Dear Governor Palin,

Hi there. I'm writing this message from fake Virginia, which, according you and McCain campaign spokespeople, is full of people who are not hardworking, not pro-American, and who are so unpatriotic they don't even deserve to be considered "real". You betcha, Gov. Palin! You know best. At your rallies, "real" Americans call for the assassination of would-be presidents without even the slightest hush or repudiation from you. Meanwhile, comments made by a man who witnessed first-hand how the incitement of that kind of hate and violence can manifest into terrible realities are twisted by your running mate so he can play the "victim." In your "real" America, Congresswoman Bachmann has been asking for surveys and news expose's so that we all might learn who in Congress is and who is not "pro-America." Yes, in the "real" America described by your campaign spokesperson, governor, only the rural pockets of Virginia are "real," but that Northern Virginia area isn't worth its salt.

According to you and these other prophets of righteousness, the "real" America is the America of rural small towns. "Real" America works hard and is patriotic. Most importantly, "real" America blindly supports John McCain and spews venom at stalwarts of the party like Colin Powel the moment they disagree with how things have been run into the ground over the last 8 years and exercise those silly freedoms and rights that piece of paper you've clearly never read claims we real and fake Americans have.

One can conclude, then, that the thousands of people in New York, dozens in Pennsylvania, and (gasp!) quite a few in Northern Virginia (the Pentagon is located in my hometown of Arlington, VA, not Washington, D.C.) who were killed on 9/11 weren't "real" Americans. By your definition, those killed that day were lazy, unpatriotic anti-American elitists who know nothing about John McCain's and Sarah Palin's "real" America! Hell, even George Bush isn't a "real" American since he comes from a big city town in Texas. Oh, wait... he supports John McCain, so I'm sure he'll get a pass.

Yeah, "real" America is where it's at... "real" America is the heart and soul of the McCain/Palin ticket! Nevermind those other millions of folks that eat, breath, work, dream, bleed, and die within the borders of this nation. They don't matter. They're not real! Those tens of thousands of military men and women who come from urban and suburban backgrounds and fight every day to keep us safe at night... why, they have no business being part of "real" America! It's a good thing your possible predecessor shipped them off somewhere and your running mate plans to keep them away from home for a long, long time. We wouldn't want those fake Americans coming home and ruining things, would we?

Thanks Governor Palin for helping me to realize that I and millions of others don't matter because we're not a "real" Americans.

Unfortunately for them, "fake" America is still allowed to vote.

I think a certain someone has a big crush on Sarah Palin.

All you need to do now is make that an animated GIF to show off some fancy pageant walkin'!

I was flipping through the channels tonight and I saw Mccain and Palin, watched it for a few minutes, and damn it made me frightened.

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/10/21/lieberman-test/

It sounds like they already have some big "event" planned to help drum up some patriotism and manufacture public consent for what I can only guess will be a huge orgy of war and financial depression while they make a mint from it.

Maybe I'm just nuts though...who knows?

Maybe it's time for one consolidated American politics thread?
*getting a bit tired of mud throwing matches with the same rehashed arguments over and over again*

Doesn't it bother you guys that there's no sight of relevant discussion about things that actually matter?

2008:
Death by terrorism inside America: 0
Death by cancer inside America: 565.650

Half a million people die yearly from cancer inside America in 2008.
None have died by terror attacks inside America in 2008.

Yes, let's spend more billions on this nonexistant threat and lets just ignore the real threats, because that will help.

Both Obama and McCain ignore all real relevant issues to you and me.
Such as public safety, protection from disease and poverty.

BloodRayne wrote:

Maybe it's time for one consolidated American politics thread?
*getting a bit tired of mud throwing matches with the same rehashed arguments over and over again*

Doesn't it bother you guys that there's no sight of relevant discussion about things that actually matter?

You make a good point. I think BNA hit the nail on the head though. If a politician tried to make relevant and worthwhile issues their platform, they would be passed over by the American public. Case in point: Dennis Kucinich. Most of the time, the guy talks about fairly useful things and pushes for policies that reflect that he listens to his constituents. Yet, for the last 8 years, he's been passed over as a viable democratic presidential nominee.

He's one of the few Congressmen that doesn't "play the game", or plays it rarely enough to maintain a sense of morals and honesty about him.

