In which the collective intellect of Watcher, Apollo, Roger Ek, Tom C, Tracy G and the fabulous MD Harmon attempt to explain what liberals are. The (seemingly) only liberal left allowed to post on AMG, NancyEH, gets in a shot but is quickly insulted by Islander who says that must be a teacher. That’s right, Islander, educated people usually are liberal.

Anyway, enjoy!

http://www.asmainegoes.com/content/i-need-help-understanding-liberals

I’ll admit that I don’t read AMG as much as I used to since I was banned for life, but it seems that without a few dissidents in attendance there is a distinct lack of controversy any more.

Where are the discussions about whether or not there are more people on welfare than paying taxes?  How about some discourse about what Forbes magazine really told the governor?  Maybe a discussion about how he regards the legislative process.  Or whether Kathleen Sebelius really is ready to give Maine a waiver to decimate its healthcare system.

It seems that Naran has wielded her wooden spoon to the point of making AMG totally boring.  I mean, how can we find outrageous statements to ridicule if nobody provokes them?

Governor LePage says,”Conservation is just another word for a Ponzi scheme.” Another quote: “A Ponzi scheme is an investment fraud that involves the payment of purported returns to existing investors from money contributed by new investors, according to the federal Securities and Exchange Commission.”

KJ Article

Since the defense of LePage runs so rampant on AMG, especially in the person of Miss Clapsaddle, I fear this topic won’t be discussed at all.

So I issue this challenge to the AMG lurkers we know want to hear what is being said about them on amglolz. Pray tell how energy conservation as practiced in Maine or anywhere else could possibly constitute a Ponzi scheme?

Since AMG is opposed to all things Portland, it was totally predictable that they would be opposed to Instant Runoff Voting (IRV), particularly since there was only one Republican in the race.  But always open-minded, the good AMGers withheld judgment until after the election (kind of) and saved their best comments until now.  Basically, they’re saying since Mike Brennan led at every turn of the counting, why bother with it?  Just let him have his 25%, or whatever, and call it good.  Cheaper and easier, right?

They don’t like to hear about LePage’s 38% “mandate” yet still refer to John Baldacci as “Governor 38” in reference to his nearly identical election percentage.  So, I was wondering how IRV might have worked in the last two gubernatorial elections.  Understanding that the dynamics of IRV make it difficult to do any truly accurate Monday morning quarterbacking, I thought I’d take a stab anyway at trying to understand what it would have taken to reverse the results of LePage’s and Baldacci’s elections.

In 2010, the results looked like this:
Cutler            208,270
LePage           218,065
Mitchell         109,387
Moody             28,756
Scott                  5,664
Other                 2,624

So, now comes the tricky part.  Please bear with me.  Knowing a little bit about who might be attracted by the various candidates, let’s try to figure out what it would take to win a race that’s been reduced to two people.  Let’s assume that LePage would pick up all of the Moody, Scott and Other candidates votes.   That gives him an additional 37,044 votes, for a total of 255,109.  The question then becomes how many Mitchell votes would have to move to Cutler to give him the election.  I estimate the answer to be 78,114, with the other 31,273 going to LePage.  A total of 71% of Mitchell’s votes swing to Cutler and he wins 286,384 to 286, 382.

Does that pass the straight face test?  I certainly think so.  In fact, I think that 71% is low.

In 2006, the results looked like this:
Baldacci        209,927
Lamarche        52,690
Merrill            118,715
Napier               3,108
Woodcock     166,425

There’s no telling where the 3,108 lunatics who voted for Napier would go, but let’s give them to Woodcock.  That leaves 171,405 votes for Lamarche and Merrill to distribute.  I calculate that  if 105,900 switch to Woodcock and the remaining 65,505 go to Baldacci, Woodcock wins by a total of 275,433 to 275,432.   That means that 62% of those who voted for Lamarche or Merrill would have  to swing to Woodcock.

What are the chances of that happening?  The words snowball and hell come to mind.

Bearing in mind that this is all conjecture and it’s very uncertain what really might have happened, it seems to me that AMG’s opposition to IRV is, as usual, rooted in pure logic and common sense, with no regard for political consequences whatsoever.  NOT!

That is all.

Our esteemed governor, Paul LePage, has gone on national TV and possibly lied about why he ordered the removal of the notorious mural from the Department of Labor.  Or maybe he told the truth, meaning he possibly lied at the time about why he removed the mural.  Both he and his spokesbabe blamed the press for not reporting his real reason for his action.  This is actually the truth, since the press has trouble reporting that which was not said.  So LePage possibly lied about having told the press his real reason, assuming that his real reason is what he told Brian Williams.

A lot of possible lying, right?  One would think that a reporter of Naran’s caliber and all of the truthseekers at AMG would be all over this.  But, no.  Crickets.  Likewise on the PPH message boards, where only a couple of sycophants are defending St. Paul and their defense is based more on the “merits” of the mural removal than refuting (I mean refutiating) our governor’s possible aversion to the truth.

Apollo has finally gotten back to work, thank God.  The man(?) who brought us the “Gay liberals set fire to a church in Maine” and “Ex-Gay is OK” and “Gay liberals kinda turn me on” threads is back with a new one!  Just when you thought Tom C. was the only AMG-er to REALLY go on and on and on about gay people like a hyperactive baboon with a fresh bottle of Adderall and a subscription to Blue Boy, Apollo lets loose with this nugget:

http://www.asmainegoes.com/content/gays-press-new-special-rights-military-bases

Now, them filthy queers are tryin’ to convert our fightin’ men and wimmin’!  Told ya!!!

Osama Bin Laden killed in Pakistan.

America is relentless in seeking justice in all senses of the word.

Amazing news. I am very happy to hear it.