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timschochet's thread- Mods, please move this thread to the Politics Subforum, thank you (2 Viewers)

Legitimate: two candidates run for office. One of them is supported by corporate interests, the other is not. The corporate interests flood television with hundreds of commercials that the other guy can't possibly afford. Corporate guy wins. This is perfectly legitimate, but I don't think it's good for our system. There should be some form of limitation to allow the non corporate guy to have a reasonable chance to present his views. 

Illegitimate: after the election, corporation tells official they want him to vote yes for a business project they want. The official says give me $50,000 in unmarked bills. Corporation pays. Official takes money and sticks it in his freezer. This sort of corruption goes on all the time and will continue to go on no matter what the campaign laws are. 
Tim the latter example is already illegal right now, again showing there is no reason for reform. That kind of thing is rare too, not common at all unless you can cite more than one example of it. That example is already provided for and addressed by law. You need to find an example justifying a change in the law.

 
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Legitimate: two candidates run for office. One of them is supported by corporate interests, the other is not. The corporate interests flood television with hundreds of commercials that the other guy can't possibly afford. Corporate guy wins. This is perfectly legitimate, but I don't think it's good for our system. There should be some form of limitation to allow the non corporate guy to have a reasonable chance to present his views. 
If only somebody like Bernie Sanders could find a way to get his voice heard . . .  

 
Tim the latter example is already illegal right now, again showing there is no reason for reform. That example is already provided for and addressed by law. You need to find an example justifying a change in the law.
You want me to have to prove wrongdoing in order to justify my belief in campaign finance reform. I am for that reform not because of wrongdoing, not because "the system is corrupt" as Bernie says: I disagree with him; I don't think it's inherently corrupt; but I do think it's unfair. That's why I'm at least theoretically in favor of changing it. 

 
You want me to have to prove wrongdoing in order to justify my belief in campaign finance reform. I am for that reform not because of wrongdoing, not because "the system is corrupt" as Bernie says: I disagree with him; I don't think it's inherently corrupt; but I do think it's unfair. That's why I'm at least theoretically in favor of changing it. 
Tim you don't even explain how it's unfair. Bernie is competing right now, he's even outgathering and outspending Hillary in some places. And you won't even concede that Hillary prioritizes corporate interests over her duties to her citizen constituents, so as you've explained it there is no unfairness. You've shown zero real life harm or need here.

 
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I'm not sure the unfairness I'm discussing applies to Presidential campaigns anymore, as Bernie has aptly demonstrated. But I think it does still apply to all sorts of other elections. 
Wow ok that's progress. There's no unfairness or corruption in the presidential election system, the biggest of all. Good. Where does it exist? Example?

 
OK Saints, I tried to explain my position. You don't find my explanation satisfactory. I get that. Nonetheless I still think as I do. 

 
Right, Jeb is the walking, talking example of how money does not equate to unfair advantage.
This is like a company claiming its hiring policy isn't racist by pointing out all the white guys that didn't get hired.  I know you like to point at Bernie as the exception but that's all he is.  The exception.  When you can point at all the candidates that weren't backed by the oligarchs you might have a point.

 
OK Saints, I tried to explain my position. You don't find my explanation satisfactory. I get that. Nonetheless I still think as I do. 
Tim I realize that, I'm just saying you have no justification for your point beyond a feeling of some sort and that supporting both Hillary - in the way that you do - and campaign finance reform is completely illogical. I'm happy if I've proved my point here.

 
Tim I realize that, I'm just saying you have no justification for your point beyond a feeling of some sort and that supporting both Hillary - in the way that you do - and campaign finance reform is completely illogical. I'm happy if I've proved my point here.
You haven't proven your point to me. You have proven it, apparently, to others. I don't think it's illogical at all. Hillary herself is for campaign finance reform and has been for decades. 

 
So yesterday in a town hall that aired on MSNBC, Hillary stated that the US didn't lose a single person in Libya while she was SOS. That's just pathetic!

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/03/15/clinton-commits-benghazi-gaffe-saying-us-didnt-lose-single-person-in-libya.html?intcmp=hpbt1
It's a gaffe. But she was trying to make a distinction between Libya and Iraq, in which we committed military forces. Technically she's correct, because the Benghazi attack happened well AFTER the overthrow of Gaddafi, which she was referring to. 

No doubt her critics will make a big deal about this, but I doubt it's going to change any minds. 

