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[mainiac]

It's interesting that the debate over who was to credit for the Clinton surplus was vigorously debate but nobody mentioned what actually caused it: a big ole tax hike.  The result of which was: taxes became a much bigger share of GDP.

[GreatJustice]

It's interesting that the debate over who was to credit for the Clinton surplus was vigorously debate but nobody mentioned what actually caused it: a big ole tax hike.  The result of which was: taxes became a much bigger share of GDP.

Seems you missed that past 3 pages.

[scriver]

No, his point was that during the discussion, nobody brought that up.

[Reelya]

Clinton takes the blame for the tax hike, obviously.

Republican Congress gets the credit for balancing the budget.

I'm amazed that some people here still haven't learnt how to read from the playbook.

[RedKing]

Just to touch on the anti-China rhetoric...it's a worrying trend. China became a boogeyman for the Right in the mid-90's thanks to some high-profile technology transfers and industrial espionage. It's also a boogeyman for many on the Left over human rights and environmental damage (and outsourcing). I don't like that Obama feels the need to go to the Yellow Peril well from time to time (mostly on outsourcing), but Romney makes me downright facepalm with his rhetoric of treating China as an adversary from Day 1. We have enough fights on our hands without going out and picking another, especially with someone who's a lot bigger than the fights we've been having.

It's also worrying because it plays into the hands of the fenqing ("angry youth") neo-nationalist movement. They're still a relatively small movement out of the mainstream. But if Chinese start hearing the President of the United States holding them up in this overwhelmingly negative light, it's going to validate the message of the fenqing that outside powers are STILL trying to oppress and abuse China and that China is strong enough now that it doesn't have to take this kind of shit from anybody. (gee, who does that sound like in the US?)

With that kind of bellicose rhetoric being flounced around, you're liable to see a trade war, or see China become more aggressive about regional issues like Taiwan or the South Spratleys. They can't challenge the US directly in a military conflict. But they might be willing to force the US's hand in their neighborhood. I don't think anyone in charge in Beijing WANTS a conflict with the US. But popular opinion has a way of snowballing in dangerous ways when you have 1.2 billion people. 

[MetalSlimeHunt]

I don't see the PRC pushing Taiwan any time soon, due to the speculation of Taiwan possibly having a secret nuclear weapon. Even the question alone will probably get them to back off.

[RedKing]

I don't see Taiwan having a nuke. Not to mention a delivery vehicle. Worst they could do is threaten to incinerate themselves.

FWIW, I don't see the PRC pushing Taiwan either. There's no need to with the KMT back in power and the DPP losing strength. But it's still a remote possibility if a wave of nationalist fervor struck.

[misko27]

I don't see the PRC pushing Taiwan any time soon, due to the speculation of Taiwan possibly having a secret nuclear weapon. Even the question alone will probably get them to back off.

And as china knows, Its not wise to aggravate possiblt suicidal nuclear-armed pacific nations.

The Senkaku islands, however, are shaping up to be a confrontation.

[Sheb]

Kon, don't take it badly or anything, but your psots about Clinton's deficit (Or your tone rather) remind me of this:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Andrew425]

So I'm guessing Obama is going to win. Do you guys know what time on Tuesday they will start counting votes?

[SealyStar]

So I'm guessing Obama is going to win. Do you guys know what time on Tuesday they will start counting votes?

Most places have the polls close at 8:00 local time. The results won't be announced until all the votes are in... including those of Hawaii, which are UCT-10. So that means it'll be 6:00 AM before the Brits get the news, and 1:00 AM for EST where I live.

That's assuming there are no faithless electors, no recounts, and no lawsuits about results anywhere, in which case the official result could take quite a while. If the election is as close as many are predicting, all of those could be important.

And yes, Obama is probably going to win.

[Euld]

I'm definitely betting on some sort of recount shenanigans going on, ala Romney.

[kaenneth]

My state does vote by mail; does it have to be received by, or postmarked by to count?

(havn't sent it yet); my state is solid Obama anyway, but gay marriage is on the local ballot as well.

[Aqizzar]

I don't imagine this thread is going to see much less activity from now through Tuesday, so I'd appreciate it if people would be extra cautious with their tone.

I stop paying attention to this thread for one day, and this is what I come back to.  I appreciate that the "Biblical arguments" thing got its own thread, which leaves the other guy.  Now would the rest of you stop arguing with that idiot?  Because this post is going in the OP.

Speaking of which, I don't see a lot of links to anything from the past six months people would like me to preserve, so I'll probably just type up a "thanks for all the memories" message and stick in there instead.  I honestly miss not having been more talkative over this wacky journey, but eventually I just stopped caring when I got sick of hearing the same non-facts and non-news every goddamn day, and by the time anything interesting started happening holy shit it's the election.

Anyway, yeah despite a statistical shakeup after the first debate, it does look like Obama has a lock on the election.  Especially with this last week, we had Michael Bloomberg endorsing Obama (for some reason, Google only recommends "bloomberg endorses romney"), and Governor Chris Christie all but endorsing him after just a few weeks prior giving some big speech about him being the most incompetent president in history.  Yeah, a lot of people are going to be surprised, but I think history is going to show that people who predicted a year or two ago that Romney was going to sail to nomination as "safe" and then make a lackluster candidate while the Republican party overstepped its 2010 "mandate" and the economy would finally start recovering had it pretty well laid out.

[kaenneth]

I'm definitely betting on some sort of recount shenanigans going on, ala Romney.

I'm betting tallys won't match exit polls in areas with machines owned by the Romney family...