Another case in point: Ron Paul. While he plays the game a bit more, he also has advocated what I think are more "real" conservative values and he's demonstrated some of the best parts of what republicans used to be throughout his career. When conservative candidates were all tossing around the latest piece of bullshit during the primaries, Ron Paul was making a lot of sense and connecting with the American people on issues that matter. Well, look how that turned out... he finished 4th.

Now, I certainly don't agree with all of the positions of either Kucinich or Paul, but these guys do actually try very hard to connect with people on issues that seem to matter most... yet they get passed over and drowned out by the throng of the popularity contest that has become our political system.

That said, my recent posts RE politics focus on pointing out facts about the current VP nominee who I personally feel is so woefully unqualified that she and the running mate that picked her should never ever be allowed to get into the White House.

If McCain had picked any number of competent republican nominees... Mike Huckabee, M. Jodi Rell, and some even liked Carly Fiorina, although that didn't make much sense to me... but if he had picked anyone else, I don't think he would have needed to resort to such low political smears. I think he would have a far more viable candidacy and it would have truly been a contest of who is "best" for America. Right now, I feel like the campaign is more about who is ready to lead and who has demonstrated they are terribly unfit to lead.

I mean, hell, before this campaign, I liked McCain. War hero. Great record fighting overspending. Great record of reaching across the aisle. Of course, I remembered that he was one of the main voices echoing Cheney and saying that said Iraq would be a cake-walk, and I knew about his friendship and attempts to obstruct the law with respect to his friend Keating in the savings and loan scandal in the early 90s. I wouldn't ever vote for McCain for these and several other reasons, but I could at least understand why someone else might overlook his negatives and focus on his positives.

Then he won the Republican nomination and hit the campaign trail. The wheels came off the Straight Talk Express and I noticed how he would say one thing one day and then say the very opposite the next.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioy90nF2anI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEtZlR3zp4c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4egXbhSOhk

And so I started thinking about what qualities I wanted in a president and how much I really didn't want another president that was willing to say anything just because it sounded good at the time.

The campaign continued and the only consistent thing McCain has demonstrated is that he'll shift positions based on whatever some focus group enjoys, he'll spread lies and doubletalk his way through things rather than focus on real issues, and he'll get angry when things don't go his way.

Those qualities do not a president make.

If I were a republican, I would be writing in Ron Paul or some other respected conservative on my ballot because McCain doesn't deserve my vote.

That is why I've never really liked Mccain, like the Bush's he's a member of the "American ruling class". How can "real" issues matter to him? Stuff like poverty and that are exclusively poor people problems.

One reason I liked Ron Paul is that he did at least mention relevent issues like the drug war and the negative efects of free trade agreements. I'd especially like to see someone address the problems with free trade, in my opinion it creates loopholes for employers which destroy the things that American labor unions have fought decades to acheive for the working class. I've seen it in action when I worked at Caterpiller, over 2/3 of the plant was empty rooms where their used to be machinery a decade ago, it had all been moved to foreign countries who don't have to follow any sort of labor laws, then the product is shipped back into the U.S. All this outsourcing accompanied with the exclusive use of temp agencies by employers has created a new air of desparation and dehumanization among workers. I'm not a socialist, because in a socialist society there are no chances whatsoever to become wealthy, but I do see flaws in our capitalist society, for one it is too easy for the rich to victimize the poor, I believe there are many loopholes that allow that sort of thing which need to be "plugged". I'd like to see a candidate who adresses the issue that we need more laws in place to protect the lower and working classes from a morally ambiguous upper class. We all know a coporation's or employers biggest concern is profit at any cost, they won't police themselves someone needs to do it though.

Maybe the thing I'm trying to say is I'd like to see a candidate who really does have the interests of all American people at heart and does'nt favor only those who serve their own financial interests best. Money does talk and it seems the only people who are ever paid attention to are those with the loudest voice in that sense, there are others who are unable to have a voice but who still want and need to be heard.

CrimsonHead wrote:

That is why I've never really liked Mccain, like the Bush's he's a member of the "American ruling class". How can "real" issues matter to him? Stuff like poverty and that are exclusively poor people problems.

