Countdown to Extinction: The 2016 Presidential Election

[(poco) Sforzando]

There are now rumors that Pence doing better in his debate, than Trump did in his, is making #1 a little jealous...

Would it really have been possible for Pence to have done worse?

[Zeus]

“As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”

H. L. Mencken, Baltimore Evening Sun
26 July 1920

Humorous, to be sure, but not entirely appropriate this election. There's a better quote which more perfectly fits Trump:

"Trump is not crazy, he's just an asshole!"

[Karl Henning]

Would it really have been possible for Pence to have done worse?

;^)

[Karl Henning]

El Tupé's tweet-rage ailment is contagious, as Hannity concedes that his "interviews" are all about lobbing the creampuffs:

Fox's Sean Hannity publicly fired back at his colleague Megyn Kelly after Kelly said on her program that Donald Trump will only appear on Hannity's show in order to avoid tough interviews or "unsafe spaces."

Hannity replied testily to her on Twitter, tweeting "u should be mad at @hillaryClinton. Clearly you support her. And @realDonaldTrump did talk to u."

[Karl Henning]

Hey, that wasn't sexism! It was Entertainment!

[Mirror Image]

El Tupé's tweet-rage ailment is contagious, as Hannity concedes that his "interviews" are all about lobbing the creampuffs:

Fox's Sean Hannity publicly fired back at his colleague Megyn Kelly after Kelly said on her program that Donald Trump will only appear on Hannity's show in order to avoid tough interviews or "unsafe spaces."

Hannity replied testily to her on Twitter, tweeting "u should be mad at @hillaryClinton. Clearly you support her. And @realDonaldTrump did talk to u."

*Munches popcorn*

[zamyrabyrd]

"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."
H. L. Mencken, Baltimore Evening Sun
26 July 1920

Already happened, 16 years in a row!

[Rinaldo]

Already happened, 16 years in a row!

Yeah, the guy who navigated your country through a financial crash, who inherited a completely botched up war, who made historical breakthrough regarding your neanderthal health system and who regained respect for America throughout the world, all while having to cope with the GOP roadblock, birther idiots and outright racists.. that guy - is a moron? Rrrrriiiight.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, history, unclouded by the BS of Fox News & alt-right media, will judge Obama as one of America's top presidents. He had his share of failures but in overall, he's someone you guys should be proud of.

[North Star]

Yeah, the guy who navigated your country through a financial crash, who inherited a completely botched up war, who made historical breakthrough regarding your neanderthal health system and who regained respect for America throughout the world, all while having to cope with the GOP roadblock, birther idiots and outright racists.. that guy - is a moron? Rrrrriiiight.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, history, unclouded by the BS of Fox News & alt-right media, will judge Obama as one of America's top presidents. He had his share of failures but in overall, he's someone you guys should be proud of.

Perhaps Zamyra meant Clinton & Bush, though.

[Karl Henning]

While I understand that the ritual whingeing about Obama will not die off for many years, it is already hard to take it very seriously, for two reasons, to start with:

1.  Four years ago, Obama was at probably the low point of his popularity.  He was, then, a not-very-popular incumbent President, in a political season which was hostile to incumbents (a broad sentiment which, considering this year's Rage Against the Establishment, has only intensified).  The Republican nominee was the eminently reasonable (even without comparing him to this year's bewigged drama queen) Mitt Romney, so that (to repeat) the race was Romney's to lose.  The American people re-elected Obama.  The referendum on whether Obama was Too, Too Awful went to the people, and he was taken on for a second term.

2.  That is all now ancient history.  I don't say Obama is flawless (he is not), but he now enjoys high overall popularity on a par with the sainted Reagan.

I have long gotten over the Bush-Gore-Florida controversy, but I know there are some who, eeww, seem to enjoy licking those wounds rather than letting them heal.  America as a whole thinks well of Obama.  Even setting aside the Birther obscenity, I get it:  Obama-Hating will remain an active cottage industry for a while.  But it is already rather a cranky activity.

[zamyrabyrd]

Yeah, the guy who navigated your country through a financial crash, who inherited a completely botched up war, who made historical breakthrough regarding your neanderthal health system and who regained respect for America throughout the world, all while having to cope with the GOP roadblock, birther idiots and outright racists.. that guy - is a moron? Rrrrriiiight.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, history, unclouded by the BS of Fox News & alt-right media, will judge Obama as one of America's top presidents. He had his share of failures but in overall, he's someone you guys should be proud of.

