The official 2008 Presidential Election Thread!

Any topic is game... you can discuss it here! Just keep it clean, OK?

Moderators: malletphreak, Hostrauser

Who are you voting for/supporting?

Hillary Clinton
13
24%
John McCain
16
30%
Barack Obama
17
31%
Ron Paul
8
15%
 
Total votes: 54

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Chapagne
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U.S. = Worst Democracy?

Post by Chapagne » Fri Feb 08, 2008 8:43 am

I'm so annoyed that I keep hearing about the RECORD VOTER TURNOUT!!! (Almost as much as hearing that "Billions for California" BS) Polling places jammed! People turned away from caucases! Dogs and cats living together! Mass hysteria!

I don't know about other states, but California's turnout was 45% statewide. Less than half and we overwhelm the system? How sad is our nation? It just shows how incredibly self-centered and complacent we are, not to even care enough to help decide the direction of the country. People complain that the politicians are all crooked, but if everyone was paying attention AND voting, there would be a massive shift in government. They know who they have to please, and right now, it isn't really the voters.

Attention 18-24 year olds! They REALLY don't care what you think. As a group, you vote less than any other age. However, there has been more interest in y'all recently. That's because you are starting to vote in larger numbers. Keep it up and they will listen even more.

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Post by The Aceman » Fri Feb 08, 2008 11:05 am

Hostrauser wrote:Exactly. There is no such thing as a "minority movement" any more, and a third party can not and will never succeed in American politics. Why? Because as soon as Viewpoint X becomes popular enough to be worth a significant amount of votes, either the Democrats or Republicans will adjust their party platform enough to absorb that idea and nullify the power of the third party. We've only seen it happen dozens of times.
Exactly, and Ron Paul is running on a "true" conservative ticket and that will become the status quo. Call me crazy if you'd like, but we'll see who has the last laugh.
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Post by Hostrauser » Fri Feb 08, 2008 11:23 am

The Aceman wrote:
Hostrauser wrote:Exactly. There is no such thing as a "minority movement" any more, and a third party can not and will never succeed in American politics. Why? Because as soon as Viewpoint X becomes popular enough to be worth a significant amount of votes, either the Democrats or Republicans will adjust their party platform enough to absorb that idea and nullify the power of the third party. We've only seen it happen dozens of times.
Exactly, and Ron Paul is running on a "true" conservative ticket and that will become the status quo. Call me crazy if you'd like, but we'll see who has the last laugh.
You're only partially crazy. I can very easily see some of Paul's stances becoming the Republican status quo. However, I also think some of his stances are pretty ludicrous and will never obtain mass support outside of his devout followers.

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Post by The Aceman » Tue Feb 12, 2008 8:19 am

Ron Paul is planning a major march on Washington to show the support he has received and force the media to pay attention:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryMliyeIDp4

He talks about it near the end of the video, and if I know Ron Paul supporters this will become a reality. Did someone say the revolution was over? I think it still has some punches left.
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Post by Hostrauser » Tue Feb 12, 2008 9:08 am

The Aceman wrote:Did someone say the revolution was over? I think it still has some punches left.
Until he lands a few of them I'm not going to change from my stance that the fight is over.

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Post by Nreuest » Tue Feb 12, 2008 12:42 pm

kinda random, but throughout my whole life only 2 families have been in office: Clinton and Bush. if people are saying they want change from what's been happening in the past, then a good place to start would be NOT voting for Clinton. people of my generation are SICK of the same old same old.
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Post by fieldshowqueen » Tue Feb 12, 2008 2:01 pm

The Aceman wrote:Ron Paul is planning a major march on Washington to show the support he has received and force the media to pay attention:
He talks about it near the end of the video, and if I know Ron Paul supporters this will become a reality. Did someone say the revolution was over? I think it still has some punches left.
Got a visual with this one of Ron Paul sitting on top of a camera man shoving his rhetoric into the lens (sort of Blair Witch style). :lol: On the serious side, does this bother anyone else besides me?
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Post by Hostrauser » Tue Feb 12, 2008 3:05 pm

Which part?

I'm trying to think of all the ways Ron Paul could force the media to pay attention to him.

The single most effective idea I've come up with is this: announce Britney Spears as his running-mate. You want media attention, Ron, this is the way to go.

