U.S. Presidential Race: Official Thread

Obama or McCain/Democrat or Republican..you decide

  • McCain

    Votes: 14 7.5%

  • Obama

    Votes: 173 92.5%
  • Total voters
    187
  • Poll closed .
overheard a guy yesterday asking someone "you're not voting for that nig*** are you? couldn't believe it tbh.

I didn't say anything, maybe I should have. but he wasn't talking to me.
 
utdalltheway said:
overheard a guy yesterday asking someone "you're not voting for that nig*** are you? couldn't believe it tbh.

I didn't say anything, maybe I should have. but he wasn't talking to me.
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Best not - that kind of thicko would probably have knifed you.
 
What are the chances that Nader is going to be able to stick his oar in in a noticeable way again? That possible?

Or has the Obama effect or fear of a repeat of 2000 diluted any real threat?
 
And the Greens?

I mean, by recent US standards Obama and McCain may be viewed by some as eco-warriors of our time, however in reality they come up well short.

But then in what states are green issues held in such high regard that it could come into play? This is where my post falls flat on its face. ;)
 
Im sorry, but if you yanks vote in McCain and his little bitch then you really are the stupidest people on the planet who deserve another 4 years of John McBush.
 
RedKaos said:
Im sorry, but if you yanks vote in McCain and his little bitch then you really are the stupidest people on the planet who deserve another 4 years of John McBush.
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I think Biden is more of a little "bitch" than is Sarah Palin, although I wouldn't want to see either one end up as President. For the rest of your post, anyone who thinks McCain is George Bush III should number himself among the stupidest people on the planet. Obama is merely rerunning the 2004 campaign because, unlike John Kerry, he can do it correctly.
 
x42bn6 said:
I'm not sure how much more proof you need about global warming.

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1978
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You're wasting your time...


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I haven't read through all the posts, just the last few... so sorry if I am repeating any information covered.



{{{GOP News Flash}}}

The musical group Heart, as well as John Cougar Mellonhead are furious with the RNC for playing their music at the Republican Convention. Heart, inparticular, contacted the organizers of the RNC and told them NOT to use their song 'Baracuda' for Palin. The RNC played the song a second time after the members of Heart complained.


I smell a lawsuit. :cool:

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20223698,00.html


The girlfriend passed this little tid-bit on to me... (not sure of the source) After the Palin speech, Barak Obama's contributions have shot up 10 million dollars within a 24 hr period.


Ohhhhhhhhhhh :lol: Blissssssssssss
 
Nick 0208 Ldn said:
And the Greens?

I mean, by recent US standards Obama and McCain may be viewed by some as eco-warriors of our time, however in reality they come up well short.

But then in what states are green issues held in such high regard that it could come into play? This is where my post falls flat on its face. ;)
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On environment, it's quite clear who is the better option:


And Then There Was One

As we emerge from Labor Day, college students are gathering back on campuses not only to start the fall semester, but also, in some cases, to vote for the first time in a presidential election. There is no bigger issue on campuses these days than environment/energy. Going into this election, I thought that — for the first time — we would have a choice between two “green” candidates. That view is no longer operative — and college students (and everyone else) need to understand that.

With his choice of Sarah Palin — the Alaska governor who has advocated drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and does not believe mankind is playing any role in climate change — for vice president, John McCain has completed his makeover from the greenest Republican to run for president to just another representative of big oil.

Given the fact that Senator McCain deliberately avoided voting on all eight attempts to pass a bill extending the vital tax credits and production subsidies to expand our wind and solar industries, and given his support for lowering the gasoline tax in a reckless giveaway that would only promote more gasoline consumption and intensify our addiction to oil, and given his desire to make more oil-drilling, not innovation around renewable energy, the centerpiece of his energy policy — in an effort to mislead voters that support for drilling today would translate into lower prices at the pump today — McCain has forfeited any claim to be a green candidate.

So please, students, when McCain comes to your campus and flashes a few posters of wind turbines and solar panels, ask him why he has been AWOL when it came to Congress supporting these new technologies.

“Back in June, the Republican Party had a round-up,” said Carl Pope, the executive director of the Sierra Club. “One of the unbranded cattle — a wizened old maverick name John McCain — finally got roped. Then they branded him with a big ‘Lazy O’ — George Bush’s brand, where the O stands for oil. No more maverick.

