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[Flake]

When you've thrown so much of your own time and self into believing something, it's hard to discard it all. We're wired to magnify evidence that confirms our own beliefs and ignore that which disproves it. So, I kind of think that they just refuse to accept anything mainstream and logical because of how much they've invested into the alternatives.

I have a friend who genuinely believes in invisible extra-dimensional beings that are at war with one another. One of them are lizard people and I'm not sure which the other is.. point is, after you've admitted that you find that kind of thing legitimate you are invested in seeing that your viewpoint is respected. You'll categorically reject anything that doesn't easily mix with the conclusion you've already reached. Everyone does this to a degree, but most of us tend to at least stay within reasonable bounds.

There's also a sense of specialness the Truther feels for knowing the wonderful secrets the majority refuses to consider. Why would you reevaluate and potentially come to the same conclusions mainstream society reached when that tempting, powerful sense of Secret Knowledge is so within your grasp? Why give away that magnificent gift? Let them call you crazy. You are Special. You know the Truth. The fact that they reject and mock you only serves to illustrate that your special knowledge threatens their control over the masses.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

"schweitzer is traitor because he didn't run for a senate seat he didn't want"

Adam C. FitzGerald/Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald (D) of Ohio
Brian Schweitzer/Amy Klobuchar

[Goldwater]

Scott Walker doesn't just support the status quo capitalist system, he wants to make rich people even richer and poor people even poorer! If that's not the 0.00001% society, then I honestly don't know what is.

Since you're inside Scott Walker's head, can you tell me what kind of porn he watches? I'm really curious.

[JerryArkansas]

Schweitzer, because I'm a fan of gun nuts.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Adam.

Not a fan of gun nuts and traitors of their party.

How is he a traitor? Is it because he didn't run for Senate? He has every right in the world to not run or run for whatever he wants.

He did it out of spite for his party you see

All of the polls suggested Schweitzer would win the Senate seat easily, yet he declined to run even before the 2 strongest Republicans, Daines or Racicot, made their decisions. Democrats gave Schweitzer not one, but two opportunities to speak at their convention and was considered a potential Obama VP pick in 2008 and this is the thanks Obama and Reid get. He knew our party was desperate when we looking to him when Baucus had to decline a run for re-election following his controversial background check vote and what did Schweitzer do instead? He declined and then when he found out that Bullock was going to appoint his Lt. Governor to the seat, recruited his own former Lt. Governor and got him to run as a Democrat to try and primary John Walsh (who has the backing of Tester, Baucus and other members of the Montana establishment) going as far to say that Bohlinger would crush the "DC bull" by a 2-to-1 margin. In fact, Schweitzer has yet to endorse Walsh even though Walsh worked in Schweitzer's administration and had no faith in Walsh against Bohlinger and has no faith in him against Daines.

While Walsh has been busy attacking Daines for his attacks on rape victims, veterans, Medicare recipients and outsourcing of jobs to China, Schweitzer wanted to have an intra-party fight more than anything else and it was just because Walsh took DSCC money and did a few fundraisers. In fact, these lies that Schweitzer wants to "avoid politics" nowadays are utter lies because he's a TV media darling nowadays and I've seen him repeatedly on MSNBC talking about a variety of political topics (in which case I turn the channel). He lives in luxury down in Texas now as a Montana corporate chairman and still believes he's a regular Montanan nonetheless. He even supports the pipeline which will hurt jobs IN Montana and yet he still has the audacity to attack other politicians like Walsh in the state for not being real Montanans. Also, if Schweitzer is supposedly not interested in being a Washington insider, then he shouldn't even be considering running for President. He'll have to work with a party whose establishment is upset with him and another party on the other end of his ideological spectrum and we know already he can't work with Republicans from his time as Governor and can't work with Democrats either on reasonable compromises. If Schweitzer wants to run as an Independent for President then fine because he'll continue to express how much he loves to criticize and screw over national Democrats, but don't run for President of the party you screwed out of a majority 2 years earlier. Just no.

He doesn't want to run for Congress. He does not like Congress. He does not want to be in Congress. He did not run because Daines was right on his heels anyway, and any shift in the national climate would have made him the underdog. He did not want to risk his resources on a job he does not want, and he didn't, because Brian Schweitzer is not entitled to the Democratic Party. Get over it.

