The Thurston Mittens the 3rd Veep Megathread

[Martinus]

Probably would depend on who was running for President. After all, I voted for Palin though she was more of sore spot when casting my ballot for McCain.

I remember my Dad was leaning McCain about 70/30, right up to the point Palin demonstrated exactly how vapid and uneducated she really was.  No way in hell after that.

And this is the guy that voted Bush in 2000, because he was comfortable with the fact that Dick Cheney would really be the one running the White House. 

Dick Cheney may be evil but he is not a fool.

[derspiess]

And yet, if The General were running for Veep on the GOP ticket opposing Obama, you'd throw him under the bus the first chance you got.

No, I wouldn't.  Because he's dead now.

Nice cop out, wuss

[derspiess]

Romney is the best example why business and politics should not mix, at least not directly. Why? Because it is bad for business.

The "shady dealings" Romney is being accused of (e.g. setting up a LuxCo structure to optimise tax treatment of the cash you repatriate from your investment) are pretty much a standard fare in all private equity deals, expected by investors and practiced by everybody. But to an uninitiated eye of the bloodthirsty public they look like a crime of crimes. Sigh. 

He didn't do that. Somebody else made that happen.

I don't get your point.

Someone else did that.

[CountDeMoney]

Here ya go, derspiess.  Mittens is your boy.  Gee, I wonder what he'll do as President.

Sheldon Adelson Pressing Mitt Romney To Call For Israeli Spy Jonathan Pollard's Release: Report

Casino tycoon Sheldon Adelson, a major contributor to Mitt Romney's election effort, is pressing the Republican nominee to come out for the release of Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, a major Republican donor and associates of Adelson and Romney tell The Daily Beast.

Romney has rejected the request so far, telling Adelson he would have to review the relevant intelligence material accessible to him as president before granting Pollard clemency, said the sources, who are relaying accounts of conversations from both Adelson and Romney. Romney "could not consider the Pollard situation because he doesn't have access to the classified information," one source said.

The issue is apparently one of a handful where Romney differs from Adelson on Israel. The billionaire has also asked Romney to state publicly that Israeli-Palestinian peace talks are a waste of time because the Palestinians are unwilling to make peace, according to the sources—and he wants a firmer commitment from Romney to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, in what would be a de facto recognition of Israel's annexation of East Jerusalem. For his part, Romney has not said peace talks are a waste of time and has gone only partway on the embassy question, saying he would undertake the move in consultation with the Israeli government—a campaign promise other presidents have made. (Adelson has pressed Romney to pledge to move the embassy without consulting the Israeli government.)

Spokespeople for both men declined to comment on the private talks between Adelson and Romney. Ron Resse, a spokesman for Adelson, was willing to say that the two men were not always on the same page. "People that support candidates are bound to disagree with these candidates on some particular issues," he told The Daily Beast. But he said Adelson and Romney agree "on most big issues." Asked what Adelson expected from Romney in return for his support, Reese said the billionaire has no expectations in terms of foreign or domestic policy. "He hopes to be invited to the Chanukah party at the White House," Reese said.

Adelson himself has acknowledged that he has a channel to Romney. "I have talked to Romney many, many, many times," Adelson told The Jewish Journal in March, when he was still supporting the failed candidacy of former House speaker Newt Gingrich. "As recently as when he was here in Vegas for the caucuses. He's not the bold decision maker like Newt Gingrich is. Every time I talk to him, [he says] 'Well, let me think about it.' Everything I've said to Mitt, he's said, 'Let me look into it.' So he's like Obama. When Obama was in the Illinois Senate, 186 times he voted present. Because he didn't want to damage his record."

Despite these disparaging remarks, Adelson assured the former Massachusetts governor during the primaries that he would have his support if he became the nominee, according to Romney donors and an associate of Adelson's. And, in recent months, the two have indeed found common cause in the quest to oust Obama from the White House. Adelson has said he would give up to $100 million in this election cycle to defeat President Obama, and he recently accompanied Romney on his tour of Israel at the end of July. At a fundraiser at Jerusalem's King David Hotel, he even introduced the candidate to the 50 or so donors in the room, according to two people present. (Participants paid between $25,000 and $50,000 to hear Romney speak.)

Yet the two appear to have a significant difference on Pollard. A former naval intelligence officer, Pollard was sentenced to life in prison in 1987 for selling U.S. secrets to Israel—a crime that he acknowledged committing at the time, and which the Israeli government itself formally acknowledged in 1998. In recent years, a string of former and current national-security officials and politicians have come out in favor of granting clemency to Pollard in part because he is the only spy for an allied nation to receive a life sentence. At the top of the list are James Woolsey, a former CIA director; Lawrence Korb, a former senior Pentagon official at the time of Pollard's arrest in 1986; and Sen. John McCain.

Nonetheless, successive U.S. presidents have refused to pardon him on the recommendation of security officials and due to the severity of his espionage. Pollard stole a huge volume of documents, including some of the intelligence establishment's most sensitive secrets. Former CIA director George Tenet wrote in his 2007 memoir that he threatened to resign his post in 1998 if President Clinton granted Benjamin Netanyahu's request to release Pollard. (Netanyahu, now in his second stint as Israel's prime minister, made the same request of Obama in January 2011.)

