# Like anyone is fooling anyone



## 32rollandrock (May 1, 2008)

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/16/...n-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

I make no judgment as the candidate's qualifications/fitness for office, but sheesh. How much do they pay whoever it is who comes up with these things to come up with these things? I can just hear it:

First highly paid political consultant: Well, the polls are showing a significant negative association with the candidate's surname.

Second highly paid political consultant: Here's what we'll do: We'll just never mention the last name.

First highly paid political consultant: Brilliant! Should we go whole hog and legally change the name?

Second highly paid political consultant: No, that would be going too far, and besides which, polls show a negative association amongst likely voters with lawyers and the courts, and we'd need to go to court to change the name. So we'll just pretend, which is much better.

Is it really possible that such tactics work? If so, our democracy is in much greater danger than anyone thought.


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## vpkozel (May 2, 2014)

Yes, they work. Yes, it is.


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## Shaver (May 2, 2012)

It is simply delicious that the male descendants of the 'Great Beast' should continue to occupy the most powerful position in the World. 

A∴A∴


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## eagle2250 (Mar 24, 2006)

Reading the article, I found myself thinking of F. D. R. Certainly not one of the financially down trodden masses and one who had to use his wife's sense of social responsibility to interface with and advocate for all of us "poor commoners" comprising the middle and lower financial classes. FDR was not one of us, in terms of his financial and social background, but what other Administration has looked out for and done as much for the average guy, as did FDR's? I suspect, none!

Jeez Louise, if anyone on the RNC reads this, they might revoke my membership in the Republican party!


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## Duvel (Mar 16, 2014)

Yes!!



Shaver said:


> It is simply delicious that the male descendants of the 'Great Beast' should continue to occupy the most powerful position in the World.
> 
> A∴A∴


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## 32rollandrock (May 1, 2008)

John Boehner just called, and Lee Atwater is holding on line three...



eagle2250 said:


> Reading the article, I found myself thinking of F. D. R. Certainly not one of the financially down trodden masses and one who had to use his wife's sense of social responsibility to interface with and advocate for all of us "poor commoners" comprising the middle and lower financial classes. FDR was not one of us, in terms of his financial and social background, but what other Administration has looked out for and done as much for the average guy, as did FDR's? I suspect, none!
> 
> Jeez Louise, if anyone on the RNC reads this, they might revoke my membership in the Republican party!


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## eagle2250 (Mar 24, 2006)

^^Good grief...it's happening so quickly. I'll not be able to show my face at any future family reunions! LOL.


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## SG_67 (Mar 22, 2014)

Everyone settle down! It's a political campaign for God's sake.


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## Acct2000 (Sep 24, 2005)

eagle2250 said:


> Jeez Louise, if anyone on the RNC reads this, they might revoke my membership in the Republican party!


This is unfortunately one of the bad things about the Republican party - - and the Democratic. Anyone who is nuanced instead of shrill gets thrown aside without a hearing. It's really sad.


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## 32rollandrock (May 1, 2008)

SG_67 said:


> Everyone settle down! It's a political campaign for God's sake.


Oh, God. Another political campaign. We're, what, only 18 months out from Election Day? I'm so political-campaigned out I could puke. Maybe it's just me, but it seems as if the campaigns have gotten longer and longer to the point that they almost never end.


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## SG_67 (Mar 22, 2014)

^ You always have the option of ignoring them. 

You and I have nothing to worry about. Illinois always goes DNC so I doubt we'll be suffocated with ads here.


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## vpkozel (May 2, 2014)

32rollandrock said:


> Oh, God. Another political campaign. We're, what, only 18 months out from Election Day? I'm so political-campaigned out I could puke. Maybe it's just me, but it seems as if the campaigns have gotten longer and longer to the point that they almost never end.


It's not just you.....


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## Acct2000 (Sep 24, 2005)

32rollandrock said:


> Oh, God. Another political campaign. We're, what, only 18 months out from Election Day? I'm so political-campaigned out I could puke. Maybe it's just me, but it seems as if the campaigns have gotten longer and longer to the point that they almost never end.


Especially when combined with the dreary 24 hour constant news cycle. AAARGHGHGH!!!!!

Bring on the "Leave It To Beaver" reruns!!


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## phyrpowr (Aug 30, 2009)

forsbergacct2000 said:


> This is unfortunately one of the bad things about the Republican party - - and the Democratic. Anyone who is nuanced instead of shrill gets thrown aside without a hearing. It's really sad.


