U.S. Politics Thread

[monir]

I'm always excited about US politics in whatever shape and form it happens. I loved Marco Rubio's, the Republican savior, rebuttal to Hussein Obama's SOTU speech. I then later loved the rendition done by Colbert to reenact Marco Rubio's speech in a more dramatic fashion.

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-col...e-of-the-rubio



Hopefully, the savior who will bring the Hispanic votes to the Republican Party will be ready to speak again after some intensive speech therapy. That said, I'm looking forward to 2014 more than 2016, cause it's 2014 that will be far more interesting. Yes?

[james0246]

Sorry Casey. Better luck in 2.5 years...

[Arabesque]

Speaking of Stephen Colbert and the (premature) talk of the 2016 presidential election, one of my favourite segments from last year's show had to be the one where he blew up and said enough is enough (for the first minute any way ). It managed to capture what I had felt from hearing about the past campaign and what I thought about further talk about the next one despite it not starting till years ahead.

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-col...-the-white-orb

Originally Posted by monir

Hopefully, the savior who will bring the Hispanic votes to the Republican Party will be ready to speak again after some intensive speech therapy. That said, I'm looking forward to 2014 more than 2016, cause it's 2014 that will be far more interesting. Yes?

I felt bad for Rubio to be honest. He was very clearly under enormous pressure to be the GOP's ''saviour'' when he was making that rebuttal, and while it was certainly funny segment, I can't help but sympathise with him. I have gone through my own share of early embarrassing presentations.

[Reckoner]

Good ol' Elizabeth Warren asking the tough questions none of her colleagues have the balls enough to ask themselves.

[kyp275]

Indeed, good luck on her endeavors, and hopefully she can get something done.

I'm not gonna hold my breath though :/

[Kyuu]

Originally Posted by Reckoner

Good ol' Elizabeth Warren asking the tough questions none of her colleagues have the balls enough to ask themselves.

I like her style. She was selected for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau... only to be blocked by the Senate...

Then she follows that up by working her way into the Senate, and heads the committee overseeing the very issues she was meant to tackle.

Congress is full of cowards and backstabbing weasels. Warren is not one of 'em.

[Archon_Wing]

Originally Posted by Dr. Casey

let's talk about the next president lol

Whoever it is, they will talk about helping the poor and middle class. While people starve in the streets, they will enjoy their warm, comfortable residence, and eat their well prepared, clean food, and have ready access to the best, tasty water. And they will be protected by armed guards, since only the elite get to protect themselves. All at the cost of taxpayers.

And from this place of comfort they will talk about helping people. Would they take a hit to their salary as a symbolic gesture that they are truly in this with us? No. Meanwhile they will continue to order troops and fight enemies that they will never see but urge them on while ignoring the sacrifices they made for this country by not respecting the Constitution they swore to uphold and many a soldier perished to keep those ideals running. Because you know, it's glorious to die for one's country as long as oneself is not at risk so let's be a bit more reckless to ensure the headlines. Nope, let's just talk and give an illusion of choice in fall 2016

So whoever gets elected in 2016. Congratulations, and fuck you. May you stay constipated forever while the peasantry works to maintain your lifestyle.

[Magin]

You've reminded me of one of my favorite sayings- Rich man's war, poor man's fight.

And Heaven forbid any of them take a pay cut! Why, that would mean they'd have to give up on all their luxurious, fancy items like limousines and suits only they can afford! [/sarcasm]

On a slightly off-topic note, I've come up with a recent theory: if you want to see what truly fuels a nation and what people care the most about, see where they put the majority of their money, willingly. Mostly it's done for entertainment and in the case of politicians, TV ads

[Lost Cause]

Originally Posted by Archon_Wing

Whoever it is, they will talk about helping the poor and middle class. While people starve in the streets, they will enjoy their warm, comfortable residence, and eat their well prepared, clean food, and have ready access to the best, tasty water. And they will be protected by armed guards, since only the elite get to protect themselves. All at the cost of taxpayers.

And from this place of comfort they will talk about helping people. Would they take a hit to their salary as a symbolic gesture that they are truly in this with us? No. Meanwhile they will continue to order troops and fight enemies that they will never see but urge them on while ignoring the sacrifices they made for this country by not respecting the Constitution they swore to uphold and many a soldier perished to keep those ideals running. Because you know, it's glorious to die for one's country as long as oneself is not at risk so let's be a bit more reckless to ensure the headlines. Nope, let's just talk and give an illusion of choice in fall 2016

So whoever gets elected in 2016. Congratulations, and fuck you. May you stay constipated forever while the peasantry works to maintain your lifestyle.

Originally Posted by Magin

You've reminded me of one of my favorite sayings- Rich man's war, poor man's fight.

And Heaven forbid any of them take a pay cut! Why, that would mean they'd have to give up on all their luxurious, fancy items like limousines and suits only they can afford! [/sarcasm]

On a slightly off-topic note, I've come up with a recent theory: if you want to see what truly fuels a nation and what people care the most about, see where they put the majority of their money, willingly. Mostly it's done for entertainment and in the case of politicians, TV ads

Nicely put! The next president will be chosen via Facebook and Twitter, and any other popular social media hyped by the press.
No longer is it "Deeds not words", it's now "Words not deeds". A sad state of affairs for a country known as being the last bastion of hope and freedom!

[DonQuigleone]

Originally Posted by Lost Cause

A sad state of affairs for a country known as being the last bastion of hope and freedom!

I don't think we consider it the last bastion of hope and freedom.

[Irenicus]

Originally Posted by Kyuu

Congress is full of cowards and backstabbing weasels. Warren is not one of 'em.

