?????

1/14/2016 9:57:31 PM

kodos

1/14/2016 10:03:05 PM

Kang

1/14/2016 10:13:41 PM

Bernie or bust

1/14/2016 10:14:50 PM

whoa whoa whoa Dave...I'm tryin to tell you about fuckin my wife in the ass last night...and you're asking me all these personal questions

1/14/2016 10:27:45 PM

It's rude to ask, bro.

Actually, I'll most likely not vote. All these dumbfucks running for prez are too out of touch with the peons anyway.

1/14/2016 10:37:02 PM

LET'S GET OUT AND VOTE!!!

1/14/2016 10:38:01 PM

Quote :

"Bernie or bust"

Yup.

1/14/2016 10:39:08 PM

Quote :

"kodos"

Quote :

"Kang"

Damn! i can't decide which to vote for!

1/14/2016 11:08:29 PM

I'm voting straight-ticket EMCE. Writing him in for every office

1/14/2016 11:12:13 PM

Quote :

"Bernie or bust"

Gross.

Like, 2 girls 1 cup gross.



As for me, I will be abstaining. Again.

(well, maybe I'll vote Libertarian, if they run someone halfway sensible and the line at the poll isn't too long...but that doesn't really count. Otherwise, I'll write in "none of the above" like I usually do.)

1/15/2016 12:08:46 AM

Depends on if I decide to register to vote this time, I like never having to worry about jury duty so unless I feel like I have to I may just abstain again. That being said currently I would vote for Rubio.

1/15/2016 8:43:02 AM

gary johnson finally announced he's running

so now i'm super conflicted ugh

1/15/2016 8:47:14 AM

Pirate Captain

1/15/2016 8:51:45 AM

Don't vote just to be voting. Fuck MTV and it's peer pressure push for voting. It's not a mandate. It's not something you have to do. You have every right to complain even if you didn't vote; you didn't vote the assholes into office. Vote only if you're informed. If you know the candidates. Not your candidate. The candidates. Voting just to vote is a cancer.

1/15/2016 9:03:10 AM

1/15/2016 9:46:19 AM

please don't vote for hillary just because she has a vagina

she's a cray cray flipper flopper and will say whatever the fuck it takes to win. shady as fuck

1/15/2016 9:55:37 AM

I mean its gonna be pretty difficult not to vote for this...

https://youtu.be/vPRfP_TEQ-g

1/15/2016 9:56:55 AM

Quote :

"please don't vote for hillary just because she has a vagina"

Trying to imagine Hillary Duff to avoid the realization that Hillary Clinton has a vagina...a big harry swollen affair probably with a cigar ring still inside.



[Edited on January 15, 2016 at 11:34 AM. Reason : e]

1/15/2016 11:31:09 AM

Quote :

"gary johnson finally announced he's running so now i'm super conflicted ugh"

Who in the hell in the two major parties, besides maybe Rand Paul (who will be no factor) could have you conflicted about voting for Gary Johnson.

Quote :

" Don't vote just to be voting. Fuck MTV and it's peer pressure push for voting. It's not a mandate. It's not something you have to do. You have every right to complain even if you didn't vote; you didn't vote the assholes into office. Vote only if you're informed. If you know the candidates. Not your candidate. The candidates. Voting just to vote is a cancer."

Exactly.

1/15/2016 11:46:11 AM

you EMCE

it'll always be you

1/15/2016 11:50:55 AM

Tough choice

1/15/2016 11:59:24 AM

1/15/2016 1:12:53 PM

Christ, I guess Hillary. I know she's a 100% politician who's been scheming for this job forever, and who would probably say anything she had to in order to get the office. But you know what? You could say the same thing about her husband, and his time in office wasn't so bad. I don't love Hillary or all of her positions, but even when they're wrong, they're sound and sane. I don't think she'll rock the boat too hard because her goal isn't to be transformative, it's to be president. And maybe that's not so bad.

Plus, at least she has some foreign policy chops, unlike any of the remaining candidates on either side. Foreign policy being one of the few areas where the president has some real power and latitude. Bernie has no thoughts there, and the Republicans mostly have bad ones.

I suppose it's possible that Rubio will eventually emerge as the Republican and move to the center, as one does in the general. Depending on how that looks I might consider voting for him.

1/15/2016 1:15:53 PM

^ that

Quote :

"Don't vote just to be voting. Fuck MTV and it's peer pressure push for voting. It's not a mandate. It's not something you have to do. You have every right to complain even if you didn't vote; you didn't vote the assholes into office. Vote only if you're informed. If you know the candidates. Not your candidate. The candidates. Voting just to vote is a cancer. "

I also think its okay to vote to keep someone out of the office. Like if you're retarded and don't know anything about the candidates...but Trump is somehow the republican nominee...then you get your retarded ass to the voting booth and vote for whoever is on the other side.

[Edited on January 15, 2016 at 1:44 PM. Reason : .]

1/15/2016 1:43:39 PM

Quote :

"Plus, at least she has some foreign policy chops"

Are you being serious right now?

