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w22dheartlivie 
"Kitty Lover"
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 Posted - 08/29/2008 : 23:18:03
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quote:
Originally posted by MisterBadIdea
Okay, let's not be overly cynical either. As a racial minority living in America, I think you're overstating the prevalence of American racism.
I agree with you in regards to this election. I don't think I'm overstating the racism that has been prevalent in the past in some parts of the south, however.
quote:
Originally posted by Montgomery
I saw Al Gore speak last night and I thought, "Now, why couldn't that have been the Al Gore who ran for President?" What a great speaker now. During the election, he seemed so wooden.
What do you want America to be? I want us to be a place where we care for those who cannot care for themselves. A place where education is top priority. A place with healthcare for everyone. A country that is an example to the rest of the world of how to do things right -- not an example to be ridiculed for our hard headedness and abuse of power. A place that plans for the future. Thinks about what we will be handing down to the next generation in debt and ecologically. A place I can be proud of again.
I've thought that a lot in the last couple years about Gore. But after reading your last paragraph, why aren't you running, EM? That's what I want too. Well, that, and to save up enough money for a new water heater.
Choosing a young female pro-life candidate is political pandering at its worst. I'm not against a female candidate. I'm not against a young candidate. But please. She's almost as young as legally possible for the job, and her wide-range experience is questionable. What's worse to me are her actions on the environment, wildlife and oil. Her hubby works for British Petroleum. She's lobbied heavily to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, pushed for more drilling off Alaskan coasts, and she sued the US Fish and Wildlife Service to remove the polar bear from the endangered species list, which would allow for big business assaults on its habitat (which is already endangered by polar melting). The Wildlife Action Fund puts her to the right of George Bush. This is very disturbing to me.
McCain may well be pulling a Mondale. Geraldine Ferraro was a better choice for her party in 1984. But she was a Democrat.
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Edited by - w22dheartlivie on 08/29/2008 23:30:17 |
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damalc 
"last watched: Sausage Party"
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Posted - 08/29/2008 : 23:30:09
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quote:
Originally posted by Se�n
I'm predicting McCain will win the election as being black hasn't got Obama any extra votes (blacks vote Democrat anyway), but it will have lost him votes from the racist bigots who - although they won't publicly admit they're voting white - in the secrecy of a polling booth will find themselves voting for the white man.
What sayest thou Americans who know US society a zillion times better than me?
i support Obama but i'm not so sure that he can win. sure, there will be people who won't vote for a black president. plenty of people said during primaries that race was a factor in voting for and against Obama.
but the thing that makes me most skeptical is how destructive the Dems were to their own cause. Biden and Hillary Clinton are on the record criticizing Obama and McCain's camp has all that stuff on file. and now that McCain has a female vice, there's a good chance they'll woo some bitter ( ) Clinton supporters.
it's gonna be a fight, but i say Yes, We Can. |
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MisterBadIdea 
"PLZ GET MILK, KTHXBYE"
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Posted - 08/29/2008 : 23:54:15
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I was actually talking to Sean, not you, wildhartlivie, sorry for the mix-up.
But anyway, onto the important thing: Holy God, McCain's running mate is hot. This is brilliant. Obama chooses his VP pick to help take that old white guy vote, so McCain makes his veep pick to steal the young hot vote. |
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Sean
"Necrosphenisciform anthropophagist."
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Posted - 08/30/2008 : 00:53:56
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quote:
Originally posted by MisterBadIdea
Okay, let's not be overly cynical either. As a racial minority living in America, I think you're overstating the prevalence of American racism.
Well now that I know you were talking to me I can reply. 
I wasn't overstating it, I don't actually have much of a view on it, but was asking Americans what they think about it, particularly as I had read about the Gantt effect which suggested racial voting was a big deal. |
Edited by - Sean on 08/30/2008 00:55:36 |
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ChocolateLady
"500 Chocolate Delights"
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Posted - 08/30/2008 : 08:45:36
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Okay, so... how does McCain picking a female running mate change the face of this race.
(I know I was thinking "oooh, this guy is tricky". And no matter who wins, it will be a historic result - either the first black president or the first female vp.)
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w22dheartlivie
"Kitty Lover"
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Posted - 08/30/2008 : 11:38:54
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quote:
Originally posted by ChocolateLady
Okay, so... how does McCain picking a female running mate change the face of this race.
(I know I was thinking "oooh, this guy is tricky". And no matter who wins, it will be a historic result - either the first black president or the first female vp.)
One of my first thoughts was that it was a tricky choice, too. It's McCain's attempt at political savviness - choosing someone who could be viewed as an alternative for those who would have backed Hillary. I hope that McCain has underestimated the intelligence of voters. To jump over the joke and get right to the punchline: She's no Hillary Clinton. As I said, at best, she's inexperienced in national politics and to me, is simply an odd choice. I'm not sure what McCain hopes to gain with her, although it occurred to me that, much like Dan Quayle, she'd be an excellent life insurance policy for the president. (Is that unkind? Oh well.) Maybe I'm missing something, but I thought the vice presidential candidate was supposed to strengthen the ticket, as Biden seems to do on the Democrat side. It all feels like a visit to the Twilight Zone to me.
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ChocolateLady
"500 Chocolate Delights"
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Posted - 08/30/2008 : 12:34:51
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An excellent life insurance policy? I'm afraid not. McCain may be cutting off his nose here, as people will look at his age. Frankly, since the "20 year curse" doesn't apply to him (and is probably over, after Reagan survived that bullet and I don't see how anyone would bother killing off Dubya so late in his presidency), unless he starts getting into shape, I think people are going to worry that he won't live out his term. And if that really is a worry, having such an inexperienced VP is truly not in the country's best interest.
