Mussolini, Franco, or Hitler.

Posted by: вот так | Nov 7 2012 6:31 utc | 3

And war mongering does not work in the US just now. Otherwise that foreign policy debate between Romney and Obama would have been different.
Yes, I know, political programs are not implemented as told but this is what people were voting for

Responsibly ended the war in Iraq , is bringing our troops home from Afghanistan, and will use half the savings to reduce the deficit and the rest to engage in nation-building here at home”

and of course this

Is lifting the shadow of deportation from young, hardworking immigrants who were brought here as children, and is committed to comprehensive immigration reform

Obama has to go where the power is and this seems where things are gravitating.

Posted by: somebody | Nov 7 2012 6:35 utc | 5

Yes, I know, somebody, war is peace and all that rot….

Posted by: вот так | Nov 7 2012 6:38 utc | 7

“They chose a lesser warmonger, given the two options.”
Diebold?
Like they would care?
Jesus.
A lesser warmonger, in the fascist Israelo-American times we are living in, is like a pacifist Nazi.

Posted by: вот так | Nov 7 2012 6:44 utc | 9

Warmongers start wars. Obama is dealing with one that he inherited. Not an enviable position, wars are often a lot easier to start than to end.

Posted by: ralphieboy | Nov 7 2012 7:20 utc | 11

I did what catlady did.
The interesting thing for me is that with a limitless supply of money, media endorsement, race baiting, nostalgic white supremacy, and fear-mongering the right wing plutocrats could muster – they couldn’t evict a black man in the white house presiding over an incompetent foreign policy, lousy domestic policy, and for the last 4 years perpetuating the shittiest economy in 60 years.
The republican brand is being back-washed out to sea in the riptide of history.

Posted by: anna missed | Nov 7 2012 7:32 utc | 13

Seriously, the US is getting out of micromanaging direct foreign policy. Any war mongering on Syria has been outsourced to Britain and Saudi Arabia whilst France worries about Lebanon.

Posted by: somebody | Nov 7 2012 8:00 utc | 15

This here basically sums up how Obama’s foreign policy will be sold

Analysts said that the overarching challenge for Obama will be to try to shape the international environment to the United States’ advantage at a time when the country is deeply in debt, other powers are rising and it faces transnational threats such as terrorism, cyber attacks and global warming.
“My read of Obama is that he, essentially, wants to turn away from the Middle East and focus on Asia,” said Indyk, saying Obama was unlikely to make a fresh run at Israeli-Palestinian peace, nor to make great efforts to shape the outcome in Syria or to deeply engage Islamist governments in Egypt and Tunisia.
“I just don’t see those things as high on his agenda versus building a relationship with China, promoting India’s rise in Asia and seeking the opportunities that lie in that region of the world,” he said.
Despite having referred to China as “both an adversary but also a potential partner,” in his final debate with Romney, Obama’s prime focus is likely to be to try to find ways to cooperate with, rather than confront, China.
“We will increasingly think of ourselves as a Pacific nation rather than an Atlantic nation,” said Jon Alterman, who holds the Zbigniew Brzezinski Chair in Global Security and Geostrategy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

It does not necessarily have much to do with reality. And it is stupid to try to play India against China whilst trying to isolate Iran. The US will not succeed in squaring the circle.
However it means that the US will try to avoid engagement in the Middle East like cholera. And terrorist acts will continue to try to draw them in.

Posted by: somebody | Nov 7 2012 8:36 utc | 17

It will be stupid for republican to take over what will likely become a US bond market collapse.

Posted by: nikon | Nov 7 2012 9:03 utc | 19

Certainly the viable Republican candidates waited till their chances will be better – no incumbent – and toured the hurricane sites

The USA is going to be hit by many devastating natural elements between now and the winter solstice, now the elections are over let’s see what attention will be given to the victims, maybe in the Jewish enclaves but the rest I do not think so!

