2012 US Presidential Race Catch All

Ron Paul believes that the Bill of Rights is based entirely on property rights. He opposes civil rights because they violate property rights. The obvious example is that private property owners should be able to deny people services for arbitrary reasons; it's their property.

So far, here are the positions he's taken that I know of. US should avoid "entangling" alliances and pull out of NATO and the UN, probably other international organizations as well. No wars not directly related to self-defense. He would abolish the Federal Reserve banking system and allow independent currencies to circulate. He's against Obama's health care plan, Medicare and Medicaid, and has stated that he does not recall people "in the streets begging for health care" before them, but sees that now. He believes Obama is an actual Socialist and his policies are socialism. He still advocates a return to a hard currency. He considers evolution to be "just a theory" and he does not accept it.

Didn't he also advocate internment camps for illegal immigrants? I may have used that as a cudgel in 2008 when we was the Great Youtube Hope.

What amazes me is that even mainstream sources like the WaPo will state offhand that Obama has no plan to reduce health care costs, when in fact, that's what the entire Affordable Care Act was about. That's a pretty amazing revision; hopefully the White House will do something about that perception in the next year or so.

Robear wrote:

He considers evolution to be "just a theory" and he does not accept it.

Isn't he a physician? How is it possible for a human brain to contain the knowledge necessary to practice medicine and not believe in evolution? You'd think his head would explode from the dichotomy!

Huckabee isn't running. Good news for the other social conservatives running. I guess.

He would abolish the Federal Reserve banking system and allow independent currencies to circulate.

Yes to the first, but you're off on that second, to my best knowledge.

Plus, note that our currency IS a private currency. Congress has no direct say in its management, and it's issued by a privately-held corporation.

Unfortunately the US Presidential election seems more like a popularity contest ,and Obama has a very good chance of winning it. The only attacks I've noticed were trying to get him out of the race (Not American born ). I guess the real issues don't make headlines.

Maybe if someone runs using Ehud Barak's "not sk'hbak, a leader "."Sk'hbak" is a slang word for someone friendly who you are acquainted with , one of the guys, your candidate it's hard to explain. Ehud Barak totally failed doing that because of his track record. Most people found another word to replace "leader" which made him totally irrelevant . It may have worked somewhat .Ehud Barak is generally perceived as a professional soldier which gives him a lot of support as minister of defense , but as a PM.... no thanks. I still think he's not as bad as some of the other options but we, unlike you have a lot of options.

I don't think anyone can beat Obama in a popularity contest so It's better to avoid making it a popularity contest. It's better to say "Obama is great at selling himself" and then say things about how his performance as president is less than satisfactory .

Obama might be talented but it's unfortunate he seems to be at the "trial and error" stage and he's doing it from the driver's seat . It seems to me he's practicing U turns at the moment . If you are following a driver that does a U turn on every intersection you'll ask yourself "Does this guy really know where he's going ..." .

I guess I'm not looking from the inside out but what I see from the outside in is scary. Bush might have made some major mistakes or didn't do the right thing but at least he was consistent . He said "mess with us and you'll regret it" and that what he did.Obama reminds me of our previous government. A government that says one thing and does another....

Mitt Romney actually was a reasonable establishment GOP politician before he decided he needed to cater to the batsh1t crazy wing of the party.

Remember back in 2007 when Huckabee attributed his poll numbers to god wanting him to be president?

Well, apparently god has changed his mind so Huckabee is pulling out of the 2012 election. But don't worry, according to him he "would have made a fine president" had he run.

It's hard to see him as materially worse than Bush II.

Paleocon wrote:

Mitt Romney actually was a reasonable establishment GOP politician before he decided he needed to cater to the batsh1t crazy wing of the party.

I used to like Pawlenty as a moderate Republican until he did the same. I guess we could just call it "McCaining".

I guess this begs the question: is it possible for a Republican candidate to win the nomination without completely caving to the religious right?

It seems to me that if the Republican party can't mend the growing divide then it may be a long time until they hold the white house again.

I don't have anything against Romney, in fact he might be the most qualified but I wish the guy had the stones to stand up for the healthcare plan he put in place in MA. The CoC needs to have some stones. I'm not sure if this country is ready to elect a Mormon.

Bear wrote:

I'm not sure if this country is ready to elect a Mormon.

I disagree with that. After all, we elected a Muslim from Kenya, right?

KrazyTacoFO wrote:
Bear wrote:

I'm not sure if this country is ready to elect a Mormon.

I disagree with that. After all, we elected a Muslim from Kenya, right?

Haw haw!

In case the first bit is serious, I'd say the country, sure. But I'm not sure the right-wing that is the Republican base is ready to let Mormon be in the position to find out.

I could care less what he believes. It's what he does with those beliefs that matters.

SpacePPoliceman wrote:
KrazyTacoFO wrote:
Bear wrote:

I'm not sure if this country is ready to elect a Mormon.

I disagree with that. After all, we elected a Muslim from Kenya, right?

Haw haw!

In case the first bit is serious, I'd say the country, sure. But I'm not sure the right-wing that is the Republican base is ready to let Mormon be in the position to find out.

Ironically, I think it is far more likely that a Mormon would win the presidency on the Democratic ticket. One's religion is less of an issue for Democrats than Republicans.

Nevin73 wrote:

Not sure how I feel about this. I wrote him in during the '08 election (turns out DE throws write-ins away), but a bit of the crazy is still there. Still, does the GOP have any contenders that aren't batsh*t crazy?

To be fair, any vote for president in Delaware is a throw-away. One of the most dependably Democratic electoral votes in the country.

Seth wrote:

Mitch Daniels has been sending some pretty strong signals that he doesn't want to run. Although I hate his abortion campaign, I respect his stance that social issues might have to be put on the backburner (he claims...as he crushes abortion funding, enacts gay marriage bans, and strengthens drug laws).

I am curious to see how he performs on a national level.

Gov. Daniels is also trying to break the Indiana teacher's union, although he's smart enough to leave the dirty work to his crony Tony Bennett, the IDOE Superintendent.

And Indiana is one of the few Midwestern states that hasn't been running deficits.

Trump is out. Big surprise there.

Dezlen wrote:

Trump is out. Big surprise there.

I was about as shocked and surprised to hear this as I was when I found out that the sun will be setting tonight.

Dezlen wrote:

Trump is out. Big surprise there.

There was a lot of speculation that his campaign was a publicity stunt.

A lot of folks suggested that there's no way he'd release his financials because he's not worth anywhere near what he claims to be worth.

Will we see 2 Mormons run for the GOP nomination?

Trump says he's out, but until we see the long-form announcement, can we be sure?

Again?

You guys seem too preoccupied with religion and ethnicity ,so I have an Idea for the GOP. They should nominate God for president ( Jesus might be a good choice but you won't get any Jewish votes).

I'm sure God can beat Obama and he won't say stuff and change his mind right after (he haven't said stuff for a while) . Then the think tanks in DC would try to figure out what's god's will and try to implement it. You won't really notice the difference.

Oh, right. The U.S. is more preoccupied with religion and ethnicity than your country. This is why we are going to seize Montreal from the Canadians and declare it our new religious capital, because people in Montreal are basically just Frenchmen who wandered into an area that by rights should be part of the United States.

There is no way Jesus will be able to overcome the powerful Israeli lobby.

Gorilla.800.lbs wrote:

There is no way Jesus will be able to overcome the powerful Israeli lobby.

But he's a native. Dual citizenship bro.

boogle wrote:

But he's a native. Dual citizenship bro.

Good luck getting Jesus to produce a birth certificate.

I'm probably going to vote Ron Paul. I think the Federal Reserves need to go pretty badly. I think there's a lot of bad things that will come with his presidency, like losing Medicare and Medicaid, but at the same time, I think his policies on foreign intervention and the federal reserves might actually give our country a fighting chance in the long run. My roommate thinks he'll get assassinated if it looks like he has a shot at winning, I thought that was pretty funny.