luna

I voted for Obama in the primary here, and look forward to voting for him in November.

I voted for Bush last time around, because I believed given my options, he was the better of the candidates.

As for Obama being racist, I don't even know how to respond to that. He has shown time and time again that he identifies with the troubles of African Americans just as much as he identifies with the difficulties white folks encounter, and the bitterness that rises out of these conflicts. He's a racist? He was brought up by his white mother from Kansas, then his white grandparents for the majority of his adolescence. Why the racist judgment? Is it for some reason bad to acknowledge the struggles of Americans, regardless of their skin color? How on earth do his writings demonstrate a long-standing resentment towards white people? Direct me to this, please, as I have read quite a bit he has written and have yet to come across anything even vaguely resembling this assertion.

Muslim sympathizer? Pardon me, but isn't that just a little bit distorted? Are all muslims extremists? Of course not. What if a candidate were a Christian sympathizer? Is that somehow any different? Hopefully, we'll have a President who sympathizes with and respects all of our personal beliefs, regardless of what creed we subscribe to.

And what are these "lies" that are "to (sic) easy to detect", msdz?

I had my grandmother recently tell me that she didn't like him because she got a "weird gut feeling" about him. Would that weird feeling happen to be racism that she was uncomfortable acknowledging to me? Is it the idea that he's too good to be the real deal? He MUST be a corrupt politician, right?
I for one refuse to be drawn into bitter cynicism. I believe the man. Mind you, I believed Bush as well, and we all see where that got us...

For the record, I'm 29 and have been paying close attention to this race as it has the potential to be a huge turning point for us as a nation.

I am fascinated by those who base their opinions on sound bites offered by the news outlets. At least go and listen to the speeches, read up on the candidates and their plans, and educate yourself.

__________________
Resurgent's New Motivational Motto:
"Now train harder! Live inside your character! If it dies, YOU DIE! Focus!"

Jesus had a soulstone.

Fenian420

Honestly, I hate how the media pushes Obama as being a extemist Islamic politician.. They act like Americas never had any extremist Christian politicians running our government before..

Steve_Snake_Driver

Yeah, I'm going to vote for Hillary or Obama. I like paying all my money in taxes so that Nan Pelosi can spend it all on whatever. Hopefully a pile of it will go to Rev Jesse Jackson...his Swiss accounts can't be too fat! I like the idea of being in a position to win a war and then surrendering. Its great for morale and our islamic fascist enemies will calm down once we high tail it out of Iraq. I'm gonna buy stock in teddy bear and sunbeam companies because that is all we will have to export to our new Iranian mullah best buddies once we leave. And free eye exams from the 'President' of Syria for all! To our young British friend...not to worry, you'll get a free Koran for your troubles.
Obama may or may not be a racist...I'm inclined to believe that he leans that way...however he is a rank opportunist...Carter light...all the leftist tripe with only half the brains of Jimmah. You guys who vote for him...you are going to love 20% inflation and 30% interest on credit cards, mortgages, and car loans.

Kerostasis

I can see you didn't get very good media coverage of our 2000 election. Don't worry, neither did we. But although the coverage was pretty botched, they did at some point release actual election vote totals, and Bush did actually win it.

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El_Gringo_Grande

Listen to NPR. Pretty good stuff. Not unbiased but as close as you will get to nowadays. Plus you will get in depth coverage.

Also Frontline is very good if you want full coverage of an issue.

Before you go all bonkers I will say I was 100% conservative Republican in my youth because of NPR and PBS..... Except for the science thing. Always took evolution for granted and didn't see a conflict.

Oh, and I will probably vote for McCain, but Obama is closing the gap. If Hillary makes the Dem ticket it will be McCain. Not because I dislike Clinton, I actually like her. But I am tired of the Bush, Clinton, Bush thing. I want somebody else. If it is Obama I am going to rethink it all. He does inspire me. I can't say that has happened to me since Reagan.

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I’m not racists, I have republican friends. Radio show host.
- "The essence of tyranny is the denial of complexity". -Jacob Burkhardt
- "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds" - Emerson
- "People should not be afraid of it's government, government should be afraid of it's People." - Line from V for Vendetta
- If software were as unreliable as economic theory, there wouldn't be a plane made of anything other than paper that could get off the ground. Jim Fawcette

Elwenil

Go all bonkers? ME?!?! Lol...

