Almost Election time....are you registered to vote?

[Koda]

We've had the primaries, and there have been some huge turns in the tables almost weekly with the Presidential Candidtates and finally their chosen Vice President Candidates.

After watching and/or reading all the bickering back and forth, the promises which are rarely kept, and all of the political hoopla.....how many of you have registered to vote?

I have watched both the Republican and Democratic Conventions. As an Independant, I've not yet quite decided who I'm going to vote for, but regardless, I will be there at the Polls in November to cast my vote. I think the upcoming debates will help somewhat with my decision, but I'm not totally convinced.

Religion and Politics are always the 'tabu' sujects, and I'm not asking anyone to cast their votes here or bash any of the candidates. I'm just interested in how many of you have registered to vote, because I know there are a lot of young members here that don't seem to care about what's going on around them.

Comments on both Conventions are welcome.

[Zell Dincht]

Never in all my life have I ever felt more peer pressure than when it comes to this election. Drugs, alcohol, sex, you name it... anything that my friends or co-workers threw at me is nothing compared to how I was bombarded at school to register. They were in the classrooms, they were at meals, in restaurants, I even had people knock on my door!

I mean I was already registered, even if I hadn't been Im sure they would have gotten to me sooner or later.

[Koda]

I have been a registered voter for many years, and I must admit that during the 'Bush' campaign eight years ago, I didn't vote simply because I didn't believe in anyone that was running. And even now I have many questions about McCain and Obama. Personally I believe that those that have been chosen for Vice President would be the better candidates to run for President. Time will tell, and I'm sure that no matter who gets into office, we will all have our complaints.

[Govinda]

I'm speaking on behalf of my boyfriend, who is an American citizen and has an overseas vote registered in FL. I myself like to keep abreast of American political news also, since my government likes to fellate your government and therefore your choice of leader exerts influence upon my life.

Obama/Biden is an excellent ticket. Obama's ideas are music to my ears; an American politician using the words 'nuclear' and 'disarmament' in the same sentence, while avoiding the word 'unilateral'? Do my ears decieve me, or is that just so ****ing good? Jesus, this guy might have a brain.

To myself and Voting Boyfriend, America's potential foreign policy is naturally the most important thing. Obama will want to talk, not shoot; and Biden's experience is the perfect platform for making that happen without starting a war.

McCain just looks like another Bush. He'll want to have a go at Iran, he really will not help the Russia situation, and then there's 'WOOHOO LET'S DIG UP ALASKA AND THEN GO HUNTING, WE CAN ATTEND MY DAUGHTER'S SHOTGUN WEDDING ON THE WAY HOME' Palin. If McCain, an elderly man and cancer survivor, were to die in office, that woman would be in charge of the USA. Christ. At least if something happens to Obama, Biden will be there to take over (that, sadly, seems likely).

Bush said he was a 'war president'. I get the feeling that McCain would be too. Palin might have the George Dubya Funny Factor, but she's also frightening.

If the rest of the world were registered to vote in America, Obama would win a landslide. If he then decided to relocate to the Rest of the World his chances of getting shot would go down too. But such is life when another country is the hegemon. I hope you guys understand just how ****ing frustrating it is for us. This election will impact on our lives in so many ways, and all we can do is watch and hope you vote well. The last two times...the last time Bush won, the UK's biggest paper ran with the headline 'HOW CAN 154 MILLION PEOPLE BE SO DUMB?'

So, uh, yes, my boyfriend would like you know that he is registered to vote and that he hopes his vote will actually get counted this time (most if not all international ballots were disqualified last time, including boyfriend's, his father's, and his sister's votes.)

[Zell Dincht]

The last two times...the last time Bush won, the UK's biggest paper ran with the headline 'HOW CAN 154 MILLION PEOPLE BE SO DUMB?'

So, I have been having a very stressful day... just now reading this line, I laughed so hard and feel much better. Thank you for that. Its good to know headlines like that get ran.

As far as just what will happen to this country... oiy oiy. It makes my head hurt with intense pains. Very intense pains if McCain wins.

[Sasquatch]

I'm not registered to vote yet, but I'll do just like I did last year and register as an Independent. Contrary to what some people may think, I'm not a Republican, I'm more of a Libertarian.

Obama/Biden is an excellent ticket. Obama's ideas are music to my ears; an American politician using the words 'nuclear' and 'disarmament' in the same sentence, while avoiding the word 'unilateral'? Do my ears decieve me, or is that just so ****ing good? Jesus, this guy might have a brain.

