Florida State Seminoles

[Hizzy III]

Hedgeworth strikes again.

[Bklyn]

Is Mitt ready?

http://www.economist.com/blogs/democrac ... fsrc=gn_ep

Mystery Money: How SuperPACs are in the game

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/02/us/po ... crecy.html

[Bklyn]

I originally neglected to recognize that Romney's Mormon problem is not due to people (Evangelicals, particularly) being suspicious or disdainful of the religion. After thinking about it, I realize it's more along the lines of how many Mormons (particularly ones in high ranks within the church, like Mitt) structure their lives, contributing to the vibe that Mitt is battling against now.

I used to play ball in a Mormon church after work with some friends and coworkers. Every once in a while a couple other young cats from the church would walk into the gym and get some run in. It was like playing during a filming of "Happy Days." They would make a bad play or miss a chippy and yell "gee willikers! Gosh! My stars!"

It was like hooping with a black comedian pretending to be a white member of the audience.

They shun swearing. No premarital sex. They don't do R rated movies. No alcohol. Caffeine is too powerful for them. They often have an interpersonal wall that is not easily lowered for them to connect in the general, secular ways you would need to in order to do very well in national politics.

Romneys "poor" comment was not too far from Obama's "bibles and guns" comment...but the fallout will be worse for a guy with the general Q Rating that Romney has.

It's not impossible for Romney to get over that hump, but he has a general corniness (saying "Whoomp, there it is???" at one point recently...wtf says that nowadays?) that pushes him even farther out.

The more I watch him, the less I believe this hurdle will not go away.

[hedge]

Romney is a dork, plain and simple. Bush was a dork, too, but at least he did blow and drank. That counts for alot. Romney doesn't even have that. Whether it's b/c of his mormonism or not, he's too much of a dork to get elected. He'll get alot of votes just b/c of the general repub voter backlash against Obama (which would be there no matter who the president was, as long as it was a Dem), but he'll never get enough of the crucial middle bloc who don't hate Obama just b/c he's a Dem. It won't be a landslide for Obama, but it won't be in doubt. He'll win very comfortably. If this group is the best the repubs can trot out, they deserve to lose, which is exactly what's going to happen...

[eCat]

I've never met a mormon I didn't like

Remember when Romney was saying his father was born in Mexico? Well the reason why was his grand dad went there to escape polygamy charges. Not sure if he ever practiced it but he wasn't too keen on the law telling him he couldn't.

As desperate as Santorum and Gingrich are, I can't believe they didn't push that into the general public.

[hedge]

I was watching some show last night, the commentator said it's a shame that Romney can't share his fambly story with everybody, b/c it really is one of overcoming adversity and pulling oneself up by the bootstraps (not Romney himself, but his ancestors). But of course, Romney can't bring them up at all because of the dread specter of polygamy, which is of course the first thing everyone will think of as soon as he mentions his grandpappy. Ultimately, that's probably the only reason I like the guy. Great-great grandpappy was tap-tap-tappying 6 women, unashamedly. I like that, even though they were probably all hoop-skirt and bonnet-wearing hags. And I like the fact that he wasn't going to let the government tell him he couldn't. Ironically enough, that is truly a conservative principle, i.e., I ain't hurting anybody else so the government needs to keep their nose out of my bidness. But nobody but Ron Paul has balls enough to say so. Certainly not Romney...

[hedge]

[youtube]GFcuAPjBpiA[/youtube]

[sardis]

I don't know, it's hard for me to believe a guy goes through Harvard at the top of his class and becomes the main power broker at a venture capital fund without scoring some premarital and extramarital honey or sealing deals over heavy drinks along the way. My feeling is he's trying to put on a front that says, I'm good enough to be a family values guy to make the evangelicals pull for me all the while nervously waiting for that one bimbo to come out in public and make it all come crashing down...

[Bklyn]

I think Romney is extremely smart, disciplined and ruthless. That's why he did well with Bain Consulting and ultimately Bain Capital. It doesn't mean he gives warm and fuzzies. Bain was about results. People hired them for consultation because they were hard driven and got shit done. People put money to work with the PE guys because of the yield.

