I Have Issues, And The GOP Was Kind Enough to Ask

So today another meme of sorts went viral on the Twitter engine. Here's the Tweet that started it all:

You know Americans aren't afraid to speak up, right? And speak up we did! Following are the tweets from my stream alone, and they've been coming in here at hundreds per hour- it's impossible to keep up! (unattributed are mine; others' are preceded by (RT @User).

• Someone, somewhere, may be having fun in a manner of which I disapprove. RT @GOP: Tell us your top issues
• Nasty, filthy, horrible tacksesses. RT @GOP: Tell us your top issues
• Over-regulation of drinking water quality in West Virginia RT @GOP: Tell us your top issues
• Florida looks too much like the nasty part of male anatomy. RT @GOP: Tell us your top issues
• RT @jodirowley Yes, that's what it looks like. A Cane Toad and a Mango. Getting it on. pic.twitter.com/NvWqxHcQFp @GOP: Tell us your top issues

• Grotesque Child Born With Only 99% Normal Human DNA @GOP: Tell us your top issues. http://www.theonion.com/articles/grotesque-child-born-with-only-99-normal-human-dna,34971/
• (RT @drskyskull) MT @GOP: Tell us your top issues // I worry that the House of Representatives has been way too productive this session.
• I'm tired of the failure of the educational system to bring up misinformed, ignorant, self-satisfied dolts. @GOP: Tell us your top issues
• I'm out of toilet paper, but I live in a blue state, so I can't just declare emergency, have feds bail me out. @GOP: Tell us your top issues
• They canceled Firefly and The Sarah Connor Chronicles, the socialist bastards! @GOP: Tell us your top issues
• Dang scientists *still* sciencing. We need to put an end to that. @GOP: Tell us your top issues
• Drugs. You guys are obviously off yours. @GOP: Tell us your top issues
• (RT @NayNayCantStop) If WoC stands for "Women of Color", does GoP stand for "Gentlemen of Privilege"? RT "@GoP Tell us your top issues"
• RT @drskyskull) MT @GOP Tell us your top issues // Being led by an orange person is not evidence of "diversity."
• (RT @drskyskull) MT @GOP: Tell us your top issues // Mascot should be changed from elephant to masturbating capuchin monkey
• (RT @JustShers) RT @linnyitssn: I just saw a black kid with skittles and no one stood his ground RT @GOP Tell us your top issues
• (RT @JC_Christian ) We need to stop infringement on our 2nd Amendment right to shoot random sumbishes MT @GOP Tell us your top issues. Let’s win big in 2014.
• What the what?! MT @TheMichaelMoran: Don't look at this pic. You'll have questions: pic.twitter.com/7FdEcSNJlM” @GOP Tell us your top issues.

• Did a search for "@GOP Tell us your top issues." It's impossible for me to keep up. Apparently, a LOT of people have important issues.
• Really love the way y'all celebrate the miracle of pregnancy, then slut-shame mother after delivery. Fun stuff! @GOP Tell us your top issues
• Why do we park in driveway, drive on the parkway? Suspicious it's creeping communism & will lead to inflation. @GOP Tell us your top issues
• Blue states get too much of their Fed tax dollars back. Should ALL go to red states as reward for small gov't. @GOP Tell us your top issues
• Why can't conservatives be funny? Intentionally, I mean? @GOP Tell us your top issues
• My apartment landlord doesn't allow horses or cattle, but I want to be a cowboy, just like Kid Rock. @GOP: Tell us your top issues
• Why don't you ever try to regulate my testicles? I've been abusing the hell out of them, & need to be stopped. @GOP: Tell us your top issues
• Limbaugh, Trump and Gingrich need more wives. @GOP: Tell us your top issues
• I don't think Justin Beiber gets enough attention or credit. @GOP: Tell us your top issues
• I'm not going to be able to finish my RSS reading today because GOP wants to know my top issues. @GOP: Tell us your top issues
• (RT @chickgonebad) Jar Jar Binks RT @GOP Tell us your top issues.
• How do the Koch brothers ACTUALLY pronounce their last name? Been bugging me for years. @GOP: Tell us your top issues
• (RT @SincerelyKyra) I'm still pissed when I think about the Red Wedding. RT @GOP: Tell us your top issues. Let’s win big in 2014.
• I see black people. They're everywhere. They don't even know they're not real people. Fix that. @GOP: Tell us your top issues
• Wow! I really hope GOP takes quick action on all these suggestions! @GOP: Tell us your top issues https://twitter.com/search?q=%40GOP%20Tell%20us%20your%20top%20issues&src=typd …
• I think I'm turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese, I really think so. @GOP: Tell us your top issues
• What was going on in the last couple seasons of X Files? I was really confused. @GOP: Tell us your top issues
• People keep trying to peg me as a cat OR dog person. How can I get folks to accept that I was born bi-animal? @GOP: Tell us your top issues
• Can you pass a law to get me to leave this danged meme alone? @GOP: Tell us your top issues