 
It's a gaffe. But she was trying to make a distinction between Libya and Iraq, in which we committed military forces. Technically she's correct, because the Benghazi attack happened well AFTER the overthrow of Gaddafi, which she was referring to. 

No doubt her critics will make a big deal about this, but I doubt it's going to change any minds. 
The article says she was referencing the civil war in Syria  and only you would think she was technically correct. You just continue to prove your blind support for her.

Her quote..

"Now, is Libya perfect? It isn't," Clinton said. After contrasting her approach toward Libya with the ongoing bloodshed in Syria's civil war, Clinton said "Libya was a different kind of calculation and we didn't lose a single person ... We didn’t have a problem in supporting our European and Arab allies in working with NATO."

 
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The article says she was referencing the civil war in Syria and only you would think she was technically correct. You just continue to prove your blind support for her.
I don't want to do this in this thread. If you want to have a discussion/ debate about what we've done in Libya and Hillary's role in that, I'm up for that. But I'm not interested in gotchas and gaffes. 

 
I don't want to do this in this thread. If you want to have a discussion/ debate about what we've done in Libya and Hillary's role in that, I'm up for that. But I'm not interested in gotchas and gaffes. 
Because record, policies and credibility are not campaign issues, right?

Compartmentalization is a wonderful thing.

 
Saints you were correct to post that new ad about Trump's comments about women, because they're part of a pattern of insulting and obnoxious statements he's made for years, and it's suitable to criticize him for that. But a gaffe is something else; it's a mistatement usually taken out of context. It doesn't reflect the real views of the candidate, which is why I don't think it's worth time to pursue it. There is plenty to criticize Hillary over in terms of what happened in Libya. I might not agree with that criticism but at least it's legitimate. This isn't. 

 
Marco now implying he will not quit after Florida. 
I want to expand on this. 

In a normal election if you lose your home state you're done. And Marco may indeed be done anyhow because he might not have the money to continue; I don't know. 

But in this weird election if the goal becomes preventing Trump from getting the majority of delegates, then why shouldn't Rubio continue all the way to the convention? He can go in with a small amount of delegates having done his bit to prevent Trump, and then broker to be on the ticket, say with Kasich? Why not? It's going to outrage Trunp supporters, but why should Marco care about that? 

 
Also has anybody noticed that Florida is voting today and Jeb Bush never did endorse Marco Rubio? Not that it would have mattered a great deal but I think most people were expecting this and it didn't happen. Maybe there is a lot of dislike behind the scenes. Maybe Jeb blames Marco for losing the election? 

 
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Saints you were correct to post that new ad about Trump's comments about women, because they're part of a pattern of insulting and obnoxious statements he's made for years, and it's suitable to criticize him for that. But a gaffe is something else; it's a mistatement usually taken out of context. It doesn't reflect the real views of the candidate, which is why I don't think it's worth time to pursue it. There is plenty to criticize Hillary over in terms of what happened in Libya. I might not agree with that criticism but at least it's legitimate. This isn't. 
Tim, those are not gaffes by Donald, that's who he is. Same goes for Hillary, though with Hillary she said those things in a serious townhall setting, it's so bad it's almost insane because it's so deluded. Ignore for a moment what happened at the mission/annex, Libya is divided in three with Isis and AQIM dominated the eastern portion of the country. Even her argument that we did not lose anyone if taken to mean soldiers in an invasion is like saying, 'Hey look we created just as much of a disaster in Libya that we did in Iraq, just with less blood and treasure lost! Isn't that great?!"

Her policies on Serbia (really a position on her husband's policy), Iraq, Libya and Syria are all completely consistent and she has never changed her policy one iota from all the mistakes.

 
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I want to expand on this. 

In a normal election if you lose your home state you're done. And Marco may indeed be done anyhow because he might not have the money to continue; I don't know. 

But in this weird election if the goal becomes preventing Trump from getting the majority of delegates, then why shouldn't Rubio continue all the way to the convention? He can go in with a small amount of delegates having done his bit to prevent Trump, and then broker to be on the ticket, say with Kasich? Why not? It's going to outrage Trunp supporters, but why should Marco care about that? 
I imagine money will be his biggest issue. Does he have enough to continue through the entire race?

 
Saints I disagree strongly with this but would love to have a lengthy discussion with you about Libya and Hillary's role. But let's wait at least a few days as I'm really preoccuppied with what happens tonight on both sides. 