Posted by: hans | Nov 7 2012 10:04 utc | 21

One of the reasons Obama was elected is War Fatigue. (Not the most important thing.) Another – even more minor perhaps – was civil liberties, Gitmo, etc. Because, 1) traditionally Dems seen as less hawkish, less aggressive, less nationalistic, than Rs, 2) Bush started two wars (at least), Obama officially, none, and he got the Peace Prize, 3) He has carefully husbanded his image as a Man of Peace, Conciliation, assembling, reaching out, 4) Dems (plus the media) have consistently ignored or down-played his actions in these areas – had Bush acted like O there would have been outcries, 5) Opposition from the center or left (Occupy) got nowhere with this issue, as they refused to build a policy platform.
Romney might actually have turned out to be less aggressive.

Posted by: Noirette | Nov 7 2012 11:44 utc | 23

I just saw Prop 37 lost in CA. Now there’s the real heartbreaking loss. I’ve tried to transcend my feelings of hate for people but Monsanto is definitely a “person” I really hate.

Posted by: juannie | Nov 7 2012 12:52 utc | 25

where can I find statistics about 2012 USA elections? what was the % of persons voting. thanks

Posted by: hans | Nov 7 2012 14:38 utc | 27

As it is with most human endeavor, can actions match the rhetoric? Now the “election” has passed, we’ll see. For me, blunting the drive for world dominance by our corporate interests, is job one. I’m not holding my breath while waiting for a working class movement to make that happen. Working within my own limited sphere of influence to make that a reality, is all I can do. Up Symbiosis!

Posted by: ben | Nov 7 2012 14:51 utc | 29

“Romney might actually have turned out to be less aggressive”
Ha!. Yeah right. With all those neocons from the Bush Cartel tripping over themselves to suck Romney dick??? You’re dreaming.

Posted by: PissedOffAmerican | Nov 7 2012 14:55 utc | 31

I expected for a long time that the Rs would win this election with a good candidate. While Romney was the best of a truly horrible, clownish, frightening bunch, he is awful. Whether the Rs held back deliberately to re-coup next time round, or whether it just fell out that way (McCain’s breaking of the mold with Palin was a disaster) is moot.
But he who does not fight loses ground in the long run. The campaign – even if one expects to lose – is a formidable weapon for creating a new political landscape. It is an opportunity one must seize. They did not.
Possibly, the Rs will never win a national election again, because they won’t be able to transform their party. As things stand, they have to reconcile and assemble tea-party types, staunch social conservatives, religionists, part of the white upper class (which is quite ‘liberal’), the heartland, racists (covert), neo-cons, paleo-cons (right wing centrists), and libertarians – Ron Paul supporters, anti-statists. All that does not a coalition make. The pro-business and free-market rhetoric is not enough (or even fake), is not articulated, fleshed out properly.
The Dems, under Clinton, became the National Centrist Party, ‘Third Way.’ Their traditional embrace of identity politics (we can forget the labor part…) and more inclusive discourse/actions here are an overwhelming card in present and future USA – e.g. more babies were born to ‘minority’ citizens last year than to whites. It is a weakness, as well, but not one the Repubs are capable of exploiting at present.
For foreign policy, a good summary is: there is no difference between the two.
See for ex. elsewhere: Blair (Labor – Third Way) or now Hollande (Socialist.) Or see the O – Romney debates.
The false dichotomy – or duopoly that in public fights for power – is moving towards a one-party system (ex. China, Russia..) I’m not saying it will happen anytime soon, just, that is the present drift. The real issues are obfuscated by both parties and I don’t doubt they will keep their grip on the political levers, system.

Posted by: Noirette | Nov 7 2012 14:58 utc | 33

*real change can only come about with much more aggressive resistance, starting with an election boycott to delegitimize this junta, then a general strike to shut it down until clearly stated demands are met.*
http://tinyurl.com/ax5qhvk