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Post by The Aceman » Tue Feb 12, 2008 3:37 pm

It's about spreading a message, whether for now or for the future. A message that is only growing in popularity.
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Post by fieldshowqueen » Tue Feb 12, 2008 3:54 pm

Hostrauser wrote:Which part?
I'm trying to think of all the ways Ron Paul could force the media to pay attention to him.
The single most effective idea I've come up with is this: announce Britney Spears as his running-mate. You want media attention, Ron, this is the way to go.
hahahahahaha ...
The part about forcing bothered me the most.

The other was "major march on Washington" ... what does Ron Bob consider "major"? Over the 600 ppl he had show up in Iowa? I think the Britney idea is good ... Ron's a bit overboard on more than a few things and is starting to sound like a broken record, and so is BritBaby. They could bill themselves as "Brit and the Bore"!

The other was the part about a "Revolution"? If you're talking about Ron Paul spinning in one place like a top, then yes I agree with the "revolution" assessment. If you mean a revolution to change something, I am still waiting for that "Ron Paul shot that was heard around the world."
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Post by Hostrauser » Tue Feb 12, 2008 5:05 pm

The Aceman wrote:It's about spreading a message, whether for now or for the future. A message that is only growing in popularity.
Time will tell, of course. If the message is truly growing in popularity, it only has to reach the popularity "event horizon" for the media to start slobbering all over it.

Personally, I first heard of Ron Paul from my conspiracy-theorist mother and her husband last June. In the interceding seven-plus months, despite a proliferation of Ron Paul related litter being tied/stapled/glued to anything standing still for more than fifteen seconds, I have met exactly three people who expressed their intention to vote for Ron Paul.

At the rate Paul's message is "growing," I won't need to wait up on election night to see how many votes he garned until about 3016.

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Post by The Aceman » Tue Feb 12, 2008 5:21 pm

fieldshowqueen wrote:
Hostrauser wrote:Which part?
I'm trying to think of all the ways Ron Paul could force the media to pay attention to him.
The single most effective idea I've come up with is this: announce Britney Spears as his running-mate. You want media attention, Ron, this is the way to go.
hahahahahaha ...
The part about forcing bothered me the most.

The other was "major march on Washington" ... what does Ron Bob consider "major"? Over the 600 ppl he had show up in Iowa? I think the Britney idea is good ... Ron's a bit overboard on more than a few things and is starting to sound like a broken record, and so is BritBaby. They could bill themselves as "Brit and the Bore"!

The other was the part about a "Revolution"? If you're talking about Ron Paul spinning in one place like a top, then yes I agree with the "revolution" assessment. If you mean a revolution to change something, I am still waiting for that "Ron Paul shot that was heard around the world."
Those were my words not Ron Paul's, feel free to watch the video for a more professional statement of intentions, y'all are knit-picking.
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Post by fieldshowqueen » Tue Feb 12, 2008 5:36 pm

The Aceman wrote:Those were my words not Ron Paul's, feel free to watch the video for a more professional statement of intentions, y'all are knit-picking.
ummm ... yeah ... I tend to "knit pick" when I'm looking at voting for the next person who will lead approximately 330,000,000 Americans. And, I've watched the video and like Hostrauser have received over 8 tons of Ron Paul campaign material. Makes me wonder how many forests he had to cut down and how much bandwidth he's wasted to "get the word out." :roll:
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Post by The Aceman » Tue Feb 12, 2008 9:58 pm

fieldshowqueen wrote:
The Aceman wrote:Those were my words not Ron Paul's, feel free to watch the video for a more professional statement of intentions, y'all are knit-picking.
ummm ... yeah ... I tend to "knit pick" when I'm looking at voting for the next person who will lead approximately 330,000,000 Americans. And, I've watched the video and like Hostrauser have received over 8 tons of Ron Paul campaign material. Makes me wonder how many forests he had to cut down and how much bandwidth he's wasted to "get the word out." :roll:
You were knit-picking and attacking my choice of words, not the actual campaign.

Besides he doesn't have a choice when he doesn't get all the free advertisement from the media that McCain, Obama, Clinton, etc. get. If it was an equal playing field Ron Paul would likely be a front runner.
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Post by Hostrauser » Tue Feb 12, 2008 11:00 pm

Incorrect: it is an equal playing field (every candidate can spend the same amount on advertising should they raise it). And you get the "free advertising" (ie, discussion on shows) FROM being a front runner. I feel you are switching up the cause and effect of media exposure.

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