Who Will You Be Voting For & Why?

[telcoman]

All I can say is.....Im glad this poll isn't the deciding factor LOL

The deciding factor will be the swing states

http://elections.nytimes.com/2012/electoral-map

[themadscientist]

Well, here is the process that has lead to where I am now.

Obama, no. I didn't vote for him last go around. In fact, John McCain was so bad only the presence of Obama on the other side could make me vote for him which I did. The things I saw in Obama that made me concerned have come to pass for the most part. Luckily he is even more incompetent and weak than I could have hoped and the damage is heavy, but less than I expected. I will call his presidency a grave wound from which the country might recover. Please be predictable and leap to the conclusion by relation that Bush is my hero, please be that stupid.

Armed with this, I watched the GOP try to pick a candidate.

I cheered as Bachman fell. She's old-school crazy and makes Sarah Palin look almost reasonable.

Rick Perry, yeah, goodbye. Are'nt you overdue to hold down a little girl and shoot her up with some vaccine?

Huntsman was interesting and I was hoping he would turn into something because he was a refreshing change from the same old thing and I like a guy with executive and international experience. He just wasn't dogmatic enough, though, and he said some things that were ill-advised not so much because they were wrong, but more that they did not appeal to the audience he was speaking to.

Gingerich, holy crap Newt, go away. Go build a moon base space cadet. You couldn't organize enough signatures to even make the primary ballot in my state. Maybe have some teenager who successfully secured student body president at any large district high school run your campaign. You were a scary guy and I would like to thank you for being such a failure. When that lady approached me at the gun show asking me to fill out a petition for you I could not muster the spoken "hell no" nearly equivalent to my enthusiasm for denying you the potential to be president.

Santorum, you seem like a nice guy, but you are too far up into other people's business. You ran a social conservative campaign and that was a mistake. This is a fiscally conservative election cycle. I give you credit for putting in a really good effort. I was not at all comfortable with you, but I have to give due credit for well-run and for the most part adult campaign.

Ron Paul. He was my guy. He tracks very close to my opinions other than national defense where he is a little less hawkish than I, but not so much that I can't work with him and abortion which I think we part company to a much greater degree, but that I feel is reasonably secure from being repealed by a President Paul. Unfortunately, the GOP is as full of s*** as the Democrats and they cannot allow anybody who actually makes sense to rise to prominence lest the rest of the party be held to the standard. Look to the way Bill Richardson was marginalized in the 2008 election cycle for the way the Democrats do they same thing.

So here we are. Mitt, gonna keep coming back till you let me run for president, Romney. He was a waste of space last cycle and he still is. Think I'm wrong? Just look at who he lost the nomination to last go around.



Yeah, that guy. I could barely tolerate McCain now here is the guy that couldn't best that goof and he's probably going to get the nomination! WTF GOP? Are you seriously trying to tell me this milquetoast, spineless, flip-flopping, confused fool is the best you have on deck? Bull s***. I'm not buying it. It doesn't add up. Yes, he just added Paul Ryan to the ticket and some applaud that. Why? Exactly, he's so pathetically bland and gelatenous you need somebody with some hard edges to give the ticket a boost. That right there should be telling you something.

I am a firm beleiver that people tend to do things for a reason. This forces me to ask myself, "self, you look stunning today by the way, why would the GOP nominate such a limp d!ck?" Could it be that for all your posturing and rhetoric for the last four years blaming Obama for everything you have not come up with anything better? It sure looks that way. Obama has given you all you need to defeat him through his record. A wet towel could muster enough resistance to beat him with the proper campaign, but you went 400 thread count egyptian cotton and added fabric softener.

No, this is no accident. I think you want Obama to win. That's why you picked Romney. You practically annoited the guy early in the race. It's transparent as hell. You like having Obama in the white house because you can blame him for everything and sit on your asses for another four years and plot for 2016. This is classic partisan politics. You would rather have the country suffer under four more years of Obama than square yourselves away, start walking and then start talking about how you're walking and win the election so you can fix things. You f*** like the country broken. The Democrats do too and that's why neither of you are getting my vote.

