Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for November 04, 2012

George Santayana said, “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Here is a message in a similar vein from TV writer and producer Chuck Lorre:

http://chucklorre.com/index.php?p=397c

Not long till Election Day

It was the years leading up to 2008.

Alex is going to have a long and frustrating night on Tuesday!

ROMMEY FOR PRESIDENT—THANK GOD—AT LAST-IT’S TIME

The Richthuglicon motto/battle cry for most of the last 30 years: “Billions for the billionaires, pennies for the penniless!” Overall, even Nixon was better than the more recent pack of psychopathic Thug traitors.

Those who don’t remember the past, or just invent their own history, are called “Republicans”.

Isn’t everything?

Working class Republicans will vote themselves and their progeny into wage slavery. Declining academic standards will produce more working class Republicans, so the U.S. is doomed to plutocracy.

It wasn’t PLUTOcrats that brought the economy to its knees; it was BUREAUcrats. Nearly a century of Fed manipulation of the money supply; half a century of government policy first encouraging home-ownership, then forcing it, creating the housing bubble; OVER-regulation (yes, I said OVER) of the financial sector in ways that encouraged bad decisions and risky investing. (The idea that it was DE-regulation that caused this mess is a leftist myth. Regulation exploded under Bush II.)

This election is about one side that at least leans toward limited government and another side that longs for unlimited government. Didn’t the world learn ANYTHING from the 20th century?

Have fun picking which head of the Banker Party you will serve.

Republican philosophy; The wealthy don’t have enough money. The poor have too much money. Yeah, that makes sense. Let’s privatize disaster relief. Food, water, power, clean-up? We’ll get back to you on that. Need to find the lowest bidder. Should only be a month or two. BTW, you need to carry your rapist’s child to term. It’s a gift from god. I could go on all day, but I’m getting sick.

PerBO,isn’t that 57 states?

You mean the ad – the one with the little girl who can’t vote asking me not to vote for Obama and against her future, that the GOP spammed onto my Facebook Page – was a LIE? I thought I could TRUST these guys! Thanks, Alex!

Actually, to win, all you need to do is win the 11 biggest states by one vote in each and you do not have to get even one vote in all the others.

Obama gave them more money than “The Shrub”.

Actually Goldman Sachs has run our government(Dem and GOP) since Bill Clinton.

For those of you who are Republican sycophants (you know who you are), I have one question: Why? After all, at some level you must suspect that you are advocating the policies of people who wouldn’t spit on you if you were on fire.

is it because the press optics are getting more and more magnified and distorted,or is this the most polarized america has been on a good long time..?

@pschearerOne thing conservatives forget when they call for shrinking (or getting rid of) the federal government is, that power isn’t going to return to the people (yay John Lennon) or the states – it will wind up in the hands of nationwide or worldwide entities completely unanswerable to the the public – in other words, corporations.

The incentive to make a buck is fine in its proper context (and with enough regulation to make sure the greedy don’t go nuts at the expense of the rest of us) – but stinks when applied to bottom-line necessities that keep society functioning.

A little information in a weak mind creates bluster.

Sad thing is, many voters really do have that short of an attention span. If Romney does get elected, we’ll be getting exactly the government we deserve.

You of course being an expert on mental.

Exactly for whom do those 47% vote for? I recently saw a clip from an interview where Romney tried to explain that he was referring to those who vote democrat as being the moochers, no matter what. In my experience… Alex’s mother-in-law represents those red-neck, tea-party, neo-con non thinkers.

Well, sometimes people change. I know there are a couple of recovering Republicans in my life… But, most people tend to be pretty dug in with their beliefs.

In a few days we can start forgetting about Mitt like a bad dream, unless the GOP decides to run him again in 2016. Don’t see that happening.

OBAMA LANDSLIDE 2012

A vote for Romney is like giving GW Bush a 3rd term. I’m not drinking that kool-aid again. Romney is the Republican version of John Kerry & we see how well that that turned out for him.

The left always refuses to acknowledge that ‘affordable housing’ was the true cause of the bust. Without tons of bad loans, Wall Street would not have tried to create lemonade from the lemons. So, instead of blaming their own failed policies, put the blame on Bush and Wall Street. How’s the last four years working out for you?

I am certainly better off than I was 4 years ago.

I expect that better off trend to continue under President Obama.

