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Mitt Romney To Announce VP Decision Via Smartphone App
redletterdave writes "In 2008, then-Illinois Sen. Barack Obama decided to announce his running mate, then-Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, over a text message, which was sent out to Obama's legions of followers. Four years later, Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the likely presidential nominee from the Republican Party, has decided to make his VP announcement over a smartphone app. On Tuesday, Mitt Romney's campaign team launched a smartphone app called 'Mitt's VP,' which promises app users will be the first to know the official news of Romney's running mate for the November election. Once Romney makes his decision, he will announce the news over the app, which will alert smartphone owners with a text notification."
At this point, as crazy partisan as things have gotten, I'm pretty sure everyone in their right minds has already decided where they stand in the fall. Obama, Romney, third party, or stay at home--I doubt there are very many left who are going to be swayed at this point by a VP nominee. Short of Romney either pulling off a miracle (announcing Jesus as his VP, complete with second coming) or making an epic-level misstep (announcing the Colorado shooter as his VP)--I don't think it's going to matter much either way. I'm pretty sure only the die-hard pundits are still listening to either candidate at this point.
I mean, the only time I can remember anyone outside of the pundits even talking about the VP nominees has been when they've REALLY been fuck-ups. And Romney doesn't strike me as the kind of guy to go with one of those (maybe Santorum at the OUTSIDE, and I doubt even that).
What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
Well, kiss my app
Mitt has a bad track record with phone apps.
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
I thought that in 2008 until McCain picked Palin and I saw (as in I knew personally) die-in-the-wool conservatives actually announce they were supporting Obama this time.
Despite attempts to depict him otherwise (sometimes by himself!), Romney comes across as a moderately competent political moderate, and I suspect his support from centrists is higher than, say, someone like Santorum would have. It's unlikely Romney will pick someone more centrist than himself, the question is whether he'll pick someone all his supporters can live with. McCain picked badly.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
This is exactly the WRONG way to use social media.
Its NOT to broadcast to a select few what decision [insert name here] reached.
Social media is to solicit from the "Wisdom of the Commons" who a running mate should be.
This is so stupid that its doesn't deserve further comment.
MSBPodcast.com The opinions expressed here are my own. If you don't like 'em... Think up your own stuff.
Smartphone Apps?
Security traps.
Can't smooth visage
Like fine blade, chaps.
Burma Shave
Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
Isn't that what Twitter is for? Does everyone now need their own app?
Corporations are people too!
I wish I could have been in on that meeting, the level of stupidity in picking her was just astounding.
PROTIP for Romney: You have the old people and fox news watchers all locked up, you do not need a VP that will reassure them so stick with someone less crazy. Or don't, I won't vote for you either way.
Hey... he could name Palin or her sister... whats her name?
to see what he mispells this time.
for Siri as VP. She's easily as smart as any other recent VP candidates.
Liberals wanted single payer, not a rebadged Romneycare. So shut up, troll.
Republicans? Apps? Technology? Hmmm. Not the perfect audience for this.
1. Why not tie this into the existing "I'm with Mitt" app? How many diff apps will he have before it's all said and done.
2. If you already have an app, why send out SMS to notify users?
Someone who makes an entire app just to receive a text message, does sound like someone who will run an efficient government.
Looks like Max Headroom will be the new VP candidate.
At least he has a mute button.
If "disco" means "I learn" in Latin, does "discothèque" mean "I learn technology"?
This strikes me as an obvious case where a guy - and, more importantly, his campaign staff - just don't grok the technology.
Why on earth would you need a "Mitt's VP" app? There are already numerous, widely-used communication technologies well-suited to this purpose. And on top of that - why would anyone think a single-purpose, one-use-only app makes any sense?
#DeleteChrome
I'm sure that people who don't have this app will be kicking themselves. After all, this app is going to be the ONLY way to learn who Romney has chosen ... for the six seconds it takes for CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, and EVERY OTHER TV, INTERNET, RADIO, ETC. NEWS ORGANIZATION IN THE US to get someone on the air announcing it.
Why?
Seriously... um, why would anyone download this app considering the VP pick will be all over the news 5 seconds later? Is Romney trying to look "hip" by doing this? If so, it's a pathetically transparent attempt.
== Jez ==
Do you miss Firefox? Try Pale Moon.
At this point, as crazy partisan as things have gotten, I'm pretty sure everyone in their right minds has already decided where they stand in the fall
There are still substantial shifts in polling, so I think there are still a core group of independent voters who are making up minds on the matter, and are able to have minds changed by words or deeds.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
this has great potential for epic fail. perhaps it is time to dust off the old disassembler.
Average Intelligence is a Scary Thing
I'm very disappointed here. I would have expected at least one person in the first 50 comments to suggest that his running mate will be a refrigerator magnet. Remind me how those work again, Romney? :D
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
...require everything necessary to continually contact you and annoy the sh** out of you.
How long until the Democrats have something similarly ridiculous as a contact farming tool?
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I found it scary that Romney was indeed the less crazy choice, but then next to Perry and Santorum it's not difficult to appear an intelligent and compassionate centrist. I'm very curious to see his VP choice, and I'd hope he won't repeat McCain's clusterfuck of a choice.
-- Using the preview button since 2005
My prediction for the VP candidate is going to be a Cheney 2.0
Some rather sketchy politician with really questionable ties to industries whom everyone is pretty sure is just doing it as a means of making a shit load of money, consequences and country be damned.
Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
At this point, as crazy partisan as things have gotten, I'm pretty sure everyone in their right minds has already decided where they stand in the fall.
Nobody in their right minds would vote for either Romney or Obama, unless they are already multi-millionaires. For the rest of us, it doesn't matter. They are both owned by the uber rich.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
It's not about efficiency. It is about outsourcing everything to corporate fat cats.
-
And do you trust that the only thing the app is doing is providing you a text message when the announcement is sent out?
Put on the evil genius hat for a bit and ponder what neat things you could use the app for before and after it' purpose to do additional stuff to the stooges that fell for the trick of 'install this app to receive a text message'.
die-in-the-wool
I think you mean "dyed in the wool," although the idea that they're so devoted that they'd die with the wool still pulled over their eyes works too :-P
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
Kinda like you and the words "conservative" and "Marxist". Clue: it has nothing to do with Groucho.
That's her clone, not her sister.... ok, maybe evil twin...
My prediction for the VP candidate is going to be a Cheney 2.0
Some rather sketchy politician with really questionable ties to industries whom everyone is pretty sure is just doing it as a means of making a shit load of money, consequences and country be damned.
So.. Karl Rove?
Nah, Methuselah always prefers to run things from the shadows...
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
Mitt just invented Mittware. I think the definitive is fairly clear.
Do you honestly think that any die-hard right-wing conservative is going to let Obama win if Romney doesn't pick a a far-right VP? I don't buy for that for a second. Short of him picking a far-left liberal as his VP, he's got that vote *secured*.
What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
It wasn't stupid to pick Palin. McCain's campaign was going nowhere fast, as the Republicans yet again picked the guy who was next on the list, instead of someone who might actually interest voters. When Palin was announced as the VP pick, McCain's numbers shot up. Most of the people I know who voted Republican that year were voting for Palin, not for McCain.
The Republican establishment inside the District of Corruption doesn't want to hear that they simply bore people. Palin, for all her faults (and yeah, she has 'em), shot some life into the Republican party for a bit.
Romney's probably going to do whatever his advisers tell him to do, which will be moderate, and safe, and utterly boring. Boring does not win elections.
I agree.
However, what else would you expect from America's Borat?
I don't read your sig. Why are you reading mine?
...
Oh wait, scratch that.
I am a retarded moron and I like to taste my own poop.
No, this is to collect names, contact info, and location data for supporters for whom they will then solicit donations from.
I wonder if this application will be open sourced. A high profile person like Romney could get many young people interested in programming.
DNA is the ultimate spaghetti code.
