American Election thread

Hello

I used to love some of the old American political debates on the old board so hopefully we can have a few more.

That Sarah palin character seems pretty scary to me and McCain really should not be let anywhere near in charge of a country, I would fear for world peace if he was in charge.

Hopefully the other guy wins.

To be honest, I'm torn. I've supported McCain for years, but I like Obama's stance. I might wait til' the debates to decide.

Obama has absolutely no business running for President. No experience at all, no real plan for anything. And I know Palin also has no experience as well, I don't really want her in either, but at least she isn't running for President. Obama himself said in 2004 that he wasn't ready to run for President in 2008, so I don't know how between now and then he's all of a sudden ready. About half of his senate term has been spent on the campaign, and he's basically done nothing. He's a radical, with radical ties and is not good for the country.

As far as McCain, he tries to play the Reagan card and the bipartisan card at the same time. It doesn't work because you really can't be Reaganesque while crossing conservative values so much. Campaign finance is a sham and contrary to liberty in these elections, his stance on Immigration is despicable (as far as a conservative views it), and there's more I could list.

Right now, the economy is the number one issue. What we should do is allow for the free market to take care of this problem. Let the banks fall flat on their faces, let competition solve it. The feds and Bush are going into horrible territory here bailing out the economy. It's a quick fix, which will bite us in the future.

The Democrats are the reason for this happening. They control the Congress at the moment, and have been wrecking havoc since 2006.

I could rant for a while, maybe tomorrow.

I agree with Phenom, Obama is the man to take the country forward.

My gf and her family are Repuplican voters...myself, I dont have a care for either of them, I'd probably back Barack if I was an American...but I'm not. Either would be an improvement on the idiot Dubjah tho

Sarah Palin just comes across as a redneck looney... haven't we had our fill of that after 8 years?

The problem is that Palin IS running with a possibility of becoming president - I've seen a lot being made over the last year McCain's age being a major issue and whether he could really see out a term.

Plus the whole Clinton/Obama race was a blessing in disguise wasted by bringing in Palin. If Clinton won, a large percentage of the more partisan black vote would not vote for her on principle. Obama would alienate a share of the female vote. And the traditional deep south "redneck" voters would never vote for either. There was no need to select Palin to win over a voting group who Obama's selection had already alienated.

First rule of elections - make sure they don't vote against you, 2nd rule -make them vote for you. Making someone dislike their preferred option is much easier than making them actually change political stance. I have never voted Tory as they have embraced too many policies I don't agree with, but it doesn't mean I've always voted Labour as I don't always agree with them either. Strengthening their position amongst traditional floaters would have been a better move than hoping Palin would bring in some Hillary malcontents.

Go Baraka Obama!!!!!

I vote him as he has a cool name.

Yes Palin is essentially running for President, however I don't think McCain's age should be as much of a deterrent as Obama's inexperience. Essentially though, Palin has at least run the state of Alaska, as the head executive of the state (as President is for the US). Obama has spent his political time as a city organizer, state congressman, and campaigning for President as a US Senator. McCain trumps Obama in that he is ready to do this job. Obama recently said that Cuba, Venezuela, and Iran were just small countries that don't pose much of a threat.

"Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, these countries are tiny compared to the Soviet Union. They don't pose a serious threat to us the way the Soviet Union posed a threat to us."

Is he fucking kidding me? These are the mindsets that cause complacency, and that is what leads to incidents such as 9/11. I'd say that all of those countries are are larger compared to Al Qaeda or the Taliban. But those guys were just tiny right? He is unqualified for this job.

Another laughable quote from a few weeks ago is when he was asked a question about where life begins. And his answer is "That is above my pay grade." He's running for President of the US, that's essentially the highest pay grade in the world. Man up and take a stance.

Also, Biden is an ass. He said this recently: “When the stock market crashed, Franklin D. Roosevelt got on the television and didn’t just talk about the, you know, the princes of greed. He said, ‘Look, here’s what happened..."

OK dumbass. The stock market crashed in 1929. FDR wasn't elected until 1932. TV wasn't introduced until 1939. Just more liberal lies.