"vote for the lesser of two evils." No, I'm not playing that game anymore. No matter what you still voted for evil.

I'm not voting against people any more. I'm voting FOR someone this go around.

I looked at the Green Party. Wow. Rosanne Barr is listed prominently over there. As was correctly pointed out in the 2008 campaign, who you hang out with speaks volumes about you and that b**** is a detestable shrew. You wish death on people you disagree with and you have lost all credibility and get awarded "kook" status. Those that hang out with you likely will as well. Ralph Nader, it's time to retire dude. The Corvair has been out of production for over 40 years man.

I looked at the Libertarian Party. I have taken them to task before. They have potential, but they need to realize that when you are in a crowded club with music pounding and lights blinking, a couple of guys fighting in the corner and some girls flipping up their shirts by the bar for a girls gone wild film crew, tapping lightly on a wine glass with your butter knife saying " excuse me" is not going to get you attention. If you can't get attention, you can't get your message across. If you can't get your message across, you don't get votes.

That being said, I take the time to investigate all my options so they have my attention if only because I try to notice. Their candidate is under my microscope at the moment. It's quite preliminary for now and I see some minor policy differences between he and I, but it's looking very good that Gary Johnson will secure my vote.

Cue dueling "you're wasting your vote" bull s*** from people who believe the ends justify the means.

The two party system only works because people have come to love their cage and don't have the balls to try to pop the lock because for all their complaining about it that crappy food pellet has become comforting by virtue of its regularity and that cage you rail against absolves one of taking responsability for his or her own destiny.

Every major political movement began with one person. Vote FOR someone this election cycle. I don't care who, just that we break ourselves of the idea that we have to pick "this or that."

[stebo0728]

TMS - I totally understand where you are coming from. I hope you didnt take anything I said as insulting regarding "vote wasting". I dont consider a third party vote to be a "waste", thats not a fair statement to make. I do consider it to be an exercise in futility, but anyone voting their conscience cant be said to have "wasted" their vote.

And honestly, its a sad state of affairs when we have slipped into a system that would make anyone consider whether or not they had wasted their vote. We were warned of the perils of this system we've embraced. A warning we did not heed. I long for a system where money did not win the day. Where issues mattered, and people didn't feel required to be beholden to a platform that they only half agreed with.

I am not a kid in a candy store regarding the choices before us. Unfortunately I just dont feel the luxury of risking another 4 years of Obama enough to throw a vote in the exact direction I wished I could.

My expectations for the election? Romney wins by a narrow margin, Democrat lawsuits will last half the new term.

The probable reality? Obama will be re-elected.

The possible hail marry? The right will regain majority control of the Senate, and retain majority control of the house, there-by completeing the neutering process of the executive branch for the next 4 years.

[themadscientist]

No offense. I didn't even see your post. I just know that's one of the arguments people make. My prediction is Romney wins based more on anti-Obama sentiment than pro-Romney. I just won't be a part of that.

[stebo0728]

No offense. I didn't even see your post. I just know that's one of the arguments people make. My prediction is Romney wins based more on anti-Obama sentiment than pro-Romney. I just won't be a part of that.

Oh, they may as well call this a recall election. Its definitely going to be more about getting Obama, but more importantly, his cabinet, out of the White House, and reversing Obama policy. Im actually quite surprised Obama didn't face any sort of challenge by his own party going into the primary. A different democrat would possibly be more appealing than Romney. Make no mistake though, against Obama, Romney makes alot of sense.

[themadscientist]

The democrats can't ditch obama. They hitched their party to that horse, they will drag his bloated carcass as far as they can before admitting they made a mistake. That's what partisans do. If Romney gets elected and sucks as bad as I fear he will, the GOP will do the same thing. It's about winning, not doing anything after that.

