Lies and misinformation.

[Konchaski]

I personally wish politicians had longer terms in America, that way we wouldn't get these idiots spending by the 2nd year in office trying to make a campaign and going fashion over function. The American public then, might think more carefully to put into office - will I take a capable politician who has served my state well, reflected our interests, lowered our taxes, helped minorities, is trying to fight Wall Street's ridiculous control over the US, voted against the USA PATRIOT Act when most were cowering behind the party lines, voted against the bailout, and has a history of not raising his pay roll, or will I take this rich business man that is saying that my senator is a terrible person who got us into the trillion dollar deficit single handedly?

That being said, I hate the Tea Party, Sarah Palin, and Rush Limbaugh due to the fact they spit ridiculous libel and accusations such as Obama being a muslim, socialist, and there being a liberal agenda. ( Personally, I wouldn't even mind it if it was true. I'd get behind a liberal rights agenda. )  however what I do understand is the Tea Party is a grass roots movement and it's not fair to call them all racist idiots who want to restrict the rights of others when some of the people just want a change in the system but don't exactly know how to change or where to start.  And in a way, the Tea Party do have a point as backwards as they are in terms of what they want, there honestly should be more than two parties in control - the republicans and democrats have to change or they're going to fall apart. (The republicans are going down faster, but the democrats are certainly following at a break neck speed.)

With the democrats, it's not the case that we hate republicans and love the democratic candidates - it's because the republican candidates are scary  as  hell. Don't get me started on Ran Paul. (Ron Paul can only look at you and say "Son I am disappoint.")  There are only a few people I will eagerly vote for, and thank god they're in my state. I'm thankful the republicans who are so far right in my state are falling to pieces wile slinging mud at each other, because if they got into power and removed all our public services? You bet this state would turn into exactly like their plans.  :trollface:

[Kursed]

umm not to go into politics but you sure those are republicans? You know Obama is a democrate right?

[Konchaski]

umm not to go into politics but you sure those are republicans? You know Obama is a democrate right?

Indeed, those are all republicans.  And yes, I'm aware of Obama is a democrat and I'm curious how you think of Obama is spreading 'lies' and 'misinformation'.

Obama is a decent president, but he has been giving a platter of steaming bullshit that has been building up since the Reagan Administration. ( Or Carter's. ) To completely blame the democrats and Obama is ridiculous, these problems did not happen over night but were decades in the making building up until it reached the recession in 2008. (Having watched Michigan as a sign for years, we saw the recession begin as early as 2004, but it only exploded.)

Of I'm not saying Obama is perfect either, the healthcare fiasco was insane where he should have had a plan instead of having all sides fight it out and don't get me started on the bailout.

[Kursed]

I never said he was spreading anything... I was just asking a simple question that did not have to do with the topic.

[Konchaski]

I apologize for misinterpreting what you said in that case. I personally think the media on both sides are terrible, which is why I avoid FOX News Network at all costs. MSNBC is pretty good and I tend to agree with it, but a lot of commentators are very hit or miss. Generally speaking though, I tend to find other news sources such as online so I can make my own judgments. The far right winged politicians and the tea party are generally spreading huge misconceptions that most people need to break.

Example: Obama is not a Muslim. And even if he was? It shouldn't matter. They made a big deal about the samething, with John F. Kennedy being catholic - he was, but it didn't matter that Kennedy was.

["User"]

What Kursed means is that our House of Representatives is based on population. We have a bipartisan Congress, of that I'm sure you're aware. The reason Congress is like that is to please both the large states (the House), and the smaller states (the Senate).

Seems reasonable to me.

I see your point but still, IMO the Senate needs reforming (heck all of American politics do lol).  Canada's Senate for example isn't true rep by pop but still, the bigger provinces get a considerable number of Senate seats compared to the smaller ones.

I personally wish politicians had longer terms in America, that way we wouldn't get these idiots spending by the 2nd year in office trying to make a campaign and going fashion over function.

Agreed.

The American public then, might think more carefully to put into office - will I take a capable politician who has served my state well, reflected our interests, lowered our taxes, helped minorities, is trying to fight Wall Street's ridiculous control over the US, voted against the USA PATRIOT Act when most were cowering behind the party lines, voted against the bailout, and has a history of not raising his pay roll, or will I take this rich business man that is saying that my senator is a terrible person who got us into the trillion dollar deficit single handedly?

