Merry Xmas Everybody

[The Robman]

To quote one of my favorite Slade songs.

And here's a message from our next president...

[zaphod7501]

Merry Xmas , as "Futurama" put it, Rob. (Don't feed the Owls)

It could happen.
We could even end up with two honest people running against each other.
The extremists that control the parties right now would go nuts with candidates that would not be beholden to them.

[Mark Pierson]

My best to everyone this holiday season...

[whompus]

Happy Holidays guys and gals. Hope you didn't eat to much like I did.

[The Robman]

It could happen. We could even end up with two honest people running against each other. The extremists that control the parties right now would go nuts with candidates that would not be beholden to them.

Wouldn't it be cool! My dream is for Obama to win the presidency and them offer the Secretary of State (or Defence) job to McCain. (Just a touch of "West Wing" there).

[irs009]

Merry Christmas everyone, and thank for all of the great help and support I received from all of you this year.

Robman, I have a dream! It's the same as yours.

Jack

[floyd1977]

Forgive me if this is too political for this forum, but sadly, I think there are far too many people in this country who will readily admit they'd never vote for a black man (or woman), no matter how qualified he/she is. Ironically, a good many of these people will, in the same breath, tell you what wonderful Christians they are.

Again, this post is probably not appropriate for a forum about remote controls, but I have a few family members, in-laws and acquaintances who fit this description, and I'm sure their sentiments are echoed by millions of others.

[The Robman]

This is an OT thread, so the political diversions are OK. I wonder how many of those folk who would never consider voting for a black man or woman for president are likely to vote Democratic anyway? My guess is not very many. I also wonder how Colin Powell would have faired had he decided to run back in 2000.

[floyd1977]

I wonder how many of those folk who would never consider voting for a black man or woman for president are likely to vote Democratic anyway? My guess is not very many.

Good point.

[johnsfine]

This is an OT thread, so the political diversions are OK.

If you say so.

I think there are far too many people in this country who will readily admit they'd never vote for a black man (or woman), no matter how qualified he/she is.

I'm sure you're correct, but there are also far too many people, plus most of the media, who would support a black man (or woman) no matter how unqualified he/she is, because "it's time".

I don't think it's ever the right time to vote for the wrong person because of race or gender. What are Obama's qualifications for president? So far as I can tell, his biggest qualification is race and his second biggest qualification is how little track record he has.

[floyd1977]

I'm sure you're correct, but there are also far too many people, plus most of the media, who would support a black man (or woman) no matter how unqualified he/she is, because "it's time".

I don't think it's ever the right time to vote for the wrong person because of race or gender. What are Obama's qualifications for president? So far as I can tell, his biggest qualification is race and his second biggest qualification is how little track record he has.

His platform and voting record on issues that are important to me are more important than his race or the fact that he is not a career politician.

It's unfortunate that you would say Obama's race is his biggest qualification, but maybe you didn't mean for it to be taken the way I took it.

I do agree that there are also people who would vote for someone based solely on the fact that candidate is a minority, and that is also unfortunate.

[The Robman]

I see Obama as a new breed of politician. Most of the current politicians are polarizing slaves to the party line, which apart from anything else, is just boring. Part of John McCain's appeal is that he's seen as being independent. As an elected official, Obama doesn't just want to represent Democrats, he's looking to represent everyone. I think Republicans will find that he'll make a much better president (in their eyes) than any other Democratic presidential hopeful (especially the other main candidate! )

When people decide who to vote for for president, they don't really look at the candidate's experience, if they did there's no way that they would have picked Bush (with next to no military experience) over Kerry (with lots of military experience), they end up deciding based on all the silly little things, like the fact that Kerry can't make a decent speech to save his life. So, if you've got the ability to captivate a crowd when making a public address, you're half way there (and trust me, Obama's a rock star in this department). Another factor people look for is "trust", can you trust the candidate to make the right decisions, or at least, hire the right people for the job so that they'll make the right decisions, and in this department I totally trust Obama.