I'm going to go ahead and put this out there as well. The rumor is that Biden will step down from the race around Oct. 5th either due to health issues. Barack is not happy with his choice as evident in the recent quarrel they have had over a TV ad that Biden thought was "terrible" which attacked McCain over his age/inability to use a computer. And then Obama criticized Biden for his current stance on the economy bailout. This will pave the way for Hillary appaently, or maybe someone else.

I think the world needs a new change inexperienced as he is Obama may be the person to bring things around its certainly not like the world is becoming a better place the way things are.

But surely if you want change you need to bring in someone with a track record?

As for Obama's quotes, most politicians make stupid comments, atleast he actually knows where the countries are!

But i dont see much change coming under McCain, which only means Obama by Proxy, i certainly see the arguments against him and they are reasonable with the excetpion of racisim obviously, but just because he's unproven doesnt mean he's a set failure.

McCain looks like a dead man walking, if he did get elected he would be dead within a year, looks like he needs to be in a nursing home rather than running for president!

Baraka Obama for me all the way!

for those that havent seen it

I've watched and read a lot to do with the election coverage this year and I really hope Obama gets elected. He speaks with a great deal of common sense and intelligence about a variety of issues, and with the challenges and problems facing the US and the world at large that is the kind of person I would want as a leader. One of the biggest positives surely is how he has helped re-energise a large portion of the electorate and got them involved with the future of their country, something I look on at quite enviously from England. I don't recall in the past few years since I've been old enough to have an interest in politics, a politician that has been able to inspire like this. People knock Obama as being flash, and that if it wasn't for his oratory people wouldn't be interested. But as foolish as people can be, if there wasn't substane and good ideas behind it I don't believe he would have got this far.

The unfortunate thing with McCain is I think he is a good bloke who is capable of being a good President. But again, from everything I've taken in from this race, to me it looks like the Republican party have dragged him out further to the right than is natural to him. And the negativity that his campaign, especially since Palin came on board, have directed towards the Democrats seems generally unfounded. As for Palin I think Matt Damon has got it almost spot on in that video.

As for who is going to win, its all going to come down to the debates, and I'm very interested to just how they're going to go down.

The Phenom wrote:Also, Biden is an ass. He said this recently: “When the stock market crashed, Franklin D. Roosevelt got on the television and didn’t just talk about the, you know, the princes of greed. He said, ‘Look, here’s what happened..."

OK dumbass. The stock market crashed in 1929. FDR wasn't elected until 1932. TV wasn't introduced until 1939. Just more liberal lies.

You criticise historical accuracy of one party yet you're willing to vote for one who's VP candidate believes the earth was created 4000 years ago by a man in the sky and that the dinosaurs were wiped out by the great flood?

The Phenom wrote:Also, Biden is an ass. He said this recently: “When the stock market crashed, Franklin D. Roosevelt got on the television and didn’t just talk about the, you know, the princes of greed. He said, ‘Look, here’s what happened..."

OK dumbass. The stock market crashed in 1929. FDR wasn't elected until 1932. TV wasn't introduced until 1939. Just more liberal lies.

Agree with a lot of what you said here, however as far as TV went, you had a basic and limited mechanical system in the very late 20s and a more effective electronic system in the mid 30s. We had a limited BBC broadcasts as early as 1930. (My degree is in Film, TV and Radio - the theoretical and historical development was a big part of it - Baird, Marconi and all that)

Not to say Biden ISN'T an ass - everything I've read about him points to that same conclusion.

The Real JK wrote:

The Phenom wrote:Also, Biden is an ass. He said this recently: “When the stock market crashed, Franklin D. Roosevelt got on the television and didn’t just talk about the, you know, the princes of greed. He said, ‘Look, here’s what happened..."

OK dumbass. The stock market crashed in 1929. FDR wasn't elected until 1932. TV wasn't introduced until 1939. Just more liberal lies.

You criticise historical accuracy of one party yet you're willing to vote for one who's VP candidate believes the earth was created 4000 years ago by a man in the sky and that the dinosaurs were wiped out by the great flood?

You can't compare those two things. People have their own religious beliefs, routed in faith. If someone wants to tell me they don't believe in God and that line of creation, then fine. I'm not going to argue with people about their belief or non-belief in in religion. What Biden said was contrary to known historical fact.

And yes Garibaldi, TV was around earlier, but it wasn't commercially available in the masses until the late 1930's. Biden was making it sound like FDR came on the tube and was speaking to the entire nation.

