Mitt Romney won the non-binding who-gives-a-shit Washington State Republican Caucus last night. Ron Paul came in second, edging out Santorum by one point. Some Paul supporters probably ended up getting seated as Romney delegates and will cross over at the state convention, giving Paul a couple more delegates at the national convention as well as letting his army of Paulites continue to dream about a coup from within. Turnout was so low that a couple of reporters for the Stranger were the sole members of their precinct’s caucus and got automatic tickets to the Republican convention.
In short, none of the participants were excited about the winning candidate, hardly anybody turned out, and the whole thing was run like a PTA election rather than an event sponsored by a functioning political party. Other than that, it was exactly like a replay of the 2008 Clinton v Obama contest.
scav
Well, how did you like the Caucus Mrs. Republican?
Villago Delenda Est
I assume that we can see a thundering round of VICTORY! as the result of this strategically significant VICTORY! for OvenMitt.
The enthusiasm. It’s underwhelming.
geg6
Jeebus. The contrast with the 2008 Democratic primaries could not possibly be any more stark.
No wonder George Will has already thrown in the towel.
geg6
OT, but holy fuck. Nooners is drunker than usual on the Snuffleupagus show.
lamh35
I thought Ron Paul was “Mr. Caucus”. He hasn’t won one yet has he? So his voters are way motivated, but they aren’t large in number to beat Romney at these caucuses?
I know we are supposed to be underestimating Ron Paul’s voters, but where is the power they were supposed to weild? The few articles I actually read about Ron Paul’s voters is that the majority of them who are more Dem/Independent leaning would vote for Obama in the general if they actually went to the polls I guess.
without these Paul voters, Obama is still coming ahead of the GOP candidates, so I guess its the GOP who should be more afraid of Paulites???
ETA: btw, I think it’s funny that people are touting Romney’s big lead in VA…especially since the only 2 people on the ballot is Romney and Ron Paul…oh really Romney’s beating Ron Paul…Quelle suprise?
samara morgan
Ron Paul is 76 years old and has been running for president for 20 years.
there was all this Ron Paul rEVOLUTION in 2008, and this capture the convention bulshytt failed back then.
/yawn
Keith
This is good news for the ’12 stealth candidate….John McCain!
lamh35
@lamh35: Oh and Cantor’s endorsement of Romney, who else was he gonna endorse…it’s either Romney or Ron Paul in the primary.
Cantor’s endorsement don’t mean diddly squat.
Nikita
Ugh. Newt Gingrich is at this moment currently on ALL three network Sunday morning news shows. Just awesome.
ETA: Can’t the program directors on ABC, CBS and NBC come to a deal where they shuffle their programming so that he’s not on at the same time on ALL three channels?
cermet
@Nikita: So much for the so-called liberal media … . How in the fuck is that legal if he is running?
Steve in DC
I’m voting Paul in our primary… cause it’s VA and well, for the laughs I guess.
As for Paul, he’s not running to win anything. I think people forget just what the fuck is actually going on here. So bear with me for a bit because Democrats and Republicans should be shitting their pants over this.
I’m 31. I’m a 31 year old white male, military veteran, IT worker, who lives in Arlington County one block over the bridge from Georgetown. I live in rich land so to speak. Anybody who’s familiar with the DC area knows how pricey it is. What is the view from my apartment… well I can drive golf balls into the fucking Iwo Jima memorial or from my roof, on a good night, through the apartment complex people like Condi Rice live in. I used to live in the hood here as well. The kind of place that murders and stabbings happen so often they don’t even make the news. The place where you freak out and don’t use the fucking ATM because it doesn’t work and if you tried your ass is getting mugged shortly after.
And what do I see from EVERYBODY in my age group and younger, well here it is folks. We spent most of our adult lives, you know where you become politically aware, under Bush. We were told non stop “if you only put a Democrat in the White House GITMO will go away, we won’t bomb people, we won’t bail out banks and put profits over people, we won’t shred the constitution, the drug war will end, and all will be well in the world”… so we did… and we got Obama, who has well, bombed more places, killed Americans, shredded the constitution more, helped the banks, blah blah blah… ie SHIT GOT WORSE.
So for us, a generation who’s lives have been dominated by war, the drug war, and corporate/public crooked deals, yeah, both parties fucking suck just as much here.
