Based on this article, where the interviewer first asked people who they were voting for, then asked them to say something nice about the other candidate. It was a pleasant, uplifting read, and I think as election day gets closer it will be nice to have a thread where we could remember and share our positive impressions of “the other guy”.
Who are you voting/did you vote for? (If not a US citizen, who would you vote for if you could?)
What do you like about the other candidate for President?
[optional] What do you like about the other candidate for vice-president?
Two rules: the first is the one implied by the article’s title: if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t post. Not even posting to say “I don’t have anything nice to say”. The second rule is no comments about physical appearance – that’s weaselly. Find something about the candidates’ choices and/or beliefs to praise.
I’ll start:
I voted absentee for Obama/Biden last month.
John McCain sincerely loves America and is doing what he thinks is best for it. I have real sympathy for the guy, especially after the 2000 primaries. I wish he had gotten the nod then. I think he would have made a fine president eight years ago, and it’s a shame that he wasn’t able to campaign for it until now.
Sarah Palin’s beliefs about abortion are consistent, and she has carried them out in practice. It’s clear she genuinely believes them and is not just mouthing words to get the evangelical vote. I admire her decision to carry Trig to term, and she unquestionably cares deeply about her family.
John McCain is an hero, and should be lauded for his service in the military and his service in the Senate. He’s also suffered the misfortune out missing out on the Presidency twice because of George W. Bush; once because of dirty primary tactics, and once because everyone is rightly blaming the Republican Party for the crapper we’re currently being flushed down.
I don’t think the real John McCain is being represented by the RNC. I think he is a different guy as a senator. I don’t hate McCain the man just McCain the presidential candidate.
This is the sort of thing I meant by “no comments about physical appearance – that’s weaselly”. You don’t have to include the VP if you can’t find anything to say other than that.
I know McCain has a good sense of humor and genuinely wants to be president to repair the country (albeit in his philosophy).
Palin also has a great sense of humor and has the ability to let people make fun of her on the international stage (SNL) and take it in good humor. Not many people have the personal character to do that.
Voting for Obama on November 4th, god willing and the creek don’t rise.
I believe that McCain’s experience in the military would be a valuable asset to a president for the next several years, assuming we continue to have a strong military presence in countries other than our own. This is, unfortunately, a safe assumption.
She reads the papers and the online news just like everybody else. She knows exactly what people are saying about her and why. She knows a lot of us think she’s wildly incompetent, but she hasn’t quit. That may not be particularly important for a vice president, but there’s a better-than-the-lottery chance that she wouldn’t be vp for long, and need to take on massively more responsibility, and, no matter what her goals and opinions might be, I think she’d stick it out a hell of a lot better than, say, I would.
[ol][]McCain.[]Obama means well, he is absolutely sincere, he is charismatic and an excellent speaker.[*]Ummm…Biden voted for the AUMF, and stated publicly that Saddam Hussein was a threat to our national security, and that there was no option except to remove him (cite).[/ol]
I don’t think it’s hyperbole to say McCain is one of our greatest war heroes. His determination and grace under fire gained unqualified praise from a lot of veterans. That’s good enough for me. And I’ll say this truthfully: for a long time McCain was the best GOP senator at reaching across the aisle. He worked with Russ Feingold and Ted Kennedy, who are about as far from him ideologically (at least in mainstream US politics) as you can get. He’s worked on serious bipartisan legislation. I thought for years he was the strongest GOP presidential candidate, and I was very disheartened by the baseless attacks on him in the 2000 GOP primary. I don’t know what’s happened to the 2008 John McCain, and maybe those attacks on him in 2000 convinced him the only way to win was to attack the person not the ideas, but for a long time McCain was one of the more honest politicians, for what it’s worth.
I’ve tried to come up with something nice to say about Sarah Palin…and I just can’t really come up with anything substantial. I think she’d be a great advocate for developmentally-disabled children. But that’s about it.
What do you like about the other candidate for President?
I believe his support for a more aggressive and responsible prosecution of the war in Iraq helped prevent full blown civil war there.
[optional] What do you like about the other candidate for vice-president?
If I were single and she were prevented from talking and no one would ever know and I could erase my memory afterwards, I’d have sex with her.
If you have nothing positive to say about a candidate, don’t post about them, not even to say "I have nothing positive to say"
Enough with the creepy comments about whether you would have sex with Sarah Palin.
If someone wants to start a “would you tap the opposing candidate” thread, please do, but this one isn’t it!
This exercise made me search hard for something I liked/respected about two people who the campaign season trains you to demonize and see as exaggerated caricatures. I’m glad to see other people on both teams doing the same, and I think it’s more difficult than it looks at first, which is why I’m disappointed in seeing some of the same old off-the-cuff “lol I’d tap that! :p” comments.
I did say something positive about Senator McCain. I DO honestly believe the surge, which he strongly supported, was a superior strategy than President Bush’s earlier one, and that many Iraqi lives were saved as a result.
Palin is absolutely fearless (or at least appears so in public.) She must be aware of the negativity about her. Holding it together as she has been is pretty remarkable.
Like someone said upthread, I believe McCain genuinely wants to do what he believes is right for the country and would not be running if he didn’t feel a strong pull to public service in the truest sense of the word - not for the money or being on TV or all the perks. I think he really is a nice guy that wants to do good and has had the misfortune to get caught up in “the machine” of campaigning.
Palin has withstood incredible pressure and endured not only being a national punchline for several weeks but also had to withstand questions about her daughter and questions about her youngest child even being hers. It doesn’t matter what crackpot asks, a question like that is deeply offensive to a mother. And she has done so with a sense of humor and some grace.
