So... what do you think?

[illyushadarling]

As we draw ever closer to the November elections, it's no surprise to start seeing politically oriented posts appearing on LJ. I've read the recent posts about Republican candidate Akin and his (pardon the pun) ill conceived words about "legitimate rape". We've already endured Weinergate, with the ensuing demands for and subsequent resignation.

Comments

[glennagirl]

He is an idiot who has a false sense of entitlement. Politicians are to be viewed with suspicion... always. Theirs is a category of pursuit that demands we assume guilt until innocence can be proven. It's harsh, but the accountability factor goes up in spades when people enter a public arena.
i say put him in a rubber boat with the dweebs who went skinny dipping and see where they end up.

[bluemeanybeany]

it's an interesting discussion on how much people in the public arena have a right to privacy aint it. Take the Prince Harry photos today - technically that was in the privacy of a hotel room and he didn't know there was a camera.

He's still a numpty for not bloody well checking there were no camera about though, especially in America where he doesnt actually know the people at the party can be trusted [cause clearly they cant] I'm sure under the influence of alcohol he pretty much forgot it wasnt actually a group of friends or Army buddies he was with. I do have a problem with people giving/selling personal photos to newspapers though, it's just wrong.

[glennagirl]

the person who took and then sold the picture is vile, absolutely. He or she is also now about $100K richer no doubt. Money talks, and it says 'go ahead, do it'.

[illyushadarling]

Well, don't hold back, girl! I agree with your idiot assessment. But I must say, I have to differ on the assumption of guilt until proven innocent. (Of course, here, this guy confessed.) I mean, if that's the way it's to be played, then Harry Reid was well in line with his insinuation that Mitt Romney hadn't paid a penny in taxes for 10 years, based on a supposed call from an anomymous tipster. And, by the same token, Obama would have to prove he is innocent of lots of alleged wrongs. (And btw, I wish he would. I've heard from really bad and disturbing things.)

But no, I want transparency from all politicians. Ain't holding my breath, though.

[bluemeanybeany]

on the question of character, and irrespective of political ideology, do you not think Mitt Romney and the people he comes with are a bit...um...off.

Even if they completely lined up with my viewpoints I still wouldnt vote for them. I would think it would be hard for them to get even 5% of the vote here and not because of politics, I really dont think they could [and they actually didnt when they came here] pass the National character test... It's not like with McCain, I respected McCain. This lot just kind of scream wrong.

[illyushadarling]

Nope, I don't think so. Romney's and Ryan's views seem perfectly "on" (as opposed to "off") from a conservative viewpoint. Which, of course, differs vastly from the viewpoint of the current administration. We shall see how the American people decide in November.

McCain? Sorry, no. He left me cold.

[bluemeanybeany]

it wasnt necessarily Romney's political views [of which I'm assuming are somewhere around Bush's and McCain's] he didnt really talk about American politics that much while he was here.

His camp did somewhat leave the impression that they are a bunch of incompetent, elitist racists.

To be honest, regardless of the policies of the other team that would be my major concern. While I might care if Obama was throwing drug-heavy Oval Office orgies...my concern that those Republicans are the people you really, really, really shouldnt be handing power to somewhat over-rides that.

Yes, Romney and the Republican he came with were unsettling.

[illyushadarling]

I did read that he didn't exactly make friends with some comments he made over there, but to be honest, I didn't really delve into that. Plenty of other things he has said, that I have heard and read, make a lot of sense, though. I've seen no evidence of either elitism or racism. Though it's true the Republican ticket doesn't have a lot of minority support at this time, it does seem to have some. Believe it or not, there are increasing numbers of black Americans who are very disillusioned with the President. How they will vote in November remains to be seen.