That’s where Paul is coming from and that’s where his support stems from. The serious sense that things are insanely fucked up, the house is on fire, and not a damn one of these fucks has any interest in even trying to solve it and we are instead stuck debating “more gasoline or propane please”.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Paul’s a libertarian (in theory granted) so the Democratic party has no higher ground here on social issues. But what they SHOULD HAVE, is social security and medicare. The party of “yeah we both suck but you won’t starve in the streets with us”. But they aren’t making the case. Instead the Democrats go with, “well we can’t afford it, so cut social security, and cut taxes, shared sacrifice”, so most of us don’t think we will ever get it. At which point, why not kill it now and kill off the greedy old fuckers that voted for less taxes and are now living off our buck. It’s not like the Democrats want to make social security stronger so it will be there for us.
That is the case they should make. And that is the true liberal case here. But it’s not being made.
As such, Paul’s message of “all these assholes are corrupt, let’s just burn it down before they can fuck things up more” works.
I’d say Obama and the DNC can make a case and capture my generation if they tax rich, build social programs, and do it with pride. But if they won’t, yeah, welcome to the generation of libertarians.
samara morgan
@Steve in DC: sample of one.
i simply dont believe you.
Steve in DC
I speak for everyone in my age group I’ve talked to.
Not all of them are Paultards. But keep in mind that the amount of independents is growing. There is a good reason for that.
cathyx
@Steve in DC: Please Steve, don’t respond to her.
cathyx
@Steve in DC: If Paul were a stronger candidate, I could see him getting a lot of traction. Perhaps the 2016 election will respond to what you’re saying, but with an outsider.
samara morgan
@Steve in DC: you fucking stupid frog, look up from your mudpatch.
this shit isnt going down in a vacumn.
if Obama loses because of the retarded ron paul rEVOLUTION then Israel is going to strike Qom with the blessing of Romney or whoever and guess what that means?
Slaughter of every american troop, embassy worker and Xe/CIA merc that MENA citizens can get their hands on.
that is why Bibi wants to strike without warning its nominal ally America.
to drag us kicking and screaming into WWIII.
the only thing saving us right now is that Bibi isnt sure he can fuck with american politics enough to guarantee Obama loses.
but you paultards are helping him out.
Steve in DC
@cathyx
He’s a week candidate but a good messenger on a few things. That’s why young voters for whom adult life has been “war on drugs, war in Iraq, go go go” actually support him.
Paul’s horrible because of things like “gold standard” and “death to social security”. But what I do like, and I do hope happens, is we get a Democratic, third party, hell I don’t care fuck it a Republican, who can run and win on a platform of not going to war and ending the war on drugs… that also will support social security and medical care.
This should be GOLD for the Democrats, but they don’t seem willing, sadly.
lamh35
Hmm so Momma Bush doing robocalls for Romney in OH, but original Romney script including references to POTUS, but Momma Bush either refused to say the parts about POTUS and had them change it from the orginal.
Hmmm wonder what that means?
http://www.buzzfeed.com/zekejmiller/barbara-bush-robocalls-for-romney-in-ohio
samara morgan
@cathyx: shut up hag.
get Cole to ban me again why dontcha.
;)
BO_Bill
To augment Steve in DC’s valid point, another of Ron Paul’s noteworthy attributes is that he is the only candidate with a standing army.
Steve in DC
@BO_Bill
I don’t think it’s his army though. It’s the army of no war, no drug war, quit being cocksuckers and liars.
ANY candidate can grab that. I hope for a DEMOCRATIC candidate that does that and adds in “more taxes for more social security starting at age 55, more education, free medical care, and more investment in science”, but I don’t see that happening.
cathyx
@Steve in DC: I would love a candidate like that too.
lamh35
George Will Mocks ‘Depressing’ GOP Response To Rush Limbaugh
(with a little bit of false equivalence thrown in)
Amir Khalid
@samara morgan:
Did you stop taking your meds again?
geg6
@Steve in DC:
If you think Paul has some sort of libertarian social view, you are an idiot. I don’t care where you live or what you do for a living or anything else. You are a lazy thinker and a lazy voter and what you have to say, based on what you just wrote, isn’t to be taken seriously. I suppose you think he’ll let you smoke dope, too.
Jeebus. Even my college students can see reality better than you can. They’ve already figured out what a sham your hero is.
cathyx
@lamh35: Hah! Both sides do it George Will.
Amanda in the South Bay
Wow, white male IT worker who says he’s voting for Paul…colour me surprised.Better trolls please.
geg6
@Amir Khalid:
Sorry, but on this issue, she is correct. Anyone who would even consider Ron Paul some sort of libertarian hero is too stupid to even be allowed to vote.
And that’s just what my students have told me about the Paulbots.
