I Am Sick of This Election

Quote:

I did eat an apple turnover

A red, white and blue breakfast, fer sure.

I'm tired (sick to death, more accurately) of many things associated with american electoral politics but I'm definitely not tired of this election. It's pretty par for folks to say or consider that we are facing a pivotal point in time. That's just undeniably so in this case.

And I share with soz the notion that Obama continues to demonstrate an exceptional potential to bring about a paradigm shift. He'll inherit a mess, no question, and there may even by dynamics at play which nobody, however talented, can do much about. But at this point, I consider him one of the two or three most stellar political figures of my lifetime. I might have this wrong, of course, but that's how it looks to me still.

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@blatham,

You are so smart!

BBB

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@blatham,

Steller is a good word.

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Count me in as someone who doesnt think much of politicians (nice people dont go into top politics, unless they've got a massive ego to satisfy), and have no illusions about any of them living up to all the promises they make. And the debates are just a big game, really. But I do believe there's a real difference between the two candidates this time, and that it's a very important election.

For all of McCain's talk of bipartisanism, he's a rock-ribbed conservative, and the most hawkish of all hawks when it comes to military interventions. For all of Obama's talk of reaching across the aisle, his record is consistently progressive, and his platform signals a bold return to the Democratic tradition of the Great Society and the New Deal.

In practice, differences involved include everyone finally being able to get affordable health insurance, or even those now on an employment-based insurance being pushed out into a private market that will refuse many and overcharge more. I'm sorry to be preaching, but that's serious stuff. And if you think the libs are fearmongering, remember what Bush ended up like.

I guess I really just dont get the "they're all the same" stuff this year. You havent had such an unvarnished choice between left and right since the eighties. Dont eff it up, guys (and gals!).

1 Reply

@Phoenix32890,

Phoenix32890 wrote:

I recently realized that I am bored to death of the election, and can't wait until it is over. The realization hit me when I fell asleep a few minutes into the presidential town hall meeting. I realized a few things:

Politicians fib. I would have said, "lie", but maybe that was too strong a judgement. Let's say that for the moment, the contender believes in what he/she says, which may change at a second's notice.

There are illegal shenanigans going on by both parties in order to gather more votes. I would suspect that it has always been this way, and will continue to be. Get over it.

Politicians will say just about anything to any particular group, in order to get their suppport.

Politicians want power. Now matter how benign they seem, bottom line, is that power is what they are after. In fact, I think that there are many who would sell their grandmothers on the street, in order to get elected.

I had always wondered why the really brilliant people seldom run for office. If you think about it, the answer is very simple. No one with a superior intellect would go through the machinations, the deceit, the double dealing that is part and parcel of politics.

Do I sound jaded? Sure I am. But I am sick of the smears, the rhetoric and the bullshit that is being tossed about.

I can't wait until the election is over. Then people on A2K can stop delving into the election minutiae, and begin to criticize whomever won.

Oh, and BTW my absentee vote is already in the mail, so I don't have to even think about this election anymore.

What do you think?

It has taken me some TIME to realize that I must be loyal to my upbringing , my education and everyone who influenced me while growing up on Chicago's SouthSide.

I 've decided to vote for Obama and I sincerely wish him and his family a safe and fruitful 4 + years in the WHITE HOUSE.

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@nimh,

Obama hit the right tone, when McCain said health insurance was a 'responsibility' and Obama said it was a 'right.' I think most people agree more with the latter than the former, especially in these tough times.

Cycloptichorn

1 Reply

@Cycloptichorn,

How is health insurance a right?

What's next, labor camp for fat people? Tobacco illegal along with alcohol? If you want health insurance get some. It's not a right by any means and it's silly to believe it is.

It's a feel good statement to make, but hardly based in reality.

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@McGentrix,

McGentrix wrote:

How is health insurance a right?

What's next, labor camp for fat people? Tobacco illegal along with alcohol? If you want health insurance get some. It's not a right by any means and it's silly to believe it is.

It's a feel good statement to make, but hardly based in reality.

Sorry, but I disagree with you. I think that people have the right to pursue happy and healthy lives, and in our modern climate, insurance is necessary to do that. Having a pre-existing condition, or being too poor, shouldn't lock you out from health care...