 
Pick my candidate

Social issues - pro choice, support gay marriage (in other words let people make their own decisions).

Environmental - Governments should make regulations to protect the planet.

Economic - Get a job (if you are physically and mentally able).  Let the free market decide your wages.  If you want/need welfare, you should be drug tested.  Fair tax or the closest thing to it.

Domestic - guns kill people and there should be more restrictions on buying one.

Healthcare - I don't hate Obamacare.

Foreign policy - we could probably decrease military spending.  Terrorists should be waterboarded.

Pro space travel.

TIA.

 
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Was the Bush brand really thought to be that strong?

It was my impression that approval ratings on W were not that great (about 30% his last two years)
Good question, my first thought is the Bush brand approval rating may have been much higher among the donor class than among the general populace. Anyone could see (I believe) that throwing the name "Bush" into this climate last summer was just gas on the fire.

 
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Legitimate: two candidates run for office. One of them is supported by corporate interests, the other is not. The corporate interests flood television with hundreds of commercials that the other guy can't possibly afford. Corporate guy wins. This is perfectly legitimate, but I don't think it's good for our system. There should be some form of limitation to allow the non corporate guy to have a reasonable chance to present his views. 

Illegitimate: after the election, corporation tells official they want him to vote yes for a business project they want. The official says give me $50,000 in unmarked bills. Corporation pays. Official takes money and sticks it in his freezer. This sort of corruption goes on all the time and will continue to go on no matter what the campaign laws are. 
OK, let's work with these definitions.  In terms of campaign finance reform, I think we can ignore what you're defined as illegitimate money, seeing as that type of payment is already illegal.  I assume you agree with that?  We don't need to change any laws in order to rid ourselves of what you've deem illegitimate payments.  Maybe we need to investigate and enforce the existing laws better, but that's another story altogether.

Regarding what you've defined as legitimate money, it seems you're simply suggesting there should be a better way to do things.  However, I don't think I've seen any proposal from you regarding what that better way should be (other than "overturn Citizens United", which really has nothing to do with anything).  So, what do you propose?  "Get money out of politics" isn't a proposal.  "Overturn CU" isn't a proposal.  "Don't allow any corporate contributions of any kind" is an actual proposal, and we can attempt to evaluate what the effects might be.

Personally, I have yet to hear a proposal for limiting contributions that I think would create an improvement.

Now, I would change the laws to require instant and full disclosure of all contributions, meaning every campaign needs a website where anyone can look up every single donation and see when, who, and how much.

 
OK, let's work with these definitions.  In terms of campaign finance reform, I think we can ignore what you're defined as illegitimate money, seeing as that type of payment is already illegal.  I assume you agree with that?  We don't need to change any laws in order to rid ourselves of what you've deem illegitimate payments.  Maybe we need to investigate and enforce the existing laws better, but that's another story altogether.

Regarding what you've defined as legitimate money, it seems you're simply suggesting there should be a better way to do things.  However, I don't think I've seen any proposal from you regarding what that better way should be (other than "overturn Citizens United", which really has nothing to do with anything).  So, what do you propose?  "Get money out of politics" isn't a proposal.  "Overturn CU" isn't a proposal.  "Don't allow any corporate contributions of any kind" is an actual proposal, and we can attempt to evaluate what the effects might be.

Personally, I have yet to hear a proposal for limiting contributions that I think would create an improvement.

Now, I would change the laws to require instant and full disclosure of all contributions, meaning every campaign needs a website where anyone can look up every single donation and see when, who, and how much.
Rich I haven't offered a specific proposal because I'm not sure what would be best. I'm not adverse to your idea, but I don't think that by itself it would have too much of an impact. How many voters would actually take the time to go on a website and look? Those that would are probably pretty well-informed anyhow. 

 
I'm just going to write something here which may get me into trouble but I truly believe it, it's a problem and I don't know what should be done about it:

A lot of voters on both sides are stupid. No I am not talking about uninformed (though most stupid people are uninformed as well), I'm talking about not very bright. There are stupid people voting for Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders: you know who they are because when they get interviewed they offer incredibly dumb reasons for doing so. 

And Donald Trump has the largest number of stupid people voting for him that we've had in some time. Normally most stupid people don't worry me too much because they don't vote. But a populist, exciting candidate like Trump brings out the dummies as if they were attending NASCAR or a monster truck show. Everything Trump says attracts these people because he dumbs down all issues, offers slogans and quick fixes rather than real solutions, and is belligerent which is something stupid people enjoy. 

