US Presidental Elections 2008

[Cail]

The notion that because defense is mentioned in the Constitution means that defense subsidies are not wealth redistribution has zero validity. If the Constitution provided for "the distribution of Wealth by the Government" that would not mean that it is not wealth redistribution. And the Constitution says nothing about subsidies. Funny, I don't hear libertarians and constructivists talking about that very often. In any event, when money is taken from a citizen in the form of a tax and then sent via check to a corporation, I don't see how that is not wealth redistribution, no matter what its intended (not necessarily actual) purpose may be.

That is an incredibly simplistic view. The government collecting money to perform its Constitutionally mandated duties is far different than transferring my taxes to your mortgage.

If you can't see a difference there, there's no point discussing this with you.

[Farsailer]

An excellent reason to vote against Democrats in general:

LINK

To summarize: House Democrats are talking about replacing 401k's with "mandatory" saver accounts that would be invested in "special government bonds" that earn 3%, thus removing any semblance of control from the taxpayer and building another money trough for the government to take from. Just wow... Another money grab from the little guy. What Obama wants to give the little guy, the House Dems want to take away. Due to the limits on 401k deductions ($15,500 per year no matter what your income is + $5000 per year in "catch-up" contributions for those 50+ years old), 401k's are a benefit that is heavily tilted toward the lower income brackets, especially with employer matching contributions.

[Avatar]

Not sure if I'm clear on the intent of your post, but shouldn't they be tilted toward the lower income brackets? (As the bracket least likely to have sufficient reserves for a safe retirement?)

--A

[Kinslaughterer]

www.huffingtonpost.com/greg-mitchell/fo ... 37522.html

UPDATE: Police Label McCain Worker 'Mutilation' a Hoax, Fox News VP Suggests McCain Campaign Is 'Over'
It has drawn wide local and national--even political attention, with some of the candidates for president/vice president weighing in or even calling -- but now the Ashley Todd story has fallen apart. Police in Pittsburgh are now charging her with making up a lavish hoax after finding "inconsistencies" in her story -- to say the least -- and gave the worker for John McCain a polygraph. She had claimed that an Obama fan carved a "B" into her face.

Earlier today, John Moody, executive vice president at Fox News, had commented on his blog that "this incident could become a watershed event in the 11 days before the election. If Ms. Todd's allegations are proven accurate, some voters may revisit their support for Senator Obama, not because they are racists (with due respect to Rep. John Murtha), but because they suddenly feel they do not know enough about the Democratic nominee.

"If the incident turns out to be a hoax, Senator McCain's quest for the presidency is over, forever linked to race-baiting."

He titled his posting: "Moment of Truth." Indeed. Matt Drudge, who had trumpeted the story for nearly 24 hours, quickly added a new link titled "B...or B.S.?"

It started yesterday afternoon with Drudge screaming at the top of his site this afternoon in red type -- but no siren -- that a Pittsburgh campaign worker for McCain, age 20, had been viciously attacked and the letter "B" carved into her face, presumably by a Barack Obama fan. Her name, it soon emerged, was Ashley Todd and she had come to Pittsburgh from College Station, Texas, to help out.

It appeared overblown (Drudge downgraded it to smaller, black type) as the police noted that it seemed to be a robbery ($60) and she did not seek medical attention. But later press reports said she would visit a hospital, Sarah Palin and maybe John McCain had reportedly called her and Obama has condemned the alleged assault, although McCain/Obama angle to story not yet confirmed.

Still later, conservative columnist Michelle Malkin, and some others, grew skeptical. For one thing, the "B" was carved a little too lightly and perfectly -- and backward, as if done using a mirror. Smoking Gun probed a too-pat "Twitter" angle and Gawker and Wonkette looked at her MySpace page.

Now police say that evidence from the ATM that she reportedly visited did not match her account. And it turns out she has changed her story, admitting that her assailant did not see a McCain bumper sticker and adding to he raccount a sexual assault and losing consciousness.

Just before the police declared the hoax AP reported "Pittsburgh police say a McCain campaign volunteer who said she was held down by a black man who cut the letter "B" in her face has changed her story. Police spokeswoman Diane Richard says investigators gave the 20-year-old woman a lie-detector test and are "looking at some inconsistencies" in her story.

"Police say bank surveillance footage doesn't show her at an ATM where she says she was attacked. Todd, who is white, now says she was knocked unconscious and doesn't remember being cut. She now says she only discovered the wound later."
*
Greg Mitchell is editor of Editor & Publisher and its hot new blog The E&P Pub. His latest book on Iraq and the media is titled "So Wrong for So Long."

[Zarathustra]

I am so tired of this election. I'm not voting for either major party, and I've stopped caring. The debates are over. The SNL jokes are getting old. I've been taking a break from the Tank for a while, because it just seems so pointless.

