2012 Election Thread

[Scheavo]

So what kind of bullshit do you think Donald Trump is planning to dump on the world today?

This kind:  http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/24/us-usa-campaign-trump-idUSBRE89N17W20121024

If Obama releases his college and passport records by the end of the month, then Trump will donate $5 million to charity.  A pretty stupid move, honestly; Trump's trying to bring to light a controversy that doesn't actually exist.

If Obama really wanted to stir up some talk. He'd present them publicly while also agreeing to match Trump's donation (up to $5million of course).

Why would he do that? The right-wing that seriously takes this charge seriously will just claim that the records are forged, just like they still try and say the birth certificate Obama released was a forgery.

[adace]

Trump should donate that money regardless of what Obama does.

[rumborak]

Is Trump that much off the rocker that he thinks the President of the United States doesn't have a valid passport? How does he think the man entered and left the country before he was president?

[Scheavo]

They're still hoping that one of those early pieces of paper will say something like, "Born in Kenya."

[rumborak]

Is it just me or has FOX's style distinctly deteriorated as of late?

[kirksnosehair]

Donald Trump is the gift that keeps on giving 

[skydivingninja]

I thought the same thing regarding KevMo and Rich Wilson 

[ReaPsTA]

Is it just me or has FOX's style distinctly deteriorated as of late?

It's like the Drudge Report but with cheaper graphic design.

[Scheavo]

And the same lack of logic or objectivity.

[KevShmev]

Objectivity is absent from every cable news channel, pretty much.

[Scheavo]

And Drudge Report and Fox News are the worst of them, by far. I frequent the Drudge Report, and it's almost laughable to me how much they skew the news, and the absolute crappy sites they link to. When Obama lost the first debate, even MSNBC admitted it. If MSNBC was truly like Fox News, they would never have done that.

By the way, according to the logic in that picture, then Bush knew 9/11 was going to happen, and did nothing about it. But, for good reasons, not even the most liberally biased major media outlets say that, suggest it - nor should they.

[Super Dude]

It's going to be great when Romney wins and Amurrica becomes great again.

I'm going to actually laugh when Romney skyrockets the deficit, regulations become corrupt as all fuck, and 4 years from now, we're even more screwed than we are now.

Laughing is an interesting choice.

[Nick]

And Drudge Report and Fox News are the worst of them, by far. I frequent the Drudge Report, and it's almost laughable to me how much they skew the news, and the absolute crappy sites they link to. When Obama lost the first debate, even MSNBC admitted it. If MSNBC was truly like Fox News, they would never have done that.

By the way, according to the logic in that picture, then Bush knew 9/11 was going to happen, and did nothing about it. But, for good reasons, not even the most liberally biased major media outlets say that, suggest it - nor should they.

Sooooooo much win here.

If Romney would have lost the first debate they would have blamed the moderator, said unfair questions were asked, and said by facial recognition technology Romney actually won the debate.

Oh wait... that's what happened at #2.

[adace]

And Drudge Report and Fox News are the worst of them, by far. I frequent the Drudge Report, and it's almost laughable to me how much they skew the news, and the absolute crappy sites they link to. When Obama lost the first debate, even MSNBC admitted it. If MSNBC was truly like Fox News, they would never have done that.

By the way, according to the logic in that picture, then Bush knew 9/11 was going to happen, and did nothing about it. But, for good reasons, not even the most liberally biased major media outlets say that, suggest it - nor should they.

It's so ridiculous for right-wingers to talk about "liberal bias" in the media when the media as a whole is really just a mouthpiece for the establishment and corporate interests. Sure, most of the media might give Obama more favorable coverage, but he's a centrist anyway (maybe even the equivalent of a moderate Republican). You won't find any serious discussion of mainstream left-wing positions such as those espoused by the Green Party much less the radical left (i.e. Chomsky).

Democracy Now, Counterpunch, Alternet etc. are the places to go to for that kind of stuff.

[Super Dude]

While I agree, Alternet is kind of....out there.

[Perpetual Change]

And Drudge Report and Fox News are the worst of them, by far. I frequent the Drudge Report, and it's almost laughable to me how much they skew the news, and the absolute crappy sites they link to. When Obama lost the first debate, even MSNBC admitted it. If MSNBC was truly like Fox News, they would never have done that.

By the way, according to the logic in that picture, then Bush knew 9/11 was going to happen, and did nothing about it. But, for good reasons, not even the most liberally biased major media outlets say that, suggest it - nor should they.

Sooooooo much win here.

If Romney would have lost the first debate they would have blamed the moderator, said unfair questions were asked, and said by facial recognition technology Romney actually won the debate.

Oh wait... that's what happened at #2.

Exactly, there's a difference between a news organization that's admittedly run by people with liberal bias (MSNBC), and a propaganda medium that gets its talking points from GoP establishment elite from the top-down (Fox).

[adace]

And Drudge Report and Fox News are the worst of them, by far. I frequent the Drudge Report, and it's almost laughable to me how much they skew the news, and the absolute crappy sites they link to. When Obama lost the first debate, even MSNBC admitted it. If MSNBC was truly like Fox News, they would never have done that.

By the way, according to the logic in that picture, then Bush knew 9/11 was going to happen, and did nothing about it. But, for good reasons, not even the most liberally biased major media outlets say that, suggest it - nor should they.

Sooooooo much win here.

If Romney would have lost the first debate they would have blamed the moderator, said unfair questions were asked, and said by facial recognition technology Romney actually won the debate.

Oh wait... that's what happened at #2.