Actually, what brought the economy down was the Democratic Congress allowing unqualified borrowers to purchase homes they couldn’t afford.

I do remember things really started to go down hill once Pelosi and the Democrats gained control of the House in 2007. This does not excuse GWB and the Republicans (thanks to Jeffords defecting) for cutting taxes without cutting spending to match, despite promising to do so.

I remember who “Screwed us over” and it was NOT Romney or anybody like him. That’s a MYTH put out by the Democrats..

Jesus never called the poor lazy, he never asked a leper for a copay, and never lobbied for a tax cut for the wealthiest Nazarenes.

If we want to increase academic standards, we need to decrease poverty for children since there is a direct correlation between the two. People who complain about the US schools are ignoring poverty as a factor. We would all like to believe that poverty is not a factor, but reality begs to differ. Children who are hungry and living in neighborhoods which are not as safe are at a great disadvantage. When you compare schools in other countries where they are performing well to schools in this country where poverty is not a factor, our US schools are doing well. Finland is a country in which the 15 year olds consistently score at 1st and 2nd in their Math/Science areas. Finland has a poverty rate for children of 5%, compared to the US rate of poverty for children of 22%.

That is the largest window I have ever seen in a mobile home.

Good point. The Richthuglicon battle cry: “Billions for the billionaires, pennies FROM the penniless!”

The last four years have destroyed the spirt of so any people. The youth are the ones that are suffering the worst. One more term of Obama and no one will be able to turn it around. Jobs are the only thing that matters and the Democrats don’t know how to produce them.

Nixon dug his own grave on his political career with his paranoid fantasies.

Spend like a liberal? Actually, spend like a republican is more like it. The Republicans are pro- military/industrial complex and have proved it since WWII.We were warned about it from the first republican president elected after WWII

A lot of commenters seem genuinely puzzled by the persistent popularity of the Republicans. Here, if you’ll bear with me and FWIW, is my take on it.Consider that half of all Americans are of below average intelligence, and that a good many more aren’t much smarter than that, and that nevertheless quite a few too many of these people vote. Worse, while they may be a little dim, these folks are still very well aware that there are a lot of people, the “librul intellektual morans” in particular, that are savagely mocking them and much that they hold sacred (e. g. Colbert, G. Trudeau, Lewis Black, et many al.). There is very little that will anger and alienate people more than being laughed at. The Republicans have brilliantly positioned themselves to take advantage of these facts and thus have a permanent and highly energized near majority that pretty much consists of the easily duped, the humorless and angry, the resentful and hateful, and those who are easily buffaloed by fear, especially fear of change. In turn, the Democrats have become the refuge of the appalled and apoplectic. That’s also why the Republicans have purged their ranks of intellectuals. The seemingly imbecilic statements by their candidates and positions that are “generally opposed to science, rational thinking, and all manifestations of common sense” (to quote Dilbert) bother them not in the least, indeed those things are pleasing to them. Those “gaffes” make the “lefties” even more crazy upset, and anything or anyone who can do that is just fine with conservatives who seem to be lusting after vengeance on the “smarties.” Out of resentment, the right wingers will cut off their own noses to spite everyone’s face. I fear we’ll all reap the whirlwind as a result.

If you read about what happens if there is a tie in the electoral college it would make your head hurt. We could end up with Romney/Biden or Obama/Ryan or Boehner as temporary President or the Hawaii Senator temporary President……if you don’t believe me look it up.

The EC will never be abolished for one simple reason: it makes for better television.

“liberalism is a mental disease”And may I never recover! (Apologies to Tevye)

shame on you, trudeau—your classism is showing, and it ain’t trailer trash that is responsible for the mess the usa is in

Funny, I thought the problems created during the administration preceding 2008 was created by the Democratic controlled Congress and the loosing of the mortgage rules and dot.com boom/bust. Did I miss something? I blame Reid, Pelosi, Waters, Waxman, et al.

“When was this?” Spoken by so many old people who live in Florida and have Doctor’s appointments on Medicare. What will they do when Romney-Ryan abolish their health care? .

It is amazing that anyone could justify a vote for the republicans. Their entire agenda is screwing the other guy (or, especially, the other woman). We’ll look back at the GOP at this time in history like we look back at those who seceded from the union – as an almost unimaginable nightmare.