I don't know if Romney procured anything by using his soft skills.

[eCat]

The daily show pointed out that they used Dade international in a leverage buyout to secure them a loan, took the loan money as a dividend and as a result , Dade filed for bankruptcy 2 years later.

Its not against the law because Dade was able to stay solvent for 2 years.

[eCat]

Speaking of Ron Paul and heroin, the government is now considering regulating sugar which they say has an addictive property that ultimately rewires the brain.

Think Americans will stand for sugar to be regulated and taxed as a sin consumption?

Of course tobacco users probably thought it wouldn't happen to them.

Whiskey Rebellion started it all

[sardis]

I was watching some show last night, the commentator said it's a shame that Romney can't share his fambly story with everybody, b/c it really is one of overcoming adversity and pulling oneself up by the bootstraps (not Romney himself, but his ancestors). But of course, Romney can't bring them up at all because of the dread specter of polygamy, which is of course the first thing everyone will think of as soon as he mentions his grandpappy. Ultimately, that's probably the only reason I like the guy. Great-great grandpappy was tap-tap-tappying 6 women, unashamedly. I like that, even though they were probably all hoop-skirt and bonnet-wearing hags. And I like the fact that he wasn't going to let the government tell him he couldn't. Ironically enough, that is truly a conservative principle, i.e., I ain't hurting anybody else so the government needs to keep their nose out of my bidness. But nobody but Ron Paul has balls enough to say so. Certainly not Romney...

Isn't Ron Paul anti-abortion?

[eCat]

personally he is,

but his political stance is it's not a federal issue.

The states would decide whether they support it

[sardis]

But his position is kind of a federal issue is it not? Right now, federal law restricts states from outlawing the practice. Don't you have to legislate out Roe v. Wade to give states the freedom to decide?

[Bklyn]

yes

[eCat]

yes, and he would do that...if he can

[sardis]

I guess the question is, what is the true Libertarian view on abortion from a federal perspective? To have a hands off approach on states and let them write their own rules or is it the federal government's job to protect the individual from too much intrusion by a state authority?

[eCat]

I don't know, I can only tell you that libertarians have a belief that you have some say in the state government and if you don't like the laws of your state you can choose to move to one that is more in line with your values - so moving issues to the state level specifically not addressed in the constitution is less intrusive than a federal mandate.

That is one of the things I really like about Ron Paul. Personally the guy doesn't like gays, abortion or anything else that a 71 year old man of his generation wouldn't care for but he so strongly believes in personal liberty that he would never consider some social mandate. I believe he finds Rick Santorum and Michelle Bachman more repugnant than the other candidates because they have no qualms about these types of federal mandates, believing they know whats best for everyone.

Sometimes that belief works against him, such as his views on civil rights. I'm sure he personally thinks it is morally wrong to deny a man or woman entrance to a public establishment based on their race, religions or any other factor, but his personal liberty beliefs take precedent over that. He believes , for example, that if you decide to open up a diner, then you can decide who you want to serve or not serve. Its *YOUR* diner. I think he fully understands the dangers of that to a nation as a whole but still believes that protecting individual property is key to individual rights.

Barry Goldwater - the man that inspired Ronald Reagan, held similar believes and voted against the 1964 civil rights act primarily because the law dissolved individual property owner rights. Of course Goldwater got the nomination and was killed in the election, even Gingrich was espousing that he was a Rockefeller republican in the late 80's because Goldwater's stance was considered toxic to progressive republicans. That mindset gave way to the neocons - who are 1. big government. 2. War hawks. 3. Social "conservatives" which really is an oxymoron

One thing I hate is that you never own your property in this country. Once you pay off your house, you will still be held responsible for property taxes which means you can never be a truly free resident in this country.

[aTm]

Freedom isn't free, gotta toss in your buck o five.

[eCat]

This was classic daily show last night

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-f ... or-pee-ple