2008 U.S. Presidential Election Discussion

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Captain Cisco · #1 Post by **Captain Cisco** » March 16th, 2008, 5:14 pm

Not just for the Americans here. Anyone following the political nightmare that is sweeping this country is free to chime in.

I have to say, from my own personal perspective, that the political for this country is grim. Here's why:

John McCain has spent his entire political career in the Senate reaching across the aisle to the Democrats with one hand while stabbing the Republican party in the back with the other. He's no friend to economic conservatives with his class warfare rhetoric, his lack of support for the Bush tax cuts, and his ill-advised and industry-killing McCain-Lieberman Bill pushing a disastrous environmental agenda. His stance on the illegal alien problem is woeful (I don't care what he says now about "getting the message" from the American people). His McCain-Feingold Bill was the worst violation of the First Amendment in American history. And his support of government-funded embryonic stem cell research leaves many social conservatives like me questioning his own claims at being pro-life. he claims to be a huge proponent of National Security, but he wants to close down Guantanamo Bay's prison for terrorists, and he voted against drilling for oil in ANWR - something that would have gone a long way toward extricating us from the dangerous dependence on foreign oil. The only thing he seems to get right is his stance on the Iraq War. he favors staying there until the job is done right.

McCain is called a war hero (though I didn't realize getting shot down and spending an entire war in a POW camp is actualy heroism; we seem to hand that "war hero" label out a little too liberally these days). But I'm not sure he really gets the big picture of what this country nees to be secure. Still, I guess in the end a severely flawed Rebublican is orders of magnitude better than either of the other two running on the other side. So I guess I'll end up holding my nose, voting for him, and then spend the rest of election day showering off the grime and drinking myself into forgetfulness.

Barack Obama frankly scares the heck out of me. He, in my opinion, is the very reason the Founding Fathers created the Electoral College - to prevent demagogues with dangerous political ideas from swaying the masses and getting themselves elected. Sadly, the Electoral College is nothing more than a rubber stamp to the will of the people these days. Barack has very little political experience, and his ideas are nothing short of radical Leftism. He speaks in vagueries, and refuses to say anything concrete. He stirs emotions, but leaves the intellect questioning. He speaks of pie-in-the-sky idealism, and negotiation with those who seek to destroy us. He'd leave this country vulnerable. He claims to want to unite us, but his "spiritual advisor" is a pastor who preaches racial division. He is dangerous. He is inexperienced. And he would be a disaster if elected.

Hillary Clinton isn't much better. The only reason I don't feel terror at the thought of her is that she's a known quantity. At least she speaks her ideals and ideas openly. We know full-well what we're getting with her. Unfortunately, it's pretty much the same Radical Leftism spouted by Obama. Add in the known corruption of the Clintons, and we'll be in serious trouble as the government basically takes over our lives.

So there you have it. God help the United States...

desert rose · #2 Post by **desert rose** » March 16th, 2008, 7:21 pm

Personally I find it disgraceful that in Britain we're getting more coverage on the US elections than we do for our own. We are not a lapdog or a sattelite to America damnit! :death:

And people wonder why the British don't know enough about British politics :roll:

Captain Cisco · #3 Post by **Captain Cisco** » March 16th, 2008, 7:23 pm

desert rose wrote:We are not a lapdog or a sattelite to America damnit!

What? When did THIS happen?! :shock:

Kidding! Kidding! :wink:

desert rose · #4 Post by **desert rose** » March 16th, 2008, 7:24 pm

*throws flag at Cisco*

Captain Cisco · #5 Post by **Captain Cisco** » March 16th, 2008, 7:25 pm

I love the British. We've had each others backs for almost a century now.

desert rose · #6 Post by **desert rose** » March 16th, 2008, 7:27 pm

Yeah it can be a good relationship. It just annoys me that we're seeen as almost a part of the US, and that an election which essentially has nothing to do with us, is seen as being more significant than our own.

Captain Cisco · #7 Post by **Captain Cisco** » March 16th, 2008, 7:28 pm

Hey, the media here made a big deal out of Tony Blair's resignation and Gordon Brown's stepping up. So I guess it's fair. We're allies. What happens here, does have some effect on what happens there.

desert rose · #8 Post by **desert rose** » March 16th, 2008, 7:31 pm

Why should it have any effect? We're separate states, separate governments....the world will not stop no matter who becomes president. I mean, yes I'm interested to find out, but I don't really care about what happens every step of the way.

