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What have you learned about politics? [Archive] - RonFez.net Messageboard

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epo
12-09-2007, 05:25 PM
Politics is an interesting art. Patterns emerge and generally repeat themselves, yet innovations happen everyday. Campaigns are run in every conceivable way possible. New ideas are created and old ideas are recycled.

If you are in this forum you clearly have a little bit of the political junkie in you and probably have a bit of political history knowledge. I've been thinking about this question (and in a non-partisan manner) about what I've figured out about the process. So I ask you to name something you have learned, describe it and if possible give an example. So I give you my first example:

A candidate whose leading attribute is that they are "electable", will generally lose an election.

Instead of standing for a coherent platform, the electable candidate's platform has the feel of being manufactured as being about this "electability". A majority of the time this candidate will running against an unpopular incumbent & yet does not do a satisfactory defining how they are different, because their platform is inherently about better.

Example: John Kerry, 2004 vs. Bush.

Now what's your example?

IMSlacker
12-09-2007, 05:40 PM
I've lived here 10 years now and in the last two presidential primaries, everything had been decided before it was Texas' turn to vote. I went ahead and voted anyway, but it seemed like a waste of time. I also voted for Gore and Kerry in the general elections, so those votes didn't count either.

edit: Oh, and my congresswoman, Sheila Jackson Lee, has run unopposed in each of the four congressional primaries I've voted in.

scottinnj
12-10-2007, 04:03 PM
This may date me, but I'm one of the ones who voted for Ross Perot. My lesson is that voting third party against your party's candidate "on principle" is just a vote for the other side.


Another example of this....Voting for Ralph Nader in 2004 instead of Kerry.

Soupy_Dreck
12-11-2007, 07:44 AM
i've learned that one thing can derail a campaign.

example:

the howard dean 'yeeeaaaah' sunk him

radio psychic:

mike huckabee's record on pardoning and commuting sentences will seriously damage his candidacy and another bombshell will sink it

DarkHippie
12-11-2007, 07:54 AM
Nothing sinks a campaign faster than honesty.

and the politics of one administration creates the opposite attitude of the next generation

cupcakelove
12-11-2007, 08:13 AM
Everybody lies.

King Hippos Bandaid
12-11-2007, 08:19 AM
not to post in political threads, everybody thinks they are right

cupcakelove
12-11-2007, 08:20 AM
not to post in political threads, everybody thinks they are right

You know don't know what you're talking about!! You couldn't be more wrong!!!!

reillyluck
12-11-2007, 08:33 AM
Everybody lies.

youre lying.

King Hippos Bandaid
12-11-2007, 08:35 AM
You know don't know what you're talking about!! You couldn't be more wrong!!!!


everybody lies, you are apart of everybody. how can i believe you

thejives
12-11-2007, 09:01 AM
two

In general, the candidate who has raised the most money will win. I can't think of a presidential where the loser outmonied the winner. It happens all the time in gubernatorial and congressional races, though.

and

Pundits know nothing.

Soupy_Dreck
12-11-2007, 09:57 AM
the mclaughlin group is always wrong...

DolaMight
12-11-2007, 10:10 AM
politics are the art of the possible.

Yerdaddy
12-11-2007, 05:48 PM
Democracies are like battered women - you may not get the man you deserve, but you always get the one you ask for.

led37zep
12-11-2007, 06:16 PM
Democracies are like battered women - you may not get the man you deserve, but you always get the one you ask for.


Holy shit...this was your shortest post ever!

Yerdaddy
12-11-2007, 08:52 PM
Holy shit...this was your shortest post ever!

Yep.

CofyCrakCocaine
12-11-2007, 09:00 PM
I've learned that rationality doesn't matter in politics as much as it should and that people stop listening when examples are mentioned.

jauble
12-11-2007, 09:08 PM
The one thing I have learned about politics is that it is everywhere no matter how far you want to distance yourself it is still there for things as small as why one person goes before another for something stupid.

PapaBear
12-11-2007, 09:13 PM
I learned that politicians are cool with stopping unwanted phone calls to my house during dinner. Unless, of course, those calls come from politicians.

led37zep
12-11-2007, 09:23 PM
Yep.
Show off.

CofyCrakCocaine
12-12-2007, 06:17 PM
I learned that everyone has at least a little sand in their vagina.

pennington
12-12-2007, 09:38 PM
I learned people vote for STUPID reasons. Two examples from the 90's:

1) A woman who worked for me voted for David Dinkins because, and I quote, "It would be nice to have a black mayor".

2) Another woman I worked with voted for Bill Clinton over the first George Bush because, and again I quote, "Bill Clinton is a much better looking man than George Bush".

scottinnj
12-12-2007, 09:46 PM
I learned people vote for STUPID reasons. Two examples from the 90's:

1) A woman who worked for me voted for David Dinkins because, and I quote, "It would be nice to have a black mayor".

2) Another woman I worked with voted for Bill Clinton over the first George Bush because, and again I quote, "Bill Clinton is a much better looking man than George Bush".

Hey, that's what you get for equal suffrage rights. :innocent:

epo
12-14-2007, 01:47 PM
At a different time in this nation the term "state's rights" had great meaning as our nation learned how to work together. Now it's simply:

Any politician who uses the term "State's Rights" is simply trying to show support to a grossly bigoted or unpopular stance.

Strom Thurmond as a Dixiecrat was most famous for pushing it as a means to keep segregation alive. And today it has simply evolved into a means to an end: Tell the people in the minority or the wrong that you are "with them" without needing to spell it out & risking political hazard.

Example: Dick Cheney explaining his stance on a same-sex marriage ban in 2004.

epo
09-19-2008, 04:47 PM
When a politician begins an advertisement with their "I'm me and I approve this message"...it's going to be a negative ad.

The reason a politician would do this is to try to dis-associate themselves with the nasty shit they are about to say, while still complying with election laws.

Example: Here are ads from both Senators Obama and McCain.

Obama: Ad about McCain advisors (http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1185304443/bctid1803307744)

McCain: Ad about Obama economics (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYI0mHWQeD8)

GreatAmericanZero
09-19-2008, 04:49 PM
whoever i like always loses

scottinnj
09-19-2008, 05:20 PM
I have learned that closer we get to a national election the media will go and actively look for the loonies.

FOR EXAMPLE (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080919/ap_on_el_st_lo/prosecuting_bush_2)

Dennett, 61, the Progressive Party's candidate for Vermont Attorney General, said Thursday she will prosecute President Bush for murder if she's elected Nov. 4.

A.J.
09-20-2008, 08:55 AM
It was an easy thing in which to major....not like those engineers and architects I went to college with.

keithy_19
09-20-2008, 12:49 PM
Don't trust whitey.

cougarjake13
09-20-2008, 05:08 PM
that the real issues dont matter

its just about who can out slug the other guy and make promises they know they cant keep

CousinDave
09-21-2008, 09:31 PM
you can make a lot of money off of rubes by offering them a false sense of hope.

cash in while there is still time.

badmonkey
09-22-2008, 10:51 AM
I learned people vote for STUPID reasons. Two examples from the 90's:

1) A woman who worked for me voted for David Dinkins because, and I quote, "It would be nice to have a black mayor".

Lather, rinse, substitute President for mayor and repeat.