Obama's got a lot of "good" ideas. He just has no ideas on how to go about actually doing anything, because he's done absolute NOTHING in his political career, except advance. He's like the kid at school who goes to the next grade every year, but never does any work.

Obama will want to talk, not shoot; and Biden's experience is the perfect platform for making that happen without starting a war.

Obama will want to talk when we need to talk, and talk when we need to shoot. That's the problem many people have with him.

He'll want to have a go at Iran ...

He mentioned bombing Iran once in a joke -- and that was in reference to Iran funding Iraqi insurgents. Obama has mentioned, seriously, invading Pakistan -- an ally of the United States.

he really will not help the Russia situation

There's not much the U.S. can or will do to affect the Russia situation. Neither candidate has said much about it.

and then there's 'WOOHOO LET'S DIG UP ALASKA AND THEN GO HUNTING, WE CAN ATTEND MY DAUGHTER'S SHOTGUN WEDDING ON THE WAY HOME' Palin.

That statement isn't ignorantly prejudiced and a personal attack at all, is it? How about "YO YO, LET'S GO CAP A PIG, SMOKE SOME CRACK, GET MY BABY-MAMA AN ABORTION, AND EAT SOME CHITLINS" Obama?

Sarah Palin protects Constitutional firearm rights (good), supports drilling for oil in Alaska (good), and has a pregnant daughter (who cares?). Plus, she' hot. What's not to like?

If McCain, an elderly man and cancer survivor, were to die in office, that woman would be in charge of the USA.

Not until this election -- and not until Palin was announced -- did I ever hear any liberal asking whether or not a VP or VP nominee was qualified enough to hold the office of President.

Christ. At least if something happens to Obama, Biden will be there to take over (that, sadly, seems likely).

The sad thing is that many people who support Obama completely ignore his total and complete lack of executive experience and instead focus on Sarah Palin's decent, or even mediocre amount of executve experience.

If the rest of the world were registered to vote in America, Obama would win a landslide.

If the rest of the world were registered to vote in America, the United States wouldn't be a superpower. Americans are GLAD the rest of the world doesn't control American politics.

If he then decided to relocate to the Rest of the World his chances of getting shot would go down too.

Please don't tell me you think he's likely to get assassinated because of the color of his skin. It's because of the color of his skin that he's in the position he is now.

the last time Bush won, the UK's biggest paper ran with the headline 'HOW CAN 154 MILLION PEOPLE BE SO DUMB?'

Bush's opposition was John Kerry, and they called Americans dumb for voting for Bush. See, THIS is why Americans are glad they're not controlled by the rest of the world.

So, uh, yes, my boyfriend would like you know that he is registered to vote and that he hopes his vote will actually get counted this time (most if not all international ballots were disqualified last time, including boyfriend's, his father's, and his sister's votes.)

Not last time, that was the time before, and Gore was trying to get them disqualified. Because most international votes are from U.S. military stationed overseas, and the military votes overwhelmingly Republican.

Now, as far as Republicans go ... McCain's not a conservative, but Palin was an excellent pick for him. Not only does she draw Hillary supporters away from Obama, she's also conservative enough to draw in former Republicans who think McCain is too liberal. Not only that, she will also help to shut people up if McCain wins, because you KNOW some people will talk about how he only won because America's prejudiced and Obama's black.

[Koda]

Now, as far as Republicans go ... McCain's not a conservative, but Palin was an excellent pick for him. Not only does she draw Hillary supporters away from Obama, she's also conservative enough to draw in former Republicans who think McCain is too liberal. Not only that, she will also help to shut people up if McCain wins, because you KNOW some people will talk about how he only won because America's prejudiced and Obama's black.

I agree with most of what you have said in this paragraph with the exception of the Hillary supporters. Palin is an excellent speaker, and yes, I agree that she has done wonderful things for Alaska. However, that in itself is not going to sway my vote to McCain. Last night I watched McCain accept the Presidential Nomination and listened to all I could take in his speech.

Palin stated the other night that Obama said he was going to raise the middle class American's taxes as well as the small business owners. That is not what he said. He did say he was going to start taxing the wealthy and the big corporate businesses and give the middle class, lower income, and small businesses a break.

Personally I believe that McCain is balancing his campaign on his P.O.W. past. He has agreed with Bush 90% of the time, and last night he even said he was proud of how Bush has ran the country since 9-11 !! That statement right there was outragous! Statistically there are only 32% of the American public that thinks George W. Bush is doing a good job. Apparently, McCain is now one of those 32%. But during the primaries, it was a differnt story.

