Just how far to the right is this year’s Republican platform? So far that David Barton is calling it the “most conservative in my lifetime” and bragging that all but one of the more than 70 motions he made were passed by the platform committee and made it in.
When one of the two major parties in this country is being guided by a lying theocrat like Barton, that’s a serious problem.
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raven
September 1, 2012 at 10:40 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
You have to remember that Barton is a pathological liar.
If he said he made 70 motions and all but one were adopted, the chances of that being true are around zero.
Yes.
I’ve been reevaluating my decision to not flee the country. It’s still not looking easy, older relatives and cats among other reasons.
raven
September 1, 2012 at 10:50 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Polls show Obama leading Romney by a whole 1%.
The election is too close to call right now, November is a ways off.
The big question now is, what are I/we going to do to survive a Romney/Ryan Catastrophe which is quite possible?
So far I have cats, hobbies, and white wine. I can’t throw the TV out. I threw it out during the Reagan administration and never got another one.
harold
September 1, 2012 at 10:55 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
A couple of points to remember –
1) US policy affects the entire world, but you can only vote on it if you’re a US citizen.
2) Quality of life is still mainly determined by local surroundings.
I’m a US born US/Canadian dual citizen, and might move to Canada for pragmatic or personal reasons at any time. I love many parts of Canada. Overall, I’m more in favor of Canadian federal policies than US federal policies.
At the same time, though, it is a grave, serious, major mistake to underestimate the level of right wing craziness in Canada. There are many parts of the US which are much more locally progressive than many parts of Canada. In the past, Canada has gone through periods of being less progressive than the US, and US right wing craziness is rich fertilizer for Canadian right wing craziness. Canadians who boast otherwise are whistling past the graveyard.
dingojack
September 1, 2012 at 11:11 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Raven – just for you:
Intrade today
winner of the 2012 Presidential Election
by party
Democratic: 57.758% (up by 1.3142% since Aug 30) [Lead by 15.616%]
Republican: 42.142% (down by -1.3144% ” ” “)
other: 0.100% (up by 0.0002%)
Head-to-head
Obama: 57.742% (up by 0.685% since Aug 30) [Lead by 15.485%]
Romney: 42.258% (down by 0.685% ” ” “)
Don’t euthanase the relos and the cats just yet!
:) Dingo
——–
PS: Only 66 sleeps to go!
chrisj
September 1, 2012 at 12:06 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Raven: We may gripe about how “all ‘mericans are crazy”, but I promise you the rest of the world does actually appreciate that some of you non-crazy people stay – we really don’t want the theocrats in charge of your fine collection of nuclear weapons.
Rip Steakface
September 1, 2012 at 12:58 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
@raven
There’s a well-documented phenomenon of the party convention bumping up the polling for a candidate during and after the convention. Considering the fact that Obama is still one point ahead right after the convention, I’d say we’re still in good shape.
grumpyoldfart
September 1, 2012 at 1:32 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Do you think we’ll ever see a list of those seventy motions?
(I’m betting no)
tomh
September 1, 2012 at 1:35 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
As you know, I’m sure, national polls don’t mean much, since we don’t have a national election but, rather, 50 state elections. As usual, there are only a few states that matter, this time around being, Ohio (far and away the most important), Virginia, Wisconsin, and Florida the most important. Nate Silver, who has the best record of election predictions in the country, breaks down the electoral college and puts Obama’s chance of winning the election at 72% as of August 31. Of course, a lot can change in two months, but that’s where the probabilities stand now.
raven
September 1, 2012 at 2:05 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
It’s rare to win the popular vote and lose the electoral college. Although it happens, Bush got fewer votes than Gore.
Ohio, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Florida all have Republican governors.
This doesn’t exactly cheer me up here.
I’m just hoping for the best and expecting the worst. That way I won’t be too disappointed.
Michael Heath
September 1, 2012 at 2:39 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
tomh writes:
IIRC 72% is the historical advantage of an incumbent president running for his second term. The most significant factor when that drops is a high unemployment rate, so it’s surprising to see the president at 72% given an 8+ percent unemployment rate. I think he had been running at 60-65% odds.
tomh
September 1, 2012 at 3:59 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Do you recall where that number comes from? I have never seen it.
Silver’s number is fluid. It is up 3.6% from a week ago.
Michael Heath
September 1, 2012 at 4:56 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
tomh writes:
I almost certainly saw it cited in an Andrew Sullivan blog post.
Quine
September 2, 2012 at 12:36 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Thankfully, everyone ignores the platform. Now efforts need to continue to expose Barton as the lying fraud that he is.
computerguy
September 2, 2012 at 12:52 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
My guess is that his is one of many submissions and the 70 accepted would be things that the current GOP would accept anyway (Anti-reproductive rights, GW denial, Christian Nation etc). So he is probably technically true. If he made the GOP do a 180 on anything then that would be noteworthy.
Michael Heath
September 2, 2012 at 7:02 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Quine writes:
Not true, Republicans in the House of Representatives have repeatedly passed bills consistent with the planks in this platform. There is no reason to think they’ll retreat if they keep the House in the next Congress.
The Senate Republicans did not provide a moderating influence, they merely lacked the majority needed to send those bills to their floor unless Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid thought it was advantageous for Democrats to expose the Senate to a vote.