It’s the truth. Neither of the two major parties represent me. And frankly, both of them are just massive money machines, devoted mostly to staying in office. Republicans are too prone to dismiss any legitimate role for government, or seek power over things that are none of government’s business. Democrats are too prone to voting ambitious, expensive programs that might work but which discount the people who have to pay for them.
I’m a pretty rigorous fiscal conservative. I also have rather strong libertarian leanings when it comes to keeping government out of the lives of citizens. I’m a diehard about censorship and privacy. Some social welfare programs I support because we’re not a level playing field. To me, it makes moral and financial sense to help people succeed rather than marginalize them. Angry, hopeless people don’t benefit anyone, themselves, their families or society at large.
So…mixed bag. And one who’s been deprived of genuinely conservative options for a hell of a long time.
So it’s not really fair to say you want “someone else to do it first” now is it? What you really want is for EVERYONE else to do it first.
I’m in the camp with John Mace. I agree politically with John McCain more than Obama. The main swing issues for me are the Iraq war and the budget/deficit. One swings towards Obama and one swings towards McCain. But there’s a third issue, which is this Obama phenomenon. Record numbers of new registered voters. Record turnouts in primaries. Getting Generation Y “Why Bother?” engaged. The US’s standing amongst the International community and how a McCain Presidency would affect it versus an Obama Presidency. These are not insignificant concerns, and I’m still deciding if I’m willing to suborn my own best judgment in order to encourage this movement. I think it could be worth it, but I owe it to my country and the principles it is founded on to give due consideration to all the issues.
The reaction to McCain’s VP pick has been vocal, and mainly disappointing, especially with the personal angles to many of the attacks. Obama hasn’t been able to quell those personal attacks, although it looks like he’s trying, but it would be
I saw a statement on another board that really sealed it for me. I’ll summarize the highlights:
Obama is just looking for love and validation. He’s not a bad person, but after having been abandoned by his parents, and raised by middle class white people, he had to learn how to act like a member of the minority he physically resembled. He picked Wright’s church because it gave him a sense of inclusion and community, regardless of its racist propoganda and tax evasion. He cooperated with the crooked Daley machine for the same reason. He associated with unapologetic terrorists for the same reason. He associated with crooked developers and slumlords for the same reason: They all included him.
It worked for him. He learned the tone and tembre of a gospel preacher. He made connections. He learned how to say the right things in the right way to drum up support.
Then someone who has actually worked and accomplished real things takes the podium and you realize Obama is still a small, lost child looking to be loved.
Even if the current swell of love and validation lifts him into the Oval Office, his complete inability to do anything while there will carry him out in a tide of failure, and he’ll spend the rest of his life wondering why no one loves him anymore.
I was already going to vote against him, but seeing what he’s up against now and how shabby his self-appointed robes really are on close comparison really cemented it for me.
Jesus H. Christ, that’s really the level of reasoning you put into your vote? You imagine the candidates as an afternoon telemovie protagonist, and pick the one that’s glurgiest?
Fuck post-partisanship, then; someone needs to mount a campaign to explain to certain folk that real life is not the Hallmark Channel.
didn’t finish thread, so apologies if this was covered
The fact that some supporters of Obama have attacked McCain/Palin and used dirty politics does not mean that no one has been inspired to follow Obama’s example, shit for brains.
I’m genuinely sorry that we lost your vote, but I understand that you have to vote your conscience.
However, I am not convinced that we ever had a real chance to get your vote in the first place. In my experience, you can predict who someone will vote for with 100% accuracy if you know enough about them, even if they claim to be undecided. I don’t think you ever actually were undecided, but were looking for a reason to cast a comfortable vote. I’m not going to accept responsibility for giving you that reason, when almost anything would have been excuse enough to convince yourself to vote Republican.
Don’t lie to yourself. You know what your political leanings are. You know that you could never contribute to something that validated the people you’re in such conflict with here on the dope. You aren’t voting against Obama, you’re voting against us. I understand that, because I’m not voting against McCain, I’m voting against the racists and/or religious fanatics, people born into privilege, the uneducated, the “love it or leave it” patriots, and the xenophobes.
Bricker, if you’re still reading this far, I hope you will take a weekend off - maybe not this one but the next one, or the one after - after the initial fuss has died down, then come back and re-evaluate matters with a clearer mind.
Indeed, I hope that all voters on all sides will periodically re-evaluate their votes.
I have no vote in this election, but Obama seems to be a good man, and it does seem he’ll be a good leader.
I’ve given up on the idea that change in the way this country conducts elections is going to happen anytime soon.
I, for one, was taking Bricker at face value until this point. However, I was believing this because I am, in a way with him. In the same way many of my uncles and aunts were Reagan Democrats, I am an Obama Republican.
Like many of the quieter Obama supporters, and many of the moderate Republicans on this board and in real life, I found myself stuck with a tough choice this election at the beginning of the year.
It got easier as McCain got closer to Bush (who I see as essentially anti-conservative, judging by his stances on spending, the budget, enemy combatants, and wiretapping) but harder as Obama took on some of those stances as well (wiretapping crap again, more spending but at least he’s proposing taxes to cover it). I’m still not sold–There are things Obama could do to lose my vote, and things McCain could do to get it.
I’m not afraid Obama’s going to take away my guns. I’m not particularly offended by the idea of single-payer health insurance, which is the most likely universal health care solution in my opinion.
Hell, this is rambling. I’ll stop now–but Bricker, there’s a point where you become a caricature of what you claim to hate–and you passed that point with this thread.
Plus, she’s been divorced twice, with no children. Does that add up to the right “family values”? Her religion might not help with right-wing Christians either (she’s a Jew).
