a vote for some Saddamite masquerading as a libertarian is just another vote for Obamarx.

A vote for Romney was a vote for The Filth.

...I heard that Obama won Florida.

They said this would strengthen his hand in the forthcoming negotiations with congress.

I thought, "what a load of old bollocks!"

It was a 50/49 win by a few thousand votes and if anything the Republicans will dig their heels in no matter what.

The Moochers have to vote for the Left. The Left promises all the goodies with no strings attached. The Conservatives will give them the goodies but the watered down version. It will be hard to defeat the Left when half of the U.S. is dependent on government largess to some extent, or they are the benefactors of government subsidies or anti-discrimination laws. The welfare/regulatory state is a tool of self-liquidation. I'm willing to bet a detailed economic study of Rome would show the same thing; Roman politicians created a society where the productive were systematically plundered and a parasitical class benefited from it. America has reached that same point.

Detroit is so telling. The same is true for every black inner city in America. They all vote Left no matter how bad things get. I also think that there is an envy component to this as well. If you are at the bottom of the economic latter and you have no hope of getting out because you won't or just don't know how to work yourself out of poverty then you must end up hating those better off than you. Most of those people are white which also helps to explain the massive racism seen amongst blacks. Its a vicious cycle.

Part of the reason why I wishfully, wrongly thought BO would lose is I couldn't comprehend that those worse off under his regime would vote for more of the same. But they do. The worse off that they are - the more they want him. It's becoming increasingly easier for Democrats to win elections. Their incompetence is rewarded at the polls.

Worst City in America Votes 98 Percent for Obama

“20 percent of Detroit is on food stamps. Its violent crime rate is 5 times the national average and it’s rated as America’s Most Dangerous City.

40 percent of Detroit residents want to leave the city. Home prices have fallen 54 percent in the last 3 years. And Detroit has the highest poverty rate in the nation.

So guess who Detroit voted for by 98 percent? Obama, naturally. Because when you’re already living in a hellhole, your prime motivation is to drag the rest of the country in with you.”

[..]

“Detroit is the perfect Obamaville. You might even say that Detroit is the future of Obama’s America.”

In the comments, from the article’s author; “”Amused” is one of our token liberals. It's important to have someone like that around to remind us of the kind of mind we're up against.”

Marcus is right. Blacks and Hispanics by an overwhelming degree DO NOT SHARE THE VALUES THAT MADE AMERICA PROSPEROUS. But essentially no Objectivists want to admit this. Look, the reality is that the Republicans may NEVER win another election because of non-white immigration. The Left knows this (they are openly bragging about it). Yet Objectivists still go on about the Republicans being anti-immigration bigots. Check out that idiot Diana Hsieh's blog post today. She thinks that the people who voted for Obama did so because of his "better" positions; ie abortion, gay marriage, immigration. (Does anyone here actually believe this?)

Allen West is a fine man and probably would make a good President. And he gets the evil of Islam. Who knows? Maybe he could be a start in the right direction. Also, a black man is not subject to the same type of restraints that a white man is. West would be able to criticize Islam and minorities the way a Romney couldn't. Now that isn't right but that is the way our society is. White males are not allowed a sense of strength or pride. Leftism's first order of business is to demoralize white, heterosexual males. That mainstream O'ism doesn't get this makes me want to spit.

But who will the Democratic candidate in 2016 be (assuming there are elections then)? Hillary? After electing a black man, who will the left push on us next? Believe it or not, I am hearing the name Elizabeth Warren. America may or may not survive a black Marxist but it will not survive a female Marxist. Even now, with the Filth as President, I don't consider the US to be "America" any longer. The America of George Washington is dead.

Linz wrote:

"well, as with Moeller accusing me of dishonesty, our personal friendship is over."

As I stated earlier, I retracted my statements that Linz's misrepresentation was purposeful. I conceded that it may simply have been a careless restatement of my position. But a misrepresentation is still a misrepresentation. I will call out anybody for wrongly stating my position, and correct it. No exceptions.