Steve in DC
@geg6
no I don’t at all, that’s why I said “libertarian in theory”. I’m only gag voting for him in the R primary here because it’s him or Mittins and I’d like to see the circus go on to show the world what sort of idiots these people are.
Nice personal attacks though. Always a winner. I bow before your blithering insults.
geg6
@Amanda in the South Bay:
This. Heh.
A white, male IT worker who once lived in the hood, no less.
lamh35
@Steve in DC< I quibble a little bit with your statement in only one thing, when you say "young voters" it's mainly young "white" voters you mean.
There is not as much diversity in Paul's crowd as some like to tout. Majority of Young AA and Hispanic voters I know are steadfastly supportive of Obama.
So yeah, I think Ron Paul does speak well to a lot of young white voters for which things like the "War on Drugs" reads something much more different in the Black and Hispanic community.
doofus
@Amanda in the South Bay: Also a government worker or contractor. The stereotypes write themselves.
Ben Franklin
@Steve in DC:
It’s the activists (Tea Party) gumming up the works for the GOP. The activists vs Pragmatists. The GOP is letting them call the shots, and we see the sad results.
It’s important to keep perspective. Go ahead and vote Paul in the Primary. Have your say by screwing the pooch of the other party. In the General, stay with Obama. A 2nd term may bring fruits you desire. Not all, but some.
Amir Khalid
@geg6:
m_c is certainly correct about Ron Paul, and I don’t really see Steve in DC disputing that. It is her rude and dismissive reply to him that seems at odds with her relatively civil behavior of the past few days.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@lamh35:
Wow. That’s actually kind of beautiful. As for The Left and its (our) unpoliced excesses. Who’s he referring to? the eternal question, I suppose.
I’m not positive, but I think this is the first time Romney has won by a margin larger than the Gingrich vote.
Steve in DC
Because voting in a primary means you’d vote for someone in a general or you support them. Better tell all the Democrats that voted Santorum in those recent primaries to also help continue the joke.
So… is voting for Mittens in the primary here in VA better? Cause you know, only him and Paul are on the ballot.
You guys are so ready to rush to insult and judge not a damn one of you has realized I said “in the primary” and “libertarian in theory”… read people READ.
samara morgan
@Amir Khalid: lets call a spade a spade here.
any vote for anyone other than Obama is a vote for WWIII.
you know the significance of Qom.
quit pretending.
if Obama gets a second term he is going to bitchslap Bibi to the wall and force the two state solution.
Amanda in the South Bay
Okay, I’ll try to take this seriously:
So, you’re upset that Democrats aren’t taxing the rich and building social programs…so you are going to support libertarians, who would do no such thing under any circumstances…right. I hope your IT skills are better than your political reasoning.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Ben Franklin: and almost as important, do everything you can to help Tim Kaine win the Senate seat.
samara morgan
@Steve in DC: you are firebagger and an emoprog.
stfu and consider what kind of poison you are lapping up.
Steve in DC
@Ben
I voted Gore, Kerry, Obama, that trend won’t change. Though I’m not donating or registering people this election, that ended with the NDAA and bankster issues.
geg6
@Steve in DC:
So you don’t like Paul but you’re voting for him because everyone else sucks. Please tell me, exactly, why Paul sucks so much less than Obama. And spare me the “ending the war on drugs” bullshit. Look up what he’s actually said about the war on drugs. He’s fine with it. He’s perfectly happy to have 50 separate wars on drugs. And also spare me the ending war shit. If you think Paul won’t bomb Iran when his masters in the GOP tell him to, you completely misunderstand what the word Republican means. If that racist, misogynist piece of shit had any sort of integrity at all about the shit you people seem to think he has, he wouldn’t be a fucking Republican. He’d run as a Libertarian. But he doesn’t because he isn’t. He’s a crazy goldbugggering, states rights supporting idiot, playing you and your buddies for the fools you are.
samara morgan
@Amir Khalid: im FUCKING SICK of polite discourse with retards.
grow the fuck up.
IM MATT TAIBBI LEVEL SICK OF IT.
Steve in DC
@geg6
in the primary, in the primary, in the primary, in the primary
geg6
@Amir Khalid:
Sorry, but if anyone comes here and tells us all about how he’s so disappointed in Obama that he’s voting for Ron Paul because…well, because…just because I said so, that’s why!, I’m gonna have samara’s back because I have no respect for that shit. None. At all. Zero. Zilch.
samara morgan
@Amir Khalid: my “civil behavior” here was the result of my camping various Breitbart Hagiographies to beatdown the conservatards.
i was brutal to them, and entirely disrespectful of AB’s sacred memory.