At a risk of sounding stupid...

What date is the debate?

And on that Damon video, he does have a point. I do agree that Palin was a political choice, and that she also is not very qualified. However once again, Obama is in the exact same boat. He was a community organizer for a while, a state senator for 7 years, and then a US Senator for about 2 years before he essentially left that job to run for President. Palin was a city counselor for 4 years, a mayor for 4, chairperson of a gas/oil commission for 1, and then Governor for 2. They really have the same experience as far as national politics go, and neither is very good. As far as McCain's age is concerned, I don't really think it's that big a deal. He's only 72 years old, which may be old for President in some people's minds, but realistically he only needs to make it to 76 or 80. Our recent Presidents have been living well into the 80's and 90's, so I really see this to be a non issue.


The debate is this friday.

Uptown Llama of Doom wrote:The best Palin video ever

The one where Gina Gershon played Sarah Palin is pretty entertaining and she does look very identical to her.

The Phenom wrote:

The Real JK wrote:

The Phenom wrote:Also, Biden is an ass. He said this recently: “When the stock market crashed, Franklin D. Roosevelt got on the television and didn’t just talk about the, you know, the princes of greed. He said, ‘Look, here’s what happened..."

OK dumbass. The stock market crashed in 1929. FDR wasn't elected until 1932. TV wasn't introduced until 1939. Just more liberal lies.

You criticise historical accuracy of one party yet you're willing to vote for one who's VP candidate believes the earth was created 4000 years ago by a man in the sky and that the dinosaurs were wiped out by the great flood?

You can't compare those two things. People have their own religious beliefs, routed in faith. If someone wants to tell me they don't believe in God and that line of creation, then fine. I'm not going to argue with people about their belief or non-belief in in religion. What Biden said was contrary to known historical fact.

I think we can be 99.9999999999999999% certain that the earth is more than 4000 years old ;-)

This argument isnt going to go anywhere good. *hides*

Come on JK, surely at Oxford they taught you to respect other people's beliefs.

But there is a line, when your faith defies logic or science, we still condem suicide bomers even when they are claiming they are doing gods work.

The Real JK wrote:

The Phenom wrote:

The Real JK wrote:

The Phenom wrote:Also, Biden is an ass. He said this recently: “When the stock market crashed, Franklin D. Roosevelt got on the television and didn’t just talk about the, you know, the princes of greed. He said, ‘Look, here’s what happened..."

OK dumbass. The stock market crashed in 1929. FDR wasn't elected until 1932. TV wasn't introduced until 1939. Just more liberal lies.

You criticise historical accuracy of one party yet you're willing to vote for one who's VP candidate believes the earth was created 4000 years ago by a man in the sky and that the dinosaurs were wiped out by the great flood?

You can't compare those two things. People have their own religious beliefs, routed in faith. If someone wants to tell me they don't believe in God and that line of creation, then fine. I'm not going to argue with people about their belief or non-belief in in religion. What Biden said was contrary to known historical fact.

I think we can be 99.9999999999999999% certain that the earth is more than 4000 years old ;-)

I agree, I'm catholic but I've also taken numerous historical geology classes (almost made it my major).

ShowStealer wrote:But surely if you want change you need to bring in someone with a track record?

Only if their track record is for instigating change. John Major has a track record, but you'd hardly elect him to shake up the wasy British politics operates.

disco stu wrote:But there is a line, when your faith defies logic or science, we still condem suicide bomers even when they are claiming they are doing gods work.

That's my thought. If your faith fills a gap in science or logic (i.e. the unknown) then all good to you and I would never condemn that, but those who still insist on preaching to everyone in ignorance of proven facts just bugs the hell out of me.

An example I always raise is that I have no problem with anyone who believes in Jesus, because I can't prove or disprove that he existed, and his teachings are no less worthwhile for either, but when the churches get their balls in a twist over something like parodying crucifixion (like the Pythons) it bugs the hell out of me as they are utterly ignorant of just how many people were crucified. They didn't just break it out for Jesus!

Went to see comdian Russell Howard (from Mock The Week) last night and he said the following:

Sarah Palin couldn't be more right wing if she had a gun in one hand, a baby in the other and was stood on a mountain of dead gays!