1/15/2016 1:53:03 PM

Who here thinks that Rubio connects with the Hispanic community? Cruz?

1/15/2016 4:02:57 PM

if by 'connect' you mean 'wants to deport', sure

1/15/2016 4:26:07 PM

Firstly, just saw the Aubrey/Maturin sticker, and I would vote that ticket all day long.

Quote :

" Are you being serious right now?"

Yeah, why? The woman was Secretary of State. Even if she just sat in her office doing crossword puzzles, she'd have more diplomatic experience than any of these other chucklefucks. I don't think she's a master stateswoman, but she was the top diplomat for four years. She did a solid if unremarkable job. We didn't do anything major but we didn't shit the bed too hard, either.

This as opposed to who? Cruz, whose sole foreign policy experience is being born in a foreign country? Trump, who has managed to cause serious foreign relations issues just by running for office? Ben Carson, who thinks that Palestine is run by hummus? The rest, whose collective idea of diplomacy has not advanced since the 1960s wisdom of "blockade Cuba?"

Or on the Democratic side there's Bernie Sanders, of course, who says he is very much in favor of diplomacy and prefers it to war. And basically nothing else.

1/15/2016 4:30:01 PM

^yuh, but they still lookin for Ben Ghazi's emails

[Edited on January 15, 2016 at 4:46 PM. Reason : Movie comes out soon, that should set the record straight]



Also Bernie has gone on for some time discussing how the Gulf Arab states need to take the lead against ISIS. Ya know, instead of actively allowing oil barons to fund them. Isn't he basically the only one making this point right now?

[Edited on January 15, 2016 at 4:50 PM. Reason : Bernie all day, will hold nose and Vote Hillary, but only for Supreme Court justice appointments]

1/15/2016 4:45:26 PM

Yo mama.

But it's strictly cause she don't wear no drawers.

1/15/2016 7:05:15 PM

I too, am voting Pirate Captain.

[Edited on January 15, 2016 at 7:16 PM. Reason : U]

1/15/2016 7:15:41 PM

1/15/2016 7:30:23 PM

Quote :

"Also Bernie has gone on for some time discussing how the Gulf Arab states need to take the lead against ISIS. Ya know, instead of actively allowing oil barons to fund them."

Right. So like everything else in his campaign, he's pissing into the wind. The gulf states won't lead the fight against ISIS because they're busy fighting their own proxy war in Yemen against Iran. They have no reason to fight ISIS because ISIS is fighting Assad who is a pal of, you guessed it, Iran. No amount of saying "They should take this over" is going to make it fucking happen. As usual, Sanders considers it adequate to describe a fantasy that would be lovely if only it were already a reality.

[Edited on January 16, 2016 at 2:08 AM. Reason : also that proxy war has shown the gulf states to be ill-prepared and incompetent]

1/16/2016 2:08:16 AM

I'm voting Trump, because I just want to watch the world burn.

1/16/2016 10:45:48 AM

Trump/Cruz 2016

1/16/2016 11:49:56 AM

^^^diplomatically I think its a smart move though. ISIS won't stop metastasizing until financial support and ideological support from the gulf arab states stops, no matter how many god damn bombs we drop. If they continue to do nothing, we'll finally be able to call them out on it.

[Edited on January 16, 2016 at 11:54 AM. Reason : Or we can continue to give billions in weapons to Saudi Arabia and billions to Iraq (aka Iran Junior]

1/16/2016 11:53:39 AM

Sanders, even donated to his campaign and everything

1/16/2016 12:01:15 PM

Its not our fight. Left unchecked, ISIS will spread to the gulf pretty quickly. Then they will have to do something. I'd rather be allied with Iran in that region than the gulf states. We are fighting a proxy war against ourselves right now.

1/16/2016 12:02:16 PM

Quote :

"diplomatically I think its a smart move though. ISIS won't stop metastasizing until financial support and ideological support from the gulf arab states stops"

I would argue that ISIS has already stopped metastasizing and is, at best, stagnant. It's already been rolled back a teensy bit in Iraq.

More importantly, "the Gulf Arab states" aren't really bankrolling the operation as much as you and Bernie seem to think. ISIS is financed primarily through "taxes," criminal rackets, and extortion within the territory it controls. After that comes oil smuggling, the majority of which seems to go to illegal buyers elsewhere in Syria, or Turkey and Iran. Not the Gulf States. I'm sure there's some money coming into ISIS from people in Saudi Arabia etc., but it isn't what's propping up the group.

So, again, we can't rely on the Gulf States to handle this, much as I would like them to help fix their own mess. We need another plan.

At this point, the hard reality is that the best diplomatic move is to slowly back out of our entrenched position that "Assad must go." I hate the son of a bitch and would have liked to see us help oust him, but the time for serious action on that was years ago, before IS had so much power. But for now, we have to recognize our priorities. ISIS is worse than Assad, for us and even for the Syrians. So we let Iran and Russia help ol' Bashar take back what's left of the country. I think that we could reach some sort of tacit, quiet agreement with the parties involved, and I think we could get some wins out of it, too -- a Syrian agreement to reign in Hezbollah's activities elsewhere, maybe.