So there you have it. I'm quite confident this request for the opinions of real Americans will produce useful changes and results from the GOP.

Update: Here are a few more that I posted or RT'd after that last one.

• RT  ‏@saraterror I need more old white men to climb inside my vagina. I didn't name it Clown Car for nothing. RT @GOP Tell us your top issues.
• RT @sarahjeong Kristen Stewart to Star in Romantic Adaptation of “1984” — what? stop. no. stop. @GOP: Tell us your top issues.
• "How to talk to your cat about gun safety" pamphlet needs to be distributed widely: http://derpycats.com/post/73543431899 @GOP: Tell us your top issues.

• Remember back in the Ediacaran, how free we all were? THOSE were the days... @GOP: Tell us your top issues.
• RT @knightcali I have a severe case of hemorrhoids RT @GOP Tell us your top issues
• @knightcali I think that's more of a bottom issue. @GOP: Tell us your top issues.
• RT @missokistic Why do we park in a driveway, but drive on crumbling roads due to GOP refusal to upgrade infrastructure? RT @GOP Tell us your top issues.
• RT @JoeAconite Time Magazine, April 8, 1966, National Lampoon, January 1973, Playboy, October 1971, Nintendo Power, all of 92 @GOP: Tell us your top issues

The Onion Sets Its Sights On Oregon

Glad I voted for him. He's our only hope now.

WASHINGTON—In the wake of what is being called the deadliest midterm election in the nation's history, Washington's sole surviving politician, Rep. Peter DeFazio of Oregon's 4th Congressional District, emerged from the rubble of the Capitol building Wednesday to announce his intention to rebuild the fallen U.S. government.

Emission Accomplished!

I have proudly completed my patriotic task of adding a little more noise and stench to the god-awful witch's brew of modern American Politics.As it turns out, most of the measures were more familiar to me than I realized, and didn't require much extra work. The toughest call was for mayor, and the reason, in the end, the way I voted as I did was based mostly on the use of key phrases, like "values," by the person I voted against. I have already passed along my voter's guide to one of my young friends, who groaned, "Oh yeah, I need to get that done," when I said I was walking over to the library to drop off my ballot. So hopefully I have encouraged at least one more person to fart today. There were three people ahead of me and one behind as I walked up to the box, so perhaps the farting rate won't be all that bad.

We can only wait now...

Please, no open lights. Flammable gases.

No More Time For "Studying"

Even though we Oregonians can generally cast our ballots any time during the two weeks prior to and including election day, I generally put it off until the end. Most years, I actually do spend a fair amount of time reading up on issues and candidates, and it's not all that uncommon for me to vote- at least during the last century- for non-democratic candidates, or against the party line on contentious issues. This year, it's purely been procrastination. I know of three races that I feel strongly about- Governor, US Senator, and US Representative. I'll be voting Kitzhaber, Wyden, and Schrader, respectively. I'm less than proud to say I am really not familiar with other candidates, or what measures are up. Nevertheless, I'm going to drop out of sight for a little while here and do a whirlwind run through the voter's guide and my ballot, and get this beast out of the way, as a fellow coffee drinker is doing above. Since I took the photo, she has dragged out her laptop, and is doing some follow-up research.

