I would say it’s a bad reason if you’re a supporter of John McCain and are just voting for either Democratic candidate because you feel they’d be easier to defeat in November.
I’d say “It’s about time we had a black guy/woman in the White House” is a pretty poor reason to vote for someone. It seems sadly popular in both camps though.
I saw someone walking around wearing a T-shirt with a picture of Obama and Hillary with Hillarys face crossed out and it read “Bros before Hoes”. Laughed my ass off, but thats probably a bad reason to vote for him.
Not as poor as “It’s NOT time we had a black guy/woman in the White House”, though. Down near there is “By voting for the black guy, we can show the world and ourselves that America has truly changed. But *not * by voting for the woman.”
Others:
“I just don’t like her/him.”
“He/she hasn’t earned their position in the nation’s leadership, but the other one has.”
“Only he/she can bring true change to the government.”
“Only he/she can truly unite and lead America.”
“He/she is truly a different kind of candidate, one who transcends divisions and will dissipate any serious partisan opposition.”
“There is such a strong distinction between their policy statements that he/she is the obvious choice.”
“Only a fool or a delusional would even think of voting for her/him.”
“She/he can’t win, so I’d better jump on the bandwagon - or risk being the target of a few pseudonymous posts on some damfool message board.”
Or just accepting being *told * any of the above by somebody else.
Good idea for an OP.
I don’t disagree, really, with anything else you wrote, Elvis, but this one threw me off. I don’t understand why this would be a bad reason to avoid voting for someone…
Oh…well, I guess that’s gonna be an agree to disagree thing. I think that saying you don’t like someone is indicative of things about the person you don’t like, and that, to me, is a valid reason not to want them to run the country.
I was referring to visceral (and sometimes conditioned) emotional reactions, not the result of actual reasoning processes. I don’t think we really disagree.
Most photogenic (I’ve read somewhere and could probably get a cite that in democracies/republics around the world the most photogenic candidate wins an alarming amount of time)
Bad reason to vote for Hillary/McCain: Because Obama made a poorly received off-the-cuff remark about small towns.
Bad reason to vote for Obama/McCain: Because Hillary’s personally richer than delta topsoil or because her husband was impeached for lying about infidelity.
Bad reason to vote for Hillary/Obama: Because McCain is said not to be a nice guy (i.e. has a temper).
There are more bad reasons to vote against someone than for someone. The worst of the lot for voting against Obama:
He’s a Muslim (though he isn’t)
He doesn’t wear a flag lapel pin
He doesn’t put his hand over his heart for the anthem, pledge, whatever
TV was new. In fact, Nixon’s debate vs Kennedy (the first televised debate) is a classic one because people who heard it on the radio thought Nixon had won the debate while those who watched it on TV thought Kennedy did.
I remember a cartoon from the 2000 campaign. Three panels - each showing the same Joe Everyman. In the first, he said, “In choosing a doctor, I want the most capable, experienced person I can find.” In the second, he said, “In choosing a lawyer, I want the most capable, experienced person I can find.” In the third, “In choosing a President… I want a fishin’ buddy!”
As to the OP:
Whoever has the better tailor
Because he or she somehow reminds you of a beloved teacher, mentor or friend
Merely because he or she is from your home state
Because of something the other candidate did, or didn’t do, 30 years ago that really has no bearing on what kind of President he or she would be