[IBCoupe]

It's fun watching libertarians do an elephant walk to the polling booth.

[stebo0728]

The democrats can't ditch obama.

What about Biden? The poor bloke needs to be taken out of his political misery.

[themadscientist]

It's fun watching libertarians do an elephant walk to the polling booth.

You won't see me do that walk. When the Patriot act and similar legislation that gets a lot of support from the elephant continues to erode more of your freedoms see how long you think it's funny.

[themadscientist]

The democrats can't ditch obama.

What about Biden? The poor bloke needs to be taken out of his political misery.

They are running out of time for Biden to fade away and Hillary Clinton to be put on the ticket. Do that and the Democrats win this go round.

[Bubba1]

They are running out of time for Biden to fade away and Hillary Clinton to be put on the ticket. Do that and the Democrats win this go round.

Agree. I don't see Biden fading away. Unlike Ryan, voters already know Biden, so I don't see the Dems making a big change like that. I do think Hillary will be on the Dem's short list for the 2016 nomination, and will face Chris Christie on the GOP side. That could be an interesting election.

[themadscientist]

I could see Biden having some sort of "health concern" or the like to allow him to move out of the way without being portrayed as a liability even though he is. Obama would reluctantly send him on his way and suddenly tap Clinton. There is still a lot of bad feelings about how the party threw her under the bus, hell, even I was pissed and I don't like her. Of the candidates that made it to the last leg, though, I found her to be the most competent. Her time as Secretary of State has only improved her resume too.

[stebo0728]

Or, could the "gaffes" of late be the creation of context, whereby his dismissal would seem unavoidable and warranted? Still I tend to agree with earlier sentiment, that its really almost too late to make a running mate change, but you never know.

[themadscientist]

September surprize?

[Bubba1]

Or, could the "gaffes" of late be the creation of context, whereby his dismissal would seem unavoidable and warranted? Still I tend to agree with earlier sentiment, that its really almost too late to make a running mate change, but you never know.

I believe the newest "gaffe" was the creation of context. But if you think about, most recent VP's have had their share of embarrassing moments while in office. Remember d!ck Cheney shot a guy in the face with a shotgun? And Dan "Potatoe" Quayle kept the late comics busy everytime he ad-libbed.

[themadscientist]

And Biden brings the gaffs! Seriously, he delivers more than Dominoes!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/journalists/ ... itics.html

For those not following the latest entry in the long line of vice presidential nincompoopery, on Tuesday Joe Biden appeared in Virginia before a group of supporters, a number of them African-American, and said this of Republican Mitt Romney: “He is going to let the big banks once again write their own rules, unchain Wall Street. He is going to put y'all back in chains."

Somewhere Howard Dean is asking "what's wrong with that?"

And here goes the Prez doing cleanup again.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/08 ... ns-remark/

In Iowa for a bus tour, Obama said the reaction to Biden's remarks was a function of politics, but he did not blame his vice president.

"The truth is that during the course of these campaigns, folks like to get obsessed with how something was phrased even if everybody personally understands that's not how it was meant," Obama told People. "That's sort of the nature of modern campaigns and modern coverage of campaigns. But I tell you, when I'm traveling around Iowa, that's not what's on people's minds."

[stebo0728]

This week he also said "you have to have an indian accent to go to 7/11 these days". He's been an idiot since day 1, so its hard to tell if this latest stuff is context creation, or just more 'ol Joe (Ive taken to calling him Doh Biden lately). But this last week he's had a bit more shoe leather in his diet than normal.

And yes, modern times have seen some doozy VP's. I realize the presidential candidate doesn't want to pick a running mate that's going to upstage him, though arguably Romney has done exactly that, but why are VP's sometimes such jagholes?

[themadscientist]

Maybe on his last botox injection they pushed the needle too deep.