#9 Post by **Aurian** » March 16th, 2008, 7:34 pm

In Sweden all but Hilary and Obama is counted out, judging by the media coverage..

The times are a-changin'

I want a female president.. im not going to lie about that even though I dont really have anything to back that up with.

Theophilus · #10 Post by **Theophilus** » March 16th, 2008, 7:37 pm

Out of the three choices, McCain is my vote. Barrak, like Cisco said, scares the heck out of me. I find myself hoping Hillary wins the Democratic nomination, because I don't think she can beat McCain.

The thing about Barrak, even though he says he won't turn the election into a race thing, I fear that Blacks are going to vote for him out of some misguided idea of racial loyalty and it it "our" turn, instead of actually thinking about the harm he could do to the country.

desert rose · #11 Post by **desert rose** » March 16th, 2008, 7:40 pm

Yeah I'll admit that he doesn't really appear to know what he's doing. Purely on politics - NOT gender - I'd like Hillary to win for the democrats.

Overall, meh. It would be nice not to have a white, middle class conservative as president......but as i've already said, I don't think it really makes a difference to little old me.

Captain Cisco · #12 Post by **Captain Cisco** » March 16th, 2008, 7:45 pm

I was bummed when Romney dropped out. He really, in my opinion, was the best candidate on either side to be president. And that's just based purely on Executive experience. It was fortunate that he pretty much fell in line with a majority of my political views.

Fred Thompson would have been a great choice from a purely idealogical perspective, but I was concerned about his seemingly lackluster campaigning, and his lack of executive experience.

Theophilus · #13 Post by **Theophilus** » March 16th, 2008, 7:49 pm

desert rose wrote:Why should it have any effect? We're separate states, separate governments....the world will not stop no matter who becomes president. I mean, yes I'm interested to find out, but I don't really care about what happens every step of the way.

Well if the US goes down the crapper, as the UK is one of our closest allies, you'll be circling the rim.

desert rose · #14 Post by **desert rose** » March 16th, 2008, 7:50 pm

Already are mate, already are. Hence I plan to leave the country when I get the opportunity.

Captain Cisco · #15 Post by **Captain Cisco** » March 16th, 2008, 7:51 pm

Exactly. You have the Archbishop of Canterbury saying what a wonderful idea it would be for you all to just suck it up and adopt Sharia law. If we roll over and let the appeasers win here, how long do you think it'll be before you have to wear a burkha to go out in public?

The Postman · #16 Post by **The Postman** » March 29th, 2008, 9:57 pm

Captain Cisco wrote:Exactly. You have the Archbishop of Canterbury saying what a wonderful idea it would be for you all to just suck it up and adopt Sharia law. If we roll over and let the appeasers win here, how long do you think it'll be before you have to wear a burkha to go out in public?

If "here" means Texas or New Mexico I wouldn't worry about as the Muslims here will be busy trying to pull the Nation of Islam into line. Can you imagine if they tried to enforce the dhimmi as well as other parts of Sharia law?

I think present Americans will be much more willing to fight then the colonist were against King George.

HopefulNebula · #17 Post by **HopefulNebula** » March 30th, 2008, 1:38 am

I'm on the "anybody but Clinton in '08" party.

Mostly because Clinton is one of the largest supporters of an "organization" that would prefer my death to my continued existence as I am. (Autism Speaks does not speak for me, and it never has.) If it comes to that, I'm not sure what I'm going to do, but I'm not voting for her.

And Cisco: I'm not sure it's quite the same amount of hype in each country: I mentioned Gordon Brown to someone last month and she said "Oh, you mean that Food Network guy? He doesn't sound British."

Or maybe that's just because people as a whole are stupid.

Captain Cisco · #18 Post by **Captain Cisco** » March 30th, 2008, 3:33 am

HopefulNebula wrote:Or maybe that's just because people as a whole are stupid.

My GOD!

We AGREE about something!!! :lol:

HopefulNebula · #19 Post by **HopefulNebula** » March 30th, 2008, 7:41 am

OH yeah.

I once had to argue with a student worker here that just because nickels are bigger than dimes doesn't make them worth more. (I was trying to pay exact change for a stamp. After about a minute I gave up and then "forgot" "my" change on the counter.)