Seriously, most of you have good, valid points for his or her chosen candidate. If nothing else, maybe this general dislike for our current President has made people pay more attention to politics. In the past it seemed there was too much "I'm voting Republican/Democrat" and that being all they had to say. The only thing I worry about now is this "sensationalism" for change. Now before all of you go "bonkers on me, hear me out. I agree that something needs to change. I voted for Bush and I still like him. I do not agree with all of his decisions, but I think that's pretty normal. But due to the current political climate around the world and our failing economy and healthcare system, we do need some changes. I just think that there is a lot of hype pushing this drive for change and I wonder how much of it is hot air and empty promises. I think a lot of people are getting caught up in the charisma of Obama and his push for change without actually looking into what he's saying. I honestly don't care who you like or vote for, but I hope everyone does so intelligently. Now you can all tell me how unintelligent I am for still voting McCain, lol. I probably would honestly vote for Ron Paul since I do agree with some of his ideas but he's lost a lot of momentum and I don't think he has much chance of winning at this point.

As for my Obama/racism comments, I really do get a feeling that there is more to it than he lets on and what most believe. He seems to have more then a couple of people around him who I would consider more than a little racist and these people were his advisors at one time or another in his political career. Now I do not believe I am racist, but will admit that there are quite a few of my friends and acquaintances that do have those feelings and opinions. So it is possible that he just is in a similar position that I am in. But then I get that weird feeling about him. Like I'm looking at a snake and wondering what he's thinking. I don't think that it's racism in myself, since it is not that kind of feeling. It's more like I am talking to a used car salesman or some guy trying to sell me a timeshare, who is glossing over the details that will eventually cost me a lot of money in the long run.

Ok, there you have it guys, tear it apart, lol...

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|TG|Elwenil

Rincewind

Gringo, we do have awesome NPR programming here in Oklahoma City. I also like to listen to the Stillwater station (91.7) from time to time to pick up some of the campus programming they put out.

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~~ Veritas simplex oratio est ~~
No matter how far a wizard goes, he will always come back for his hat. --T. Pratchett

<---- You know you're getting old when you rely on your forum meta-data to remind you how old you are.

Required Reading for all TG sandboxers

Rincewind

This is why I wish every ballot had a "None of the Above" option. If there had been a 'none of the above option' on 2004's ballots, it would have won.

I think the only time you throw your vote away is when you don't participate.

__________________
~~ Veritas simplex oratio est ~~
No matter how far a wizard goes, he will always come back for his hat. --T. Pratchett

<---- You know you're getting old when you rely on your forum meta-data to remind you how old you are.

Required Reading for all TG sandboxers

[tR]Greasy_mullet

Of any year I have ever seen, if "None of the Above" could run this year, they would win in a freaking landslide. None of the current 3 running have any integrity or even a clue about how to run or not run our Republic. Obama is though by far the worst with his racists and divisive attitudes as well as just pure total ignorance on our economy and the world in general.

My 10 month old daughter could run our Republic better than these 3 fools.

[tR]Greasy_mullet

unconstitutionally? Anyone who wants to see Obama or Clinton sweep in facism into our Republic in full force should not be throwing that term around because nothing is more unconstitutional than what both of those politicians are proposing.

MagnaCentipede

From /.

"In a recent article on The Space Review, Greg Zsidisin reveals that Barack Obama plans to delay Project Constellation for at least five years, using the redirected funds to nationalize early-education for children under five years old to prepare them for the rigors of kindergarten and beyond, if he is elected president. It is feared that if this happens the Vision for Space Exploration will flounder and that may be the end of human spaceflight altogether."


Seriously, Obamarama must be stopped. We all know that there isn't hardly any money going into Science programmes as it is, and he wants to take the pittance away and blow it on extending The Peoples' Daycare and Pre-Neducation System. Rigors of Kindergarten? You've gotta be... you sit down, count to ten, and draw with crayons until you get a handful of Teddy Grahams, take a ten minute 'nap', and go home!

The hawks should've been carrying off the ducks' hatchlings the last fifty years or so. Now they are numerous and are demanding we waddle on pain of squacking.

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luna

Greasy- The moment you use fascism (or the Nazis) in your argument, you lose. It's a desperate move of a desperate person who's seeking to invoke emotional responses because they have nothing better to support their argument.

Elwenil- I think you're very likely accurate about the similarity between your position among your friends and Obama's among some of his friends. I wouldn't judge YOU based on what your friends think, and I won't judge Obama for the same reason. That snake feeling, I think, is prejudgment. If every time you buy a used car you get burned, you begin to assume that every used car salesman is underhanded and less than honest. Totally understandable, and given politics in the last 20 years, I'd say it's a pretty common judgment. The problem, though, is what if Obama really IS being honest? Is there any clear evidence to the contrary, or does his record show that he tends to attempt to do what he claims he will do? Do you want to look back at this moment and say you cast your vote elsewhere because Obama was just "too good" to be true?