You realize that your insurance company does the same thing, right? Or your insurance company's pharmacy benefits manager (PBM) or some other entity even further divorced from the doctor patient relationship. If you want something other than by formulary under almost any health insurance plan, you pay out of pocket. There is almost no other way to control expenses: you negotiate until you get a good deal and in exchange for the good, you lose exclusivity.
Moreover, you're trolling isn't really helping your cause here. First, most of the United States won't get government sponsored health insurance. Nope, that's reserved for politicians, soldiers, and the very poor. Everything else is going to be by the same commercial insurance companies that already dictate healthcare. Good try though.
Second, control over individual medicaid expenses is something that the RIGHT wants, not the left. It allows states to prioritize their healthcare expenses and make decisions at a state level. You know, the whole "laboratory of states" thing.
As long as by "that" you mean "the App store." It was hard to tell from your context. ;-)
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
After careful deconstruction of the app, I have discovered the VP candidate's name is "Force Close".
Despite attempts to depict him otherwise (sometimes by himself!), Romney comes across as a moderately competent political moderate.
I generally consider Mitt Romney to be a thoroughly dishonest political $DEITY-knows-what. These are the only political positions I've actually seen him consistently take:
1. Taxes should be lower, especially on rich people.
2. I'm not Barack Obama. In particular, I'm white.
Everything else seems to me to be up for grabs, and vary from hour to hour depending on who he's talking to.
I am officially gone from
Barack Obama has Joe Biden. Romney wants to win, so has to out-perform Obama. There is only one person alive that out-performs Joe Biden, no other than... Chris Dodd!
When the copyright term is "forever minus a day", live every day like it's the last.
"It wasn't stupid to pick Palin."???
Let's get something straight here. Palin was fucking stupid. She, personally, was a fucking twit.
Anyone thinking that she was a positive for the GOP is also a fucking twit. She did more damage to the GOP brand every time she opened her dumb mouth-hole.
One day I feel I'm ahead of the wheel / the next it's rolling over me / I can get back on / I can get back on
If ever there was an app to be cracked, it must be this. Think of the possibilities --
Mitt selects Kim Jong Il
Mitt selects Vladimir Putin
Mitt selects Sarah Palin
Mitt selects Daffy Dick
Wish I had the chops to try. Anyway, Let the Games Begin!
Why don't you talk about your wonderful hero, the Obama and Obamacare CUTTING MEDICINE FROM MEDICARE
Ok, inform us of this nefarious deed.
"In Alabama, Medicaid patients are now limited to one brand-name drug, and HIV and psychiatric drugs are excluded.
So, no, your scary comment there is wrong. ALABAMA is cutting drug coverage from MEDICAID. Obama doesn't tell Alabama how to administer Medicaid.
I'll just keep relying on The Daily Show.
The right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken seriously.
Why don't you talk about your wonderful hero, the Obama and Obamacare CUTTING MEDICINE FROM MEDICARE.
He isn't. It is the states rationing the amount of medications one can receive. Why do you think this has anything to do with "Obamacare"?
Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
Entire app=web page. This one doesn't require more complexity than that, nor needs more resources.
Singularity: a belief in the "God" idea with the "demiurge" relation inverted.
In the last decade or so, the US political process seems to have refocused on the endless selection of candidates that takes years, rather than focusing on the actual business of government. Other countries typically mount much faster elections, and political parties tend to be ephemeral -- two or three groups may amalgamate to mount a challenge to the ruling party, whereas the Democrats and Republicans seemed locked in a colossal coin toss. Barring a significant political event leading up to the election, we know that one party will edge the other by a handful of votes. Of course, it's easy to provide foreign commentary but much harder to see what could be done to improve the situation. Perhaps we will see the emergence of new regional parties that focus on issues of extreme importance for specific areas? Perhaps we'll see increasing demands placed on the federal gov't by individual states? Or perhaps we'll see the status quo indefinitely. I'd be interested to hear an American perspective on this -- does the system work? How would you improve it?
A pick of the app looked a lot like a Jack Daniels label, intimating we'll all be drinking heavily if he wins.
he has apps written for the fuck of it
My suggestion is that any OP with the 'politics' tag should not allow anonymous comments. Geez I'm embarrassed to have an account on this site!
What people do you hang out with? Inmates at the local asylum?
If it was going to be Cheney 2.0, his running mate would be Beth Myers since she's the head of the campaigns VP search committee.
We hope your rules and wisdom choke you / Now we are one in everlasting peace
This shows me that Romney is indeed a buzzworder, who doesn't understand tech but knows how to throw around buzzwords. Announcing it on a phone app is retarded; what's wrong with text, email, or a web page -- not everyone has a smart phone, but everyone can access the internet.
I don't want someone that stupid to be President. We had enough stupidity with Bush, I do not want to see that repeated.
Free Martian Whores!
You, um, might have missed a memo or two about the, er, 'demographic re-targeting' of the GOP brand...
Maybe this app is not just to receive a text message. Maybe this app really is Mitt's VP, and he needs a few million smartphones to run the neural nets.
Most of the elements of the law haven't gone into effect yet. It should not be surprising there haven't been big savings.
How has the "we could all keep our own plans and doctors." claim proven to be a lie?
You should at least read the title of the article you linked. The key points being it's the states that are limiting drug coverage, and it's applying to Medicaid not Medicare.
You've filled my batshit buzzword bingo card in 2 posts. Nice!
If you agree that they're going to vote for him either way, exactly how are you arguing against me when I say *it doesn't matter*? As I said, short of a miracle or epic misstep, it really doesn't mean jack who he picks at this point.
What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
> Anyone thinking that she was a positive for the GOP is also a
> fucking twit. She did more damage to the GOP brand every time
> she opened her dumb mouth-hole.
Um really? Do you see one of their men in the hot seat for what was the coming economic crisis? Is their man defending his record during a major recession?
Palin was a smart choice for throwing the election, when they already had a good enough candidate for their aims being run by the Dems.
The GOP has spent the past 20 years going off the deep end and pulling the dems over to their side. We have a Dem president who came out of the gate proposing the old GOP healthcare reform, even fighting them for it.
They already won. The last thing they would want is to have to take credit, it ruins their whole strategy, as they demonstrated with Bush II.
People don't seem to realize, you don't win under this system by supporting your people and compromising with likeminded people. You win by going so far to the extreme of your view, that others have to compromise with you.
"I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
Jesus would be a bad choice for a Romney running mate. Romney would believe it was his third coming, and that could seriously alienate the conservative Christian vote.
He has also been largely consistent in his assurances that, while being governor of Massachusetts does make him Serious and Experienced, he is absolutely against any policy he endorsed or enacted in that office, and is particularly horrified that this great nation has been saddled with the a medical insurance system practically identical to Romneycare...
No. "Crowd Input" is one aspect of social media. The other aspect is the viral aspect. You want to spread your message across the social web through each node's personal connection by seeding a select few initial nodes. The advantage of that over traditional media is that you can try and generate a buzz. Everybody talking about it, liking, commenting, sharing. Not everything is suiteable for broadcasting via social networks, but this is definitely one major aspect of social networking.
I guess the real question is: What else does that app do? You don't need people installing executables on their phone to receive a text message, it must have other features that made it worth the development effort on Mitt's part. It could have a donate button, but most of his donations are going to 529 groups anyway, so that's not a huge win (it will be there anyway). What is the point of this app?
I read the internet for the articles.
Please elaborate. A citation would be nice.
You are welcome on my lawn.
I know 1^21 other ways to spend compaign contribution money and romney's staff time other that developing an useless app. Also, there is this nice instrument out there which does exactly things like this. I think i cannot recall the name right now. Maybe was something like buzzer? jeezer? twiener?
if free market is supposed to be able to solve every problem, why do i still need to scratch my balls?
I don't think you can be your own running mate...
These are the only political positions I've actually seen him consistently take ... I'm not Barack Obama. In particular, I'm white.
If you can provide a citation for that, please do and I will not vote for Romney.
Otherwise you're full of shit and a racist. And so is whoever modded you up.
:wq
*nods* this will likely be an election focused on getting people out to vote or discouraging them from voting since, as you say, most people have made up their minds already.
