Stolen Valor: CT Senate candidate Richard Blumenthal's

[Magox]

Well, at least he was one hell of a swimmer, or was he?

 

One such discrepancy which in other circumstances would be trivial concerns the candidate’s prowess as a swimmer. In two published profiles that he has not corrected he is described as a former captain of the Harvard swimming team. He was never even on it.

[Gene Frenkle]

But if you didn't know...you're an idiot.

I actually did know.

 

Does that make me less of an idiot?

[Gene Frenkle]

So in conclusion, you believe that conservatives are selfish, but are unable to explain why you think the way you think and when pressed to explain why you think the way you think, you call me a moron and a partisan shill, and then follow it up with links to websites which suggests that not only are you unable to explain why you think the way you think, but that you're actually either too damn lazy or damn stupid to explain why you think the way you think.

I'm just having fun. You really need me to explain why a big-government-endorsing, fetus-killing, idealistic, idiotic bleeding heart liberal like myself thinks conservatism is a selfish philosophy? If you ask me nicely 3 more times, I'll fill you in on the bullet points.

 

Thanks for advancing the conversation. You're all class.

The term "class" is so over-used and cliché. Try not to be a cliché.

[Chef Jim]

I actually did know.

 

Does that make me less of an idiot?

 

Yes, but still an idiot nonetheless.

[Gene Frenkle]

Yes, but still an idiot nonetheless.

As with selfishness, idiocy is relative.

[GG]

I'm just having fun. You really need me to explain why a big-government-endorsing, fetus-killing, idealistic, idiotic bleeding heart liberal like myself thinks conservatism is a selfish philosophy? If you ask me nicely 3 more times, I'll fill you in on the bullet points.

 

 

The term "class" is so over-used and cliché. Try not to be a cliché.

 

If selfish means allowing people to make a decision for themselves whether its to succeed or fail, instead of wrapping everyone up in a protective government cocoon so that you can feel better about yourself, without actually making people's lives better, then yeah sign me up for that selfish gig.

 

Has anyone called you naive this week, yet?

[Alaska Darin]

You're still buying that BS Swift Boat smear campaign on Kerry, unbelievable. Yeah, he didn't respond forcefully enough to the liars and let them form the narrative, but in the end it was a sad chapter in dirty politics where the liars profited from their lies.

Kerry's a lying scumbag piece of crap who got the exact medicine he's been doling out his entire political career. It's the perfect example of "what goes around, comes around". It's awesome that you continue to defend him like he's some kind of victim.

[Gene Frenkle]

If selfish means allowing people to make a decision for themselves whether its to succeed or fail, instead of wrapping everyone up in a protective government cocoon so that you can feel better about yourself, without actually making people's lives better, then yeah sign me up for that selfish gig.

 

Has anyone called you naive this week, yet?

Oh look, you've painted the conservative position in a favorable light and given the extreme socialist alternative as the only available alternative. How enlightening...

 

In the far better compassionate conservative scenario, what do you do with those who "decide" to fail?

[Chef Jim]

As with selfishness, idiocy is relative.

 

Maybe, but a lot easier to diagnose.

[IDBillzFan]

Oh look, you've painted the conservative position in a favorable light and given the extreme socialist alternative as the only available alternative. How enlightening...

 

In the far better compassionate conservative scenario, what do you do with those who "decide" to fail?

Did they decide to fail, or did they choose not to succeed because they know they'll get free handouts from the government for just having some babies?

 

Did they decide to fail, or did they choose not to succeed because they know they can earn decent money from unemployment, welfare and food stamps, and it doesn't require going to a job every day?

 

We'll always help the helpless. The clueless are on their own. You apparently believe that everyone who fails is a victim of society. How wonderfully supportive of you. Feel free to give them all you've got.

[Magox]

Oh look, you've painted the conservative position in a favorable light and given the extreme socialist alternative as the only available alternative. How enlightening...

 

In the far better compassionate conservative scenario, what do you do with those who "decide" to fail?

It's about being held accountable and suffering the consequences of the poor decisions that people and corporations make, and yes, that also includes the state and federal government as well. I think that this Greece situation that is spreading throughout all of Europe is beginning to prove that the Welfare State Government model DOESN'T WORK! You will be hearing a lot more about this over the next few years, I'm sure of it. Every time you hear one of these countries suffering from a run on their government debt, it will be a constant reminder of why this economic model is failing. And as a result of these government's selfless , and compassionate actions, while good intentioned, is helping create more pain, suffering, higher unemployment and anguish for themselves and their citizens than if they would of followed a more fiscal conservative sustainable model.

 

Forget about what's happening today in Europe, look at their growth over the past 30 years. They have lagged the U.S in just about every single economic category. Their unemployment and inflation has consistently been much higher than ours, and the reason is because they keep giving free **** to their citizens. But yes, it's the selfless thing to do, I mean afterall, the "progressives" are right, look at the European model, and how dare we be the only developed nation in the world without socialized health care. Yes, let's look at Europe as being a country that we should try to model ourselves after.

 

You know, that argument never resonated with me. I would always ask myself, Why in the !@#$ would we want to model ourselves after Europe, considering how ****ty their growth, unemployment and inflation problems are, and the ridiculous tax rate that their citizens pay? Don't people realize that it's because of the tremendous burden of their culture of entitlements and higher taxes that lead them to these problems?

 

Well, I get it, and I understand why these things are happening, and fortunately (or unfortunately depending on from who's perspective) these uber idealogical liberals will be voted out in the next few years ( I hope).