Posted by: denk | Nov 7 2012 15:55 utc | 35

billyboy @34,
The problem is that the poor and the middle class produce only real wealth such as autos, houses, services, and other widgets, whereas the wealthy can produce unlimited imaginary paper wealth, seemingly out of thin air. Somehow this power to create such unlimited amounts of assets out of thin air has made the average person feel smaller and smaller and ever more impotent and alienated. Somehow, people must snap out of their denial and see this economy for what it is, a giant fraud. About 90% of Wall Street services and products could be eliminated without any damage to the real economy, if we had a leader with the guts to take them on. President Obama promised to back advance Joes on Main Street, not the crony capitalists on Wall Street, and he was an epic fail from the very start.
The Cronies are now in formation
These pests are a bad infestation
Their immoral sleaze
Transmits a disease
That threatens the heart of the nation
The Limerick King
http://www.flickr.com/photos/expd/8014604998/

Posted by: Cynthia | Nov 7 2012 16:42 utc | 37

@Cynthia #37;
Interesting point you are making. When real investment in production does not bring any profit, the great patrons of the “free world” (ie. the capital owners) end up trying to invest in gambling and imaginary paper wealth. The root of the problem is in our very motivation for production: PROFIT MAKING.
Now say this and people will stare you in the face asif you are demented or that you have come from Mars! 🙂

Posted by: Pirouz_2 | Nov 7 2012 18:58 utc | 39

oops @#37– the Average Joes, not the advanced Joes. My mind must’ve strayed for a moment.

Posted by: Cynthia | Nov 7 2012 19:24 utc | 41

California Prop 37, Genetically Engineered Food Labeling

No = 57.7
Yes = 42.3

Apparently the people of California, the most progressive state in the USA, the people who pride themselves on rushing out to get any earth saving trendy gimmick, these same people don’t want to know what Frankenfood they put in their bodies?

Posted by: hans | Nov 7 2012 21:06 utc | 43

Statement on Election Results from the California Right to Know Campaign
We’ll be taking the scumbag corporate person on again next year here in VT and other places as well, I’m sure.
Where’s POA when I need the help of his vernacular?

Posted by: juannie | Nov 8 2012 0:28 utc | 45

The evil corporation, whose name may not be spoken, may have paid to have the voting machines hacked for the GMO Proposition 37, in California.
On another subject, maybe Obama’s win last night was a coronation. He and Romney are interchangeable parts, after all: for one would probably work as good as the other, to manage the empire’s killing fields.
The black box voting investigator, Bev Harris, has an unusual perspective on this. See her story, America’s Clairvoyant Election System.

Posted by: Copeland | Nov 8 2012 3:06 utc | 47

Copeland @ 47: Bev Harris, one of the few voices crying in the wilderness about the threat of electronic voting. It’s the perfect system, we get who THEY want. The absence of debate over these machines is staggering.

Posted by: ben | Nov 8 2012 3:57 utc | 49

Ben@49. That’s sadly true and it’s too late to bar the door. This will be a long, long, struggle and test of endurance.

Posted by: Copeland | Nov 8 2012 4:03 utc | 51

The electronic election fraud cases are rampant:
Evidence of Electronic Vote Fraud Pours In from Both Liberal and Conservative Sources
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2012/11/videos-of-vote-fraud-pour-in-from-both-liberal-and-conservative-sources.html
There is quite a few cases already, as shown by the listing at the end of the report. A few of the comments after the report contain additional info, also (after the weather spammer).

Posted by: вот так | Nov 8 2012 8:53 utc | 53

and now there is this :-))
Iran’s Ahmadinejad ridicules expense of US vote

BALI, Indonesia — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday called the U.S. election a “battleground for capitalists” while speaking at a democracy forum a day after President Barack Obama was re-elected.
He said democracy has become a system where the minority rules over the majority.
“Just take a look at the situation in Europe and the U.S.,” Ahmadinejad said during the meeting’s opening day on Indonesia’s resort island of Bali. An “election, which is one of the manifestations of the people’s will, has become a battleground for the capitalists and an excuse for hasty spending.”
The price tag for the 2012 U.S. presidential campaign was the highest ever, soaring beyond $2 billion.

Erdoğan, Ahmadinejad discuss Syria during Bali forum

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had an unannounced talk Nov. 8 during the Democracy Forum in Bali, daily Hürriyet reported.
Erdoğan and Ahmadinejad walked to the dinner event together, starting up a conversation that lasted during dinner as well.

Posted by: somebody | Nov 8 2012 10:19 utc | 55