Though it is always possible that something strange will happen. There are rumblings that polls are showing a possible electoral tie, and Ron Paul supporters have been trying to stuff the electoral college (and are unlikely to simply vote for whoever they are supposed to), so we could have an interesting constitutional crisis on our hands if everything pans out.
Now THAT would be something worth punditing over.
And you've met a real Marxist I take it.
I wonder what real Marxists call Obama? A clue... it sure as hell ain't "Comrade"
I find it unsettling that someone who composes sentences as well as you do would call Sarah Can't-Even-Finish-Her-Term Palin competent, experienced, and wise.
--Jeremy
Jesus was a liberal
Your own custom app designed to do the same thing that countless other more standard apps already do.... print a name on a screen. This can not be good.
In a world that already knows that programmers produce video games, somebody with the, um, youth appeal of Mitt Romney is going to get people interested in programming? Seriously?
Well, one of the permissions you have to give it is access to GPS/location information... I was going to install it just because I'm interested, but I'm not interested enough to give the Romney campaign access to my location info. I also don't have a Facebook account or "MyMitt" account, whatever that is.
I love that the "company" for the app in the Google Play store comes up as "Romney for President, Inc". I think that says it all right there.
I think they already have way too many names, judging from the fact that I keep getting his junk mail, and it should be pretty obvious from publicly available records that I'm voting and donating the other way.
What gets me is this: when all is said and done, Romney and his associated PACs will have spent more than ever has been spent by a campaign (they are on track to outspend Obama, yes.) And yet, unlike just about every other candidate from either party, they still expect their donors to pony up for a postage stamp when they mail in their checks. BTW that means I've won: all the time I spent sending Republicans back empty SASEs paid off in that a few donations will be lost in the mail due to someone forgetting the stamp.
Someone had to do it.
Romney doesn't need any more money, he has tons more cash than Obama as he is bankrolled by the plutocracy.
although you are right, i forgot the great legion of American idiots, who would give this man money and vote for him, even though he is part of the corporate culture that fired the unemployed American idiot to move his job to a country with less workers rights and cheaper slave like labor. but don't worry, his kind will reemploy the American idiots again, just as soon as all "evil socialist" worker's rights are destroyed and we desperately need the walmart greeter job at one tenth the salary
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
The people who talk about it, have made there minds, There is a big set of undecided,
There are people who have a mixed bag on what they want that doesn't fit political lines.
Pro-Choice and Anti-Welfare
Pro-Life and Wants welfare expansion
Favors A larger military but more gun controls....
The moderates in the world are often treated as not having strong convictions, but they may have strong convictions however their views don't fit the molds, they take a little from each side and try to figure out what is the best balance. These are the people who determine elections, if they feel Romney or Obama has more of the wrong mix, then they will make their vote.
If we are going to just say we are all partisan, why bother voting for a person, we vote for the ideology we want, and we have judges determine if a persons actions fall under the winning ideology. But we actually hire people, people can determine if their key ideology just wont work for that situation and do the right thing and bend it for the greater good. Not being a flip flopper but because there are issues that come up that ideology alone doesn't cover.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Palin made the difference between McCain losing and a landslide.
McCain spent his whole political career trying to be liked by democrats and alienating his fellow republicans.
His prized demographic was gaga over the idea of electing president Chocolate Jesus and republicans didn't particularly like him. Palin saved him from 45 state sweep.
Romney is in a worse position than McCain was. Expect a Rubio type VP.
LK
"Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
And you know this because...
Thank God we have these brave fearless bringers of truth to counteract the mainstream media (that's, what, Salon.com and The Guardian?) with their "facts" and "Actually Obama didn't say anything remotely resembling that" stuff.
No, I don't buy that happening. Because that would be the equivalent of conservatives saying "I'd rather have Obama than vote for Romney." And I don't see them saying that, short of him picking Fidel Castro as his running mate.
What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
Well, not all the dems were in favor of this in the house but enough to knock it over the goal line. I believe thirty or forty voted against it. But really, the US needed a health care policy. It was just unsustainable and probably still is, but at least people can now pay to be covered. The funny thing is that some of the people who screamed bloody murder at the passage of the bill will have their lives saved by it.
I just wish Obama had tried for single payer from the beginning and then compromised down to this solution (or I don't know, passed single payer). That way, everyone would have been happy. Well except the die hards. When the dems co-opted the conservative plan, the conservatives had no where to go except to crazy land.
Every major news network will have this information online within 45 seconds of its announcement anyway.
/* No Comment */
wait five more seconds to find out via any of the other normal media streams?
I'm sure the GOP's got the blueprints to build another Romney.
Check out my world simulator thingy.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/mitt-romney/9424524/Mitt-Romney-would-restore-Anglo-Saxon-relations-between-Britain-and-America.html
It's faith based politics.
One reason my wife and I no longer go to church is because of the pastor making political comments in the sermons.
Politics is basically the an organization that works by flinging shit all over the place and I don't like shit mixed in with my religion.
Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
Good point. What is Jesus told Romney that this was his first time in America? Could cause a serious scandal.
What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
2. I'm not Barack Obama. In particular, I'm white.
The only people who seem to think it matters that Romney is white are people who oppose him. Why is his skin color that so important to liberals?
I often don't like the choices people make, but I like the fact that people make choices. That's why I'm a conservative.
"This is exactly the WRONG way to use social media.
Its NOT to broadcast to a select few what decision [insert name here] reached."
Why is it wrong? Please explain why you should be limiting how social media is used.
The Republicans will never run Powell for Prez or VP. They're too afraid that he'd win.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
Mark my words (so you can point and laugh if I'm wrong)
And by "alternative", we are assuming you mean Michele Bachmann....
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
I'm sorry, where do you get your news? Moderately competent? Really? Romney just came back from a disastrous trip to Europe, where he offended the entire country of Britain, was renounced by the Poles (big fans of Solidarity, not so much of Mitt's union views), pissed off the Palestinians by saying their culture was inferior to Israel's (keep in mind Israel is the occupying force there, keeping free movement of goods and trade limited).
Good lord, the guy keeps talking about the Soviet Union being an adversary of the US! 20 years after the Soviet Union fell!
This guy can chop up a company and "extract" a profit, so can I, that's just numbers on a spreadsheet, but he's not a leader of a super power. And I didn't even get into his buying all the hard drives in Massachusetts after he left office to delete his history there, how he won't release any more than the bare minimum when it comes to his tax returns (his dad released 12 years and set the standard), or how his wife's prancing horse is a $77,000.00 a year tax deduction, more than most American's make a year.
He's worse than anyone will ever admit, because he's all they got, but the guy's toast once they get to the debates and he puts both feet in his mouth at the same time. The crazies took over the Republican party, and CItizens United fogged up the windows so thick that the GOTeaP is toast. Incompetent to the point they can't even find a candidate who's not a twit.
Also, my dogs ride inside the car.
romney is no centrist. He clearly has an agenda to make the rich richer and he is not even trying to disguise it.
This is a clear case of a campaign staff looking at what was interesting in the past, specifically Obama's successful moves, and trying to one up them.
You can just hear the brainstorming session.
Campaign Manager: "We need to announce a VP soon"
CM: "How do we do it for the biggest effect?"
Staffer: "Obama did it on twitter and he got tons of tech press attention over that"
CM: "How can we do it one better than that? What's newer than twitter?"
Staffer: "Smart Phones and Apps are the thing now."
CM:"What's an App?"
Staffer:"You don't need to know what they are, just that they are cool."
CM: "Cooler than twitter?"
Staffer: "Way cooler, Apps do news, games, check-ins and..."
CM:"Ok annouce it on the App network"
Staffer:"That's not how it works"
CM:"What?"
Staffer:"Well, you have to make an App first"
CM: "OK, can you get it made by lunchtime so we have it ready ASAP?"
Staffer: "Yeah, um... that's not something I can make"
CM: "Ok get one of the vounlenteers to make it then, one of them has to be a nerd"
Staffer: "You got it!"
a week goes by
CM: "So we're all set then?"