“One of McCain’s last independent policies putting him at odds with Bush was his opposition to drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge,” added Pope, “yet he has now picked a running mate who has opposed holding big oil accountable and been dismissive of alternative energy while focusing her work on more oil drilling in a wildlife refuge and off of our coasts. While the northern edge of her state literally falls into the rising Arctic Ocean, Sarah Palin says, ‘The jury is still out on global warming.’ She’s the one hanging the jury — and John McCain is going to let her.”

Indeed, Palin’s much ballyhooed confrontations with the oil industry have all been about who should get more of the windfall profits, not how to end our addiction.

Barack Obama should be doing more to promote his green agenda, but at least he had the courage, in the heat of a Democratic primary, not to pander to voters by calling for a lifting of the gasoline tax. And while he has come out for a limited expansion of offshore drilling, he has refrained from misleading voters that this is in any way a solution to our energy problems.

I am not against a limited expansion of off-shore drilling now. But it is a complete sideshow. By constantly pounding into voters that his energy focus is to “drill, drill, drill,” McCain is diverting attention from what should be one of the central issues in this election: who has the better plan to promote massive innovation around clean power technologies and energy efficiency.

Why? Because renewable energy technologies — what I call “E.T.” — are going to constitute the next great global industry. They will rival and probably surpass “I.T.” — information technology. The country that spawns the most E.T. companies will enjoy more economic power, strategic advantage and rising standards of living. We need to make sure that is America. Big oil and OPEC want to make sure it is not.

Palin’s nomination for vice president and her desire to allow drilling in the Alaskan wilderness “reminded me of a lunch I had three and half years ago with one of the Russian trade attachés,” global trade consultant Edward Goldberg said to me. “After much wine, this gentleman told me that his country was very pleased that the Bush administration wanted to drill in the Alaskan wilderness. In his opinion, the amount of product one could actually derive from there was negligible in terms of needs. However, it signified that the Bush administration was not planning to do anything to create alternative energy, which of course would threaten the economic growth of Russia.”

So, college students, don’t let anyone tell you that on the issue of green, this election is not important. It is vitally important, and the alternatives could not be more black and white.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/03/opinion/03friedman.html
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RedKaos said:
Im sorry, but if you yanks vote in McCain and his little bitch then you really are the stupidest people on the planet who deserve another 4 years of John McBush.
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That's about as daft as calling Obama the nword
 
Livvie said:
Best not - that kind of thicko would probably have knifed you.
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People dont carry around knives like people in the UK all do

And tbf I've seen a lot more black people say don't vote for whitey
 
Alex said:
People dont carry around knives like people in the UK all do

And tbf I've seen a lot more black people say don't vote for whitey
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that cannot be true.....a lot of whites wont vote for an AA......(I mean a sizable minority)

I mean how many AA politicians stand for elections?....blacks do vote for whites in large numbers...although it is mostly Democratic of course
 
This from today's Independent. It's the lead story. Scary stuff.

Palin: the real scandal
By Leonard Doyle in Anchorage
Saturday, 6 September 2008

Seen from the air, Sarah Palin's state is an environmental wonderland. From Anchorage to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, there is a vast landscape of snow-capped peaks, fjords, crystal Glazers, coastal lagoons, wide river deltas and tundra.

The guardian of this wilderness – and Governor of Alaska – has, this week, become one of the most recognisable faces in the world. But behind her beaming smile and wholesome family values is a woman aligned with the big oil and coal firms that are racing to exploit Alaska's vast energy reserves. In the short term, that has bought her popularity at home.

"I love the woman," the pilot on our flight shouts over the noise of the engine, "especially what she wants to do with oil, we just have to drill more, there is no alternative. What's the point of leaving it all in the ground?"

It is a stance that guaranteed John McCain's new running mate a rapturous reception at the Republican convention this week where the response to the coming energy crisis was a chant of "drill, baby, drill".

But the woman who could soon be a 72-year-old's heartbeat away from the United States presidency has an environmental policy so toxic it would make the incumbent, George Bush, blush.

Mr McCain has stressed he is concerned about global warming and has come out against drilling in the Arctic reserve. But, in recent weeks, he has wobbled on the issue. And environmentalists are describing Mrs Palin, who denies climate change is man-made, as "either grossly misinformed or intentionally misleading".

She wants to start drilling. She wants to block US moves to list the polar bear as an endangered species. And she has allowed big game hunters to shoot Alaska's bears and wolves from low-flying planes.

