Mitch Daniels better declare soon or he'll be behind the 8 ball. Speaking of 8balls, he may have a drug past problem.

5/17/2011 4:58:11 PM

Was Gingrich using obamas teleprompter? What the flying fuck he deserves to be humiliated

5/18/2011 4:18:38 AM

Oh come on. If there's a candidate with a "drug problem", then I belong in rehab. Pretty sure you're referring to Daniels getting busted for possession once. That's a helluva drug problem.

Stop being so baldly partisan. You know that's a bullshit accusation. And this is coming from someone who's probably more liberal than you.

5/18/2011 10:02:47 AM

Mitch Daniels got busted for drugs in the past. He is also for marijuana legalization, just about the only republican candidate who is. Hell he's probably the only one who is not pressing for the death penalty on possession.

5/18/2011 12:06:56 PM

^ There are actually 3 pro-legalization GOP candidates running. That makes 3 more than the democrats

5/18/2011 12:10:28 PM

Ron Paul and Gary Johnson both support legalization. Everyone else is afraid to alienate the "social conservative" base, or they actually support prohibition. It's pretty dumb, when you think about it. I don't see why having strong, traditional values means that we need to enforce those values at the federal level.

[Edited on May 18, 2011 at 12:17 PM. Reason : ]

5/18/2011 12:14:32 PM

Where can I find a candidate who is for eliminating Social Security, reforming (not destroying) Medicare, downsizing the military (mostly in terms of expenditure), pro-marriage equality (or getting government out all together), pro-women's reproductive rights, pro-environmental conservation, pro-drilling in already allocated regions, pro-nuclear and alternatives? I know, I know Green Libertarian but no one even knows what that really is.

5/18/2011 1:28:53 PM

this from the Gary Johnson website...

Quote :

"WE ARE A NATION OF MANY PEOPLES and beliefs. The only way to respect all citizens is to allow each to make personal decisions themselves. Life is precious and must be protected. A woman should be allowed to make her own decisions during pregnancy until the point of viability of a fetus. Stem cell research should only be completed by private laboratories that operate without federal funding. Government should not impose its values upon marriage. It should protect the rights of couples to engage in civil unions if they wish, as well as the rights of religious organizations to follow their beliefs."

i like what I've read so far. seems to be fiscal conservative yet somewhat socially liberal, much more liberal then any other GOP candidates.

5/18/2011 1:41:28 PM

Ah, when I was doing some casual research yesterday I had only saw Daniels supporting. I guess I automatically put Ron Paul as Independent and didn't see anything about Johnson.

^^If you find that, let me know!

Quote :

"seems to be fiscal conservative yet somewhat socially liberal"

Well damn, sign me up

[Edited on May 18, 2011 at 1:43 PM. Reason : lkj]

5/18/2011 1:41:50 PM

Hahha someone embed this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7uZ4q-7y2M

5/18/2011 1:53:02 PM

that was gay

5/18/2011 2:03:28 PM

Seriously Newt? Wants to destroy the EPA and replace it with the "Environmental Solutions Agency".

More like "Environmental Final Solutions Agency". . .

[Edited on May 18, 2011 at 3:26 PM. Reason : ]

5/18/2011 3:24:42 PM

^^^I understand the protestor but Newt handled that suprisingly well.

[Edited on May 18, 2011 at 3:34 PM. Reason : ^him and Richard Burr and . . . . . . well its a long list I imagine]

5/18/2011 3:33:17 PM

So I've read the whole Gary Johnson website and I like him a lot. he's my favorite GOP candidate right now. honestly i've been pretty pleased with the job that Obama has done other then health reform, but I might would vote for Gary. i didn't see anything on his website that would associate him with the religious right but he also didn't mention anything about religion. i don't know if he's hiding it or just doesn't care.

5/18/2011 4:04:36 PM

^ I'm on board with that sentiment to the letter. The thing that impressed me the most about Gary Johnson is when it comes to environmental policy he has a clear declaration of intent that isn't coupled with energy policy. Every other politician that I've researched, including democrats, love to lump those two together and it drives me crazy.

As for Richard Burr, we've all known for a long time that he's no count. I'd bet my retirement that he'd lobby for eminent domain and sea wall every beach in North Carolina if he received enough money from the hotel industry. . .