Thousands have died because of Bush declaring war in Iraq. A war we should not even be in, in my opinion. So I think he definitly helped make my decision last night. Obama may not have years and years of experience behind him, but he does have the American peoples best interest in mind. And with Biden there with him who does have many years experience, I think they will make an outstanding team in the White House.

As far as the 'black' comment. I would certainly hope that we as a country have gotten past that. Yes there are those that are extremely ignorant when it comes to equality of all races, but if you watched the Democratic Convention, all three nights, there were more whites there than blacks supporting him. That should say a lot to many. And personally, I'm not opposed to having a black person, hispanic, white, or purple person as President as long as they can run the country and do what's best for EVERYONE, not just the wealthy.

I agree, eight years is enough, it is time for a change.

[Clint]

Now, as far as Republicans go ... McCain's not a conservative, but Palin was an excellent pick for him. Not only does she draw Hillary supporters away from Obama, she's also conservative enough to draw in former Republicans who think McCain is too liberal. Not only that, she will also help to shut people up if McCain wins, because you KNOW some people will talk about how he only won because America's prejudiced and Obama's black.

Seriously, Palin doesn't draw Hilliary supporters. Now, I'm not an American, so I don't know much about it, but I did see some of the Democratic National Convention, and Hilliary praised Obama and told her supporters to support him. So if they truly support her, they will go by her word and her judgment, and support Obama. They're not going to support a radical republican with views practically the exact opposite of Hilliary's views, just because she's a woman.

[Sarah]

They're not going to support a radical republican with views practically the exact opposite of Hilliary's views, just because she's a woman.

Never underestimate the power of American stupidity. There are numerous amounts of people who don't pay attention to or understand what the policies and ideas presented to them are and just vote based on appearance and charisma. Even worse are those who vote under a certain party just to be a part of it. There's a lot of that here in Massachusetts, where everyone votes democrat because the people they know are doing it.

I am currently registered as independent. I could technically be called a centrist, but I have a strong leaning toward libertarian.

Personally, I am completely unhappy with the lack of choices for candidates. I hate how the media always whittles away all of the good candidates by completely ignoring them. I'm inclined to still vote for Ron Paul, even if he did drop out, since there is no choice for a vote of "lack of confidence in presented candidates." I suppose I could write that in, if I wanted to, like I am with Ron Paul. It really doesn't matter anyhow, with the way the votes are counted. Massachusetts will always be counted as democrat. Plus, votes don't technically count. Everything is ultimately up to the electoral college. (If you remember, they have screwed us over before.) I have principles I need to stand for, though. I'm too proud to concede to the lack of choices presented to me.


*sigh* My biggest fear is McCain getting elected. While I think both candidates will continue to run our country bankrupt, I think McCain will do it much more quickly.

[Sasquatch]

I agree with most of what you have said in this paragraph with the exception of the Hillary supporters.

As has been said, never underestimate stupidity. Just like there are people who would vote for or against somebody because they're black, there are people who would vote for or against somebody because they're a woman.

Palin stated the other night that Obama said he was going to raise the middle class American's taxes as well as the small business owners. That is not what he said. He did say he was going to start taxing the wealthy and the big corporate businesses and give the middle class, lower income, and small businesses a break.

Many, many small businesses gross more than $250,000 a year (before expenditures), and Obama would raise their taxes. Besides, taxing the wealthy isn't right either. This is Capitalism, not Socialism -- when people make more money, they get to keep it. It doesn't matter if you think they have enough or not.

Taxing the "rich" instead of taxing the middle class is a political ploy anyway. Gas prices are high -- do you think they'll go down if Obama gets in and makes oil companies pay even more in taxes?

Let's say they tax Wal-Mart. Of course, huge income, huge expenses. Instead of taxing the people who shop at Wal-Mart, Obama taxes Wal-Mart. What does Wal-Mart do? Raise their prices. Tell me, how does that help the average middle-class Wal-Mart shopper? They're still paying more, and their money is still going to the government, it's just not direct. They get upset at the evil corporations and not the politicians who are sucking money from them.

Personally I believe that McCain is balancing his campaign on his P.O.W. past. He has agreed with Bush 90% of the time, and last night he even said he was proud of how Bush has ran the country since 9-11 !!

The first time I ran the 300m Intermediate Hurdles in high school, I barely made it through them. I don't have much for running endurance, but I started sprinting out of the blocks. Bad idea. Out of ten hurdles, I tipped #7, ran into #8 and pushed it over, cleared #9, and tripped myself up on the last one, sending me face-down into the track. It was rubber and not asphalt, but I still ended up with pieces of rubber embedded into my hands and knees.