You do realize that Schweitzer ran for Senate in 2000, right? And that was at a time when Republicans had the majority, wouldn't have had as much power, and would have had to make the controversial Iraq vote. He only lost to Burns by a couple of points while Bush won the state easily, so it's clear he wasn't discouraged. He would have been stupid of course to attempt to primary Baucus or face off against Rehberg for his House seat or contend the primary with Montana St. Senate Pres. Jon Tester and it's good he didn't. But when our party needed him......when our party needed another strong candidate like Tester in Schweitzer to run for this seat and save our majority, he'll take one for the team led by Tom Daschle, but not for Harry Reid? Obama and the Democrats managed to bypass that Schweitzer was extremely pro-gun and has some other controversial views, but this was a test of Schweitzer's actual trust to Democrats and he failed, miserably. If he ran for this seat and beat Daines (it probably would be a tossup, at least) and we held the majority, then he could have been considered a potential candidate for President if Hillary declined, but not anymore. Democrats gave Schweitzer the chances of a lifetime and made him a national figure before, so you're dang right he's entitled to owing back the Democratic Party.

That was the year 2000, a lot of sh**t can happen in 14 years.  He was tired of DC politics.  You look like a fool calling him a traitor for not running for a seat.  Instead of doing that, how about you go and win seats in states and stop complaining. 

[free my dawg]

Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, and the rest of the neocons.

[Mechaman]

Allow me to repost my treatise on Florida Democratic Logic. Surely explains why the DNC needs to cut all funding off of from the state party if they lose this race (and until they get their sh*t together), and my thoughts on this race and the party itself.

So, a rare swing district opens up... Republicans were essentially set to nominate David Jolly, a DC lobbyist, legal counselor to Bill Young, and vehicular killer with little ties to the district. Normal logic would say to run a good candidate who represents the Tampa Bay area and spends their time there, like a county commissioner or an attorney who made a surprise run at the seat last cycle.

But Florida Democrats follow a different type of logic. Florida Democrats' logic would be that running a lazy, failed candidate who lost to a slimy criminal and doesn't even live in the district would result in a pickup, and pouring obscene amounts of money into the race would flip this seat into her hands.... so thirty minutes ago, I watched the worst-case scenario unfold: Florida Democrats, one again, screwed the pooch.

Same thing with Rick Scott: normal logic would say to run a clean, honest candidate against a shady businessman who treats the state second to his old business this November to ensure a win, like one of the many Democratic mayors. Florida Democrat logic would be to run an ex-Republican who only turned Democratic to win back the office that he left in his last failed run. Now, my fears are starting to cook up again: same sh**t happens again, Crist loses to Scott, and Florida continues down the road of becoming the Hospital Corporation of America's business subsidary.

Fing classic

[Maxwell]

Hyannis Port, May 8th, 1996:



Former United States Senator Edward Kennedy is seated in a wheelchair that he has been in since 1990.  The incident which had left him so incapacitated was that which took him from the Chamber that he held dear to his heart.  Part of him truly regretted not running for re-election in 1994, but the stress, heartache, emotional toil, and personal battles he fought in those four years were enough for him to throw in the gloves.
After the rise of Mitt Romney, though, he was starting to have some strong regrets about retiring.  In a few years that man would likely be president, given the momentum he is currently enjoying.  Really, the comeback of the Massachusetts GOP had him shaking, as he thought that the moderate Republicanism of the party had be thoroughly rebuked in the past three decades.  Sure, President Bush really motivated Republican hopes in the eighties, taking up the mantle of his predecessor and infusing it with “Compassionate Conservatism” as he called it.
The assassination of Reagan came at a most opportune time, around the budget debates of 1981.  Some of Reagan’s advisors advocated for extreme welfare program cuts that would’ve brought the US back to levels of government welfare from the early 1930s.  Basically, they wanted to return the US back to the Roaring Twenties.  After Reagan’s assassination in March of ’81, Bush came to the presidency and immediately brought about a pragmatic moderate conservative approach to governance.
To this day there are those who argue that assassin John Hinckley, Jr., whose family had known Bush for years, was secretly employed by Bush to bring about the death of Reagan.  Later on it would be revealed that infamous serial killer Bill “Slick Willie” Clinton was actually the main influence on Hinckley to kill Reagan.
The same man who was responsible for putting Kennedy in this wheelchair.  Well, at least I lost a few pounds.
Kennedy looked at the interviewer before him.  Walter Cronkite was a legend who is most known for his coverage of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Ted’s older brother.  Now pushing into the upper boundaries of old age, Cronkite specifically requested this interview in the wake of the government shutdown, the recent scandals with HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo (the son of the incumbent President, whose appointment in 1994 to replace the resigning predecessor as “controversial”), questions about Vice President Joseph Biden’s recent plagiarism scandal on the campaign trail, the chances that California Senator Jerry Brown had at an upset over the incumbent Vice President in the closing days of the Primary season (current delegate counts have Biden with a small lead, but that could be overtaken with just a small shift in superdelegates), as well as his encounter with the infamous “Slick Willie”.
Larry King: Hello this is Larry King.  Today I get the opportunity to interview the former long time US Senator of Massachusetts, Edward Kennedy.  Affectionately known to his friends, family, and the people as “Ted”.  Great to have you here Senator.
Edward Kennedy: More like great to have you here Larry!  Mother was always insisting that this house be full with friends and family.  I’m just glad to have the opportunity to have those close to us show up when they can.
Kennedy’s mother died a couple of years ago.  Rose Kennedy, the matriarch of the family who lived to be 104 years old and see the births of many grandchildren and great grandchildren, passed away one day in 1994.  Her passing would impact Teddy deeply, who was trying to balance sobriety with his disabled state and inner turmoil with working in the US Senate for the last few months of his long illustrious career.
King: Well first I would like to ask you about Bill.
Kennedy felt a revulsing feeling in his stomach.
Kennedy: I don’t want to talk about that sick son of a bitch.
King: Ted, it’s been six years.  Don’t you think it’s time for some closure?
Kennedy, thinking about how out of control his alcohol dependency had gotten in the wake of the infamous attack, decided to let go.
Kennedy: I mean, I trusted him Larry.  I trusted him!  Everybody did!  Bill Clinton was a reliable member of Congress!
King: I found it interesting, before all those revelations, that he decided to stay on the Congressional level than make another attempt at the Governorship, don’t you?
Kennedy shrugged.
Kennedy: Well you gotta keep in mind the times.  After he lost that race, he was under the impression that would be the last time he would ever be able to compete effectively statewide.  As well, he always had a sociopathic urge to mingle with high society, which is what Washington really is about.
King: Now you said you actually met Clinton when he was campaigning for McGovern in ’72?
Kennedy nods.
Kennedy: Yes, I remember that day just like it was yesterday.  Which is really funny, before all of this madness, right when he first got into Congress, he had to remind me about that day.  Now I can’t get it out of my mind, even if I wanted to. . . . . 

[Goldwater]

Early Cabinet Nominees mostly non-controversial



Secretary of State - Colin Powell
Secretary of Treasury - Ed Zschau
Secretary of Defense - David Boren
Secretary of Commerce - Pat Choate
HHS Secretary - Bernadine Healy
Attorney General - Dick Thornburgh
Secretary of Agriculture - James Abdnor
Secretary of Education - Lamar Alexander

Late January 1993 - In spite of potential opposition, possibly because of it, most of the President's early nominees seem not very controversial. The President announced a bipartisan foreign policy team, and picked Colin Powell and Oklahoma Senator David Boren to fill the roles of Secretary of State and Defense respectively. In addition, he appointed former Republican Governor Dick Thornburgh for Attorney General, making it yet another term of his stewardship. Another Bush holdover is Lamar Alexander, who Perot has decided to keep for another year. Of the nominees, the one who had the hardest time was easily Pat Choate, who had to answer a lot of questions over his qualifications, and passed by an embarrassingly narrow 54-44.

President issues laxer abortion restrictions, signs Family and Medical Leave Act

Late February 1993 - President Perot had a quiet first couple of months, issuing an executive order that would lax several abortion regulations, and allowed for fetal tissue to be used in research. This is no surprise considering the President's pro-choice stance on abortion, but it did anger some pro-life advocates, causing minor protests in front of the capital. Meanwhile, a couple of weeks after that, he signed a bill that would allow workers up to 12 weeks leave to take care of their newly born child. The second wasn't particularly controversial, even though it was vetoed twice by the previous President.

Perot-Lamm-Zschau Deficit Reduction Act, based on Perot's campaign, pushed in Congress

Late March 1993 - The first of the big proposals by the administration was announced today. The President worked with Senator Dick Lamm, a democrat, and Treasury Secretary Ed Zschau, a Republican, to put forward his deficit reduction plan. The plan calls for a hike in taxes for the top 5%, cuts across the board, reforms of social security and medicare, and a halt on tax loopholes and deductions. More Democrats than Republicans have embraced the plan, but the likely count at the moment has the bill failing, even though newly minted Republican Senator Tom Campbell has announced he would work hard with the administration to get this passed. Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole has said that Republicans would be open to it "If the President thought about broadening the tax base and cutting less of the national defense." The President so far has been unresponsive to possible changes.

