The 2008 US Election thread

[FL/MAYO]

Sarah Palin sounds like David Brent from The Office here. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKhp8PQ9_Mk&eurl=http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055386684

Very scary, no wonder they wont let her on T.V. The debate with her and Biden next Thursday should be fun.

[J70]

She definitely has the look of someone who has been desperately cramming for an exam, pulling all kinds of non sequiturs out of thin air that have nothing to do with the questions she's been asked. Quite a departure from the sarcastic, smart-arse arrogance we saw in her convention speech. I would caution those hoping for an embarrassment for the McCain campaign at this debate that Joe Biden has a serious tendency to just say whatever comes into his head, leading to a long line of ill-thought-out gaffes, and also to drone on and on and use 200 words to say something he could say in 20. Nevertheless, it has been a very, very poor week for Palin, and she has a lot to prove at this debate, although the now-lower expectations might actually help her.

[Boynegael]

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/

She'd wanna cram a little harder.  I don't care what end of the ticket she is on...I wouldn't vote for her for class prefect...

[Turlough O Carolan]

The first big debate tonight.
Hopefully Obama tears McCain a new one. 

Also from that CBS interview, I can see why the McCain campaign have been trying to hide her.
She is extremely lightweight.

The worse the financial crisi gets, the better for the Dems as it was Republican ecomonic policies that brought about this mess.

Really....   take the blinkers off for a few minutes and educate yourself: 
http://www.nypost.com/seven/09262008/postopinion/opedcolumnists/alarms__denial_130763.htm
Perhaps Barney Frank is a Republican at Heart

Yes blame minorities for Lehman financing multi-billion dollar commercial buildings around the world. The less well off have the right to own their own skyscrapers too. If you are using the NY Post to educate yourself, I'm not surprised you are supporting McCain. I hear the gossip pages are good though.

[Tyrones own]

Yes blame minorities for Lehman financing multi-billion dollar commercial buildings around the world. The less well off have the right to own their own skyscrapers too. If you are using the NY Post to educate yourself, I'm not surprised you are supporting McCain. I hear the gossip pages are good though.

Should I apologise? ye see I couldn't find it in the Huffington post or Boynegaels Politicalticker
If it was gossip I was after Turlough I can get all i need of it here on this site 

[Bord na Mona man]

Agreed that Palin looks well out of her depth.
McCain's people should have been grooming her months beforehand.
Coaching her all the answers or evasion techniques required.
She should have been able to NOT answer questions but sound coherent.

However don't assume she will get hammered in the debate. She should a few scripted pieces to use. Her party conference speech was delivered well after all.

Also, the site of an East Coast intellectual like Biden, showing up a plain small town gal might backfire on the Dems.
If the perception we are given in Ireland of Republicans being a little bit hick and thick, let us not forget that Democrats are often seen as smug and a little bit too clever in many parts of America.

[J70]

I see McCain was having a go at government-funded ecological research as a waste of taxpayers money. Where does he think the information to preserve and manage species like grizzly bears, the object of his scorn, is going to come from? His running mate likes shooting these animals from a plane like fish in a barrel, but he doesn't even want to pay the money it will take to properly manage them. And not a f**king word about the billions that have gone missing through contracts concerning Iraq. A $3million bear study is an example of what is driving the country down the tubes. But no doubt such comments will go down well with his anti-conservation and anti-intellectual right-wing base.

[Tyrones own]

His running mate likes shooting these animals from a plane like fish in a barrel,

I do know her father once shot a grizzly bear, must there go a tail on everything that gets reported
to suit and gain support for the ultra liberal agenda that is so very evident here.

And not a f**king word about the billions that have gone missing through contracts concerning Iraq.

Some of ye here love to type... sure get a letter off to Mrs feinstein about that one, she's surprizingly quiet on said issue

anti-intellectual right-wing base.

Nice...... there's none of them as smart as you, is that it J

Lads, why the persistent blinkered hatred... yes hatred for anything that could even be remotely construed to be a conservative point of view,
especially from some experts here that have never even been to this country.
Jaysus it's like being at home in the middle of the troubles with the hatred and bigotry.....wise up FFS, it's been well said before
there's not an iota of difference in any of them.....pull your heads out of your holes and realize it

[J70]

His running mate likes shooting these animals from a plane like fish in a barrel,

I do know her father once shot a grizzly bear, must there go a tail on everything that gets reported
to suit and gain support for the ultra liberal agenda that is so very evident here.

She has been busily promoting this method of hunting as governor.

And not a f**king word about the billions that have gone missing through contracts concerning Iraq.