But I tried. I had never done it before, but I gave it my all coming out of the blocks. Sure, I screwed up. Sure, the only reason I didn't come in last was that I accidentally kicked that last hurdle into the next lane, tripping the only guy that was still behind me. But I picked myself up and finished.

My girlfriend, my girlfriend's mother, my girlfriend's sister, and two track coaches told me they were proud of me.

Are you getting the point of the story, here?

Thousands have died because of Bush declaring war in Iraq.

The President can't declare war. And Congress authorized the troops.

Obama may not have years and years of experience behind him, but he does have the American peoples best interest in mind.

Obama has accomplished exactly nothing, nada, zip, zero, zilch in his political career, except for advancing in political position. Not a damn thing. He has absolutely NOTHING of any impact on his resumé. Why do you think he has America's best interests in mind if he's only had his own interests in mind since he became a politician?

I agree, eight years is enough, it is time for a change.

One of the biggest problems with Bush is that he has increased spending and increased the size of government. The only "change" Obama would offer is an increase in the speed of the problems.

Plus, votes don't technically count. Everything is ultimately up to the electoral college. (If you remember, they have screwed us over before.)

Of course they count. Electoral votes are the ones that make the real difference, but the popular vote controls the electoral vote.

I especially wouldn't say that the Electoral vote "screwed us" out of Gore. To that, I would say, "Kudos, Electoral College!"

I have principles I need to stand for, though. I'm too proud to concede to the lack of choices presented to me.

True, that does suck. The way I figure, there are three reasons to vote for Candidate A. One, obviously, is that you like Candidate A better than Candidates B-Z. Two is that you only kinda like Candidate A, but you know that your favorite candidate, Candidate C, has a snowball's chance in hell of actually winning. (This is most people's reasoning, including mine.) And three is that you absolutely hate Candidate B -- who is the only other candidate with a chance of winning -- and that Candidate A is their only competition. (This is what happened during the last two presidential elections.)

*sigh* My biggest fear is McCain getting elected. While I think both candidates will continue to run our country bankrupt, I think McCain will do it much more quickly.

McCain won't expand government nearly as much as Obama will, and all of his tax cut proposals have been paired with spending cut proposals. That's one of the few things I like about him. Typically, Democrats are for taxing more and spending more, and Republicans are (or were, at least) for taxing less and spending less. Bush taxed less and spent more. McCain, as liberal as he is on some issues, plans to tax less and spend less.

[Govinda]

Isn't Obama's lack of executive experience made up for by Biden's executive experience?

Sorry for bashing Palin. I just find her entertaining. Do you really think she's hot? Haha. I see your points, though. But I don't think she's going to get the lost Hillary voters; what she will secure is the fundamenalist Evangelical Christian vote, who probably wouldn't have voted for Obama anyway.

Come on, there are nutjobs out there who want Obama dead because of the colour of his skin. They rounded a crew of them up before the DNC - true, they were racist methheads not descriptive of the American population as a whole, but they were still there. They will continue to be there, and they will continue to try in earnest to achieve their horrible goals. It's no accident that Obama, not even a President, has the biggest Secret Service brief in history.

Obama achieved a lot for the people of Chicago. Maybe it wasn't adminstration work, maybe it wasn't legislature; but he worked hard, and he achieved, and he did it in Chicago too. His Pakistan comment was worrying, very worrying. But with the recent regime change there, and Biden on side, I don't think he would. America recently went into Pakistan of its own accord anyway, and killed 15 people, and was roundly lambasted by the Pakistanis. Theirs is certainly a worrying question.

I'm glad that you say America's happy not to be lorded over; every person who loves their country should feel this way. I certainly do. On one level, it's why I support the principle of an independent Scotland; on another, it's why I'm fed up with America's foreign policy decisions mattering almost more than those of the whole EU. I know that that's just the way things are, though, but if you put yourself in my shoes for a second on that front you may see where I'm coming from regarding choosing Obama over McCain.

Europe is fed up of America's guns. To us your government seems self-serving and unpredictable; we don't want a war with Iran that would, in essence, be yours. We don't want that bloody missile base in Poland - its only advocates are the Polish government, kowtowing to NATO. Your many bases in the UK make us an advanced target for Russian, never mind our own relations with them. (Then, of course, there's the English decision to have the UK's one stockpile of nuclear weapons stored in Scotland, but that's another matter.)

And America's behaviour towards Russia in the coming months will matter in a huge way, I think. Georgia was just the beginning. They are not going to pipe down about the missile bases at all, and America must respond with open, proper diplomacy or Europe faces becoming your theatre of war again.

I'm very interested in what you said about the overseas vote - I always thought it was democrat.