Warren 2016!

Because.

*goes cry in a corner and whimpers about how it all just ended, just ended, make it stop!*

Originally Posted by Lost Cause

No longer is it "Deeds not words", it's now "Words not deeds".

It was never Deeds not Words anyway. The Attlee's of the world don't get elected that often.

[Magin]

Originally Posted by Lost Cause

Nicely put! The next president will be chosen via Facebook and Twitter, and any other popular social media hyped by the press.
No longer is it "Deeds not words", it's now "Words not deeds". A sad state of affairs for a country known as being the last bastion of hope and freedom!

As I saw ages ago elsewhere on the net, there's a question of "Is our world more like 1984 or Brave New World?" IMO, it's a mixture of both, but more recently the Brave New World aspect has been the stronger side

And as for the US being the "last bastion of hope and freedom"... where's that The Pressroom clip (or whatever HBO show it was) when you need it about America supposedly being the "greatest country" or something? Granted, there are certain things that America (and for the record, I'm talking about the USA portion) has greater freedom on than others... but at the end of the day, IMO, it's mostly just a mentality left over and general reinforced from the fact that the US was one of the winners of WWII (hell, if it weren't for the US coming in until after Pearl Harbor, and the fact that Pearl Harbor was the only attack on US soil, I doubt, I doubt it would've even become a superpower, but that's a debate for a History Thread)

[Vallen Chaos Valiant]

Originally Posted by Magin

And as for the US being the "last bastion of hope and freedom"... where's that The Pressroom clip (or whatever HBO show it was) when you need it about America supposedly being the "greatest country" or something? Granted, there are certain things that America (and for the record, I'm talking about the USA portion) has greater freedom on than others... but at the end of the day, IMO, it's mostly just a mentality left over and general reinforced from the fact that the US was one of the winners of WWII (hell, if it weren't for the US coming in until after Pearl Harbor, and the fact that Pearl Harbor was the only attack on US soil, I doubt, I doubt it would've even become a superpower, but that's a debate for a History Thread)

I will only say this; the claim that America is "The last bastion of hope and freedom" might sound nice to Americans, but to everyone else, even allies like Australia, it is a grievous insult.

I know people don't mean it like that. But it sounds like a secular version of a demand for a non-religious crusade on the rest of the planet. Australians talk about Australia being the best as a matter of course; but we don't lay claim that every other nation are degenerate Sodom who are all North Koreas. And that's why it is offensive. It doesn't sound like patriotic speech, but more like "We will one day crush all inferior nations beneath us".

Just want to make that observation.

[DonQuigleone]

The US does have a fair claim to being "the greatest country on earth", due to it's size, power and cultural influence. But it has no justifiable claim to being morally best on earth. Likewise, I don't think it can claim to be the most "free" country either. Other societies are much more permissive then the USA.

Of course, freedom isn't everything.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by DonQuigleone

Of course, freedom isn't everything.

That is a dumb statement.

If it wasn't for legal hegemons filibustering bills to permit below-16 marriage, certain countries wouldn't have faced working population shortages.

[Ledgem]

Originally Posted by Vallen Chaos Valiant

I will only say this; the claim that America is "The last bastion of hope and freedom" might sound nice to Americans, but to everyone else, even allies like Australia, it is a grievous insult.

Nobody should feel insulted. Despite what may be said, look at what is done: America has the highest incarceration rate not just among developed nations, but in the world. Australians could get a good laugh out of that. One could easily mistake America's origins as being that of a penal colony that just never changed

[kyp275]

Originally Posted by DonQuigleone

The US does have a fair claim to being "the greatest country on earth", due to it's size, power and cultural influence. But it has no justifiable claim to being morally best on earth. Likewise, I don't think it can claim to be the most "free" country either. Other societies are much more permissive then the USA.

Of course, freedom isn't everything.

It's a fairly moot exercise in semantics at this point though, as everyone has a different idea of what makes a country "great".

As for which country is "morally best"... it'd also depend on which cultural norm you're using as the standard, though frankly I think every country probably have more than enough skeletons in the closet for them to try to claim to be moral anyway

[Vallen Chaos Valiant]

Originally Posted by kyp275

It's a fairly moot exercise in semantics at this point though, as everyone has a different idea of what makes a country "great".

As for which country is "morally best"... it'd also depend on which cultural norm you're using as the standard, though frankly I think every country probably have more than enough skeletons in the closet for them to try to claim to be moral anyway

Of course, the scary part is that a nation who thinks they are morally superior might feel justified in "Freeing" the other countries with their weapons...

And we have seen that before. The British Empire. It's not new, really.

[Magin]

Originally Posted by Vallen Chaos Valiant

I will only say this; the claim that America is "The last bastion of hope and freedom" might sound nice to Americans, but to everyone else, even allies like Australia, it is a grievous insult.

I know people don't mean it like that. But it sounds like a secular version of a demand for a non-religious crusade on the rest of the planet. Australians talk about Australia being the best as a matter of course; but we don't lay claim that every other nation are degenerate Sodom who are all North Koreas. And that's why it is offensive. It doesn't sound like patriotic speech, but more like "We will one day crush all inferior nations beneath us".

Just want to make that observation.

I'm guessing my sarcasm didn't quite translate through the net, but no surprise there. Anyways, this video has been posted before in another thread, but I love the rant the guy goes on:

The rant itself begins around 4:45

[Vallen Chaos Valiant]

Originally Posted by Magin

I'm guessing my sarcasm didn't quite translate through the net, but no surprise there.

To be frank I am aware you are on my side of the argument. I wasn't posting that to antagonise your points but merely to state my own.