BETTER YOUR BRAIN

1. As far as the Presidential election goes, this week has pretty much set in stone that Romney is going to be everyone’s reluctant choice for the GOP nominee. Unless they pull some magic and premiere a new candidate at the convention, the race isn’t going to be interesting again for a while. Obama should beast at the debates and that will be that. 

2. On Rush Limbaugh- his comments this week about Sandra Fluke, the women who was not allowed to testify at the congressional hearing regarding contraception as a women’s health issue, went a little something like this:

“What does it say about the college co-ed Sandra Fluke, who goes before a congressional committee and essentially says that she must be paid to have sex, what does that make her? It makes her a slut, right? It makes her a prostitute. She wants to be paid to have sex. She’s having so much sex she can’t afford the contraception. She wants you and me and the taxpayers to pay her to have sex. What does that make us? We’re the pimps.”

For a man always complaining about people twisting his words, he sure knows a lot about it. I don’t think I need to explain everything that’s wrong with what he said, but there’s enough here to go on for pages. Equating being on birth control to being a prostitute…I would call it demeaning but it’s so ridiculous that I can’t take it seriously enough to call it that. There are so many reasons for being on birth control, from medical to oh, you know, not wanting to get pregnant. 

Rush is an ignorant, hateful, patriarchy-supporting, slut-shaming, woefully misinformed man; I feel terrible for everyone subjected to his opinions every day. He’s awful and Fluke has handled the situation with nothing but class, responding by calling him out for being the patriarchal, dismissive asshole that he is. 

Fuck the patriarchy; Fuck Rush Limbaugh. 

3. On Andrew Breitbart, who died today at age 43 leaving behind several small children:

We’re on opposite ends of the spectrum and I was remarking the other day to a friend about how repugnant most of what came out of his mouth was. I’m still pretty bitter about his work in bringing Anthony Weiner and ACORN down, and he has said more than his share of heinously offensive things over the years. He was a virulent racist and sexist and I did not like the guy.

However, he was an impressively influential figure anyway you cut it. He helped launch Huff Po and Drudge, two major story-breaking news sites, and has had his hands in just about every major political happening in the past few years. He built himself up in the image he wanted to embody,a rather repulsive one but exactly to his specifications. He did nothing anonymously and fought tooth-and-nail for his beliefs.

I can’t say I’ll miss him having his hands in all the wrong pots, threatening liberals, and being an asshole on general principle alone, but things will be a little less interesting without his enthusiasm for stirring the pot.

Who Is to Blame for Newt Gingrich's Rise?

respectacles:

Newt Gingrich won the South Carolina primary! This is the craziest! And at this rate, he may well win in Florida. (Part of me hopes that he’ll win the nomination, because there’s no way he could beat Barack. The other part of me is depressed that this could even happen.) This, it seems, is the natural result of American conservatism’s shift to extremism fueled by fear and hatred.

What a political movement gets when it spends years marshaling more demagoguery than sound arguments against its opponents, what it gets when its intellectuals are deposed by its entertainers, what it gets when Roger Ailes and Rush Limbaugh are its agenda-setting personalities; what it gets when all these factors and more prevail, is a Newt Gingrich victory in South Carolina, where the voters, having been trained to elevate emotion and style over substance, didn’t even realize that they’ve chosen as their champion a man who is neither conservative nor capable of leading anyone.

Welp, there it goes. The first primary is approx. 91% over and now we pretty much just have to sit back and wait for Super Tuesday.

Surprising no one, Romney came in first by a pretty large margin, with more votes than Paul and Huntsman, who came in second and third respectively, combined. Romney upped his numbers from 2008 pretty significantly, pulling in about 40% of the vote this time. Congrats, you campaigned for 5 years and won yourself a couple of percentage points (also probably the GOP nomination).

Paul brought in 23% of the vote. In a state that’s pretty damn proud of their “Live Free or Die” motto, the fact that the self-styled champion of liberty did well is no major change up. Again, Paul isn’t going to win the nomination and I doubt he’ll win a VP bid but he seems to be in the campaign for the long-haul, at least for a few more months. If enough others drop out, he has the potential to detract from Romney pretty heavily if he leans on his crutch as the anti-establishment option. He’ll keep things interesting if nothing else.

Huntsman. I was hoping he could slide into 2nd place, but it was not to be. Although earlier polls showed him being within a few points of Paul, even beating him in some, the primary results speak otherwise. He came in at around 17%, which while respectable is not the sort of results he needed or should have received given that he’s run a campaign largely focused on New Hampshire. He has no real chance at winning in South Carolina in a few days, and I suspect his run is coming to an end.