Amen, Brother. I just bite my tongue when anyone says anything I know to be dead wrong, and never ask the obvious question about what they "k_now", b_ecause the *first* thing out of their mouths is "OH, I guess you're one of_ them_!"


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## 32rollandrock (May 1, 2008)

SG_67 said:


> ^ You always have the option of ignoring them.
> 
> You and I have nothing to worry about. Illinois always goes DNC so I doubt we'll be suffocated with ads here.


Just wait, my friend. Our governor has just plunked down $450,000 for a media buy to blast Democratic legislators, who will surely respond in kind. The TV ads are scheduled to start within a day or two, and they will likely continue non-stop through Election Day in 2016. Keep in mind that the state's contract with AFSCME expires at the end of this month and it looks like there will either be a strike or a lockout, so the unions will be buying ads, too, and the governor will respond by doubling/tripling/four-peling down on his media buy. Before long, national interests will join in, and within a month, you're not going to be able to watch a baseball game or General Hospital or log onto Ask Andy or watch a bus go by without being bombarded with "This Message Paid For By (pick a political interest)" ads. They will be everywhere. You will not be able to ignore them, much as you wish you could. The low point will come when the cutest little girl in the entire world looks sadly into the camera as tears roll down her cheeks and sobs "My puppy died because of Obamacare and Mike Madigan." You can count on all of this and more.


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## 32rollandrock (May 1, 2008)

More like Gilligan's Island.



forsbergacct2000 said:


> Especially when combined with the dreary 24 hour constant news cycle. AAARGHGHGH!!!!!
> 
> Bring on the "Leave It To Beaver" reruns!!


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## immanuelrx (Dec 7, 2013)

Is it bad that i could care less? I mean, the possibility of Bush vs. Clinton round two (24 years later) deflates what little motivation i have to vote. I am so sick of US politics. The US needs to change the way presidential candidacy is handled.


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## SG_67 (Mar 22, 2014)

32rollandrock said:


> Just wait, my friend. Our governor has just plunked down $450,000 for a media buy to blast Democratic legislators, who will surely respond in kind. The TV ads are scheduled to start within a day or two, and they will likely continue non-stop through Election Day in 2016. Keep in mind that the state's contract with AFSCME expires at the end of this month and it looks like there will either be a strike or a lockout, so the unions will be buying ads, too, and the governor will respond by doubling/tripling/four-peling down on his media buy. Before long, national interests will join in, and within a month, you're not going to be able to watch a baseball game or General Hospital or log onto Ask Andy or watch a bus go by without being bombarded with "This Message Paid For By (pick a political interest)" ads. They will be everywhere. You will not be able to ignore them, much as you wish you could. The low point will come when the cutest little girl in the entire world looks sadly into the camera as tears roll down her cheeks and sobs "My puppy died because of Obamacare and Mike Madigan." You can count on all of this and more.


Like I said, Illinois is and will remain a democratic stronghold due to Chicago. It's old school Machine politics fueled by the unions. We may have a few ads here and there but it will be nothing like Ohio, NC, VA or other swing states.


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## eagle2250 (Mar 24, 2006)

forsbergacct2000 said:


> Especially when combined with the dreary 24 hour constant news cycle. AAARGHGHGH!!!!!
> 
> Bring on the "Leave It To Beaver" reruns!!


LOL. Reading the above, I found myself reminded of one of the most oft repeated lines of dialog uttered by the character June Cleaver to her husband Ward, generally while drinking their morning coffee, "Ward, do you think you might have been a little rough on the Beaver last night?" LOL, I wonder if the censors allow such innocently intended comments to air in today's reruns of shows like Leave It To Beaver? :icon_scratch:


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## Acct2000 (Sep 24, 2005)

Interesting perspective LOL.

I did not hear "Beaver" as a body part until I was in my 20s, though. Is it possible the word wasn't used that way when the show ran?


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## SG_67 (Mar 22, 2014)

Well, you know how much Ward loves the Beav!


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## vpkozel (May 2, 2014)

SG_67 said:


> We may have a few ads here and there but it will be nothing like Ohio, NC, VA or other swing states.


Trust me, it sucks.....


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## Shaver (May 2, 2012)

forsbergacct2000 said:


> Interesting perspective LOL.
> 
> I did not hear "Beaver" as a body part until I was in my 20s, though. Is it possible the word wasn't used that way when the show ran?


