Herman Cain's 9-9-9 Tax Plan came from Sim City
- Thread starter Charlie Don't Surf
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It's like I said before... this is a TERRIBLE election to be a Conservative in. No matter who wins the nomination, your kinda fucked: Ether he's going to not reflect your values or he's going to be unelectable. At least Democrats are used to dealing with moderates.
Necronic
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Well, Romney is a pretty clear choice from where I'm sitting. Sure, you alienate the far right and the religious right a bit, but you also compete in the center, something that few of their other candidates can do. If you can convince enugh of the wingnuts on the right to just go out and vote, and grab the center, then I don't think he will have much difficulty winning the election.
Because as bad as the repbulican lineup is, the winner only has to be good enough to beat Obama, and I don't see how they can loose it.
Because as bad as the repbulican lineup is, the winner only has to be good enough to beat Obama, and I don't see how they can loose it.
If they nominate Newt, they will lose.
But that's the problem: Mitt doesn't represent the values and ideals of his party. If he wins the nomination, it's going to turn off most of the core and drive down the voting numbers. The Republicans really can't afford to siphon voters at the moment. But if he doesn't win, the Republicans will never even have a chance at the center.
See, the picture looks different over here in Independentville. Other than Romney, I don't see a single electable candidate.
- Newt's history of corruption and family issues is utterly repellent and going to bite him in the ass like it always does. Most of America isn't willing to elect a sleazeball. Fuck, his OWN PARTY asked him to step down more than once.
- Bachmann is out of her god damn mind.
- Perry is hated by the kind of people who voted for Bush for a reason other than he was a Republican and looks/acts too much like Bush for everyone else. The cowboy/rancher statesmen archetype is dead for the time being.
- Ron Paul isn't taken seriously by anyone and his politics are too extreme, which is a shame because he's probably the most honest politician we've seen in years.
- Herman Cain has dropped out of the race.
As for Obama... yes, the economy is in the toilet but Congress and Wall Street are taking most of the blame for that and he's at least got a few feathers in his cap, with a full year to get more.
It really seems like the only way the election could possibly be close is if they run Romney.
Necronic
Staff member
I don't disagree with this list. The only two possible candidates they really have are Romney and Paul, and they are doing a good job of eliminating Paul as a viable candidate due to the media blackout. In a way that media blackout may be the only thing maintaining Paul as a viable candidate though, with more air time he may end up looking more like Bachman (for instance his arguing for a gold standard).
Romney may have the same problems that Cain did in getting elected, being too centrist, but (as I believe Gas mentioned), this isn't 2008. I don't know if you need to galvanize the right to get them to vote, as they are probably more interested with getting Obama out of office than getting a specific candidate in. I think that, even with Romney as the republican candidate, you will see higher numbers of voting republicans than you did in 2008.
Now, if Gingrich gets the primary you will galvanize more of the far right, but you will also alienate the center and you will arguably galvanize the left to get out the vote. Gingrich may pull in greater numbers of republicans, but he will also pull in greater numbers of democrats.
Before he opened his mouth I was sure that Perry would take the nomination and the election, but as it currently stands I think Romney is their best bet, and I give even odds to him taking the center and the election.
I said this in 2004 about Bush. He was unpopular and everyone thought any democrat with a heartbeat could defeat him. That election proved that there are always worse options. Bachmann/Perry/Cain/Paul/Gingrich would be the John Kerry of 2012.
GasBandit
Staff member
The problem with Gingrich is, if he is the nominee, then the narrative of the election is about Gingrich's... ahem... rich and tapestried past. It becomes "all about Newt" when, for them to win, Republicans need the narrative to focus on Obama.
Hermain Cain was probably their best shot. It's too bad he let a handful of accusations of varying degrees of credibility derail him. Yeah, he goofed some, but ANYBODY who gets the kind of media scrutiny these nominees have been getting the last 6 months is going to say and do some dumb things. And yes, he's weak on foreign policy, but right now we've got bigger problems. Hell, Bush threw up on the prime minister of Japan. It's not like the bar is set really high here.
Welp, not like any of it affects which button I press, anyway. I'll be voting Libertarian I suppose, as usual. Kind of a pity that Wayne Allyn Root isn't running this year, but oh well.
Hermain Cain was probably their best shot. It's too bad he let a handful of accusations of varying degrees of credibility derail him. Yeah, he goofed some, but ANYBODY who gets the kind of media scrutiny these nominees have been getting the last 6 months is going to say and do some dumb things. And yes, he's weak on foreign policy, but right now we've got bigger problems. Hell, Bush threw up on the prime minister of Japan. It's not like the bar is set really high here.