In December Romney was asked for his view of Pollard at a meeting with the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. According to Malcolm Hoenlein, the group's CEO, "He did not say what people wanted to hear. Instead he gave a more nuanced response and pointed to the fact that when he was governor of Massachusetts, he did not review decisions of the court unless there was judicial misconduct. When some in the audience raised information about the disproportionate sentence and some of the allegations of judicial misconduct in the Pollard case, Romney said he would review the facts when he was president."[/b]

[Razgovory]

Is there any indication that Romney would actually do any of those stupid things?  I mean, if nothing else, Romney has shown himself the master of taking people's cash, pretending to agree with that person and then doing what ever the fuck he wants.

[dps]

Is there any indication that Romney would actually do any of those stupid things?  I mean, if nothing else, Romney has shown himself the master of taking people's cash, pretending to agree with that person and then doing what ever the fuck he wants.

Yeah, every President since Pollard went to jail has been pressed to pardon him, and there's always been some people who want to move the US embassy to Jerusalem (well, always as in since the Isrealis took it).  I don't see anything in the article that suggests that Romney is actually going to grant any of these requests.  If there is any evidence that he will, I'd like to see it.  I don't think I could vote for him in good conscience if he's going to do any of the stuff in the article.

[CountDeMoney]

Is there any indication that Romney would actually do any of those stupid things?

He's managed to do the bidding of the radical right everywhere else along the line, why would this be any different?

I don't believe he's got the spine to say no to the guy giving his election campaign $100 million.  He hasn't demonstrated any spine yet on any other policy issue his handlers have demanded.

[Razgovory]

Is there any indication that Romney would actually do any of those stupid things?

He's managed to do the bidding of the radical right everywhere else along the line, why would this be any different?

I don't believe he's got the spine to say no to the guy giving his election campaign $100 million.  He hasn't demonstrated any spine yet on any other policy issue his handlers have demanded.

Well not to his face, but I don't think Romney is honest with conservatives.  He's a corporate type, he's all smiles and encouragement one day, and the next you get a pink slip.

[dps]

Is there any indication that Romney would actually do any of those stupid things?

He's managed to do the bidding of the radical right everywhere else along the line, why would this be any different?

I don't believe he's got the spine to say no to the guy giving his election campaign $100 million.  He hasn't demonstrated any spine yet on any other policy issue his handlers have demanded.

????  The article you yourself posted said that he's pretty clearly just putting the guy off.

And I certainly don't see the idea of pardoning Pollard to be a right-wing issue.  I hate to put it this way, but essentially it's not a left-wing issue or a right-wing issue, it's a Jewish issue.

[CountDeMoney]

????  The article you yourself posted said that he's pretty clearly just putting the guy off.

For now. 

And I certainly don't see the idea of pardoning Pollard to be a right-wing issue.  I hate to put it this way, but essentially it's not a left-wing issue or a right-wing issue, it's a Jewish issue.

Israel just loves it some American right-wingers.

[Martinus]

Romney is the best example why business and politics should not mix, at least not directly. Why? Because it is bad for business.

The "shady dealings" Romney is being accused of (e.g. setting up a LuxCo structure to optimise tax treatment of the cash you repatriate from your investment) are pretty much a standard fare in all private equity deals, expected by investors and practiced by everybody. But to an uninitiated eye of the bloodthirsty public they look like a crime of crimes. Sigh. 

He didn't do that. Somebody else made that happen.

I don't get your point.

Someone else did that.

Elaborate.

[Martinus]

Is there any indication that Romney would actually do any of those stupid things?

He's managed to do the bidding of the radical right everywhere else along the line, why would this be any different?

Did he really? While in a position of power?

[CountDeMoney]

Did he really? While in a position of power?

You going to tell me that the presidential nominee for the Republican Party, and the pre factum head of the Party itself, isn't a position of power when it comes to the party planks?

Wait a minute, why am I even talking to you.  You don't even know law, let alone US politics.  Fuck off and molest a hospitalized 15 year old, make a sandwich, go do something.

[Martinus]

Did he really? While in a position of power?

You going to tell me that the presidential nominee for the Republican Party, and the pre factum head of the Party itself, isn't a position of power when it comes to the party planks?

Wait a minute, why am I even talking to you.  You don't even know law, let alone US politics.  Fuck off and molest a hospitalized 15 year old, make a sandwich, go do something.

Well, I think that if you are going to respond to the "so he is spouting the right wing rhetoric on this issue but won't do it", the "well, he also spouted a lot of right wing rhetoric on other issues but hasn't been able to do anything yet" is not the best retort.

In fact, if you look at his record as the governor of Massachussets, he is the exact opposite of what you claim.

[Razgovory]

Is there any indication that Romney would actually do any of those stupid things?

He's managed to do the bidding of the radical right everywhere else along the line, why would this be any different?

I don't believe he's got the spine to say no to the guy giving his election campaign $100 million.  He hasn't demonstrated any spine yet on any other policy issue his handlers have demanded.

????  The article you yourself posted said that he's pretty clearly just putting the guy off.

And I certainly don't see the idea of pardoning Pollard to be a right-wing issue.  I hate to put it this way, but essentially it's not a left-wing issue or a right-wing issue, it's a Jewish issue.

I think it's a right wing issue in Israel.  Bibi is big on it.  No idea why.  The guy is a loser, he wasn't even a good spy.  The Navy shouldn't have hired him, or kept him when it became clear he was a loon.  The Israelis shouldn't have accepted his offers to spy, if not for the moral reason of not spying on the US, for the practical reason that anyone who spent time with him knew he was flake and that Intelligence agencies should know better then to just accept walk-ins.