[themadscientist]

Look at that poll. Look at Gary Johnson "stealing" votes from Romney!

[stebo0728]

They were talking on the radio locally here last night about why both campaigns are being so nasty. Apparently that is a time proven tactic. Both sides believe their base to be larger than the oppositions, and nasty campaigns tend to turn off independent voters, causing them to boycott the election altogether. So rather than appealing to independents, the game now is to turn as many off as possible.

Politics today deserves over 9000 facepalms........sigh

[Bubba1]

And Biden brings the gaffs! Seriously, he delivers more than Dominoes!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/journalists/ ... itics.html

For those not following the latest entry in the long line of vice presidential nincompoopery, on Tuesday Joe Biden appeared in Virginia before a group of supporters, a number of them African-American, and said this of Republican Mitt Romney: “He is going to let the big banks once again write their own rules, unchain Wall Street. He is going to put y'all back in chains."

]

To be fair, the people that ran with recent Bidens chain remarks, left out the part where he was responding to a GOP promise to "unchain the economy" thru bank deregulation. It was taken out of context. That's not to say Biden hasn't had some great gaffes. My favorite one was when he was governor and was asked where he was during an unexplained absense. He said "a Successful dump". He clarified that he meant that he was carting a load of dead wood from his house to the municipal dump, but the initial sound byte had already gone viral.

[stebo0728]

To be fair, the people that ran with recent Bidens chain remarks, left out the part where he was responding to a GOP promise to "unchain the economy" thru bank deregulation. It was taken out of context. That's not to say Biden hasn't had some great gaffes. My favorite one was when he was governor and was asked where he was during an unexplained absense. He said "a Successful dump". He clarified that he meant that he was carting a load of dead wood from his house to the municipal dump, but the initial sound byte had already gone viral.

I disagree, yes there was more context surrounding the comment, but both what he said, and how he said it were highly offensive. Now I do count it as a gaffe, I mean I dont presume that he intended to insult anyone. But this has become a sort of pattern for the left, they alter their demeanor to suit their audience. That works for comedians, but not so well for politicians. Just be yourself, don't try to blend in as "one of us", it just comes off wrong.

[Bubba1]

[quote="stebo0728"]

I can think of plenty of gaffes on both sides of the aisle. I think it's more the intense press scrutiny and each press org's individual political leanings, that makes it almost impossible for a politician to let their guard down to "be themselves".

[stebo0728]

I can think of plenty of gaffes on both sides of the aisle. I think it's more the intense press scrutiny and each press org's individual political leanings, that makes it almost impossible for a politician to let their guard down to "be themselves".

Oh both sides have their share for sure, but I was referring more to a style, then the comments themselves, like

Hillary Clinton's "I don't feel no ways tired...." speech, or
Al Gore's "THE GLORY OF THE LORD SHALL BE REVEALED!...." speech

Its a false conformity to patronize that is offending, not necessarily to me, I dont care, but to alot of people

[IBCoupe]

I was thinking about Paul Ryan on my commute in this morning. I tried so hard not to, but he just kept coming back.

I think Romney has put the Republican Party into peril with this pick, possibly. Paul Ryan was a sure thing for 2016 if Romney lost. The way it's been playing out since the announcement (admittedly, not even a week ago), it's Obama/Biden vs. Ryan/Romney. The problem with that fight is that people are eventually going to realize at they have to vote for Romney to get Ryan, and they only get Ryan if Romney croaks.

Which means we might be getting ready to spoil Ryan's chances at 2016 by fighting (and losing) his fight in 2012.

[themadscientist]

My favorite one was when he was governor and was asked where he was during an unexplained absense. He said "a Successful dump". He clarified that he meant that he was carting a load of dead wood from his house to the municipal dump, but the initial sound byte had already gone viral.

THAT, is awesome!