The 44-year-old governor says a federal government decision to protect the polar bear will cripple energy development offshore. As a result, she is suing the Bush administration, which ruled the polar bear is endangered and needs protection.

The US Geological Survey says climate change has shrunk Arctic summer sea ice to about 1.65 million sq miles, nearly 40 per cent less than the long-term average between 1979 and 2000.

In such a situation it was unconscionable for Governor Palin to ignore overwhelming evidence of global warming's threat to sea ice, says Kassie Siegel of the Centre for Biological Diversity.

"Even the Bush administration can't deny the reality of global warming," Ms Siegel said. "The governor is aligning herself and the state of Alaska with the most discredited, fringe, extreme viewpoints by denying this."

Governor Palin would also like to bring open-cast coal mining to Alaska's Brooks Range Mountains, an act of environmental vandalism in the eyes of many.

The Palin administration has allowed Chevron to triple the amount of toxic waste it pours into the waters of Cook Inlet. This, even though the number of beluga whales in the bay has collapsed from 1,300 to 350 – the point of extinction – because of pollution and increased ship traffic.

On the Republican convention floor she said: "We Americans need to produce more of our own oil and gas and take it from a gal who knows the North Slope of Alaska: We've got lots of both."

The fact that drilling won't solve every problem "is no excuse to do nothing at all", she said, putting the country on notice that "starting in January, in a McCain-Palin administration, we're going to lay more pipelines ... build more nuclear plants ... create jobs with clean coal ... and move forward on solar, wind, geothermal and other alternative sources".

Mrs Palin also took a swipe at Barack Obama's environmental stance saying: "What does he actually seek to accomplish, after he's done turning back the waters and healing the planet?"

Her support in Alaska relies on squeezing more money for the state from the oil companies themselves. In Alaska, every man woman and child is in line for a bonus cheque of about $2,000 (£1,100) from the state's massive oil wealth fund. This is, in effect, a vote-buying machine for the would-be Vice-President.

Governor Palin wants nothing to hinder the oil companies. She maintains that polar bears are well managed and their population has dramatically increased over 30 years as a result of conservation. And if the ice should go away, then they will adapt to living on the land.

Many oil companies abandoned Alaska when prices fell in the 1980s but they have been rushing back to drill and prospect areas that are among the least hospitable on earth. That spirit of the Klondike is already in full swing in Prudhoe Bay the epicentre of oil production and one of the world's largest industrial complexes. It's so big that BP, UPS and FedEx operate a special fleet of jets from Anchorage just to service to the region.

Hundreds of spills involving tens of thousands of gallons of crude oil and other petroleum products occur in the area each year. Decades-old spills are still a problem and 17,000 acres of wildlife and marine habitat have already been destroyed.

But Prudhoe is just a tiny fraction of the area being targeted by Governor Palin and the oil companies. A similar fate of environmental destruction awaits the entire coastal plain as well as the special areas of the western Arctic – home to migratory caribou herds, musk oxen, wolverines, grizzly and polar bears should a McCain-Palin administration be elected.

The oil boom has attracted oilmen from across America. One of them is Todd Palin, husband to the vice-presidential candidate who works for BP on Alaska's North Slope.

It is illegal to hunt polar bears, and that is not about to change. But in an area known as "Polar Bear Seas", from Point Hope on Alaska's far western edge to the pristine coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve, one tenth of the world's polar bear population is at risk, as well as beluga and bowheaded whales and bearded and spotted seals.

Big game hunters are happy to pay lots of money to shoot wolves and bears from the air. They also chase them across the snow to the point of exhaustion and then land the planes on skis, shooting them from point-blank range. The animals are considered endangered across the "lower 48" states of America, but not Alaska. The hunters keep and sell the animals' pelts.

Last year, Mrs Palin proposed offering a bounty of $150 per wolf, as long as the hunter provided the wolf's foreleg as proof of the kill. The measure did not pass. She even spent $400,000 on a state-funded campaign to block attempts to end the hunt.

Its not just wildlife conservationists who object. Many ordinary Alaskans also condemn the practice as barbaric.

Trish Rolfe, who runs the Sierra Club's Alaska office, thinks Governor Palin has been a disaster for Alaska's environment. "The idea that she stands up to the oil companies is a joke," she says.