As for "she's no Hillary", well, that's for certain and from what I can see, very few of those 18million Hillary voters will change over to the other side and vote for a woman who wants to make abortion illegal. More than that, but she has a 5 month old Downs' Syndrome child. That's a handful for any family, but add a job as demanding as the VP to that, even if Daddy becomes a full-time father and caretaker - I'm sorry, but I just don't see that working. Oh, sure, the White House can hire all sorts of caretakers for the kid, but what kind of "family values" does that show the American public? To me it says "you can have 5 children and even if one of them has Downs Syndrome, you can still stick together as a family. Of course, having the American taxpayers foot the bill, so the parents don't have to deal with those problems, certainly helps". BLECH!
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Sean
"Necrosphenisciform anthropophagist."
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Posted - 08/30/2008 : 13:31:21
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I think she was a clever choice, if the objective was to win the election. Given that half the voters don't have a strong enough view on politics to even bother voting, it's a safe assumption that plenty more will vote on image and appearance and couldn't care less about the experience or competence of the candidates.
If McCain is elected, then the USA is only a 72-year-old heart attack away from a 44-year-old female president! |
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Sean
"Necrosphenisciform anthropophagist."
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Posted - 08/30/2008 : 13:32:21
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| One other thing, why didn't/couldn't Obama have Hillary as his VP pick? |
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BaftaBaby 
"Always entranced by cinema."
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Posted - 08/30/2008 : 13:40:06
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quote:
Originally posted by Se�n
One other thing, why didn't/couldn't Obama have Hillary as his VP pick?
My guess is the Veep job sucks, but if he does get in she'll prob'ly get a plum cabinet post - Foreign Sec or - wouldn't it be cool - Attorney General.
When I listen to the crass talk shows I'm convinced that there's still too much prejudice against ethnic minorities and, yes, women to convince a large slice to vote Dem.
And really, the so-called change promised by either side seems so much hot air. No candidate is making the kind of connections between energy policy - the economy - biz elite lobbies - blah-blah-blah. Change means a systemic change and they're all too protective of their own political careers to even suggest that.
It's like always - nothing changes except the name on the door. That great graffito:
If voting changed anything they'd make it illegal.
Yours truly,
CynicBabe  |
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w22dheartlivie
"Kitty Lover"
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Posted - 08/30/2008 : 13:41:13
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quote:
Originally posted by ChocolateLady
An excellent life insurance policy? I'm afraid not. McCain may be cutting off his nose here, as people will look at his age. Frankly, since the "20 year curse" doesn't apply to him (and is probably over, after Reagan survived that bullet and I don't see how anyone would bother killing off Dubya so late in his presidency), unless he starts getting into shape, I think people are going to worry that he won't live out his term. And if that really is a worry, having such an inexperienced VP is truly not in the country's best interest.
That's what I meant by an excellent life insurance policy. Were McCain to become president, no one would dare try to hurt him for the simple fear that this inept woman might actually become president. It was the only excuse I could ever find for Dan Quayle and that became the rather bad joke that we, his fellow Hoosiers, used as H.W.'s excuse for choosing him. I can find no other valid reason for choosing Palin, so, tongue in cheek, I say it's the only possible advantage I can find in McCain's choice, since she doesn't enhance his ticket in the least and is a huge political liability. |
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w22dheartlivie
"Kitty Lover"
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Posted - 08/30/2008 : 14:04:08
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quote:
Originally posted by BaftaBabe
quote:
Originally posted by Se�n
One other thing, why didn't/couldn't Obama have Hillary as his VP pick?
My guess is the Veep job sucks, but if he does get in she'll prob'ly get a plum cabinet post - Foreign Sec or - wouldn't it be cool - Attorney General.
And while I don't want to jump on the cynicism bandwagon, who's to say that hasn't already been agreed upon? There was quite a bit of pre-convention talk about her not having released her electoral votes and the possibility of launching a convention floor movement for the nomination. Who knows? Maybe there's a plum seat for Bill too. As it is, I'm still enough of a hippie to want to believe in some amount of reform.
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Whippersnapper. 
"A fourword thinking guy."
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Posted - 08/30/2008 : 15:33:36
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On the subject of running mates, given that in order to be re-elected the Republicans have to attempt the political equivalent of flogging a dead parrot, does anyone else feel McCain's choice of a Palin to be strangely appropriate?
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rockfsh 
"Laugh, Love, Cheer"
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Posted - 08/30/2008 : 16:35:55
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quote:
Originally posted by Whippersnapper
On the subject of running mates, given that in order to be re-elected the Republicans have to attempt the political equivalent of flogging a dead parrot, does anyone else feel McCain's choice of a Palin to be strangely appropriate?
So the race has become a Monty Python skit?
Palin is pro-life, anti polar bear, supports the teaching of creation science, shooting wolves from the air, believes that global warming is not man induced, wants to drill in ANWR etc. She's a bone tossed to the far right wing of the GOP. The VP debate will take on new interest.
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w22dheartlivie
"Kitty Lover"
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Posted - 08/30/2008 : 23:10:27
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quote:
Originally posted by rockfsh
So the race has become a Monty Python skit?
Palin is pro-life, anti polar bear, supports the teaching of creation science, shooting wolves from the air, believes that global warming is not man induced, wants to drill in ANWR etc. She's a bone tossed to the far right wing of the GOP. The VP debate will take on new interest.
The VP debate will be a Monty Python skit. |
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Hillary Clinton.