One reason I liked Ron Paul is that he did at least mention relevent issues like the drug war and the negative efects of free trade agreements. I'd especially like to see someone address the problems with free trade, in my opinion it creates loopholes for employers which destroy the things that American labor unions have fought decades to acheive for the working class. I've seen it in action when I worked at Caterpiller, over 2/3 of the plant was empty rooms where their used to be machinery a decade ago, it had all been moved to foreign countries who don't have to follow any sort of labor laws, then the product is shipped back into the U.S. All this outsourcing accompanied with the exclusive use of temp agencies by employers has created a new air of desparation and dehumanization among workers. I'm not a socialist, because in a socialist society there are no chances whatsoever to become wealthy, but I do see flaws in our capitalist society, for one it is too easy for the rich to victimize the poor, I believe there are many loopholes that allow that sort of thing which need to be "plugged". I'd like to see a candidate who adresses the issue that we need more laws in place to protect the lower and working classes from a morally ambiguous upper class. We all know a coporation's or employers biggest concern is profit at any cost, they won't police themselves someone needs to do it though.

Maybe the thing I'm trying to say is I'd like to see a candidate who really does have the interests of all American people at heart and does'nt favor only those who serve their own financial interests best. Money does talk and it seems the only people who are ever paid attention to are those with the loudest voice in that sense, there are others who are unable to have a voice but who still want and need to be heard.

I think we have a winner for the best and most level headed post in a political thread and definitely worth bringing more attention to. Although:

CrimsonHead wrote:

I'm not a socialist, because in a socialist society there are no chances whatsoever to become wealthy

you're talking about extreme communism here, not socialism.

wal wrote:

CrimsonHead wrote:

I'm not a socialist, because in a socialist society there are no chances whatsoever to become wealthy

you're talking about extreme communism here, not socialism.

Usually becoming a communist leader or higher level aparatschnik means instant wealth.

BNA! wrote:

Usually becoming a communist leader or higher level aparatschnik means instant wealth.

Yea but in it's literal extreme form, no-one can be more or less wealthy than the others no matter what they do.

wal wrote:

BNA! wrote:

Usually becoming a communist leader or higher level aparatschnik means instant wealth.

Yea but in it's literal extreme form, no-one can be more or less wealthy than the others no matter what they do.

In theory I could knock out Mike Tyson, assuming he stands still and my knuckles wont break before he goes down.
There is also this fat chance Gisele Bündchen falls in love with me at first sight.

I know, I'm not a communist. I've read animal farm. I'm not even a socialist, I'm a whatever works best for everyoneist. I was just saying that a situation where people can't become wealthy in relation to others is literal communism, definitely not socialism.

Dear Governor Palin,

Hi there. I'm writing this message from fake Virginia, which, according you and McCain campaign spokespeople, is full of people who are not hardworking, not pro-American, and who are so unpatriotic they don't even deserve to be considered "real". You betcha, Gov. Palin! You know best. At your rallies, "real" Americans call for the assassination of would-be presidents without even the slightest hush or repudiation from you. Meanwhile, comments made by a man who witnessed first-hand how the incitement of that kind of hate and violence can manifest into terrible realities are twisted by your running mate so he can play the "victim." In your "real" America, Congresswoman Bachmann has been asking for surveys and news expose's so that we all might learn who in Congress is and who is not "pro-America." Yes, in the "real" America described by your campaign spokesperson, governor, only the rural pockets of Virginia are "real," but that Northern Virginia area isn't worth its salt.

According to you and these other prophets of righteousness, the "real" America is the America of rural small towns. "Real" America works hard and is patriotic. Most importantly, "real" America blindly supports John McCain and spews venom at stalwarts of the party like Colin Powel the moment they disagree with how things have been run into the ground over the last 8 years and exercise those silly freedoms and rights that piece of paper you've clearly never read claims we real and fake Americans have.

One can conclude, then, that the thousands of people in New York, dozens in Pennsylvania, and (gasp!) quite a few in Northern Virginia (the Pentagon is located in my hometown of Arlington, VA, not Washington, D.C.) who were killed on 9/11 weren't "real" Americans. By your definition, those killed that day were lazy, unpatriotic anti-American elitists who know nothing about John McCain's and Sarah Palin's "real" America! Hell, even George Bush isn't a "real" American since he comes from a big city town in Texas. Oh, wait... he supports John McCain, so I'm sure he'll get a pass.

Yeah, "real" America is where it's at... "real" America is the heart and soul of the McCain/Palin ticket! Nevermind those other millions of folks that eat, breath, work, dream, bleed, and die within the borders of this nation. They don't matter. They're not real! Those tens of thousands of military men and women who come from urban and suburban backgrounds and fight every day to keep us safe at night... why, they have no business being part of "real" America! It's a good thing your possible predecessor shipped them off somewhere and your running mate plans to keep them away from home for a long, long time. We wouldn't want those fake Americans coming home and ruining things, would we?