I have had homework assignments I've been excited about- that doesn't mean they're easy, or without frustration, but it does mean that when I'm done I feel as if I've accomplished something of value. I've had others that feel like pure drudge work. This year's voting, for the most part, feels like the latter.

Best Rally Signs

BuzzFeed has a hundred of 'em. Here are a few of my faves.

And I have a few more set aside from yesterday, too. I'll add more after I finish the funnies.

VOTE!

 

A FaceBook friend sent me a message this morning saying, "Remember to vote Lockwood, I'm pretty sure you don't need reminding, but I'm doing it anyway!" The above vidclip (from BlueOregon) is kind of trite, to my taste, but it does highlight an interesting bit of information: Oregonians vote at a higher rate than any other state- the figure given here is 84.9%. (I suspect that's the turnout for the '08 election, not an average.) But the clip was posted with the cute double-entendre "More Oregonians do it than in just about any other state. We do it at home, in private; we do it public, with our friends; we even do it at school and at work." What we do in all those various settings and combinations is, of course, vote.

We have a unique vote-by-mail system that I've discussed before- the ballots are sent out about two weeks before election day- so your address on your registration MUST be current- the ballot will not be forwarded to a new address. Voters thus do not need to show up and wait in line in crappy weather, they can do it at home, at school, etc, at a day, time and place that's convenient to them. It's traditional in my case to do it at the coffee shop. The completed ballot is placed in a "secrecy envelope," which is then sealed, then that package is placed in an authentication envelope, which the voter then signs and seals.  The signature serves two purposes: first, it serves as a statement that the voter affirms this is his/her vote, and that no one has unduly pressured or forced them to vote in a manner against their wishes (doing so is a major crime). Second, when the ballot gets to the county office, the signature is compared to the voter's signature on file, confirming that the registered voter is actually the one that completed the process. The outer envelope is then removed, and the inner envelope is taken to a different room before being opened and the ballot counted.  Thus the voter's identity is separated from the ballot before the ballot is seen.

The ballot can then be mailed to the pre-marked address or dropped in official drop boxes at public locations like libraries and post offices by 8:00 PM election day. Last I read, something like 15-20% of registered Oregonians have already voted. I generally get mine into the OSU Library drop box Monday afternoon. Mailed ballots should be sent no later than Fri. or Sat. before the election- arrival at the county offices, not postmark, must be by 8:00 PM of election day.

Long and short, I actually feel a little bad I can't take more pride in not having missed a major election since 1992 (I was moving, and without a vehicle, and starting a new job, I just didn't get the paperwork done for an absentee ballot). Oregon makes voting so convenient and easy that I can't really feel all that great about actually doing it. But given the rampant concerns with either fraud or lack of opportunity/time/access to voting facilities, it does seem like the other 49 states might want to take a look at Oregon's system.  Many of us were uncertain about it when it was instituted, but it makes it less of a hassle to vote than we could have imagined, and I haven't met anyone in the last decade who doesn't like it.

So yes, I will vote. And whatever weaknesses or strengths your state's system has, you should too.

Many Small Blood-Sucking Creatures

Poly Ticks: Via Library Grape, a NYT story saying:

Of the thousands of complaints that have saturated NPR in the wake of Juan Williams’s firing earlier this week, some of the most telling have been from callers describing themselves as long-time “viewers” of NPR who warn that they are going to “stop watching.”

As they say, a face made for radio...

Helen Philpot provides the best response to Glenn Beck's recent comments that he doesn't believe in evolution because he's never seen a half man-half monkey:

If Glenn Beck hasn’t met a half-man-half-monkey yet, he didn’t get out much during his rally.  There was more knuckle dragging on the National Mall that day than the National Zoo… about 89,000 more.

I will say without reservation that Helen is my favorite living political commentator, and you should read every word she posts.  I've also been getting a serious case of the giggles over the whole Ginny Thomas-Anita Hill fiasco.  Gotta love a wife that reminds the entire world her husband is a porn-loving, enormous-boob-fixated, sexually-harassing predator, decades after nearly everyone forgot, and the resulting publicity brings more witnesses out of the woodwork.  Matty Boy has an appropriately tongue-in-cheek write up.

