Gambit7

Welp, landslide victory for Obama. Somewhat predictable, but not by such a strong margin... especially with Edwards leeching votes (IMO, Edwards steals votes from Obama... not Hillary).

What's interesting to me about this victory, is NOW Obama leads with the most overall popular vote, the most caucus votes, and the most delegates (minus the superdelegates). It will be interesting to see how the media spins who the frontrunner is... since they seem to disregard who actually has the most delegates (technically, Barack hasnt lost any primary/caucus.. he's either tied or won delegate-wise). Before SC, they viewed Hillary as the clear frontrunner (even though she was technically losing). Let's see what they do now.

What's hampering him is the Federalist element to the electoral system... that being the "officials" in Washington that make up the super-delegation. In fact, Barack could overwhelmingly win popularly/delegately but STILL lose if the superdelegates dont support him.

Anyways, his victory speech was the best of the entire campaign... of any candidate. Awe-inspiring to say the least.

Gonna be a knock-out, drag-out fight until the 5th. Alas, unless Obama can be just a candidate instead of a "black candidate" he will undoubtably lose. The Clintons know this and are probably happy he won such a polarizing victory in SC; this bolsters their caucasian base. Trust me, it's mission accomplished by the Clintons... tactically, they did exactly what they should've - turn Barack into an african-american candidate, instead of just another guy (and a bi-racial one at that).

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Trooper

whats really crappy is im tired of the media playing the race card every chance they get. Every single debate it gets thrown out there, every tangle with Hilary it gets played. I have a feeling he already knows he is black, they dont need to keep telling him. And it seems Hilary is getting tired of woman card as well.


Can we not just have a simple issues based campaign and not have it be media tweaked or media skewed.

xTYBALTx

What's that got to do with federalism?

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Current Tybalt theme song: Mason v. Princess - Perfect

Hambergler

I would have a new perspective on America if Obama got elected, even if he is not the best candidate on paper. Hillary has a better chance of beating the GOP though, which is full of zealots and old farts at the moment. I can't see all the people that voted for Bush suddenly voting for Obama in the general. 30% still think he's doing a good job. I hope I'm wrong.

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TurkishDelight

Still a bunch of gun grabbers....

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|TG-Irr|Turkish

OrdoSanguis

...and Bible bangers. No offense to all you Bible bangers out there

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"Ten soldiers wisely led will beat a hundred without a head."

Lucky Shot

McCain is a good enough candidate to win the presidency, but not good enough to win the Republican Nomination. I personally look forward to Obama vs. Romney.

Lucky Shot

Gambit7

It's a federalistic control designed to give voters the illusion their vote actually means something. In reality, it's the folks in Washington that ultimately control the fate of the country... not the primary voters.

This is basis for our corrupt non-sensical govt. And it starts with the parties themselves having similar controls.

You cant take a crap as a voter and not have an elitist control dictate how it comes out your arse in this country.

Can you tell I somewhat support Obama? A big reason for that is because he's not really an institutionalized Democrat. Matter of fact, when he loses the primary (because the Dems wont let him win, trust me) I wouldnt doubt if he pops up as an independent - perhaps even running with Bloomberg. Obama is the most anti-federalistic candidate of the whole lot (of viable candidates), therefore he gets my vote... regardless of "experience."

As for McCain, I kinda like him... but I'll never put what amounts to an 80+ yr. old man into office. He should be retired, relaxing, and enjoying the latter years of his life. Not "playing the part" in the waning years of his effectiveness. It sounds cold, but it's a logical thing to consider. He also is not an imposing enough figure to me. He appears "weak" and timid at times (largely due to his injuries, age, and gentle demeanor). Huckabee exudes somewhat of the same type of aura, and so does Ron Paul (even though I like him).

oh, i could go on and on...

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Gambit7

If she hasnt I'm sure she's knee-deep in it right now. Good question though actually. hmmm Do we really want a menopausal president?

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Kerostasis

We won't know for sure how the GOP election will turn out until after Florida at least, but McCain is certainly not a front-runner at this point. For all that you might think the GOP capable of committing election fraud, I don't know what would make you imagine that McCain personally controls that capability and could use it to cheat out all the other candidates that are ALSO members of the GOP.

Now if you want to talk about primary election fraud...remember Michigan? Michigan and Florida both broke Democratic Party rules by scheduling their primary votes early, and the DNC declared that their votes wouldn't count at the convention, and asked all the candidates not to campaign there in response. Think what you like about whether thats a good plan or not, but all candidates except Hillary agreed to this, and Hillary was basically running un-opposed in Michigan and Florida. Now that Michigan has already voted and Florida is about to, with Hillary way up in the polls there as the only candidate who went against the DNC and campaigned there anyway...

Hillary is asking for Florida and Michigan to get their votes back. So they can vote for her, obviously. I mean, er, out of a spirit of equality and feeling that all votes should count! Totally nothing partisan about it, and its got nothing to do with the fact that she's going to win both of those states.

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Lucky Shot

I am not sure I agree with this statement and was hoping you could explain why you feel he is anti-federalistic.

Lucky Shot

section-8

I don't like your link for several reasons:

1) It screams 'holy crap I'm crazy conspiracy theorist who thinks John Mccain is in bed with the Vietnamese.'(this is an opinion, yes...but it just looks...wrong)

2) It sites "examples" and a "timeline" that "prove" Mccain collaborated with the vietnamese.

such examples:

I [McCain] was interviewed by two North Vietnamese generals at separate times.

McCain called for an officer on his fourth day of captivity. He told the officer, "O.K., I'll give you military information if you will take me to the hospital.

. . . Many visitors came to talk to me [John McCain]. Not all of it was for interrogation.....One of the men who came to see me, whose picture I recognized later, was Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap, the hero of Dienbienphu."

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Everything I put down as an example was bolded in order to show that it was proof of 'collaboration' and breaking of the code of conduct

3) The main link provides very little actual evidence against mccain. Very few references (this person said this, that person said that...and a short 2 page reference from a book)



That all being said, I've never heard this before. I'm interested to hear more. However, I'm skeptical at best. I've been to 3 USAF survival schools (4th one starts next week) and have done quite a bit of 'the code' training. And most of that looks fairly minor; every POW cracks and sings like a bird.

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ScratchMonkey

As to decrepit old men running for President, consider FDR. Are you saying that the candidate needs to be telegenic? That seems shallow if so.

How does one get to be part of the party machine? I was watching some Sunday morning election analysis and the panel seemed to think that McCain didn't have a chance because he was very much "out" in the Republican machine. The national party committee doesn't want him. So it seems like the real king makers are the national party apparatus, and the way to influence the election is not to vote or raise money but to somehow get on that committee. (I think this is the "federalism" that Gambit alludes to.)

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Hambergler

This is part of a smear by a group called Vietnam Veterans Against McCain. it's not really a group it's just one guy.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/17/us...per,%20Michael

http://www.vietnamveteransagainstjohnmccain.com/

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Gambit7

precisely

The one saving grace is that both parties seem to have a fundamental crack in their structures. As you will see today, the lead figures for the Kennedys will be supporting Obama. This marks a huge shift in the party. Unfortunately, the party isnt Kennedy-esque anymore... it's Clinton-esque, therefore the Clintons are the default winners.

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