Where were you, sleeping for the past eight years? The economy is much worse, employment did not improve despite his promises, the national debt has ballooned to $18 or so trillion, health care expenses shot up despite "Affordable Care" a misnomer if there ever was one, inter-racial violence is rife, security from terror is almost non-existent, religious freedom is under attack like never before, respect abroad is practically nil, otherwise why cower and give $1.3 billion to Iran. 
This was the era in which the apocalyptic ISIS filled the void left by you know who and his Secretary of State.
If Hill gets elected, we should expect more of the same and even worse.

[Madiel]

The economy is much worse

Source please.

[zamyrabyrd]

Source please.

If you're running a business and have a $18 trillion deficit, much of which is owed to China, doesn't that indicate something is amiss? The point is nothing was really done to ameliorate it, just go on spending sprees, mirrored with his own family taking trips that really pushed the envelope, estimated at about $58 million from 2009!
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/take-tour-president-barack-obamas-7076592

In contrast, there are some leaders in the world who have a conscience like the Governoress of Tokyo who voluntarily accepted a 50% reduction in her yearly salary.

[San Antone]

While I understand that the ritual whingeing about Obama will not die off for many years, it is already hard to take it very seriously, for two reasons, to start with:

1.  Four years ago, Obama was at probably the low point of his popularity.  He was, then, a not-very-popular incumbent President, in a political season which was hostile to incumbents (a broad sentiment which, considering this year's Rage Against the Establishment, has only intensified).  The Republican nominee was the eminently reasonable (even without comparing him to this year's bewigged drama queen) Mitt Romney, so that (to repeat) the race was Romney's to lose.  The American people re-elected Obama.  The referendum on whether Obama was Too, Too Awful went to the people, and he was taken on for a second term.

2.  That is all now ancient history.  I don't say Obama is flawless (he is not), but he now enjoys high overall popularity on a par with the sainted Reagan.

I have long gotten over the Bush-Gore-Florida controversy, but I know there are some who, eeww, seem to enjoy licking those wounds rather than letting them heal.  America as a whole thinks well of Obama.  Even setting aside the Birther obscenity, I get it:  Obama-Hating will remain an active cottage industry for a while.  But it is already rather a cranky activity.

I don't know if Obama will be viewed positively by history.  Right now he is popular in large part because compared to Clinton and Trump, well, he is for lack of a better word, preferable.  Also, people tend to be kind to presidents as they are preparing to walk out the door of the White House for the last time.  But it is hard to square his popularity with his legacy:  a bitterly divided society over race, class and politics; a lackluster record in foreign policy and then of course, there's Obamacare.

No, I think once the dust of this presidential campaign settles, Obama's stock is not a good buy.

[North Star]

If you're running a business and have a $18 trillion deficit, much of which is owed to China, doesn't that indicate something is amiss? The point is nothing was really done to ameliorate it, just go on spending sprees, mirrored with his own family taking trips that really pushed the envelope, estimated at about $58 million from 2009!
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/take-tour-president-barack-obamas-7076592

In contrast, there are some leaders in the world who have a conscience like the Governoress of Tokyo who voluntarily accepted a 50% reduction in her yearly salary.

Unemployment rate in the US.

[Madiel]

If you're running a business and have a $18 trillion deficit, much of which is owed to China, doesn't that indicate something is amiss?

The idea that running a country is the same as "running a business" and that the finances work the same is one of the greatest, foolhardy falsehoods that has been running around for the last couple of decades.

The goal of a business is to make money. That's not the goal of a government. ONE of the goals of a government is to enable other people to go out and run businesses.

Besides, if you run the argument that a deficit indicates something is amiss, there must be something amiss with most people because they have mortgages.

That's not a source. That's just you arguing that you understand how the economy works and immediately demonstrating that you don't have a detailed grasp of the subject.

[zamyrabyrd]

Unemployment rate in the US.

The Labor Department said Friday that the U.S. unemployment rate fell to 4.9 percent in January, the lowest since February 2008. But does that tell the whole story?
Most economists look past the main unemployment number (also known as the "U-3") to other metrics that provide more perspectives on the economy. On jobs day, the Labor Department releases a slew of data, each of which says something different about the state of jobs and wages. One of those figures is the U-6 rate.
While the U-3 rate measures all unemployed workers as a percent of the civilian labor force, the U-6 includes more. It's defined as all unemployed as well as "persons marginally attached to the labor force, plus total employed part time for economic reasons" plus all marginally attached workers, as a percentage of the labor force.