Exactly, there's a difference between a news organization that's admittedly run by people with liberal bias (MSNBC), and a propaganda medium that gets its talking points from GoP establishment elite from the top-down (Fox).

Well, I'd agree that MSNBC doesn't get its talking points from the DNC but their viewpoints/coverage pretty much echo them anyways.

[Perpetual Change]

Usually, but when democrats screw up, the anchors at MSNBC show pretty human emotions, like disillusionment. Chris Mathews blew a gasket after two of the debates this year. Keith Obermann venomously called Obama out a number of times before he got the can. There are plenty examples at MSNBC of stuff like that.

When democrats screw up, MSNBC anchors own up to it. When Republicans screw up, the entire crew at Fox go into damage control, and start spouting off the company talking points on the issue. There's a huge difference.

Not saying I have faith MSNBC will hold out for long. With the current polemic atmosphere, I wouldn't be surprised if MSNBC slowly wean the guys with standards out with talking heads who'll say whatever the company wants them to. But, as of right now, there's not even close. Fox is far and away the absolute worst.

[hefdaddy42]

Ann Coulter calls Obama retarded, Down Syndrome athlete calls her out

[ResultsMayVary]

And there she is... 

[antigoon]

And Drudge Report and Fox News are the worst of them, by far. I frequent the Drudge Report, and it's almost laughable to me how much they skew the news, and the absolute crappy sites they link to. When Obama lost the first debate, even MSNBC admitted it. If MSNBC was truly like Fox News, they would never have done that.

By the way, according to the logic in that picture, then Bush knew 9/11 was going to happen, and did nothing about it. But, for good reasons, not even the most liberally biased major media outlets say that, suggest it - nor should they.

It's so ridiculous for right-wingers to talk about "liberal bias" in the media when the media as a whole is really just a mouthpiece for the establishment and corporate interests. Sure, most of the media might give Obama more favorable coverage, but he's a centrist anyway (maybe even the equivalent of a moderate Republican). You won't find any serious discussion of mainstream left-wing positions such as those espoused by the Green Party much less the radical left (i.e. Chomsky).

I agree. And it's not even left-wing stuff they leave out most of the time that is most concerning to me, it's anything both parties agree on. Which is a lot of really important stuff - the sorry state of our prison system, corruption, and post-9/11 foreign policy.

[Super Dude]

If we want to take a break from the election itself, here's an interesting article about some anthropological and sociological explanations for red and blue geography: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/24/why-are-states-so-red-and-blue/?gwh=C929EFE455FE697C0E0B78968F085385

[antigoon]

I was gonna read that, until:

[ReaPsTA]

I think it's interesting that the Obama picture has

 - Better framing
 - More artistic use of shallow focus
 - More defined highlights and crisper blacks
 - Feels less hot (in a good way)
 - Richer color
 - Just nice color composition (because Obama is darker skinned, all the colors are made richer to compensate, but the nice lighting creates excellent form)

I'm not saying someone pureposefully decided to make the Romney picture look worse, but this has to be a reflection of something.

[Super Dude]

I was gonna read that, until:

If you interrupt the page loading as soon as the text appears, that won't show up. I do that now all the time.

I think it's interesting that the Obama picture has

 - Better framing
 - More artistic use of shallow focus
 - More defined highlights and crisper blacks
 - Feels less hot (in a good way)
 - Richer color
 - Just nice color composition (because Obama is darker skinned, all the colors are made richer to compensate, but the nice lighting creates excellent form)

I'm not saying someone pureposefully decided to make the Romney picture look worse, but this has to be a reflection of something.

Why does it have to? You could equally argue that that suspicion is a reflection of your desire to find something wrong with it.

[antigoon]

Well, that is something.

And thanks for the tip. 

[Super Dude]

 

[yorost]

I was gonna read that, until:

If you interrupt the page loading as soon as the text appears, that won't show up. I do that now all the time.

I'm not sure about NYT, but on other papers all you have to do is disable cookies for their site.

[Scheavo]

I think it's interesting that the Obama picture has

 - Better framing
 - More artistic use of shallow focus
 - More defined highlights and crisper blacks
 - Feels less hot (in a good way)
 - Richer color
 - Just nice color composition (because Obama is darker skinned, all the colors are made richer to compensate, but the nice lighting creates excellent form)

I'm not saying someone pureposefully decided to make the Romney picture look worse, but this has to be a reflection of something.

Ya, I'm with SD on this, you're trying really, really, really, really hard to create an issue out of nothing. That actually seems like a fairly good picture of Romney if you ask me

[El Barto]

Those seem like comparable pictures, flattering for both.  I've certainly seen plenty of legitimate news organizations pull shenanigans with their pictures before.  This just doesn't strike me as such. 

Speaking of pictures, Hillary seems to be looking more and more like one of the founding fathers every day.  Ben Franklin, methinks. 

[ResultsMayVary]

The background is kind of awful, so they could have picked a better picture, for sure. I bet that doesn't have anything to do with anything, just an observation.

[yorost]

For what it's worth, I'm neutral between the two and think Romney got the better picture.

[rumborak]

They're pretty equal. The Fox picture I posted earlier was definitely" what's the worst picture of Hillary we have?"

[pogoowner]

They're pretty equal. The Fox picture I posted earlier was definitely" what's the worst picture of Hillary we have?"

Well honestly... that's just kind of how she seems to look lately. She definitely doesn't make any attempt to look feminine.

[Chino]

Ann Coulter calls Obama retarded, Down Syndrome athlete calls her out

I absolutely loooooathe that woman. I DVR Real Time With Bill Maher every week. Se was on two or three weeks ago. I had to fast forward through her segment after about 5 minutes. She's unbearable.