Michael

Not Black.

"Anyway if Doug says the foundations were flawed too, it does not mean they were the same flaws."

"End of Empire" is not the same as the destruction of the foundations of it.

It was end of western Empire because the Roman Caeser was no longer in charge, not because Rome was destroyed physically or culturally.

That the eastern Empire ended in 1453 is almost as arbitrary.

It was sacked by the Arabs and the Crusaders long before Constantinople fell to the Turks.

The foundations of Western Rome...

...were Pagan, not Christian.

Duh.

That is what I said! You are claiming to support Doug who claimed the flaw was in the likened flawed foundations of the societies of both Rome and the US. You said you thought this flaw was to do with Christianity. I said that Rome's foundations were not Christian.

Now you say this too and contradict yourself.

Sorry, Marcus. The discussion is over for me. I don't follow you. The flaw in this discussion is in logic! Roman, American and Greek!

I am off to bed!

From Wikipedia:

"Beginning in the late 4th century, the Empire began to disintegrate as barbarians from the north overwhelmed the control of Christian Rome. Most chronologies place the end of the Western empire in 476, when Romulus Augustus was forced to abdicate to the Germanic warlord Odoacer. The empire in the East—known today as the Byzantine Empire, but referred to in its time as the "Roman Empire" or by various other names—ended in 1453 with the death of Constantine XI and the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks."

NOTE:

Alaric I (Gothic: Alareiks; 370 – 410) was the King of the Visigoths from 395–410.

During Rome's golden age it was Pagan and allowed freedom of religion.

You're mad. During Rome's golden age Christians were inter alia burned and used as lighting for Nero's garden.

...were Pagan, not Christian.

However the foundations of the new Empire under Constantine with Constantinople and Rome united were definitely Christian.

During Rome's golden age it was Pagan and allowed freedom of religion.

Nearly every Ceaser was assassinated during the golden age too. So why do you dwell on that subject?

Anyway if Doug says the foundations were flawed too, it does not mean they were the same flaws. The flaws of Western Rome lay in dictatorship most likely - the same dictatorship that eventually imposed Christianity by law on the entire population.

Nero and his successors killed the Christians in droves! Peter and Paul (who brought Christianity to Rome) were both killed by Nero. Paul was hung upside down on a cross. Many of his Christian followers were slaughtered like animals. It was the escape from this kind of brutal persecution that actually helped Christianity to spread further in to Europe.

I think by flawed Doug is alluding to Christianity.
Rome's foundations were certainly not Christian!

I think you might be confusing the Roman Empire with the Roman Catholic Church, perhaps.

I think that this is what he will be remembered for too.

I am told that most doctors and nurses universally agree that medical care should properly be available for all including the less able people who have small incomes and little cash to spare over the necessities so that they do not plan for the future and take out medical insurance.

I understand the libertarian position but my understanding also is that the medical policies of a libertarian society require the reduced/nil taxation in order to enable all people to have sufficient funds for them to pay for immediate necessities as well as the currently not needed insurance policies (so out of mind for the short sighted) for their medical care.

Is that correct?

...I think by flawed Doug is alluding to Christianity.

It was Christians, not Pagans, who destroyed The Roman Empire from within.

The Roman state itself purged the intellectuals and freedoms it once had from their midst in a fit of Christian zealotry. Invading forces just took advantage of that weakness. However Islam rotted the strength of the Muslims too. They were already in decline before they were driven out of Europe.

European Christians gained power only once they renounced the dark age thinking they inherited from the Roman Christians.

The first black President ... will never be forgotten.

The first black President will be remembered for being black.

This is what Doug said:
The Republicans are completely ineffectual. America is really without defense in the war against the Left and Islam. This is really just like Rome. The society was built on flawed foundations and it just has to collapse from its own internal flaws.

