Important Message About Sarah Palin

[Strangelet]

Originally Posted by Sean

Sounds like Romney's actually the front-runner overall, but this idealogical purity wing of the conservative side of things looks to be changing the whole Republican approach. Particularly during their primaries, we'll probably be seeing who can out-conservative each other on a whole new level, and I'd be willing to bet right now that the result of it will be a Republican nominee that's unelectable in the general election. They'll have painted thmselves into such a far-right corner that they'll be irrelevant to all the moderates who ultimately decide these things.

The thing about the tea party I find the most distressing is its soaking up essential institutions in the political environment. We needed a third party and we needed that party to shore up and voice the frustrations towards the existing two party establishment with all of their hypocrisies.

And for about 15 minutes I had hope that the tea party would be that real grass roots movement to bring legitimacy back to the two party system. Nope. Now they are a liability to democracy because they were easily hijacked by those already in power, like the christian right lobby, and infiltrated by whore politicos like Palin and Glen Beck by parroting their grievances.

Now that the tea party has become the militant wing of the corporate conservative instead of their critic, it leaves the vacuum open to be filled by something else.

And I don't have a lot of hope on this but I do think progressives have abandoned Obama, and enough centrists who are more issue centered have observed that the only difference between the bush years and the obama years is that now its the established democrats that are making excuses for their president instead of the established republicans.. Which means Obama might have a real centrist problem this election, in addition to a rear guard attack from the progressives.

To be quite frank, I would take MoveOn.org a hell of a lot more seriously if they took Obama to task for doing the same things Bush did.

And I'm usually pretty good about listening to Rush and Hannity but lately when they talk about the economy I just can't swallow the injustice of letting these noise boxes squak when they should be held accountable for the part they themselves played.

[Strangelet]

i just realized I didn't even get to my point.

So Obama could have a centrist problem.

Since 2008 those in the middle have been flocking to the republican party according to certain polls. That was especially the talk around the mid term elections.

That center may (*MAY*) offset the tea party winds blowing everything off the cliff of stupid so that we may end up having a centrist republican nomination.

To be personal that is my wish because I won't be voting for Obama. Better than Romney is Jon Huntsman Jr. ex governer of Utah, current ambassador to China for Obama. Centrist, supporter of gay marriage, has a brain. But unfortunately for him, he's also mormon and has gone on record saying nice things about his boss.

We'll see....

[Deckard]

You know, I was originally thinking, whether tea party or centrist, that the Republican nomination would surely end up being one of the following:

1) Macho tough-talking meathead with great hair
2) Ignorant and rather scary dolly-bird with great hair

So it's good to hear about Jon Huntsman who, yes, despite the name, seems like he could be a bit different.

Oh I wish I could say the same about this one who I discovered today...

A former air force pilot, [Rick] Perry has built up a reputation for tough talking and ruggedness. He jogs with a laser-sighted pistol in his belt and shot a coyote during a run last year.

Haha, seriously, where do you manufacture these guys? Do 50% of American voters really need such big strong daddies all the time? (Don't we have websites that satisfy those kindsa needs?)

[jOHN rODRIGUEZ]

. . . .. ... uumm, what were we talking about again?

[Sean]

Originally Posted by Deckard

Oh I wish I could say the same about this one who I discovered today...

A former air force pilot, [Rick] Perry has built up a reputation for tough talking and ruggedness. He jogs with a laser-sighted pistol in his belt and shot a coyote during a run last year.

Haha, seriously, where do you manufacture these guys? Do 50% of American voters really need such big strong daddies all the time? (Don't we have websites that satisfy those kindsa needs?)

Best thing about Perry is when he was threatening to lead Texas in seceding from the U.S. Now there's a good resume point in a Presidential candidate.

[Deckard]

See that's the thing - candidates are primarily playing to the party activists at the beginning, which involves some sucking up to the most stupid and prejudiced in the party. But you have to go careful not to go too far with that, because it can totally dump on your chances to succeed later on when you're forced to elaborate and justify. It seems to me that many of these wingnuts have gone too far and ruined their chances.