Some of ye here love to type... sure get a letter off to Mrs feinstein about that one, she's surprizingly quiet on said issue

I've no idea if Feinstein has been pursuing the waste in Iraq. What is curious is that in such a setting McCain picks on a relatively small ecological project (that has been pushed by Republicans, ranchers and loggers BTW - they hope that the information will show the species to be less threatened than thought) instead of the huge amount squandered in Iraq.

anti-intellectual right-wing base.

Nice...... there's none of them as smart as you, is that it J

I didn't say that. But do you think it is a coincidence that scientists and "east-coast elites" are such objects of hatred on the right? That academics and intellectuals are viewed as naive, indoctrinated fools as opposed to highly educated, intelligent experts in their fields. This is the shite you hear on talk radio every day.

Lads, why the persistent blinkered hatred... yes hatred for anything that could even be remotely construed to be a conservative point of view,
especially from some experts here that have never even been to this country.
Jaysus it's like being at home in the middle of the troubles with the hatred and bigotry.....wise up FFS, it's been well said before
there's not an iota of difference in any of them.....pull your heads out of your holes and realize it

I don't hate anything "remotely construed to be a conservative point of view". I agree with quite a bit of economic conservatism. I despise the bigotry and superstition of the religious right and their ridiculous, populist, close-minded, ill-informed positions on science. If the Republicans disassociated from the religious right and got a little bit more cop on on environmental issues, I'd vote for their candidate no problem. I've voted for Bloomberg in NYC, and he is hardly a free-spending liberal or enemy of business.

[Tyrones own]

From.....

His running mate likes shooting these animals from a plane like fish in a barrel,/

To........

She has been busily promoting this method of hunting as governor.

That's better

I've no idea if Feinstein has been pursuing the waste in Iraq.

If you want to correlate funneling contracts to her husbands company with whether or not she's pursuing waste then OK
Again I'm merely pointing out that by your logic, it's OK that prominent democrats have, can and do make millions
off the war in Iraq but then hold McCain's hand to the fire for not bringing it to the fore
during the debate.

anti-intellectual right-wing base.

I'd say it would be fair to assume that you hold yourself in a fairly high regard in terms of intellect to make
a sweeping statement like that.

This is the shite you hear on talk radio every day.

Bottom line IMO, whether or not any of us would be a supporter of Palin, the media has been despicable
at how they have went after her, again the fact that her father once shot a bear should make headlines
but Obama's associations with known terrorists or his being in bed with Raines and Johnson is swept under
the rug, after all some of you seem to have a lot to say about the financial meltdown but also seem to want to
close your eyes to the fact that these two criminals somehow find themselves as advisers to Obama's campaign
on economics *shakes head*  If that's the type of change some of ye are after then good luck with that.

[J70]

From.....

His running mate likes shooting these animals from a plane like fish in a barrel,/

To........

She has been busily promoting this method of hunting as governor.

That's better

I am actually fine with hunting, even if I object vehemently to the aeroplane shite she is promoting. My main point was that in order for hunters to have something to go after, populations need to be managed, which can only be done with information provided by biologists and their grad students spending tax payers money and going out and studying them. McCain seems to have a problem with this.

I've no idea if Feinstein has been pursuing the waste in Iraq.

If you want to correlate funneling contracts to her husbands company with whether or not she's pursuing waste then OK
Again I'm merely pointing out that by your logic, it's OK that prominent democrats have, can and do make millions
off the war in Iraq but then hold McCain's hand to the fire for not bringing it to the fore
during the debate.

I was asking why McCain ignored the vast amounts of money that has been unaccounted for in Iraq at the expense of the modest amount devoted to scientific research. I was not talking about companies just making money in Iraq (wasn't it part of this administration's original idea that as much of the effort should be privatized as possible?).

anti-intellectual right-wing base.

I'd say it would be fair to assume that you hold yourself in a fairly high regard in terms of intellect to make
a sweeping statement like that.

My opinion of myself is irrelevant. Anyone who reads the right wing forums (e.g. Townhall comments sections and Freerepublic) and listens to right wing radio doesn't have to immerse themselves into those media for too long to become aware of their attitudes to science and academia.

This is the shite you hear on talk radio every day.

Bottom line IMO, whether or not any of us would be a supporter of Palin, the media has been despicable
at how they have went after her, again the fact that her father once shot a bear should make headlines
but Obama's associations with known terrorists or his being in bed with Raines and Johnson is swept under
the rug, after all some of you seem to have a lot to say about the financial meltdown but also seem to want to
close your eyes to the fact that these two criminals somehow find themselves as advisers to Obama's campaign
on economics *shakes head*  If that's the type of change some of ye are after then good luck with that.