By analogy to the US, I read it as follows:

The Roman Ceasars are completely ineffectual. Rome is really without defense in the war against the Visigoths and Islam. ...[That is probably true!]

But this: The society was built on flawed foundations and it just has to collapse from its own internal flaws.

I am saying the society was not built on flawed foundations. Like the US, it had very good foundations. It was the result of the last five Roman emperors - from Nero onwards - weak, despots who ruled savagely and brutally that made the Roman Emperors in the West ineffectual for they lost the respect of their Roman subjects who rose up and killed them! Similarly, weak, despotic rule from above led to poor treatment in the outlying regions of the Western Roman Empire so that these subjects rose up also. This could not be said of the US Presidents!

The fact that the Visigoths assumed the place of the Roman officials doesn't add to your case. The Western part of the Roman Empire was already conquered!

That Justinian in the East then united the West and Eastern Empires again for a time under his rule, is neither here nor there according to Doug's analogy as I see it.

Then the Dark Ages. Then the rise of Islam and its conquering of the West until the very strong conquering Islamic armies met the very much smaller forces of Charles Martel (who was the grandfather of Charlemagne, did you know?) and who fought and defended the West from Islam, using peasant farmers who sacrificed their ploughs to make swords. All of this was possible only from the funding by the Christian monastries and churches (NT Christians employing righteousness and strength over their also righteous desire for peace - this, again, contrary to Doug's earlier proclamation I declared bs) and preserved the West from what would otherwise have been Islamic rule.

...will never be forgotten.

He is already being called historic for introducing Obamacare.

I do hope you're drowning your sorrows with something good.

Obama is a nobody. He'll be gone in four more years, and forgotten in five.

...I've just read Rome was healthy under Visigoth rule. The Visigoth rulers took Roman titles (bestowed from the Roman Ceaser) and did not impose their beliefs on the populace. The senate was still running and so was the Roman bureaucracy and tax collecting. The population remained healthy.

It was only after the brutal invasion by Justinian did the city become ruined and deserted.

Rome was actually sacked and destroyed by the Roman Christians from the eastern Empire.

Eventually. But Alaric weakened the Roman Emperor and the Roman control over the Western part of the Roman Empire so that the Goths and the Barbarians were no longer subjected to Roman rule. This was the beginning of the Dark Ages.

Justinian , the Emperor in the East, Constantinople (now a Christian post of the Roman Empire following the conversion of Constantine), sought to unite the now weakened, and overtaken by the Goths, Western Roman Empire with his and it was this comeback by Justinian to reclaim the Western part of the Roman Empire (which he did) to recreate and reunite the East and Western parts of the Roman Empire that forced him to take over the sacked and weakened Rome.

Doug is not correct at all - in my humble opinion anyway! Not about the fall of Rome being like the US anyway. I do agree with him that the US is probably on the way out from being the once great civilisation it was, though.

I am more interested in, and curious about, Linz's prediction about a catastrophe before 2016 and why he thinks this. (If he is up to explaining his rationale for this at some stage.)

...Rome did not collapse with the invasion of the Chrisitian Visigoths. In fact everything continued on much as before.

Rome was actually sacked and destroyed by the Roman Christians from the eastern Empire.

So in a way, Doug is quite correct.

This is really just like Rome. The society was built on flawed foundations and it just has to collapse from its own internal flaws.

Rome did not collapse because of its flawed foundations. Its foundations were very good. It collapsed because the last five emperors were despots, (killed by their own subjects in the end), the Romans treated the Visigoths poorly so that the Visigoths rose up under Alaric , surrounded Rome, starved them of all food supplies for two years and then invaded them.

Today's Republicans are NT Christian Conservatives and thus are totally undercut by NT altruism. They can not and will not challenge anything with righteousness and strength. The NT kills that.

That last sentence, in boldface, as an explanation for the preceding sentence, also in boldface, is utter bs.

...I know you better than that.

Please accept my apologies.

