2012 election

[Chronos]

I really thought about waiting until election day to vote because I just like waiting to that day, but given that Hurricane Sandy is going to cause us all sorts of problems, I think I will vote tomorrow.

[Nam]

I was going to do the same thing but I decided against. But I was deciding for another reason: the current early day voting center is 2 miles away,not that far but the center on the day is only a few blocks away.

-Nam

[Garja]

^ Im hoping it keeps some old-fart republicans at home on election day..... Present company of potential old farts excluded of course. 

Ive always been a "vote on election day" guy, and will continue the tradition this year.  Im far enough inland that I am not too concerned... and worst case scenario I live less than a mile from my polling place.

[Nam]

I live just 10 minute walk to the "Nov. 6th". You know, now I am thinking of just waiting. Save gas, too. And, I really don't know if this weather will get better by Monday.

-Nam

[Mr. Blackwell]

Laugh break.

[Mr. Blackwell]

All joking aside, the Democratic Party needs a new militant faction.

I miss the days when the KKK would kill Republicans.

[jetson]

All joking aside, the Democratic Party needs a new militant faction.

I miss the days when the KKK would kill Republicans.

On a more serious note, and related, I have been feeling better when I see the conservatives get their panties in a wad over how nasty Obama was in the debates, and his use of the virgin voter ad targeting young females.  IMO, it is completely appropriate for the dems to go nasty.  I don't see any reason not to occasionally use fire to fight fire.

There are just too many times where I feel like the dems need to grow a pair and throw something back at some of the nastiness being thrown at them.  I wish it could all be civil, but I doubt that will ever be possible.

[Tero]

I voted today - for Obama - even though in my state it won't matter a bit.

I did my civic duty.

Mine won't matter either, but I need to vote against Todd Akin.

[HAL]

From -

http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/

[Nick]

They were talking that some places back East might be out of power for 2 weeks or more.  Some places are expecting 50 inches of snow.  Some trees still have leaves on them.  This could be a giant mess.  Voting might not be on peoples minds down the road.  If possible, I'd get it done in the next day or 2.

I've got a friend who does disaster relief.  She was called to leave today to stage for this (from Missouri).  The people who know and do this for a living are worried.  If I lived out there I think I'd be worried also.

I wonder what polling places do that need power?  Might not even be able to get polling people in place.  This will be interesting.

[Nam]

Don't they usually have generators to back up power-loss?

-Nam

[Nick]

I doubt polling stations would.  That would require advance thought.

[Nam]

Well, my early polling station is a library. And, the day of is sort of[1] a sports center. And, I don't know about the library but the sports center does. So...

-Nam

1.	just basketball and soccer

[Mr. Blackwell]

Being an atheist republican must generate some weird conflict of interest/cognitive dissonance at times.

Well, that's kind of a fucked up thing to say. I guess being an atheist democrat must generate some weird conflict of interest/cognitive dissonance at times as well.

[kin hell]

Being an atheist republican must generate some weird conflict of interest/cognitive dissonance at times.

Well, that's kind of a fucked up thing to say. I guess being an atheist democrat must generate some weird conflict of interest/cognitive dissonance at times as well.

....why is it fucked up?

Does that mean that you aren't at all conflicted by the GOP tea party anti-science teach-god-instead agenda?

Does that mean that your US political leanings somehow enable you not to notice the modern day insanity of the GOP to which Mitt had to pander, and is now trying to play down?

Just because you don't agree with some of your parties anti-science god crusading extremism, doesn't mean you are not conflicted when you try to vote them into power. (and yes, I meant that exact line, and no, I have not made a mistake in what I meant to say)

It just means that you are forced to sell out one position to cater to the other, and then somehow live with that dissonance.

That you might prefer your party not to be that way, doesn't change the fact that it is undeniably exactly that way, and you vote for it.

And could you please show where it has been expressed anywhere here that the democrats haven't ever been the bad guys.
Because you needing to defend your party's current behaviour with the extreme KKK example of prior version democrats, only says something about just how extreme your party's current behaviour is.