The American people are notoriously forgettful. For instance. Everyone has forgotten all the promises made by Obama during his last campaign run. This has allowed him to repeat himself during this election. Promising to do this time, what he failed to do during his first term. I for one am not fooled. It is Obama that is toast.

The majority of job creators aren’t “prepped” or were born into wealth. They come from all backgrounds. What we have in common is a fierce desire to succeed on our own terms and not become serfs of an entitlement state. The real predators are politicos like Obama, Reid and Pelosi.

conservatism is a social disease (?)

AlexDoonesbury, if you think that a plutocrat is so bad (be informed that a generic “plutocrat” is neither here nor there, since Pluto’s cute, and may be innocent at times), then listen to this: ’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A71sNMfvvuE&feature=related’Warning: may be Rated R depending on individual priorities.

And Denial is both the first, and last, symptom. A liberal abandoning his his tenants doesn’t have to be mugged, they just have to be able to do math. Unfortunately most won’t take the time.

Read Reckless Endangerment – it was all based in lib policies aimed at everybody owning their own home.

To all those that are worried about Romney winning on Tuesday; the European gambling websites, who just about always have these things right, have the over/under number for President Obama in the Electoral College at 299.5. Good bye and good riddance, Mitt. Have fun when the IRS comes after you in about 6 months.

I am 100% service-connected disabled plus my wife and I collect SS. Just for laughs, I asked my banker at B of A in NC, if I put down $50,000 on a house, how much would B of A loan me. He told me, since my income was guaranteed, that he could easily get me $500,000. Just what 2 people need, a 4,000 sq. ft home.

“Yes it is much better to vote for someone who put the country into a 15 trillion dollar backbreaking debt.”But Bush isn’t running again. We’re still digging out from the debt he and the Republican Congress buried us in..As for Rmoney, good riddance. Unfortunately, like McCain stuck us with Caribou Barbi for an election cycle, Money BooBoo stuck us with Eddie Munster, probably for more than a cycle.

The incumbent party has lost the election every time the Washington Redskins lost a football game right before the election except for 2004. The Redskins lost today.President Romney January 20, 2013.

Trudeau speaks truth.

If it’s not a rule, it means nothing. Like, the taller man always wins, but not in 2004. Does it hold for stolen election?

Just saw a tweet: Romney will ROBME N U 2.

I hate to say it, but considering how close the race is, I am worried about the top lawmakers who are in those swing states:Florida— Rick Scott RepublicanOhio— John Kasich RepublicanVirginia— Robert McDonnell RepublicanWisconsin— Scott Walker RepublicanColorado does have John Hickenlooper, DemocratIt should not matter what party the top official is in in the state, but this time it might…

Remember Florida 2000? Remember how that went down with Jeb Bush, Governor of Florida?

No, Sharuniboy, I don’t really have any economic suggestions along those lines. Years ago, I read Almost Everyone’s Guide to Economics by the great John Kenneth Galbraith. Today, I read Paul Krugman on a regular basis. I am sure Krugman would have some answers you are seeking, if you were to check him out, but not everyone can have a PhD in Economics…

Gosh golly, Right. Thanks for such a thoroughgoing demonstration of support for my thesis. There really is no cure for stupidity, is there.

Unfortunately, name-calling and simplistic talking points don’t equal any kind of cogent argument. And Romney is going down big, in any case, so you’re wasting your time.

I’m with Alex!! It’s hard to believe but…..

Cold war, Jim Crow… those were bad. CEO salaries that were only 20 or 30 times what the average worker was paid? 70% tax rates for the top bracket? A wall of separation between regular banks and financial speculators?Goodness no, we can’t go back to that!

After listening to all these persuasive and insightful arguments I think it’s clear, Gary Johnson by a hair.

Boy you lefties are going to be crying come Wednesday morning.

Mental diseases will never affect conservatives, you have to have a brain first….

fontenelle, I’ve been saying the same thing but much simpler since I’m an under educated blue collar kid.

aside from the fact that Democrats are the ones who tout education. Gee, how has that helped so far hmmmm?

alexanderthe good enough is partly right. 50% of the population is below average intelligence does explain the number of voters the left convinces to vote for them.

That’s so wrong… pathetic Gary Trudeau

And that right there is how 70+ million people vote for a fascist tangerine.