2012 U.S. Presidential Election

[Lemur]

Holy ****, this seems like tremendous, major news, or am I missing something? We gonna need some 51-star flags?

Puerto Rico wants to become the 51st state of the US

Voters in Puerto Rico have supported a non-binding referendum to become a full US state.

The measure will require approval from the US Congress, but President Barack Obama has said he will respect the vote.

The island is currently a US territory, which uses the dollar and whose citizens travel on US passports.

[Tellos Athenaios]

Holy ****, this seems like tremendous, major news, or am I missing something? We gonna need some 51-star flags?

Puerto Rico wants to become the 51st state of the US

Voters in Puerto Rico have supported a non-binding referendum to become a full US state.

The measure will require approval from the US Congress, but President Barack Obama has said he will respect the vote.

The island is currently a US territory, which uses the dollar and whose citizens travel on US passports.

If you could time their admission to coincide with the secession of Texas you would not need to change the flag...

[Beskar]

The problem is, Obama will still face the issues of the previous end of last term with having a republican Congress and a stalemated Senate. So nothing much will be done as the republicans will just fillibuster everything again.

[Fisherking]

The problem is, Obama will still face the issues of the previous end of last term with having a republican Congress and a stalemated Senate. So nothing much will be done as the republicans will just fillibuster everything again.

Perhaps, just perhaps Republicans may find grounds to work with him now that he can not be reelected. Or he may even move toward them in order to get things done. But I won’t hold my breath.

[Lemur]

I think there are modest grounds for optimism. The Republican strategy of the last four years was, frankly, to block attempts at constructive engagement, prevent any Federal efforts at encouraging recovery, and then blame the sitting Prez for getting nothing done. (While also, paradoxically, blaming him for anything he actually did get done.)

The overwhelming goal, as declared on the record by the Speaker of the House, was "to make Obama a one-term president."

That has failed.

Congresscritters will now have to consider their own survival, especially given that the normal outcome of a mid-term election (small-to-large losses in the House and Senate for the incumbent party) also failed to take place.

The House GOP may see political advantage in doing their job as legislators.

It's a possibility.

[Lemur]

Also, we may see some reformation in the right-wing echo chamber. A good takedown:

Conservatives were at an information disadvantage because so many right-leaning outlets wasted time on stories the rest of America dismissed as nonsense. WorldNetDaily brought you birtherism. Forbes brought you Kenyan anti-colonialism. National Review obsessed about an imaginary rejection of American exceptionalism, misrepresenting an Obama quote in the process, and Andy McCarthy was interviewed widely about his theory that Obama, aka the Drone Warrior in Chief, allied himself with our Islamist enemies in a "Grand Jihad" against America. Seriously?

Conservatives were at a disadvantage because their information elites pandered in the most cynical, self-defeating ways, treating would-be candidates like Sarah Palin and Herman Cain as if they were plausible presidents rather than national jokes who'd lose worse than George McGovern.

How many months were wasted on them?

How many hours of Glenn Beck conspiracy theories did Fox News broadcast to its viewers? How many hours of transparently mindless Sean Hannity content is still broadcast daily? Why don't Americans trust Republicans on foreign policy as they once did? In part because conservatism hasn't grappled with the foreign-policy failures of George W. Bush. A conspiracy of silence surrounds the subject. Romney could neither run on the man's record nor repudiate it. The most damaging Romney gaffe of the campaign, where he talked about how the 47 percent of Americans who pay no income taxes are a lost cause for Republicans? Either he was unaware that many of those people are Republican voters, or was pandering to GOP donors who are misinformed. Either way, bad information within the conservative movement was to blame.

In conservative fantasy-land, Richard Nixon was a champion of ideological conservatism, tax cuts are the only way to raise revenue, adding neoconservatives to a foreign-policy team reassures American voters, Benghazi was a winning campaign issue, Clint Eastwood's convention speech was a brilliant triumph, and Obama's America is a place where black kids can beat up white kids with impunity. Most conservative pundits know better than this nonsense -- not that they speak up against it. They see criticizing their own side as a sign of disloyalty. I see a coalition that has lost all perspective, partly because there's no cost to broadcasting or publishing inane bullshit. In fact, it's often very profitable. A lot of cynical people have gotten rich broadcasting and publishing red meat for movement conservative consumption.

