Funny Political Points

[neillarson]

As I have watched what this administration and this congress has done over the last 6 years (and past administrations and congresses), I have found my self leaning farther and farther away from the Democratic Party. At the same time, I absolutley refuse to lean towards the Republican Party. So I guess that l that since neither the Right or the Left works, I am leaning forward and looking at independents and Libertarians.

All that said, I recently saw a post on FB that compared the Military Service of all the favorite past Republican Presidents and Candidates to the recent Democratic Presidents and Candidates. Of course the Clintons and Obama were the point while ALL of the Republicans had serverd.

Based on that I decided to satisfy my curiosity by checking the current crop of contenders.

Marco Rubio - No
Ted Cruz - No
Paul Ryan - No
Michelle Bachmann - No
Sahara Palin - No
Rand Paul - No
Mitt Romney - No
Rick Perry - Yes, US Air Force
Rick Santorum - No
Scott Walker - No
Bobby Jindal - No
Chris Christie - No
Kerry Bowers - Yes, US Air Force

And then the Democrates

Hillary Clinton - No
Joe Biden - No
Andrew Cuomo - No
Martin O'Malley - Yes, US Army Air Force
Deval Patrick - No
Brian Schweitzer - No
Mark Warner - No

I find this funny as 58% of Republican voters believe that it is important for candidates to have served while 31% of Democratic voters feel it is important. Does that mean that 89% of voters are going to be unhappy? Based on the last 26 years? They probably already are unhappy so maybe this is all meaningless.

[Duuuuuuuude]

Politics is just a competition where people in fancy clothes try to feed you as much bullshit as you can stomach. The one who feeds the most, wins.

Both the left and the right have become staggeringly stupid in regards to what comes out of their mouths.

Libertarian seems to be the least idiotic party to watch IMO.

[BigSki]

Neil, I can tell you this about the one dump-o-crat that served, o'malley. ( purposely spelled in lower case) I live in Baltimore, I watched what this shit bag liberal did to the city of baltimore when he was the mayor for 2 terms, and I've watched as he has made Merry-land a safe haven for illegals over the past 6 years along with stupid amounts of increased spending for handout programs, a true liberal in every sense of the word.

If this shit bag could weasel himself to the drivers seat of the bus, he would simply follow wherever o'bummer leaves off.

[SINister]

Originally Posted by neillarson

Does that mean that 100% of voters are going to be unhappy?

Fixed it for ya

[neillarson]

Thanks Ski, as he is an establishment asshle, I wouldn't vote for him anyway.

As a Retired Chief Petty Officer, I would prefer to have someone with Military service but the few that do on on that list, probably are the worse of them.

[Natedog]

@ OP, so you are like me and many others, sick of all the bs from both sides. We get it in the ass from government while they tell us how they are helping us. I've been for Libertarian and Independent party for long time...only registered as one of the two main parties in order to influence their idiocracy a little more.

[neillarson]

One of the things that is funny but at the same time horrifying to me, is the level of out right lying and the amount of fact ignoring that goes on. The funny part is our politicians spend most of their time (IMO) manipulating facts to prove their point. You can prove ANY point by omitting facts that don't support your argument or by using strategically edited sound bite and snippets of data. The horrifying part is that every day citizens now do this on a daily basis. There is no right or wrong, it is always ideologically skewed. There is no compromise until someone has been made to eat crow, someone has to "Score" before they can compromise. Their is no majority rules, it is ONLY "My" way. It is a glorification of the ME generation but it has now spread to all generations.

A good example of our "facts" is the record and ideology of our past presidents. Ronald Reagan is deified by todays republicans for attributes that were not his. He was a fiscal conservative and a religious conservative. He was a great negotiater and made compromises regulating to get his key legislation through congress. He is credited with being a model for the Tea Party but in reality, while he did reduce the number of Civil Servants, he increased government spending to a never seen before level. He presided over the S&L Scandal, The Iran Contra Scandal and the destruction of the liquidity of Social Security by moving the tax to the general fund to avoid paying back the billions that had been borrowed from it. He also grew the military to the highest level since WWII and with congress, he forced weapons systems on the military that were unneeded and unwanted. He started the movement to standardize the services in equipment and commonized (i know, it is not a real word) their missions. The Air Force was never meant to fly missions side by side with the Navy and Marines. The Marines were never meant to fight side by side with the Army. Don't get me wrong, I was on active duty when Ronnie was president and I credit him with the first real pay raise I had seen and the largest and I served under Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush and Clinton.

Conversely, Bill Clinton is vilified for dipping his wick in an intern. A consensual adult relationship. He lied to his wife and his country. For that, he is
hated by the right. I guess that should be expected because no republican, politician or citizen, has ever had an affair with a younger woman that he was in a position of authority over and later lied about it. The facts are that Reagan and Bush Sr together, increased national debt as a % of GDP by over 40%. Clinton reduced it by 15%, then Bush Jr increased it 30% and Obama another 30%. Clinton also started the biggest dismantling of the military not seen since WWII. and started the whole Base Closure process.

Reagan was the best president we have seen but it was because he was willing to compromise and follow the will of the people. No president since has listened to the people except for the people that paid them and the other corrupt politicians that surround them.

Did i "lean" the facts my way? I don't think I did, but our beliefs do influence our interpretation of data.

Rant off.

[SINister]

Nothing is going on in Washington that the American people didn't allow or condone through apathy or their willingness to be manipulated.

[Duuuuuuuude]

I've found that the more politicians lean on the past, the less they have to offer us for the future.

I share your horrification (since we're making up words ) not only in omitting facts, but also in the skewing, manipulation, and plain 'ol disregard of reality, not to mention the widespread comparison of apples to oranges to prop up a weak argument. And the people suck it up again, and again, and again. Its terrifying to think that these people actually vote.

I want to vote conservative, most of my own ideology falls that direction, but until they can behave according to the higher standard that they claim they have, I won't.