Yeah, I'm sick of rich celebrities in these mid-terms trying to use their millions of dollars (not campaign money btw, their OWN money) to get into power.

That being said, I hate the Tea Party, Sarah Palin, and Rush Limbaugh due to the fact they spit ridiculous libel and accusations such as Obama being a muslim, socialist, and there being a liberal agenda.

If the Republicans were in power then left winged socials/extremists as well as MSNBC would be doing the exact same thing.  I've seen it happen during the Bush years.  It works both ways.

( Personally, I wouldn't even mind it if it was true. I'd get behind a liberal rights agenda. )  however what I do understand is the Tea Party is a grass roots movement and it's not fair to call them all racist idiots who want to restrict the rights of others when some of the people just want a change in the system but don't exactly know how to change or where to start.

Of course, it goes the same way when you're on the opposite end of the spectrum.

And in a way, the Tea Party do have a point as backwards as they are in terms of what they want, there honestly should be more than two parties in control - the republicans and democrats have to change or they're going to fall apart. (The republicans are going down faster, but the democrats are certainly following at a break neck speed.)

I think we can all agree that America needs more than two political parties....and yes both the GOP and Dems are going downhill at a quick rate.

With the democrats, it's not the case that we hate republicans and love the democratic candidates - it's because the republican candidates are scary  as  hell.

Looks to me like you're stereotyping all the Republicans here due to the actions of a few minority "extremists".  I could have easily found articles from other (more reliable sources) during the Bush years showing the craziness of those "socialist extremists".

Don't get me started on Ran Paul. (Ron Paul can only look at you and say "Son I am disappoint.")  There are only a few people I will eagerly vote for, and thank god they're in my state. I'm thankful the republicans who are so far right in my state are falling to pieces wile slinging mud at each other, because if they got into power and removed all our public services? You bet this state would turn into exactly like their plans. 

Ron Paul is amazing.  If you're trillions of dollars in debt and have to cut back somehow continuing to fully fund services WHICH YOU CANNOT AFFORD is just foolhardy.  Spending is going to kill America here. 

Indeed, those are all republicans.  And yes, I'm aware of Obama is a democrat and I'm curious how you think of Obama is spreading 'lies' and 'misinformation'.

I'd like to know as well, heh.

Obama is a decent president, but he has been giving a platter of steaming bullshit that has been building up since the Reagan Administration. ( Or Carter's. ) To completely blame the democrats and Obama is ridiculous,

While I'll agree you can't completely blame Obama and the Dems his approval rating has been going downhill since he was elected.  He shouldn't be tackling too many issues at once and the economy should have been the only thing he should be focusing on.  Things like health care should have waited because jobs are more important to people right now then health care.  Look at any poll in ANY American state.  9.6% unemployment can and WILL make people pissed off.

I wouldn't be surprised if midterms come to bite him in the ass.  The way it stands right now the Dems are already expected to lose a bunch of seats in both houses and if that happens then the political situation will become even worse.

Of I'm not saying Obama is perfect either, the healthcare fiasco was insane where he should have had a plan instead of having all sides fight it out and don't get me started on the bailout.

Like I said, Obama should have put that on hold on focused solely on the ecomony.  I've already addressed this in specific detail I think in some other wall of text post in some other topic.  I despise the bailouts as well, but the problem is if you DON'T bail out these massive companies and they go bankrupt then dozens and dozens of other businesses will fail as well, since they rely on them for work.  For example, if GM went out of business then tons of employees who do work indirectly for GM through other companies (like auto part supplying) would lose their jobs as well and it would have a domino affect.

I apologize for misinterpreting what you said in that case. I personally think the media on both sides are terrible, which is why I avoid FOX News Network at all costs. MSNBC is pretty good and I tend to agree with it,

Contradiction.

but a lot of commentators are very hit or miss. Generally speaking though, I tend to find other news sources such as online so I can make my own judgments.

The majority of online bloggers and news outlets online are liberal in nature.  The average age of your typical blogger is in their 20's and since for most of the past 200 years older people have been more conservative and younger people more liberal anyone with any sense of political know how would notice the liberal bias online.  Most older people (i.e. conservatives) don't use the Internet nearly as much as us younger kids.

The far right winged politicians and the tea party are generally spreading huge misconceptions that most people need to break.