Staffer:"Well almost, now we need to get people to download it"
CM: "What?"
Staffer:"Well people need the app to receive the news"
CM: "Seriously? Can we get everyone with a computer in the US to download the App by tomorrow?"
Staffer: "It doesn't run on a computer"
CM: "What?"
-crickets-
CM: "Oh jeesus cheerist you are killing me here."
Staffer: "well..."
CM: "Shut up, just... shut... up"
At this point, as crazy partisan as things have gotten, I'm pretty sure everyone in their right minds has already decided where they stand in the fall.
"in their right minds" is the key there. Most swing voters aren't paying attention yet. That's why the political ads will be so annoying. They're not trying to persuade thinking individuals - they're trying to persuade "independents".
I often don't like the choices people make, but I like the fact that people make choices. That's why I'm a conservative.
The most sane choice was John Huntsman, unfortunately nobody could get excited about him because he's intelligent, competent, and not a frothing-at-the-mouth ideologue.
The rest were a bunch of fucking clowns, and Romney just managed to be the last man standing by not screwing up too badly and not being too insane.
Check out my world simulator thingy.
Good. So we agree that your scary quote was wrong. Obama had nothing to do with the Medicaid cuts (as unfortunate as those are).
Guess you need to go find another reason to rant against Obamacare
You know it isn't fully implement until 2014 right?
What permissions does it ask for? All big political parties build up databases of voters and this seems like a perfect way to populate the Republican one.
They are probably thinking that it will get them some data on a big target demographic too - the young and technologically clued up.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
You're a moron.
The legislation was drafted by six senators. Three dems. Three republicans. Once it was released, it was sent to a committee vote in which a lot of republican amendments were ACCEPTED. I know. I watched all the friggin live hearings. The hilarious things is that they were so cordial during the proceedings, thanking each other for every motion and then they threw each other under bus during the one-on-one interviews. One minute Grassley is thanking Baucus for getting his motion passed, and the next moment, he's complaining to Fox News that republicans were being stonewalled.
Pure utter bullshit. Obama would have sold his kids up river for an extra republican vote. Yet, you idiots favor quoting talking points instead of using your brains.
Try it out some time. You'll find that people will like you for it.
Romney probably will choose somebody like Condoleezza Rice, she is black and she is a woman, that's probably the best way to go for him at this point.
Not that I give a shit and not that it will matter.
People who care about the future should either write in Ron Paul or just vote for Gary Johnson (he is the Libertarian candidate on the ticket).
You can't handle the truth.
Seriously, this is just PR to get the tech crowd talking. Why would I ever want the any political party to use my location and know things about me that I keep on my phone. I trust them less than I trust advertisers. I might be interested if it showed his waffling on subjects in real-time, or meetings with special interest groups. I'd take an app that showed all of them, any elected official or their subordinates, meeting with folks. They've all gone crazy I tell you, all of them.
I'm sure the GOP's got the blueprints to build another Romney.
The problem is that the GOP bought those blueprints from the Democrats. The blueprints they bought were for John Kerry.
Maybe, but do you think they make the second one seem more human? The first one seems stuck in the uncanny valley.
Yeah! That Southern Strategy thing that liberals invented and have habitually made use of since the advent of the Civil Rights Act...not to mention thinly veiled attempts at minority vote suppression.......those damn libs are sure color aroused aren't they ? Oh...wait....
If Romney released it as a free app all the tea baggers will be screaming "OMG! Socialism!".
“We are part of an Anglo-Saxon heritage, and he feels that the special relationship is special,” the adviser said of Mr Romney, adding: “The White House didn’t fully appreciate the shared history we have”.
He feels the special relationship is special.
2. I'm not Barack Obama. In particular, I'm white.
Hilarious, the conservatives are trying to convince us that pointing this out is racist.
Every time Mitt Romney makes a comment about being more of n American, about understanding true America better, about trning America back into what it was, he is breaking out the dog-whistle.
Yes, I know yuou're not fascist, you just want the birth certificate. And you do have the deed to the Brooklyn Bridge.
This is not about using social media. It's about using the spying ability of smartphone apps to pad his fundraising mailing lists. Everyone who downloads that app will be giving their phone number and twitter name to the campaign. It could also grab their email address, and all the info on everyone in their contact list.
This is an extremely smart, out-of-the-box way of using social media as a stepping stone to outrageously unethical campaign advertising. It's a shining, heartfelt example of amoral power, a pristine jewel of fucking the public when they're not looking. I'm not surprised the Romney campaign came up with it.
Genocide Man -- Life is funny. Death is funnier. Mass murder can be hilarious.
Actually I think it's his supporters who think it matters most.
First, most of the United States won't get government sponsored health insurance. Nope, that's reserved for politicians, soldiers, and the very poor.
You're forgetting the elderly - remember, they were the ones that were deathly afraid of the federal government meddling in their Medicare.
Better yet, what if Jesus told Romney that God prefers the name Allah? Better yet, what if Jesus told Romney that God does not exist? Causality problems with that last scenario aside, that might just be a problem for Romney's base.
Most of the people I know who voted Republican that year were voting for Palin, not for McCain.
Most of the people I know who voted Republican were voting against the Democrats and not for anybody. The reverse is also true. Most of the Democrats I know are voting against Republicans. It is a rare treat to actually hear someone tell you why they are voting FOR someone.
If we use the Star Trek precedent, this one's Lore, so the next one will have no emotions at all.
Check out my world simulator thingy.
You have the old people and fox news watchers all locked up, you do not need a VP that will reassure them so stick with someone less crazy.
I'd expect him to pick an experienced old-timey republican from Pennsylvania or Florida or Ohio or one of the other swing states. Someone non-threatening, so he doesn't scare off people from elsewhere, but familiar and safe in the state that counts.
He used to be very consistent about not performing any actions in Pakistan, but after OBL was killed he changed his position. Actually he didn't change his position, but he claims that he still would have gone after OBL in Pakistan even though he would not perform any actions in Pakistan.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_positions_of_Mitt_Romney#Pakistan
In 2007, Romney criticized then-candidate Barack Obama for stating that, as President, he would launch military strikes against "high-value terrorist targets" in Pakistan, even without the Pakistani government's approval.[123] In 2011, after such a strike resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden, Romney said that, if he had been President, he would have done "exactly the same thing."[124]
Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
Thus proving readin's point by stating what "you" think.
The party of stupid and the party of evil get together and do something both stupid and evil, then call it bipartisan.
Clearly you can't afford your meds, so I'm certain the new system will help you. Nevertheless, I feel compelled to take on your crazy.
First, the economics of the system aren't that controversial. More people paying into the system means more money, fewer "takers" per capita, and, thus, lower premiums. The whole point of the mandate/tax was to make those without insurance, typically, the young and/or healthy, enter into the insurance system. And just to clarify, this part of Obamacare is the clearly Republican part of the scheme.
There is another factor that works to lower overall costs: more insured means less reliance on the more expensive ED system. Because under the prior system, hospitals were obligated to treat everyone, there was an overuse of the most expensive, least efficient health care delivery vehicle: the emergency department. Since those people also can't afford to pay, those costs were passed along to everyone else. Now, in theory, if fewer people have to use the ED for basic healthcare and there is better access to non-emergent care, you will lower everyone's costs.
Second, I'm pretty sure the last clause of your sentence is not even accurate. There are whole categories of "insurance" that are going away. In particular, those include insurance plans that put people in the "under-insured" category. Perhaps, put another way, you can certainly try to buy such insurance packages, but you will not escape the individual mandate.
Third, whether you can keep your doctors is still up to your insurance company, not the government. This really has nothing to do with Obamacare. What's more, there was no guarantee -- even under the old system -- that an insurance plan would allow you to keep your doctor. Of course, when the government is the insurance company, they are in the same spot as an insurance provider (think the VA).
He uses existing smartphones for that app? He should have commissioned Apple to design a single-use phone good for receiving one text message, and then sold that to people.
the downside of not requiring a competency test for voting. when every ignorant bigoted simpleton is allowed to vote, people like you will.
fyt.