"The governor pays lip service to the issue of global warming but denies it is man made. She will not even spend money to help the Inupiaq villages which are about to fall into the sea."
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Palin is an extreme right wing idealogue that McCain has turned to energize his base.....but that same action will turn away the independent voters.....in the end the economy will determine this election....latest unemployment is at 6.1%...
 
And who not all that long ago, would have thought that a convention in McCain's honour would ring out with chants of "DRILL BABY DRILL" in regard to Alaska and everywhere else.

I can well understand the need for energy security, i'm a European, but the Republicans don't seem to have the the right motives nor the will push ahead with and accept the costs of persuing a more sustainable policy.

Neither does Obama entirely but he is better than the alternative redevilcanada pointed out.

There was a piece on the radio earlier on about Palin when she was mayor and her attempts at censorship at a town library, i'll see fi i can find it andput a link in here.

The trick for Democrats surely, is to try and convince the wavering percentage of the electorate of the compromises that McCain will be forced to make, the transference of views from his VP to him. The "x factor" that he possessed to swing moderates would be severely dented then.
 
Nick 0208 Ldn said:
And who not all that long ago, would have thought that a convention in McCain's honour would ring out with chants of "DRILL BABY DRILL" in regard to Alaska and everywhere else.

I can well understand the need for energy security, i'm a European, but the Republicans don't seem to have the the right motives nor the will push ahead with and accept the costs of persuing a more sustainable policy.

Neither does Obama entirely but he is better than the alternative redevilcanada pointed out.

There was a piece on the radio earlier on about Palin when she was mayor and her attempts at censorship at a town library, i'll see fi i can find it andput a link in here.

The trick for Democrats surely, is to try and convince the wavering percentage of the electorate of the compromises that McCain will be forced to make, the transference of views from his VP to him. The "x factor" that he possessed to swing moderates would be severely dented then.
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Have you heard of Prudhoe Bay
 
WeWonItTwoTimes said:
The vast majority of votes are on entirely mundane matters so no he didn't make a powerful argument at all.
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That's good spin but reality isn't discriminatory - McCain and Bush are remarkably similar in their policies. Bush is at about 25-30 percent favorbale rating right now. Its not very complicated to figure out.
 
WeWonItTwoTimes said:
It's all over the place though isn't it?

There are quite a few states which you'd think Obama would have wrapped up, but in reality are very much still in play.
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Bottom line - Obama is in good shape in the states he must win, while McCain isn't. McCain might have an outside shot at Michigan but its a longshot. Obama is exceptionally strong in Virginia and quite competetive in Florida, Ohio, Nevada, & Colorado. McCain must hold serve in those states to have a chance.

George Bush II carried all of Colorado, Nevada, and New Mexico in 04. Obama might win ALL of those this time as he's ahead in all of them.

Virginia - Traditionally Republican but currently tied due to Mark Warner, Tim Kaine, and Jim Webb - all popular Virginia Dems backing Obama. 13 Electoral votes drifting out of McCain's reach. He must campaign here to stop this.

The key battleground states are shaping up to be Ohio, Florida, and Virginia now. They are all IMO complete toss ups.
 
Red Dreams said:
Palin is an extreme right wing idealogue that McCain has turned to energize his base.....but that same action will turn away the independent voters.....in the end the economy will determine this election....latest unemployment is at 6.1%...
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She's a bit in the George W. Bush mold. Another loon with a completely insular world view.
 
Gotta love McCain saying how Obama is a celebrity and then when trying to save face due to being from the same party as Bush, he reminds Americans that Reagan was also a republican, a real fecking celebrity! Which begs the question, even if we accept his allegations that Obama is a celebrity, why is that such a bad thing? Can half-black celebrities not be fit for presidency while white ones can? :eek: Seriously though, how much of a hypocrite will he continue to be?
 
Raoul said:
Bottom line - Obama is in good shape in the states he must win, while McCain isn't. McCain might have an outside shot at Michigan but its a longshot. Obama is exceptionally strong in Virginia and quite competetive in Florida, Ohio, Nevada, & Colorado. McCain must hold serve in those states to have a chance.

George Bush II carried all of Colorado, Nevada, and New Mexico in 04. Obama might win ALL of those this time as he's ahead in all of them.

Virginia - Traditionally Republican but currently tied due to Mark Warner, Tim Kaine, and Jim Webb - all popular Virginia Dems backing Obama. 13 Electoral votes drifting out of McCain's reach. He must campaign here to stop this.

