For The First Time In My Adult Life I'm Not Voting

Put the crack pipe down and step away from your PC.

There's always the boat.

read the whole post next time. It begins with "If..." and ends with "that would be unrealistic." Know what irony is?

Anyway, Bear, I wish you could pass your vote to me. I'd go vote, though I don't like either of those two either. I paid enough in taxes myself to the "Land of the Free".

you boys must have never had any quality pussy....ever. Apologies to the ladies.
Palin looks like Zippy the pin head in that picture. in that 1965 hairdo and glasses.

In the looks department she's average. period. Which means she's better off in the looks department than the politician department.

Palin is the flavor of the week. All people really know about her is based on her speech at the RNC, which was written for her, and which she continues to parrot on the campaign trail. Her "excutive background" is really quite unimpressive and undistinguished when viewed in the light of day. But she's a lot prettier and livelier than McCain, and she's the new kid on the block. How many female politicos have been beauty contestants and also know how to bag a moose? She makes great copy for the media--at the moment.
Outside of Alaska, no one has ever voted for her, so all the current hoopla, based mainly on her sheer novelty, and not on anything really substantial about her public presentation, may not translate into votes for McCain in November. She has yet to demonstrate any vote getting ability in the other 49 states. She's been on the national scene for what, a week and a half? Sure the evangelicals are ecstatic, but, beyond that group, no one in their right should be really enthused about a candidate they have yet to get to know--not if they really care about our country. It's like deciding you want to marry the lady before you've even had that first blind date with her. She's literally the flavor of the week.

As meteoric as his rise has been, Obama is not a flash in the pan. Nor did he win the nomination because people "wanted to attach themselves to the flavor of the week". This was one hard fought grueling primary. No matter how hard Hillary punched at him, he continued to pick up votes--over 17 million of them-- from all parts of our nation. He ran an excellent campaign which does reflect very favorably on his executive skills and his leadership ability. He did prove himself in the debates. He proved himself at Harvard Law School. He proved his leadership and executive abilities as a very successful community organizer in Chicago. He also proved himself in the Illinois State Senate where he cast over 4,000 votes and sponsored over 800 bills. Since entering the U.S. Senate in January 2005, he has sponsored 136 bills and co-sponsored 619 bills. In every situation he has been in in his adult life, Obama has distinguished himself. He has a very public record on a wide variety of issues--people know where he stands and how he has voted.

It's rather insulting to the over 17 million people who voted for Obama to imply that they simply wanted to jump on the bandwagon or attach themselves to the flavor of the month. He really had to earn the attention and the votes he received. I think people who bother to vote in primaries value their votes, and do not give them away lightly. Obama also raised over $400,000,000 during the primary campaign, that's an awful lot of people putting their money where their mouth is. He also helped to unify his party prior to the convention. Compare that to McCain who slapped Palin on the ticket at the last minute because the religious right threated a floor fight which would have disrupted the RNC--she was the bone he threw them to shut them up so the convention would not dissolve in chaos on national TV. Whether McCain has any real stature or clout within his own still very splintered party remains to be seen. He didn't even get to choose the VP he really wanted, and the one he got makes him seem even older and more boring.

I voted for Clinton in the primary, but I'm not denying that Obama truly inspires an awful lot of people. He is a man of very impressive gifts. I don't think he's in over his head in this race. Unlike the "Alaska Moose-hunting Wunderkind", he's had to prove himself in the big leagues, and he's held his own quite well. He is still a relatively young man which is why his resume's not longer. But his experience is not all that much different, or less, than John F. Kennedy's was at the time of his election. I think he's more than ready to be president, and he has the same youthful vigor and intellectual depth that Kennedy brought to the office--and those qualities are even more sorely needed now than they were 45 years ago. Thanks to George Bush, the next president will inherit a mess.

Is Obama/Biden a dream ticket? No. But McCain/Palin is a nightmare.

There are such clear differences between the two parties, and the two tickets, this year, that no one should have any excuse for not voting. To sit this one out is to be irresponsible as a citizen.

It's not just the presidency that's at stake. The next president may well get to make at least 2 appointments to the Supreme Court--that will influence our country for generations to come.

Excuse me please.
your above response is not addressed ti me but may I beg you for my short interuppintion.
In your above quote the last sentense reads.
"It's not just the presidency that's at stake. The next president may well get to make at least 2 appointments to the Supreme Court--that will influence our country for generations to come. "

USA after this nonsensical, barbaric, banal, pathetic 8 years interlude need a radical, real, rational successor.
Of course Obama make some voice and noise with high decency..
I am still of the opinion that USA should go somewhere-else to learn the word DEMOCRACY.
When the system is so rotten how can you expect the people to cross the road because of the appoint of some supreme court judges?
Are there not any issues?

no offense intended to those who voted for Obama. I stand by my opinion that MANY not all of those 17,000,000 voted for him as flavor of the week.

