I’ve seen several people say that they will vote for Kerry only because they dislike Bush so much. Still others say that they just can’t bring themselves to vote for Kerry.
Personally, I think he is an excellent candidate.
What is it about him that you don’t like? Be specific and please back up your responses with cites.
What is it about him that you do like? Again, be specific and back up with cites.
Comments from those who wish to contradict these cites or introduce other cites are welcome. But please keep the focus on Senator Kerry.
I don’t like him mostly because of the party he is aligned with. They are traditionally in favor of bigger government, higher taxes, and more laws.
However, there is a lot more I want to learn about Kerry than I what already know.
What exactly will he do with Iraq?
What exactly is his stance on Howard Stern and free speech?
What exactly will he do about the Patriot Act?
I don’t want to say he hasn’t addressed these issues because I don’t watch tv and I don’t have time to constantly keep up with the news on the internet, but I haven’t heard him address them.
Bush will not get my vote, but if Kerry isn’t going to pull a quick 180 and some of the things the Bush administration has messed up, then he might not get it either. I have no problem voting for a third-party candidate.
If you plan on voting, you should probably find out more about him in particular.
You might as well go here. http://www.johnkerry.com/issues/iraq/ Basically he says he wants to make it a more international thing. If you’re in favor of a quick pullout, however that would happen, Kerry doesn’t support one. When people ask him ‘when will you bring the troops home,’ he refuses to make promises he probably wouldn’t be able to keep.
His comment on the Stern thing when that started was that CC has the right to do what they want with their own stations. (Which, like it or not, is true.) On the other hand, a search for his exact quote on the subject lead me to a surprise - a lot of commentators speculating on whether Stern’s tirades against Bush may not help Kerry in November.
I wouldn’t dare vote for any candidate that I didn’t know a lot about. Note where I said this:
And I intend to do so before November.
Speculation is all. Stern has swayed elections in the past and his listeners will hurt Bush in this election. Nonetheless, I’d like to see this commentary. Do you have links?
D’oh! Here’s a speech relating to it. I was trying to say that he voted for it because he says some of its provisions were necessary, but wants to let it expire and (as you’ll see in that link) says it has been used wrongly by the administration.
See, this is the kind of stuff I like to hear, I just hope it’s not smoke:
And people say this board is becoming overrun with conspiracy theories but things like this are the reason I’m scared to say how I really feel about the Bush Admin and their policies in real life and especially on the internet:
Well, I guess you can’t tell whether it is or isn’t on the campaign trail. But the ‘I will appoint an Attorney General whose name is not John Ashcroft’ is a pretty common refrain with him, I think.
On the most literal level it’s a joke, but the meaning beneath that is that he would appoint someone more committed to civil rights and protecting people’s liberties.
I keep changing my mind on this. Recently, I had been convinced that it would be in my best interest to vote for Kerry. But since then, I’ve changed my mind. I really don’t see much substantive difference between him and Bush. Bush has his Ashcroft, but Clinton had his Reno. At this time, I don’t really trust Kerry to be any more protective of civil liberties than Bush.
Reno is a far cry from Ashcroft. For example, she issued a memorandum saying essentially that “freedom of information act” requests should be dealt with in such a way that one releases the info unless there is a compelling reason not to. Ashcroft issued one saying essentially that the standard should be “when in doubt, don’t release” and the justice dept will defend such decisions as long as there is some sort of rationale. See here.
The Atlantic Monthly has an article on Howard Stern and the possible effect he may have on the election. It also details elections where he has made a difference (has anyone visited the Howard Stern rest area just east of Burlington City, New Jersey?)