Thanks Governor Palin for helping me to realize that I and millions of others don't matter because we're not a "real" Americans.

Unfortunately for them, "fake" America is still allowed to vote.

I think a certain someone has a big crush on Sarah Palin.

All you need to do now is make that an animated GIF to show off some fancy pageant walkin'!

I was flipping through the channels tonight and I saw Mccain and Palin, watched it for a few minutes, and damn it made me frightened.

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/10/21/lieberman-test/

It sounds like they already have some big "event" planned to help drum up some patriotism and manufacture public consent for what I can only guess will be a huge orgy of war and financial depression while they make a mint from it.

Maybe I'm just nuts though...who knows?

Maybe it's time for one consolidated American politics thread?
*getting a bit tired of mud throwing matches with the same rehashed arguments over and over again*

Doesn't it bother you guys that there's no sight of relevant discussion about things that actually matter?

2008:
Death by terrorism inside America: 0
Death by cancer inside America: 565.650

Half a million people die yearly from cancer inside America in 2008.
None have died by terror attacks inside America in 2008.

Yes, let's spend more billions on this nonexistant threat and lets just ignore the real threats, because that will help.

Both Obama and McCain ignore all real relevant issues to you and me.
Such as public safety, protection from disease and poverty.

BloodRayne wrote:

Maybe it's time for one consolidated American politics thread?
*getting a bit tired of mud throwing matches with the same rehashed arguments over and over again*

Doesn't it bother you guys that there's no sight of relevant discussion about things that actually matter?

You make a good point. I think BNA hit the nail on the head though. If a politician tried to make relevant and worthwhile issues their platform, they would be passed over by the American public. Case in point: Dennis Kucinich. Most of the time, the guy talks about fairly useful things and pushes for policies that reflect that he listens to his constituents. Yet, for the last 8 years, he's been passed over as a viable democratic presidential nominee.

He's one of the few Congressmen that doesn't "play the game", or plays it rarely enough to maintain a sense of morals and honesty about him.

Another case in point: Ron Paul. While he plays the game a bit more, he also has advocated what I think are more "real" conservative values and he's demonstrated some of the best parts of what republicans used to be throughout his career. When conservative candidates were all tossing around the latest piece of bullshit during the primaries, Ron Paul was making a lot of sense and connecting with the American people on issues that matter. Well, look how that turned out... he finished 4th.

Now, I certainly don't agree with all of the positions of either Kucinich or Paul, but these guys do actually try very hard to connect with people on issues that seem to matter most... yet they get passed over and drowned out by the throng of the popularity contest that has become our political system.

That said, my recent posts RE politics focus on pointing out facts about the current VP nominee who I personally feel is so woefully unqualified that she and the running mate that picked her should never ever be allowed to get into the White House.

If McCain had picked any number of competent republican nominees... Mike Huckabee, M. Jodi Rell, and some even liked Carly Fiorina, although that didn't make much sense to me... but if he had picked anyone else, I don't think he would have needed to resort to such low political smears. I think he would have a far more viable candidacy and it would have truly been a contest of who is "best" for America. Right now, I feel like the campaign is more about who is ready to lead and who has demonstrated they are terribly unfit to lead.

I mean, hell, before this campaign, I liked McCain. War hero. Great record fighting overspending. Great record of reaching across the aisle. Of course, I remembered that he was one of the main voices echoing Cheney and saying that said Iraq would be a cake-walk, and I knew about his friendship and attempts to obstruct the law with respect to his friend Keating in the savings and loan scandal in the early 90s. I wouldn't ever vote for McCain for these and several other reasons, but I could at least understand why someone else might overlook his negatives and focus on his positives.

Then he won the Republican nomination and hit the campaign trail. The wheels came off the Straight Talk Express and I noticed how he would say one thing one day and then say the very opposite the next.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioy90nF2anI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEtZlR3zp4c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4egXbhSOhk

And so I started thinking about what qualities I wanted in a president and how much I really didn't want another president that was willing to say anything just because it sounded good at the time.

The campaign continued and the only consistent thing McCain has demonstrated is that he'll shift positions based on whatever some focus group enjoys, he'll spread lies and doubletalk his way through things rather than focus on real issues, and he'll get angry when things don't go his way.

Those qualities do not a president make.

If I were a republican, I would be writing in Ron Paul or some other respected conservative on my ballot because McCain doesn't deserve my vote.

