A political question of our American friends.
Discussion
First off this is absolutely not intended to be an American bashing thread in anyway shape or form. All countries have their winkers and we certainly have ours so lets not go down that path.
What I simply can not understand, even with a Politics based degree, is why something as stupid as the linked story is even considered a battleground. I mean for fuggs sake guys. IT’S A CHEAP TURN OF PHRASE!!! It’s not as though Obi1 has said Palin sucks ass, nor is it in anyway sexist.
So here we have the next potential President of the US (pick a side) taking the most utterly abstract interpretation of a few words and making it grounds for why someone shouldn’t vote for whomever.
Okay, like us, you have more than your fair share of morons with a vote but is it really this bad? I mean our lot act like children but don’t exactly try to pretend that they aren’t, nor are they airbrushed out of recognition.
So why is the US so fixed on this sort of stuff? Is it just for the benefit of your LCDs, and hope for the best that the fence sitters with half a brain wont chalk it against you?
I can get the race split, the imaginary friend fixation (just), the (slightly over done at times IMO) massive patriotism and 1001 other factors but this just does not compute…
That link:-
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7608653....
rude-boy said:
First off this is absolutely not intended to be an American bashing thread...
<Goes on to start the American bashing>
I'm starting to think that some members on here are a little jealous of our American friends. <Goes on to start the American bashing>
I get sick of reading these threads about how Americans should run their country, they chose to do it themselves and in their own way so leave them to it. It’s not even like we have to endure living in the place and nor do they stop their own people from leaving.
North Korea...now that's a bit different.
speedy_thrills said:
rude-boy said:
First off this is absolutely not intended to be an American bashing thread...
<Goes on to start the American bashing>
I'm starting to think that some members on here are a little jealous of our American friends. <Goes on to start the American bashing>
I get sick of reading these threads about how Americans should run their country, they chose to do it themselves and in their own way so leave them to it. It’s not even like we have to endure living in the place and nor do they stop their own people from leaving.
North Korea...now that's a bit different.
king insulting or obtuse. READ THE WHOLE POST PLEASEYou will see from my posting history and from any other evidence you wish to draw upon that i have no axe to grind, nor is my post in anyway bashing, it is asking a real, honest question.
Please remove your blinkers and open your mind to the difference between a rant, a s
gging off and asking a straight question.Edited by rude-boy on Thursday 11th September 01:11
carerra g tea said:
rude-boy said:
... but is it really this bad?
Yes.speedy_thrills said:
rude-boy said:
First off this is absolutely not intended to be an American bashing thread...
<Goes on to start the American bashing>
I'm starting to think that some members on here are a little jealous of our American friends. <Goes on to start the American bashing>
Second to the op, have a look here & you won't believe some of the total nonsense posted.
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/forumdisplay.php?f...
rude-boy said:
Do not even dare to be so fking insulting or obtuse.
There is more than a hint or irony in that. If it was meant to be insulting I’d have been a sharper.king insulting or obtuse.rude-boy said:
READ THE WHOLE POST PLEASE
Again?rude-boy said:
You will see from my posting history and from any other evidence you wish to draw upon that i have no axe to grind, nor is my post in anyway bashing, it is asking a real, honest question.
Well the way that you chose to word it looked very provocative and bias to me. I’ll let others decide if this is really the case.rude-boy said:
Please remove your blinkers and open your mind to the difference between a rant, a sgging off and asking a straight question.
You forgot baiting and provocation.gging off and asking a straight question. speedy_thrills said:
rude-boy said:
Do not even dare to be so fking insulting or obtuse.
There is more than a hint or irony in that. If it was meant to be insulting I’d have been a sharper.king insulting or obtuse.rude-boy said:
READ THE WHOLE POST PLEASE
Again?rude-boy said:
You will see from my posting history and from any other evidence you wish to draw upon that i have no axe to grind, nor is my post in anyway bashing, it is asking a real, honest question.
Well the way that you chose to word it looked very provocative and bias to me. I’ll let others decide if this is really the case.rude-boy said:
Please remove your blinkers and open your mind to the difference between a rant, a sgging off and asking a straight question.
You forgot baiting and provocation.gging off and asking a straight question. 
, as you where gentlemen.
jeff m said:
Back on track 
The petty nit picking of words is akin to two Valley Cheerleaders who both want to be prom queen.
These guys have writers, plenty of them, some good some not so good. Anyway it keeps them off the issues which is safer for both of them.
That's about the long and the short of it.The petty nit picking of words is akin to two Valley Cheerleaders who both want to be prom queen.
These guys have writers, plenty of them, some good some not so good. Anyway it keeps them off the issues which is safer for both of them.
GavinPearson said:
I think the media are blowing the comment out of all proportion and many people simply don't care.
In 6 weeks this is all going to seem like gentle diplomacy as the politicians get ever more desparate to grab swing voters.