Reform Coalition



"I will continue to caucus with the party that elected me, but my faith in this President has surpassed any faith in the agenda of the party, and as a result, I will be leaving the Party and joining the Reform coalition, so that America's future can remain bright."

Reform Coalition
Senator Dick Lamm
Senator Larry Pressler
Senator Bob Smith
Senator Arlen Specter
Senator Donald Riegle
Senator Kent Conrad
Senator Conrad Burns
Senator Richard Shelby
Senator Paul Simon

April 1993 - A group of of five Democrats and four Republicans have abandoned their parties and have formed the Reform coalition, a coalition of people who will back push the President's agenda on the budget and vote in favor of his nominees. While there are only 9 Senators and 20 house members that are a part of it, they wield immense power as, in tight votes, they will be swayed by the President's thinking and may go against their party. That being said, a couple of Senators on the coalition may still be thinking about being in favor of NAFTA: Paul Simon and Kent Conrad may back away from the President on that issue alone.

[windjammer]

Become Democrats.

[Flake]

Bushie, I don't understand, you didn't find a job recently?
(good luck for your search)

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

Schweitzer

[SWE]

You should leave in protest again, maybe this time you can stay away for more than a week.

[TDAS04]

This is horrible. One of the biggest failures in the history of the oval office is tied with a great man who turned America away from depression.

When did Hoover turn America away from depression?

[⛄]

Unquestionably a massive freedom region.

[SWE]

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

What does this even mean?

[SUSAN CRUSHBONE]

Chavez, more's the pity.

I've seen this idea that 'prudishness' is somehow as bad as or worse than, well, being Einzige or Snowstalker (or opebo, or whoever else) being kicked around on this forum for some time now and I've despaired of it ever making any more sense to me even as an abstract notion.

[Antonio the Sixth]

don't worry cassius, i didn't have any illusions about you.

[LeBron]

harassment and driving lgbt teens to suicide == "free speech"

yep

Edit: Didn't see Tony post, so:

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

[Context - Eric Cantor]

[Cranberry]

I'd also like to thank former Senator Snowstalker for proving he's a political opportunist. He clearly used this lawsuit for political gain and now he's going to attempt to knock me off in the next Althing election. Deplorable. That should be unconstitutional in itself, not our innocent, LGBT law. He claims to be anti-gay, but now because of Snowstalker's selfish actions, people can viciously assault LGBT people without serious consequences and we can't provide counseling, programs and clubs to help alleviate the drop in suicides among LGBT youth. And our very own, beloved Senator TNF has backed Snowstalker and the Atlasia Supreme Court's heinous ruling. It's worth noting to that Snowstalker is running against two Althing members who are LGBT, so great to see Snowstalker express his true, anti-gay colors as if he were a Russian. Let's also remember his recent abandonment of the Labor Party as someone who was high up in the party's leadership and went off to start his own, socialistic, rebellious hoax of a party. That really shows a lack of trust and I think I speak for the Midwest when I say this is a Labor-friendly region; not a Karl Marx-friendly region.

Snowstalker is also responsible for damaging legislative time and activity with his uncalled for lawsuit, and is also planning a lawsuit against the MW Immigration & Integration Act to further scale back activity on the basis of "poor writing" and dissing our very own, hard-working Governor in saying "00:32   Snowstalker   windjambler literally just makes up numbers." Can we really elect someone who's that obstructionist? Someone who cares more about making himself look good while damaging this great region's reputation and slowing down time to debate, revise and vote on bills. Snowstalker is by no means a threat though and I'll continue to serve the great people of the Midwest to the best of my ability.

[JerryArkansas]

My whole family is coming from three different valleys, all within 50 kilometers, so that could never happen to me. I'd take it of course if I could.

[⛄]

[TDAS04]

Esk responds – “I think we would be totally in the right to do it. That goes against some parts of libertarianism, I realize, and I’m largely libertarian, but ignoring as a nation things that are worthy of death is very remiss.”

LOL?
Wannabe-libertarian dregs like him bring true libertarians into disrepute.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Positive, because it's extremely sensible compared to the American system.  Even if Norway is a little too soft, it's far, far more sane than a penal system allowing life imprisonment for 15-year-olds.