us election thread

[fat lesbian]

i can't believe r money is getting a redemption arc

[Delirious Biznasty]

Bernie DID stand a slight chance recently, but the incident in Nevada probably cemented her place.

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/...tic-unrest

[fat lesbian]

someone should acquaint bernald and his cult w the phrase "overplaying your hand"

[grue]

Bernie DID stand a slight chance recently, but the incident in Nevada probably cemented her place.

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/...tic-unrest

god damn and how sure can they be that this isn't staged to discredit the Bern

[Ben]

i think staged is a little rough, its more like uncaring

i think that the hillary folks all know and agree that they will win and so they have a "get it over with already" mentality that is shutting out the dissent. i mean, if the bernie people were given every opportunity there, maybe it would have been a minor victory on the small scale but a larger defeat ultimately- so to the hillary people, it doesnt matter really and to the bernie people who are fervent (this is a compliment, i appreciate their passion) but delusional it means everything

the bottom line is that it was wrong and in different circumstances really seriously matters. a similar thing happened during a 2012 democratic national convention where a half/half vote to amend religious statements to the democratic party's platform was taken at face value to be a 2/3rd vote for affirmation

[Ben]

if that makes you ask, "why do they judge based on voice like it's a concert?" i do not have an answer for you

if that makes you ask, "why dont they just have a conventional paper vote in instances such as these?" i do not have an answer for you

[Delirious Biznasty]

lmoa nevermind romney backed out

http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/18/politics/m...index.html

[grue]

stepping in to say that jill stein is still running and as such, I would vote for her

[Delirious Biznasty]

lets take a minute and reflect on the worlds view of this election

http://www.ipsos-na.com/download/pr.aspx?id=15643

[Ben]

so bernie got berned and now even obummer is supporting mrs clinton

its kind of lame that this stuff ends in spirit before some people have a chance to vote. i respect bernie's attitude toward this

[grue]

did he really bust or is it just an irrecupable political loss

[Ben]

afaik he is not quitting until all the polls are in as a symbolic gesture, which is what i admire

but at this point yeah he met physically with obama and was probably told "hey dude good job but we both see the end here, right". the president who is the leader of the democratic party endorsed her and thats kind of like the death knell

[Delirious Biznasty]

speaking of hillary

[GeorgeBubbinzInSpace]

bernie was the only candidate that was making the whole thing interesting for me, just because he was the crazy wild-card similar to the way obama was. now it's just an immature gravy-faced cartoon character that scares the shit out of me and a lady that has seemingly lost her identity in the years she's spent as a politician

[Ben]

ok well i dont mean to get crazy on you BUT

the real problem here as far as i am concerned is the two-party element of this- the idea that because one guy is awful, you now have to vote for the other guy (who may be just as awful or worse?)

alternatively, if there is a legitimate third party candidate (or more than one) then this problem dissolves. think about how fringe and weird trump seemed and now he has legions of folk behind him. it's weird, right?

anyway- the closest contender is gary johnson now. i like gary, even though i dont understand or agree with a lot that he says. this isnt a political thread so if you want to make fun of arachno-capitalism pls go to the other thread. the thing about gary is, the libertarian platform is very relatable (let people do what they want, stop giving rich people government breaks, stop bombing shit) and yet nobody seems to know or care. so, how do you "legitimize" the party?

1) the debate commission has to let you actually be in the debates. this is a racket, and gary is actually currently helping to sue the debate commission for this.
2) to get into the debate, you need to poll at ~15%. gary is polling 10 or 11% in some places. the racket here is that the two-party establishment/assumption (of which the debate commission is a part) wont even put gary in the polls in some cases. meaning, instead of saying "look gary, we gave you a fair shot and it didnt work" they are giving the weasely answer of "well gary, you arent polling high enough (because you arent being asked about at all ha ha ha)"
3) if gary gets into the debate, you will get trump vs hillary vs johnson which is a huge step

gary johnson got 1% of the total general vote last time (2012), and if hes polling at 10% now it's certainly likely that he will do even better. and now that bernie is out, i would believe that the number will go even higher. though gary says he wouldnt be running if he didnt have a chance, he acknowledges that its still important to show there is legitimate opposition to the establishment and that he can still put some new ideas into the zeitgeist even if he's not the one carrying that flag