Cute li'l Ginny Thomas, a mere child of 53 years old, has had no one to instruct her in the proper ettiquette of drunk dialing, so she gets into the Drunk Dialing Hall of Fame on her very first try.

Incidentally, today is the 19th anniversary of Thomas' swearing into the Supreme Court. Hey, porn-loving, enormous-boob-fixated, sexually-harassing predators deserve representation, too.

WikiLeaks dumped about 400,000 classified documents into the innertubz yesterday, to a largely ho-hum reaction- we already knew that the US and its allies have been carrying out illegal murders of noncombatants and torture leading on occasion to death, and have been covering it up and lying about it. So it's really not news.  Perhaps the most interesting angle on this is the way it's reported. NYT uses the phrase "detainee abuse," while The Guardian rudely uses the politically incorrect word "torture," and suggests that the UN is looking into violations of international law.  Again, not news, but I do feel as if the American news-consuming public is being treated as less than adult.

Finally, on a personal note, I received my ballot on Tuesday, and I've had my voters guide for a couple of weeks. Sometime in the next sixteen nine days I'll work up the gumption to sit down and figure out where I stand on various candidates and measures, and get that stinker turned in.  But I'm not very excited about it.  Wonder why?

How to Win

Pundit Kitchen... click for full size.

Deadline For Oregon Voting Registration Approaches

If you're an Oregon resident, and you've moved since the last time you voted (or have never voted before), the deadline for registration is Tuesday.  I saw an article at The Barometer (OSU's student newspaper) a couple of days ago discussing an ASOSU task force trying to get as many students- many of whom have moved over the past year or two- as possible registered over the next few days.  There have been a couple of people with the appropriate forms hanging out at 16th and Monroe today, answering questions and trying to get bypassers registered, and I'm sure there are more teams scattered around other near-campus locations as well.

One of the things I was told by the worker is that you can vote a "fail-safe" ballot as well (assuming you are properly registered).  This is like a back-up ballot; if you haven't received your ballot in the mail when you expect (for example, it's mis-delivered), you can fill this out, and the voting office will hold that form.  If your original ballot isn't returned, or has been improperly completed, the fail-safe ballot gets counted in its stead.

If you prefer, you can register on-line here.  This is going to sound strange at first, but this deadline is, in many ways, both easier to ignore or forget, and more important, than election day itself, at least for Oregon residents.  It's easier to miss because it doesn't get the attention and press that election day does, and I say more important since without getting yourself registered, everything else is irrelevant.

Oregon's vote-by-mail system means that once you're registered, the ballot is mailed to you.  As I remember, it goes out about two weeks before election day.  Once you receive it, you can return it any time before the close of election day (I'm thinking 8:00 PM, but I'll follow up when the day approaches).  You can either mail it back (postage required), or put it in an official drop box- the two I use most often are in OSU's Valley Library and Corvallis Public Library.  In other words, the system is wonderfully flexible in letting you think and vote at a time that is convenient for you.  Other than familiarizing yourself with the issues and candidates, registration is arguably the most important and demanding part of the process- and it's pretty easy.

So whatever your political views, take the time to get yourself registered before the close of day next Tuesday.  The rest of the process pretty much takes care of itself.

Humility Is Not A Prerequisite

I'm sure you've heard that Wasilla Hillbilly hanger-on Levi Johnston will either have his run for mayor filmed as a reality TV series, or run for mayor as a stunt for a reality TV series. Several points:

• What does this have to do with "reality?"
• Is Levi actually literate enough to fill out the relevant forms, or will the producers help him out there?
• Just when you thought it would be impossible to make American politics any more trivial, laughable and undignified...

This story has been all over the place, and really wouldn't be worth remarking on if I hadn't seen this:

Jones says Johnston is serious about a run, either for mayor or City Council.

Asked whether he believes people will take the run seriously, with TV cameras rolling, Jones said: "People questioned Jesus Christ, so I definitely don't care about these mere mortals questioning Levi Johnston."

