Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

Inflation hawks lose their shirts. Krugman gloats.

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

They usually are. Can you name the last Republican President who did not preside over a recession or depression?

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

You've changed the criteria. These Republicans are atrocious candidates. The Republicans you are talking about were by definition good candidates, but by your standard atrocious presidents.

It's really a strange election cycle. Obama should be very vulnerable because of the economy. But there is no one to challenge him. With those conflicting signals I think you have to say the incumbent wins.

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

didn't obama play to the extreme at first? isn't that why the extreme left has been disappointed by him? If the R's get to a candidate that isn't stupid/nuts that candidate likely wins. Bachman is Tied- a witch is tied- with obama in Fla.

And name the Dem presidents that didn't "oversee" a recession- Obama? please. Carter? Clinton? nope it had tanked prior to handing off the keys to w.

Maybe LBJ?

by the way talking to a troll can make you one too. I'm just warning you. Be careful.

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

I thought Christine O'Connell was the witch and Bachmann was the one who always says stupid stuff who isn't from Alaska.

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

This was funny.

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

I admit to being wrong about inflation, underestimating the deleveraging. Thankfully, I didn't bet in any way on it. Although I would love some inflation now that I have refinanced at 3.25%.

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

Ah, the original troll. Come on now, answer the question - last R President who didn't have a recession on his watch. Take a guess.

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

2

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

Not if you were paying attention. But what do you mean by "extreme?"

I have idea what the extreme left thinks

Some would like him to be more progressive, because, yes, they thought he would be more progressive than Hillary.

But you have a fundamental misunderstanding of what I am saying, and what I think Sebby was saying. It's not that these candidates are extremely conservative (Huntsman and Romney most definitely are not). It's that they are terrible candidates. It's that either their political positions or their personalities or both make them weak candidates.

Maybe. Of the current Rs, that's Huntsman (no chance at all) and Romney. I'd still bet on Romney as the nominee, but that he is trailing two others despite being the only remotely electable candidate in the field suggests just how much the man turns voters off.

Bachmann is a witch? I thought that was just O'Donnell.

It's a long way out to put much weight on any polling yet.

You saw how I said, "by your standard?" That's because GGG's standard was dumb.

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

Copycat. :P

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

Oh, come on, it's a fun fact.

I'll give you a hint - he died in office.

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

Alternatively:

1. You get to complain after you get her name right.

and

2. Please don't turn me into a toad!

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

since I'm the only one here with actual political campaign management experience, I must say I cannot misunderstand. You are simply wrong.

the more I think about it the more I realize the witch thing is genius. The hip hop listeners youth vote is obama's but the emo vote is up for grabs.

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

This is a dumb debate, but I can't help myself: Eisenhower?

Now, to address your flawed argument... Clinton would have presided over a disastrous economy had the Internet not come along. And as he was leaving, the economy was sliding into a recession. A recession you probably think should have been Al Gore's.

And why did Clinton not fuck up a good economy with which he was gifted? Because he wasn't really a Democrat. He was what would have been called a Rockefeller Republican years ago (before the GOP merged with the Jesus Crazies and Randians).

Carter oversaw a four year slide and, had he been re-elected, would have seen four more. LBJ? Nothing but growth there, right?

It's dumb to fixate on parties. Stop doing it. It's annoying and I know you know better, which makes it all the more irritating.

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

BREAKING -- John Boehner is an asshole.

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

Really? Obama picking the date of a GOP debate isn't cynical enough to deserve an equally cynical response?

Fuck both of them. The more I watch them maneuver, the more I think they make a perfect couple. At this point, the only end game the two of them give a fuck about is self-preservation.

ETA: Expect more of this. But in the end, Obama will get re-elected. How? He's going to push for the Fannie/Freddie mass 4% refi of all distressed homeowners. It's the ace up his sleeve. Be interesting as hell to see the GOP choke on that. No way to fight it politically (or with any sound economic argument).

