2012 Presidential Candidates

[Hyena Dandy]

That's basically what I'd agree with, Andara+Lundar.

I'm not that dissatisfied with Obama. I think the problem was that what he said didn't match how he said it. The change he was talking about was trying to reach across the aile more. But most people expected him to be talking about getting rid of the Republican party altogether. So both the Democrats AND Republicans were expecting him to be trying to crush the Republican party. Pelosi did that. Reid did that, but less so. The tea party got riled up because they thought he was gonna crush them, and then when Pelosi did that, they thought "Its what we expected!"

And everyone got upset, because everyone expected everything to be immediately different. BOTH sides thought they elected a radical. And in reality, he's pretty moderate.

[Boozy]

I'd like to see the rise of a viable third party in our country, primarily because I'd be hoping it was the start of a real breaking up of the two-party system.

Not defending the two-party system here, but I always chuckle a bit when I hear Americans say something like this.

We've got five (arguably six) major parties on the national political scene here in Canada, but all that means is we've got five or six assholes to choose from instead of two.

Three-times the assholes, not a three-times better system.

[Peppergirl]

I am stuck booking travel for this asshole sometimes. He talks to us like we're total shit and like we're stupid.

I'd vote for my cat before I'd vote for him....for ANYTHING.

[FArchivist]

What do you think?

My problems are thus:

1) What good is this going to do? The idea that people on welfare are all drug whore welfare queens is absolutely crap. And considering how unreliable drug tests are with their notorious false positives, I can see this causing more problems than not - especially when you take Medicare/Medicaid patients into consideration.

2) Closing the borders means CLOSING the borders. So unless otherwise clarified, I'm not down for that.

3) Reverse the health care bill? Not fraggin' likely. Doing so would also kill the Medicare portions, which would have the entire senior lobby up his ass. And replace it with something better? Good luck getting that through Congress!

4) Abolish unions for government employees? To do that and avoid discrimination suits, he'd have to abolish unions across the board. Not happening.

[FArchivist]

The GOP will get desperate. They tried to shut out Ron Paul in 2008 despite his immense popularity, but in my prediction for 2012, the game has changed. They will realize that in a 3-major-party system, Ron Paul's popularity would be their only hope, and last I knew, Paul was *not* part of the greater Tea Party movement.

The Tea Party will run Sarah Palin. They have been grooming her for it over these last years, even if she doesn't currently realize it. She is their biggest mouthpiece, and among their voters she is very popular.

Any thoughts on this?

Ron Paul's immense popularity?
Where exactly are you getting that from? He's popular in his constituency, elsewhere in the South he's mostly derided and seen as "too liberal" or "too libertarian". He's never going to get anywhere with the Establishment Republicans. He'd never make it in a national election, though he's tried many times. (Heck, he can't even make it in a primary.)

As for the Tea Party, they could attempt to run Sarah, but that would mean splitting completely with the Republican Party, which would mean an absolute win for the Democrats, ala 1912.