;)
Amanda in the South Bay
@Steve in DC:
You’re more than voting for him in the primary, in your own words libertarians are going to be a force to be reckoned with in the future because of your…very illogical thinking. Seriously, do you know what libertarians stand for? They don’t stand for taxing the rich and building a social safety net. You might as well have said “I’m upset prices for WalMart’s groceries are so expensive, I’m going to shop at Whole Foods instead!!”
Ben Franklin
@Steve in DC:
Concentrate on locals. It sounds like the Virginia Farm boys dominate your neighborhood.
Steve in DC
@geg6
You’d have a point if Obama was in the Republican primary in VA… he’s not. And you are too busy getting your hate and stupid on to realize I said I was voting in the primary.
samara morgan
@Steve in DC: you said this.
Obama “bombed” because he wants a second term. the country is still roughly half conservative. and i do not see a nanoparticle of difference between modern libertarians and conservatives in this country.
if Paul was a libertarian hed run on the libertarian ticket.
hes not.
Steve in DC
@Amanda,
There is NO party that cares about the social safety net. The Democrats are attacking it as well. So until that changes, there is no party for “more taxes more social security” it’s just how fast you want to bomb it.
@Ben
Yeah locals are what count. But here in Arlington it’s blue as hell. It’s just that it’s the entire “why can’t we all agree for abortions for everyone, the gays getting married, and then go back to cutting social security like responsible adults” sort of blue. It’s centrist and establishment as all fuck.
My “fuck you” votes consist of voting for more library, public parks, and other such funding. Which we keep doing, and then cutting taxes… because people here are crazy.
geg6
@Steve in DC:
Okay, in the primary. So what’s the point exactly? Do you actually think you are making one?
samara morgan
@Steve in DC: still, you are whining about how Obama “bombed”.
Maybe this is an epiphany for you.
tell your friends that any vote against Obama is a vote FOR WWIII.
that should be a simple enough message.
samara morgan
@Steve in DC: perhaps you care enough about your fellow soldiers still serving in MENA to support Obama.
Khalid is a muslim so he understands the significance of bombing Qom.
Ben Franklin
@Steve in DC:
From which branch, are you a veteran, and combat service anywhere?
Mike E
And here I was gonna vote fer Newt in our May primary (Moon, bitchez!) but what’s an unaffili8ed voter to do now? Vote Frothy? Yechh. Or for the 19th century version of Tom Cruise? Gastritis done broke my abacus.
Ron Paul? Bwaahahahahahahalulz!
Steve in DC
@Ben
Navy, though I spent more of my time on the green (Marines) side of the DON than the blue. I was in from 2000-2004, you can figure the rest out.
Steve in DC
@Mike,
You have that option, only Paul and Romney bothered to get on the ballot here in VA, and write ins arent’ allowed. If I could, I’d vote Santorum, just because he’s digging the entire Republican party a grave.
samara morgan
@Steve in DC:
i actually paid you a compliment. i said you were an aristotelian “frog” only concerned about your local mudpatch.
that implies you know who Aristotle is.
possibly i was wrong.
;)
samara morgan
@Steve in DC: yet you think Obama has “bombed”…………
Ben Franklin
@Steve in DC:
Your MOS?
lol
@Steve in DC:
Let’s see, nonsensical “both sides are bad” for the main dish with a side of being disappointed Obama didn’t fulfill campaign promises he never made (ie: drug war), a dash of blaming him for stuff that’s not his fault (ie: Gitmo) and a nice pint of bullshit. (ie: Democrats have cut social security)
Steve in DC
@Ben
Operations Specialist, OS2 to be exact I was an E-5. I mostly dealt with air support and data links. Communications geek if you will. We are also know as Osolating Shitheads because back in the day our shipboard members watched ociliscopes and the like.
Most of what I did revolved around strike warfare and search and rescue (SAR, CSAR if you know the lingo).
Amanda in the South Bay
@Steve in DC:
I really hope your IT skills are better than your political comprehension.
Amir Khalid
Steve in Dc has what seems to me a valid point about Ron Paul’s appeal to young urban voters like himself. They reckon that, in certain matters important to them, Obama hasn’t managed to differentiate himself enough from the Republican party.
I think he makes rather too much of these flaws. Not least since Paul, himself a Republican, hasn’t really demonstrated how he’d manage to improve upon Obama. And would his party really grant a President Paul the leeway to do that?
But, all that said, I think Steve shows that Paul does have a real appeal to a certain kind of voter even if he’s not a realistic prospect for president or, if elected, not a certainty to be the kind of president they expect. And it’s a kind of voter that should be a natural for the Democratic party, who do need to think about how they can make a more appealing case than Ron Paul is doing.