So all you mere mortals out there, Levi Johnston deserves to be taken as seriously as Jesus. I guess that's pretty serious.

Calling All Non-Registered Oregonians

Tuesday is the deadline to register if you want to vote in the May 18 primary.

You can register online at the state Elections Division's website. The deadline for online registration is 11:59 p.m. Tuesday.

You also can mail in voter registration cards. Registration forms also may be printed from the Elections Division site. Registrations sent by surface mail will be valid for next month's primary election if postmarked no later than Tuesday.

To check your registration, got to oregonvotes.org and click on Am I Registered to Vote?

Ballots start going in the mail on Friday. They must be received by your county elections office no later than 8 p.m. Tuesday, May 18. Postmarks don't count for ballots.

To bone up on candidates and issues, use The Oregonian's Voter Guide.

(Oregon Live)

Registration forms are available at the post office, the Public Library across from Central Park on Monroe, and probably (though I'm not positive about these) at various locations on the OSU campus, such as the MU front desk, the OSU Bookstore, and the Valley Library.

Can't vote if you don't register. And don't complain if you don't vote.

Last Call

From The Portland Business Journal, I learned that tomorrow is the deadline to get your Census form turned in and avoid having a worker come to your home to get the requisite data in person.

The U.S. Census Bureau is asking Oregon residents to return their census forms before the weekend to avoid a visit from an agency worker.

As of Tuesday, 69 percent of Oregon households had mailed their census forms, slightly more than the 67 percent mail-back rate nationwide.

"The census form on your kitchen table is a vital investment in your community," Census Bureau Director Robert Groves said in a statement. "It's time for all of us to do our part. Fill it out and mail it back today. Get it in the mail by Friday and you can avoid a visit from a census worker in May."

The figures I've seen vary somewhat, but seem to be in the range of $1500 to $2000 per person for the amount of Federal funds that come to the community and state as a result of being counted in the census. (I presume that's over the course of the subsequent decade.) Also, of course, the figures are used to determine the number of representatives to the US House your state has. I've seen talk that Oregon might add another rep this time, but I haven't seen anything on it lately, so perhaps that's looking less likely now. Quite a number of the liberal bloggers have pointed out that the ever-confounded Michelle Bachmann's calls to avoid the Census count could cost Minnesota a representative, and if a seat is cut, it will be hers.

LOL.

Finally, it should be understood that the Census is constitutionally mandated, and participation is legally required. As far as I know there are no penalties associated with avoiding it, other than the loss of funds mentioned above, and loss of representation as a resident of this wonderful country. But the Census Bureau is determined to at least try to count you, and there isn't really any downside to being counted. However, there is a significant cost to making them come and find you:

What is the cost per household to conduct the census, and how much is the Census Bureau spending per household on advertising on TV, radio, etc.?

To ensure that the public is aware of importance of mailing back the 2010 Census questionnaire when they receive it, and the millions of dollars in taxpayers’ money saved by doing so, the Census Bureau is spending about $1 per person on our combined promotion and outreach efforts. It costs [the Census Bureau] just $.42 cents to mail back the census form in a postage paid envelop. It costs taxpayers $25 per person to send a census taker door-to-door to collect the same information if they didn’t mail it back. Promotional and outreach efforts are heavily focused on increasing the number of households to mail back their form when they receive it this March. For every one percentage point increase in the national participation rate by mail, taxpayers can help the Census Bureau save about $85 million in operational costs.

One of my IZ friends never received a form; the feds will undoubtedly track him down next month. So some cases are unavoidable. If, like me, you let the envelope collect dust for several weeks before taking a minute or less to fill it out and get it in the mailbox, you're set. But if it's still accumulating fine air-borne particulates, take a moment (and it really is very quick and easy) to fill it out, and get it into the mail.

It's the easiest opportunity you'll have in the next ten years to cut Federal spending.

The Short Version

• Number of attendees at the Conservative Political Action Conference: ~10,000
• Number of attendees voting in the straw poll: 2,395
• Top 3 placers in straw poll: 1) Ron Paul, 31%; 2) Mitt Romney, 22%; 3) Sarah Palin, 7%.