I can't believe they didn't release a WP7 version of the app. I know market share isn't as high as iOS but there are several million of us WP7 users. Every vote counts, right?
that being condemned by a willfully ignorant, bigot like you is considered a mark of honor among decent human beings.
it's that people like you think that it matters that Obama is not white.
Security hole in the software found in 3...2...
you are just as bigoted, ignorant, xenophobic, and contemptible as Romney, so rather than admit that you are both morally bankrupt disgraces not fit to clean up after dogs, you blame everyone else for having the decency to point out why you are such a shameful excuse of a human being..
Well, as long as they have at least a couple of IQ points higher than Joe Biden....that guy scares me being only a heart attack away from the Presidency!!
After 3+ years of Joe..honestly, I'm not sure we got much better than an older male Palin....both of them seem so dense, that light bends around them....
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
Isn't that exactly what the GP post said? Those two positions are exactly what characterizes a moderately competent political moderate in the US.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
This strikes me as an obvious case where a guy - and, more importantly, his campaign staff - just don't grok the technology.
Sounds more like you are stuck in the past.
Communicating this over an app is brilliant - it's the one piece of information more casual users might have any interest in. So my announcing this choice via an app, Romney gets hundreds of thousands or possible millions of people to download an application, that can be used for further secondary direct messaging later.
It also makes a ton of sense when you realize how hostile most traditional media is towards conservatives. The app totally bypasses the media as we know it - they know when the rest of the world knows.
Far from "not groking technology", Romney's staff is seeing the shift that you and other supposed technology "experts" are unwilling to acknowledge.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Hell, as I've said before, I'd vote for a small soap dish over Obama at this point.
He's giving Bush II a run for the money to the bottom for 'worst president ever' vote....
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
I think you'd be surprised. A lot of people were leaning to McCain until Palin appeared. I expect that this was an intentional attempt by the Republican leadership to lose the election and I expect it to happen again. Romney is rumored to be considering Florida attorney general, Pam Bondi, who while not an idiot, is making even the conservatives gag (http://theconservativetreehouse.com/2012/07/28/youve-got-to-be-kidding-me-bondi-for-a-vp-pick-heck-no/).
When the economy is bad, better to be the unblamed loyal opposition and keep the checks rolling into those offshore bank accounts for later reference, eh?
Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
I am still surprised that people Think the office of the president is to blame for everything in this country. Like nothing happens that isnt their fault, good or bad.
I often have trouble remembering which way is out of bed in the morning.
I try to see past the scams.
All religions are a product of man and therefor will be greatly flawed, but there are some jewels in there that makes it worth while at times.
Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
Why when I think of this combination is the outcome an accidental picture of someones weener on a phone?
Palin served her purpose. The intention was to lose the election and sit out a bad economic cycle. It worked.
Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
I made the previous comment only partly in jest...
Romney attempts at identifying with various segments of America always seem to come off sounding as off-key as his National Anthem.
He tried to connect with southern voters by talking about learning to say "Y'all", and having grits for breakfast. He tries to express sympathy for the middle class by pointing out the servers at his fundraising dinners are not having a good year. And now, he seems like he is trying to make a contrived attempt to seem hip and tech savvy by announcing his VP through an app?
Nothing he does ever rings true.
I almost prefer Palin to this guy. She might have been an idiot, but at least she was a human idiot.
My guess: Brian Sandoval of Nevada. They look a little too much alike, but Sandoval's a Catholic Hispanic, and can deliver a lot of votes from that population. He also pretends to be a conservative or centrist as the situation requires, and doesn't have enough track record to get intelligently taken to task for either stance.
The biggest problem is that, once Southern Republicans see them both side-by-side, they'll remember that Romney has Latin roots and ditch him as a border-crashing Mexican.
Showing up on time to work for a few years is not a qualification for anything above a minimum wage job. I admit that I'm not too familiar with Obama's record during his tenure as a US senator so maybe someone can point to actual legistlation he authored or accomplishments he had during those 3 years.
You are 100% correct, but unfortunately ./ readers only have about 110% of the attention span of the American public, which means ~6 minutes. So they don't remember this.
I don't even care. At this point I am so sick and disgusted with the entire thing I want to vomit. I will probably make myself go vote and I most likely will vote for Romney....and the only reason, the one, the only reason, is that he isn't Obama. I can't think of a single other thing about him that I like.
Actually I think it's his supporters who think it matters most.
Then why is it that every time I see race mentioned, it is one of Romney's opponents talking about it?
I often don't like the choices people make, but I like the fact that people make choices. That's why I'm a conservative.
Don't forget that Palin left Wasilla massively in debt (for such a small place) and that her claim to fame as governor -- other than not finishing her term -- was raising taxes on oil corporations and redistributing that cash to Alaskan citizens as cash payouts.
I can see why you posted anonymously. Well played.
Never underestimate the potential of Human stupidity. -Heinlein
His skin color is important to everyone, this will be the first time ever that a president who is not white is up for re-election.
It is more important to those who will or will not vote for someone based on their skin color. They exist in the full spectrum of left to right.
Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
As an American living abroad, until they do more than give $25,000 dinners for the media and actually address the problems that expats face (FBAR and FATCA), none of them will get my vote. There are roughly 6 million Americans who live abroad and their views aren't being adequately represented. Interesting, because one of the things I learned as a child was 'no tax without representation', but that's -precisely- what Americans living abroad don't have.
Sadly, expats/accidental citizens are having to renounce their citizenship because the Government treats them like criminals. Perhaps it's time to enact residency-based taxation like =the rest of the world=. Things like FBAR/FATCA are meant to catch domestic tax-evaders who are hiding offshore assets, not for folks trying to live their lives abroad. It is a travesty and it is wrong.
I guarantee that app is gathering useful demographic data on anyone who installs it.
It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
- E. Debs
On the one hand, I disagree very strongly with pretty much every policy proposed by Governor Romney. On the other hand, I like to hear things first and lord the knowledge over my colleagues. I also don't mind large political operations tracking my movements.
...Well Played, Romney.
Never underestimate the potential of Human stupidity. -Heinlein
One reason my wife and I no longer go to church is because of the pastor making political comments in the sermons.
So find a different church. About ten years ago I attended a church down the street (close, no driving) but when the preacher prayed for Bush to have "continued wisdom" I stopped going, and walked another 5 blocks to a different one. Praying for Bush to have continued wisdom was like praying for the ocean to have continued dryness.
Free Martian Whores!
I thought that in 2008 until McCain picked Palin and I saw (as in I knew personally) die-in-the-wool conservatives actually announce they were supporting Obama this time.
Despite attempts to depict him otherwise (sometimes by himself!), Romney comes across as a moderately competent political moderate, and I suspect his support from centrists is higher than, say, someone like Santorum would have. It's unlikely Romney will pick someone more centrist than himself, the question is whether he'll pick someone all his supporters can live with. McCain picked badly.
I think it's safe to say Mitt will pick someone "Safe" and by that I mean no bizarre characters from out in right field near the foul pole. Palin was and remains a cartoon character, so hard to take seriously, except that she is quite adept at raking in money on her books and speaking tours (what's the saying? It's immoral to let a sucker keep his money?) Mitt won't make that mistake. Whoever it is will be safe, solid, with excellent credentials and have had a thorough background check -- unless Mitt is a damn fool like McCain was.
As for announcing through a phone app, big deal. I'll hear about it via the traditional outlets - the newspapers, who will then inundate us with all sorts of speculations and crap about the choice, like it's some sort of beauty contest (which in reality it is, a political beauty contest.)
oh, there he is, and my, doesn't he look so presidential in his regalia? Ohh, ahh!
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
That's why he hasn't released his tax returns... Still interested in voting for this crook? It turns out he's a member of the 49% of Americans that don't pay any taxes and freeload off the backs of Job Creators...
If telephones are outlawed, then only outlaws will have telephones.
A portrait of him in a mankini?
Hail Eris, full of mischief...