The guy in the White House has about 0.000001% of an effect on my destiny. I'm in charge. I'm my own President. I've actually been getting a lot of work done not debating with you guys! Politics suck. Later, dudes.

[Avatar]

Hahaha, Election year in the 'Tank is always rough. I can't wait til it's over and we can discuss something more interesting.

--A

[Zahir]

Myself, I've realized for a long time that the United States has been a socialist nation since the New Deal. And a good thing too! If the government feeding the hungry and healing the sick or preventing people from becoming desperately (i.e. dangerously) wretched is somehow Un-American, than being American is inherently an evil thing.

That is where I stand.

And for the record, I do not in fact believe helping the unfortunate is in any way "Un-American". Even if the government does it. In fact, I (and most voters) tend to vote for politicians who agree that such is a good idea.

[Kil Tyme]

I am so tired of this election. I'm not voting for either major party, and I've stopped caring. The debates are over. The SNL jokes are getting old. I've been taking a break from the Tank for a while, because it just seems so pointless.

The guy in the White House has about 0.000001% of an effect on my destiny. I'm in charge. I'm my own President. I've actually been getting a lot of work done not debating with you guys! Politics suck. Later, dudes.

haha That is what I told myself a couple months ago. BO or Mac wins, we all loose.

[Kinslaughterer]

Speak for yourselves...Many of us are happy to have Obama win.

[Lord Mhoram]

Speak for yourselves...Many of us are happy to have Obama win.

Word.

I've really come around with Obama. Like a lot of voters, I was extremely skeptical of him in the primaries. I voted for Hillary Clinton. I was really, really turned off by his comments about Pakistan. (I said so on the Watch; as I recall, Cail and I had a fun time beating him up for that. Heh.) I thought his healthcare plan was an effort to be too nuanced and separate himself from Clinton. Now I see him as an inspired and inspiring leader, whose leadership style (Cf. Colin Powell's articulate and thoughtful endorsement on Meet the Press for more on this) and indeed his policies are what our country needs. I fully support him and voted for him with pride.

[Kil Tyme]

I feel like that character in "The Dead Zone" who looks at the flakey presidential candidate running and says: "A real man of the people. Jesus, what an act. Can't they see through this guy?"

[Lord Mhoram]

Kil Tyme,

Welcome to my world (Bush).

[Plissken]

I happen to like the people Barak presents as a "Man of" on helluva lot better than the guy Bush tried to present as: Polished, literate, intellectually curious, thoughtful about the issues, willing to discuss opposing viewpoints - kinda reminds me of a 'Tank regular!

[aliantha]

LM, I voted for Hillary in the primary too, and I've also come around to supporting Obama strongly.

And yeah, I too wish the freakin' election was *over* already. We were talking about this at work yesterday. The hype started well over a year ago -- but even just counting from the (abnormally early) start of the primaries, we've been at this for about ten months. The US process just takes too bloody long.

[Kil Tyme]

The process is too long and it clearly doesn't work since the media picks the candidates now. 3rd party and others are rarely given the same coverage and, in this case, questionable activities of the front running candidates are ignored by most of the media, and favorable reports out-numbered one guy over the other by 4 to 1 (or somesuch). This is clearly a high school popularity contest rather than a presidential election process.

[Kinslaughterer]

Well, one candidate has blasted and blocked the media at every turn and prevented his vice president from giving virtually no meaningful interviews or press conferences. Secondarily, they've spent the last two weeks trying to raise the specter of communism from the cold ground. Why wasn't H.W. Bush shouting about socialism when Clinton raised taxes to the seem levels that Obama will?

Its looking like the Republicans might lose quite abit more than this election.

[SoulBiter]

The process is too long and it clearly doesn't work since the media picks the candidates now. 3rd party and others are rarely given the same coverage and, in this case, questionable activities of the front running candidates are ignored by most of the media, and favorable reports out-numbered one guy over the other by 4 to 1 (or somesuch). This is clearly a high school popularity contest rather than a presidential election process.

I dont believe that the media picks the candidate. Thats just sour grapes talking. If the media picked the candidate we would have had Kerry in the last election and Gore in the one before that. In the week leading up to the Bush/Kerry election, the media had Kerry ahead by double digits.

[Cail]

You're kidding yourself if you don't believe that the media picks the candidates (if not necessarily who actually wins).

[SoulBiter]

You're kidding yourself if you don't believe that the media picks the candidates (if not necessarily who actually wins).

Sorry.. I dont see it. I think you are being overly pessimistic. If you had said that the media has an impact on who will get chosen from the list of names that have thrown their name in the hat? I would say that they indeed have an impact. They can choose to cover some candidates over others.

[Cail]

They can and do decide who gets coverage. No coverage=no chance.