A commonly expressed opinion on the SDMB, and on other message boards with a leftward bent, is 'I’m afraid McCain might actually win this election. :(" On venues that lean slightly to the right, do their users express the opposite; “I think it’s looking like Obama might win this one, no matter what we do. :(”?
I’ve yet to find a right-wing message board of the quality of the SDMB to be worth frequenting. On the right-wing blogs I read, they were referring to McCain with disdain, calling him the ‘least worst candidate’, but the nomination of Palin has re-energised them. A number are afraid of Obama on 2nd amendment issues and talk darkly of his ‘communist mentor’, but I’ve not read any thought of giving up the fight. And again, they’re wowwed by Palin. Personally I think it’s far too early to pass judgement on Palin, so you could view it as grasping at straws.
Yes, many have the same concerns as some of us leftists. However, many of their fears are so “out there” I laugh when I read some of them. Sleeper Cell Terrorist, Muslim, He’ll take away your guns etc…etc… Some are calling Biden a traitor and worse.
However, right wing folks who were going to vote republican anyway are not really our concern. Just as Left wingers who are voting democratic aren’t their concern.
What is concerning is many believe the hype, they believe Obama is a muslim, they believe Obama takes orders from Rev. Wright, to me I canlaugh at it, but to them it’s very real. As real as anything the other side believes. However, like Robert Frost put’s it, “We can dance around the circle and suppose, but the truth sits in the middle and knows”
For those who see the truth of the campaign, it’s a fun and exciting race to watch. The debates are going to wonderful.
I think they are knee knocking scared. They belittle Obama and his name. They have modified Obama’s campaign symbol by adding a sinking boat to it. They google the poor Internet to death looking for some form of a poll showing McCain ahead, ignoring the major ones that put Obama ahead by 6 to 9 points. They celebrate if they find one with McCain and Obama tied.
I frequent a right wing board and enjoy responding to their comments with a little help from Huffington, MoJo or Kos. Those responses result bugle calls and charge orders by the locals.
I’ve quoted English language Al Jazeera a few times and they come unglued. Some even questioning my loyalty for reading “The Daily Jihad.” (It is actually an excellent source for world news).
But yes, I think they are very afraid of Obama and Change.
Remember what it was like here 4 years ago? People were making threads that said stuff like “I would drag my naked body through a mile of broken glass if it meant he would win, but please don’t make me listen to John Kerry speak!” and “well he’s not Bush at least, but I sure wish I could have voted for X instead of Kerry”.
This year it seems like the same on the conservative side. Not many people are happy and excited to vote for McCain, and lots of conservatives seem a bit disappointed in the choice.
Recall too that it is a basic conservative meme that the mainstream media poor-mouths or sandbags the strength of conservative candidates, and also a bit of a meme that polls misunderestimate the popularity of conservative viewpoints/candidates because “the liberal media” has made people disproportionately embarrassed to admit their conservative leanings. (Whether these memes are justified is very much a separate GD).
Thus I suspect you will find at least some conservatives who think the polls are kind of meaningless and that when it comes time to pull the lever, a lot more McCain supporters will materialize than you would have thought.
I think it may have been the last congressional election when in the days leading up to it, with many rumblings about the difficulties the GOP would face, moron Karl Rove was reported in several stories to be “strangely calm” or “much more confident than you might expect,” based on some private arithmetic or proprietary polling that told him and his inner circle that the real outcome for the GOP House and Senate candidates would be a lot more favorable than polls were suggesting. In the event, the GOP got crushed, if possible, even worse than the mainstream polls were suggesting.
Don’t know about other boards, but my brother, a life-long, die-hard Republican from Arizona and he hates McCain, but of late (since Palin) says he will probably vote for McCain after all…HOWEVER, he thinks Obama will win, and says it really wouldn’t bother him all that much. He says Obama seems like a fair enough guy.
So, just the words of one Republican, but I might add my brother was once an elected official in the Republican Party and has his pulse on other Republicans viewpoints - in Arizona at least.
And yeah, our dinner table conversations growing up were lively, me being the only Democrat in the entire household. There was the incident with pie flying across the table, but I digress.
A week ago, the Republicans were not just worried - they were terrified. Not just that, they were dispirited. They were even telling themselves they deserved to lose because they lost their way and haven’t been governing as true conservatives. There was a definite air of defeat everywhere in the conservative blogosphere.
Today, it’s completely different. They’re pumped. They’re giddy with excitement. They think the Democrats are on the retreat and they’ve got the winning formula. Some are talking about landslide wins (which is ridiculous).
Seriously, the difference in tone over the past week is astounding.
I’m hearing a lot of “The left is scared of Palin!” and similar sentiments. Completely unlike the left people I know who are more like, “Huh, Palin. McCain must not want to win.”
It’s like a complete disconnect is going on.
Which is as it should be. (Or, perhaps, should have been?)
Don’t get me wrong here – as anti-Republican as I am at this point in time, my second most fervent political wish is that the Republican party gets its house in order. Actual fiscal conservatism, tempered with social libertarianism and more substantive politicking. IMHO, if Palin’s nomination delays that, the country is that much worse off.
In case it’s not clear, my first most fervent political wish is that Obama wins. 
Actually, I think Palin is a lot closer to that than you think. We’ll find out in the coming weeks.
You’re forgetting who the Republicans are now. They’re not Barry Goldwater anymore. They’re Karl Rove and Fox News. They’ll beat the libertarianism out of Palin, just as they worked hard to get Ron Paul laughed off the stage. Remember the debates? “Senator McCain, what do you think we need to do in Iraq? … Governor Romney, what do you think the economy needs? … Congressman Paul, have you ever been abducted by aliens?”
Just from my own casual observations, watching (via YouTube) Obama try to answer questions in public and media sponsored forums without the assistance of a teleprompt have been a joy to behold. No political figure, other than Biden, has the talent to make Bush the Younger appear like Demosthenes in comparison.
Talking about Biden, it would be great if more than one debate between Biden and Palin was planned. That would be comedy gold!
Ya think? Honestly, I doubt we’ll find out much of anything concrete at all – there’s just not enough of a record, nor enough time, nor enough objectivity. Unless McCain/Palin takes the election, then perhaps we’ll find out in a year or two. But from what I’ve read about her – which I hold suspect at this point as being unverified political spinning from both sides – she fails on every point I mentioned. Of course, I also don’t particularly care about Palin; the VP is mostly a token position by my view (Cheney excluded). And she’s more token-y than most, IMHO.
Oh, it’s exactly because I’m not forgetting the current state of the Republican party that I brought it up. Ron Paul’s treatment is the perfect example; now there’s a party maverick. Since I disagree with too much of his platform (e.g., the gold standard), I could never vote for him, but I actually got on a couple right-wing email lists by signing a petition that he should be included in the primary debates. He’s saying things that need to be heard, IMHO, and it’s a damn shame that he was utterly trivialized.
Interestingly, I saw a blurb on the NYTimes mentioning the Ron Paul gathering in St. Paul last week. According to the blurb, it had a higher attendance than the Republican convention. Funny that that’s the only mention I’ve seen of it anywhere.
Yes, I post on a right wing message board, and there are a lot of people who either think an Obama victory is a foregone conclusion, or are terrified of the prospect.
Palin is no libertarian, or a fiscal conservative. She put Wasilla way in the red, and Alaska was ok because she had enough money she could just increase citizen entitlements. She’s a run of the mill Republican, talk about fiscal conservatism while not actually being fiscally conservative.