The 2008 Presidential Elections: The Final Battle

[Neuvost]

That's right, kids. It's time for a new poll and a new debate.

I am voting for Barack Obama in the hopes of a prompt yet successful as possible end to the American involvement in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. I support tax breaks for the poor and tax hikes for the rich, as well as universal health care, improved public schools, and an all-around more competent executive branch. I hope that Obama will be able to take our country in a very different direction than the one Bush has led us for the last eight years, culminating in a nation trapped in war, unresponsive to natural disaster, unconcerned with citizen privacy, unconcerned with the Constitutionality of its actions, and forged in a culture of fear.

Despite this Hope® for Change™ (copyright 2008 The Barack Obama for President campaign), I have significant reservations about my support for an Obama/Biden ticket. Neither support gay marriage, which I consider the only sensible step forward in American civil rights. The idea of our first black president not supporting another minority's rights because he honestly believes they don't deserve them or because he is too chicken shit to support them is deeply worrying to me. Obama has also not said that he would repeal the Patriot Act. I consider the creation of the Patriot Act to have been not only unconstitutional, but downright treasonous. I hope that he has only not come out in contest with it as to not get into a debate that could have a negative effect on his campaign. Were he to use the powers granted to him in the Patriot Act while in office I would immediately support his impeachment, as I have with Bush. Finally, his track record of not voting on important issues while in the Senate is highly worrying to me. There are many issues where we know his stance on them only because of what he has told us, rather than what he has actually supported using the power given to him to represent the people of Illinois.

All the same, I believe Barack Obama to be the most forward thinking and best presidential candidate this country has seen in decades. I will be voting for Barack Obama under the Working Families Party line in New York State.

[Tekkactus]

I have done a good deal of research, and, despite believing Ralph Nader to have the viewpoints closest to mine and me being a registered independent, I'll be voting Obama on Tuesday.

1) I'm not going to wait 2 hours in line to throw my vote away to Nader.
2) Even if Obama is all talk, I believe Biden is a capable enough politician to round out the ticket.
3) It'll be a cold day in Hell before I vote that piece of driftwood Palin into any sort of public office.

[PyscoUno]

Has the Patriot Act been mentioned in debates or speeches? because i wouldn't be surprised if his campaign decided to avoided the issue. Considering how the other side might say he's not patriotic enough (if he's against it) or not for Change (if he was for it)

I'm not on the side of McCain for many reasons. Two are is that he's all for throwing more troops into the war, which seems is like putting a plaster(band aid) on a bullet wound. It's more of a short term solution and can be decided on an impulse, which got us in this mess in the first place. I can't truly say if they did, but it looks like they went into Afghanistan and Iraq without a well thought out exit plan and forgot the needs of the civilians. Then again I don't think any next president can fix the errors created by the previous administration.
The other reason is how they've campaigned against Obama. The way the attacks have escalated in the way that they have is awful and McCain should have been able to control his own campaign, instead of letting it happen and then endorse some of the weak arguments made. Of course a campaign doesn't reflect how he'll run office but he's lost control badly enough for it to be worrying.

I used to be annoyed at the Palin choice, but I can understand why they picked her (other than 'we need a female Republican to drag in the Hilary voters) . You can see she's not thaaat stupid but just very ambitious, over confident and knows how to charm, which can be good attributes. but she's become very stuck, overwhelmed and isn't prepared enough to be a very helpful running mate.

Feel free to correct me on anything dumb i've just said

[Agrajag]

I've already sent in my absentee ballot. ObamaBiden++.

[Bronze]

I'd vote for Obama just to see all the racist rednecks cry.

[MrSquishyDBC]

If I were old enough to vote, I would vote Obama. I believe he can unite the American people (well, not those silly Klan members... but everyone else) to step foward now that the times call for it. I see his affect in my life already; family friends who are wealthy, secure, and normally widthdrawn from politics are going the extra mile to help new voters and to help rally for Obama. My mom knows a guy who took a leave of absense in his lawfirm, which he runs, to go and help voters and to make sure that the voting machines are operating and not getting rigged. Another wealthy family we know is volunteering nearly 'round the clock to help raise support for Obama. He can unite people, that is for certain.