E pluribus sanguinem
If I understand his religious views correctly, I wouldn't be surprised if he tried to have two or more running mates.
Jesus? The dude with long hair with that socialist line about rich men not being allowed into heaven? I find it hard to believe he's even a Republican!
That's a good question... You're probably thinking of the Democratic Congressman named Weiner who actually did accidentally post a picture of his... well, weiner from his phone.
I'm not particularly thrilled with Mitt but I'll take him hands down over Obama.. I'm not sure what you and the other poster are trying to intimate with that link but its a well established on both sides of the political fence that Obama hasn't been as attentive to the UK as his predecesors and has been focused on other regions. There have been comments amongst pundits for years about the Obama admin, saying that the 'special' relationship is not be so special anymore. Mitt's comment certainly isn't racism if that how your interpreting it. This is about strengthening political and economic alliances with our allies have have felt a bit left out in the cold recently.
About as much as your supposed experience that Sarah Palin has? You said (assuming the same AC) Sarah Palin had more experience than these people combined. You've yet to demonstrate what experience this is. Is it the 6 colleges she attended before managing to acquire a bachelor's? Or is it her time as Miss Wasilla? Or her third place in Miss Alaska?
Sorry, but it's not enough to dismiss the combined experience of all these other people if you don't have anything from Sarah to compare it to.
The Vice President doesn't have any constitutional responsibilities, to speak of. The office is one of those weird artifacts of 18th century politics we should have ditched long ago. Do we need another Andrew Johnson holding the nuclear football?
We need a constitutional amendment reforming the whole electoral process. Along with eliminating the VP, we should get rid of that weird monstrosity, the electoral college, which is a constitutional crisis waiting to happen. I'd favor going to a simple popular vote, but if that';s not politically feasible, I'd have most electoral votes allocated by congressional district (as Nebraska already does) and automatically allocated with no actual human elector.
Wikipedia is your friend.
But I agree, turning up to work for 3 years as governor of Alaska and then quitting mid-way through your term is not really a qualification for anything.
Agreed! Damn shame the party missed the opportunity to inject some sanity back in to its politics.
-- Using the preview button since 2005
Given that he probably didn't pay any taxes for 10 years he is extremely competent.
thegodmovie.com - watch it
If Romney wants to inject some life into the debate all he has to do is nominate Michelle Bachman.
thegodmovie.com - watch it
My money is on it scraping your entire phone book so they can cold-call... Maybe someone should add normal-looking phonebook entries connected to some Google Voice numbers and record the hilarity?
Hey, now, some folks live in DC; as opposed to the politicians who camp here for the nicer parts of the year, muck up local politics (so easy when the folks you're issuing policy for have no congressional vote, http://dcist.com/2012/05/on_constituent_day_rep_trent_franks.php ), and give the whole place a bad name. If you're going to brand us as the district of corruption, at least take a jab at our mayoral snafus.
Returned Peace Corps IT Volunteer
The Poles all but endorsed Romney,
Here is the quote the foreign newspapers are reporting: “Kiss my ass; this is a holy site for the Polish people,” said aide Rick Gorka. “Show some respect.”
Sounds like Mitt and especially his aide, appreciated the love the polish people showed him.
the only people who disliked his Israel speech were terrorists.
He enraged a large portion of the Arab population across the world, by saying Palestinian culture was inferior to Isreali culture. The prominent palestinian who criticised him was Saeb Ereket who was the chief negotiator in the peace process for decades. I guess all Palestinians are terrorists in your eyes, even when they dedicate their lives to finding a peaceful solution?
It was Obama that withdrew the Pole's missile shield after all
"The Slovak Minister of Foreign Affairs accused Romney of dredging up settled debates in order to score political points and said they fully embraced the new missile defense"
As to London, do you not find the snafus around Olympic security disconcerting?
Do you think politicians should practice diplomacy? Sure London botched a few things. Does insulting them about it help Mitt appear statesmenlike?
Why is is not better to have a president that actually has an opinion and voices it?
Because the goal of a president isn't to tell the world how he feels. Sharing his opinions doesn't help American interests, and seems to actively hinder the goals of the nation by insulting our strongest ally for no reason.
I used to think Mormons were crazy.
Then I got to know a few of them (I live in AZ). They seemed like really nice, decent people.
Then I got to know them much better... and realized they are very good at hiding their craziness. They have a system and a program in place on how to show you and convince you they aren't crazy. They get points for bringing people into their faith. Their religion is very organized, and a lot of what they do is under a veil of "community". They are staunch conservative Republicans. And the ones I know talk out of one side of their mouth about how horrible liberals are, how Obama is the worst thing to happen to this country - while at the same time leeching off of the system they abhor. Unemployed, collecting public aid and welfare (sometimes from two states at once), and being very shady in general. There is a creepy sense of "entitlement". And I know people who are no longer in the Mormon church... and getting out is not a simple thing. That should tell you something.
I can't generalize all Mormons of course, but I have seen these things on more than one occasion. Knowing what I know first-hand about Mormons, there is no way I want one in the White House. And you are probably thinking that Christians aren't much better.. but I can tell you that in general I agree, but it's not always about choosing the best person it's about choosing the one that is less dangerous. Look up Prop 8, there's tons of info out there.
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
"why would anyone think a single-purpose, one-use-only app makes any sense?
From a practical point of view, it makes no sense whatsoever. But as a means of generating publicity and buzz, it's genius, and even I downloaded the app right away.
That that is is that that that that is not is not.
It doesn't matter who people have decided to support. What matters is if they actually vote. In my mind, the presidential election is won by a campaign which gets their supports to the polls and disenfranchises their opposition from the political world enough they don't bother.
Also agree. It's really too bad they labeled him a "RINO" and completely ignored him.
As far as I can tell, all three of the posts above me in this chain were made by the same person, who goes by the name of "Anonymous Coward." He (or she) seems to have a little bit of a split personality. Very strange. We should study this specimen.
This is very similar to what I was thinking. Apps aren't really intended for distributing information, so much as they are intended for providing functionality. The functionality could be something like "display messages from central server" or something, but we have lots of "apps" that already do that stuff, like, for example.... SMS. E-mail would be another opportunity. Hell, even a Facebook message, these days. An app? Sounds more like he's trying to get his base to download his app to me. Maybe it's ad-based and he's trying to make a few more bucks for his campaign?
You obviously watch Fox News.
People who say "sheeple" have about as much sophistication as an AOL user, and in fact are probably actually AOL users.
So is the "Romney's VP" app open-source? Does that mean anybody can announce who Romney's VP is going to be?
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
If you were a racist in this society, would you be likely to talk about it?
I knew it! More proof he's a robot. Wait until he interfaces with the DOD mainframe and starts World War 3!
People who care about the future should either write in Ron Paul or just vote for Gary Johnson (he is the Libertarian candidate on the ticket).
What the hell are you talking about? If Ron Paul won and got his agenda, the future would be destroyed for well over 99% of the country. Most people for generations would not even finish high school, let alone college; because they wouldn't be able to afford it. Workers would become the property of the companies they work for, bought and sold like furniture. Voting would be meaningless, as corporations would have all the power to rig elections their preferred way - not that it would matter since most people would be working 80 hour weeks with no time off to go and vote regardless. Our water, air, and land would all be polluted for profit and people would have no recourse as the courts would be owned by the corporations as well.
For the fraction of 1% of the US that would benefit from that, sure, a vote for Ron Paul would be great. For the rest of us it would be terrible. Thankfully even if he somehow did win, he has nowhere near enough support in congress to accomplish his ultra-right-wing agenda. That means, of course, that a vote for Ron Paul would be a vote for gridlock and the status quo.
I think he'll outsource it to a call center in Mumbai.
Someone should hack his App.
Oh, that's right. Obama uses blackberry. Wouldn't want him to know who Mitt chose for a running mate.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
....after all, it's a halfwit simpleton like Romney, using the smartphone, and we all know which of the two is the more intelligent (hint: smartphone).