Because we have a democratic system (and I'm not in favor of any other kind, don't get me wrong) the stupid people have as much right to vote as anybody else. But I don't see why we need to encourage them to do so. I would prefer an oligarchy of smart people running things around here. 

 
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Pick my candidate

Social issues - pro choice, support gay marriage (in other words let people make their own decisions).

Environmental - Governments should make regulations to protect the planet.

Economic - Get a job (if you are physically and mentally able).  Let the free market decide your wages.  If you want/need welfare, you should be drug tested.  Fair tax or the closest thing to it.

Domestic - guns kill people and there should be more restrictions on buying one.

Healthcare - I don't hate Obamacare.

Foreign policy - we could probably decrease military spending.  Terrorists should be waterboarded.

Pro space travel.

TIA.
If you can get this list to Trump and somehow arrange that he is speaking only to you, he will agree with you on 100% of this.

 
I'm just going to write something here which may get me into trouble but I truly believe it, it's a problem and I don't know what should be done about it:

A lot of voters on both sides are stupid. No I am not talking about uninformed (though most stupid people are uninformed as well), I'm talking about not very bright. There are stupid people voting for Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders: you know who they are because when they get interviewed they offer incredibly dumb reasons for doing so. 

And Donald Trump has the largest number of stupid people voting for him that we've had in some time. Normally most stupid people don't worry me too much because they don't vote. But a populist, exciting candidate like Trump brings out the dummies as if they were attending NASCAR or a monster truck show. Everything Trump says attracts these people because he dumbs down all issues, offers slogans and quick fixes rather than real solutions, and is belligerent which is something stupid people enjoy. 

Because we have a democratic system (and I'm not in favor of any other kind, don't get me wrong) the stupid people have as much right to vote as anybody else. But I don't see why we need to encourage them to do so. I would prefer an oligarchy of smart people running things around here. 
You have data to back that assertion up? If so, post it, with references. Otherwise knock this kind of stuff off.

 
You have data to back that assertion up? If so, post it, with references. Otherwise knock this kind of stuff off.
I don't have any data. But honestly it's my very strong impression. So why should I knock it off if it's central to what I believe about this candidate? 

 
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I don't have any data. But honestly it's my very strong impression. So why should I knock it off if it's central to what I believe about this candidate? 
Because you have no idea whether it's true or not. You're engaging in behavior patterns you find unacceptable in Trump the candidate and some of his supporters. If you want your opinions to be taken seriously, you need to stop making stuff up and then arguing about it as if it were fact.

 
Because you have no idea whether it's true or not. You're engaging in behavior patterns you find unacceptable in Trump the candidate and some of his supporters. If you want your opinions to be taken seriously, you need to stop making stuff up and then arguing about it as if it were fact.
All right, good point. 

I am very concerned that there are a lot of stupid people voting in this election, especially for Donald Trump. I have no way of knowing if this is true or not but I suspect it is. Does anyone else share this concern? 

 
They overwhelmingly don't have college educations:  538 post and link to demographics

Now, I know that now gets into a book smart vs. street smart argument.  Also, certainly there are 'x' cases of college educated who lucked out and are incredibly stupid.  But, I think if you took 100 college educated adults and 100 non college-grads the non-college will certainly have a higher percent of "stupid".  Fair?

 
All right, good point. 

I am very concerned that there are a lot of stupid people voting in this election, especially for Donald Trump. I have no way of knowing if this is true or not but I suspect it is. Does anyone else share this concern? 
I know you hate it, but "stupid people" get to vote Tim. What are you doing to help people be less "stupid?" Is what the candidate you support proposes the best solution for elevating more people out of "stupidity?" Calling people stupid isn't really helping things much.

 
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They overwhelmingly don't have college educations:  538 post and link to demographics

Now, I know that now gets into a book smart vs. street smart argument.  Also, certainly there are 'x' cases of college educated who lucked out and are incredibly stupid.  But, I think if you took 100 college educated adults and 100 non college-grads the non-college will certainly have a higher percent of "stupid".  Fair?
At this point, all it tells me is that the 100 college educated adults either had families wealthy enough to sponsor them though to graduation, or they're saddled with some serious debt. Neither of those things indicates any particular level of intelligence to me. O.k., a few of them may have been bright enough to get academic scholarships - those people probably are intelligent.

 
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