Run, Sarah, Run! 168 out of 10,000 possible votes is definitely a sign from God!

The (slightly) longer version is at TPM.

Followup, 6:56 PM: The much longer version is at Fivethirtyeight.

I Should Have Put This Up Yesterday

I set this sticker aside for days just like this. Voting seems like such a useless gesture anymore, but it's one thing I can do. That doesn't mean it's above ridicule. Nothing is above ridicule.

66+67

The answer is not "133," the answer is "Yes" on both. I just cast my ballot in Oregon's special election. Because of the hair-brained initiative process in this state, voters have to approve any tax increases considered necessary and passed by the legislature. (Should that be "hare-brained?" Hair is less intelligent than most hares, so I'm going with the original spelling.) Measure 66 raises marginal taxes on households earning more than $250K (and single earners of more than $125K), and 67 raises the minimum corporate tax from $10 (yes, ten) to $150 for the vast majority of businesses, and by up to 1.6% of profits for the largest earners.

A number of business leaders have suggested, apparently in all sincerity, that public employees (educators, policemen, firemen and others employed at those facilities, for example) take a voluntary 10% pay cut to help the state through these tough economic times.

You know the story here. Us libs are trying to crush small business. Class warfare. Blah, blah, blah. An article at OregonLive yesterday points out that the wage gap has grown enormously in the last few years.

Inflation-adjusted annual wages for Oregon's top 2 percent of earners hit $153,480 on average in 2008, a 29.5 percent increase from 1990.

Workers at the 50 percentile, meanwhile, earned $32,659 in 2008, an increase of just 2.4 percent over 1990 after adjusting for inflation.

Meanwhile, another article from last week is headlined, "Business coalition: Keep I-5 Columbia River bridge project on schedule."

Two days after four elected leaders of Portland and Vancouver announced their opposition to a plan for a new Interstate 5 Columbia River bridge, a business-backed coalition today pushed for the project to go forward.

The Columbia River Crossing Coalition sent a letter to the governors of Oregon and Washington urging persistence in planning for the wider highway bridge, new light rail connection and series of highway interchange rebuilds.

(...)

Among other things, the officials asked the states to pay for independent studies of the project to be performed by experts the local officials select, a reflection of deep distrust of planners who have led bridge studies for more than four years.

From what I've read in the past, the two most important factors in siting a business are infrastructure and a skilled workforce. I presume security (police and fire) is only considered if they are weak to awful. I don't remember where taxes fall, but they're down the list a ways. Macroeconomic analysis is beyond my pay scale, but I'm eager to listen to those for whom it isn't. Via BlueOregon:

Third, the estimates above are for a typical state. But in states with taxes above average, we expect job losses from a tax increase to be higher that this; and for states with public services above average, we expect the job gains from increased public services to be lower than this.

Where does Oregon stand relative to a typical state? Oregon’s state and local taxes as a share of personal income are significantly below the national average. Oregon’s rank is 43rd based on the most recent data. Thus, because Oregon’s taxes are below average, we would expect job losses in Oregon to be lower than 7,000-20,000.

What about public services? Oregon’s teacher-student ratio places Oregon 49th out of 50 states; Oregon’s school year is the second shortest. Oregon’s university faculty salaries and benefits are significantly below the national average. So, with public services below average, we would expect job gains to be higher than 9,000-17,000.

Thus, scholarly research suggests the net change in jobs in Oregon is likely to be positive. However, there is no research on how much the effect for a typical state should be adjusted for Oregon and, indeed, the available research should be viewed as providing only “ball park” estimates. Nevertheless, the research provides no support for the claim that Oregon will lose jobs in the long run.

So on the one hand, we've got the poor getting poorer, and the rich getting richer. We have infrastructure that is in dire need of upgrades and maintenance. We have a once-excellent system of public education falling into a shambles, and other public service systems following suit.

And we have business and wealthy people who howl about these needs, then when the bill comes due, look around in consternation, and say "Who, me?"