(I hate that he isn’t winning, and it makes me resent the Republican party even more that they don’t recognize what a great candidate they have right in front of them. I genuinely feel that Huntsman is not only a good candidate for the general election but that he’s a good man. I think he would have given Obama a run for his money and proved to the nation that the GOP is capable of getting behind a non-fringe candidate. He would have pulled in a lot of independents and disenfranchised democrats, making up for some votes he would have inevitably lost from his own party because he worked under O as ambassador. He’s knowledgeable, nice, and I think has the potential to be a very strong, capable leader if given the opportunity. He did great things in Utah and I have no reason to think he couldn’t send the country in the same direction. Unfortunately, his lack of presence in earlier debates and unwillingness to dip into his (hella extensive) personal accounts to fund his campaign are driving the final nails into his coffin. At the same time that I realize it’s a poor choice politically for him to not fund his own campaign extensively or plunge into the partisan, nasty fray, it’s also I like him so much. He believes in democracy, and you can tell he would rather lose honestly than self-promote to win empty votes. He has the potential to unite the country and it’s a damn shame his run for POTUS is coming to an end so soon.)

Gingrich, Santorum, and Perry are fighting it out for 4th. Perry might stick around for the Southern primaries, but if I were him I would drop out now. He has like 1% of the vote at this point, he’s just wasting money. Gingrich’s numbers aren’t stellar, but neither did he expect them to be. He’s polling really well in South Carolina and some other Southern states so I suspect he’ll stick around for a while longer as well. Santorum isn’t doing well outside of the midwest, as I predicted. His momentum took him about as far as the Iowa border and promptly puttered out. He might stick around in hopes of a VP bid since a few candidates have indicated they would choose him but I doubt he’ll be in the race much longer.

I have more things to say (again thanks to Martin, thin prince.)

The GOP is going to have to answer a question in the end that will decide their final candidate: Who do they really want to vote against, Romney or Obama? 

That’s all it boils down to.

My friend Martin and I are talking about the potential consequences of Perry dropping out. I don’t think all the anti-Romney republican voters would go to Santorum (especially after he gets destroyed in New Hampshire) and boost him because I haven’t completely lost faith in the US of A, and I doubt all of the voters will convalesce behind one candidate. On the off chance that they do though, and pick Gingrich, who does have an edge in the national polls…the game is going to get a little more interesting.

New Hampshire is going to be the battle ground of Gingrich, Santorum, and Huntsman to see which one of them is going to be the real competitor to Mitt (unfortunately, it won’t be Huntsman). My money is on Gingrich: he’s quick, he’s been around the block a few times, and he has some Southern support that I suspect will transfer to mid-western support if it comes to it.

As you are well aware, the great bringer of nominees that is the Iowa Caucus was today. I’m not a huge fan of the caucus, I think it’s a little silly that a state as homogenous as Iowa has the first say about nominees but I digress because unfortunately the world doesn’t operate around what I find sensible. 

Paul came in third with Santorum and Romney more or less tied, which I found surprising. I know Santorum has been campaigning like mad all over Iowa but I’m a little surprised that it worked. I don’t think his sudden surge in popularity has all that much to do with his campaigning though- he’s just a fortunate victim of circumstance. He’s been so behind recently that people have been ignoring him and not digging for dirt (not that you really have to, he says crazy offensive shit fairly regularly). It isn’t that he is a good candidate, it’s that GOP voters haven’t yet taken the time to pinpoint what is so bad about him like they have with the others. Plus, evangelicals don’t like Romney the mormon, so Santorum was able to capitalize on that handicap. (why Iowa of all the states, why IOWA ugh) Santorum is really pushing that he is a “consistent conservative” as opposed to Romney’s less than stellar record…I don’t think that Iowa will give him that much momentum nationally since he polls pretty poorly in most of the country but if by some ungodly miracle he really picks up the pace he has the potential to be a serious pain in Romney’s side (but not one in Obama’s). Everyone else realizes or is in the process of realizing that he isn’t a general election candidate. He panders too much to an extreme audience and has said some things that have made him pretty much unelectable. (Diversity is bad, I don’t want to help black people, etc). I still choose Romney as the winner of the nomination. Sure, he’s bland and reminiscent of the guy who everyone friend zoned in high school, but come on GOP. He’s a mostly benevolent WASPy Mormon who just wants to be your nominee. Let him take you to the dance, it’s your best chance at winning Prom King against Mr. BHO. Fire will only take you so far, running a pleasant, uneventful campaign in this case has the potential to take you much further.

