Politics: Onward from New Hampshire

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)
Sure, and if he reavows his 1970 interview, let's bring it up too.

no one held Arnold to his 76 professed goals of "getting high and orgying"

[Not Me]

Originally posted by Secret_Agent_Man
While your guy was snorting coke, driving drunk, probably dodging his NG service obligation, and later pretending none of the above matters because now he's a born-again tough guy.

Now, you wanna talk about it?

All of the points you mention cost Clinton votes, and will probably cost Kerry votes. Why shouldn't the Bush issues cost him votes? (If only by depressing his base.) There aren't many votes to spare in 2004 -- and you know it -- which is why you're pissed.

S_A_M

I think you are wrong if you think that all of this matters. The vast majority of people are going to vote for their party's candidate regardless of who their party nominates. There is a small minority of swing voters who determine the outcome of elections and they are more interested in substantive issues like the economy, health care, and national security. So in the end, I think the outcome of elections is determined by these substantive issues.

[Secret_Agent_Man]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
But he had it together enough to fly jet fighters.

Presumably he wasn't trying to do that at the same time he was doing any of the other things.

or . . . a more appropriate response:

Yeah, so's your mother!

[Not Me]

Originally posted by Did you just call me Coltrane?
I expect this shit from Georgia. Not from Ohio. This country is officially insane.

It is not that people are insane, they are just stupid and intellectually lazy. It is why they believe in god in the first place. Spending time learning science and math and trying to figure out how the universe and life on earth came about takes time away from their drinking and breeding. It is easier to just think that god made all this happen and not bother trying to learn the truth.

And if you believe in god, you get the added bonuse that you don't have to worry about dying because if there is a god, dying doesn't really count there being an after-life and all.

[Not Me]

Originally posted by Did you just call me Coltrane?
Is Kerry attacking Bush's service or is it other Dems?

Kerry surrogates are. Kerry is saying that it doesn't matter.

This is typically the way it is done in political campaigns.

[Not Me]

Originally posted by sgtclub
http://www.thecrimson.com/today/article357339.html

[wanted to put troops under UN and other radical leanings]

Question: who is putting this out, Dean's people, Edward's people, or Rove?

Dean agrees with the position and Edwards wants to be Kerry's VP so he wouldn't want to hurt Kerry's chances in the general election. So it has got to be Rove.

[Gattigap]

Originally posted by Not Me
However funny you thought you were, you weren't.

You are just mad because you know I correctly charcterized you. And because you still cannot come up with a single valid argument as to why polygamy and gay marriage should be treated differently under either equal protection or substantive due process.

Lighten up, Francis.

[bilmore]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
no one held Arnold to his 76 professed goals of "getting high and orgying"

Are you kidding? That was the real reason for his win.

[The Larry Davis Experience]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
But he had it together enough to fly jet fighters.

Interesting point. I've been reading on some blogs how some papers have decided to expand the inquiry past Bush's Guard attendance record to find out what exactly he was actually doing during '72, because we haven't heard much from the folks on that Alabama Senate campaign about the yeoman efforts of a young GWB.

The implication to some is that there might be some evidence as to why Bush skipped the annual physical (and was suspended from flight status). In other words, they raise the question as to whether Bush was actually just on a bender and wanted to avoid drug test portion of the physical.

Again, this is the worst kind of unfounded speculation, but if true it would be a lot more of a story than just that he didn't show up very often for a year.

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally posted by The Larry Davis Experience
they raise the question as to whether Bush was actually just on a bender and wanted to avoid drug test portion of the physical.

Again, this is the worst kind of unfounded speculation, but if true it would be a lot more of a story than just that he didn't show up very often for a year.

More of a story than Bush was doing drugs in the early 70s? Think Kerry and the crew of his PT boat never pulled out the ganja while on duty?

[bilmore]

Originally posted by The Larry Davis Experience
Again, this is the worst kind of unfounded speculation, but if true it would be a lot more of a story than just that he didn't show up very often for a year.

Tactically, this is poor. These kinds of stories are far more valuable when raised days before the election, like the DWI thing was.

[The Larry Davis Experience]

Originally posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)
More of a story than Bush was doing drugs in the early 70s? Think Kerry and the crew of his PT boat never pulled out the ganja while on duty?

Sorry if I'm taking a joke too literally here, but yes I do think it would be more of a story than what we already know. I mean, Bush has been staunch said he did his duty in '72. If it came out that he skipped a physical and was removed from flight status (flying being his job in the Guard) because he was snorting coke, don't you think that would be a big deal?

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally posted by The Larry Davis Experience
Sorry if I'm taking a joke too literally here, but yes I do think it would be more of a story than what we already know. I mean, Bush has been staunch said he did his duty in '72. If it came out that he skipped a physical and was removed from flight status (flying being his job in the Guard) because he was snorting coke, don't you think that would be a big deal?

Understood. I guess what I find odd is that "proving" bush skipped out b/c he was high presumes you can prove he was skipping out at all. IF that's proven, showing it's because he was worried about a drug test is probably a small detail that won't really matter in light of his previous assertions and their then-proven falsity.

Otherwise what you're left with isa n hypothesis that bush was on drugs (reasonable), which provides motivation for skipping out on duty. But there are plenty of motivations for skipping out on duty, none of which really matter to determining whether, in fact, he did. In short, innuendo he was on drugs doesn't do much in the way of proof of desertion more than commanders saying they don't remember him.

[Not Me]

Originally posted by The Larry Davis Experience
If it came out that he skipped a physical and was removed from flight status (flying being his job in the Guard) because he was snorting coke, don't you think that would be a big deal?

Yes but I also think that people are tired of political candidates having things from 30 years ago dug up to smear them. I think that many people take the position that I do - I did a few things in my teens and early 20's that I don't want the whole world to know about now that I am a professional. I don't want to have some of the stuff I engaged in in college held against me because it is irrelevant to who I am and what I do now.

I think people also recognize that people are capable of changing. Not every person who ever used drugs became a drug addict. And even those who had problems with the drugs can get clean and go on to lead productive lives.

People are just getting tired of this kind of digging around for 30 year old stories about sex and drugs.

[Atticus Grinch]

You gotta admire the New Federalism. It's nothing if not principled.

Report: Bush Plans to Endorse Marriage Amendment {Yahoo News. Harmless link, unless you care about internal consistency on the division between state and federal power.}

The Southern GOP should be cross-examined on this. So the War Between the States shouldn't have been waged because slavery was a dying institution and the states should have worked it out amongst themselves, hmmmmm?