The term 'beaver' is a truncation of 'split beaver' and usage dates back to (at least) the early period of the 20th Century. The meaning of the term has drifted over time but was originally an explicit reference to a lady's pubic hair not to her generative organ.

:teacha:


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## 32rollandrock (May 1, 2008)

Well, we've got a pretty Republican governor for a Democratic stronghold...

Rauner did better than expected in Cook County. Perhaps you misunderstood: This has nothing to do with the presidential race. Rauner has made a huge media buy for a time when ads are relatively cheap, and it's only a down payment on what's to come. The ad blitz set to begin within the week is akin to softening up the beaches with shelling from offshore ships before the invasion. Strictly a guess, but I think you'll be seeing a lot more ads in Chicago and environs than you suspect. The thinking, right or wrong, may be that you weaken the enemy on his home turf. Emanuel isn't necessarily an enemy to the governor, and while he had a scare this year, he won easily in the runoff. I wouldn't be completely shocked to see a strange bedfellow alliance between those two--unlikely, of course, but nothing's impossible. So you pound the airwaves in Cook and the collar counties, hoping to turn what you perceive as a tiny crack into something more and convince Emanuel that he can go further than he's already gone, and he's still mayor despite P.O'ing his base on more than one occasion.

Rauner already has downstate locked up. He doesn't need to spend a ton of cash there, at least for the time being. But in Cook County, he can exploit fears of Chicago Public Schools going broke, really and truly, to the point that vendors or even payroll might be in jeopardy (there is already no guarantee that the pension payments can be made). The ratings agencies have downgraded Chicago/Cook County credit to the point of junk. That kind of stuff, plus sky-high property and sales taxes in Chicago, is blood in the water for Rauner, who'll be running one doomsday ad after another. I'm betting that he goes hard on the school angle: Look at this darling child who deserves a quality education so she can get ahead and live the American dream. Too bad the Democrats in Springfield have ruined her chances by enabling the financial ruin of Chicago schools. That sort of thing might have legs.

The goal, of course, is to at least get the Legislature off veto-proof territory when the 2016 election comes around, and Rauner is old enough to remember when the R's got control of the House in the early 1990s. To the extent he can define the D's on their home turf and force them to spend money in that neck of the woods that they haven't had to spend before, the governor benefits everywhere else. If nothing else, he puts the fear of God into the opposition. A Quinn-style appeal to be kind-and-gentle isn't going to work any better now than it did last year. Lastly, there is an intangible: The R's have an energized base, and they can count on lots of out-of-state money, particularly if an ad blitz now results in meaningful polling numbers. The D's seem a bit dispirited, a bit on the ropes. The state's major media--the Chicago Tribune editorial board being perhaps the best example--is almost unanimously behind the governor. Inertia helps.

I could, of course, be completely wrong. We'll know soon enough.

Addendum: This just in. He's apparently targeting the St. Louis Metro East, Rockford and Chicago. No word yet on how much in each market.

Update: I'm afraid you're going to be treated to quite a few ads. He's spending more in Chicago than any place else by a factor of more than two. Should start sometime today. Have fun!



SG_67 said:


> Like I said, Illinois is and will remain a democratic stronghold due to Chicago. It's old school Machine politics fueled by the unions. We may have a few ads here and there but it will be nothing like Ohio, NC, VA or other swing states.


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## vpkozel (May 2, 2014)

No need to worry. Trump is here to save us all.... :fool:


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## eagle2250 (Mar 24, 2006)

^^
This verges on being sufficiently bizzare to drive me to vote for Hillary...Benghazi, erased emails, making more money than the Fed, and all! Jeez Louise, if Trump were to actually win the nomination, I would be the one asking the RNC to revoke my membership card! Megalomaniacs and the Nuclear football should not be allowed in the same room. :teacha:


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## SG_67 (Mar 22, 2014)

^ He'd replace it with a gold embossed case with "TRUMP" in diamond studded raised letters.


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## Chouan (Nov 11, 2009)

Surely there is a long history of self publicist multi-millionaires running for President? I thought that, until very recently, being a multi-millionaire was one of the essential qualifications for the Office.


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## SG_67 (Mar 22, 2014)

Not necessarily, but as the Clinton's have shown it ain't hard gettin' rich afterward!


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