EDITED:::  CHANGED CONTENT FOR CLARITY  AND ADDED THIS
And please understand one thing JayB   if it was the democrats doing this, I'd be just as fucking loud, and in terms of Oz politics, I have harangued   left right centre and greens at different stages for different reasons. Primarily deceitfulness, corruption or stupidity.  It just so happens that it appears that the GOP have fiercely and proudly embraced all three of these charming attributes.
As an outsider to US politics but as a member of this finite planet's plague species, I'm like most of the world,

I just don't have a dog in the hunt

...aside from the fact that the majority of polls that I have seen indicate that a massive (massive) majority of international spectators (and I'm one of them) want Obama not Romney, for a plethora of reasons, .

[Mr. Blackwell]

Go back and show us all where I have ever claimed to be in favor of one party over the other.

[kin hell]

Go back and show us all where I have ever claimed to be in favor of one party over the other.

So does that mean that you do not favour the GOP?

[Mr. Blackwell]

I have a real hard time seeing the difference between the two.

I know there are differences, so don't get me wrong. I just believe that most of the differences are cosmetic. I believe they have the same destination in mind, they just don't agree on the best path to get us there.

Edit

No, I don't favor the GOP. Neither do I favor the DNC. This election is proving extraordinarily problematic for me because I don't trust either candidate. I think I will probably vote for Gary Johnson.

[kin hell]

I have a real hard time seeing the difference between the two.

I know there are differences, so don't get me wrong. I just believe that most of the differences are cosmetic. I believe they have the same destination in mind, they just don't agree on the best path to get us there.

If I have attributed an inaccurate political profile to you when I wrote believing you to be a Republican, just let me know now that you are not a GOP voter/supporter, that you are not a Republican , and I will retract the error.

You didn't actually directly answer my question.

[Mr. Blackwell]

I have a real hard time seeing the difference between the two.

I know there are differences, so don't get me wrong. I just believe that most of the differences are cosmetic. I believe they have the same destination in mind, they just don't agree on the best path to get us there.

If I have attributed an inaccurate political profile to you when I wrote believing you to be a Republican, just let me know now that you are not a GOP voter/supporter, that you are not a Republican , and I will retract the error.

You didn't actually directly answer my question.

Sorry bout that, no...I have never identified with one party or the other. I am not a Republican.

Edit

Although, I do think of myself as conservative but not in the same sense that conservative Republicans use the word.

[kin hell]

Fair enough Mr. B

I unreservedly apologise for inappropriately and inaccurately labelling you a Republican.
I understand how hurtful that could be given the GOP's current extreme and shameful positioning on everything from rape to science.
I deeply regret the unintentional slur, or any associated pain it may have brought you.
I didn't mean to slander you, nor impugn your integrity by erroneously allying you to such a morally objectionable and intellectually dishonest party. (I obviously cannot help myself, but please don't let my sly dig distract you from the total sincerity of my retraction mate )



but all that aside,

...it doesn't make the slightest difference to my original claim that an atheist republican must be faced with permanent cognitive dissonance everytime he/she considers voting modern GOP, given their extreme god-crusading anti-science anti-gay anti-women positioning.

[Mr. Blackwell]

On a more serious note, and related, I have been feeling better when I see the conservatives get their panties in a wad over how nasty Obama was in the debates, and his use of the virgin voter ad targeting young females.

Yeah, I heard something about that yesturday. What is that all about? Sex and politics? WTF? I heard that she was a white girl...how does this interatial double entendre work out?

[Mr. Blackwell]

Fair enough Mr. B

I unreservedly apologise for inappropriately and inaccurately labelling you a Republican.
I understand how hurtful that could be given the GOP's current extreme and shameful positioning on everything from rape to science.
I deeply regret the unintentional slur, or any associated pain it may have brought you.
I didn't mean to slander you, nor impugn your integrity by erroneously allying you to such a morally objectionable and intellectually dishonest party. (I obviously cannot help myself, but please don't let my sly dig distract you from the total sincerity of my retraction mate )



but all that aside,

...it doesn't make the slightest difference to my original claim that an atheist republican must be faced with permanent cognitive dissonance everytime he/she considers voting modern GOP, given their extreme god-crusading anti-science anti-gay anti-women positioning.