Marcus, please don't presume to lecture me about Gramsci, of whom you hadn't heard before I drew him to your attention. And please read what I actually said. Not that the next Rep candidate should be a black man for the sake of having a black man, but that I hoped that it would be one man in particular who is, as it happens, black: Allen West. And if you are now accusing me of pandering to anyone's racist values .. well, as with Moeller accusing me of dishonesty, our personal friendship is over.

...is the Republican house majority and the fiscal cliff.

Will the US now fall off or be pushed?

...Linz, you are already ensnared by Gramsci.

If only white men and women were voting Romney would have won by a landslide.

It was the black/Hispanic vote that won it for Obama by 70-90%. They overwhelmingly do not share US values with the majority of white voters.

By saying the next Republican should have black skin as the chief concern you are pandering to their racist values.

Black or white it wouldn't matter though. They will still reject your candidate next time around.

as far as the Republicans are concerned: they did it with Bush Snr in 1988 (Reagan's biggest mistake); they did it with Dole in 1996; they did it with McCain in 2008—and, unbelievably, they did it again with Romney in 2012. Ran with KASSless wimps. When the hell will they ever learn??!!

See my comment below. I don't think they can learn given their NT Christian foundation. Larry Auster would challenge the Left with KASSNESS. But he would also put gays back in the closet and reinstate patriarchy, segregation, public Christianity, and the Victorian era ethos. Not the way O'ists want to fight the Left.

The Republicans are completely ineffectual. America is really without defense in the war against the Left and Islam. This is really just like Rome. The society was built on flawed foundations and it just has to collapse from its own internal flaws. Another great civilization going down the path of self-liquidation. Tragic.

If a strong Republican were to come forward and denounce the welfare state, he would be committing political suicide.

Which means that the welfare state can't be challenged at this point in history. Altruism just can't be challenged. It IS the dominant moral code and no one yet can defy it.

More can be said though. The Left packages both altruism and egalitarianism. The Conservatives are not really egalitarians. But they are altruists. Thus they know on some level that the welfare / regulatory state is wrong but they just can't go against altruism.

But there is an even deeper level. Today's Conservatives are what I call "New Testament Christians". They stress the Christ and St. Paul self-sacrifice and self-immolation elements of Christianity. They are not "Old Testament Christians" that would stress the anger and wrath of Mosaic Judaism. Today's Republicans are NT Christian Conservatives and thus are totally undercut by NT altruism. They can not and will not challenge anything with righteousness and strength. The NT kills that. The OT supplies it but in an irrational and unhealthy way. Its religion after all.

Can Rand become a major influence on the Right before the collapse. I don't think so. This whole thing is like watching a slow motion train wreck. And there is nothing we can do to stop it.

The Republicans today are experiencing the same problem the Social Democrats experienced in the Weimar Republic.

When the Communists and Nationalist students were rioting and demanding state appropriation of private property, the Social Democrats (the incumbent party at the time) could not denounce their behavior since the rioting students were acting out the Social Democrats' basic premises.

Today's Republicans can't denounce the Left as evil because they share the same ethical code. So the Left will prevail while the Republicans scream that they can manage the welfare state much better than the Left.

The unchallenged assumption will forever be that the welfare state is good.

If a strong Republican were to come forward and denounce the welfare state, he would be committing political suicide.

The Left will win.

If you have something remotely serious to add to this thread, feel free. Otherwise, please try not to indulge your compulsive urge to trivialise and deflect with your pomo-fatuities.

... as far as the Republicans are concerned: they did it with Bush Snr in 1988 (Reagan's biggest mistake); they did it with Dole in 1996; they did it with McCain in 2008—and, unbelievably, they did it again with Romney in 2012. Ran with KASSless wimps. When the hell will they ever learn??!!

I'm surrounded by drones.

Fuck. Not even O'ists are KASS these days (with SOLO excepted). The whole fucking culture is KASSLESS. A culture just can not survive like that.