There is nothing partisan going on --- Wall Street has presented the binary-brained Ameritards with one of their two choices --- since the only democratic candidate running for the presidency is Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party, I'll be voting democratic, of course!
Hm. Judging by the craziness that seems to happen, it might be a good idea to have some representatives who don't respond to every whim of the people in charge. A little sanity filter. On the other hand, that would require the representatives to be saner than the mob.
Palin is not and was not as stupid as she was depicted to be and probably never was as stupid as you think she is in her adult life. You like many others are probably referring to the Tina Fey character who perpetuated this myth very well on Saturday Night Live.
McCain did the damage to the GOP, no one liked him. He was a big disappointment who was always bucking the party trends and who ended up putting Palin center stage in front of him in order to come back. McCain ran as a maverick flaunting his unwillingness to hold conservative values or his all about me attitude in going against the party whenever he thought it was politically expedient for him. If it wasn't for Palin, McCain would have lost by a larger margin then Carter did against Reagan.
It's sad that he has gained so much traction on those two issues.
Fortunately for Romney, he has time to perfect his stances and put them out. For Obama, they are already out for everyone to see (unless he is willing to admit that last for years was a mistake and claim he will get it right this time). I guess the true mark will be if Romney can tune his positions and explain them in an understandable way that makes sense beyond what is already not working.
Actually, that is exactly what obamacare did. It mandated the states increase coverage in certain ways for medicaid under the threat of losing federal matching money. The resent supreme court decision said it was unconstitutional because it dealt with existing monies and could only impact future additional monies.
You should spend a little time investigating this crap.
The AC to whom you are replying is forcing me to invoke Poe's Law.
Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
Romney's a little too clueless about human beings to have actually made all that money. I suspect we have yet to learn the most surprising things there are to know about him, but I can't wait to see what they are. My best guess is he's actually an alien from another planet. Has anyone actually seen his birth certificate?
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
I'm sure that parts of this app will be the IP of patent trolls. Can't wait for the cases to hit east Texas.
Darn, I had all my money on golden stone tablets or whatever the fuck, lol
...so his nomination for VP is SkyNet?
Sara
Designer, Gamer, Macgrrl in an XP World
yet you think that you can deny it by crying for political correctness so you can pretend that you are deserving of some sort of respect. Well, I'm afraid that your two faced hypocrisy won't get you anywhere. If you find the truth to show you in a bad light, then how about you try to climb out of your gutter instead of trying to drag everyone else down to your level. We've have way too many years of that and now we need to clean up after you. If you can't pretend to be adult enough to help, then I suggest you go to your room and stop bothering the adults.
Romney's already got all those votes tied up. If he's smart he'll try and pick up some moderate votes, or at the very least not scare away the moderates that plan on voting for him. Picking a right wing nutjob to appeal to the teabaggers is a page out of McCain's playbook.
Hmmmm, Alaskan Flaming Cheese Doodle vs Disney Animatronic Mormon Billionaire... man I'm really stumped here. With Sarah we got some weird kind of head on collision between Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, Jersey Shore and a bad day on CSPAN. With Mitt, we got a genetic melding between Chevy Chase, Zaphod Beeblebrox, a Crash Test Dummy and a tabernacle door knocker.
If Sarah had been elected as Vice President, I'm guessing it would be under the same restriction that Dan Quayle served as Veep, that under the circumstance that the President was for any reason unable to perform the his duties, that the Secret Service would immediately shoot the Vice President.
I've always wondered if Mitt was hand operated or remote controlled... My money is on Jim Henson productions. I hear the nasty job belongs to the guy with his hand up Mitt's pants, moving the mouth.
Anyway, I'm going with Mitt, he has the benefit of being a team effort and all those extra opinions would probably make Mitt more of a consensus guy, by definition.
Maybe its a charlie and the chocolate factory situation.. one of the lucky end users will be selected at random to br his new VP, you know in order to connect with the common man... Think Mr Joe the plumber goes to Washington
Slavery is the legal fiction that a person is property; A Corporation is the legal fiction that property is a person.
How banal. How trite. An app to appeal to the baby Republicans... oh isn't that just precious. I wanna see a little showmanship!!! I wanna see a little fanfare. They should have had the Republican Convention at Disney World, hell its a circus isn't it? And we all know that Florida's all tied up with a bow... can you say JIM CROW!!! So why not have the Mickey bend over, shoot a 50 ft. fireball out of his ass and the smoke coalesces into the ghost of Walt Disney who introduces the newest attraction "Political Land" and the new VP is... and its get's said with fireworks and the choirs of angels backing it up.
An app... blow me.
Why does the US need a "special relationship" with UK?
As a matter of fact, it's probably a question best asked of the Brits, since, to an outside observer at least, it seems that said special relationship mostly consists of one side bending down and taking it, and that side ain't on the west of Atlantic.
It is culture, not race, otherwise there wouldn't be this:
Or are you one of those poor sods that believe race determines culture?
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
It was Obama that withdrew the Pole's missile shield after all.
You do realize the Poles didn't like the arrangement much, do you? It puts them at the risk of a pre-emptive all-out Russian strike if things go nasty without providing any tangible benefits - their main worry in the event of a hypothetical war against Russia is Russian tanks; and they sure as hell aren't going to be targeted by Iranian missiles. Hence why most Poles liked to see it go away when Obama did it.
Their government is another matter, but as any American should well know, there's a lot of difference between what the official talking heads say, and what citizens think.
The way politics is presently structured in US, there just aren't many moderates here. It's all super-partisan stuff, team red vs team blue, every battle like it's the war to end all wars - and if you aren't for the Good Guys, then you're a baby-raping kitten-eating monster.
I agree.
However, what else would you expect from America's Borat?
Well, it clearly isn't Romney, so why don't you let us know when you find him? Maybe 1600 Pensylvania Avenue?
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
Well, in fairness, some of them were a bit put off by Powell backing Obama in 2008.
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
I think you must be mistaken. I don't see that any Republicans voted for it in the Senate. Here is the list of sponsors of the bill. Charie Rangel - Democrat, and 40 co-sponsors. I doubt that any are Republicans.
. . . .it seems that some might need a refresher course on the history of Obamacare’s enactment. Reconciliation didn’t play a small role in Obamacare’s passage, as has been suggested. Without reconciliation, Obamacare would not have become law at all. It’s true that the main Obamacare structure was passed by the Senate in December 2009 under normal rules for legislative consideration. That’s because Democrats at that time had 60 votes (including two independent senators who caucus with them). They didn’t need to resort to reconciliation to pass the bill as long as all 60 of their senators stuck together and supported passage, which they did.
But then Scott Brown won the Massachusetts Senate race in January 2010; the Democrats lost their 60-vote supermajority and could no longer close off debate on legislation without the help of at least one Republican senator.
At that point, the president and his allies had two choices. They could compromise with Republicans and bring back a bill to the Senate that could garner a large bipartisan majority. Or they could ignore the election results in Massachusetts and pull an unprecedented legislative maneuver, essentially switching from regular order to reconciliation at the eleventh hour, thereby bypassing any need for Republican support. As they had done at every other step in the process, the Democrats chose the partisan route. They created a separate bill, with scores and scores of legislative changes that essentially became the vehicle for a House-Senate conference on the legislation. That bill was designated a reconciliation bill. Then they passed the original Senate bill through the House on the explicit promise that it would be immediately amended by this highly unusual reconciliation bill, which then passed both the House and Senate a few days later, on an entirely party-line vote. - - The Reconciliation Option
The Democrats own Obamacare, which may not be good news for them.
Poll: Obamacare Still a Huge Issue for the Voters This Fall - By Grace-Marie Turner - July 19, 2012 1:26 P.M.
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
Maybe this app is not just to receive a text message. Maybe this app really is Mitt's VP, and he needs a few million smartphones to run the neural nets.
So, Romney & neural net artificial intelligence app on smart phone versus Obama & Biden? Advantage: Romney
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
In fairness, can you imagine someone of Powell's intelligence, experience, level-headedness, and integrity backing the suicide--er, McCain-Palin--ticket?