Welp, not like any of it affects which button I press, anyway. I'll be voting Libertarian I suppose, as usual. Kind of a pity that Wayne Allyn Root isn't running this year, but oh well.
It's the same issue really: Weak candidate that isn't well supported by their party's voter base.
EDIT: Nope, you were right.
I think it was the Premiere of China.
EDIT: Nope, you were right.
Yes, except the Kerry campaign was HORRIBLY run. He would have been better off with a team of monkeys.
And you're saying Cain's/Perry's/Gingrich's/Bachmann's have been run any better? You're just reaffirming my point.
Necronic
Staff member
I still hold that Cain never would have survived the big league. He had almost no foreign policy in his platform, and the little bit that he did have was downright frigtening (check out his Map of foreign policy.) And that's not an unfair criticism of the dude. This isn't the 1920s, where we get to run on isolationist platforms. Foreign policy is probably one of if not the most important roles of a presidential candidate, and his inability to present a position early shows a real misunderstanding of what a president even is.
Edit: All of that said, I think he is a good choice for a VP or another head position for whoever decides to run, giving him some experience that he can use in his next attempt at the presidency.
Edit: All of that said, I think he is a good choice for a VP or another head position for whoever decides to run, giving him some experience that he can use in his next attempt at the presidency.
It certainly didn't help that he was boring and lacked the imagination and energy of Bush. I may compare GWB to Ralph Wiggum, but even Ralph Wiggum won the nomination.
It was NEVER about him winning his candidacy. It was always about being able to add an extra zero to his fees for speaking engagements.
Except he used his FIRST presidential run (remember, this isn't his first candidacy) to do exactly that. He was making 3-4x as much a speech after that as he was before it.
Necronic
Staff member
Hey.....I played the first pokemon games.....
Cain, wasn't he that successful business man that turned Godfather's from the 3rd largest pizza chain into the 11th largest?
Necronic
Staff member
Wow that's....that's a pretty dumb/misinformed post.
Yes, Godfathers was the 3rd largest pizza chain in the nation. But it was also unprofitable and circling the drain. By reducing it to the 11th largest chain he was able to save it and turn it into a profitable enteriprise.
Size isn't everything. Having the largest pizza chain around doesn't mean a thing if it isn't turning a profit. Anyone can make an unprofitable business.
It constantly amazes me just how regional pizza can be... for instance, I was honestly surprised that Donatos or Little Caesar aren't national chains. It looks like it's just Dominoes and Pizza Hut.
Course none of that matter... everyone knows that the only good place to get pizza is from local joints.
Course none of that matter... everyone knows that the only good place to get pizza is from local joints.
Well any dumbass can close all the stores of a company besides the 3rd that are making a profit already. A leader turns a company around by increasing the awareness of the product or improving the product. Then the sales will come.
GasBandit
Staff member
Absolutely. There's definitely not even the slightest bit of waste, corruption or sloth in our nation's government, and we don't need to do any trimming or downsizing whatsoever. In fact, we just need to put even more money into what we put even more money into last year. Surely this time it will magically work.I wonder if Herman Cain was going to fix the economy by shutting down the 20 least-profitable states and giving pink slips to all the residents? 'Cuz apparently that's leadership.
GasBandit
Staff member
Well, when you're right, you're right. Mandating a cut and leaving the dishonest to fight the forthright in a CYA contest won't be enough. But it's definitely a bad idea to just keep feeding the beast until its carcass crushes us all and starts to stink up the hemisphere.
As I've said before, it's probably all too far gone. If this was a computer, I'd be recommending a format and reinstall. Scrap the whole thing, start over. It's too bad a lot of schmendricks will get starved and/or stabbed while that happens.
Sure, it's easy to just reinstall with a computer. A computer reinstall doesn't potentially adversely affect millions of people and cause a level of potential suffering that can't be imagined. If I thought that restarting the whole thing could be done seamlessly, I'd be all for that as a solution.
GasBandit
Staff member
I think I said something to that effect. But, much as with lingering niggling little computer problems, we're just going to continue to pretend to address the underlying problems and limp along with the illusion of efficacy until everything finally shits itself and we're left to rebuild from nothing anyway.
What in the hell are you babbling about now? How is this relevant to the joke I was making? Where did I claim there was no waste in government spending?
Seriously, get a grip.
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