And it won't. When the good guys lose the fire in their belly, they cease to be good guys, and deserve what the bad guys whom they appease visit upon them. It will all happen soon enough.

But it assumes the Left proceed in good faith, and will respond in good faith to such unimpeachable arguments; it's an extension of ARI/Peikoff's fixation on the flaws/evils of conservatism.

I agree and to me that is a MAJOR flaw. It means that the major Objectivist organizations are not accurately looking at the world in which they live. To save America you need to destroy the Left and name the Left as evil. By not doing this, you pretend that the Left is acting in good faith. Rand would NEVER have allowed that. This is why I get so angry at mainstream Objectivism. To me, they seem incredibly weak and ineffectual.

But we must call Goblianity, etc., what it is too

Yes. I know. And that is where things get complicated because the best, most honorable people in America right now are religious. I don't have an answer for how best to proceed with that but I just want to see some goddamn mainstream O'ist organization explicitly call the Left evil (and call Islam evil too while they are at it).

Fuck. Not even O'ists are KASS these days (with SOLO excepted). The whole fucking culture is KASSLESS. A culture just can not survive like that.

Colorado becomes first U.S. state to legalize recreational marijuana

Washington Measure 502: Marijuana legalization passes

Ghate's article is exemplary, as far as it goes. But it assumes the Left proceed in good faith, and will respond in good faith to such unimpeachable arguments; it's an extension of ARI/Peikoff's fixation on the flaws/evils of conservatism. The contemporary Left are unprecedentedly vicious. Obamarx is their perfect poster boy. His campaign accused Romney of murder, FFS! As you have noted, Doug, evil is etched into his face. Neither ARI nor TAS can bring themselves to call The Filth and its ideology what it is. But we must call Goblianity, etc., what it is too, Doug: as much the epitome of unreason as socialism. The answer to socialism and airheadery is not Goblian-based apartheid.

Please don't forget who stands 2nd in line....JOE BIDEN!!

Just thought I would end the night with a truly scary thought.

Michael

There will be a catastrophe of some kind—whose proximate cause is Obafilth, but whose ultimate cause is the Gramscification of which I've written— before then that will seriously disrupt the usual course of things.

Wow. I really want you to be wrong. No one wants to live through a catastrophe. But you may very well be right.

No more Brandroid KASSlessness. Didn't do Romney much good, did it?!

No. It sure didn't. The Republicans are still playing by the rules of the old Anglo ethos of civil decency. The Left is vicious and Machiavellian.

BTW, what do you think of the ARI's attempt to appeal to liberals?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...

Who do they think they are dealing with?

Oh well, who is going to be the next Republican wimp in 2016?

My view is that there won't be a 2016. There will be a catastrophe of some kind—whose proximate cause is Obafilth, but whose ultimate cause is the Gramscification of which I've written— before then that will seriously disrupt the usual course of things. If there *is* a 2016 election, I hope that the Republican candidate will be a black man. West. Allen West.

Over and above that, Objectivists in particular must stop pussy-footing and go for broke. No prisoners. No more Brandroid KASSlessness. Didn't do Romney much good, did it?!

"An upside? ... There's more chance that capitalism won't be blamed for America's next four years of stagnation and further sinking into tyranny. It's earlier than we (wishfully) thought. Decades too early. It's looking Dim."

I had considered this too, but then I remembered how twisted the idea of Capitalism has become within the minds of the populace.

They'll be at the bottom of the pit and still blame Capitalism.

We needed a cultural revolution; it never happened on a grand scale. Hopefully, this isn't the end of America.

There's my "hope" post for the day.

Kyle:

You were more hopeful then.

That must have been on a Monday morning. Monday mornings I'm optimistic.

There's more chance that capitalism won't be blamed for America's next four years of stagnation and further sinking into tyranny. It's earlier than we (wishfully) thought. Decades too early. It's looking Dim.

Do the Republicans have the guts to try to impeach a black President? Especially with the media protecting him? The same Republicans that wouldn't even make an issue of Benghazi?

