To the extent I can (yet again) claim to speak for Europeans...
Legolas Send a noteboard - 04/03/2012 10:33:01 PM
Criticizing American politics is a planetary pastime particularly popular in Europe. I don't think it would really matter if they had legitimate grounds or not. Mostly, for us, it comes down to not wanting a single person with a lot of power in charge and not in a position to grab more, no kings, if POTUS or his foreign equivalent is the only person elected by the entire country in a totally popular vote it's very hard to resist slow power grabs, alternatively one elected by the legislature really can't grab power but my also be fairly useless as a check on them. I like our reasonably balanced method of doing that, not perfect but what is?
It definitely is, but the electoral college really isn't the main point of criticism. People here are far more bothered by the insane and increasingly insane sums required to win elections, particularly now that McCain-Feingold was undermined (okay, I'll grant you, not too many people know what McCain-Feingold is...). The impression people here get, more than anything else, is your presidency almost seems to be for sale - obviously that's a crude over-generalization, but then I'm not talking about my own opinion, but the impressions I get of the general opinion here. The other thing, of course, is the extreme polarization of American politics, thanks to your two party system and 24 hour news cycle - politics have gotten increasingly dirty and "gotcha" everywhere, but in a multiple party system, yesterday's enemy can be tomorrow's ally, so you generally don't want to do too much demonizing that you can't easily retract.
Electoral college isn't exactly something anyone but election geeks care about in Europe, except perhaps in the rare cases of candidates losing the election while winning the popular vote, like Gore in 2000.
Now That Romney Is Officially the Republican Presidential Nominee: Pick the President!
29/02/2012 08:29:02 PM
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I agree Romney will be the candidate.
29/02/2012 08:54:52 PM
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I would say the math favors Romney over Obama, but it will probably be close either way.
01/03/2012 03:37:52 PM
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I have never understood the point of the Electoral College.
29/02/2012 11:39:11 PM
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You don't think like a politician then
01/03/2012 12:38:36 AM
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I certainly hadn't considered much of that. I'm glad you posted it. *NM*
01/03/2012 07:15:03 AM
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I also have not seen most of that mentioned in the popular vs. electoral debate.
01/03/2012 02:34:31 PM
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a bit simplistic and unrealistic
02/03/2012 11:44:02 PM
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When illustrating a point realism is not required and simplicity is a plus
03/03/2012 03:04:26 AM
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I have a couple quibbles.
03/03/2012 05:23:46 AM
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Oh, certainly, I'm over-generalizing but I was already getting long-winded
03/03/2012 06:52:04 AM
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What a bunch of waffle!
03/03/2012 10:47:19 AM
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Also I don't like this refrain that implies only the POTUS vote matters
03/03/2012 03:29:58 AM
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IMHO, parliaments choosing prime ministers is LESS democratic than the electoral college.
03/03/2012 05:57:41 AM
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Re: IMHO, parliaments choosing prime ministers is LESS democratic than the electoral college.
03/03/2012 07:02:30 AM
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*is learning*
04/03/2012 09:49:42 PM
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Re: *is learning*
04/03/2012 09:56:16 PM
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To the extent I can (yet again) claim to speak for Europeans...
04/03/2012 10:33:01 PM
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Re: *is learning*
05/03/2012 12:08:08 AM
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You could imitate the French.
07/03/2012 10:40:16 PM
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That seems... unlikely....
08/03/2012 03:03:54 PM
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It does, doesn't it?
08/03/2012 06:11:08 PM
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After I thought about it more, I realized France and the US are not so different in that respect.
08/03/2012 08:51:03 PM
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More similar than the other major Western democracies at least, agreed.
08/03/2012 09:32:55 PM
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I did not realize lack of a parliamentary majority dictated his cabinet.
09/03/2012 12:27:31 AM
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I don't know much about Norwegian politics, but you seem to be wrong.
03/03/2012 06:18:08 PM
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Do you happen to have that link, please?
03/03/2012 06:46:31 PM
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Sure.
03/03/2012 06:58:07 PM
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Guess we did not read far enough.
03/03/2012 10:38:07 PM
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Yeah, you have to know a few things about European politics...
03/03/2012 11:49:44 PM
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Hey, man, I am an AMERICAN: I do not HAVE to know ANYTHING!
04/03/2012 11:46:57 PM
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Re: Yeah, you have to know a few things about European politics...
05/03/2012 06:56:24 AM
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The thing is, regions often have national relevance far greater than their populations would suggest
05/03/2012 10:21:26 AM
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Re: Yeah, you have to know a few things about European politics...
08/03/2012 07:11:12 PM
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Many valid reasons, including those Isaac cited.
02/03/2012 02:26:37 AM
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Most states are ignored anyway
02/03/2012 11:56:12 PM
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Only because and to the extent they have already committed themselves.
03/03/2012 03:41:39 AM
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Why would we do something logical? Dude, you're utterly ridiculous. *NM*
05/03/2012 04:53:38 PM
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I'm kind of sad- does this mean Santorum won't be providing wonderful sound bites anymore?
01/03/2012 02:22:31 PM
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Romney or Obama, either way, America loses. *NM*
02/03/2012 01:10:26 AM
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Hard to dispute that either; six of one, half a dozen of the other.
02/03/2012 01:38:07 AM
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I'd agree hope and change was extremely unrealistic
02/03/2012 11:58:57 PM
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Well, you know my story there; I voted for Obama and got Hillary (at best.)
03/03/2012 01:43:20 AM
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Update: Despite rules requiring they be split, the MI GOP is giving Romney BOTH statewide delegates.
02/03/2012 11:10:56 PM
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Romney is damaged
02/03/2012 11:27:33 PM
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Obama is rather damaged also; it will probably come down to FL and OH, yet again.
03/03/2012 02:23:53 AM
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I'm hoping for Rubio as VP... then FL probably won't matter
03/03/2012 04:28:08 AM
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You should put that on your license plates.
03/03/2012 06:41:34 AM
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And what are you basing all of this on?
03/03/2012 09:54:06 PM
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The closeness of several states when Obama was far more popular, and UTs heavily Mormon neighbors.
03/03/2012 11:44:06 PM
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Wrong
04/03/2012 08:08:56 AM
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Higher turnout magnifies the Mormon effect.
04/03/2012 08:08:09 PM
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Your reasoning is flawed and if you can't see it there is no hope for you
05/03/2012 11:39:04 PM
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Yeah, I think we had that conversation already, several times, in fact.
07/03/2012 05:36:45 AM
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Do you have any knowledge of statistics at all?
07/03/2012 09:04:15 PM
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I hate this message board
07/03/2012 09:06:30 PM
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It would probably help if you deleted the stuff from two, three posts back?
07/03/2012 09:25:40 PM
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