Cycloptichorn

1 Reply

@Cycloptichorn,

They have a RIGHT TO PURSUE....is much different than an ENTITLEMENT.

This is a concept you will never grasp.

1 Reply

@Woiyo9,

Woiyo9 wrote:

They have a RIGHT TO PURSUE....is much different than an ENTITLEMENT.

This is a concept you will never grasp.

I think that the American public, including you and I, are entitled to participate in our health care system, and that requires some sort of insurance.

It's okay with me if you feel differently, for I suspect you will be a part of the program I envision soon enough, no matter what your opinion of it is.

Cycloptichorn

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@McGentrix,

Quote:

How is health insurance a right?

How did marriage, between blacks and whites, become a 'right'? The female vote? Or freedom from being beaten over the head at the whim of someone with property or with 'royal blood'? Or American freedom to establish an independent union outside of the controls of the British crown? 'Rights' become established as a matter of agreement within a social group.

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It is both positive and negative that much of what is promised by a candidate during an election will not be delivered once they win, and yet each and every campaign a major share of the voters base their decisions on these promises.

There is not a snowball's chance in hell that Obama will deliver on all of his promises and that's a good thing.

Similarly, a president McCain will not deliver on all of his promises (such as they are), but I'm not voting for him because of his promises.

Most presidents seem to reveal their competency, or lack thereof, based on their reactions to unexpected events. To this end McCain's response to the question "What don't you know?" was precisely on point.

McCain answered that he, like the rest of us, doesn't know what crises will arise in the next four years. He's correct of course.

That some unexpected crisis will arise over the next presidential term is something upon which we can rely; far more that the promises of candidates.

We also don't know how either McCain or Obama will react to the coming crises, but we can reach a determination on which one we would prefer to have lead us during such a time.

We can base that determination on the actual experience and track records of the individuals or we can base it on their rhetoric.

The speeches and, even more so, the debates do very little to assist us making this determination, but they are major features of this quadrennial spectacle.

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@Finn dAbuzz,

How the candidates run their campaign tells use more than we need to know.

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I really should have mentioned a couple of things right off the top here.

First, my mother was a hockey mom.

Second, I know how to get bin Laden. I have a plan for that. Obviously, I can't reveal what it is. But I know how to do it.

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@blatham,

As I recall, McCain also said the same thing about bin Laden, but that's been quite awhile ago. When the debate was on Afghanistan last night, McCain didn't repeat that assertion.

1 Reply

@McGentrix,

Health insurance is a right most everywhere here (in Europe)... {shrugs}

In some countries you have free, national health care (like here in Hungary, and in Britain I think); in others you have to buy your insurance but the insurers have an obligation to ensure everyone, and there's a given max fee they can charge for basic insurance (like in Holland, at least last I was there).

It's not some kind of outlandish concept or anything, is what I'm saying.

1 Reply

@blatham,

blatham wrote:

Second, I know how to get bin Laden. I have a plan for that. Obviously, I can't reveal what it is. But I know how to do it.

I'm just not going to tell Bush. I'm, like, only going to tell people about it once I'm elected myself. Wouldnt want Bush to already catch him, that wouldnt be the same.

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@nimh,

Nothing is free. Taxpayers are funding National Health Care programs.

1 Reply

@Woiyo9,

Woiyo9--I am sure that you are an American born and bred in the United States who loves his country. Do you know who Blatham and Nimh are?

Blatham is a transplanted Canadian who ha always been violently Anti-American. He is sick.His brain has been affected by his illness. He is worse than the scummiest Anti-American deserted who ran off to BLATAM's homeland during the Vietnam war--CANADA.

And, Nimh-- He lives in Budapest. He knowsnothingabout the USA except what he reads in the Socialist newspapers in that Third World Country called Hungary!
Because of the rabid Anti-Americanism of Blatham and Nimh their comments are not at all valid or pertinent!

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@cicerone imposter,

Quote:

As I recall, McCain also said the same thing about bin Laden, but that's been quite awhile ago. When the debate was on Afghanistan last night, McCain didn't repeat that assertion.

Oh, he did indeed, CI.

1 Reply

I Am Sick of This Election

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