Do you think the repub candidates believe what they are saying or are they

[county worker]

just shilling for the 1%?

My guess is that they are lap dogs for the 1% and believe that if they do as they are told they will benefit in some way.

The reason they are so stupid is that the repub, if elected, will never really be in charge of anything. Just as Bush was never really in charge of anything. I think the electorate who would vote for them believe what they are saying but that is stupid following stupid.

So the 1% needs a place holder in the White House and they need the stupid tea party types to put them there.

[teddy51]

1. I simply think they are trying to (OUT CRAZY) each other in order to get the votes. n/t

[MineralMan]

2. I believe you'll have to be more specific with your question.

Some believe some things. Some believe a few things. Some believe they'll have another drink. Which candidates? Which things are they saying that you wonder about? Open-ended questions like this cannot be answered.

[county worker]

4. Then don't try to answer.

What the h..l are we talking about when we talk about Cain and Perry, the state of pantie hose in Africa?

[MineralMan]

8. Actually, I didn't try to answer, because there was no question

that could be answered in your post. For example, you referred to all of the GOP candidates. Now you specify just Cain and Perry. You see what I'm saying. The more specific your question, the more likely it is that you'll get an answer. Now, which one do you have in mind and what did he say that you're curious about? Narrow it down, and we can all answer.

[HopeHoops]

3. There's a solid 30% that will always vote GOP and about the same that will always vote Dem.

I can't see the GOP clown car attracting many of the remaining 40%. I think they're just giving up on 2012 and clearing the dead wood out of the candidate pool. They've got some serious clearing to do.

[vcc]

11. exactly so they figure why not screw us as much as possible...

...since no matter what they say or do they get their same 30% of followers to vote for them. The only way they ever win elections is by trying to cut down Dem votes, in all those ways they do like messing with the voting laws, districts, i.d.s, smear campaigns and whatever else...

[HopeHoops]

13. Yeah, they just REALLY fucked up the PA districting.

State Sen. Jeffrey Piccola (R., Dauphin) used to have a fairly recognizable district which included Harrisburg. The gerrymandered map took Harrisburg out of his district and put it in one that is a reliable Democratic district. In place of Harrisburg, they put in parts of three other counties (Perry, Cumberland, and Adams) to form what's being called "the horseshoe district". Piccola doesn't give a shit about rural areas (or anyone who isn't rich). I think the paper said it spans 158 miles and it essentially replaces a solid blue area with sparsely populated regions. That seat has been close to going blue for a while.

Now to be fair to Piccola, it doesn't look like he participated in the redistricting process and he has announced that he doesn't plan to run again. The Palinoid said something like that recently but I bet she'll still jump into the race. It is a fair bet that he participated behind the scenes and given some of his razor-thin victories in recent elections he probably had already told Corbett that he wasn't going to run and they did what they could to keep the district in red territory for the next Republican to run for the seat.

That kind of shit really needs to stop. Both sides do it, but this is an extreme case. The worst I ever heard about was about 20 years ago when they connected to heavily red areas (I think in Texas, don't remember for sure) about 5 miles apart by a tiny little stream - human population: 0. Fish don't vote.

On Edit: On a historical note, the original "gerrymander" comes from a redistricting plan set by MA gov. Elbridge Gerry in 1812 and it was given the name because the district Essex County-based district looked like a salamander.

[Douglas Carpenter]

5. except for phony old Mitt Romney - yes they pretty much believe what they are saying

The vast majority of people do believe what they are saying. Most competitive people internalize the beliefs of what it is in their interest or perceive to be in their interest to believe. Total phonies like Mitt Romney and frankly some very prominent Democratic Party politicians as well are frequently more successful the same way phonies at work and in business are frequently more successful.

[No Joe]

9. Frightening

Isn't it?

[NNN0LHI]

6. In what way Charlie?

[Puzzledtraveller]

7. I truly believe Ron Paul does

the others, mostly shills. As for RP because he really seems to believe what he says makes him that much scarier.

[dtexdem]

10. That depends on how dumb one thinks they are -- are the dumb enough to believe what they say?

I have no doubt that some of them are. All of them? Maybe.

[applegrove]

12. I think Cain probably believes what he has been taught by the Koch brothers. Newt knows it is

propaganda to help the 1%.

[11 Bravo]

14. Bachmann, Santorum, and Paul ... YES. (They are all, of course, clinically batshit.)

The rest are just political whores, willing to say whatever they think may garner a few votes.

[Gregorian]

15. BRAINLESS PARROTS

I want to share my experiences, but I don't have the time. I'll just say that I know people who buy land, log it, and sell it. Same mentality. Money is everything. Shit for brains.