 

The "Progressive" model of trying to create an entitlement system here in the U.S will soon be broken. The Unions will cry, Moveon.org will **** bricks and fiscal conservatism will prove to be the better economic model for this and for that matter any developed country.

 

It's time that people recognize (and I believe it's already beginning) that bigger government philosophies is proving today in Europe, is an unsustainable system for a country to move forward with. The one good thing that is occuring right now, is that all this fear in Europe is driving foreign money into our U.S bonds, which will help us keep interest rates low, not just for corporations, consumers and U.S borrowing costs, but it will buy us time to give us an opportunity to get back to fiscal conservatism. It is imperative that we reform S.S, Medicare and Defense spending along with repealing this nightmare health insurance bill, along with intelligent, business friendly tax increases (if there is such a thing), and only then can we avoid having a dollar crisis.

 

And I can assure you, no one wants to see the collateral damage of a systemic dollar crisis. It would be far worse than what we have been going through.

[GG]

Oh look, you've painted the conservative position in a favorable light and given the extreme socialist alternative as the only available alternative. How enlightening...

 

In the far better compassionate conservative scenario, what do you do with those who "decide" to fail?

 

So, it's ok for you to an extremist view of the other side - and I get called selfish?

[erynthered]

Kerry's a lying scumbag piece of crap who got the exact medicine he's been doling out his entire political career. It's the perfect example of "what goes around, comes around". It's awesome that you continue to defend him like he's some kind of victim.

 

 

.......and you're surprised by this from Joe?

[DC Tom]

Oh look, you've painted the conservative position in a favorable light and given the extreme socialist alternative as the only available alternative. How enlightening...

 

Waaaah! Somebody's countered my extremist preconceived stereotype with something equally stupid! Waaaaaah!

 

In the far better compassionate conservative scenario, what do you do with those who "decide" to fail?

 

Soylent Green.

[Gene Frenkle]

Soylent Green.

This illustrates my point. No principled anti-big government honk worth his salt ever answers that question with anything other than vague references to personal responsibility. Talk about idealism...

[Gene Frenkle]

...

 

It's time that people recognize (and I believe it's already beginning) that bigger government philosophies is proving today in Europe, is an unsustainable system for a country to move forward with.

 

...

I'm not going to argue economic theory with you, but it seems to me that neither extreme on its own is very good. It also seems to me that the pendulum is continually swinging back and forth between the two extremes, depending on which constituency is pissed off enough to rally Independents at any moment.

[DC Tom]

This illustrates my point. No principled anti-big government honk worth his salt ever answers that question with anything other than vague references to personal responsibility. Talk about idealism...

 

Seriously...what the hell is wrong with saying that anyone who decides to fail has to live with the results of their decision? C'est la !@#$ing vie.

 

I don't know if that makes me selfish or not. I do know that if I'm unemployed and can't pay my mortgage, I lose my house, and it's no one else's responsibility to bail me out.

[Magox]

I'm not going to argue economic theory with you, but it seems to me that neither extreme on its own is very good. It also seems to me that the pendulum is continually swinging back and forth between the two extremes, depending on which constituency is pissed off enough to rally Independents at any moment.

I agree.

[Magox]

Roubini's take on our debt.

 

May 19 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. may fall victim to bond “vigilantes” targeting indebted nations from the U.K. to Japan in a potential second stage of the financial crisis, New York University professor Nouriel Roubini said.

 

“Bond market vigilantes have already woken up in Greece, in Spain, in Portugal, in Ireland, in Iceland, and soon enough they could wake up in the U.K., in Japan, in the United States, if we keep on running very large fiscal deficits,” Roubini said at an event at the London School of Economics yesterday. “The chances are, they are going to wake up in the United States in the next three years and say, ‘this is unsustainable.’”

 

If this were to play out, it would be a nightmare situation of epic proportions.

 

 

Here's what the IMF said a couple days ago.

 

The U.S. national debt will soon reach 100 percent of GDP, the IMF predicts in a new report.

 

The following graph shows the sharp rise in U.S. debt starting around 2006. By 2015, the IMF suggests, debt could reach well over 100 percent of GDP.

 

The IMF predicts that the United States would need to reduce its structural deficit by the equivalent of 12 percent of GDP, a much larger portion than any other country analyzed except Japan. Greece, in the midst of a financial crisis, needs to reduce its structural deficit by just 9 percent of GDP, according to the IMF's analysis.

 

Basically what they are saying is that we will have to cut more on a relative scale than Greece. There would be no way to do that without seriously reforming/cutting S.S, Medicare, Defense and this health insurance bill. Just as Roubini suggested, no one who holds public office wants to cut some of these entitlements. But it's going to have to be done, there is no way around it. The question is who is going to have the courage to do it? And I don't believe either party has the stomach to do it with a majority vote, and unfortunately we will have to go through a crisis in order for us to try to serious tackle the problem and by then the damage will already have been done.

[UConn James]

OK, I don't quite know how we got to some dude Roubini talking about the European economy in a thread about Dick Blumenthal, but whatever. That's the course of things on PPP. Distraction from the original story, and pretty soon the focus is off of the original story as people spin away just like the spinners want them too.

 

Back on topic, in the Hartford Courant political section: Link

The Cook Political Report - one of the most highly respected, non-partisan national analyses - is now saying that the U.S. Senate race in Connecticut is a toss-up.

 

It'll be interesting to see the next Quinnipiac poll....