's almost heartbreaking.
I had heard of the guy, but jesus, I didnt know he was riding that "dumb as fuck" wave.


That material was turning to dust with age by the time the 90's hit. I think the comment about "vague American values and anti-intellectual pride" sums it up. I really find it hard to believe people are so proud of being so retarded. Its probably worse here, but only because its much more of a majority attitude. (Just look at the Kris, Fraser and the chav phenomenon).

I love the way he is so stupid, he claims people get "uptight", and thats its only "white people". Sorry to disappoint the fool, but people are just getting dismayed and full of pity at such feeble minds.

Being controversial to make a bit of money is nothing new, but its usually done by people with a bit of imagination and talent. This guy just goes backwards 30 years, and backwards is also a good adjective to describe the mentality of those who go and see him.