Theophilus · #20 Post by **Theophilus** » March 30th, 2008, 8:42 am

Examples of stupidity-a coleague of mine that is a student teacher once had one of her students (in college mind you) tell her that she didn't know who won the Civil War.

I mean my God, we are the United States of America, not the Confederate States of America!

Zog · #21 Post by **Zog** » March 30th, 2008, 10:38 am

http://community.livejournal.com/custom ... tml#cutid1

Both stupid, and sad. Mostly, I just want to strangle that woman.

The Postman · #22 Post by **The Postman** » March 30th, 2008, 12:55 pm

Theophilus wrote:Examples of stupidity-a coleague of mine that is a student teacher once had one of her students (in college mind you) tell her that she didn't know who won the Civil War.

I mean my God, we are the United States of America, not the Confederate States of America!

My explaination would be that the student grew up reading the "War is not the awnser", "Give Peace a Chance" worldviewand believes no war is worth it. Thus there is no "winner" in a war. To have to say that one side actually won and there were political consequences from the victory and defeat destroys the worldview position that she was indoctrinated in.

Sort of like the Fonz on Happy Days could not get "I'm sorry" to come out of his mouth.

My YouTube Page · #23 Post by **RJDiogenes** » March 30th, 2008, 3:23 pm

I used to have some respect for McCain before he sold out to the religious extremists. And his disinterest in teaming up with Kerry showed that he cares more about his party than his country. This is why Rudy was the best bet for the Republicans; he had some backbone in standing up for his values.

I've never liked Hillary, ever since Bill's first campaign. She's untrustworthy. And pretty much a sellout as well.

Barack seems like a good guy. He has generic politics, but he'd be a welcome change from the whackjob we currently have. The church thing disturbs me, though. Anti-American religious fanatics are the main reason I never vote for the Right Wing; we have enough trouble with the anti-marriage, anti-flag, anti-science crowd without adding anti-tolerance nuts to the mix.

Looks like I'll be writing in Wesley Clark again. But what we really need is election reform, so we can break the back of the party system and get some qualified candidates.

Theophilus · #24 Post by **Theophilus** » March 30th, 2008, 3:40 pm

You know, Disney owns its own island. Perhaps we could all move over there. At least there they'd be open about their Mickey...

Aw hell, if you don't know the lame joke I was about to make, then you wouldn't have understood it anyway.

Proxima · #25 Post by **Proxima** » April 2nd, 2008, 8:20 pm

This election has been like a roller coaster with me. I started out supporting Mitt Romney, then briefly Fred, then back to Mitt, and finally to John McCain.

I so wanted to see Fred Thompson succeed. He's a Tennessean, he's personable, and he's a mainstream conservative. But he's also very lazy and a tad arrogant, so I jumped off the sinking Thompson ship about as soon as it left port.

Barack Obama is a joke. He's the liberal choice, not the intelligent choice for the Democrats. I think he's an opportunist, and frankly, I think it's a slap in the face to the American people that so many people have bought into the Obama cult, when he lacks the experience, credibility, and qualifications to be President. Not to mention that at every corner, he tries to throw the race card "My opponents are trying to make race an issue", while he or others connected to his campaign are the only ones who have made race an issue (i.e. preacher-gate, "typical white people", demanding Geraldine Ferraro be fired for her statements then subtly agreeing with her weeks later, etc.) Not to mention that if any other candidate's wife said "This is the first time I've ever been proud of America", that candidate would be persecuted by the media.

I don't despise Hillary Clinton like so many of my fellow Republicans. Though I do think she's power hungry, I think she has more of an idea of how to lead American than Barack Obama. That being said, I disagree with her healthcare policies, her plans for a precipitate withdrawal from Iraq, and her Senate voting record.

Of course, being the Republican, I'm supporting John McCain. He wasn't my first choice for Republican nominee, but he isn't all bad. He's a true American hero. My grandfather was a fellow POW, so my family especially appreciates the sacrifices Senator McCain has made for his country. And classifying myself as a paleo-conservative, I don't have as much of a problem with his positions or voting record as most of the neo-conserveratives or far right wingers.

My only real concern is Senator McCain's age. Granted, one of my political heroes - Ronald Reagan - was similar in age, Senator McCain lacks the enthusiasm and optimism that made Ronald Reagan so endearing. McCain's age is his biggest PR weakness; if Barack Obama wins the Democratic nomination, he's obviously going to use this to his advantage.