Wells Hall Off Topic Board

Ron Paul already has said he is not running third party.

I'm a little worried. My gut feeling, though, is that Obama is going to win. Two of the happiest moments of my life were when Clinton and when Obama got elected. Neither rates up there with the birth of a child, but losing would be a definite drag. The country has moved further and further to the right for the last 30 years, and any little break on that shift is a cause for celebration.

P.S.: Today, I went to the Washington Times website to read the op-ed from Terrible Teddy Nugent on Obamacare (says, in some ways, it shows that the country might have been better off if the South had won the Civil War). Saw an editorial titled something like "The U.N. Is Coming to Take Your Guns!" It sounded so much like an Onion spoof of a right-wing editorial that I had to click on it. I read it and then a bunch of the reader responses to the editorial. Wow! Quite an eye opener. A significant portion of the right in this county has gone so frothing-at-the-mouth berzerker that it just really has to give you pause.

A few years ago, I met someone who had worked for Nader and had nothing but bad things to say about him. Which is too bad, because Nader seemed to have some good ideas.

Nugent knows crazy and angry sell very well.

I'm not worried. I think President Obama will be re-elected and continue his pragmatic, centrist course. If Romney wins, who knows what he'll do? He's been on both sides of many issues. About the only certain thing is another big tax cut for the wealthy and fewer restrictions for Wall Street - but only if the Republicans hold the House and take the Senate.

Personally, I'll be fine no matter who wins. And if it's Romney, I'll enjoy making fun of him for four years.

I'm really not worried about that happening.

"Worried?" Not particularly. On the important stuff, a Romney presidency wouldn't be all that different from a 2nd term for Obama.

The rhetoric would change, but other than that all it would mean is the Health Care debate gets dragged out another few years and the GOP takes their turn at packaging a huge handout to insurance companies as "health care reform."

If he was running against someone with a pulse I'd expect him to lose.

Not very.

Romney's biggest "weapon" is criticizing "Obamacare". Of course we know it's largely based on the Mass plan he endorsed. He could criticize the economy and unemployment, but his record is of layoffs and sending jobs overseas. He's flip flopped on nearly issue possible. He's creeping toward the radical right.

There's some truth to this, but only some truth. The differences between the two parties are blurred, in part, by the rules of the game itself (e.g., lobbying, campaign financing, etc.).

The rules are much more likely to be changed for the better by Dems than by GOPers. The Dems have ALWAYS been more willing to try to get money out of politics than the GOPers, and as union membership continues to decline, they won't even have that corner of their power base muddling their efforts.

You say they will be virtually identical on "the important stuff." Apparently, you don't consider tax policy, Supreme Court nominations, privatization of government functions, or foreign policy (relative hawkishness of), to be important.

This sums up my feelings. Unless Romney really has moved far to the right, he'll do fine as Prez. So I'm not "worried" about this election.

But as of now I'm 70% sure that Obama wins another 4 years. According to RCP, he's leading is just about every swing state, including PA, FL, MI and OH.

the thing is he'll be forced to move far to the right. He'll have a far right veep nominee, probably a far right House and pack his cabinet with far right folks like Paul Ryan. Tax breaks for the wealthy, further deregulation of Wall Street, huge cuts to social programs and attacks on family planning is what he'll be forced into by his contributors, er investors.