The key battleground states are shaping up to be Ohio, Florida, and Virginia now. They are all IMO complete toss ups.
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The reason Virginia is trending Democrat is because of the Washington DC effect...there are more people coming to settle down across the river....the demographics are changing rapidly.....
Virginia is a state Obama should win...and if he does...you will know he is your President.
 
reddevilcanada said:
Gotta love McCain saying how Obama is a celebrity and then when trying to save face due to being from the same party as Bush, he reminds Americans that Reagan was also a republican, a real fecking celebrity! Which begs the question, even if we accept his allegations that Obama is a celebrity, why is that such a bad thing? Can half-black celebrities not be fit for presidency while white ones can? :eek: Seriously though, how much of a hypocrite will he continue to be?
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...the celebrity accusation is code word for 'black' in this campaign.....as in black entertainers and sportsmen......that Obama has been compared to Tiger Woods is not an accident....

if Obama were white...the election would be over.....so the fact he is still the slight favorite speaks volumes for his campaign.....
 
Red Dreams said:
...the celebrity accusation is code word for 'black' in this campaign.....as in black entertainers and sportsmen......that Obama has been compared to Tiger Woods is not an accident....

if Obama were white...the election would be over.....so the fact he is still the slight favorite speaks volumes for his campaign.....
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true, on the surface though they were comparing Obama as a celebrity to the white celebs like Paris Hilton as well. The Hollywood surface of these campaigns clearly can't be blatently racist, but it does turn out that way when you realize the contradictions between such attacks on Obama and then admiring a real celeb in Reagan. So much for campaign code words, eh? But such resentment strategies clearly work and in this election, it's more important than they've ever been for the 'gop'.
 
Anyone know any good sources of statistics for the presidential battle? i.e. Polls, region-dominance etc.
 
CNN aired 1 1/2 hr documentaries on McCain and Obama, tonight.


I know that I can be a smart-ass at times, but I had a very sobering moment at the finish of the two shows. To the core of me, I feel sorry for all the Christians that align themselves with John McCain and his running-mate Palin.


McCain's history is wraught with dishonesty and utter disrespect for the rules of life, from childhood school problems, to his time at Military school, to getting busted in the Keating 5 scandal... straight up to all the lies CNN pointed out, told at the Republican National Convention.


Then... Barak Obama... This man isn't exactly a saint... although he has done more good as an ethics reformer in the Illinios State Senate, then appointed the point-man as the Senator in charge of ethics reform when the Democrats took the Senate majority in 2006.


Getting back to why I feel very badly for the Christians, these are people that are told day-in and day-out, live your principals.


It has to be hard to live with the pressures of your religion that firmly influences you to support a person such as McCain and Palin.


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* CNN did a shorter doc. on Palin... Holy Crap!!! It ripped her up and down one side and then another... through a quick documentary and interview shorts, calling her out on her lies.

Very Brutal.:eek:
 
McCain Uses Walter Reed Middle School, Not Army Hospital, as Backdrop

mccain_rnc08.jpg


John McCain accepts the Republican party's nomination to be its presidential candidate at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. Projected behind him on the 51.6 by 30 foot video wall is the Walter Reed Middle High School in North Hollywood. Was it meant to be the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC, which takes care of injured veterans?
Photo: Associated Press/Ron Edmonds

SITTING behind McCain, I didn't see the screen behind him, but apparently quite a few people were puzzling over the plush-looking building projected on the screen. Wonder no more: it was Walter Reed Middle School, presumably chosen by a confused RNC staffer who was looking for a picture of Walter Reed Medical Centre.
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And as for the use of Walter Reed Middle High School's image in the background? Neither the McCain campaign nor the convention organizers could be reached at the time of this posting. Bloggers suspect that the image that was meant to have been projected was the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC, which would have made more sense since McCain spent a good deal of time talking about his injuries in Vietnam.

The high school's principal Donna Tobin declined to comment about the use of the school's image, but issued this statement, suggesting that she wasn't happy about it, on the school's blog:

“It has been brought to the school’s attention that a picture of the front of our school, Walter Reed Middle School, was used as a backdrop at the Republican National Convention. Permission to use the front of our school for the Republican National Convention was not given by our school nor is the use of our school’s picture an endorsement of any political party or view.”
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How competent and professional...Gotta appreciate the effort though :lol:
 
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