The Republican Nomination For President: The Race For The Race For The White House

What is even more deplorable is the low voter turn out in odd numbered years, years in which there are no candidates for national office on the ballot. Figures as low as 20% or lower determine who will hold municipal and county offices, and what bond and tax levy initiatives get passed--although everyone is more than happy to bitch about the results.

When I voted Tuesday, I was pleasantly surprised to see a fairly steady trickle of people going into the polling place. There were no lines, or anything like that, but there was a constant movement of people going in and out. There were only local candidates on the ballot, nothing even statewide, and there were more judicial candidates than anything else. But those local offices, on the county and town level, are the ones that probably most directly affect people's lives--they are certainly the ones that affect my property taxes and the local services I receive or that are available.
I live in an Election District with a generally high voter turnout--in a Presidential election I think it's usually about 90%. And a great deal of effort is made by both parties to get out the vote. Even for Tuesday's election, I was really bombarded with mailings, phone calls, and robo-calls, from both parties, right up to election day, and at least one person rang my doorbell to deliver a pitch in person for a candidate. I know my vote's important when they're going to such efforts to try to get it. And we have had some close elections around here, that were decided by only a few votes per Election District.

People who don't care enough to vote really have no right to bitch about the results.

Love those!

False!! It's not a lie though because Setanta actually believes it. He's just a mouthpiece for a lie. It is a free choice not to cast a vote. Anybody satisfied by the way things are is likely not to bother traipsing down to the polling booths. There's nothing irresponsible about being satisfied. Casting a vote is a claim to know what's best. Who can, with hand on heart, declare on whether the rich should be taxed at 70% or 7%?

Just take a good look at the pompous nonsense from firefly. A disgrace she says. Rubbish. Perhaps if nobody voted we might get a better class of politician. It's politicians begging, bribing and wheedling for votes who have got us into this financial mess in what is, to all intents and purposes, an economic Garden of Eden. And no wonder with busybodies like firefly who know everything there is to know about every issue simply by reading the labels on the bottles and who flip flop one way or the other depending on whether somebody patted some other somebody's bottom when 45 rpm records were all the rage.

And what can anybody say about bitching when Setanta admits writing in his own name. That's serious bitching. Journeys have been undertaken and ID proved to get to bitch as good as that.

What has all this militant voting led to? Permanent and expensive electioneering. All news skewed. All minds skewed. Who is up who is down. Media in coasting mode. A completely incoherent shouting match in a studio where no conclusion is reached or even possible passes off as a programme. Almost 100% profit on the fees for the ads. Even O'Reilly's clothes are free in return for the plug. No mention of which toilet paper he uses or his favoured birth control product.

And what does it all encourage? Obviously the polar opposite of what President Kennedy famously said in his inauguration speech. All that is said and thought now is "what's in it for me?"

And not casting a vote can always be explained away as apathy or stupidity. You should vote, even if you just spoil your paper, because that cannot be explained away so easily.

The way I figured it izzy was that if you failed to vote four, maybe five, or six, times they would get the picture and cross you off the list of those they send out mail to which has to be cleared out of the hallway and carried to the bin, phone up when you just getting a bra unhooked or are up a ladder mending a light fitting with two small screws clasped between your teeth, and call at your premises with copies of the mailshots in case you had not noticed them when they were sent to you and after explaining how important it is for you to vote proceed to explain why it is important you should vote for the lying, cheating, counter-jumping, dong-challenged twat they represent.

I let you lot vote content that you will do the right thing just as I know not to bother with bargains because bargain hunters have made sure that what I buy, two pints of John Smith's Extra Smooth (Silk in a Glass) every night since about 3 months ago when I remember buying a meat and potato pie after the fragrance of a pie-shop drifted into the open window of my vehicle passing through a village 4 hours since breakfast on a clear cold day. So I can be nonchalant about bargains without the slightest fear that there is anything else to buy that isn't a bargain. That's why I'm a Reader's Wives fan. That's a real bargain and no misshshtake. As Mr Larkin explained.

And it's cool being nonchalant about bargains when you live in a seething mass of frenzied bargain hunters.

It's cool not to vote. Not voting must have some attraction because otherwise the Australian government wouldn't have made it illegal.

So next time spoil your vote. That way they will get the message.

No they won't. It's a secret ballot. Not voting declares yourself with your name on the bottom.

Can you read izzy or are you deliberately misunderstanding what I wrote.

If you don't vote, it can still be passed of as apathy, if you write why you're spoiling your vote it cannot be misconstrued as apathy. I get what you're saying, I don't buy your argument.

What if he just gave it to you for free?

I'd probably think of some smart Aleck remark.

Start making the popcorn. Another Republican debate tonight at 8 ET; from Spartanburg, SC. The 1st hour will be on CBS television in the east. The full 90 minutes will be broadcast on tv in the west. I will be watching on CBSNews.com to see them debate foreign policy.

I'm not bothered if it can be passed off as apathy. That doesn't mean it is apathy.

Perry said today that a win in the January 21st South Carolina primary is something he "must do" but that it would hurt his campaign badly if he does not.
He is dumping a bunch of money into media buys in the next week, which he can afford to do, I guess.
Recent polls of Likely Republican Voters have native son Cain slipping a bit at 26%, Romney steady at 21% followed by Gingrich rising a bit to 13% and Perry continuing to slip at 9%. 20% say they are undecided or want someone not on the list of 8 candidates.
Unless new news comes out on the Cain story or there is some other development, Perry will not be around after Jan 21st.

this just in...

God told Herman to run. said he was the new Moses.
http://news.yahoo.com/cain-says-god-persuaded-him-run-president-204548374.html

you cain't make this stuff up...

I wonder if god told him that astronauts must not ride on Russian rockets.

I watched the whole debate tonight. It was aggravating as the CBS feed had frame freezes quite frequently. Maybe it is my ancient computer.
There were no major gaffes as the candidates talked about foreign policy, specifically Iran.
To me, the most interesting part came when a question was posed about whether government sanctioned "torture" - eg waterboarding - is appropriate and whether it is all right to kill an American who sides with someone we (the U.S.) disagrees with.
All in all, I would say Gingrich won, followed by Romney.

He did read a Top 10 about himself on Letterman. Ho-hum

I re: cain

A friend at work says he thinks cain comes out of the old-fashioned sleazy "women at work are fair game" ethos.

I think both cain and that blonde named Sharon are lying.