Amanda in the South Bay
@Amir Khalid:
No, I think its a case that in Steve’s case, he simply has a really piss poor grasp of politics. His belief is that both parties are equally to blame/pox on both your houses, so why not support a candidate who’d burn it all down? The people who’d vote for Paul because of some vague allusions to freedom don’t know what they are talking about.
Ben Franklin
@Amir Khalid:
Especially Military. They like Paul. What I detest is the intolerance for anyone expressing their disappointment. The hostility drives more away than we can afford to lose.
Ben Franklin
And now, he’s gone. Well done.
Steve in DC
Amanda has still failed to read and thus realize I said I was voting Paul in the primary and why people I know in my age group like him. And still thinks I somehow said I’d vote Paul in the general.
This is why we need to work on basic literacy in schools.
Amanda in the South Bay
@Ben Franklin:
Well, the military is a big organization, you are naturally going to have a diverse range of views. I just hope that every single veteran who supports Paul doesn’t get any benefits. Paul himself sure as hell didn’t vote for the Post 9/11 Gi Bill.
geg6
@Steve in DC:
And so I will patiently and respectfully ask you again, what is the point? Who do you suppose your voting for Paul in a GOP primary only influences or helps?
Make me understand since you seem to think it makes perfect logical sense and we’re just too stupid to see it.
Ben Franklin
@Amanda in the South Bay:
Well, the military is a big organization,
And, typically conservative. It’s in everyone’s interests to persuade, because ridicule is a poor teacher.
Steve in DC
@Amanda
I voted and did my best to help Jim Webb get elected for the benefits. On Paul, bury enough of your friends and your viewpoint on war will change. Watch enough people return home only to drink themselves to death and things change more. See the families and lives torn asunder and ripped apart and then try not to get blood boiling mad.
Then watch the horse shit that passes for politics and try not to emerge full of rage. I got the GI BILL and I love it. That does fuck all for my friends that never lived to use it.
Also Paul is the only veteran, other than Perry but he’s out of the race, running. At the very least, he knows what it’s like to an extent.
@geg6
I’m voting for the only anti war candidate in the race at all. I think that counts for something. And that supporting a “let’s not bomb” option can help change the conversation.
You’re free to disagree here.
Chris
@Amir Khalid:
Fixed, I think.
Steve in DC
I’m urban. The suburbs are farther out. And Rosslyn, Dupont, Navy Yard, Adams Morgan, and Mount Pleasant are all hardly suburban.
Ben Franklin
@Steve in DC:
I wasn’t trying to distract you with inane questions. I was interested, because my son, Marine, likes Paul, as well. He told me many on the Bataan (22nd MEU) would discuss politics (he’s never shown interest) and I was pleasantly surprised at his awakening. I told him Paul was like new love. He seems compatible, but you need to know him better.
Amanda in the South Bay
Steve:
What evidence do you have that the Dems are just as bad as the Republicans in demolishing Social Security, destroying the social safety net, and wanting to wage unlimited war? This is typically red meat for the BJ crowd-“both sides do it!” nonsense. Besides, your bio is very…troll worthy, honestly.
And I’m a veteran and think you are totally wrong in every way. There. Does that make my viewpoint any better or worse than yours? Having served in the military doesn’t give you any special charisma to make informed political decisions.
geg6
@Steve in DC:
You do realize that he’s not antiwar, right? He’s just fine with private contractors and privateers. And you do know enough history to understand that his isolationist views are not only unrealistic but dangerous, right?
He’s not what you think he is. But go ahead. Make you point that really doesn’t make your point, I guess.
Marcellus Shale, Public Dick
youthful political nihilists for paul.
what else you got?
Steve in DC
@geg6
I NEVER SAID I WANTED HIM IN THE WHITE HOUSE OR WOULD VOTE FOR HIM IN A GENERAL ELECTION, GET THAT THROUGH YOUR FUCKING HEAD.
geg6
@Amanda in the South Bay:
Yeah, I gotta say that I work with veterans every day and most of them are Obama fans, for many reasons. The ones that aren’t are mainly wingnuts but since they are ex-AF, that does not surprise me one bit.
geg6
@Steve in DC:
So again, what is the point? If, as you say, you are voting for him because he’s the only “anti-war” candidate (which he isn’t, but whatever) but won’t vote for him in the general, I simply don’t understand the point at all.
Edumacate me.
Chris
@Steve in DC:
I stand corrected.