Paul is not going to be the nominee. He’s too old and too thinly spread. Some Democrats like him, some Republicans like him, some Libertarians and Independents like him, but not enough people in any one party like him enough to make him the nominee. Retire, Paul. You’ve had your turn.

Perry, Gingrich, and Bachmann were in the losers bracket so to speak, and Perry is now going to go home with his tail between his legs and “reassess his campaign” ie prepare to drop out. He has a nice gig as governor and has invested a lot of money in his campaign to lose so badly in Iowa. If he has any sense, he’ll cut his losses.

Bachmann is not in the race and at this point, she better know it.

Gingrich is the most not-Romney candidate out there but it didn’t do him much good today. People just don’t like Newt Gingrich. He polls fairly well in some southern states, South Carolina among them which is coming up, but he won’t end up with the nomination and he knows that. He just isn’t a general election candidate, but he’s along for the ride. I’ll admit, I sort of like Newt. He’s a terrible human being but the man is as sassy as they come, he keeps things interesting. If he drops out I’ll be sad to see him go.

Huntsman got something like 800 votes and wasn’t even part of the caucus. It’s okay baby, I still like you. You go Jon.

I don’t have a lot of time but I have a lot of opinions so given the last few debates here is how the talking heads are doing in my estimation.

Jon Huntsman is the adult in the room and it isn’t doing him any favors with his own party but it’s giving him support from the other side.

Herman Cain is haha oh wait.

Ron Paul is surprisingly rational when it comes to understanding concepts like bombing other people pisses them off and makes them want to bomb us. Unfortunately, he’s still a racist, classist, sexist old dude.

Michele Bachmann is still convinced she’s a serious candidate, no one else is. When Newt Gingrich can make fun of you for being factually inaccurate you should really give up.

Rick Perry is not Tim Tebow and is not entirely sure that Mexico and Iran aren’t in cahoots. Too dumb to function. Bravo Texas, you present us with such quality.

Newt Gingrich is not nearly as smart as he thinks he is, but is convincing a lot of Republicans otherwise. He’s just cocky enough to make it work.

Mitt Romney has no real opinions and still might get to be the POTUS. 

Rick Santorum is not real.

respectacles:

Mitt Romney is a poopshit!

He just ran an anti-Obama ad in which he shows Barack saying “…if we keep talking about the economy, we’re going to lose…”. This was from a speech in which Barack was mockingly attributing the quote to John McCain, but Romney’s ad is edited to present it as a sincere statement.

The above clip, created by thinkprogress.org, jokingly applies the same process to some Romney quotes.

EDIT: Read about it here.

What happened to that sweet Mormon charm? the Nasty campaign ads begin

fuckyeahmarxismleninism:

Imperialist politics

Update Number 1 for the Presidential Wannabes

It has been two debates since my first major post about this year’s crop of presidential hopefuls so it’s about time for an update.

Herman Cain is coming out stronger and stronger with the base, but as his fellows have caught on they’ve also upped their game attacking his 9-9-9 plan, something I’d really prefer to not call an economic plan since it demonstrates zero knowledge of how a Value Added Tax and a market economy work together and who they affect. At some point, he won’t be able to just keep saying that every analysis of the plan but his is wrong and he’ll be forced to face some unpleasant facts. Until then however, he’s congenial, he plays above the belt, and he “doesn’t speak politician” which goes down smoothly in the current political atmosphere and I think he’ll continue to do well, especially in contrast to some of his peers that can’t hold it together during debates. 

Rick Perry should just stop now. He might win Texas, and by merit of being a white male, a couple of other southern states but on the over all I think he’s nearly done with his run. He can’t perform in debates, he’s inconsistent, and to quote Dead Presidents he looks like a lego man. He isn’t the worst candidate running, but I don’t consider him a serious contended for the nomination anymore. His strategy right now seems to be to attack people ad hom, and it isn’t working out well.

Speaking of inconsistent, Mitt Romney is doing pretty well for a guy that can’t keep an opinion for more than a few weeks at a time. He has a lot of haters right now, mostly because the other candidates know that despite losing some of his ground to Herman Cain he’s still the top pick for the nomination. He’s popular in the states he’s governed, and he has a solid track record as a politician. He’s gotten a little heat for being a Mormon recently, as was to be expected, but he’s handled it nicely. He and Perry were having a little bitch fit tonight,but he came out on top in the end. I still think he’ll end up with the nomination.

