Economist and Mayor Bloomberg endorse Obama

[celedhring]

Free markets and free trade both being liberal ideas of course...............or has the misuse of the word by parts of the American right entirely obscured its proper meaning  ?

It appears to have done so for Marti but I think most Americans understand their use of the term liberal is incorrect.

On this board, yeah.  In the rest of the country, I doubt it.  I get the feeling that most people didn't pay attention in history or civics classes.

It's not so incorrect, though... "liberal" also used to mean "generous" in Latin (and in Spanish it can still mean that, for example), which I think is where the American use of the word comes from (as liberals are seen as favoring redistribution of wealth).

It's just confusing.

[OttoVonBismarck]

Yeah my understanding is that McClaskill (who is not terribly likable) tried to help Akin win the primary.

I don't know that I really believe that, it sounds like one of those things people want to believe retroactively. Until Akin started foaming at the mouth about rape babies he had a 10 point lead on a sitting Senator in some polls, and no lower than 5 across the board. He was going to the Senate in a walk, and it took awhile into the actual campaign before he decided he cared more about being insane than getting elected.

If he had a half competent campaign manager that could keep him from talking in anything but platitudes Akin would have killed her in the general, so I can't believe of all the primary field he was the weakest. There was really nothing she could have done to beat him, and I doubt she'd want to gamble her Senate seat on the hope that he commit a gaffe. The gaffe only looks obvious and expected in retrospect.

[MadImmortalMan]

It's not so incorrect, though... "liberal" also used to mean "generous" in Latin (and in Spanish it can still mean that, for example), which I think is where the American use of the word comes from (as liberals are seen as favoring redistribution of wealth).

It's just confusing.

The term socialist was tainted. We needed something else to call it that people would actually vote for.

[Phillip V]

Yeah my understanding is that McClaskill (who is not terribly likable) tried to help Akin win the primary.

I don't know that I really believe that, it sounds like one of those things people want to believe retroactively. Until Akin started foaming at the mouth about rape babies he had a 10 point lead on a sitting Senator in some polls, and no lower than 5 across the board. He was going to the Senate in a walk, and it took awhile into the actual campaign before he decided he cared more about being insane than getting elected.

If he had a half competent campaign manager that could keep him from talking in anything but platitudes Akin would have killed her in the general, so I can't believe of all the primary field he was the weakest. There was really nothing she could have done to beat him, and I doubt she'd want to gamble her Senate seat on the hope that he commit a gaffe. The gaffe only looks obvious and expected in retrospect.

Only going by wikipedia, it says that Akin liked to call abortion providers "terrorists" (2008) and claimed that abortions were performed on women that were not actually pregnant. He was an extremist, and that's what a plurality of primary voters picked.

[OttoVonBismarck]

Yeah my understanding is that McClaskill (who is not terribly likable) tried to help Akin win the primary.

I don't know that I really believe that, it sounds like one of those things people want to believe retroactively. Until Akin started foaming at the mouth about rape babies he had a 10 point lead on a sitting Senator in some polls, and no lower than 5 across the board. He was going to the Senate in a walk, and it took awhile into the actual campaign before he decided he cared more about being insane than getting elected.

If he had a half competent campaign manager that could keep him from talking in anything but platitudes Akin would have killed her in the general, so I can't believe of all the primary field he was the weakest. There was really nothing she could have done to beat him, and I doubt she'd want to gamble her Senate seat on the hope that he commit a gaffe. The gaffe only looks obvious and expected in retrospect.

Only going by wikipedia, it says that Akin liked to call abortion providers "terrorists" (2008) and claimed that abortions were performed on women that were not actually pregnant. He was an extremist, and that's what a plurality of primary voters picked.

And preferred to McCaskill until his gaffe, if he hadn't made the specific comments he did when he did there's little reason to assume he wouldn't have won the election. He was a strong candidate coming out of the primary.

[Phillip V]

Yeah my understanding is that McClaskill (who is not terribly likable) tried to help Akin win the primary.

I don't know that I really believe that, it sounds like one of those things people want to believe retroactively. Until Akin started foaming at the mouth about rape babies he had a 10 point lead on a sitting Senator in some polls, and no lower than 5 across the board. He was going to the Senate in a walk, and it took awhile into the actual campaign before he decided he cared more about being insane than getting elected.

If he had a half competent campaign manager that could keep him from talking in anything but platitudes Akin would have killed her in the general, so I can't believe of all the primary field he was the weakest. There was really nothing she could have done to beat him, and I doubt she'd want to gamble her Senate seat on the hope that he commit a gaffe. The gaffe only looks obvious and expected in retrospect.

Only going by wikipedia, it says that Akin liked to call abortion providers "terrorists" (2008) and claimed that abortions were performed on women that were not actually pregnant. He was an extremist, and that's what a plurality of primary voters picked.

And preferred to McCaskill until his gaffe, if he hadn't made the specific comments he did when he did there's little reason to assume he wouldn't have won the election. He was a strong candidate coming out of the primary.

Would his close runner-ups not have been strong? Any other Republican would have sufficed in now red Missouri, and there were safer picks. They instead chose an extremist.

We have this same example in Indiana (2012), Nevada (2010), and Delaware (2010). The latter two missed out on the mid-term wave election because they were crazies.

[Count]

Yeah my understanding is that McClaskill (who is not terribly likable) tried to help Akin win the primary.

I don't know that I really believe that, it sounds like one of those things people want to believe retroactively. Until Akin started foaming at the mouth about rape babies he had a 10 point lead on a sitting Senator in some polls, and no lower than 5 across the board. He was going to the Senate in a walk, and it took awhile into the actual campaign before he decided he cared more about being insane than getting elected.

If he had a half competent campaign manager that could keep him from talking in anything but platitudes Akin would have killed her in the general, so I can't believe of all the primary field he was the weakest. There was really nothing she could have done to beat him, and I doubt she'd want to gamble her Senate seat on the hope that he commit a gaffe. The gaffe only looks obvious and expected in retrospect.

Only going by wikipedia, it says that Akin liked to call abortion providers "terrorists" (2008) and claimed that abortions were performed on women that were not actually pregnant. He was an extremist, and that's what a plurality of primary voters picked.

And preferred to McCaskill until his gaffe, if he hadn't made the specific comments he did when he did there's little reason to assume he wouldn't have won the election. He was a strong candidate coming out of the primary.

She thought (correctly it turned out in the end) that he was the weakest opponent, and dems spent money to help him win:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0812/79467.html

http://washingtonexaminer.com/democrats-spent-1.5-mil-to-help-akin-win-gop-primary/article/2505373