jerseyhoya wrote:So a breast cancer charity gave around $700,000 annually to Planned Parenthood, and people who wanted to support the cause but disapprove of abortion complained, so they stopped to assuage those donors.

Planned Parenthood's annual revenue is over $1 billion. If people want to give to Planned Parenthood, why not give to Planned Parenthood?

I said it was kinda sorta not real political, I didn't say it was no effing way political

DONALD TRUMP appears to be endorsing NOOT tomorrow

Really think I might need to reregister Independent of Mitt doesn't win the nomination

jerseyhoya wrote:DONALD TRUMP appears to be endorsing NOOT tomorrow

Really think I might need to reregister Independent of Mitt doesn't win the nomination

There should be a default to your rendition of the former speaker's first name here. It somehow captures the man, pro and con, in a way more than mere letters can signify. Anyone who enters his name in a post should find it transformed:

NOOT

The thread title would be a good place to start, too.

I think Newt is my ally

jerseyhoya wrote:DONALD TRUMP appears to be endorsing NOOT tomorrow

Really think I might need to reregister Independent of Mitt doesn't win the nomination

RINO poseur.

So I wonder how much money is pouring into Mitt's Superpac from Bain types who want him as president so he can set it up for them to pillage as much of the public's money as possible.

The robber barons are circling.

By the way, isn't robber baron the perfect description of Romney and his old job at Bain, making money hand over fist without adding anything of value? That's got to be the modern day equivalent of forcing boats to pay tolls on the Rhine as they pass through the estates of the rich, taking a huge cut while adding nothing to the product. It's soulless.

jerseyhoya wrote:DONALD TRUMP appears to be endorsing NOOT tomorrow

Sane views on marriage, and gays

Trump loves the gays like he loves the blacks.

jerseyhoya wrote:McDonnell is one of the most popular governors in America though.

Because he's the consummate politication and hasn't done anything too extreme while in office that would create a backlash here, i.e., job disapproval ratings. And his approval ratings are typically tied to him rather than his policies... the polls that ask about whether Virginians approve of the majority of his policies typically show a greater than 10% drop.

RichmondPhilsFan wrote:

jerseyhoya wrote:McDonnell is one of the most popular governors in America though.

Because he's the consummate politication and hasn't done anything too extreme while in office that would create a backlash here, i.e., job disapproval ratings. And his approval ratings are typically tied to him rather than his policies... the polls that ask about whether Virginians approve of the majority of his policies typically show a greater than 10% drop.

I completely agree with Richmond. The popularity index is based on people who do not have Bob as their Governor. Maybe to our benefit he has not yet acted on his impulses and controlled his controversies. He has even taken his defeats well. The result is fairly vanilla leadership. Pure political survival instincts, but rather traitorous to his personal beliefs. Perhaps he is just too fearful to act on his positions.

In my opinion, McDonnell likely would not have won had the Democrats bothered to run a candidate who had a brain, instead they took their last two victories into the election with incredible smugness and ran a smug, clueless, inaccessible, and unlikable clown who had no plan and did not want to discuss how he would lead. It was like it was the election for the mayor of D.C.

Under the hood, McDonnell has too many publicly recorded stances that will doom him if he seeks higher office. That said, he is less extreme then scores of extremists elected to local and state posts.

I don't want to touch the Komen position further as we will end up in a discussion that has no winners, only losers. I will be curious to see what the effect will be from their whole donor community. We will know with the receipts for 2012.

CNN and Drudge suggesting Trump's endorsement may go to Romney. Can you feel the excitement building?

thephan wrote:I don't want to touch the Komen position further as we will end up in a discussion that has no winners, only losers. I will be curious to see what the effect will be from their whole donor community. We will know with the receipts for 2012.

Am I the only one who finds the Susan Komen thing a bit creepy and almost cult like?

See, it can always be worse.

RichmondPhilsFan wrote:

jerseyhoya wrote:McDonnell is one of the most popular governors in America though.

Because he's the consummate politication and hasn't done anything too extreme while in office that would create a backlash here, i.e., job disapproval ratings. And his approval ratings are typically tied to him rather than his policies... the polls that ask about whether Virginians approve of the majority of his policies typically show a greater than 10% drop.

Most people don't know what their governor actually does. If they're happy with how things are going and he has a 2/1 approval rating in a swing state and he's not doing anything too extreme and is the consummate politician, those seem to be arguments against his creepiness/being a liability as VP.

drsmooth wrote:

jerseyhoya wrote:DONALD TRUMP appears to be endorsing NOOT tomorrow

Really think I might need to reregister Independent of Mitt doesn't win the nomination

There should be a default to your rendition of the former speaker's first name here. It somehow captures the man, pro and con, in a way more than mere letters can signify. Anyone who enters his name in a post should find it transformed:

NOOT

The thread title would be a good place to start, too.