What exactly have the media done wrong re. Palin? Yes, the rumour that her daughter bore her child was despicable, but that was spread by bloggers, one of whom, Andrew Sullivan, is a bloody conservative Republican, albeit one who has little time for Palin or the religious right.
Apart from that though, I haven't seen anything out of the ordinary. She has made herself look idiotic over the past few weeks with her poor performances in interviews. The press has a duty to vet her, which includes looking into stuff like Troopergate and her past, although even that has been pretty mild and low-key. If she wanted books taken off the library shelves, then I think we are entitled to know if its true, and if so, what the books were. And its not like Obama has not been touched by rumour either. I've an aunt in Florida who is afraid to vote for Obama because he might be secretly muslim and a member of Al Qaida. You can't go on a right wing website without some contributor referring to him as B. Hussain Obama. WABC here in NYC carries a talk radio host called Bill Cunningham on Sunday nights who constantly uses the Hussain bit, purely to drive home the muslim connection. To his credit, McCain admonished Cunningham at a rally a few months back for doing that.

As for the likes of Ayres, distasteful and all as I find him, a political association on local education issues like that is not enough to make me to switch sides. Policies matter more. And anyway, such questionable people never seem a problem for the right wing when they make heroes out of the likes of G Gordon Liddy or their own multitude of religious demogogues who form the soul of the GOP. McCain himself condemned them in the past before doing an about-turn and seeking their consent and assistance this time around. As for the Fannie Mae boys, what crimes have they been charged with? Raines was one of the pushers for sub-prime lending - is he going to face charges for that? If so, then Obama will have to answer questions I'm sure McCain will make sure are asked. Similarly for McCain the anti-earmarker and his entourage of K Street campaign members.

And coming back to Ayres - I presume a nationalist with a Tyrone background who has a problem with Obama's political connection with Ayres also has a big problem with Sinn Fein and the IRA and all those who work with them?

I will fully admit that you are probably going to find some hypocrisies in my stances. We all have to swallow some distasteful elements and turn a blind eye to certain contradictions when voting, particularly when a massive, powerful country like the US is split into only two parties. At the end of the day, it comes down to voting for the lesser of two evils, assuming you don't want to waste your vote on an Nader or a Barr or a McKinney or one of the other minor, independent candidates.

[magickingdom]

probably the best tracking poll for the election. as of today it looks good for obama

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/

[J70]

They have Indiana, Florida and Ohio leaning towards Obama in that count. Those states are statistically tied at the moment, as are a number of others such as Pennsylvania and Colorado. This will go down to the wire. Bush lead by a couple of points in the national polls right up to polling day in 2000, but lost the popular vote. Kerry was ahead, albeit marginally, for quite a long time in 2004, and actually looked like a winner from the exit polls early in the day on election day. Bear in mind as well that you will probably have to subtract a few points from Obama's totals in various states purely because he is black - there are still people out there who won't vote for him because of that, but wouldn't dare say so in polls. Black candidates have historically tended to have inflated numbers in pre-election polls, although hopefully this one will consign that to history.

[Tyrones own]

And coming back to Ayres - I presume a nationalist with a Tyrone background who has a problem with Obama's political connection with Ayres also has a big problem with Sinn Fein and the IRA and all those who work with them?

I don't have a lot of time as that's quite a post there, some I agree with, some i do not and will get to the rest of it,
However, with regards to the above, I could indeed see the correlation to your point if I was running for the British Prime
ministers office.... but I'm not J, simply a nobody like yourself whose future allows me to have whoever i want as friends and also someone
who sees Ayers for what he is which is much more than a political associate of Obama's
Now that is scary.....

[J70]

And coming back to Ayres - I presume a nationalist with a Tyrone background who has a problem with Obama's political connection with Ayres also has a big problem with Sinn Fein and the IRA and all those who work with them?

I don't have a lot of time as that's quite a post there, some I agree with, some i do not and will get to the rest of it,
However, with regards to the above, I could indeed see the correlation to your point if I was running for the British Prime
ministers office.... but I'm not J, simply a nobody like yourself whose future allows me to have whoever i want as friends and also someone
who sees Ayers for what he is which is much more than a political associate of Obama's
Now that is scary.....

My point was more as to how you would vote in elections in NI, where such associations are pretty widespread. Would it matter there, as it appears to matter to you when it comes to Obama? Or is it merely a convenient stick (that you don't really care about) with which to beat someone like Obama, whom you would have no intention of voting for anyway, under any circumstances?