@geg6:
This. When he was asked what we ought to do about Osama Bin Laden, he said something about “issuing letters of marque and reprisal,” which is eighteenth-century-speak for issuing a hunting license to a privateer. Translated into modern terms, it means he’d have turned DynCorp and Blackwater loose on Afghanistan. I have a hard time seeing how that’s a step up from what’s going on now.
Lolis
@Steve in DC:
Well, Dkos has a poll up from NBC showing Obama beating Romney in the general by a very health in margin in Virginia. So if all your friends are disillusioned it is not hurting Obama in the state. Sounds like you and your friends just had expectations nobody could live up to. I have no respect for Ron Paul supporters, sorry. He wants us to let each state decide if they want to turn back the clock one hundred years on women’s and minority rights. That is not okay with me.
Steve in DC
@geg6
It’s the Republican primary, and he’s more anti war and anti dru-war than anyone else in it. As an urban person and a military vet, especially from DC where the “war on drugs” and by proxy “war on crack” fucked up a lot of people these issues DO MATTER TO ME.
I can’t do anything, but if enough of us try and screw with Romney here we can send a messenge. Plus, I want to make the primary last longer.
Why is this so hard to grasp?
Ben Franklin
The Posse; Mob violence.
Lojasmo
@lamh35:
Fixt.
Amanda in the South Bay
@Steve in DC:
Is Ron Paul against the War on Drugs in general, or would he leave it to states/cities/counties/etc to decide? I don’t think you’re fully grasping Paul’s political philosophy, apart from the anti-war soundbites.
Suffern ACE
@geg6: If I get the story correct, Steve is a Dem who is going to vote in the primary where he lives in a way that helps fuck the frontrunner. Good for him!!! I hope a lot of folks do that. He would rather vote for Santorum, but doesn’t have that option and he simply mentioned that Paul has some positions he agrees with. And thinks that those positions are a reason Paul has younger followers than the rest of the rats.
This is nothing I would stone someone over. I wish he could vote for Santorum, too.
Ben Franklin
how do you turn off bold?
Amanda in the South Bay
@Ben Franklin:
Are you concerned with everyone piling on Steve
TBQH, based off my own experience in the military, where I had to put up with wingnutty opinions among people (higher ranking) who I couldn’t exactly call them out on, I’m a little skeptical of (most) people claiming military service gives them a special viewpoint into politics. Like the whole “Ron Paul is anti-war, but he’d fuck over women and minorities” schtick. As if white male veterans are oh so self conscious about the history of marginalized groups in America.
Ben Franklin
@Amanda in the South Bay:
Not everyone enjoys the Crucible
Lojasmo
I broke the blog with bold, it seems. Pitty.
Amanda in the South Bay
@Lolis:
This.
Amir Khalid
I think mistermix, as the frontpager, needs to come in and close a bold tag in lojasmo’s comment #85.
Lojasmo
@Amir Khalid:
FYWP.
samara morgan
@Steve in DC: that is not what you said.
you said Obama “bombed”.
weasel.
Steve in DC
@Suffern ACE
you are 100% correct
samara morgan
@Ben Franklin: yet there is a little Eichman in all of us.
;)
i liek this new bold Balloon Juice.
drink!
samara morgan
@Steve in DC: but what about the Obama “bombed” part?
didnt you say that too?
samara morgan
@Amanda in the South Bay: Paul isnt anti-war, hes just anti-PAYING for war. the dude published racist newletters ffs.
hed gladly tell Israel we got their back as long it didnt cost us anything.
awww no more bold.
:(
Death Panel Truck
I live in eastern Washington (Pasco), and across the river in Benton County, 1,500 people who wanted to participate were denied access to the convention center in Kennewick. Apparently the party had anticipated only about 2,000 people. Doesn’t surprise me that so many showed up. This is pretty much the Confederate part of the state. Obama Derangement Syndrome is an epidemic here.
ETA: I like the bold type, actually. Easier to read.
Michael Bersin
@cathyx:
Except, apparently, republicans know when it’s appropriate to use a salad fork and no one else has a clue.
Death Panel Truck
Looks like I fixed the problem. Damn.
ETA: Well, maybe not. ;)
Steve in DC
@Ben
Miss the military response question. Good on your son and tell him to keep with it, the Marines are a great organization and I rapidly turned a TS/SCI clearance into a great job once I got it. I’d post more of my details but I’m not 100% comfortable with that on public websites. I’m associated with veterans against the war and a few other organizations and my exact prior unit and details while in the service are not something I want made public, all things being what they are.
samara morgan
@Steve in DC: support for Paul is support for WWIII.
how hard is that to get?
