Yes, let's turn it into a game! This is fun! So much better than checkers. As long as "that one" wins, we all win, right? It doesn't matter how.

Oh, absolutely! ~crosses his fingers and hopes that white males in the world may one day have their taxes reduced on their $250,000+ businesses~

I just want 'Joe the Plumber who is not actually an accredited plumber at all and owes backtaxes'(tm) to perhaps be shown the light that is important in any caring society to actually give a little back into the community that helped you get to where you are if you're doing really well.

And if you feel that your community didn't help you at all to get there, then perhaps giving to it might allow it to do better by the current and next generations.

I don't know whether it'd really do anyone much good to go after his misspelled name, I mean it's just bureaucratic crud that isn't really central to anything, and is just furthering focusing on what's not important.

What IS important with the whole Joe thing is the mindset that once you have money it's an ok mindset to say 'f*ck off' to everyone else... I'd prefer the discussion to be on the fairness of society, not little piddly details about voter registration.

What does race have to do with it?

>> ^zombieater:
Oh, absolutely! ~crosses his fingers and hopes that white males in the world may one day have their taxes reduced on their $250,000+ businesses~

^Do we have to spell it out for you?! It's an election "race".

that's great and all, but whatever happened to Joe Sixpack? He was way cooler IMO.

>> ^blankfist:
Yes, let's turn it into a game! This is fun! So much better than checkers. As long as "that one" wins, we all win, right? It doesn't matter how.


Do you not agree that there's competition involved in an election? That there's such a thing as message discipline and spin, and that they are effective tools for winning them?

More to the point, wouldn't you rather try to divert an empty-headed media away from a meaningless distraction, and back onto issues that matter, like...voter suppression?

Do you think fighting voter suppression is something that's only tied to liberal philosophy?

You tire me out, NetRunner. I cannot imagine even trying to honor your ridiulous claims. Obama and McCain are terrible choices, so I refuse to argue that one should act one way or another because it's befitting of their party to gain a win. That's what you do. Not me.

Actually, rereading that comment it sounds harsh. When I say you tire me out, I don't mean I tire of our debates. I actually do enjoy debating you, NR. In fact, our PM debates have been some of the most fun I've had on here. You're a great debater and passionate about your party's politics. So, there. I said something nice. Don't tell anyone.

Why all the attention on this issue? He's either gonna pay 7% or 10% less taxes. Sounds like a complete non-issue to me. And he's not gonna be disenfranchised. Even if he was, it would be his own fault. As far as I know he noticed the misspelling of his name, but did not notify the proper authorities in order to fix it.

I hate to see how both candidates court this Joe guy as if he was their prom date. To me he represents part of the problem. Only concerned about his money, about politics that directly affect him now, not about any of the real issues that might possibly affect his children and his children's children. He doesn't care where his money goes either, he's only concerned that it isn't his money anymore.

>> ^blankfist:
You tire me out, NetRunner. I cannot imagine even trying to honor your ridiulous claims. Obama and McCain are terrible choices, so I refuse to argue that one should act one way or another because it's befitting of their party to gain a win. That's what you do. Not me.


>> ^blankfist:
Actually, rereading that comment it sounds harsh. When I say you tire me out, I don't mean I tire of our debates. I actually do enjoy debating you, NR. In fact, our PM debates have been some of the most fun I've had on here. You're a great debater and passionate about your party's politics. So, there. I said something nice. Don't tell anyone.


Schizophrenia gets you everywhere. A big Fuck You and a big kiss for you.

My evil plans to help protect voter's rights are too late: the Ohio SCOTUS just did that for me.

To try to pander to your lunatic 3rd party aspirations, I'll repeat some advice I've given previously: if another 3rd party or party outcast (like Paul or Kucinich) gets a money bomb like Paul did, they need to take that money and try to run a campaign that includes TV ads, on-the-ground organization, and a TV-media-interview strategy for having them legitimize you.

Part of why Democrats lost in 2000 and 2004 is because they were up against people who knew how to manipulate the media narrative to their benefit, and the Democrats didn't think that was something they either could or should do (I'm not sure which).

Times have changed. I think the Campaign for Liberty is a possible sign that Paul is realizing that too, I'll be sure if he starts working on getting a libertarian AM radio talk show running.

I also think 3rd parties should try to win some seats in the House, rather than taking futile cracks at the Presidency.

I guess the cynical lesson that's finally been driven into me through this process is that too few people care enough, or are educated enough to even have a glimpse of what policies might be beneficial or harmful -- they mostly go based on the beliefs reinforced by the media they consume.

I know you're a true believer in conservative/libertarian philosophy, but how many people out there voting for Republicans really know what that even is? Joe the Plumber^TM sure as shit doesn't. I don't even think Caribou Barbie Sarah Palin does either, and if she does she probably learned it at an Alaska Independence Party meeting.

You guys need another William F. Buckley, who's smart, and charming, and entertaining, who gets on TV and puts the right face on your philosophy. Until that happens, 3rd parties are just going to be a curiosity.

I'm cautiously optimistic that the Republican party as we've known it is about to get shattered. Lots of people are going to be looking at how to reassemble it for 2012. Now might be a good time to get organized to be ready, and get that party back to its roots. I hope Ron Paul wins, but if I had to guess right now we'll be seeing the Mike Huckabee party rise in 2012, and that won't bear any resemblance to a paleo-conservative party at all.

>> ^campionidelmondo:
Why all the attention on this issue? He's either gonna pay 7% or 10% less taxes. Sounds like a complete non-issue to me. And he's not gonna be disenfranchised. Even if he was, it would be his own fault. As far as I know he noticed the misspelling of his name, but did not notify the proper authorities in order to fix it.
I hate to see how both candidates court this Joe guy as if he was their prom date. To me he represents part of the problem. Only concerned about his money, about politics that directly affect him now, not about any of the real issues that might possibly affect his children and his children's children. He doesn't care where his money goes either, he's only concerned that it isn't his money anymore.


You're right, though I don't really think Obama or McCain are trying to cater to Joe Wurzelbacher the actual person, but to Joe the Plubmer^TM the archtypical everyman that such a name implies.

Since the media is foolishly lapping this up, thinking the archtypical everyman will make for good infotainment, I was just suggesting that we give the media a useful shiny object to segue to, since their everyman was going to get his vote challenged by the very party he's registered with.

But...my dreams of being a master media manipulator are for naught, Jennifer Brunner and the Ohio SCOTUS already did their jobs and corrected the issue.

Now the newly registered can vote, even if their names are misspelled.

>> ^burdturgler:
What does race have to do with it?
>> ^zombieater:
Oh, absolutely! ~crosses his fingers and hopes that white males in the world may one day have their taxes reduced on their $250,000+ businesses~



Eh... nothing... good point.