Example: Obama is not a Muslim. And even if he was? It shouldn't matter. They made a big deal about the samething, with John F. Kennedy being catholic - he was, but it didn't matter that Kennedy was.

The only people who, by now, would still believe such things are people who shouldn't be voting. :)

[Konchaski]

If the Republicans were in power then left winged socials/extremists as well as MSNBC would be doing the exact same thing.  I've seen it happen during the Bush years.  It works both ways.

Oh yes, this is exactly why I said MSNBC I don't completely agree with and it's very hit or miss with me. Even the commentarors that sometimes go "WORD" with bother me when they go into tirades pro-Obama, how he is not at fault for things, stimulus was good and it helped yet were criticizing Bush before with that. That? I don't think is fair, but honestly the whole FOX News talking about LESBIAN GANGS beating up on men because he harassed a girl and slapped her in the ass, GAY ONLY CLUBS when they wouldn't mind anyone coming in to chill or have a fear of brown people rebelling against the white population with it's fearmongering? That's the problem I have with FOX News. Meanwhile, the MSNBC is easier to swallow with me, even if it sometimes tends to go on a tirade against religions or nitpicking popculture in general when they should get to the actual issue of the matters. 

( My opinion on that is that one of religion's roles is to bring comfort. Comfort is most needed where there is poverty, suffering and a personal feeling of injustice. Also besides that, the various social networks and mutual material support. It's job opportunities and being part of a group that can share resources such as food, clothes, and other various necessities for living. It's not just about comfort from a psychological state but power dynamics, job opportunities, material resources, family ties, etc. Thus why by my logic if people would stop talking about religion MAKES NO SENSE! NO SENSE AT ALL! and are all cults it's relatively ridiculous since cults take you away from the world while religions help you through it. A bit off topic, but that is one of my pet peeves on MSNBC I see often. )

Looks to me like you're stereotyping all the Republicans here due to the actions of a few minority "extremists".  I could have easily found articles from other (more reliable sources) during the Bush years showing the craziness of those "socialist extremists".

The difference is these few minority extremists also have a lot of power and a media source backing them up like Fox News and most of the money.  Believe it or not but America has got a lot more conservative and not for the better. An example is one of the last Republican Governors for my state is now seen as a socialist because he wanted a train throughout the state for alternate transportation so there would be less to pay for road construction, created an affordable healthcare plan for those of lower income with it working, and passed many nondiscrimination laws. The fact this is brought up as a bad thing, is what scares me. Even if I did not agree with him on a lot of issues acknowledge he hasn't done this for his own political gain or tried to restrict rights of others in any shape or form but instead tried to open new opportunities for the population. He wasn't afraid to be Bipartisan and had some ideas. And because of this? He's getting torn apart by the side which once worshiped him. In fact? They were terrified he would come back for another term because they knew he was popular, but he wasn't far right enough. (He didn't, but it was scary to see what they did to him.)

I won't even get into the issue of the Representative of College Republicans being pushed out of her position in my state as well because she did not enjoy hearing the hateful slurs, insults, and so on coming from the extreme right wing that was growing.  The far right is pushing out anything that doesn't agree with them, and that? Is terrifying. The left isn't doing this by any means. ( Except for saying the flaws of what Obama is doing, then they conveniently don't show the media on them anymore. )  One of the popular conservative candidates in my state now is talking about things in our state to give teachers a two year trial period, and if they have any failures in their class for two years? Their teaching license is going to be taken away from them. He wants to privatize everything. He wants to take away a ton of social rights. While Republicans where you're at might be a bit more sane, the ones here trying to take over aren't really at all.

The image republicans have, for generations now since the 1940s, given lip service to small, fiscally responsible government, property rights, and constitutional principles. Overall the problem here is the Republican Party's of today's actions have been consistently in opposition of this. ( Just as Democrats try to give an image of equal rights and what they consider to be social responsibility. They're not completely doing too hot either. )

Either way if public parks, public transportation, public schools, an affordable healthcare option, social rights, and a plan to pay off the deficit is a progressive socialist extremist plot? I want it.

Ron Paul is amazing.  If you're trillions of dollars in debt and have to cut back somehow continuing to fully fund services WHICH YOU CANNOT AFFORD is just foolhardy.  Spending is going to kill America here. 

