Nutjobs Ranting About Politics.

[Did you just call me Coltrane?]

Originally posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)
Can these be described?

If possible, on a napkin, like Reagonomics.

Check Tuesday's (??) WSJ.

[Secret_Agent_Man]

Originally posted by sgtclub
No. Reagan was in a far different position, because the GOP didn't have control of Congress. He wanted far more cuts than he actually got, but had to compromise with Tip in order to get a deal done.

Actually, I agree. Just wanted to see what you'd say (i.e. trying to piss you off).

S_A_M

[sgtclub]

Originally posted by Secret_Agent_Man
Actually, I agree. Just wanted to see what you'd say (i.e. trying to piss you off).

S_A_M

We haven't agreed in a while. Maybe this bodes well for the future.

[sgtclub]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
Even if we accept the premise here, the last sentence does not follow for the reasons that several people here have explained but which you are evidently too obtuse to understand. The troops were going to be funded in any event. The only question was how.

Yes, so Kerry says "my vote doesn't REALLY matter on this one, I need cover with the base to have any hope of challenging Dean." You seem to not understand that a united government on foreign policy issues sends an important signal to our enemies. Now I understand there are at times real difference on foreign policy issues, and those should be vetted. But this was not one of them.

That said, you have evidently decided that Kerry is incapable of acting on principle, and instead is a craven political opportunist, and are willing to fit anything he does into that simple framework. He served two tours of duty on small boats in Vietnam -- opportunism! Led war protests -- opportunism! And so on, right down the line. Doubtless there's a grain of truth here, as there is with any politician, but hardly more so than with any other politician. And in this particular case, I'm just not seeing the Dean thing. I followed the primaries, and I don't remember this vote. Kerry beat Dean not by copying his opposition to the war on Iraq, but by pointing to his appeal to moderates (his so-called electability) and by reaching voters in Iowa on other issues (see the Oliphant piece). Which is to say that the simple template you insist on fitting Kerry's actions into fits especially poorly here.

I've previously stated numerous times that I greatly admire him for serving, especially since he volunteered, regardless of his motives. But his motives to offer a glimse into the man, and when combined with many other times he's acted in an opportunistic way, it worries me.

You are just plain wrong on the Dean thing. Here is the link to the add I posted days ago:

http://www.demsextrememakeover.com/request.asp

[spree: 12 minute add showing Kerry's positions on the war vis a vis the rise of Dean]

I will concede before you even view it that there is some creative editing going on, but I think that only emphasises, rather than misleads, the main point.

eft

[Secret_Agent_Man]

Since Club has been too busy being agreeable to do Internet research, I'll post it:

http://money.cnn.com/2004/08/06/news...ex.htm?cnn=yes

"Hiring by U.S. employers slowed significantly in July, according to a government report Friday, as the number of new jobs added to payrolls came in far below Wall Street expectations.

"The Labor Department report showed only 32,000 new net jobs added to payrolls during the month, down from a revised 78,000 jobs that were added in June. The increase was the smallest since December, when payrolls rose by just 8,000."

Kerry's comment: "We can do better."

Bush's comment: "We have a strong economy, and its getting stronger!"

S_A_M

P.S. However, the unemployment rate fell to 5.5% -- but Not Me still doesn't believe that there are discouraged workers.

[sgtclub]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
It's past 11:00 a.m. here on the Left Coast, and we're still waiting for an update from club about the new job data. At least he's busy.

I hadn't seen that. That is very bad news for Bush. 32,000 net new jobs, and below everyone's expectations.

However, you act as though the sky is falling. It's not. Unemployment is at 5.5% (a 0.1% drop from last month), which is probably just slightly above historical averages.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
It's nice to know that the bullshit that Cheney was slinging before the war still works on you. The "connection" was with Ansar al-Islam, which was the terrorist group operating in the part of Northern Iraq outside of Hussein's control. You know -- the group whose camp the Pentagon wanted to bomb, only to be stopped by the White House for fear that support for the war would drop if we killed the terrorists Cheney was busy scaring people with.

That's my point. The only way to have gained this intell was to go there. Bombs can't gather information; even smart ones.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Did you just call me Coltrane?
Rubinomics?

You know for the party which supposedly is about sex and partying, you sure got some ugly mother fuckers. No offense.

[Did you just call me Coltrane?]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
You know for the party which supposedly is about sex and partying, you sure got some ugly mother fuckers. No offense.

We're weathered from all of the drugs and the fucking.

And I'm more of a Sebby-type. Fiscally conservative and socially liberal. I'd say libertarian, but I hate guns.

[Secret_Agent_Man]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
You know for the party which supposedly is about sex and partying, you sure got some ugly mother fuckers. No offense.

But they put out. What use is it to be married to Jeri Ryan if she won't? No offense.

S_A_M

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by sgtclub
Yes, so Kerry says "my vote doesn't REALLY matter on this one, I need cover with the base to have any hope of challenging Dean."

No. You still don't get it. It's not that the vote doesn't matter, it's that it doesn't mean what you think it means.

You seem to not understand that a united government on foreign policy issues sends an important signal to our enemies. Now I understand there are at times real difference on foreign policy issues, and those should be vetted. But this was not one of them.

Whether to cut taxes on the rich to pay for the Iraq war was not a question as to which there were real differences? Try again. And which enemies give a rat's ass how we paid for the war? You truly are making no sense.

Here is the link to the add I posted days ago:

I can't make it work, so maybe you can explain to me where you think I went wrong, bearing in mind that Kerry did not win the Iowa primary by veering to the left on the war. The ad presumably shares your faulty premise that Kerry's vote on the $87 billion in some way suggested that he did not want to appropriate money to pay for the war, but maybe you have something else up your sleeve.

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally posted by Secret_Agent_Man
But they put out. What use is it to be married to Jeri Ryan if she won't? No offense.

Hillary included?

At least Jack got the divorce.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
That's my point. The only way to have gained this intell was to go there. Bombs can't gather information; even smart ones.

Who was stopping us from going there? The Kurds? It was a part of Iraq not under Hussein's control.

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally posted by Secret_Agent_Man

P.S. However, the unemployment rate fell to 5.5% -- but Not Me still doesn't believe that there are discouraged workers.

Intriguing. Almost exactly the same rate (5.4%) in the fourth year of Clinton's term.

[SlaveNoMore]

Secret_Agent_Man
But they put out. What use is it to be married to Jeri Ryan if she won't? No offense.

S_A_M

Hmmm, this is an excellent point I had never previously considered.

This may change things.