Ah, that’s right. I’d forgotten about the DailyKOS postings.
Obama was trending very strongly, if nothing changed the race was over, so liberals very much wanted the debates to mean nothing. Of course they had a different tune when Kenedy beat the stuffing out of Romney, but hey that’s politics, right?
Anyway, Romney had a great night and so far it is paying off, but sadly Obama is still the incumbent and thus he has a tremendous advantage. If Biden blows it (a real possibility) AND Obama blows it again AND the European economy falls off a cliff then Romney has a chance, otherwise it is lights out.
The political scientists haven’t gone that far, just that the effects are pretty small compared to other factors.
Clay
2044
Lies lies lies lies lies. This shit makes me sick. Be a fucking man, not some lying dipshit asshole: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/10/scott-desjarlais-abortion-pro-life_n_1953136.html
WarrenM
2045
Wow, a lying hypocrite … I’M SHOCKED!
Timex
2046
A pro-life, family-values congressman who worked as a doctor before winning election as a Tea Party-backed Republican had an affair with a patient and later pressured her to get an abortion, according to a phone call transcript obtained by The Huffington Post.
This is like a made up story that they tell you in freshman ethics classes as an extreme example of what unethical means.
W_Wiley
2047
Naw, it just means child support really leaves a wicked mark.
Well, generally you can’t. Look at the % swing in the polls from a given pollster.
I hear that Tea Party politicians have a natural defense against … nah, too easy.
Alstein
2050
Wow, he was the Baseball Prospectus guy as well, I used to love that site.
Dave Siegel, CEO of Westgate Resorts, sent a memo to his employees telling them directly that voting for Obama is a quick way to get fired.
So where am I going with all this? It’s quite simple. If any new taxes are levied on me, or my company, as our current President plans, I will have no choice but to reduce the size of this company. Rather than grow this company I will be forced to cut back. This means fewer jobs, less benefits and certainly less opportunity for everyone.
So, when you make your decision to vote, ask yourself, which candidate understands the economics of business ownership and who doesn’t? Whose policies will endanger your job? Answer those questions and you should know who might be the one capable of protecting and saving your job. While the media wants to tell you to believe the “1 percenters” are bad, I’m telling you they are not. They create most of the jobs. If you lose your job, it won’t be at the hands of the “1%”; it will be at the hands of a political hurricane that swept through this country.
You see, I can no longer support a system that penalizes the productive and gives to the unproductive. My motivation to work and to provide jobs will be destroyed, and with it, so will your opportunities. If that happens, you can find me in the Caribbean sitting on the beach, under a palm tree, retired, and with no employees to worry about.
When it was pointed out that the memo text looked suspiciously like a fake email that had made the rounds in 2008, Gawker called Siegel who confirmed it’s authenticity and even reiterated what he meant.
Well, we just got off the phone with David Siegel, who told us the letter below is real, and that it was sent out to all of his employees yesterday. “I did use the letter that had circulated before as a guideline, but I changed it [to fit my circumstances],” he told us. “It speaks the truth and it gives [employees] something to think about when they go to the polls.” He also said that its threats of possible layoffs are real, based on his assessment of the political and economic climate.
It’s always fascinating to witness such spectacles. No matter how rich you are, that certainly doesn’t protect you from a case of the stupids. “Hey, I’m not making quite as much profit, so I should shrink my business and make even less money!”
Clay
2053
It seems like employer voting coercion should be illegal.
How is it not illegal? He’s essentially telling people to vote at his direction or they’re fired.
It’s political speech to a pretty much captive audience, but in the US union-busting employers (sadly) are legally allowed to require attendance at anti-union “educational” meetings, and this is substantially less obnoxious–one can just delete the email (or quietly roll one’s eyes and think “yeah, right!”).
EDIT: Now I have heard of a-hole bosses that single out employees for abuse/harassment for having a bumper sticker on their car or something. I would hope that that would be illegal in most places (but in the US, wouldn’t be surprised if it weren’t).
prolix
2056
On the stump in Iowa Tuesday, Mitt Romney revealed that he met former Navy SEAL Glen Doherty at a holiday party some years ago. Doherty is one of four Americans killed during the September 11th attack on the American consulate in Benghazi.
Romney’s story started out lighthearted, as he recounted how he and Ann mistook a holiday gathering across the street for their neighborhood party, and he ended up talking to Doherty. “He skied in some of the places I had. We had a lot of things in common,” Romney said of Doherty. Both men are from Massachusetts.
“He told me that he keeps going back to the Middle East. He cares very deeply about the people there. He served in the military there, went back from time to time to offer security services and so forth to people there. You can imagine how I felt when I found out that he was one of the two former Navy SEALS killed in Benghazi on September 11th.”
A friend of Doherty’s remembers this event differently.
“He said it was very comical,” Ellefsen said, “Mitt Romney approached him ultimately four times, using this private gathering as a political venture to further his image. He kept introducing himself as Mitt Romney, a political figure. The same introduction, the same opening line. Glen believed it to be very insincere and stale.”
Ellefsen said Doherty remembered Romney as robotic.
“He said it was pathetic and comical to have the same person come up to you within only a half hour, have this person reintroduce himself to you, having absolutely no idea whatsoever that he just did this 20 minutes ago, and did not even recognize Glen’s face.”
Doherty’s mother is less than pleased by her son being used by Romney.
I don’t trust Romney. He shouldn’t make my son’s death part of his political agenda. It’s wrong to use these brave young men, who wanted freedom for all, to degrade Obama.
Hazard
2058
So it is coercion to say:
- If Obama is elected, he has promised to raise my taxes.
- If my Taxes are raised, I will take steps to maintain my income.
- Those steps include laying off employees and/or closing out my business here in the US and moving it elsewhere.
- Elections have consequences. “Hope,” “Change” and “Forward” do not put food on the table. Keep that in mind when you go to vote.
Are you offended that he would exercise his free speech to tell you his future intentions. Should he simply take his income being reduced while people around him play lower rates, or even pay no federal taxes ? Adding salt to the wound are promised to maintain or increase a number of programs while showing zero chance of serious budgetary reform .
In an era of yearly trillion dollar deficits do we really need increased spending? The only proposed cuts in Obama’s budget are to bring " discretionary spending to its lowest level as a share of the economy in more than 50 years." We are projected to run a deficit of $1.1 Trillion this year. Even if we cut all discretionary spending by 80% we would still be in the red. Of course that discretionary spending includes those crazy programs like Military, Education, Government, Transportation, Food & Agriculture, Science…etc… That leaves tax increases as the only other way to close that gap. Alternatively, we could just kick the can down the road and make our kids pay back our debts with interest while we reap benefits they will never touch.
At the end of the day, this guy voluntarily operates his business. Yes, it would be a prick move for him to shut it down simply because Obama got re-elected, but that is his choice. When the lynchpin of Obama’s campaign is making sure those in the “1%” (anyone over “250,000”) pay their “fair share”, which just so happens to be at a rate significantly higher than their fellow countryman, you can expect some animosity. You would have to be stupid to take the kind of risks associated with opening up or operating small business with little to no reward. I think any budgetary plan that counts on someone taking those risks merely because if feels good, rather than having it pay off, is doomed for failure.
Yes, it is coercion. That’s pretty much the definition: “do this, or else that will happen.” Nobody here mentioned being offended aside from you. I think it’s* beyond idiotic, but that’s just me.
*edited to clarify this is not referring to the above post, but rather the notion of closing down your business because you might pay more in taxes.
“That’s a really nice job you have there. Be a shame if anything happened to it.”