5/18/2011 4:58:31 PM

Gary Johnson privatized prisons, which might have been a good idea had it not forced the state to pay FAR more for them.

5/18/2011 6:33:28 PM

Unless the B's and kids stay home Obama is probably going to win this election everyone knows that.

The key is picking a representative that is moderate enough to steal a lot of the independent/moderate votes without turning off the conservative base.

If the Republicans can win the senate it won't matter that Obama is still in power.

They can propose a responsible budget and Obama can oppose it publicly then later try to take all the credit for balancing the budget like Clinton did.

It's really a perfect scenario for everyone I think.

5/18/2011 7:51:14 PM

The B's?

5/18/2011 8:51:13 PM

B[lacks]

5/18/2011 9:16:21 PM

B[ruins]

5/18/2011 9:33:56 PM

B[ears]

5/18/2011 11:16:12 PM

Clearly I meant the "D's" not the B's.

Thanks for your semi-racist input feedback. Can always count on the liberals to play the race card.

5/18/2011 11:33:35 PM

YOU typed B which is nowhere near D on the keyboard, maybe you are secretly racist.

5/18/2011 11:51:39 PM

How would anyone read that and not think you were referring to blacks?

5/18/2011 11:51:59 PM

Quote :

"Clearly I meant the "D's" not the B's."

haha is this some new form of trolling

5/19/2011 11:57:48 AM

Look, I think we can all agree that if we didn't have so many N's running around we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place.

5/19/2011 1:48:45 PM

I think face clearly meant Blacks. But you have over a 95% chance that your B's are D's his point is the same.

5/19/2011 2:44:14 PM

Haha I'm not one to troll but I may have attempted it just this once

Which of these stats appears more racist?

44% of white voters voted for Obama

96% of black voters voted for Obama

5/19/2011 3:31:26 PM

Daniels is out

So now have your pick of any number of crazed republicans with a 1950's view of society

5/22/2011 7:34:23 AM

Looks like I forgot about Gary Johnson . I like a lot of his stances, but not sure how his 'end the departmment of education' will go over, and I'm curious when or how he would pull troops out of the middle east. I'm also wondering what his deal with foreign military bases is...close them all?

Aside from the social liberals, I'm warming up to Pawlenty

[Edited on May 22, 2011 at 8:35 AM. Reason : Jjh]

5/22/2011 8:13:56 AM

the dept of education should definitely be done away with. Im not sure why anyone wouldnt agree

5/22/2011 12:12:56 PM

Because if there is one thing that I don't mind my tax money going to it's educating our children.

5/22/2011 12:17:02 PM

That's assuming the federal government is capable of running a good public education system...which is absolutely terrible now.

5/22/2011 12:25:32 PM

It's probably better than an education system sponsored by McDonald's® and brought to you by Coca-Cola®.

5/22/2011 12:45:38 PM

That's not the only alternative.

I think the beef is that there is no constitutional provision for federal administration of education, and there is inefficiency in the feds collecting money from the states, spending money and time to administrate it, then returning it to the states and telling them what to do with it.

5/22/2011 12:50:58 PM

^^ or worse yet, churches that refuse to teach modern understandings of science.

5/22/2011 12:53:51 PM

Quote :

"I think the beef is that there is no constitutional provision for federal administration of education, and there is inefficiency in the feds collecting money from the states, spending money and time to administrate it, then returning it to the states and telling them what to do with it."

Bingo.

Since most people, Republicans or Democrats, couldn't give two shits about a constitutional power for something, I usually talk to them about the bolded part. I also bring up two other points...one being that several states LOSE money for education every year by getting back less than they give to the Dept. of Education. Also, if they're familiar with the debate going on in Wake County, I usually talk about why it's good that the debate is going on in Wake County instead of DC. We ought to be having more of those conversations/debates closer to home, and less going on between a bunch of unelected bureaucrats who don't know the first thing about where we live.

5/22/2011 1:08:38 PM

The US Department of Education may or may not be efficient, but it has less to do with the quality (and consistency) of education in the United States than does the fact that there are about 15,000 separate school systems in the United States.

That many school districts is definitely inefficient.

5/22/2011 1:35:17 PM

I'm not opposed to reducing federal oversight of public education, but I don't think its the "problem" with our education system.

