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Giant Douche vs. Turd Sandwich
/fortunately, my unibomber styled shack in the woods is near completion...
Giant Douche vs. Turd Sandwich
/fortunately, my unibomber styled shack in the woods is near completion...
There is only one man that cares about anything any of us have to say;
Ron Paul
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\"Paul would likely scrap the Consumer Product Safety Commission and let the market fix the industry's defective toy addiction.\"
Would that really work? Seems like the market would merely settle for the appearance of being fixed, unfortunately.
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Good one, Rando.
We don't want to say the Republicans don't care...so we'll let them say it themselves: They don't.
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This is a litmus test for me. Give me a good solid candidate opposed to toy safety and he/she has my vote.
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whew- what a perfet day (slow) for this post. i was worried this would turn ugly.
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I dont think ANY of them care about anything but power, influence & lining their own pockets (and that of their cronies).
The problem is that the whole system is flawed to where you prettymuch HAVE to be a slimy POS to even get the chance/support to run.
The rewrite is much better. It doesn't sound like a DNC press release anymore ;-)
I kind of think that the Republicans need to clarify their position, I have read many GOPers positions, and most feel the same way I do: That Chinese stuff need to be more carefully tested and that we should punish China. However since China is our 3rd largest trade partner we need to be careful, as they actually hold alot on our economy.
Also the free market will take care of this, if Chinese toys become too dangerous.
I'm not sure if I am supposed to repeat this or not, but I know the President a certain department of Fisher-Price and he said that production is shifting from China to Mexico because of the lead issue. No need for a bunch of bureaucracy with the Republican way. Of course companies who aren't so responsible need to be dealt with according to Republicans.
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How the hell is safety \"sexy\"? \"Oh yeah, that toy's lead free, now come screw me NOW!\"
It always annoys me when candidates jump on the hot thing of the moment, whether it be lead in toys, pedophiles on the internet, video game violence, or what have you.
But why actually care about what Kucinich's stance is? I mean, seriously...
@Infe:
Good points. In every presidential election, it seems that there are some people running that have virtually zero chance of being elected. This time around, its Kucinich and Ru Paul. Why do they do it? Do they benefit from the publicity in some way?
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sexy is the new trendy
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We should elect a dead president, preferably Reagan. That would scare the shit out of every other nation, and NOBODY would fuck with us. --Lewis Black.
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@ClayS: \"Why do they do it?\"
I'm sure they have many reasons, and that they differ from candidate to candidate, but one reason is that by running, you can insist that your voice and your issues be heard on the national stage. Without Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich, do you really think libertarian and true-liberal issues would be getting a hearing this election cycle?
I wouldn't say Ron Paul has *zero* chance of winning. But I think a lot of his supporters hear \"against the war\" and then tune out all of the batshit insane stuff he has to say.
Probably not, but that's ok with me. Right or wrong, I have an aversion to fringe candidates, and prefer people with mainstream positions on the issues of the day. Both major political parties offer solid presidental candidates every election cycle. Others I'm sure will disagree, but that's fine too.
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Dennis Kuchinich IS PRO CONSUMER. He has always supported the greeters at Wal-Mart. Perhaps because that is the job he is best qualified for.
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If someone could test the toys owned by the children or grandchildren of the candidates /politicians then suddenly you'd see the CSPC funded to the max if lead turned up on/in the toys or other similar issues. These folks exist in such a freakin' vacuum from the real world or at least give appearance of that...
Maybe the insurance industry needs to get on board with this to force toy manufactures/importers to cover their butts and test the toys...
@ClayS: If no one ever ran other than a few major candidates, would we ever have a chance of getting rid of this awful two-party system?
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@ClayS: The thing is, the mainstream American opinions on most issues are actually to the left of center, no wait, I'm not finished, of the Democratic Party.
Unfortunately, both sets of primaries are about appealing to the party's base, rather than its major constituents. A Democratic candidate's challenge is to be \"electable\", while a Repulican candidate's challenge is to espouse the GOP orthodoxy without getting too far off-handle (see: Keyes, Alan).
Which is to say, the Democratic base will nver consider Kucinich to be \"electable\", not because necessarily because he's too far left, but because he's short and his name is too ethnic for a white guy, while Paul deviates too far from the orthodoxy - he's too much of a pragmatist for the Republican base.
But in reality, Paul and Kucinich are closer to mainstream than most people think, and probably more than the eventual GOP candidate. And Bloomberg, potentially another \"fringe\" candidate, is probably the most mainstream of them all.