It's dirty and distasteful and I hate the idea of betraying freedom fighters who rely on us, but the cold calculation is that ISIS has to go and an Assad victory is the fastest way to make that happen.

1/16/2016 12:55:32 PM

Quote :

"Sanders, even donated to his campaign and everything"

1/16/2016 1:24:09 PM

^^if that's what you feel is the best position on Syria/Isis, then it seems like the gap between you and sanders is the smallest compared to any other candidate. Who do you feel is closer to your actual position?

1/16/2016 1:41:45 PM

Lindsay Graham was the only candidate I've seen who had an intelligent assessment of the situation. Everybody else is full of it, including Bernie -- whose stance, as best I can tell, is the exact opposite of what I think. He thinks we can somehow get the Gulf States to handle it. I don't think we can get them to do shit and would rather extend another olive branch to Iran, the arch-nemesis of the Gulf States. (Incidentally, is this part of the Sanders campaign strategy? Just always telling people that actually they agree with Bernie, even when they don't at all? This happens to me all the time.)

But like I say, they're all full of it, because (a) most of them have zero foreign affairs experience, and (b) the primaries do not lend themselves to well-considered foreign policy debate. As usual, the democrats will downplay military action and swear off deeper involvement, even though once elected democratic presidents are about as bomb-happy as anybody. And as usual, the Republicans will act like they would respond to every slight with overwhelming military power because the very thought gives their base a hard-on. But even Republican presidents don't launch airstrikes over every little thing.

So given that all of their positions make me think they are lying, ignorant, or both, I have to default to the person whose lies cover up the most actual experience.

1/16/2016 3:36:36 PM

Quote :

"Tough choice "

Pretty much. I wouldn't mind seeing Trump win though because he's the only one that will probably give the entire world the middle finger, say "FUCK YOU!!!!!!," and then possibly get things going in the right direction again. The last thing we need is someone like Sanders or Clinton who will just try to start more government programs. We need to get the lifers out of Washington. That is half the problem with politics.

1/16/2016 4:34:59 PM

^^So disregard what the candidates are saying and instead trust your gut on who is best. why is this such a widespread rationalization among moderate conservatives?

I must have misunderstood your original position. Correct me where I got this wrong, I thought you were advocating for the US to take a lesser role militarily, allow Assad to take back (some) control with Russia and Iran's help, stabilize Iraq, and then work out some kind of long to medium term agreement that provides some lasting stability?

How is graham anywhere close to that position? He's advocated for a Syrian "surge" with extensive US invasion of Syria, he wants to find someone to prop up in place of Assad, and has even expressed that Russia and Iran teaming up in Syria is an alliance that should be more worrisome than Isis, and we should setup a no-fly zone to combat Russia's position? The only way you could feel close to that is if you.......just disregard everything that he says and instead project your thoughts on to him because he has "experience"


I mean if you advocate for any type of diplomatic approach in Syria, really anything other than escalation or status quo bombing, then I think Bernie is the only choice IMO.

[Edited on January 16, 2016 at 4:50 PM. Reason : Just trying to understand over here]

1/16/2016 4:50:12 PM

Quote :

" give the entire world the middle finger, say "FUCK YOU!!!!!!," and then possibly get things going in the right direction again."

How exactly is saying "FUCK YOOUU" to the entire world even remotely a good, positive thing? How do you even imagine this will be good for the US?

1/16/2016 5:07:03 PM

Quote :

"I wouldn't mind seeing Trump win though because he's the only one that will probably give the entire world the middle finger, say "FUCK YOU!!!!!!," and then possibly get things going in the right direction again."

Perhaps this is a situation where you can't see how green your lawn is because you're looking at your neighbors yard. But over the past few years with Obama, tremendous strides have been made in the realm of diplomatic relations with the rest of the world. We seriously were a laughing stock before. We aren't perfect now, but definitely in a much better place. I don't see how saying FUCK YOU to the rest of the world is a good thing.

1/16/2016 5:42:42 PM

Quote :

"But over the past few years with Obama, tremendous strides have been made in the realm of diplomatic relations with the rest of the world. We seriously were a laughing stock before. We aren't perfect now, but definitely in a much better place."

That the U.S. has fared better over the last 7 years diplomatically under Obama is kinda like saying that the S&P 500 has improved dramatically since the '08-08 financial crisis, haha. It would have been hard not to be a dramatic improvement over GWB in terms of diplomacy and foreign relations.

...but your overall point is correct, and President Obama deserves some credit for that.

1/16/2016 5:48:33 PM

Quote :

"But even Republican presidents don't launch airstrikes over every little thing."

Yeah, they launch entire open ended wars over NOTHING.

1/16/2016 5:50:20 PM

^^ point taken

1/16/2016 5:51:16 PM