One of the things I like best about it is that if you look at it quickly it could read as NOT.

Monkeyboy wrote:So I wonder how much money is pouring into Mitt's Superpac from Bain types who want him as president so he can set it up for them to pillage as much of the public's money as possible.

The robber barons are circling.

By the way, isn't robber baron the perfect description of Romney and his old job at Bain, making money hand over fist without adding anything of value? That's got to be the modern day equivalent of forcing boats to pay tolls on the Rhine as they pass through the estates of the rich, taking a huge cut while adding nothing to the product. It's soulless.

I'm not sure you realize
A) How good the laws are currently for "Bain types". If you did, you might consider the possibility that those folks might rather not have a Romney candidate drawing attention to the parts of the tax codes having to do with carried interest. For example: here or here

B) What private equity actually does, and why educational institutions and foundations might decide to put parts of their portfolio in such "soulless" entities that "add nothing of value."

Yes, they are likely raising money for Romney, but more so (my guess) because Newt Gingrich is a buffoon and stands no chance to beat Obama. A Republican in power will be better off for them than Obama. Additionally, a "Bain type" Republican likely identifies more with Romney than Gingrich/Santorum/Paul.

Werthless wrote:

Monkeyboy wrote:So I wonder how much money is pouring into Mitt's Superpac from Bain types who want him as president so he can set it up for them to pillage as much of the public's money as possible.

The robber barons are circling.

By the way, isn't robber baron the perfect description of Romney and his old job at Bain, making money hand over fist without adding anything of value? That's got to be the modern day equivalent of forcing boats to pay tolls on the Rhine as they pass through the estates of the rich, taking a huge cut while adding nothing to the product. It's soulless.

I'm not sure you realize
A) How good the laws are currently for "Bain types". If you did, you might consider the possibility that those folks might rather not have a Romney candidate drawing attention to the parts of the tax codes having to do with carried interest. For example: here or here

B) What private equity actually does, and why educational institutions and foundations might decide to put parts of their portfolio in such "soulless" entities that "add nothing of value."

Yes, they are likely raising money for Romney, but more so (my guess) because Newt Gingrich is a buffoon and stands no chance to beat Obama. A Republican in power will be better off for them than Obama. Additionally, a "Bain type" Republican likely identifies more with Romney than Gingrich/Santorum/Paul.

I believe the Bain types think he'll work in their best interests, particularly if the GOP can manage to take back the Senate. I'm talking about dismantling companies and recommending that pensions go unpaid on behalf of people who don't need more money.

I'm not sure I understand the part where you say they wouldn't want Romney to draw attention to them, but then say they are raising money for him. Why would they raise money for a guy who they want to keep under wraps? They could have backed any of the other nominees, but they went with the hatchetman. He was their pick going in.

Anyway, Mitt=Bain

"private equity" is more descriptive of a category of financial strategies than, say, "mutual fund"?

doesn't feel like it

jerseyhoya wrote:

RichmondPhilsFan wrote:

jerseyhoya wrote:McDonnell is one of the most popular governors in America though.

Because he's the consummate politication and hasn't done anything too extreme while in office that would create a backlash here, i.e., job disapproval ratings. And his approval ratings are typically tied to him rather than his policies... the polls that ask about whether Virginians approve of the majority of his policies typically show a greater than 10% drop.

Most people don't know what their governor actually does. If they're happy with how things are going and he has a 2/1 approval rating in a swing state and he's not doing anything too extreme and is the consummate politician, those seem to be arguments against his creepiness/being a liability as VP.

You're missing my point. I really don't know how to state it more clearly. Dude has baggage, from his prior absurd statements to anti-gay policy decisions to his longtime political affiliations (Pat Robertson) to the aforementioned racial insensitivity. He can get away with it here, especially when the VA Dem Party didn't have a ready-for-primetime candidate in 2009, but probably can't get away with it on a national level. When I say that he's the consummate politician, I mean that he always keeps a smile on his face and since the Confederate History Month flap he has learned to duck controversial subjects and let state legislators do his dirty work (abortions, guns, etc.).

His biggest brag line is balancing the state budget (which is required by our constitution), and he only pulled that off by relying heavily on federal stimulus dollars and borrowing against the state employees' pension plan. This time around, he's proposed cutting education spending to pay for his complicated transportation package but is still increasing the overall budget... small government conservativism for ya.

So let Romney tap him as a VP candidate. He brings credibility in a swing state (kinda), but at the expense of adding more religious nutjobbery to a GOP ticket that'll already be rife with it. That'll really woo the moderates.

jerseyhoya wrote:CNN and Drudge suggesting Trump's endorsement may go to Romney. Can you feel the excitement building?

Fox & Friends was seriously discussing Trump as being a viable independent candidate. They thought the announcement is that he isn't endorsing anyone to keep his options open.

The latter is entirely possible given the level of Trump's narcisism. The former is beyond hilarious.