Politics of SWRP

[Lemur, The Kool-Aid Guy]

I don't generally make predictions. I think President Obama will win, but not by a landslide. I think PA will go to the President. Everything else I'm unsure of.

I just want my election pizza and wings.

[Rugs]

Worried?

Not at all. Swing state numbers been consistently solid for Obama and consistently turrible for Romney, even during the peak of his bounce after the first debate. Barring shenanigans, the election tomorrow should play out the same way it's been set to play out since June.

ETA: Pennsylvania is fool's gold for Republicans. It's not going red. Mitt's hail mary at the state is the same thing we saw from McCain at the end of the 2008 campagin: a desperate last second attempt from a doomed campaign.

ETA 2: 4,000th post. What am I doing with my life...? xD

[Dutch]

ETA 2: 4,000th post. What am I doing with my life...? xD

Isn't it obvious?

But yeah, I think we all know what the end result will be. Maker help us if it doesn't.

[Grumpy Panda]

The end result is the titanic hitting once iceberg or the other.

[Grumpy Panda]

These are the questions I asked myself when voting: Who is this person? When did this become an office? Was he the guy with the beard, mustache, or bald head?

[Lemur, The Kool-Aid Guy]

Congratulations to President Barack Obama on his reelection.

[Apillis]

When all the votes are counted, Obama is probably going to have the popular vote by a couple percent. Like around 2% if I had to guess. It's really, really close. But via the electoral college, this was an outright landslide, not all the 4 remaining states have been called yet, but they're each leaning toward Obama, which if they do he's sitting at around 320+ electoral votes, I think. That's an outright knock out when it comes to strategizing their campaign to incredible degrees.

Hell, the Obama ground game I saw at work in the past three weeks, at least twice a week, we had Obama supports knocking at our door. Each time they're asking us how we're going to vote and then ask us if we know where our poll station is to vote, and giving all the information possible for what people need before going to vote. Do you know what I saw from the Romney campaign here in St. Paul with their ground game? Nothing. All I saw from them was tv ads.

That says a lot to voters. People are more likely to engage a person than they are a tv ad.

[Apillis]

Nov 6, 2012 23:34:36 GMT -5 Lemur, The Kool-Aid Guy said:

Congratulations to President Barack Obama on his reelection.

[Lemur, The Kool-Aid Guy]

ROFL.

You win. Your prize is +9001 Internetz. You may collect it any time.

[Grumpy Panda]

I'm hanging my flag upside down.

[Jenno]

I'm heartily relieved.

Zomney Apocalypse averted. ;D

[Rugs]

Had a great time last night. Between stupid people, people who've been asking for it for a while, and people who try way too hard to be cool kid cynics, the troll was strong with this one. Good times, good times.

[Grumpy Panda]

I quite like the templars, they gave me a cool ring. Oh wait, wrong politics.

[Rugs]

Someone's a tryhard =P

Another cool thing that hasn't gained as much attention in the immediate aftermath of the presidential race is that Puerto Ricans voted for Puerto Rico to become the 51st state. It has to be approved by congress before anything can happen but still, good on them.

[Grumpy Panda]

I saw that. I see that as a positive thing. Any other territories that would like to become states eh?

[Rugs]

Not sure. I wish there was more info on the referendum but it'll probably be a bit before more comes out. Still from what I've seen there are some hurdles to that. They also elected a governor that's opposed to statehood so who knows what'll happen.

[Grumpy Panda]

Hmm. Do you believe there are any territories we should push toward statehood?

[Apillis]

I feel it needs to be mentioned just how historic last night was. I mean, this is the first time in US history that the election was won via 95% of the African American vote, 71% of the Latino vote, 60% of the youth vote, 55% of the women's vote. Obama won primarily via those groups which are (and somewhat nonsensically labelled imo) the "minority vote". Which is something conservatives not just among Republicans but at large, really need to open their eyes to. For the simple fact that their very ideals are losing entire generations of voters from those demographics.

Such as the Puerto Rican voters in the US (I forget the percentage off-hand), but they went in large percentages to Obama within their respective communities. They are going to be a significant part of what attributes to if Obama winds up snagging Florida as well (not all the vote has been counted there). And I earnestly hope that Puerto Rico does become a state. Reason being the US needs more diverse voices to aid in shaping it.

Another historic thing happened on just the Senate level with my Wisconsin neighbors, which my family despite being here in Minnesota, were watching very closely (largely because Tommy Thompson needed to go), but with Tommy Thompson now gone, Tammy Baldwin becomes the first openly gay woman in the Senate. Which is another demographic the Republican party (and a significant portion of conservatives at large) has alienated severely, which is the LGBT community, they make up 10% of the population (at least).

This is something that the Republican party at this point really needs to open their damn eyes to. Just railing over and over again "OBAMA BAD" via cynically strawman arguments just doesn't cut it, and that kind of crap will cost them for generations if they keep it up. It's just a reality they're going to have to pop their bubble to, to finally acknowledge it.

[Rugs]

Not sure that any other territories are really at the point of being serious candidates for statehood, but I don't look into that often, so I don't really know much about it.


And completely agree, Apillis, and it's something my friends and I have been talking about for a while. The demographics of the country are changing, and the Republican party as it exists now cannot afford to keep on as they are if they want to continue winning presidencies. Even in Texas, the demographics are shifting so that there is a chance that down the line, in ten or twenty years, it's very probably going to be a state that stops being a lock for Republicans and becomes competitive. That would be disastrous for presidential hopes for the party. The Southern Strategy can only be effective for so long.

Part of the irony of that is that, W, for all his faults, made some pretty decent inroads for the party with the Latino electorate, but the party has since erased all of that, which is going to kill them in the future if they don't start reaching out again.

What they need to do is, as you said, stop just railing against Obama and throwing temper tantrums like 3 year olds (the debt ceiling debacle last summer is a prime example of this) and actually do their job and govern. The country was built on compromise, and when you constantly refuse to do so, and hold the well being of the country as a whole hostage for what you want, there are problems. The party needs to stop being beholden to the whims of extremists and ideologues, because they're going to continue holding it back and ultimately hurting it in the long run. The Tea Party movement is one of the worst things that could've happened to the Republican party, truthfully, because they make it so hard for the more moderate members of the party in the Senate and especially the House to be able to compromise and reach across the aisle without fearing for losing their seat to some wacko for doing something that's been routine for 100 years.

It is, once again, time for the Republican party to do some introspection and really figure out what they need to do. But I fear they might just run to the right again, because I'm already hearing the excuse that the real reason Romney didn't win is because he wasn't conservative enough. Even though the rest of the more conservative candidates in the primaries were crazy. The likes of Gingrich, Perry, Bachmann, etc, are not what the party needs to look for for what it needs to be.

[Dutch]

Nov 6, 2012 23:34:36 GMT -5 Lemur, The Kool-Aid Guy said:

Congratulations to President Barack Obama on his reelection.