Newt Gingrich faired shockingly well at tonight’s debate, and he’s been doing a little better in the polls recently. However, he won’t win the nomination, and I still hold that he’s too smart to be in this race. He’s had some nice quips and one liners in the news, including my personal favorite about Herman Cain “strolling for president”. Newt is a smart man, and an experienced man, but he’s just one of those guys that people don’t really like and aren’t entirely sure why they don’t like. He isn’t going much further in the race, he’s about topped out.

Michele Bachmann says some ignorant shit, and I hate that she’s in the national spotlight. I doubt she’ll get the nomination, so for me she’s just a hateful woman mouthing off about all of her peers and saying incredibly off base and offensive things, as well as some beyond stupid ones. “The devil is in the details”….settle down, Michele.

Ron Paul introduced himself tonight as “I’m Congressman Ron Paul from Texas. I’m the champion of liberty.” Enough said.

Jon Huntsman….my opinion remains the same. He’s the best candidate the GOP has, and he’s the least likely to win the nomination.

I still refuse to recognize Santorum as a real candidate, so the messages about that can cease and desist. I know he’s running, but he won’t win and he isn’t worth discussing (although the shout out to his daughter was super cute, as I’m sure he intended it to be.)

For better or for worse, here’s how I’m feeling about the Republican primary field at the moment. As we get closer to the primary, I’ll post updates to this. Feel free to send me any questions or comments you have afterwards.

Candidates that matter:

Michele Bachmann - She’s lost a lot of her thunder, but she’s still a top tier candidate for now. She lost her campaign manager recently, as well as the replacement being put into a consulting position so I suspect there’s a lot of turmoil going on in her camp right now. A big part of her problem is that she’s moved further and further right this season in an attempt to win the primary, but it’s isolating way too many people for it to ever be possible for her to win the general election at this point. Her straw poll numbers are down, and she’s not really a Tea Party darling anymore. Rick Perry poses the biggest threat to her, since he’s essentially her but more well spoken and male. I really doubt she’ll win the primary if trends continue.

Rick Perry - First off: Conservative governor of Texas- been there, done that, no thanks not again. He’s got a lot of evangelical Christian support, and the Southern votes that don’t go to Cain (ugh ugh ugh) will probably go to this good ol’ boy. When he entered the race, he shot up in the rankings and he’s pretty highly favored to win the primary, just under Romney if the latest numbers aren’t lying to me. He’s incredibly conservative, and frankly anyone that brags about how many people they’ve put to death isn’t anyone I want to have much power. He’s charismatic which gives him an edge, and he’s definitely an top tier candidate. I wouldn’t be surprised if he won the primary when it all comes down to it.

Herman Cain - Let’s talk about THIS GUY. He started out as a joke, really. As a person living in Atlanta, he’s always been a bit of a joke that comes up in the news every once in a while and then goes away again so imagine my surprise when he actually started winning polls. He’s right on the cusp of becoming a front runner and if his numbers keep up, he’ll kick Bachmann out of her spot and step up within the next few weeks or months. I understand his rise to popularity, he offers solutions rather than just platitudes (9-9-9), he’s running a pretty friendly campaign, and he’s very much an every man. He’s a little further removed from Washington than the rest of the candidates, and he has that business background to fall back on when his credibility is questioned. His big pit fall may be foreign policy, but he isn’t a stupid man and after he stumbled at that debate when asked about Right of Return I suspect he’s done his homework. He’ll probably win in Georgia and Florida, but I do think his race will either make or break his success in the South at the end of the day which may determine his national success. I don’t think he would turn out to be social issues president, and we’re beginning to see signs of that in his debate performance.

Newt Gingrich - He’s been in politics for too long. Honestly, he’s too smart to be in the race and I don’t think he really wants to be. He won’t win, and that’s about all there is to it.