It's a sad state of politics when all of us feel compelled to assume we're being played for fools just because every other politician we've encountered has been dishonest. That right there is the change I really hope we can be a part of.

Lastly, can we really do any worse? Our economy is in recession, our military is stretched to their limits, and our educational system is a mess. Nevermind the health care issues, which we are experiencing first hand over here in RI. We need a new mindset brought into the fray to shake things up and find us some real solutions outside of staying the course. Hillary's nothing new- she's a fine lady, but I hate seeing her constantly taking her husband's experience as her own. She may be able to get some relief into the economy, but it'll be more of the whole politics as usual, with closed door negotiations and dealings. McCain, while I like him as a person, is definitely not something new. He himself stated he knew very little about the economy, and can't seem to get the facts of who we're fighting over in Iraq correct. That makes me uneasy. I don't want another president who constantly needs to have his press secretary coming out to remedy his verbal blunders. War hero, yes. Our best candidate to offer the world? Not this time.

Find me another candidate who makes me sincerely proud to be an American when he speaks about our country, and instills a sense of hope in our government. I've never in my life (or in my studies as a History major) come across a candidate like Obama, who sees a conflict and addresses it head on. I mean, look at that last speech! Anyone else would've hoped someone like the Reverend Wright would just fade away. No campaign advisor in their right mind would tell a presidential candidate to actually address issues like that. He took the issue, sat us down and said hey, we need to talk about this. Let's get it all out on the table so we can move into a better future together. I have an immense amount of respect for someone who can do that and do it well. It speaks volumes about his ability to speak on behalf of our nation and represent all of us.

__________________
Resurgent's New Motivational Motto:
"Now train harder! Live inside your character! If it dies, YOU DIE! Focus!"

Jesus had a soulstone.

El_Gringo_Grande

-1 for Obama then. Not a deal killer in my mind but I like NASA.

On the surface I like the idea of expanding education. Especially early education so mabye it is only -.7 or so.

__________________
I’m not racists, I have republican friends. Radio show host.
- "The essence of tyranny is the denial of complexity". -Jacob Burkhardt
- "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds" - Emerson
- "People should not be afraid of it's government, government should be afraid of it's People." - Line from V for Vendetta
- If software were as unreliable as economic theory, there wouldn't be a plane made of anything other than paper that could get off the ground. Jim Fawcette

MagnaCentipede

I think the US Education System needs to be ploughed under. It's a programming facility and a daycare, but it's not an educational facility.

All you need to do is teach a child that learning is good, and then provide resources and a structure. That's it.

Pathetically, the only way I see to salvage the spawns who were doomed to be born into a culture of resentment against the educated is the very design that shouldn't be needed. For want of a family at home, only a first-years-of-life education system has any hope of sowing the learning seed early enough for it to take effect. However, after that point, the system we have is about as good as watering a plant with Coca-Cola.


Anyway, exactly what does Obama care about education when he's asphyxiating the things that brain cells are useful for.
It's a trick, get an axe.

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SharinganTH1422

In the position to win a war? Bush certainly isn't winning this war. One of the reasons why the economic situation is not so great in the USA is that Bush is dipping into every reserve imaginable to keep the American military going. But at least that oil is a nice little cushion to fall back on.

And even if you are winning the war, who's losing?

It's not the "Islamic terrorists" who were initially kept out of Iraq by Saddam Hussein when he was in power, who, incidentally, hated Osama Bin Laden. Now the terrorists get to move into Iraq, because there is not enough stopping them.

Bush and Blair have gone into Iraq and caused them nothing but misery, no wonder people are rebelling against the American and British forces and becoming "terrorists" (does it counts as terrorism if you're trying to get people out of your own country?) They're country has descended into chaos because of what Britain (who now have a new Prime Minister, who is trying to gradually take us out of Iraq) and the Bush administration is doing.

We're meant to be bringing them peace and get rid of an evil dictator, and all we did is make everyone's situation worse, (except the terrorist's of course, but george has a habit of doing that). I'd be pretty angry myself if a bunch of guys invaded and completely destroyed my country, saying they wanted to help us.

The only real losers in this war are the innocent Iraqi people who have to suffer and become Asylum seekers because they're not safe in their own country. They have to go to countries like Syria and Jordan, who don't have the resources to cope with their own people, let alone the huge influx of men, women, and children from Iraq.

I think whoever takes over has the responsibility to sort out the situation in Iraq, a burden inherited from their predecessor. It's unfair, but oh well.

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Anger is a gift - Malcolm X

...If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same...