Oh well, who is going to be the next Republican wimp in 2016?

"Once re-elected ... The Filth will eventually be impeached over Benghazigate. It'll be a repeat of Watergate, which broke well before the 1972 election but didn't kick in till after it. The only issue for TF will be whether to fight impeachment or resign, as Nixon did. Of course, this is assuming economic catastrophe doesn't bring him down first."

You were more hopeful then.

Your fear may just be right. Obama's reelection is a tipping point for America.

Time for a gallon of Vodka.

Michael

If this many people will still vote for Obama, after all this time. After his four years in office, his stated ideals, and his actions, policies, executive orders, is there any hope for America, in this election or future elections?

The Long-March-Through-The-Culture looks to have crossed the point of no return. And with the browning of America this is only going to get worse. The Republicans may NEVER again win a Presidential or Congressional election.

Sauron has won and darkness rules the earth.

... and that's it.

So long, America. It was glorious to know you. And I did know you in so many ways. Thank Gobby I lived when I did.

"I'm delighted to be outnumbered, but I fear it's too late. The land of the free has morphed irretrievably into Airhead America. My hope now is that The Filth will be impeached after the election because of his serial lying over Benghazigate, and the odious treachery on his part that he's been lying about. But the mere removal of The Filth won't save America. The fact that the media have conspired to let him off the hook about Benghazigate (and everything else, including the catastrophic economy) is one sign among many of America's terminal degeneracy. Another is the disgusting KASSlessness and anaemic smallness of Romney's campaign. It became blandified pretty much as soon as he won the nomination. Pathetic. Oh, and there's that pesky philosophy business as well."

I don't think TF will be impeached. I'm hoping he will be. He certainly ought to be. But America is now unrecognisable.

Linz thinks he will be impeached.

I think today's America is different from 1970's America.

In today's America, Obama is revered by the majority of people and most media outlets.

That is why I think Obama will get away it, mostly unscathed.

Do we start playing "taps" for America?

Kyle I agree, one can only console himself that sooner or later reality has a way of rearing it's ugly head to those that choose to ignore it.  Who knows maybe he will be impeached over Benghazi, but I doubt it.  

And appear to be winning all the close races -- adding two Marxists into the fold with Warren and Baldwin.

Going from bad to worse.

Michael

Now Scott Brown has been unseated in the Senate by the fetid Elisabeth Warren.

And The Filth has won New Hampshire. So much for "live free or die."

We didn't bet. This is going south quickly.

Michael

...I'm going to echo Fred here.

If this many people will still vote for Obama, after all this time. After his four years in office, his stated ideals, and his actions, policies, executive orders, is there any hope for America, in this election or future elections?

Hope, huh, that's ironic.

... $5000 or $10000 we bet on the outcome?

Oh man, my hopes are dwindling.

Michael

I hold you personally responsible, Moeller.

Where is Dick Morris's landslide?

Was always uphill. Romney should have campaigned there earlier if he wanted a real shot. They ignored it for too long.

My upset will be Wisconsin for Romney.

Michael

... for The Filth, after all the talk that it might swing. I blame you, Moeller.

Tough one to win for Romney.

It looks like both sides are saying Florida is going for Romney.

Michael

This does look like it is going to be a tight one.

Michael

Romney looks like is going to take Fla and Va from some early signs (like quickly catching up to Obama in Obama's early vote edge in Fla). From what I am seeing and reading, Cuyahoga county in Ohio (i.e. Cleveland) is off by a lot, something like 170K votes, and he beat McCain by 260K votes. That's big trouble for Obama in Ohio.

If Romney goes 1-2-3 in Fla, VA, and Ohio, Obama is finished. We'll see as the votes roll in.

Forget the exit polls, they are worthless. Think 2004 when the exit polls had Kerry up by 5.

