This is the Presidential Campaign Thread.

Barack Obama Vs. John McCain.

Edited November 6, 200817 yr by Toups

OH, boy. I wish Casey or Brian were on here so that they could explain how this statement is possibly rational. My liberal eyes can't see it. How can you be against gay marriage, but you're not sitting in a seat of judgement telling what they can and can't do? And will someone finally tell me how allowing gay marriage destroys the fabric of "traditional" marriage? As it is, half of all marriages end in divorce. That statistic alone destroys the notion of "traditional" marriage? Sigh...

IA, cct. I would like someone to give me a viable argument against it as well.

Now, in defense of those not here, particularly Brian and Casey that you mentioned in your post. I had several discussions with both of them on this forum about gay marriage and both of them claimed not to tow the party line on this issue. Casey said several times that he was socially liberal (with the exception of a couple issues). Anyway, just thought I'd mention that cuz if they were here, I think they would be in agreement with us.

<sigh>

The author hits on some of the more pathetic attempts by the right to sway voters to McCain.

These were the issues Colin Powell alluded to on Meet the Press. This is the "narrowing" of the Republican Party. I'm hoping their "pro American" rhetoric is turning off a lot of voters. Hopefully people will view this Republican party as one of exclusion.

IA, cct. I would like someone to give me a viable argument against it as well.

Now, in defense of those not here, particularly Brian and Casey that you mentioned in your post. I had several discussions with both of them on this forum about gay marriage and both of them claimed not to tow the party line on this issue. Casey said several times that he was socially liberal (with the exception of a couple issues). Anyway, just thought I'd mention that cuz if they were here, I think they would be in agreement with us.

<sigh>

I wish Casey or Brian were here just to express their views on the direction of the Republican party. I would also like to know their views on the direction of the campaign.

My liberal eyes can't see it. How can you be against gay marriage, but you're not sitting in a seat of judgement telling what they can and can't do? And will someone finally tell me how allowing gay marriage destroys the fabric of "traditional" marriage? As it is, half of all marriages end in divorce. That statistic alone destroys the notion of "traditional" marriage? Sigh...

Unless I've been totally asleep at the wheel, none of the candidates support gay marriage. They probably differ as to who would try to make it a Constitutional issue or not. Even in the state I live in, the governor doesn't support gay marriage but he said he wouldn't push for a Constitutional Amendment banning it. This is one of those issues that hinges on religious beliefs for some people.

Here's a column about Crist (our governor) and his take on what's going on with him and McCain. He makes some good points. Of course, it's the author's speculation....

Wales and Jess might find this particularly interesting cuz we were discussing the Crist/McCain split sometime last week.

Crist knows that Obama will beat McCain

Thanks. This morning a radio news political editor kept pointing out how Arnold hasn't been out there campaigning for McCain. He said that Arnold may have put Bush over the top in Ohio last time. Arnold says he's busy with the California budget. The man also try to spark curiosity over why Arnold didn't go to the Palin event that was here recently.

Here are some McCain supporters standing up to someone trying to scare his supporters about muslims:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/20/m...o_n_136203.html

I would love to go to this ass's house and dance in his yard after the 4th.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/19/r...g_n_135971.html

This is about twenty minutes from me.

This is just plain sick.

Noonan: Palin is new vulgarian

Former Ronald Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan has penned a column in which she places Sarah Palin (and John McCain's pick of her) into proper context as part of the continuing vulgarization of American politics.

Noonan:

In the past two weeks [Palin] has spent her time throwing out tinny lines to crowds she doesn't, really, understand. This is not a leader, this is a follower, and she follows what she imagines is the base, which is in fact a vast and broken-hearted thing whose pain she cannot, actually, imagine. She could reinspire and reinspirit; she chooses merely to excite. She doesn't seem to understand the implications of her own thoughts.

No news conferences? Interviews now only with friendly journalists? You can't be president or vice president and govern in that style, as a sequestered figure. This has been Mr. Bush's style the past few years, and see where it got us. You must address America in its entirety, not as a sliver or a series of slivers but as a full and whole entity, a great nation trying to hold together. When you don't, when you play only to your little piece, you contribute to its fracturing.