That is why I've never really liked Mccain, like the Bush's he's a member of the "American ruling class". How can "real" issues matter to him? Stuff like poverty and that are exclusively poor people problems.

One reason I liked Ron Paul is that he did at least mention relevent issues like the drug war and the negative efects of free trade agreements. I'd especially like to see someone address the problems with free trade, in my opinion it creates loopholes for employers which destroy the things that American labor unions have fought decades to acheive for the working class. I've seen it in action when I worked at Caterpiller, over 2/3 of the plant was empty rooms where their used to be machinery a decade ago, it had all been moved to foreign countries who don't have to follow any sort of labor laws, then the product is shipped back into the U.S. All this outsourcing accompanied with the exclusive use of temp agencies by employers has created a new air of desparation and dehumanization among workers. I'm not a socialist, because in a socialist society there are no chances whatsoever to become wealthy, but I do see flaws in our capitalist society, for one it is too easy for the rich to victimize the poor, I believe there are many loopholes that allow that sort of thing which need to be "plugged". I'd like to see a candidate who adresses the issue that we need more laws in place to protect the lower and working classes from a morally ambiguous upper class. We all know a coporation's or employers biggest concern is profit at any cost, they won't police themselves someone needs to do it though.

Maybe the thing I'm trying to say is I'd like to see a candidate who really does have the interests of all American people at heart and does'nt favor only those who serve their own financial interests best. Money does talk and it seems the only people who are ever paid attention to are those with the loudest voice in that sense, there are others who are unable to have a voice but who still want and need to be heard.

CrimsonHead wrote:

That is why I've never really liked Mccain, like the Bush's he's a member of the "American ruling class". How can "real" issues matter to him? Stuff like poverty and that are exclusively poor people problems.

One reason I liked Ron Paul is that he did at least mention relevent issues like the drug war and the negative efects of free trade agreements. I'd especially like to see someone address the problems with free trade, in my opinion it creates loopholes for employers which destroy the things that American labor unions have fought decades to acheive for the working class. I've seen it in action when I worked at Caterpiller, over 2/3 of the plant was empty rooms where their used to be machinery a decade ago, it had all been moved to foreign countries who don't have to follow any sort of labor laws, then the product is shipped back into the U.S. All this outsourcing accompanied with the exclusive use of temp agencies by employers has created a new air of desparation and dehumanization among workers. I'm not a socialist, because in a socialist society there are no chances whatsoever to become wealthy, but I do see flaws in our capitalist society, for one it is too easy for the rich to victimize the poor, I believe there are many loopholes that allow that sort of thing which need to be "plugged". I'd like to see a candidate who adresses the issue that we need more laws in place to protect the lower and working classes from a morally ambiguous upper class. We all know a coporation's or employers biggest concern is profit at any cost, they won't police themselves someone needs to do it though.

Maybe the thing I'm trying to say is I'd like to see a candidate who really does have the interests of all American people at heart and does'nt favor only those who serve their own financial interests best. Money does talk and it seems the only people who are ever paid attention to are those with the loudest voice in that sense, there are others who are unable to have a voice but who still want and need to be heard.

I think we have a winner for the best and most level headed post in a political thread and definitely worth bringing more attention to. Although:

CrimsonHead wrote:

I'm not a socialist, because in a socialist society there are no chances whatsoever to become wealthy

you're talking about extreme communism here, not socialism.

wal wrote:

CrimsonHead wrote:

I'm not a socialist, because in a socialist society there are no chances whatsoever to become wealthy

you're talking about extreme communism here, not socialism.

Usually becoming a communist leader or higher level aparatschnik means instant wealth.

BNA! wrote:

Usually becoming a communist leader or higher level aparatschnik means instant wealth.

Yea but in it's literal extreme form, no-one can be more or less wealthy than the others no matter what they do.

wal wrote:

BNA! wrote:

Usually becoming a communist leader or higher level aparatschnik means instant wealth.

Yea but in it's literal extreme form, no-one can be more or less wealthy than the others no matter what they do.

In theory I could knock out Mike Tyson, assuming he stands still and my knuckles wont break before he goes down.
There is also this fat chance Gisele Bündchen falls in love with me at first sight.

I know, I'm not a communist. I've read animal farm. I'm not even a socialist, I'm a whatever works best for everyoneist. I was just saying that a situation where people can't become wealthy in relation to others is literal communism, definitely not socialism.