Pepper sprayed for public safety.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

you don't read it as political spin?

people in favor of gay rights feel this way: "Who am I to tell someone what sort of genitals they should be attracted to?" she feels that way if she is voting for it; she's just trying to minimize lost votes.

So the genitals are what drives attraction? Why isn't every bar a nude bar?

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

So the genitals are what drives attraction? Why isn't every bar a nude bar?

go to Archee McPhee, get the x-ray specs, and every bar will be one for you.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

I believe Ty's point was that Obama outplayed the Rs the entire time the stimulus package was being considered, but he lost simply because of a few bad decisions.

I don't care who played who or who won. I'm just happy to see someone had the good sense to spot what well meaning, but misguided economists like Stiglitz, Rogoff, and Krugman missed: That after a certain ceiling, stimulus dollars would just be money pissed away.

It's bad enough so much of it was already pissed away as it was. Imagine another $400 billion spent "just to spend it."

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

go to Archee McPhee, get the x-ray specs, and every bar will be one for you.

I am substantially dumber for having perused that site.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by sgtclub

Ty, here is your answer.

What question does that answer? I agree with Sidd (and have said to you before*) that, at the start of Obama's administration, no one realized just how bad the economy was.

*You compared the Administration predictions of where we would be after stimulus with what actually happened, and concluded that the stimulus didn't work. I pointed out that this was because the economy had been much worse than anyone realized, not because the stimulus didn't help a lot.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by sgtclub

See, I knew it was the GOP's fault.

I have repeatedly said that the biggest mistake Obama has made was to not do enough to address the economy. It has been a huge problem for the country, and it may yet cost him his second term. If you think I'm solely blaming the GOP, you're just not listening to me. But that doesn't mean that the GOP is above reproach, or they got anything right (other than assessing the political benefits of opposing the President at every turn).

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

He was naive. But it also appears Obama was concerned about asking for too big a stimulus due in great part to his and Summers'... fear of bond vigilantes. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...ZcLQ_blog.html

OK, this is weird. You and Paul Krugman agree on this, but I have read the memo too and I disagree. I think Summers was advising the President on what various people would say, but I don't think he bought the bond vigilantes thing, for reasons well put by Kevin Drum. Summers' real issue seemed to be that it got harder to figure out (mechanically) how to provide that much stimulus, apart from transfers to state and local governments, and tax breaks. (I would like to see more explanation about why they didn't try to transfer more money to state and local governments -- I have said before and still believe that the Hill did not want to do this because successful state politicians often run for Congress.)

And as to absolving the GOP of anything, you'd do well to read the part of the paper where almost everyone agrees - more money couldn't be prudently spent within the needed timetable. Is the GOP to be faulted for, even if only accidentally by blindly following ideology, avoiding waste of a couple hundred billion more dollars?

See above. If it was prudent, no. Did the GOP support any stimulus at all?

[Gattigap]

Newt: Sure, he wishes that his various adulteries would not have occurred, but at least this stuff makes him more normal than a *certain someone* you might know.

"So, I think in that sense, it may make me more normal than somebody who wanders around seeming perfect and maybe not understanding the human condition and the challenges of life for normal people."

This is almost as good as the loving his country too much rationale. I love this country.

[Fugee]

Originally Posted by Gattigap

Newt: Sure, he wishes that his various adulteries would not have occurred, but at least this stuff makes him more normal than a *certain someone* you might know.



This is almost as good as the loving his country too much rationale. I love this country.

Newt might be feeling the love from evangelicals -- much to my great surprise -- but that is utter hogwash.

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by Fugee

Newt might be feeling the love from evangelicals -- much to my great surprise -- but that is utter hogwash.

This strikes me as a conversation we've had here before. Wonder who Newt posts as?

[Fugee]

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy

This strikes me as a conversation we've had here before. Wonder who Newt posts as?

I keep thinking the religious right is never going to support Newt and they keep proving me wrong.

I think it's that evangelicals love repentance and forgiveness -- at least, in the political arena when it's from someone who supports their positions. If Newt were a Dem, I have no doubt they'd be banging the drum on his cheating like crazy.

That being said, I don't know how anyone could hear him say he's more "normal" than Romney because he's a cheater and not gag.

[Adder]

Originally Posted by Fugee

I keep thinking the religious right is never going to support Newt and they keep proving me wrong.

I think it's that evangelicals love repentance and forgiveness -- at least, in the political arena when it's from someone who supports their positions. If Newt were a Dem, I have no doubt they'd be banging the drum on his cheating like crazy.

That being said, I don't know how anyone could hear him say he's more "normal" than Romney because he's a cheater and not gag.

That's what I keep saying.

But I really don't see evangelicals turning out on election day after his personal morals are fully aired, right?

[Greedy,Greedy,Greedy]

Originally Posted by Adder

That's what I keep saying.

But I really don't see evangelicals turning out on election day after his personal morals are fully aired, right?

Oh, come on, who doesn't like a good redemption story?

But I've got to say, the storyline would be better if he became born again and put his sins behind him rather than seeing the light and submitting to the pontiff.

[Fugee]

Originally Posted by Adder

That's what I keep saying.

But I really don't see evangelicals turning out on election day after his personal morals are fully aired, right?

Election day -- if he's the nominee -- is different from the primaries where they still have a choice.

The true religious right, people like my brother who is a one-issue voter on abortion, will vote for anyone they think will get Roe v. Wade overturned.

For the less single-issue oriented, it will depend on a varitey of things. Maybe whether they believe he's repented of his past actions. Maybe whether they just decide to hold their noses and vote for the GOP candidate even though they think he's a personal sleaze.

South Carolina surprised me so now I don't know what to expect.

[Adder]

Originally Posted by Fugee

Election day -- if he's the nominee -- is different from the primaries where they still have a choice.

The true religious right, people like my brother who is a one-issue voter on abortion, will vote for anyone they think will get Roe v. Wade overturned.

For the less single-issue oriented, it will depend on a varitey of things. Maybe whether they believe he's repented of his past actions. Maybe whether they just decide to hold their noses and vote for the GOP candidate even though they think he's a personal sleaze.

South Carolina surprised me so now I don't know what to expect.

I have no doubt that those of the religious right who vote will vote for him. I'm question whether some of them will stay home instead.