[Strangelet]

Originally Posted by Deckard

Haha, seriously, where do you manufacture these guys? Do 50% of American voters really need such big strong daddies all the time? (Don't we have websites that satisfy those kindsa needs?)

Seriously though, being out of my country for a year or so and coming back, two things struck me.

1. The IQ slide. Every time without fail, I leave the states and come back I watch the average IQ slide down significantly. Its pretty alarming and I'm not sure why because americans aren't inherently dumb. Maybe its a combination of 0 curiosity about the world, diet of fast food, and the fact that they just don't read.

2. The men are extremely self aware about their gender. I mean even in Scotland men who play rugby wear skirts and say "wee" and its no issue. But in the states, you have to take the manliness truck and drive out into the wilderness of masculinity before anyone feels comfortable. The way men walk around, what they drive, what they wear, its all a very fastidious effort to not appear gay. And everyone knows that fastidiousness is, you know, kinda gay.

[Sean]

Originally Posted by Strangelet

Seriously though, being out of my country for a year or so and coming back, two things struck me.

1. The IQ slide. Every time without fail, I leave the states and come back I watch the average IQ slide down significantly. Its pretty alarming and I'm not sure why because americans aren't inherently dumb. Maybe its a combination of 0 curiosity about the world, diet of fast food, and the fact that they just don't read.

2. The men are extremely self aware about their gender. I mean even in Scotland men who play rugby wear skirts and say "wee" and its no issue. But in the states, you have to take the manliness truck and drive out into the wilderness of masculinity before anyone feels comfortable. The way men walk around, what they drive, what they wear, its all a very fastidious effort to not appear gay. And everyone knows that fastidiousness is, you know, kinda gay.

I've been spending a lot of time overseas lately too and in addition to agreeing with you on those two points, the third thing I'm consistantly struck by is American obesity. I always know when I'm getting on my connecting flight that's going to an American city because there are suddenly way more obese people boarding the plane. It's alarming.

[bryantm3]

Originally Posted by Sean

I've been spending a lot of time overseas lately too and in addition to agreeing with you on those two points, the third thing I'm consistantly struck by is American obesity. I always know when I'm getting on my connecting flight that's going to an American city because there are suddenly way more obese people boarding the plane. It's alarming.

okay, that's crap too. we really aren't all fat, that's a european delusion. come over here and see for yourself. i mean, if you go by the technical definition of "obese" which is a BMI of 30, which would fit this guy (who i googled BMI 30 for):


then, yeah, a lot of us are obese. but if you're talking about people like this:


then you're full of crap. in senior year there was a german girl who come over on a foreign exchange program, and we went on a theatre trip together. i asked her what europeans thought of americans. she said "they think you're all fat. like really fat. i haven't seen anyone like that since i've arrived."

so, are we overweight as a society? yeah, we're pudgy. but is there a higher percentage of morbidly obese people in the united states? i don't see anything to lead me to believe that.

[Strangelet]

Originally Posted by bryantm3

okay, that's crap too. we really aren't all fat, that's a european delusion. come over here and see for yourself. i mean, if you go by the technical definition of "obese" which is a BMI of 30, which would fit this guy (who i googled BMI 30 for):


then, yeah, a lot of us are obese. but if you're talking about people like this:


then you're full of crap. in senior year there was a german girl who come over on a foreign exchange program, and we went on a theatre trip together. i asked her what europeans thought of americans. she said "they think you're all fat. like really fat. i haven't seen anyone like that since i've arrived."

so, are we overweight as a society? yeah, we're pudgy. but is there a higher percentage of morbidly obese people in the united states? i don't see anything to lead me to believe that.

dude we are so incredibly fat, I don't know where you've been, but its important to note that its also location specific. If you've been hanging around with your german exchange student friend in more affluent neighborhoods that's one thing. Take her to Walmart on the other side of town, then see what she thinks.