Pixiamom, I intend to vote for Obama, not because I think that he will end the war or prevent a preventive attack on Iran but because I believe that he will at least try to end the Iraq war and encourage the observation of international law.
I may be wrong but I feel that there is little difference between Hillary and McCain on any issue. So, if Obama is not the Democratic candidate, for the first time in my life, I will not vote.
Sometimes I get the impression that this country is being run by a corporate controlled machine, more powerful than either party and that the president is just a glorified figurehead chosen by that machine.
posted on March 31, 2008 09:32:12 PM new
Helen, please rethink your position. I, too, prefer Obama over Clinton. Clinton has stated her desire to end the war. McCain has not. There is a difference. Don't waste your vote.
posted on April 1, 2008 12:15:10 AM new
Helen,"""Sometimes I get the impression that this country is being run by a corporate controlled machine, more powerful than either party and that the president is just a glorified figurehead chosen by that machine.""
You're so right! I have often referred to the U.S. as the United Corporations of America. The corporations control everything....including the president.
But, Helen, please don't give up your vote...that's exactly what the Repugs want you to do...they're pushing Hillary because they know they have a chance of beating her but NOT Obama.
Remeber, a bad Democrat is better than ANY Republican anyday, anytime.
posted on April 1, 2008 05:21:40 AM new
You are right.
I was so discouraged with the prospect of voting for Hillary that I considered not voting at all. Instead, I will consider her the lesser of two evils and vote for Hillary against the greater evil, McCain.
Hopefully she will not be annointed and we will have the opportunity to vote for Obama.
....The Democratic Party has broken with its historic conservatism, its pandering to the rich, its predilection for war, only when it has encountered rebellion from below, as in the Thirties and the Sixties. We should not expect that a victory at the ballot box in November will even begin to budge the nation from its twin fundamental illnesses: capitalist greed and militarism.
So we need to free ourselves from the election madness engulfing the entire society, including the left.
Yes, two minutes. Before that, and after that, we should be taking direct action against the obstacles to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
For instance, the mortgage foreclosures that are driving millions from their homes—they should remind us of a similar situation after the Revolutionary War, when small farmers, many of them war veterans (like so many of our homeless today), could not afford to pay their taxes and were threatened with the loss of the land, their homes. They gathered by the thousands around courthouses and refused to allow the auctions to take place.
The evictions today of people who cannot pay their rents should remind us of what people did in the Thirties when they organized and put the belongings of the evicted families back in their apartments, in defiance of the authorities.
Historically, government, whether in the hands of Republicans or Democrats, conservatives or liberals, has failed its responsibilities, until forced to by direct action: sit-ins and Freedom Rides for the rights of black people, strikes and boycotts for the rights of workers, mutinies and desertions of soldiers in order to stop a war.
Voting is easy and marginally useful, but it is a poor substitute for democracy, which requires direct action by concerned citizens.
posted on April 1, 2008 07:21:42 AM new
Great quote , Helen, but today's American is too comfortable, too lazy, too unconnected to protest anything but who gets kicked off the island.
I look at everything the bushits have done to America and I keep wondering which trashed liberty, which stolen freedom, which lie, which war, which criminal act will finally really piss people off enough to react.....and it never seems to happen.
It's exactly how Fascism sneaks in ...in little almost unnoticeable steps and people keep thinking (if they think at all) "well, that's not so bad, it's for our safety, oh, that's not so bad". They get used to the abuse and brush it off.
In two other chat rooms I asked this question several times,
"At what point WILL you object?"......and got no reply.
posted on April 1, 2008 09:21:50 AM new
The problem with you is that you somehow have it in your head that you "represent" MOST Americans. You study your little philosophical ramblings about how capitalism is bad and ponder what people are entitled to. Most Americans who work for a living do not embrace entitlement programs which grant equal status to people who do not. YOU are not America. The prairies and bayous are America. America is capitalism and national pride. You wail yourself into a fever pitch over "torture" and lament that the average American is not shrieking beside you. The average American does not consider mistreatment of the Quran or making somebody wear a doggy lease "torture". They see torture every other day on TV, they know what it is.
Clinton and Obama are cookies cut with the same cutter, though one cookie has some experience. McCain is far too liberal for the right wing of the Republican party, but he's quite liberal enough for many Democrats.
This ability to pull the wool over your eyes is one reason you are "shocked" all the time.
