Political quotes of the moment

[Cramulus]

where would you place IOZ on the political spectrum?

[Cain]

Cynical nihilist doing it for the lulz.

I know from reading him he tends towards individualist anarchism with some mutualist threads.  But mostly the cynical nihilist bit.

[Cain]

Heh.  In Nir Rosen's book, Aftermath, a Dawa Party insider explains why he thinks the Americans allowed Maliki to become Prime Minister of Iraq:

"He is more rural or tribal, not urban.  He's from the Hashmiya District outside Karbala.  It was a Dawa hotbed.  His upbringing was rural, a son of the tribes, urbi [with Arab traditions] with certain ethical codes, sacrifice your self-interest for the code.  The urbanized are different; self-interest comes first.  He is tribal in a general way.  He doesn't have ideological or theological issues with Sunnis, just practical ones: if they attack us, we will attack them.  Maliki has more political appeal; he is what Iraqis need.  Saddam was urbi too, so he could mobilize tribal Arabs against Iran.  If you ignore ideology and just look at what he did, it's like Saddam, but he's not as smart as Saddam.

Emphasis mine.  A more controllable, dumber Saddam Hussein.

[Iason Ouabache]

source: http://blog.urbanomic.com/sphaleotas/archives/000489.html

In the summer of 2002, after I had written an article in Esquire that the White House didn't like about Bush's former communications director, Karen Hughes, I had a meeting with a senior adviser to Bush. He expressed the White House's displeasure, and then he told me something that at the time I didn't fully comprehend — but which I now believe gets to the very heart of the Bush presidency.

The aide said that guys like me were "in what we call the reality-based community," which he defined as people who "believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality." I nodded and murmured something about enlightenment principles and empiricism. He cut me off. "That's not the way the world really works anymore," he continued. "We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality — judiciously, as you will — we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors ... and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do."


-------------from http://blog.urbanomic.com/sphaleotas/archives/without-a-doubt/without-a-doubt.html

If this was from Rove it is very ironic that in 2008 he also said:

http://www.pollster.com/blogs/karl_roves_math.php?nr=1

ROVE: I'm looking at all of these Robert and adding them up. I add up to a Republican Senate and Republican House. You may end up with a different math but you are entitled to your math and I'm entitled to THE math.

[Cain]

Compare and contrast:

They wanted to terrorize us, but, as Americans, we refuse to live in fear.

And

Fighter planes were scrambled, bomb squads were called, FBI command centers went on alert and police teams raced to airports today, but in the end two separate airline incidents were caused by apparently innocent bathroom breaks and a little "making out," federal officials said.

[Luna]

"I refuse to believe that corporations are people until Texas executes one."

[Juana]

I like that one!

[Scribbly]

One of the headlines in the FT seems to sum up American politics as I understand it. I haven't read the story (don't have time, busy busy today!) But:

"Obama offers stark choice to Republicans

President says conservative lawmakers must choose between higher taxes on the wealthy or gutting the education and health systems."

Am I the only one who reads this and thinks 'so what that says is that Obama is giving the Republicans a choice between what he wants and what they want?' 

[Luna]

One of the headlines in the FT seems to sum up American politics as I understand it. I haven't read the story (don't have time, busy busy today!) But:

"Obama offers stark choice to Republicans

President says conservative lawmakers must choose between higher taxes on the wealthy or gutting the education and health systems."

Am I the only one who reads this and thinks 'so what that says is that Obama is giving the Republicans a choice between what he wants and what they want?' 

Actually, Obama's speech was, essentially, "look, assholes, I ain't signing anything that crosses my desk that drops all the burden on the middle class and the poor, your rich donors ARE going to pony up and start paying some fucking taxes."

[Scribbly]

Haaah. That got me to go and read the article. Seems I misunderstood the quote.

The FT are saying that what he said was he would veto any cuts to healthcare and education if it wasn't coupled with more taxes for the rich.

So they can either have no tax rises BUT spending stays the same, OR they can have tax rises AND spending cuts. 

Mr Obama said he would veto any bill from Congress that cuts healthcare for seniors if it did not include higher taxes on the wealthy

This still doesn't seem much better, but at least there is a reason for the Republicans to not want to go for gutting social spending on instinct.

[Cramulus]

"I refuse to believe that corporations are people until Texas executes one."

yoinked!

[Luna]

I found a goldmine.

"The U.S. Government should change its emblem from an eagle to a condom to more accurately reflects the government's political stance: condoms stand up to inflation, halt production, destroy the next generation, protect pricks, and give a sense of security while actually screwing you."

"What Jefferson should have said was 'Life, liberty, and the pursuit of intelligence', for the latter has never been a recognizable goal of our nation."

"If you pick any major problem in the world, chances are that the root cause is people feeling special."

"I keep hearing the argument that some things are constitutional while other things are not. The idea is that we should be in favor of all the things that were decided over 200 years ago by a bunch of slave-owning cross-dressers who pooped in holes."

"Monica Lewinsky had more President in her than George Bush ever will."

"Q: Why did Australia get the criminals and the USA get the religious zealots ?
A: Australia was allowed to choose first !"

"I think there would be a severe reduction in stupid laws if politicians (but not other members of the public) were subjected to them during a trial period, with the general public being able to see the results."

"It's always saddened me that of all the freedoms granted to American citizens, most of us choose to practice the right to be stupid and ignorant."

"It is more profitable for your congressman to support the tobacco industry than your life."

"Mr. Candidate, sir, given the overwhelming body of evidence from hundreds of different scientific fields ranging from archeology to physics to zoology, can you explain to us how you can seriously believe that the world was created 2000 years after the Babylonians invented beer ?"

"'Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty' used to mean we watched the government — not the other way around." 

"Opinions are like assholes — everyone's got one, but nobody wants to look at the other guy's."

"Politics /n/: from 'poly ticks', short for 'many small bloodsucking insects'."

"My favorite conspiracy theory is the one that says the world is being run by a handful of ultra-rich capitalists, and that our elected governments are mere puppets. I sure hope it's true. Otherwise my survival depends on hordes of clueless goobers electing competent leaders. That's about as likely as a dog pissing the Mona Lisa into a snow bank."

http://www.gdargaud.net/Humor/QuotesPolitics.html

[Precious Moments Zalgo]

"I refuse to believe that corporations are people until Texas executes one."

yoinked!

double-yoinked.

Two corporations merge, and then the combined corporation merges with a third corporation.  If corporations are people, then how come nobody gets charged with bigamy?

[Triple Zero]

"Politics /n/: from 'poly ticks', short for 'many small bloodsucking insects'."

Finally, I understand Cain's sticky

[Telarus]

"They may want to insist that corporations are 'people', but corporations certainly are not Americans." -Jon Stwewart, Daily Show Sept 22, 2011 (28:20), quoting himself from the night before speaking to Gov. Daniels of Indiana.