Michael

... the look of it at all at this point. Exit polls showing airheads preponderating, dribbling over The Filth's bedside manner during the hurricane. O'Reilly channeling Doug, saying the demographic has changed and the US has morphed into western Europe. Are you there Moeller?!

THIS is why you need to go to the voting booth.

White males are basically all that is standing between what's left of our freedoms and total Leftist rule; ie some version of socialist tyranny. Christians also play a role in standing between the Left and tyranny.

It would be nice if at least one other Objectivist took note of that fact.

Why vote? Because the ballot contains more than ~JUST~ a president column. That's assuming that you and your cohorts are correct in asserting that shellacking Obama in popular vote as well as the electoral college has no value.

(It does, not only do you need a margin of victory to exceed the level of voter-fraud, Obama's policies and his despicable allies in the media need to be embarrassingly repudiated.)

So even if you don't want to partake in the presidential contest, here is what you are voting for on Missouri ballots.

U.S. President
U.S. Senate (1 seat)
U.S. House (8 seats)
State Executives (5 positions)
State Senate (17 seats)
State House (163 seats)
Ballot measures (5 measures)

And depending on the local county and city election cycles you could also be voting for your local sheriffs, judges, prosecutors, education officials, city politicians, and city officials.

THIS is why you need to go to the voting booth.

Now take your fact-free, moronic 'don't bother' declarations and just fucking fuck the fuck off.

...columnist. OK, she is originally from America but that makes her prediction even more plausable.

Time for me to get off the fence. I believe Mitt Romney will win tonight – and this is why

"Time to stop being a wuss. I will take my chances and say it straight out: I think Romney is going to win – not just the popular vote but the electoral college as well. Why do I believe this? Not just because I am persuaded by one set of statistical analysts as opposed to another, although Michael Barone is the psephologist whom I would trust with my electoral life if I were a candidate – and he is predicting a comfortable win for Romney. And it is worth making clear that disagreeing with the state polls is not simply a species of Republican wishful thinking. Most of the major polling organisations are over-sampling Democrats deliberately in states where they believe that this corresponds to actual voter numbers. But the assumptions on which the over-representation of Democrats are based may be out of date, or false for more subtle reasons which I will proceed to elaborate.

So no, it isn’t just arcane number-crunching that leads me to the conclusion that hardly dares to speak its name. It is something far more indefinable: something which those of us who have been engaged with politics for half a century or so are inclined to trust. As that brilliantly perceptive commentator Peggy Noonan has said, Obama’s campaign does not look or feel like it is winning – and Mitt Romney’s does. The turnouts and atmosphere at Obama events are rather pitiful by comparison to the tremendous, ecstatic receptions that are greeting Romney and they are notably pitiful by comparison to the thunderous Obama pre-victory march across the country in 2008. He and his surrogates (even the still hugely popular Bill Clinton) have often played to half-empty venues. It seems that only by offering a free pop concert with A-listers like Bruce Springsteen, or a Hollywood celebrity fest, can the President pull really large crowds. And those crowds, if my television screen is to be believed, consist overwhelmingly of kids who scream for Springsteen and the rap artist Jay-Z as enthusiastically as they do for the President."

...is saying Obama has an advantage.

That's a bad Omen.

...are calling it for Obama already.

... on Greta right now saying: Romney landslide, including taking the Senate.

It is going to be an uphill battle, but retaking the Senate is an absolute necessity to get Obamacare repealed.

Game on.

Michael

To the citizens of the United States of America from Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

In light of your failure in recent years to nominate competent candidates for President of the USA and thus to govern yourselves, we hereby give notice of the revocation of your independence, effective immediately.

(You should look up 'revocation' in the Oxford English Dictionary.)

Her Sovereign Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will resume monarchical duties over all states, commonwealths, and territories ...

Your new Prime Minister, David Cameron, will appoint a Governor for America without the need for further elections.

Congress and the Senate will be disbanded. A questionnaire may be circulated next year to determine whether any of you noticed.