In all seriousness, though, the way the left panders to minorities is insulting in that in their attempt to show they understand the group in question they regurgitate hateful stereotypes with a smile. To hear a pasty-white northestern guy say "put y'all in chains" brings the bile up to the back of my throat. Basically, he's asserting that all blacks are one step away from slavery and that works as a threat to motivate their votes. Detestable.

This sort of casual, matter-of-fact racism is more repugnant than a Klansman's blatant hate. Unlike the Klansman who hates blacks as a threat, a comment like Biden's strips the listeners of dignity and dismisses blacks as a helpless group that needs help from the white guy behind the podium if they want to retain their freedom. What a scumbag.

The nod to Howard Dean harkens back to a similar interchange where a Democrat, trying to reach out, performed the same theft of dignity.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/ar ... Feb11.html

"You think the RNC could get this many people of color into a single room?" he marvels. "Maybe if they got the hotel staff in there."

I know he was trying to hit the GOP, but in the attempt suggested that that is a job for minorities. Nice one Howard.

Trent, how much intelligence do you think it took for Biden to say that?

[IBCoupe]

In all seriousness, though, the way the left panders to minorities is insulting in that in their attempt to show they understand the group in question they regurgitate hateful stereotypes with a smile. To hear a pasty-white northestern guy say "put y'all in chains" brings the bile up to the back of my throat. Basically, he's asserting that all blacks are one step away from slavery and that works as a threat to motivate their votes. Detestable.

This sort of casual, matter-of-fact racism is more repugnant than a Klansman's blatant hate. Unlike the Klansman who hates blacks as a threat, a comment like Biden's strips the listeners of dignity and dismisses blacks as a helpless group that needs help from the white guy behind the podium if they want to retain their freedom. What a scumbag.

In all seriousness, while Vice President Biden did use that imagery, that wasn't what he was saying. Not ten seconds before, he had just been talking about Republican rhetoric about "unshackling" the financial industry, and he said, "They want to 'unchain' Wall Street again." Turnabout is fair play; Republicans kind of walked into that.

And, you know, it's a special kind of condescension at play in the Republican response.

"IT'S TERRIBLE WHAT JOE BIDEN SAID."

"Why?"

"HE SAID UNCHAINED!"

"And?"

"THERE WERE BLACK PEOPLE IN THE ROOM!"

"And?"

"THEY WILL THINK HE'S TALKING ABOUT SLAVERY AND WILL VOTE FOR DEMOCRATS!"

Do you guys really think that little of black people?

[themadscientist]

I don't let the republicans off the hook in any way shape or form. They will play it because it helps them politically. I am outraged because it's wrong. That's why I tipped the hat to Mr. Lott.

[stebo0728]

I was thinking about Paul Ryan on my commute in this morning. I tried so hard not to, but he just kept coming back.

I think Romney has put the Republican Party into peril with this pick, possibly. Paul Ryan was a sure thing for 2016 if Romney lost. The way it's been playing out since the announcement (admittedly, not even a week ago), it's Obama/Biden vs. Ryan/Romney. The problem with that fight is that people are eventually going to realize at they have to vote for Romney to get Ryan, and they only get Ryan if Romney croaks.

Which means we might be getting ready to spoil Ryan's chances at 2016 by fighting (and losing) his fight in 2012.

I've been on that train since the VP pick. There's a pretty good argument to make that Ryan is the stronger half of the GOP equation. I won't be too heartbroken if this ruins 2016 for Ryan though, we're starting to get the the end of the "Clinton's conservatives" pool of folks, and the up and comers seem to be branding a bit stronger flavor of conservatism. Ryan is a tip in that direction, but the GOP still has Christie, McDonell, Jindal, West, and 2 good Walkers in the bullpen. I'd love to see either one of those up against Shrillary in 2016.

[themadscientist]

2008 was Obama/Biden vs Palin/McCain. Using that example, Ryan can get a book deal, FOX news jobs and get to speak at Republican rallies in adfinitum. That's job security!