Ben Franklin
@Steve in DC:
He’s TOPO, and good at it, according to the Admiral. Due to discharge in Sept.
They aren’t making it attractive to stay. Loved his job, but has been disappointed with Marines. Do you have anyone with contacts on the West Coast?
ericblair
@Steve in DC:
I believe what you’re saying about your friends: I live somewhat farther out but I know the area. I’d assume most of the people are younger with good jobs and good bennies (don’t care about ACA, unemployment benefits, Lily Ledbetter, and so on), in a stable economy (missing out on the recession due to federal spending/contracting), and renting or in condos in one of the few areas of the country that didn’t get hammered by the housing crash. So most of the political conflict in the last few years was irrelevant to them. What you’ve got left, I suppose, are the wars and drugs.
It’s been pointed out that Paul doesn’t give a shit about drug wars as long as the feds aren’t involved, and doesn’t want us to get into wars (and give foreign assistance either) not because he believes in peace but because he’s an isolationist crank who doesn’t give a shit about what happens beyond our borders. So support for Paul is basically a social marker and not real support, especially when the racist stuff gets exposed, which is definitely Not Cool in Arlington.
To sum up, most of Steve’s friends haven’t been affected by the economic shitstorm that has torn at the rest of the country, and are supporting a “Ron Paul” that has little to do with the 76-year-old guy named Ron Paul.
ericblair
@Steve in DC:
Actually, Steve, this is another thing that makes the drug war an issue with people you know. Anybody who’s filled out security clearance paperwork knows how ridiculously concerned the investigation is with drug use, and a few tokes a few years ago can completely screw up your career. I’ve seen it happen, I’m sure you have to, and that makes drug laws pretty damn important to anybody in the federal sphere.
Frank
@Steve in DC:
Who would have thought that pretty much all Democrats in Congress (including Bernie Sanders) would object to closing Gitmo?
But you do realize that Paul would not be able to close either, don’t you? He, like Obama, needs Congressional funding to close it.
geg6
@ericblair:
And that’s my problem with these people. They support someone who doesn’t even really stand for the things they think he does. It’s so mind bogglingly stupid that I can’t help but be dismissive of them.
I know a young Paulista (about 24 or 25). He’s a social studies teacher in one of the lowest income/tax base, minority towns in my entire county. He’s the one and only social studies teacher because the district is too poor to have two. And he is on a year to year contract. But he’s single and got the job right out of college. And he thinks Ron Paul is his champion. I tell him all the time, good luck with that, dude.
xian
unbold!
Steve in DC
@eric
Yeah you know the area, I’m in River Place!
As for drugs, yeah it does and it doesn’t. It’s more credit issues these days. I smoked pot as a kid and it’s all over my record, I’m still cleared and not piss tested, so heh.
@Ben,
Where on the West Coast, that’s rather broad. And for what? I work for a global health NGO now via the State Department, but I still have a few defense connections in San Diego and Seattle from when I worked out of the Pentagon. Mostly in IT style stuff, Information Systems Management (IE data collection) farther up, and straight up contracting out of California (guys I met when I went through a school at Coronado and spent time there, radar systems mostly). Plus the big ones, BAE, Boeing, Lockheed, all have offices on my block, a friend of mine runs a research department at LHM and I’m pretty sure they have offices all over there.
I’m happy to help, if you want give me a way to send you my linkedin/contact info.
Could do a lot more for him in the DC area though! If he’s cleared getting a job is easy.
Cacti
So, which one of the 24 is our friend Steve in DC?
Ben Franklin
@Steve in DC:
He’s cleared-INTEL Geospatial Analyst. Software he uses from Redlands, ca.
Not far from there.
I don’t mind giving email. Thanks.
[email protected]
Steve in DC
I’m not a libertarian, I’m an indie in VA (now) that has voted D in every presidential election I could, helped register vets for Webb, and well, dunno what the fuck else you want.
Yutsano
@Cacti: I’m going with briefly tempting. Although that cartoon is much more diverse than most libertarian gatherings are.
Suffern ACE
@Steve in DC: You can’t come back until you’ve completely disowned those past opinions that were never yours and changed your outlook to something closer to what it actually is.
Cacti
@Steve in DC:
If this statement was any more white-privileged, it would be snowboarding.
Steve in DC
@Cacti
CATO and Reason.org along with Gary Jhonson jumped on board for gay marriage before Obama did. So how is what I said false other than your idiotic world view. Also, see the drug war.
Granted, if you are a white woman with a masters, yeah, the Democratic party loves you. But god forbid you don’t have a degree or aren’t white, then you are trash to them.