@Buran:
I like the two party system. The socialists and fascist parties are not what America is about. If there were to emerge a serious third party, I think we would need to mandate run-off elections. Meaning, if the leading candidate doesn't get 45% of the vote, the top two candidates go head to head.
Look at the list of parties on the right pane of the site that econobiker mentions and tell me if you like the likes of them.
Two parties has never been enough. Why there was a day when I'd be through with the second party well before 2 a.m. and looking for a third.
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The only relevant campaign issues are tots, tears, tits, pets, and vets, same as the local news.
No, I've just heard what third party candidates have had to say during election campaigns. What third party candidates have been elected? Let's see..there was Hitler.
@ClayS: Your first two sentences seem to be conflicting.
I'm an advocate for instant run off. Just rank the candidates in order of preference and be done with it. 2 party run off is pretty much what the US already has.
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The two party system is an absolute joke and yes, I have lived in alternate systems and they work a whole lot better. Its like the south park episode when they had to choose between a douche and a turd.
Ralph nader would have been a far better president then anything we've seen in decades. George Bush falls probably arount 100 000 000th on my list of people I want to be prez. The whole electoral system needs to be changed. This is supposed to be democracy. Where I lived, there was a socialist party, communist party, even a marijuana party, but the population still does not vote them in office. I would rather more choice then 2 equally incompetent candidates.
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@spinachdip: yes, bloomberg. mayor of the city he owns. definitely mainstream (/sarcasm). i do like what he (& others) have to say. i'm just not so sure i want a media magnate wagging the tail from the oval office. wish they could have come up with someone more...mainstream...in oklahoma city.
personally, i'm disappointed that john mccain tucked tail 8 years ago. he was so outspoken until the boys in the back room told him to hush up & wait his turn. he's been quietly walking in line since.
imho, the biggest problem is that 2 parties are actually 4. on the far right we have the christian crazies (no, not all christians are crazy...just the type that expel people from their parish for voting for kerry), on the far left we have the neo-trotskies & the anarchists (incidentally, i <3 anarchists - so many willing to blindly follow the \"we\" without ever asking who \"we\" actually are).
& then we have the madisonians & the clintonians (him, not necessarily her) who are most alike in ideology & receive a great deal of funding from the same sources, but receive them through different channels.
these folks could do great things if only they could shed their respective monkeys.
who knows. in a world where a candidate needs to raise 1/2 billion dollars just to run in the primaries, maybe the 34th richest man is mainstream enough to pull the parties away from the radicals & reactionaries.
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if the dems win we'll have lead free toys to play with during our nuclear winter.
I always hear that Ron Paul is \"crazy\" yet nobody ever offers any proof beyond that generally seemingly agreed upon statement.
If anything is crazy about his ideas, it is that they are so far outside of the norm of Washington D.C. With a mid 20% rating of Congress and a mid 30% rating of the president, you would think that would be a good thing.
Most Americans just love voting for \"their side\" so much though that they end up being fleeced willingly.
Yes, Ron Paulista checking in. Paleo-conservative who is sick and tired of the neocon platform of shoot first, avoid questions later.
The only problem with this article is that it only describes what the candidates have proposed. How affective will they actually be at getting the proposals enacted? Or do they even believe what they have proposed, or just think it will help them get elected? I think we have a better chance of effecting consumer issues on this website than we do by electing any one of the nonsensical presidential candidates.
Speaking of which, someone said they wouldn't say Ron Paul has a zero percent chance of getting elected, so I will. Ron Paul has a zero percent chance of getting elected. I smile in pity when I see someone putting up a Ron Paul sign or defacing a public sign with a Ron Paul sticker. It's so cute of you to care so much, but you're wasting your time. I actually agree with some of what he says but he would be the most disastrous, ineffective president of our lifetime. Congress and foreign leaders would run roughshod over him and people would be pining for the \"good ole days\" when George W. Bush was president.
@CLAYS
You do realize that this is a smear-campaign regurgitating long-ago debunked trash that someone using Ron Paul's name was doing without his knowledge?
Back in 1992 some jerk writing for a publication used it to push his sick ideas.
He was fired.
Look at Ron Paul's record and public statements/real quotes over the past 30 years and tell me what you can find.
Otherwise, enjoy reading crap pushed on the eve of a primary in the hopes of smearing a popular NH candidate.
@NEWSPAPERSAREDEAD
My vote isn't based on who is electable. It is based on principle. Ron Paul is consistently outvoted 534-1 on fleecing the taxpayers for unnecessary spending.
Does that mean that he is wrong?
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Ut oh. You said those two magic words. The paultards will be here any second now...