Here's the exact quote from a [US] senate resolution...

So? Whoever wrote that was blithely repeating a myth. The Israeli minister of intelligence, Dan Meridor, conceded that Ahmedinejad never actually said that Israel “must be wiped off the map.”

They're a cash grab for scanner makers, who are politically connected to the TSA.

eg Michael Chertoff, former Homeland Security secretary who shilled hard on the "need" to install full-body scanners, then later acknowledged that his consulting agency had a client that manufactured the machines. That is the kind of corruption one would expect in a third world tinpot dictatorship.

1. The republican party lies about having free market ideals.

They are pro-business, not necessrily pro-market. Subsidies, tax loopholes, monopolies, cartels and all kinds of other corporate welfare are just fine and dandy when its their own that have their snouts in the trough..

...to the extent that betting markets are an accurate predictor of political outcomes

But that is the fundamental flaw : betting markets are not an accurate predictor of any kind of outcome. The prices in a betting market are set and moved by the bookmaker according to the bets placed; the odds move according to what the bookie stands to win or lose based on the current bets. Sure, the bookie makes an educated guess when setting the intial price, but after that, the price is entirely driven by bets received.

Imagine that there were such betting at the last election. If Rove dropped hundreds of millions to back Romney, what do you think that would do the betting price? The odds would be "predicting" a Romney landslide, but it would be no more a predictor of reality than all those blowhard pundits.

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We could give that neighbouring country chemical and biological weapons

citation needed

How about the Senate report on U.S. Chemical and Biological Warfare-Related Dual-Use Exports to Iraq, amongst whose findings is "The United States provided the Government of Iraq with "dual use" licensed materials which assisted in the development of Iraqi chemical, biological, and missile- system programs, including:(6) chemical warfare agent precursors; chemical warfare agent production facility plans and technical drawings (provided as pesticide production facility plans); chemical warhead filling equipment; biological warfare related materials; missile fabrication equipment; and, missile-system guidance equipment"

Is that fact straight enough for you?/P

just like how Iran launched chemical weapons into Iraq in the 90s and killed thousands

False. Iraq, and only Iraq, used chemical weapons in the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-88. (And non incidentally, the chemical weapons were supplied by the west, and targetted using western intelligence).

When McCain was vetting Romney and others as prospective vice-presidents in 2008, Romney provided several years' tax returns to the McCain campaign. Those who saw those returns have said publicly that there was nothing there that would have disqualified Romney

McCain saw the returns in 2008. The amnesty was in 2009.

I'd much rather see talk about what each candidate intends to do with the presidency, rather than "vote for me because that other guy's a real dickhead".

I totally agree with your sentiment, but I still think there's a huge difference between "the other guy's a dickhead" and "the other guy engaged in illegal behaviour"

[2009 Tax Amnesty passed by] 111th Congress. You know, the one that had Democrat majority in both the House, Senate

Lol. So it's the Democrats fault!? The whataboutery-foo is strong in this one. You think they should not have permitted the amnesty? And put the criminals in prison?

if it's amnesty, then how is what happened then exactly illegal?

I guess you don't understand what amnesty means? To re-cap : following a leak by a whistle-blower, Swiss bank UBS gets sued by the US to release their full list of tax criminals' names. The IRS is more interested in the money than putting thousands of the rich and/or famous behind bars, so offers an amnesty - those tax evaders who voluntarily fess up, report their fraud and pay what's due are not prosecuted.

The tax evasion was and is illegal. Amnesty from prosecution does not magically make the previous behaviour legal. And even if it did, the issue for Romney, if the allegation is true, is that he willfully and deliberately committed massive tax fraud, knowing at the time that it was illegal. That is massively damaging whichever side of the fence you're on. (And by the way, I don't really have a horse in this race because I'm not permitted to vote in that election. If I could vote, I cannot imagine that I would be persuaded to vote Obama).