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

I believe you've been told that this is wrong on more than one occasion.

If not, let me correct the error: you are not the only one with actual political campaign management experience.

If only the proposed witch wasn't a Jesus-freak who likely isn't down with that!

Don't get me wrong, I still think you should send the campaign a resume.

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

Agreed.

Why do you say that? You think Volker would have acted differently had Carter been re-elected? Or are you making an exception to your general position that politics don't matter nearly as much to the economy as people think.

For Hank: To be clear, I have no view on whether Carter would have continued to fuck up the economy. My view is that Volker is the key actor in the early 1980s economy.

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

2, if that is what Ty is referring to.

I'm not sure there is no way to fight it politically. The counter-strategy is to talk about personal responsibility and hard working honest tax payers who didn't get over their head with silly mortgages should be bailing out their irresponsible neighbors.

And, naturally, lot's of people will think they are in the first group when they really are in the second.

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

Really? Is there anyone who is going to watch the GOP debate (apart from reporters who get paid for it) who wants to watch Obama? Truly, that is the null set.

eta: Also, the idea that Obama is somehow advantaged if no one watches the GOP debate is completely wrong. His re-election may hinge on persuading people that the nominee is from the lunatic fringe. He should be sending every voter a DVD with the GOP debates on it.

I know "a pox on both houses" is your default setting, but (a) Obama is the President, (b) he raised the date with Boehner's office beforehand and they didn't object, and (c) no Speaker has ever said this to a President before.

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

Yes

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

Congressional level or above, control of $$$? No way any of these simps had control of dollars. Oh, beg your pardon, "you simps."

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

I apologize. Let's have a deep conversation. What Australopithecine lineage did your college professor believe ended up merging into the Homos?

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

I want to watch neither, so I guess I'm projecting.

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

2. You shouldn't trouble yourself to form your own opinions. What blogs will you read to inform you how you should feel about the two events?

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

I don't expect either event to matter much to anyone, and if something happens that turns out to be important I'm sure I can catch it later on video.

eta: Not that you really care, but I look at blogs less and less and rely on my Twitter feed more and more. I think Twitter is awesome.

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

Twitter is different from blogs how?

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

Seriously?

My Twitter feed aggregates hundreds of accounts, some of which are traditional news organizations, academic and professional journals, industry sources, bloggers, and friends. Many of them retweet stuff from other sources as well.

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

but ultimately you are been fed things to read. In a sense before you at least chose the blogs you read, now others even control that?

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

Boy, this rope-a-dope nonsense never gets old.

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

No. I choose who to follow. That's the point.

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

were you forced to read certain blogs, ala Robot Chicken?

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

No, Garfield. In office about 6 whole recession free months. It was a long, long time ago.

Clinton did something truly unique in the history any of us can remember - he balanced a budget. Yes, the Rs helped and gridlock helped, but, still, hasn't every other president (including Reagan) solved gridlock with a mutual spend-fest, and doesn't resisting that count for something?

I don't buy the idea that the internet was the salvation of the 90s economy. I think Japanese stupidity was. By causing their economy to stagnate, they let us rebuild some of the basic industries that otherwise would have just disappeared. Hank has Japan to thank for Detroit's continued existence.

Party does matter; Ike was able to do things for civil rights no Democrat could have done at the time, and Clinton was able to do something on the budget no R could have done at the time. Had the Rs had the Presidency and the House, you would have seen a spendfest on their issues - as we did with Bush.

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

I'm now convinced Santorum is by far the smartest R candidate out there.

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

This may be the quickest bitch-slapping I've ever seen in DC. What a joke.

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

Why?

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

Smart like Garfield?

Re: My God, you are an idiot.
 

Nothing in particular. I've listened to all of them and it's not even close, other than Newt, but he doesn't have what it takes to be an executive. He's an idea guy. I generally like what Santorum has to say, with the exception of pretty much everything he says on social issues.

You know how foie gras is made?
 

Yes. I blame Google.