I agree Bear.....they guy was in the Senate for 1 year before deciding to run for president....if you ask the public today about what he did before being a Senator, I'm sure less than 80% could tell you. Hell I'm sure that less than half could even tell you he's currently a senator.

Flavor of the week.....

Bear
Unlike many of the liberals on this site I understand where you are comeing from. I dont want to vote for any of the politicians running this time, but not voteing at all means you give the two bush lite candidates a chance to win the presidency. Do as I am going too do and go the polls and hold your nose and vote for Obama and Biden. Mccain is four more years of bush unless we really get unlucky and he dies and leaves Palen the president. Talk about a cluster fukk. All we can hope for is that a democratic congress can controll the president unlike the congress we have had for the last eight years. The democrats have been useing excuses in place of showing the bal-s that one needs to govern. The republicans have the bal-s but no brains. We cant afford another 4 or 8 years of republican rule! VOTE!

Who ever you pick up as the next White House resident
the world is fed up withis costly, corporate sponsored cultureless( issu-less) election.
Some times in your country a legal person should decide the final result like 2000.
Sometimes computer manipulates the results.
Oh God bless USA

Gosh rama, I am impressed. Ive never met someone who knows everyone in the world and what they think.

But at least they voted.

Those who don't vote, because they allegedly can't make a choice between one candidate they clearly don't like, and another they are merely uncertain/ambivalent about, are treating a very precious democratic privilege rather cavalierly. If you don't have enough sense of civic obligation to vote, despite feeling ambivalent, that's your business.

What do you mistrust about Obama? Do you trust John McCain? One of these men will be the next president, and one of them must seem to you to be the lesser of two evils.

Obama has a voting record, on both the state and federal level, that everyone can look at, and he's been rather consistent on issues. His positions are considerably better articulated and reasoned than McCain's. His temperament seems much more level than McCain's. He shows evidence of being thoughtful and flexible in his thinking. He's been in a very harsh spotlight for well over a year, and I haven't heard anything really negative about the man's character or personality--and I'm sure loads of people have been digging hard to find stuff. And he clearly represents the Democratic party position on issues.

Whether or not you knew anything about Obama before the primaries doesn't mean that others didn't know about him. Among other things, he had written best selling books. A lot of people who voted for him may initially have formed opinions about him based on his books.

nice toss but you missed me. I also voted in the primary.

As I said earlier, I fully support your decision note to cast a vote for president this November.

Good for you! It is your privilege to vote and your choice not to vote.


Let this be a life lesson to all liberals.
Learn it ~ Live it.

H2O
accept my views without regret.
Anybody who cast his votes for reps after Bush#s barbaric rule is either illeterate or innocent.

Ladies and gentlemen - I give you the radical left.
The extreme liberal left. As far left as you can go.
There motto... Do as I say, not as I do. Fear them.

Bear, I can't recall any time in many years of voting, at local, state or federal level, of having the luxury of a leader or candidate who exactly matched my own political beliefs & prorities. Generally I vote for the policies of the candidates or the party - at times choosing the lesser of two evils. Sometimes I personally haven't liked like the candidate I've voted for as a result, but so what? There are things one can't control, but one can work to exercise influence over those things, if it means enough. It's the priorities of the parties & the potential government that matters.
If you want to drop out of the process, well that's your perogative. But it perplexes me a bit that you seem to see so few differences between the policies of the 2 major parties. Even from the other side of the planet I can see very clear differences & implications for the future.
People have struggled & have died (& continue to struggle to die) around the planet for the privilege of having the right to vote. Your stance would make absolutely no sense to, say, an ordinary person living in Burma. But, of course, in a democracy it's your decision & right to do what ever you want with your voting rights.

"People have struggled & have died (& continue to struggle to die) around the planet for the privilege of having the right to vote. ( In India where I was born vote is available but for many bread is not available. In Iraq after our crusaders vote is available but drinking water is a scarce/luxurious liquid)
Your stance would make absolutely no sense to, say, an ordinary person living in Burma( In Burma one lady has been in house arrest by the regime and none of the civilized western country bestow any attention. Instead they seek new enemy)
Picking up cola or cola light is not democracy.

That's the most sense you've ever made.

Not if you pay attention...