Yup!.....I could care less what those doucebags are up to!In 6 weeks this is all going to seem like gentle diplomacy as the politicians get ever more desparate to grab swing voters.
can I say that on here?
Edited by Trooper2 on Thursday 11th September 02:35
Trooper2 said:
GavinPearson said:
I think the media are blowing the comment out of all proportion and many people simply don't care.
In 6 weeks this is all going to seem like gentle diplomacy as the politicians get ever more desparate to grab swing voters.
Yup!.....I could care less what those doucebags are up to!In 6 weeks this is all going to seem like gentle diplomacy as the politicians get ever more desparate to grab swing voters.
can I say that on here?
Edited by Trooper2 on Thursday 11th September 02:35
Trooper2 said:
GavinPearson said:
I think the media are blowing the comment out of all proportion and many people simply don't care.
In 6 weeks this is all going to seem like gentle diplomacy as the politicians get ever more desparate to grab swing voters.
Yup!.....I could care less what those doucebags are up to!In 6 weeks this is all going to seem like gentle diplomacy as the politicians get ever more desparate to grab swing voters.
can I say that on here?
Whats more worrying on this is how much political feavor the US elections is driving up in Asia ... people seem obsessed with it!!
I just sit in the corner drinking beer and muttering proper British swear words occasionally (the ones that do bet a b
ks filter )Edited by XJSJohn on Thursday 11th September 03:16
Rude...you have a politics degree and you cant see why it was a disastrous comment to make?
In current social pyschology a political speech involving the word "lipstick" = Sarah Palin. Ergo, BO just called her a pig.
Thats your story and the kicker right there. It doesnt matter whether he was re-using an old line from JM, it only references Palin because that is what lipstick in politics has become associated with.
There is also the underlying tension over feminism in this race. They got away with it in the Primaries because Hilly Clinton already had a sizable block of opposition, therefore, she could be attacked quite hard and they wouldnt run the risk of being accused of outright sexism. Palin doesnt come with that baggage, she comes with her own religious stuff, but mostly her "baggage" is the good stuff...working mum done good, etc. BO comes across as attacking that, by invoking the lipstick comment and the image of a pig, in the popular perception he just attacked every woman in the States on some level or other.
It was a staggeringly naive thing for BO to say, but he made it because he was under pressure and frankly it revealed him for a bit more of what he is...a member of the intellectual elite, not the outside "change" candidate he tries to protray. He thought he could use the comment to highlight and embarrass McCain because he used it before. He thought it would be a political joke that would get picked up and he would be congratulated for being clever. He wasnt thinking of the ordinary working punter in the street. Politics is *never* about the issues, it is always about perception.
In current social pyschology a political speech involving the word "lipstick" = Sarah Palin. Ergo, BO just called her a pig.
Thats your story and the kicker right there. It doesnt matter whether he was re-using an old line from JM, it only references Palin because that is what lipstick in politics has become associated with.
There is also the underlying tension over feminism in this race. They got away with it in the Primaries because Hilly Clinton already had a sizable block of opposition, therefore, she could be attacked quite hard and they wouldnt run the risk of being accused of outright sexism. Palin doesnt come with that baggage, she comes with her own religious stuff, but mostly her "baggage" is the good stuff...working mum done good, etc. BO comes across as attacking that, by invoking the lipstick comment and the image of a pig, in the popular perception he just attacked every woman in the States on some level or other.
It was a staggeringly naive thing for BO to say, but he made it because he was under pressure and frankly it revealed him for a bit more of what he is...a member of the intellectual elite, not the outside "change" candidate he tries to protray. He thought he could use the comment to highlight and embarrass McCain because he used it before. He thought it would be a political joke that would get picked up and he would be congratulated for being clever. He wasnt thinking of the ordinary working punter in the street. Politics is *never* about the issues, it is always about perception.
Politics (not just in the US) is all about presentation and image these days. How the candidates present themselves and how their comments will play on the main news bulletins is all important.
Therefore, they spend a lot of their time making comments which should be condensable into "sound-bites" for broadcast snippets. Their speech writers are fully aware of this and tailor their speeches to contain these types of comments. On occasion, they get it wrong and the sound-bite opportunity is messed up and the sound-bite used backfires.
The candidates must be run ragged as they zip backwards and forwards across the vastness of the continental USA, dropping into a place for an hour or two and them being whisked away to make another speech, another rally, another round of glad handing and fund raising.
Frankly, I'm amazed they don't put their feet in it more often than they do.
Therefore, they spend a lot of their time making comments which should be condensable into "sound-bites" for broadcast snippets. Their speech writers are fully aware of this and tailor their speeches to contain these types of comments. On occasion, they get it wrong and the sound-bite opportunity is messed up and the sound-bite used backfires.
The candidates must be run ragged as they zip backwards and forwards across the vastness of the continental USA, dropping into a place for an hour or two and them being whisked away to make another speech, another rally, another round of glad handing and fund raising.
Frankly, I'm amazed they don't put their feet in it more often than they do.
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