Ron Paul is a pretty cool bro, not going to lie to you. I love the fact that he never hides behind half statements, or changes his stated opinions on issues depending on the crowd he's addressing. If you ask him a direct question, you get a direct answer. I can't think of another nationally-known politician for whom this is true other than Al Franken, Russ Feingold, Bernie Sanders, or Sherrod Brown. (Oh John McCain, you could have easily been there too.)

He is one of the sanest, and definitely among the most principled voices. He has never given a damn which way the popular wind blows or what the "party line" might be. He believes in the constitution and sticks to it. I don't agree with him on every issue, but I respect the hell out of him.

...Rand Paul on the otherhand... 

He shouldn't be tackling too many issues at once and the economy should have been the only thing he should be focusing on.  Things like health care should have waited because jobs are more important to people right now then health care.  Look at any poll in ANY American state.  9.6% unemployment can and WILL make people pissed off.

This I agree with. The problem is the economy takes a while to recover, it's not an overnight thing. Both sides should know this and instead of fessing up and saying it was a bipartisan fit and not choosing to work together just sit there denying whatever suggestion comes from the opposite end. Republicans are the group of no ideas while Democrats are the group of bad ideas.

I also understand the bailout, I just wish not so much money was given to the companies because the fat cats decided it spend it instead of actually using it properly. My state actually is doing fairly well in terms of he unemployment thing and is below the national average because it actually did properly use the bailout money it received as it was supposed to - I heard it was one of the only states that did that which makes me relatively sad. 

The majority of online bloggers and news outlets online are liberal in nature.  The average age of your typical blogger is in their 20's and since for most of the past 200 years older people have been more conservative and younger people more liberal anyone with any sense of political know how would notice the liberal bias online.  Most older people (i.e. conservatives) don't use the Internet nearly as much as us younger kids.

My state actually has an impressive array blogs and information on both sides of the spectrum. It's pretty cool. We can keep up with opinions, politics, and business overall there. We even get a weekly show that brings up pretty big topics to our state - it's pretty balanced from what I can see.

While I am a filthy liberal in a lot of regards, I do agree with you on a lot of issues. As I said, above I'm pretty socially liberal but fiscally conservative.

[Sarita]

Not contributing, but praising Konchaski for being able to put my arguments a hell of a lot better than I ever could. A million brownie points for you. (Not redeemable for actual brownies)

I would like to mention, about Obama's approval ratings, that ALL presidents' approval ratings go down after they take office. What does this say about politicians?

[Kursed]

Not contributing, but praising Konchaski for being able to put my arguments a hell of a lot better than I ever could. A million brownie points for you. (Not redeemable for actual brownies)

I would like to mention, about Obama's approval ratings, that ALL presidents' approval ratings go down after they take office. What does this say about politicians?

PersoonalY i think this is more about "What does this say about the people that put them into Office?

[Sarita]

I found a cool site that provides media sources and proof debunking a lot of the Obama myths and smears. Check it out

Really convenient for those of us who can't be assed to look up all these sources, it compiles them in to one place.

["User"]

Not contributing, but praising Konchaski for being able to put my arguments a hell of a lot better than I ever could. A million brownie points for you. (Not redeemable for actual brownies)

He structures them well that's for sure.

I would like to mention, about Obama's approval ratings, that ALL presidents' approval ratings go down after they take office. What does this say about politicians?

That they ride a wave of popularity because of dissatisfaction with the current government and when they get elected they become "just another political crook"

And yeah....I forgot to mention that in general about approval ratings.  Still, the way it stands the democrats are poised to lose anywhere from 20-50 or so seats in the house in the midterms (heck even MSNBC will tell you that) and if that happens then the political drama in Washington is about to get a hell of a lot worse then it already is - especially if the GOP gets the majority.    I fail to see that happening in the Senate given what I've been seeing recently about all the races but it's not out of the question either.

[Kursed]

maybe if people would shut their winey mouths and freken be satisfied and perhaps Vote Wisely. we'd never have this problem.

["User"]

maybe if people would shut their winey mouths and freken be satisfied and perhaps Vote Wisely. we'd never have this problem.

Maybe the president should create an Executive Order for all stupid people who don't have the brains to vote to march into the ocean.  Then, the remainder of us who are too smart to listen to what he has to say run him out of office.  :trollface:

[Kursed]

Maybe the president should create an Executive Order for all stupid people who don't have the brains to vote to march into the ocean.  Then, the remainder of us who are too smart to listen to what he has to say run him out of office. 

Yeah that'd be the day  :trollface: