Palin Begins Exploratory Bus Tour: To Anchorage or Bust

DSGamer wrote:
Pigpen wrote:

(ok...I'd need some shots as well...I really despise both those women...I mean, for f*&^ sake, they are trying to make me vote Dem in the next presidential election...sigh...heretics...burn the witches...etc...ad inf...)

Yeah. This is the kind of thing where my frustration with Obama runs into a brick wall of fear of one of these two being president. Are there any reasonable conservatives out there?

The answer to that question is "yes", assuming you don't add "who have a chance in hell of getting the nomination" to the end of your sentence. Then it's a huge, screaming "NOOOO".

MilkmanDanimal wrote:
DSGamer wrote:
Pigpen wrote:

(ok...I'd need some shots as well...I really despise both those women...I mean, for f*&^ sake, they are trying to make me vote Dem in the next presidential election...sigh...heretics...burn the witches...etc...ad inf...)

Yeah. This is the kind of thing where my frustration with Obama runs into a brick wall of fear of one of these two being president. Are there any reasonable conservatives out there?

The answer to that question is "yes", assuming you don't add "who have a chance in hell of getting the nomination" to the end of your sentence. Then it's a huge, screaming "NOOOO".

If you're looking for a conservative, you might want to check the current resident of the White House. Obama is by most reasonable standards a center right politician.

Fair enough. I meant a conservative who also liked the Constituon and wouldn't sign extensions to the Patriot Act.

DSGamer wrote:

Fair enough. I meant a conservative who also liked the Constituon and wouldn't sign extensions to the Patriot Act.

Then no.

DSGamer wrote:

Fair enough. I meant a conservative who also liked the Constituon and wouldn't sign extensions to the Patriot Act.

I'm not sure they exist.

Let's find a goodjer to run for President. I would stump for Tenemen, or possibly Paleo. I think Paleo could get far on the "get off my lawn parking spot" ticket.

KrazyTacoFO wrote:
DSGamer wrote:

Fair enough. I meant a conservative who also liked the Constituon and wouldn't sign extensions to the Patriot Act.

Then no.

That make me sad. Ignoring the Bill of Rights isn't "conservative" by my definition. It's what conservatism has embraced, but not what it "is".

Optimist: Palin would stand absolutely no chance of winning.

Pessimist: Neither did Bush Jr.

I think we dismiss any candidate at our own peril. Whether Palin would win or not, the fact that she could actually run at all should tell us something. I see this election as a nice parallel to the 2004 election: the Republicans can win it easily if they run someone respectable. If they pull out their Kerry analog, it's Obama's.

LobsterMobster wrote:

I think we dismiss any candidate at our own peril. Whether Palin would win or not, the fact that she could actually run at all should tell us something. I see this election as a nice parallel to the 2004 election: the Republicans can win it easily if they run someone respectable. If they pull out their Kerry analog, it's Obama's.

I think pretty much everyone would agree with that--it's not that Obama is in any way unbeatable; he's managed to be disappointing to all sorts of people. The issue is the GOP appears to be incapable of fielding a candidate who is within several hundred miles of sanity. I don't think the current party structure is capable of nominating someone who doesn't appeal to the whackjobs, and that's going to drive away independents and hand the election to Obama.

MilkmanDanimal wrote:

I don't think the current party structure is capable of nominating someone who doesn't appeal to the whackjobs, and that's going to drive away independents and hand the election to Obama.

Exactly. I'm a moderate, with some slightly left leaning social policy tendancies, and have voted for both Republicans and Democrats. But with how far right the Republicans are, I do not see any semblance of someone I would vote for.

New CNN article on Palin this morning.

As of now, Palin has a skeleton political staff, at best, and her unconventional use of Facebook and Fox has some consultants scratching their heads.

"I don't think she has much if any political strategy," said the GOP consultant. "I don't mind her ideologically. But I think she is operationally a complete disaster."

DSGamer wrote:
KrazyTacoFO wrote:
DSGamer wrote:

Fair enough. I meant a conservative who also liked the Constituon and wouldn't sign extensions to the Patriot Act.

Then no.

That make me sad. Ignoring the Bill of Rights isn't "conservative" by my definition. It's what conservatism has embraced, but not what it "is".

The only part of the Bill of Rights conservatives believe in are your right to be Christian and your right to carry a gun with you...everywhere. Everything else is that sissy ACLU stuff.

KrazyTacoFO wrote:

Good article on Palin.

That article pointed out something I've been thinking for ages -- if Palin thinks she's been hounded by the "lamestream media" just wait until she starts getting it from the right.

momgamer wrote:

I was trying to figure out why a trip to Anchorage from Wasilla was such a big deal; it's like 30 miles. ;)

Well, we all know what her geography is like.

OG_slinger wrote:

The only part of the Bill of Rights conservatives believe in are your right to be Christian and your right to carry a gun with you...everywhere. Everything else is that sissy ACLU stuff.

IMAGE(http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g81/ziffel66/forum/repub-jesus.jpg)

WWRJD? Apparently, he'd shoot wildlife from a helicopter.

...Why does he have a swastika? Is that Jesus or Manson?

Best. Jesus. Picture. Ever.

Dr.Ghastly wrote:

...Why does he have a swastika? Is that Jesus or Manson?

Good catch. I didn't even notice that. If I had to guess, I would say that the idea was probably that of aryan race supremacy.

Jeff-66 wrote:

New CNN article on Palin this morning.

As of now, Palin has a skeleton political staff, at best, and her unconventional use of Facebook and Fox has some consultants scratching their heads.

"I don't think she has much if any political strategy," said the GOP consultant. "I don't mind her ideologically. But I think she is operationally a complete disaster."

The fact is that Palin simply doesn't think any of this stuff she's doing requires a lot of forethought, planning, or research. All through the 2008 campaign and after, everything she does come off with an air of "I'll just do this off the top of my head, and no one will question me!" Frankly, if I were still a card-carrying Republican, the complete lack of genuine interest and effort she shows would be completely insulting to me. She's taken Hillary Clinton's "Why aren't I already President yet?" attitude and married it with Bush Jr's "Why are people asking me about things that happened more than two seconds ago, and why aren't they letting me blow it off?!" rhetorical strategy. She is this thing that only makes us look {ableist slur} as a country for giving her a microphone and a camera to capture the drippings of her stupidity.

5 seconds before Paleo scolds The Lord for poor trigger discipline.

Seth wrote:

Let's find a goodjer to run for President. I would stump for Tenemen, or possibly Paleo. I think Paleo could get far on the "get off my lawn parking spot" ticket.

As a naturalized citizen, the closest I'd legally be able to get would be Secretary of State a la Henry Kissinger. As a fellow aggressive realist, I actually find the comparison ironic.

Paleocon wrote:
Seth wrote:

Let's find a goodjer to run for President. I would stump for Tenemen, or possibly Paleo. I think Paleo could get far on the "get off my lawn parking spot" ticket.

As a naturalized citizen, the closest I'd legally be able to get would be Secretary of State a la Henry Kissinger. As a fellow aggressive realist, I actually find the comparison ironic.

Arnie will find a way to fix that. Give it time ...

garion333 wrote:
Paleocon wrote:
Seth wrote:

Let's find a goodjer to run for President. I would stump for Tenemen, or possibly Paleo. I think Paleo could get far on the "get off my lawn parking spot" ticket.

As a naturalized citizen, the closest I'd legally be able to get would be Secretary of State a la Henry Kissinger. As a fellow aggressive realist, I actually find the comparison ironic.

Arnie will find a way to fix that. Give it time ...

Not after the illegitimate kid and losing the Kennedy cred. Plus is it just me or is the women he had the kid with really ugly?

Nevin73 wrote:
garion333 wrote:
Paleocon wrote:
Seth wrote:

Let's find a goodjer to run for President. I would stump for Tenemen, or possibly Paleo. I think Paleo could get far on the "get off my lawn parking spot" ticket.

As a naturalized citizen, the closest I'd legally be able to get would be Secretary of State a la Henry Kissinger. As a fellow aggressive realist, I actually find the comparison ironic.

Arnie will find a way to fix that. Give it time ...

Not after the illegitimate kid and losing the Kennedy cred. Plus is it just me or is the women he had the kid with really ugly?

Hmm, I kinda thought both of those things made him more candidate-worthy...

I don't think it's fair or productive to say that Palin stands for all conservatives, nor do I think it's fair or productive to say that Republican Jesus is a neo-Nazi with an assault rifle.

The Republicans do have good ideas and a good platform. They just aren't the most popular or prevalent ideas or platform right now.

The fact is that what we're seeing now, this influx of Palins and Trumps and whargarbl is not a sign that those silly Republicans are throwing a fit and the rest of America can just sit around and wait till they're ready to play again. It's a sign that things are in serious trouble here. If we have a two-party system where one party isn't actually competing, then Obama can do whatever he pleases, and he has. Like Milkman said, he's not unbeatable and he has disappointed many of his supporters. If the right can't offer him a challenger that's more than a punchline, why would that ever change? And if Obama is - despite the accusations of him being "the most liberal liberal ever to liberal a liberal" - pushing a moderate-to-conservative agenda, why would the right want it to change?

There is nothing more politically useful than getting precisely what you want without giving up the right to be angry about it.

LobsterMobster wrote:

It's a sign that things are in serious trouble here. If we have a two-party system where one party isn't actually competing, then Obama can do whatever he pleases, and he has.

I am inclined to be more progressive than real-world conservatives, but I am not happy about their absence from the political stage. Reminds me of this classic post: I Miss Republicans.

LobsterMobster wrote:

The Republicans do have good ideas and a good platform.

Do they? The only platform I seem to hear any more is "Obama is a socialist from Kenya or wherever and we hate everything he does! Even things we were for a couple of years ago!" If they had ideas and wanted to actually do something except sit on the sidelines and moan, we'd have more than fame-junkies and third-stringers trying for the job.

edosan wrote:
LobsterMobster wrote:

The Republicans do have good ideas and a good platform.

Do they? The only platform I seem to hear any more is "Obama is a socialist from Kenya or wherever and we hate everything he does! Even things we were for a couple of years ago!" If they had ideas and wanted to actually do something except sit on the sidelines and moan, we'd have more than fame-junkies and third-stringers trying for the job.

I'm with Lobster here. There's plenty of intelligent, reasonable ways to be both fiscally and (even though i'm not) socially conservative. But the party decided, post-2008 that the reason they lost was that they weren't angry and right-wing enough. Thus, our current state of affairs.

That said, Jesus Christ, please don't let Palin run. If I have to take that much advil, I might die.

My wife and I watched "Fair Game" last night. It's the story about the Valerie Plame outing. My country makes me sad sometimes.......