Not buying what you say at all!
Steve in DC
@Ben
Info sent, let me know what he’d be looking for. Pretty sure NRO/NSA are looking for his type though. Community College through NVCC here (great school I went there) plus transfer with scholarship (you will get one) to one of the lager state schools and they’ll pick you up. As it’s DC, 80-120k for private is standard, 60k with full pension + full medical/dental on the public side.
It’s not bad at all.
Ben Franklin
@Steve in DC:
Forwarded to his email.
Much obliged for everything.
samara morgan
@Steve in DC: i think you have organic conservative tendency. you cant admit you were wrong.
GaJo and Paul support states rights, not civil rights.
they both want gay marriage decided by the states.
Obama sees himself as elected top be president of all americans. you seem to want him to be dictator of all americans.
i know what you are. a double dipper cafeteria libertarian.
there were tonnes of you at my work before i went back to school.
and they were all white male and over 30.
Steve in DC
against better advice I will respond to you
1. admit I’m wrong? I’m lost, I never stated hard facts. Just opinions and observations. By the nature of such things, they can be neither wrong or right. So you can end that shit righ there.
2. On gay marriage, well Obama is against it, and campaigned against it. However the OFFICIAL libertarian platform is that it’s fine, to more exact it’s getting government out of it and just having private contracts between people. So I don’t know what sort of shit your pushing here.
3. I’m an independent that votes Democratic. I’m not going to be bullied by the likes of you. And insults aren’t going to make me view things any differently.
Some Guy
@Steve in DC:
Wow. Really? Do you really believe this? Are you really this dense and ignorant?
Cati had you pegged good; you’re really are a white-privileged asshole. Good luck with that Independent thing.
Steve in DC
@some guy
yeah working in a female dominated field with mothers and sisters that hold masters, I’ll stand by that.
It’s how it works. Is what it is.
Some Guy
@Steve in DC:
Sure, whatever. Live your life, raise your kids well, and die happy. We have nothing left to discuss.
Steve in DC
@Some Guy
I have no kids because cutting power consumption is the only real future and to do that we have to have less people. No other way about it.
samara morgan
@Steve in DC: so you still think Obama “bombed”?
samara morgan
haha, i mean………shorter steve; Obama bombed and im a double dip cafeteria libertarian. i got mine.
Recall
@geg6: He voted against the Iraq War Resolution back in 2002. Paul was antiwar when it counted.
Jimbo316
@Steve in DC: I totally understand your disappointment with the cowardly Dems (I’m a lifelong Democrat). Here’s the deal with either the GOP or Libertarians: everything gets privatized and that means you either make your own electricity, pump your own water and clean it, haul your own garbage, etc., etc. or you pay monopolists one helluva lot of money to have other people perform those services. The premise of the right-wingers is to either create large monopolies (such as what Walmart has done to small towns) or to make services high cost (curative health care and no preventive health care). So a basic foundation of public services for everyone is explicitly denied. That’s the GOPwealth vs. the foundational Commonwealth model. That’s the decision on order for the future.
samara morgan
@Steve in DC: maybe this will help you figger it out.
a vote for Paul (any vote, primary or gen) is a vote for Mitt Romney.
Another Halocene Human
@Steve in DC:
You must be one of those people who looks at AA voting patterns and then concludes with Republican party strategists that they are clearly sorely-misguided dupes!
Since Americans with no college degree and people of color are voting so consistently for Democrats, I humbly suggest that they may know something (something relevant to their rational self-interest) that you don’t, good sir.
Another Halocene Human
As a gay person, I can tell you that I follow my rights very closely, and Obama has done more for us in the last three years than all the libertarian position papers in the world.
Oh, I went the libertarian route in my own life, hiring a lawyer to try to accomplish what I could not get politically in my state. But, ultimately, that’s just a piece of paper if people choose not to respect those rights… and that’s why getting same-sex marriage recognized by law is so important. Quite frankly, one party has been much better on this than the other (although kudos to those Republicans that voted for us in NY and WA). Federal recognition is important, too, which is why what Obama and Holder have been doing on the federal front is so vital. Sure, the time was right (as opposed to what happened during Clinton’s time, when floating the idea of ending the gays in the military ban led to a rapid walk-back) but someone had to do it and GW Bush was all too eager to use the gay-panic card to keep himself in power. I don’t think Bush hated us any more than Obama loves us but Obama is doing what needs to be done (from what appears to be an ingrained sense of fairness), and for that alone he has my vote.
IOW, don’t try to teach grandma how to suck eggs.