In the end the Palin candidacy is a symptom and expression of a new vulgarization in American politics. It's no good, not for conservatism and not for the country. And yes, it is a mark against John McCain, against his judgment and idealism.

Ouch.

― Thomas Schaller

http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/200...?source=refresh

Ontario police arrest man in voter fraud case

Mark Jacoby, who owns a firm hired by the California Republican Party, violated state laws with his own registration, authorities say.

By Evan Halper, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

October 20, 2008

SACRAMENTO -- The owner of a firm that the California Republican Party hired to register tens of thousands of voters this year was arrested in Ontario over the weekend on suspicion of voter registration fraud.

State and local investigators allege that Mark Jacoby fraudulently registered himself to vote at a childhood California address where he no longer lives so he would appear to meet the legal requirement that all signature gatherers be eligible to vote in California. His firm, Young Political Majors, or YPM, collects petition signatures and registers voters in California and other states.

Jacoby's arrest by state investigators and the Ontario Police Department late Saturday came after dozens of voters said they were duped into registering as Republicans by people employed by YPM. The voters said YPM workers tricked them by saying they were signing a petition to toughen penalties against child molesters.

The firm was paid $7 to $12 for every Californian it registered as a member of the GOP.

Dan Goldfine, an attorney for Jacoby, on Sunday denied any wrongdoing by his client and called the charges "baseless."

He said the arrest outside an Ontario hotel, which involved seven squad cars and nine police officers, was part of a "long pattern of harassment against Mr. Jacoby for an entirely valid voter registration effort."

Goldfine said the case that prosecutors are bringing against his client involves charges that are rarely pressed.

Jacoby was released on bail Sunday evening from the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga, Goldfine said.

After complaints by voters and Democratic Party officials, several agencies launched investigations into Jacoby's activities. They included the Los Angeles County district attorney's office, which issued the warrant for his arrest earlier this month on felony charges of voter registration fraud and perjury.

"We contacted people at the addresses where he registered, and they have no idea who he is," said Dave Demerjian, head deputy of the public integrity unit at the L.A. County district attorney's office.

Goldfine said his client does business in many states, traveling frequently, and his permanent address has been his parents' Los Angeles County home, where he received mail and registered to vote.

Demerjian said his office is continuing to investigate allegations that YPM workers improperly re-registered voters with the GOP.

Several dozen voters recently told The Times that YPM workers said they had to become Republicans to sign the petition, contrary to California initiative law. Other voters said they had no idea their registration was being changed.

YPM has been accused of using bait-and-switch tactics across the country. Election officials and lawmakers have launched investigations into the activities of YPM workers in Florida and Massachusetts. In Arizona, the firm was recently a defendant in a civil rights lawsuit.

In a written statement Sunday, the state Republican Party called the charges against Jacoby "politically motivated." The party said the charges do not support accusations from voters and Democratic officials that YPM has been duping voters into joining the GOP.

The statement accused Secretary of State Debra Bowen, who announced the arrest, of "using her office to play politics."

Bowen is a Democrat.

We weren't bored!

We just didn't have anything to do.

I didn't think you'd remember that...

It's sad that, rather than focus on how to save our sagging economy, that the Republican bigwigs would rather set around and complain that the well-respected and admired Colin Powell only endorsed Obama because he was black. It's good to see that holes are being poked in that theory.

But then again what do you expect from the same party that made an issue of a person Obama first met at age 8, attempted to portray him as a terrorist loving Muslim whose middle name is eerily similar to Osama, called him a socialist, whined that Tina Fey impersonating Sarah Palin was sexist, and looked the other way when Sarah Palin worked up a crowd to hate Obama so much that they shouted "Kill him!"

Meanwhile, the war in Iraq and especially Afghanistan is in trouble, the economy is faltering, gas prices remain high, and the rest of the world hates us.

I don't hate you guys.