Yes, you. Pricks. And if you want to take that as class envy, fine.

Get Some Balls!

I have seen this video posted in a number of places, but I finally took time to watch it over at Ornery Bastard's place. Actually, it wasn't until I read that post that it registered what the joke was. This little faux commercial is actually pretty well done, and put a little more energy back into me, after 10 days or so of awful, awful news.

Iris asked me earlier what it was going to take to get the dems to find their nuts; my response was that they didn't have any. In fact, they didn't have ovaries, either. They're just little plastic Barbie and Ken dolls- they dress like humans, but are utterly neuter underneath it all.

If only Balls did come in bottles. Maybe we should start sending Ball's (canning) jars to our supposed Democratic supposed representatives?

More Protest Bombing

From The FBomb, Via BuzzFeed. If you visit that first link, you can read the story behind the photo, too!

Although it may have started as a single, humorous defense on Chris Pesto’s part, his one action turned into a protest for a more loving and accepting community. Administration officials heard the call of their students and stated that the Deferios were no longer welcome on Syracuse’s campus.

Yay, Protest Bombing!

Realistic Opponents

I recently took a face book poll regarding whether I "would vote for Obama again." My response was "yes," with the added comment "Against any realistic opponent? Yah, you betcha." SHB left a comment on that post saying "Lockwood, can you name a realistic opponent? : )" I think that's a very fair question; I thought more carefully than might be apparent about how to word my original comment.

The meaning I intended to convey was that I would most likely vote for Obama over anyone that could realistically expect a chance to oppose him in a primary or national election. It's realistic (though horrifying) to suppose that he might face Huckabee, Palin or Romney (and possibly Jeb) in the national race in 2012. Obviously, I would vote for Obama.

As a counter example, it unrealistic to suppose that Kucinich would mount a plausible primary run in 2011. I had intended, as late as mid-April last year, to vote for him in the primaries (and I did in 2004; it was clear that Kerry had won). Oregon's primary is late- mid-May- and by that point Kucinich had dropped out. I don't recall whether he was still on the ballot, but by that time, Hillary had started her shenanigans, e.g., "I won the popular vote." I had been torn between her and Obama early in the season, but her behavior toward the end appalled me. By the time our primary rolled around, I strongly preferred Obama over Clinton. Under other circumstances, I might have voted for Kucinich (if he had been on the ballot, or even as a write-in, despite the fact he had dropped out) simply as a statement. First, he is the one person out there who doesn't look like a corporate tool to me, and second, while I wouldn't actually want him as president for a number of reasons, many of his ideas deserve more attention and respect than they get. For example, I would love to see him as Secretary of The Department of Peace, a cabinet-level position that he has proposed. How does one get to that level? By doing well in the primaries.

So while under certain circumstances, I might vote for Kucinich over Obama, I don't see any realistic scenario in which those circumstances might come to pass. I seriously doubt there will be any democratic primary in 2012.

And I can't imagine supporting anyone Obama might face in the national election in three years... in fact, let's make that an advanced directive: If I do support his opponent at that time, pull the plug. It's because I'm brain-dead.

Politics

I have them:
My Political Views
I am a left moderate social libertarian
Left: 6.42, Libertarian: 1.96

Political Spectrum Quiz This is pretty much where I fall each time I take one of these quizzes... slighly to the left of liberal, slightly below the middle in the authoritarian-libertarian spectrum. This one is longer than most though, with 50 questions, and asking the testee to rate the importance of each, which really means 100 questions.
My Foreign Policy Views
Score: -3.52

Political Spectrum Quiz

My Culture War Stance
Score: -5.89

Political Spectrum Quiz

There's a Word For That

and that word is "protestbombing." Via BuzzFeed, this may be the best one I've seen so far.Then there are the ones that are just puzzling... are these folks serious, or are they too protestbombing?Via Monkey Muck. This has been going on for a while... this one goes back to the tax-day teabaggers:How do you know this is protestbombing, not earnest white supremecy? Read his tee: "Listen to Bob Marley." And here's another from April, via Daily Kos.Good job, folks! This has got to be the best kind of bomb ever invented.