Our problem is our attitude. Americans are anti-elitist to a fault. We want leaders that we can have a beer with. We like our heros anti. Our children are growing up idolizing social misfits, eccentrics and losers with unexplainable good qualities. Their antagonists are usually rich, beautiful, successful and "mainstream". Its no wonder they aren't compelled to do well in school.

5/22/2011 2:54:52 PM

Quote :

"That's assuming the federal government is capable of running a good public education system...which is absolutely terrible now."

You hit the nail on the head.

[Edited on May 22, 2011 at 9:56 PM. Reason : ]

5/22/2011 9:55:39 PM

Yeah, the only reason it's not a complete catastrophe is just due to the fact that we drown the problems in dollars, which can't always fix them, but can sometimes mitigate them. The "bigger hammer" approach shouldn't really be the preferred method, though.

5/22/2011 10:50:52 PM

Quote :

"Pawlenty has become Minnesota's perpetual-deficit machine By Wayne Cox | Friday, March 6, 2009 A reporter brought up a symmetry at Gov. Tim Pawlenty's news conference Tuesday on the latest budget forecast: Pawlenty began as governor with a projected $4.5 billion deficit — the same level it is today. While the nation has yet to perfect a perpetual-motion machine, Minnesota seems to have found a perpetual-deficit machine in Pawlenty. But isn't Pawlenty just a victim of being a governor during a recession? Partly, but half of the projected deficit in the upcoming biennium is not from the declining economy but from a holdover projected deficit he refused to deal with in earlier years. He has consistently vetoed bills that would have restored revenues to bring budgets into balance into the future. "

http://www.minnpost.com/community_voices/2009/03/06/7150/pawlenty_has_become_minnesotas_perpetual-deficit_machine

5/23/2011 12:07:54 PM

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/newt-gingrich-speech-in-iowa-interrupted-by-candidates-dancing-queen-ringtone/

[Edited on May 23, 2011 at 11:55 PM. Reason : lol]

5/23/2011 11:55:19 PM

Quote :

"You hit the nail on the head."

And yet the phrase, "throwing the baby out with the bathwater" comes to mind when I hear "let's get rid of the department of education!"

5/24/2011 12:08:08 AM

I think letting the states keep more money, rather than them having to beg for scraps from the federal government, is a better plan. Many states have more taken than they get back for education funding.

Really, departments like this can survive because no one bothers to look into what they actually do. It has such a benign name. The department of education...that's gotta provide vital education infrastructure, right? In reality, the department of education is one of the primary culprits in financing the student loan bubble, and if you don't know what that it is, I'll be happy to explain it for the 1000th time, though it's now being covered by mainstream media outlets.

5/24/2011 12:47:10 AM

^you mean you dont feel that the dept of energy has done a great job with its 27B a year budget getting us off foreign energy in the 33 yrs of its existance? How DARE you question big govt. It just needs more money and all will be well.

5/24/2011 10:16:50 AM

Haha, yeah. If the Department of Energy is to be judged on its original purpose (to reduce dependency on foreign oil), then it truly is the poster child for failed, wasteful federal departments.

5/24/2011 12:00:44 PM

I can understand the need for the govt to monitor nuclear materials, but the DOE is pretty much a failure otherwise.

Of course if you want to do away with the DOE then you will be accused of wanting to turn off all the power in the US. As if we didnt have power before 1977 or we never had schools before the dept of education.

It is usually worthless to argue over such issues. The response will always be that they fail bc they dont have enough regulations, power, or money. haha

5/24/2011 4:34:25 PM

Quote :

"And yet the phrase, "throwing the baby out with the bathwater" comes to mind when I hear "let's get rid of the department of education!""

yes, because clearly taking money from the states, then passing it around the hands of washington, and then giving some of that money back to the states is great way to run an educational system. No one is saying to get rid of education. They are saying to get rid of a bloated bureaucracy which adds nothing to the educational systems of the nation.

Quote :

"I can understand the need for the govt to monitor nuclear materials, but the DOE is pretty much a failure otherwise."

Yeah, that's the only thing I really see that the DOE does that really needs to be done. And, I'd wager that such a function could easily be transferred over to the NRC.

5/24/2011 5:25:15 PM

Latest poll from Gallup out today has the top candidates as:

Romney 17%
Palin 15%
Paul 10%
Gingrich 9%
Cain 8%

Here is their breakdown by subgroup:

5/26/2011 4:32:02 PM