[Shido]

I'm voting for Obama/Biden. It's not really a vote FOR them, as much as it is a vote AGAINST McCain. I think he's a terrible choice for the Republican Party. Palin is too immature, politcally. I'd like to see more national and global politics under her belt before she runs for Pres/Vice. I think she could be good after she's gained more experience. This group of Republican Nominees really just sucked. I wish Zombie Reagan would run.

[PyscoUno]

Zombie Reagan would be good, but his polices on education are pretty weak

[Agrajag]

You'd think he'd be really pushing for greater education funding. Everyone knows smarter kids have tastier brains.

[PyscoUno]

Yeah, but you don't want kids who can out smart the zombies

[Decker]

I've already sent in my absentee ballot. ObamaBiden++.

Same, though I'm slightly annoyed that I had to pay the postage.

[Agrajag]

Yeah seriously, what was that about?

[MrSquishyDBC]

Ever wonder what it would be like if Palin were President?
That site updates daily until Nov 4th with new things to click on in Palin's oval office.

[Shido]

That's just stupid.

Hopefully Obama wins so I can vote against him with a badass conservative candidate in 4 years.

[Matador]

I'm voting against Obama, not for McCain [though he is who I am putting my vote towards]. This isn't because I particularly like McCain [I would've preferred Huckabe, or even Romney], but because I see many unsuccessful years ahead under Obama.

Most of my problems stem from his "Tax cuts" for the poor, as well as the utopian programs he plans to set up. I'm not against helping the poor, or increasing the salary of educators, but our nation is in HUGE debt. His taxing the rich to give to the poor, which sounds noble [especially with the current greed on wall street hitting the pavement], does not take into account that wealth is an incentive to be successful. Success creates jobs [or should because of the increase of the demand for the service or product. If you tax the wealthy, they will just pass that onto the consumer, which will nulify the tax breaks. Additionally, the definition of wealthy will probably drop considerably in order to afford the welfare [and lets not kid ourselves; taxcuts is just another word for welfare. In fact, I'm almost sure it's an anigram in Rot 13]. This is sounding a tad socialistic to me. It's not going to encourage economic growth. It's not going to create new jobs in the U.S.. It's not going to end well.

On that note, lets look at the blunder of how the government has handled the current economic crissis:

Shit.

Spoiler: show

Where to begin... to be fair, a lot of this is the fault of a man who started a war we could not pay for, but that does not excuse the solution that Obama supported [though how involved he was in this solution excapes me].
Government: Let's throw lots of money at it and hope it goes away!

SHIT!
What's wrong with this? You want to give the greedy bastards who did this more monies?!?
Preposterous. Greenspan is surely spinning in his grave.

Surely you realize that, as mentioned before, you do not have the money. Surely you realize that, if you do give them this money, they will most likely fuck that up, too.

Wait, what's that?
Government: Oh, and let's give banks interest free loans, no strings attached, to promote lending.

SHITSHITSHITSHITSHIT!!!
Do you hear this? They're Practically giving it away!
Let's go back to the first week of any economics class. Some of you may be familiar with something called the Maginal Propensity to Save and Consume.

As you may guess, This takes a look at how much of an increase in income you are likely to spend, and the percentage you will save. When added together, these equate to 100%. The more money you already make, the more likely any increase will be squirreled away for emergency/retirement/evil robots. In other words, the amount saved does not contribute to the GDP.

Now, you give these to banks, and what will they do? Probably whatever the fuck they want. In fact, that's exactly what they are doing [lending is so screwed these days. That's why I don't even own a credit card].

Basically, our government is trying to stimulate the economy like a fratboy throwing cash at a stripper.

Let that marinate.

Anyway...

I'm still pissed with both candidates, but McCain is just a tad safer in my opinion. Sure, he'll die of a heart attack in office and we'll have someone completely incompetent on the throne, but since Obama pretty much votes present whenever the fuck possible, I don't see how it would be any different. The illegals will still be siphoning money out of our economy anyway [that's another topic though].