That means the rate for the unemployed, the underemployed and the discouraged remains stubbornly above prerecession levels. The U-6 rate remained unchanged at 9.9 percent in January. Overall, the U-6 has been more volatile than the U-3 rate. It's down 1.4 percentage points over the past year, versus an 0.8-point drop in the U-3.
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/02/05/but-whats-the-real-unemployment-rate.html

[Karl Henning]

Where were you, sleeping for the past eight years? The economy is much worse, employment did not improve despite his promises, the national debt has ballooned to $18 or so trillion, health care expenses shot up despite "Affordable Care" a misnomer if there ever was one, inter-racial violence is rife, security from terror is almost non-existent, religious freedom is under attack like never before, respect abroad is practically nil, otherwise why cower and give $1.3 billion to Iran. 
This was the era in which the apocalyptic ISIS filled the void left by you know who and his Secretary of State.
If Hill gets elected, we should expect more of the same and even worse.

You're painting a tendentious picture, and of course there are a number of measures by which the economy is much stronger (this isn't the Soviet Union, it's a free market, so, certainly, there are many moving parts).

Now, one allows room for your pessimism about Clinton's election. But there is absolutely nothing, in what we know of the deliberately obfuscatory El Tupé's business activity, to give us even the least indication that he is to be trusted with money.

You're allowed your pessimism w/r/t Clinton.  I don't buy any of this faith-based optimism in El Tupé—not in his business dealings, not in his character—it puzzles me that you find anything in what he says which is remotely trustworthy.  You cannot.  So your whole support of that buffoon is some pitiful blend of blind hope in a demonstrated liar and cheat, and entrenched hatred of Clinton.

[North Star]

The Labor Department said Friday that the U.S. unemployment rate fell to 4.9 percent in January, the lowest since February 2008. But does that tell the whole story?
Most economists look past the main unemployment number (also known as the "U-3") to other metrics that provide more perspectives on the economy. On jobs day, the Labor Department releases a slew of data, each of which says something different about the state of jobs and wages. One of those figures is the U-6 rate.
While the U-3 rate measures all unemployed workers as a percent of the civilian labor force, the U-6 includes more. It's defined as all unemployed as well as "persons marginally attached to the labor force, plus total employed part time for economic reasons" plus all marginally attached workers, as a percentage of the labor force.

That means the rate for the unemployed, the underemployed and the discouraged remains stubbornly above prerecession levels. The U-6 rate remained unchanged at 9.9 percent in January. Overall, the U-6 has been more volatile than the U-3 rate. It's down 1.4 percentage points over the past year, versus an 0.8-point drop in the U-3.
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/02/05/but-whats-the-real-unemployment-rate.html

Fine. You'll see the same trends in U-3, U-5 and U-6 rates, though. You'll notice that after the inherited economic crisis, unemployment has been steadily decreasing. And I doubt that the president's salary has had a larger effect on the US economy than the Republican opposition to the stimulus package.

http://www.macrotrends.net/1377/u6-unemployment-rate

[zamyrabyrd]

You're painting a tendentious picture, and of course there are a number of measures by which the economy is much stronger (this isn't the Soviet Union, it's a free market, so, certainly, there are many moving parts).
Now, one allows room for your pessimism about Clinton's election. But there is absolutely nothing, in what we know of the deliberately obfuscatory El Tupé's business activity, to give us even the least indication that he is to be trusted with money.
You're allowed your pessimism w/r/t Clinton.  I don't buy any of this faith-based optimism in El Tupé—not in his business dealings, not in his character—it puzzles me that you find anything in what he says which is remotely trustworthy.  You cannot.  So your whole support of that buffoon is some pitiful blend of blind hope in a demonstrated liar and cheat, and entrenched hatred of Clinton.

When a person takes out the "hate" card, I usually expect it from unintelligent people without an argument, since this is the easiest word to throw at someone. I really don't hate her, I have sincere pity. I don't think she is a happy person. How could she be with a "husband" like that? Any self-respecting woman should have dumped him a long time ago but she needed to be attached to Billy-boy not out of love but to secure her political career.

It could be that men are not as much attuned to what it means to sacrifice one's feelings on the altar of ambition. It could be in the biological scheme of things, doing so doesn't hurt them so much. Hillary's betrayal of women starts with herself but doesn't end there. I am sorry to bring this up again but anyone who has an endorsement from an organization that is the antithesis of womanhood, so-called Planned Parenthood is likewise. She and Kaine (Catholic in the sense that Ted Kennedy was, completely in opposition to Christian teaching), can't get enough of abortion which is totally out of control the way it is.

One needs to touch base on the issues and not get side tracked in the mires of political correctness. Trump (who may be lying) promised to protect religious freedom. I really feel Hillary does not give a damn.
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/pdf/DJT_catholic_leadership_conference_letter.pdf