I love the US (expect for Bush, McCain and Palin.)

I've been out of town. I appreciate this thread for keeping me caught up.

Gregg, I agree on Charlie Crist. He has great radar. You know, I wonder if McCain is campaigning in certain states now to help Senate and House candidates.

Like others, I miss talking with Brian. He made the choice to leave, however. End of statement.

People yelling race about Colin Powell is stupid. I guess all the white people have endorsed McCain because of race. Can you imagine the reaction had we all argued that the Democrat Liebermann endorsed the Republican McCain because McCain was white?

Obama to travel to see ill grandmother

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Barack Obama will leave the campaign trail Thursday to travel to Hawaii to see his 85-year-old grandmother, who has fallen ill, spokesman Robert Gibbs said Monday.

“In the last few weeks her health has deteriorated to the point where her situation is very serious,” Gibbs told reporters aboard Obama’s campaign plane.

The change of plans means Obama will scrap scheduled rallies Thursday in Des Moines, Iowa, and Madison, Wisc. He will instead head to Indianapolis, Ind., for a morning event, leave for Hawaii and return to the campaign trail Saturday, making stops in the West.

His grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, “has always been one of the most important people in his life,” Gibbs said. “Along with his mother and his grandfather, she raised him in Hawaii from the time he was born to the moment he left for college.”

Gibbs would not disclose her medical condition, other than to say it was “very serious.” She was released from the hospital last week, Gibbs said.

“The decision that Sen. Obama is making to go to Hawaii underscores the seriousness of the situation,” Gibbs said.

Michelle Obama will hold events in place of her husband Friday in Akron, Ohio, and Columbus, Ohio, the campaign said in a statement.

It'll be interesting watching McCain/Palin attack Obama's character while he visits his grandmother's sickbed.

Edited October 21, 200817 yr by marceline

If john McCain/Palin attack obama during this crisis, they have officially tanked their campaign for good.imo

wll, I'll be voting by mail this election. It's definetly a first for me. It seems that the precinct I recently moved into is a vote by mail precinct. I received my ballot today.

I would hope that the McCain campaign can be respectful of Sen Obama's personal situation with his grandmother.

I am hoping that people can rise above this fear and smear campaign and vote on the issues. I also hope that people don't allow themselves to be manipulated by talks of socialism and communism.

Like I said in an earlier post, the economy trumps race.

Edited October 21, 200817 yr by UCLAN

wll, I'll be voting by mail this election. It's definetly a first for me. It seems that the precinct I recently moved into is a vote by mail precinct. I received my ballot today.

I already voted by mail, because I anticipated the lines being extra long since kansas is obama's birth state. Obama has been running ads like crazy, every commercial break there's an obama ad.

Edited October 21, 200817 yr by EricaKane70

If john McCain/Palin attack obama during this crisis, they have officially tanked their campaign for good.imo

ITA with you.

wll, I'll be voting by mail this election. It's definetly a first for me. It seems that the precinct I recently moved into is a vote by mail precinct. I received my ballot today.

I would hope that the McCain campaign can be respectful of Sen Obama's personal situation with his grandmother.

I am hoping that people can rise above this fear and smear campaign and vote on the issues. I also hope that people don't allow themselves to be manipulated by talks of socialism and communism.

Like I said in an earlier post, the economy trumps race.

Wow. I don't think I've ever heard of a vote by mail only precinct. We are going to go to the polls on election day rather than early voting. There's something about being at the polls on election day that's very exciting. The lines will probably be long, but that's OK.

There's a new poll out today that gives Obama a 14 point edge. Take it for what it's worth...

This video on MSNBC's Hardball is good. Conservative radio host Michael Smerconish (I've never heard of him) endorsing Obama and discussing the Powell endorsement. Interesting stuff.

Hardball - Smerconish endorses Barack Obama

It appears to me that in contrast to the last two presidential elections, the smear and fear tactics are not working for the Republicans. The comments Bachmann made on Hardball are biting her in the ass and deservedly so.

"Anti-American" comments hurts Bachmann's campaign