New Election Thread

[bjorn_skurj]

Maybe if enough people vote for a third party, that party will gain enough clout to have an influence on events. It's everybody's choice, but I see not voting as disrespectful.

[solace]

It speaks to the 50% of the population that is female.

 

minus the over 50% of the female population who are pro-choice

[Good Old Neon]

Voting either democrat or republican is the easiest possible way to maintain the status quo, imo.

 

[Gobias Industries]

Maybe if enough people vote for a third party, that party will gain enough clout to have an influence on events. It's everybody's choice, but I see not voting as disrespectful.

 

In a way, I see how it sends the message "I'm not happy with the system" and I respect it for that, but if you aren't participating in the system how the hell do you expect it to change in the ways you want it to? That's my issue with it. Outside of blowing the whole world up there really isn't a way to work outside of the system for "your change," so the only way is to work within the system. If you want the change bad enough you'll work for it, even if it means working in the system, so not voting seems to be nothing more than a symbolic gesture than anything else, ultimately ineffective at what it's trying to achieve and, therefore, meaningless.

 

And plus, wasn't it like Sam Adams who said that everyone has a duty to vote? Oh, the days of AP American History are trying to flow back into my mind to no avail...

[bleedorange]

minus the over 50% of the female population who are pro-choice

 

Why does abortion continue to be such an important issue on both sides of the aisle?

[Spawn's dad]

for real?

[solace]

for real?

[bleedorange]

Eh...that's more rhetorical than anything else. Or maybe more of a wish.

[Beltmann]

My wife, who likes John McCain more than Hillary Clinton, just told me that she feels "insulted as a woman" by the choice of Palin, because it so transparently reeks of tokenism. She called the move "condescending."

[Dreamin']

My wife, who likes John McCain more than Hillary Clinton, just told me that she feels "insulted as a woman" by the choice of Palin, because it so transparently reeks of tokenism.

Yes, this move could seriously backfire. Hopefully, it will also draw attention to their record on so-called "women's issues."

[Artifice]

I can now correctly predict the winner and the loser of the coming presidential election, with 100% accuracy.

 

Since no one asked....

 

Winner: Rovian gamesmanship

Losers: the issues/the public/real choice

[EL the Famous]

My wife, who likes John McCain more than Hillary Clinton, just told me that she feels "insulted as a woman" by the choice of Palin, because it so transparently reeks of tokenism.

 

really though, like i said earlier, i really hope the voters they are trying to entice can see that. i intitially was in the 'it won't sway my vote but it's brilliant' camp, but now i'm thinking w/ the right amount of public outcry it could backfire. hard.

[solace]

Palin in July 2008: "I still can't answer that question until someone answers for me "What is it exactly that the VP does every day?"

 

 

please Obama campaign, i hope your Ad folks are already at work with this softball!

[Good Old Neon]

At this late stage of the game, it certainly appears as though both parties, and the nominees they hoist on the public every four years, have become far, far too beholden to corporate interests, and far, far too interested in simple party perpetuation, rather than actually acting on the publics behalf in any real, meaningful way. If we plan on having a future, our way of life has to change, unfortunately, the largely corporatized political parties we have at the moment are not enough to effect real change

[bleedorange]

My wife, who likes John McCain more than Hillary Clinton, just told me that she feels "insulted as a woman" by the choice of Palin, because it so transparently reeks of tokenism. She called the move "condescending."

 

Pick a woman or minority and it's tokenism. Pick a white man and it's cronyism and same old politics.

 

I guess in some circles it was a lose-lose proposition. Especially overloooking the fact that this was a woman who cleaned up scandal and corruption within her own party and shares many of the principles that McCain has.

[solace]

Pick a woman or minority and it's tokenism. Pick a white man and it's cronyism and same old politics.

 

I guess in some circles it was a lose-lose proposition. Especially overloooking the fact that this was a woman who cleaned up scandal and corruption within her own party and shares many of the principles that McCain has.*

* and is still under investigation for using her power to oust her youngest sister's ex-husband from his state trooper position.

[Central Scrutinizer]

I would imagine it has something to do with the administration's handling of the Katrina disaster. It's a bit of a stretch.

It was a joke. Ya think?

[Beltmann]

Pick a woman or minority and it's tokenism. Pick a white man and it's cronyism and same old politics.

 

I guess in some circles it was a lose-lose proposition. Especially overloooking the fact that this was a woman who cleaned up scandal and corruption within her own party and shares many of the principles that McCain has.

Thank you for your insightful analysis of my wife's response. Clearly, you considered all the complexities of her reasoning and psychology.

[sweetheart-mine]

For me, casting a blank (or write in vote) is saying, I have a political conscience, but I do not agree with the two existing parties. Voting for the simple sake of voting strikes me as just as if not more lazy than not voting.

casting a write-in vote says a lot more than not voting. that said, and while i agree that big business runs this country and is making politics mostly meaningless, i voted for nader in 2000. am i sorry? you bet i am. if gore had won (sort of like he did!), there would be a lot of status quo everywhere but the situation can be much, much, much worse than that, as we have seen since then.

[EL the Famous]

Pick a woman or minority and it's tokenism. Pick a white man and it's cronyism and same old politics.

 

I guess in some circles it was a lose-lose proposition. Especially overloooking the fact that this was a woman who cleaned up scandal and corruption within her own party and shares many of the principles that McCain has.

 

and the post above is exactly the response that will be given by the mccain camp when they are called on it.

[Central Scrutinizer]

Pick a woman or minority and it's tokenism. Pick a white man and it's cronyism and same old politics.

 

I guess in some circles it was a lose-lose proposition. Especially overloooking the fact that this was a woman who cleaned up scandal and corruption within her own party and shares many of the principles that McCain has.

Neither party will directly attack this. It will be interesting what dummy organizations develop in order to put out ads that beat these extremist views over the head.

[watch me fall]

Thank you for your insightful analysis of my wife's response. Clearly, you considered all the complexities of her reasoning and psychology.

 

FWIW, your wife and I are in total agreement. It's pretty obvious why she was chosen.

[bobbob1313]

casting a write-in vote says a lot more than not voting. that said, and while i agree that big business runs this country and is making politics mostly meaningless, i voted for nader in 2000. am i sorry? you bet i am. if gore had won (sort of like he did!), there would be a lot of status quo everywhere but it can be much, much, much worse, as we have seen since then.

 

I don't buy feeling sorry about voting for Nader. You vote for your conscience because you can't see into the future.

[sweetheart-mine]

I don't buy feeling sorry about voting for Nader. You vote for your conscience because you can't see into the future.

you're right, and it's certainly not a reason not to vote for someone outside the system. right now that vote just makes me a little raw -- queasy, literally -- only because the past eight years have been so damaging, and another choice is coming up.

[bjorn_skurj]

you're right, and it's certainly not a reason not to vote for someone outside the system. right now that vote makes me a little raw -- queasy, literally -- only because the past eight years have been so damaging, and another choice is coming up.

Unless you were living in Florida at the time, it wasn't your fault.