[bluemeanybeany]

It went wrong for them from the start because they attempted to approach the British on terms of "shared anglo-saxon heritage" an approach which basically implied that we as a nation would naturally favour Romney as President, a white European, over Obama, who isnt. The implication that would do this, on a personal or governmental level is pretty damn insulting. The Romney Camp then appear to have approached all the Press and the Government in a "we whites have to stick together" vein. Seriously it must have been a carnage of PR because I've never seen the British Press that united about anything before. From a history point of view, a foreign Political Party trying to get a Conservative British Government to support it based on a "common anglo-saxon heritage" last happened in 1938, and it really, really doesnt look good. It makes everyone nervous

[illyushadarling]

I can see where that approach, however well intentioned it may have been, could be interpretted in such a way. Not having heard it, I can't say more than that. Except that I think he was referring to our shared heritage as nations, not demeaning Obama from a racial standpoint at all. Just my opinion.

Who was it in '38? I'm not as up on my history as I'd like. If it was Germany, I can certainly understand the reaction, considering how that turned out.

As to holding a fundraising dinner with investment bankers, well... he has to have funds for a campaign, and it would seem to me that, since the US and global economy is in such a mess, it would make sense to talk to investment bankers. Once of the major points of his campaign is that he knows how to fix the economy. I would think pitching his ideas to them would be logical.

Sounds like, from one interpretation anyway, it could be seen as a comedy of errors. Hopefully, he's learning, and won't repeat such mistakes.

[bluemeanybeany]

Yeah it was the Nazi Party. They attempted to bond with the British Tories, and insisted that Britain wouldn't oppose them because of the shared "anglo-saxon heritage" They also throughout the War when trying to get the Britons to surrender kept highlighting the "shared connection" to some genetic and cultural ancestory of anglo-saxoness. Which even if it wasn't bullcrap and was actually true, would still be insulting and no basis whatsoever for political unity.

Hence why the Romney Camp majorly tanked. They're either dangerously Bigoted or dangerously Incompetent to be preparing to run the planet. And judging by that and the comments in Israel I'm currently going with that they are both until convinced otherwise.

[glennagirl]

Oh, of course we can't hang anyone just yet ;) Seriously, it's just so ridiculous to be having these types of mess ups, isn't it. And those boneheads over in Israel... Why don't we just give the election away?

[bluemeanybeany]

oooo what are the really bad and disturbing Obama things me want the juicy gossip!

is it actually good gossip, or is it just the "secretly a muslim" tripe.

[illyushadarling]

That, my dear, is a deep subject, and one for which I want to do some preparation, so I can cite sources, give links, etc. That is, to the ones I can find. Many things I have heard Obama say, that have sent chills down my spine, and not in a good way. Other things I have heard more second hand, and I'd like to track down the sources instead of just repeat "the juicy gossip". ;-)

Give me some time, and I'll do my best to feed your curiosity. And no, I'm not talking secret Muslim (though any President who would keep his religious affiliation secret would also disturb me).

[bluemeanybeany]

repeating scandalous and unfounded juicy gossip is totally ok ;) if it's of the "he's using executive orders to kill people* and burying them under the Rose Garden/He's selling arms to Iran to fund a South American Coup.

I eagerly await Juicy Gossip.

If you want somewhat totally founded gossip, and possible subject of a police investigation from this side of the Pond. The people who run Fox News probably hacked into the voicemails of 9/11 victims. If you want a conversation about privacy and personal character now that's an interesting one

*excluding Bin Laden obviously, that was alright.

[illyushadarling]

Haven't had time to research sources yet, and I don't deal in "scandalous, unfounded and juicy", but I did hear something new on the radio yesterday that I will pass along. It was a phone interview with Dinesh D'Souza, a best selling author who wrote a book about Obama from which a movie was produced by Gerald R. Molen (Schindler's List), titled 2016. D'Souza spent time with Obama's half-brother George in Kenya while making the film, and recounted that he very recently had a phone call from George asking him for money. George lives a pretty impoverished life, by all accounts. Knowing this, D'Souza was a little skeptical that perhaps George's survival skills, as he called them, were kicking in, so he wanted verification that George's story as to why he needed $1000 from D'Souza was genuine. The story: George's 2 year old son, who has some kind of chronic health problem, was in the hospital with a lung infection, and the money was needed for medical care. D'Souza spoke with the nurse who was with George to obtain confirmation