And let's face it, even Republicans have to admit, the current Commander In Chief has to be the worst one ever. This isn't a case of left vs. right, this is a case of competency, pure and simple. America deserves a president who, when they make a mistake, fesses up and moves on. Wouldn't you just die of a heart attack if the current CIC were to suddenly admit that maybe, just maybe, this war was a mistake.

Here's me and the missus with Barack...

[Doppleganger]

Having politicians actually not only admit their mistakes, but accept the penalties for doing so, would be welcome, too. Here in NY state, Comptroller Alan Hevesi, thought he could just get away with repaying the value of the services he stole from the state, and wash his hands of it.

If any of us steals something, we can't just get away with paying back the value of what was stolen, we'd also have to pay the debt to society (either with a fine, or jail time).

That type of above-the-law attitude is what makes most politicians try dirty, underhanded tactics, knowing they can either cover it up, brush it under the carpet, or just say "oops" and write a check, dry clean a dress, or what not.

[johnsfine]

I see Obama as a new breed of politician. Most of the current politicians are polarizing slaves to the party line

So where in Obama's voting record do you see a deviation from party line?

Part of John McCain's appeal is that he's seen as being independent.

Because his voting record actually does deviate significantly from party line.

I think Republicans will find that he'll make a much better president (in their eyes) than any other Democratic presidential hopeful (especially the other main candidate! )

Almost anyone would be a better president than Hillary Clinton. She is the essence of corrupt government. The idiots who voted out Republicans in favor of Democrats in the last election based on the corruption issue have no clue how to get any reality from media reports. You have to look at the significance of the facts reported, not the number of times the biased media repeats and analyzes the minor ones. The Democrats, Obama included, have scandals that would instantly destroy any Republican.

On policy I personally dislike the Republicans at least as much as the Democrats, but I almost always vote for Republicans because I know the press will scream whenever a Republican does anything wrong but sweep it under the rug when a Democrat does.

When people decide who to vote for for president, they don't really look at the candidate's experience, if they did there's no way that they would have picked Bush (with next to no military experience) over Kerry (with lots of military experience), they end up deciding based on all the silly little things, like the fact that Kerry can't make a decent speech to save his life.

Bush is probably the worst public speaker in the history of the presidency. Kerry might not have a golden tongue like Clinton or Reagan, but he didn't lose to Bush on speaking ability. A Bush speech appeals only to his base. His opponents aren't listening anyway and the undecided are disgusted with the way Bush talks.

I'm not sure why Kerry lost. Some of the smart voter voted against him because of how much the press lied to us trying to elect him. The press chose him as the Democrat candidate and went on to tell monstrous lies about President Bush, the economy, and Kerry's opponents (for every minute of air time anti-Kerry by those "swift boat" folks, there were hundreds of minutes of the media telling us the swift boat folks were lying).

And let's face it, even Republicans have to admit, the current Commander In Chief has to be the worst one ever.

Don't be absurd. Read a little history.

America deserves a president who, when they make a mistake, fesses up and moves on.

Wouldn't that be nice. Has it ever happened? Imagine if Johnson had done that.

Wouldn't you just die of a heart attack if the current CIC were to suddenly admit that maybe, just maybe, this war was a mistake.

I'd certainly be surprised. I think the war was a mistake. I think it was an honest mistake, entered into for the reasons Bush claimed. Before the war I didn't know whether it would be a mistake. I hoped Bush knew more than he could make public. It now appears it was less. But the focus of the press was that he was lying rather than wrong. That left the public very ill informed (Hindsight says the press was lying, but Bush was wrong).

But even granting it was a mistake, would the President's saying so be helpful in fixing it? The underlying world conflict is not (as liberals pretend about most conflicts) one that can be resolved by better mutual understanding. I don't know how the US can back out of Iraq without handing a serious victory to Iran and/or al-Qaeda (and neither would ever stop at any victory. They will take any victory as a call to greater violence). I hope the next President can figure out an exit. But the current focus (of the candidates in both parties) of undercutting Bush, just encourages our enemies.

[e.axel]

Unbelievable! A civilized political discussion!