Look at a red-blue map by county based on their voting. It is rather stark to see the cloistered enclaves of the left.

Rand knew this even in her time; ie "the intellectuals vs the common man". Its a shame though that its "god and guns" vs "unions and the state". But that's our rationalist/empiricist split that we have in the West. Science and reason on the side of egalitarianism and collectivism, and faith and traditions on the side of a "well ordered liberty" (the Conservative favorite expression). Such a shitty false alternative.

If only Rand's third alternative were more popular.

Why drive out to your polling place and stand in line for half an hour or more - when your vote isn't very likely to singlehandedly determine the Presidency - and then vote for someone you don't even want?

Stop Voting For Nincompoops

"The leaders are lizards.  The people hate the lizards and the lizards rule the people."

"Odd," said Arthur, "I thought you said it was a democracy."

"I did," said Ford, "It is."

"So," said Arthur, hoping he wasn't sounding ridiculously obtuse, "why don't the people get rid of the lizards?"

"It honestly doesn't occur to them," said Ford. "They've all got the vote, so they all pretty much assume that the government they've voted in more or less approximates to the government they want."

"You mean they actually vote for the lizards?"

"Oh yes," said Ford with a shrug, "of course."

"But," said Arthur, going for the big one again, "why?"

"Because if they didn't vote for a lizard," said Ford, "the wrong lizard might get in. Got any gin?"

The suburbs, at least in the US, generally trend to the right.

Michael

...would be that on the farms they believe in God and Guns whereas in the cities it is unions and the state which are most important.

All coalesce in the big cities.

Look at a red-blue map by county based on their voting. It is rather stark to see the cloistered enclaves of the left.

Michael

Just contrast the staunchly left-wing NY or LA versus the republican ranch lands of Texas.

In every country around the world you see the same trend.

The Left captured the universities. Educated people become Leftists at an alarming rate (especially women). Gramsci's "long march" has basically been completed.

...BBC Newsnight is giving Obama an 80% probability of winning based on the latest state polling.

...good to hear that.

Looking at polling figures state by state it's always an interesting puzzle to me why densely populated cities tend to be liberal, whereas more low density rural areas vote conservative.

Just contrast the staunchly left-wing NY or LA versus the republican ranch lands of Texas.

In every country around the world you see the same trend.

The traditionally rural based south of England is Tory heartland, whereas the industrial northern cities are solidly Labour. Same trend in NZ. The same trend wherever I look in the western world.

... is standing by his prediction of a Romney romp-in, on Megyn this morning (Tues morning in NZ, early Mon evening in the USSA). We have to hope that Filth-supporting filth stay away in droves.

I suppose we can at least be grateful to Governor Romney for quantifying "Airhead America"—47%!

Gallup and Rasmussen actually have Romney up slightly. Some of these polls have huge sampling problems.

I think the mood is pretty good for Romney. He's drawing enormous crowds everywhere he goes, Obama not so much.

The big issue is the state of the economy, which is not good. In 2008, Obama could hide behind the empty rhetoric of HopenChange. Not this time, he has a record, which is why he has slunk away from HopeyChangey rhetoric and primarily focused on character assassination. Obama has nothing to offer, and everybody knows it. I think this is why Romney leads those deciding on economic issues, and leads independents. Personally, I think that is the bigger metric than any given poll.

We'll see if America has enough left in her to throw the Marxist bum out.

Michael

...I am reading the polls as reported by the media and they all put Obama slightly ahead or tied with Romney.

So what is the mood in the US? Does it feel like people want change?

Benghazi-gate vs. Valerie Plame

http://directorblue.blogspot.c...

The Left is evil.

... folks have been conducting polls.

There is only one poll that means anything at all, and it is being conducted tomorrow.

The polls inform us of exactly one thing; their uncertainty in predicting reality is greater than their spread.

The bottom line from all these polls is no more than "We don't know who is going to win the election."

Which in itself is remarkable; why is this race even close? That by itself is an indictment of what America has become.