[Xiahou]

By and large, there was no change in Congress. How is that pressure to do anything differently? The voters wildly disapprove of congress, but when it comes to their own representatives, they sent most of them back. This election adds up to an endorsement of the status quo.

[gaelic cowboy]

Also, we may see some reformation in the right-wing echo chamber. A good takedown:

Conservatives were at an information disadvantage because so many right-leaning outlets wasted time on stories the rest of America dismissed as nonsense. WorldNetDaily brought you birtherism. Forbes brought you Kenyan anti-colonialism. National Review obsessed about an imaginary rejection of American exceptionalism, misrepresenting an Obama quote in the process, and Andy McCarthy was interviewed widely about his theory that Obama, aka the Drone Warrior in Chief, allied himself with our Islamist enemies in a "Grand Jihad" against America. Seriously?

Conservatives were at a disadvantage because their information elites pandered in the most cynical, self-defeating ways, treating would-be candidates like Sarah Palin and Herman Cain as if they were plausible presidents rather than national jokes who'd lose worse than George McGovern.

How many months were wasted on them?

How many hours of Glenn Beck conspiracy theories did Fox News broadcast to its viewers? How many hours of transparently mindless Sean Hannity content is still broadcast daily? Why don't Americans trust Republicans on foreign policy as they once did? In part because conservatism hasn't grappled with the foreign-policy failures of George W. Bush. A conspiracy of silence surrounds the subject. Romney could neither run on the man's record nor repudiate it. The most damaging Romney gaffe of the campaign, where he talked about how the 47 percent of Americans who pay no income taxes are a lost cause for Republicans? Either he was unaware that many of those people are Republican voters, or was pandering to GOP donors who are misinformed. Either way, bad information within the conservative movement was to blame.

In conservative fantasy-land, Richard Nixon was a champion of ideological conservatism, tax cuts are the only way to raise revenue, adding neoconservatives to a foreign-policy team reassures American voters, Benghazi was a winning campaign issue, Clint Eastwood's convention speech was a brilliant triumph, and Obama's America is a place where black kids can beat up white kids with impunity. Most conservative pundits know better than this nonsense -- not that they speak up against it. They see criticizing their own side as a sign of disloyalty. I see a coalition that has lost all perspective, partly because there's no cost to broadcasting or publishing inane bullshit. In fact, it's often very profitable. A lot of cynical people have gotten rich broadcasting and publishing red meat for movement conservative consumption.

Unreported World on CH4 basically said this punditocracy is merely making money from hysteria.

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/u...k-radio-nation

[Papewaio]

Higher education is linked to higher wages is linked to more right votes.

Wouldn't the Republican Party be better off at raising education levels be it home, private or public across the board?

[rvg]

Higher education is linked to higher wages is linked to more right votes...

Not in America. Obama did considerably better than Romney among postgrads (i.e. people with Masters or Ph.D's). Romney did better among people with 4 year degrees.

[a completely inoffensive name]

Not in America. Obama did considerably better than Romney among postgrads (i.e. people with Masters or Ph.D's). Romney did better among people with 4 year degrees.

I should look up the statistics, but I wonder what % of 4 year degrees are for business...

[TinCow]

Holy ****, this seems like tremendous, major news, or am I missing something? We gonna need some 51-star flags?

Puerto Rico wants to become the 51st state of the US

Voters in Puerto Rico have supported a non-binding referendum to become a full US state.

The measure will require approval from the US Congress, but President Barack Obama has said he will respect the vote.

The island is currently a US territory, which uses the dollar and whose citizens travel on US passports.

Wow... between that and the legalization of marijuana measures, we've certainly got more than our usual share of unusual referendum results to chew on. I've lived my entire life under a 50 star flag with 100 senators... it will screw up all the nice even numbers!