Jon Huntsman - Jon Huntsman is my favorite of the GOP candidates. He’s very charismatic, and most importantly he has far and away the most experience of any of the candidates. He’s been ambassador to China under Obama as well as the Governor of Utah, and he performs well in debates. He’s probably the most liberal of the bunch next to Ron Paul, and is one of the 2 candidates I think has any shot of winning the general election. He’s trying to get away from the anti-science label that the GOP has been carrying around lately, and he’s much less malicious about his policy stance than most of his peers. (when I say malicious I mostly mean less hostile to everyone that isn’t like him and doesn’t share his doctrine). He seems very reasonable, and he doesn’t have that annoying tendency to come up with his own facts. He’s a solid candidate and I don’t think he’ll be going anywhere anytime soon. Unfortunately, I think the fact that he’s Mormon will hurt him in the polls, particularly in the South and I’m not sure he’s conservative enough to win the primary. 

Mitt Romney - Mitt is an interesting guy. He’s the clear favorite to win the primary, he’s led nearly every poll thus far. He’s very well educated, a Harvard man, and he fairs well in the debates. Despite his liberal history he’s a pretty firm conservative. There of course has been a lot of controversy over his Romneycare plan from his days as Gov. of Massachusetts, and that follows suit with what I’ve observed from his whole campaign: People question his personal beliefs (Mormon) and his past history, but no one questions his economic decisions. He wavers a little on social issues but he has a strong economic policy background in his back pocket that is going to continue to come in handy. Even though he wavers, he’s a strong candidate and religious and conservative enough to satiate the primary voters. I suspect he’ll win the primary, and I don’t think it’s out of the question for him to win the general election. He’s not as malicious as Bachmann or Perry, so it might as well be him for the GOP candidate.

Ron Paul - There really isn’t much to say about Ron Paul. He’s been in the game forever as a hardcore Libertarian. He’s too socially liberal (let’s be honest, despite his debate performance he isn’t going to legislate jack shit that restricts anyone’s rights) to suit the GOP, and too economically deregulatory to suit the Democrats so he stands virtually no chance of winning. I think he’s in it just for the hell of it at this point. I enjoy listening to him speak, but it’s a futile race for him. 

Candidates that are technically in the race but don’t matter: Gary Johnson, Fred Karger, Andy Martin, Jimmy McMillan, Tom Miller, Buddy Roemer, Rick Santorum, Vern Wuensche

shortformblog:

thenewrepublic:

In 40 years, the Millenial generation will have taken over the GOP, and they’ll be nominating 116-year-old Ron Paul, who already looks like he’s 116 years old and by that point will look like Yoda. We have no doubt that whatever wizard powers Paul possesses to attract thousands of fanatically loyal followers to his bizarre paleoconservative goldbug platform will also allow him to still be campaigning for president well into the three figures.

As The New Republic rightly points out, the support Paul has amongst 18-to-29-year-olds is clearly the most fascinating number of this whole thing (well, that and Rick Perry suddenly taking the lead). It suggests a long-term libertarian shift in the Republican party may happen in the future. Just look at all the libertarians on Tumblr. If you’ve been keeping your ear to the ground, this fact is clear, and it suggests that Reason Magazine will do quite well in the future.

When Rick Perry is your best candidate, you should really reconsider your party choice.

(via schwegler)

princesssachiko:

i like these graphics!!! click the pic for the full article.

(via schwegler)

90 years ago today, women gained the right to vote. Despite the fact that it took another 70 to get a decent percentage of us voting, the right was there. This milestone of the liberation movement should be remembered and that right we gained exercised. One of my largest pet peeves is people who don’t vote. It goes beyond your right, it is your DUTY as a citizen and as a decent human being to take part in your political process and help make decisions to shape your own life and the lives of others. “Not voting is a vote” BULLSHIT. Not voting is lazy, selfish, and takes away any right you may have had to complain about the people in power. If you don’t vote, you’re more or less useless. Be active, take a part in controlling who represents you to the rest of the nation and the agendas that are pursued. Think further than yourself.

This year is a big election year, especially in the state of Georgia. Everyone in the House is up for reelection, along with the race for Governor and US Senate and House seats. The deadline to register to vote is coming quickly. 

If you have yet to register to vote, go here: http://www.rockthevote.com/rtv_voter_registration.html?source=rtv.com-homegraphic

If you are in college, or are living away from your home district, go here to apply for an absentee ballot: http://www.sos.georgia.gov/elections/elections/voter_information/absentee.htm

Get informed about the candidates and issues that are big this year for the various offices, and know who you are voting for before hand. Don’t vote just because it’s the first name on the ballot and you don’t even really know what the office does, find out. Don’t vote purely by the little (R) or (D) next to a candidates name. Know your shit. Get informed. For good information on candidates, try looking through stuff the League of Women Voters puts out and browse various candidates pages.