Thank you.

Democrats are god-crusading too. Maybe not so much anti-science or anti-gay or anti-women. But even Obama's views on homosexuality just recently changed. Me thinks that is just political expediency. Not so much personal integrity or honesty.

Republicans will say whatever they think they need to say in order to secure their vote.

Democrats are no different.

My question is, where are the Democratic and Republican parties trying to take us? They are not leading us, or representing us...they are dragging us, kicking and screaming, somewhere. One world order?

If that be the case...why is that such a bad idea?

[kin hell]

If you want my opinion, I don't see the dems or reps as really distinct entities in a world governed by wealth.

Wealth will corrupt the political landscape to where the left and right both fall into the inescapable gravity well of $ corruption, and the politics of the everyman/woman becomes a facade to cater to the proles need to believe they actually have a say.

[Nam]

kin hell,

Though I applauded your comment (minus the addage), voting for a Republican is not a horrible thing. Voting for an idiot, or one who only believes that their way is the only way is a horrible thing.

I have voted for a Republican in every election since I began voting. And, when I first started voting I voted for more Republicans than Democrats. Now it's more Democrats than Republicans (I will only be voting for 2 Republicans this election) but that's only because each year, it seems, the Republican party is going further to the right and not remaining moderate. There are still moderate Republicans out there but they either keep on retiring (for whatever reason) or they keep on getting voted out (mainly by other Republicans replacing them with further right Republicans). The party itself isn't bad just the idiots who seem to run it.

Remember: most tea-partiers are former Republicans.

I felt that John McCain was somewhat of a moderate Republican,and at one point I was going to vote for him but then he capitulated to the far-right, and he lost my vote (especially after picking Palin).

Before I read The Book of Mormon this year, I actually thought about voting for Romney. Based on his record as governor, I didn't really think he'd do too bad of a job but of course I did read it, and all I see him as is a racist, bigot, and sexist. But then I thought: can I really judge him on that? I mean, that's his religion doesn't necessarily mean he is those things (though I think it has been adequately revealed he is a sexist) so, I mulled it over a bit but then he did what McCain did: capitulated to the far-right. And with that, he definitely lost my vote.

I still vote consisently for the mayor of my city, who is a Republican, and has been mayor for 20 years. He's a moderate Republican and he doesn't capitulate to anyone.

The problem with the Republican party is that the far-right run it, and the moderates let them, for the most part[1].

-Nam

1.	perhaps not locally but definitely nationally.

[kin hell]

Nam

et al  please understand it is not the idea of voting republican that I think is horrible, it is the idea of voting for the positions they espouse.

As I have said elsewhere  The GOP is not an individual, and no doubt there are individuals within the GOP who are fine upstanding humans, it's just that they have allowed their party to drift from the parameters of their fine upstanding and rational ideals to the degree that I would imagine the GOP extreme don't represent their ideals at all.

So if you've found individuals that you've thought individually vote  worthy  fair enough, but that you do not see your fair and unbiased vote rewards the extremes as well as the vote-worthy, is just the tool you need to avoid the cognitive dissonance that I've raised.

It is exactly the same position where this forum decries the moderate religious as affording the support base that enables the fundamentalists.

And believe me when I say I understand the frustration of being misrepresented by the poor choice one is often left with (regarding voting)  the hilarious but sad but true poster  saying 

vote Cthulu   ...why settle for a lesser evil?
says it all.

But as a relatively smart opinionated observer, I can only say in the current political climate there, (which we get to witness here in Oz, and elsewhere around the planet), it is not the democrats who are attempting to prohibit any impartial UN observers monitoring the process to ensure there is no fraud or voter intimidation.

Doesn't that alone give you the least cause for concern?