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
In fairness, if Powell was acting with the stated virtues, he should never have backed Obama.
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
In fairness, I think we're done here.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
This idea is from the 50 or so Congressmen and Senators that make the normal TV broadcasts.
Out of the 441 member of the House and 100 in the senate. And the Ranting of 3 million people (1% of the US population)
We are less partisan then the media has us to believe, it is just the crazy ones yell the most and get the most attention.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
The Poles all but endorsed Romney
Yeah.
Hey, I finally got my first freak! Took you long enough!
No, I am referring to her inability to name a magazine she reads. Her manner of speech does not improve this any either.
Which is why nobody's judging him on what he says (even the things you claim he's consistent on), but on how he's acted when he actually has power. He was a moderately competent politically moderate governor of MA. That's his record. We just had a year of campaigning in which it was obvious the GOP didn't consider Mitt pure enough, which is why virtually every opposing candidate had their time in the sun (with the exception of Ron Paul, for obvious reasons.) That's also left its mark on Romney's reputation.
You and I and everyone else knows that he has to keep the Republican base on board during the election. I don't know if you remember 2008, but John McCain turned into a right wing asshole for the entire campaign period, before reverting to the familiar friend-of-Jon-Stewart persona afterwards. I suspect, in part, that's why Obama is having a little difficulty portraying Mittens as a ruthless right wing nutcase. Romney isn't a ruthless rightwing nutcase. Nobody believes him when he pretends to be one, and nobody believes Obama when he says he is one.
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
Because you're not taking any notice?
Your starter for ten: Birth Certificates. Secret Muslim. Kenya and "Colonial view of the world". Would any of these right wing talking points be raised if Obama was white?
You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
lol.. You have never drew a blank on one of the easiest things to answer when someone asks you?
It happens to a lot of people and it doesn't mean they are stupid.
No. I'm aware that she never said "I can see Russia from my house". I'm aware that she appealed to a certain segment of voters. I'm aware that many of the knocks against her were unfair and not based in reality.
But she's still SOFAKING STUPID. I'm not sure what kind of kool-aid you have to drink to ignore this fact.
Yes, then I quickly come up with an answer. Instead of claiming it was a gotcha question.
Hint to politicians, gotcha questions are what reporters are supposed to ask. What you read is a softball question, assuming you can read.
It's as big a mistake to assume all the players involved in politics are stupid and dumb as it is to assume they're intelligent and wise.
"He did it too" is your excuse? Does that mean that Obama is so lame that he is copying Romney?
It wasn't the whole phrase, it is even worse in the full context of what Obama was saying.
It surely doesn't help Obama's own case that he is better choice for President, after all "HE didn't do that" ;) Which, if Romney was smart, for every accomplishment Obama touts, he should (but won't) say "You didn't do that".
Besides, I'm not voting for Romney. I can't stand the guy. But I can't stand Obama either so I'm voting third party.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
How is that racist?
These all are related to foreigness, not to race. Conservatives have a long history of thinking America is great and foreign cultures and ideas aren't as good. Remember the comparisons of Kerry to the French? Was that about race too? Conservatives hate white people? When Obama gets called a communists, is that about race too? We hate him because he's part white (just like the Russians are white)?
Conservatives don't even make the connections you do. That's why were so often stunned by accusations of racism - we weren't even thinking about race!
The fact that when someone asks about a birth cirtificate, you immedately consider the race, and when someone questions a religion, you immediate think about race, and when someone questions a foreign anti-colonialist view, you immediately think about race, shows that you have race on your mind all the time. You group people by race. Conservatives don't. Conservatives group people by country (or by state if they're from Texas).
I often don't like the choices people make, but I like the fact that people make choices. That's why I'm a conservative.
> My prediction for the VP candidate is going to be a Cheney 2.0
I misread this and thought yes, a Cherry 2000 would make for a very interesting election.
I thought that in 2008 until McCain picked Palin and I saw (as in I knew personally) die-in-the-wool conservatives actually announce they were supporting Obama this time.
McCains VP choice was simply misunderstood. The role of the vice president is to be a spare. McCains young but clueless choice made sense if the VP was viewed as spare parts.
Romney comes across as a moderately competent political moderate
From his venture-capital experience he's had practice at seeking out what profits him while avoiding risk. So when he knows that revealing his tax returns or saying more about owning 9% of a Chinese electronics appliance manufacturer that many U.S. companies outsource to, he knows to clam up. (That is also a lesson some learned from Richard Nixon, whose approval rating went down every time he spoke publicly). McCain had full access to Romney tax returns and went with Palin instead. That says something. Romney also heavily panders or at least pays momentary lip service to whatever group he's targeting at a particular moment. It's not moderate to be unwilling to publicly support any restrictions on assault weapons, it's pandering. He comments and actions later often don't agree. Ask any log-cabin Republican about that.
Saying whatever profits or otherwise suits him, he cannot be trusted.
His non-scripted comments in the EU down he's not very good on his feet. Unless you're impressed with him not even remembering a British officials name and calling him Mr. Leader. While he promised transparency and press access including to fund raisers on the way, but he denied them access in Israel. Policy comments made relating to Iran were reckless. Describing the differences in quality of life between Israelis and Palestinians as "cultural advantages" with no mention of settlements or occupation could best be viewed as Palinism.
He only answered three questions for the press traveling with him, and a Romney representative actually said "Kiss my ass" and "shove it" to the press while in Poland.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/mitt-romney/9441636/Mitt-Romney-aide-in-new-kiss-my-ass-gaffe.html
And, in catering to older confused Republicans that think the cold war is still going, he names Russia as number 1 geopolitical foe. This as Russia grants NATO supply routes to Afghanistan. (A bunch of supply trucks coming from Pakistan were blown up recently).
I wonder what he thinks of the Swedish Teddy Bear invasion.
lol. So you think you are somehow better... I get it now.
I always wondered who was matching me for this on the other side of the political aisle.
Did you manage to get any bumper stickers out of it?
I've got three "I Am not a Repbulican" ones so far. They just keep sending them...
Wait, I did once donate 4 cents in an envelope too.
if you really wanna have fun, and have some time on your hands, fill out the forms like you're a five year old, or mentally deficient.
Indeed, re-inventing the wheel isn't the hallmark of a quality leader, IMHO.
In fact, it points in a very different direction.
Why does a '90210' kid have a phone with a custom shell? (not a snap-on case, but actually custom-made OEM casing) I'll tell you why; to set them apart, make them feel like they're important and part of an exclusive group.
So... why would the 'Rominee' have a special "VP App" made, when all it really does is send and receive messages like a boatload of other vetted wares? Same reasons, I betcha. Does that sound *united* to you?
Dunno how the reviews look on the AppStore® side, but the Android Play Store listing for "Mitt's VP" is- blo. wing. up. Astroturf and flames make for one especially polished turd, apparently. Caveat emptor! The 'droid version is roughly 12MB, requires registration (or FB link) and has to run in the background. It must be loaded there, patiently waiting for the announcement to come and <sarcasm>couldn't possibly be steering a metric crap-ton of ads in your direction</sarcasm>.
Here's the questions I'd have for him: Why did you have a special app made, rather than use existing social communication apps? Why not use a hash-tag, a Facebook page or some other medium that's readily available? What makes the existing infrastructure so un-worthy that you have to make a somewhat insignificant-, yet very public decision through an exclusive channel? Does your campaign value this style of "exclusive membership" over public transparency? And how would that be reflected in your as-of-yet-imaginary administration?
The last questions, I put to the reader: Why would you vote for a guy that behaves and speaks as if <pointing@>you</pointing@> don't matter? How much would it take for you to vote against such a candidate, (i.e., voting for someone else) just to make sure he doesn't win? How much exclusion would you be willing to tolerate from your government?
This post © Copyrite Duggeek, all rights reversed.
Let's face it - if you can't understand that real Marxists wouldn't call Obama a Marxist - then more fool you.
Sounds to me like you're so far-right that anything even approaching the centre is Marxism in your eyes.