"Obamamania" clouds your judgment. There was a recent political analysis in which reference was made to Dem party leaders being very concerned because the press has Obama selected already, yet Clinton's delegate count puts her ahead where it counts, in electoral votes. If she wins a few key primaries in the upcoming races, you may be "shocked" again.
posted on April 1, 2008 09:31:37 AM new
I don't know which Americans you are speaking of, Squirrel. Last I checked, 65% of American adults disapprove of the way Bush is handling the war. Are these the Americans you are referring to?
posted on April 1, 2008 09:45:51 AM new
He must be referring to those few Americans who own stock in the aerospace and defense industry or whoop de doo, General Dynamics.
posted on April 1, 2008 10:31:19 AM new
"I don't know which Americans you are speaking of, Squirrel. Last I checked, 65% of American adults disapprove of the way Bush is handling the war. Are these the Americans you are referring to?"
No, I was referring to the predictions of President "fill in your favorite Democrat".
posted on April 1, 2008 12:17:28 PM new
Just saw a Gallup poll. If Clinton drops out, 29% of her supporters vote for McCain.
and "sizable percentages of Democrats say they would vote for Republican John McCain next November if the Democratic nominee is not their preferred candidate"
[ edited by desquirrel on Apr 1, 2008 12:20 PM ]
posted on April 1, 2008 09:17:11 PM new
I think McCain's running mate is going to be the deal breaker for a whole bunch of Dem. swing voters. Huckabee will kill the deal for any Dems he hopes to garner. Most recognize him for the religious wacko he is, in spite of his goober aw-shucks image. He has a better chance of actually becoming president than any other Veep in recent history given McCain's age and history of one of the most incurable cancers to plague the human race. Who else has he got? Lieberman? That Mormon game show host?
posted on April 1, 2008 09:19:32 PM new
I really think Clinton is brilliant and beats Bill in brains and is probably equal in political savvy. The problem is she has no charisma - less than McCain and definitely less than Obama. Although she is equal to the task, I doubt if she could ever rise higher than senator - I think she got that position based on Bill's popularity. She may well be qualified for the presidency, may well have earned the presidency, but without the love of the voters and with the repugnancy of many, I don't think she stands a chance. For the good of the party, she should step out, although I doubt that this will ever happen.
[ edited by pixiamom on Apr 1, 2008 09:26 PM ]
posted on April 1, 2008 09:34:20 PM new
This is a test message. I'm not getting my Vendio e-mails from the message board so will try again.
_____________________
posted on April 2, 2008 07:16:03 AM new
The ones I can think of are in the entertainment industry- Rosie, Barbara Walters, Diane Sawyer to mention a few. Are heterosexual men attracted to male candidates with charisma? Absolutely! Sorry that it bothers you, but it is a fact of life. People vote for the likeable candidates.
[ edited by pixiamom on Apr 2, 2008 07:26 AM ]
Recognizing that a link to the Bush/Chaney horrific administration would make McCain unelectable, the media is effectively portraying McCain as centrist with a foreign policy that differs from Bush, leading voters to believe that they can reject Bush by voting for McCain. This deceit is working as you can see from the Gallup poll that Squirrel mentioned yesterday. Good article about the media manipulation here
19% of Obama supporters who would vote for McCain over Clinton.
28% of Clinton Supporters who would vote for McCain over Obama.
Imagine the horror of four more disastrous years of Bush policy and the number of people who want it to happen.
posted on April 2, 2008 04:40:06 PM new
Now I'm really depressed. I think I'll go shoot a coyote or a raccoon or something....or maybe I'll just go out to the goat barn and let the newborn kids jump all over me, that always lifts my spirits.
How come nobody's counting the people who would vote for ANYBODY but another republican?
posted on April 2, 2008 05:32:06 PM new
Pixiamom posts...."The ones I can think of are in the entertainment industry- Rosie, Barbara Walters, Diane Sawyer to mention a few. Are heterosexual men attracted to male candidates with charisma? Absolutely! Sorry that it bothers you, but it is a fact of life. People vote for the likeable candidates."
It doesn't bother me because I don't agree with you that it's "a fact of life".
I doubt, for example, that DeSquirrel is voting for McCain because he has "charisma".
posted on April 4, 2008 06:12:33 AM new
Some Brittish humor about Hillary's sniper fire story.
"Presumably she thought the sniper fire story would impress the audience of soldiers. So her campaign team should book her in to speak to other professions to see what she comes out with. If she addresses lumberjacks she'll start, "Hey, that's a tough job you folks do. And I should know because I once spent two days dangling from a cedar tree. Then my chainsaw slipped and sawed me down the middle, but luckily my right half put my left half in a nearby freezer that kept it fresh until the doctor arrived to sew me back together. But hey, let's turn to the economy."
posted on April 17, 2008 03:13:19 PM new
A woman & a black man, the democrats really have their necks out, but even then I'm sure one of them is going to win. I'm voting for the woman, my husband is too, but admits it's hard not to like Obama. I agree, but we want a Clinton back in the White House. We will be voting next Tuesday in PA & the results will tell who our next president will be.
