The Second Presidential Debate, or a Televised Suicide

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > The Second Presidential Debate, or a Televised Suicide

Kilroy: Oct 1, 2000

sweet thursday posted:

This is the only thing that lets me sleep at night. There was an ex-actor with brains that got more and more like swiss cheese every day with a) a belief in a fire and brimstone righteous ending to humanity and b) the nuclear code during the height of the cold war and.. we're still here. Surely Trump couldn't be worse than that? Right?

Reagan was an rear end in a top hat but he wasn't a malignant narcissist with no understanding of cause and effect and proportional response. Reagan understood why you couldn't actually nuke half a country because they taunted some sailors or whatever.

# ¿ Oct 10, 2016 07:12

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# ¿ May 16, 2024 05:21

Kilroy: Oct 1, 2000

Dork457 posted:

I'm sure that this has been addressed but whats with the cheering from the audience from both sides? Have supporters in the audience been instructed by each candidate to make a lot of noise as soon as something resembling a 'zinger' comes out? It took me by surprise the first time it happened.

Those are the rules and the audience is instructed to shut the hell up, but if they ignore it I guess there is not much the debate folks can do. They're not going to escort people out of a Presidential debate, and they probably aren't making audience members turn over a cash deposit which they forfeit if they make noise (I would do this).

# ¿ Oct 10, 2016 07:25

Kilroy: Oct 1, 2000

Polygynous posted:

I think the only way to get an audience to be silent for one of these things is to only let in PoliSci students who are totally serious about debates guys.

(and probably not even then)

$5000 deposit with a microphone in your seat which deducts $1000 each time you break the rules. Maybe increase those numbers by an order of magnitude (or two, or more) depending on if the audience member is a wealthy plutocrat.

# ¿ Oct 10, 2016 07:35

Kilroy: Oct 1, 2000

Steve2911 posted:

Can this apply to candidates interrupting too? Except several million per interrupt, obviously.

For that we rely on squirt guns filled with cat piss.

# ¿ Oct 10, 2016 07:44

Kilroy: Oct 1, 2000

NewForumSoftware posted:

It's really hard to believe this when we had a blue congress, senate, and presidency and got Obamacare.

The idea that all democrats are actually progressives and are just in some sort of 10th dimensional chess with the GOP seems kind of absurd on its face.

Why is it so bad to admit that the Democratic party is a centrist party(not saying it always has been or always will be, but it is now). The party itself actively fought against having a progressive nominated for the presidency.

I tend to agree with you that we're not going to get progressive policy until the legislature is progressive, but I don't think "blue" has anything to do with it.

I'm more or less an "undecided voter" in the sense that there is no way in hell I am voting for Trump but I might be able to stomach voting for Hillary if she could stop talking about escalating world conflicts, increasing data collection, or blaming Russia for anything bad that happens to her campaign.

The Democratic party of 2008 was considerably more centrist than now, to the point that the center of gravity of the party has probably shifted left of the sitting President, whereas the party was to the right of Obama when he was elected.

The Blue Dogs got their asses handed to them in 2010. They are no longer a going concern. No one remembers who Joe Lieberman is except for like a dozen or so people including myself who are under the effects of a curse.

If the Democrats control the government after this election (i.e. if they take the House) we'll get single-payer - count on it.

# ¿ Oct 10, 2016 20:15

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# ¿ May 16, 2024 05:21

Kilroy: Oct 1, 2000

Eugene V. Dabs posted:

Eh, I'd say we might get a public option but not full single payer.

Yeah, I think you're right we're not going to have a de jure single payer healthcare system in the US ever, or at least for as long as the US constitution is enforced. But a medicare / medicaid expansion into a full public option, if done well, could be something that eventually covers 80% of Americans or more. At that point we would essentially have a single payer system. And, while we won't get rid of health insurance we might regulate it to the point that, as far as coverage and expense goes, you can hardly tell one from the other and from medicare / medicaid. For all intents and purposes we would have single payer, and to the typical American it would appear as such even if it isn't technically the case.

# ¿ Oct 11, 2016 06:22

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > The Second Presidential Debate, or a Televised Suicide