Lets try something different.

OffHeGoes29

Looking at most of the post here, they are negative. I don't see much in the way of positive constructive conversation here. So in the spirit of the Moving Train, lets devote this thread to:

List the reasons why your choice in a particular candidate is the best person suited to run this country.

HERES THE CATCH: No negative, sarcastic, personal attacks, conspiracy theories, or bashing of anyone's post here. There are more than enough of that going around in other threads. Its really simple, if you believe in a candidate, give your reasons why WITHOUT going into a long winded speech about how the other candidate is completely evil. I don't care who you support, just give us the POSITIVE reasons of why they should become president.

Example: I support Candidate X because he/she will do........

Not: I support Candidate X because Candidate Y is a .........

Lets try an experiment in respecting people's opinions.

RolandTD20Kdrummer

everything is awesome....woohoo

I love pretending!

OffHeGoes29

RolandTD20Kdrummer wrote:

everything is awesome....woohoo

I love pretending!

Well that didn't take very long to fuck up.

I'm not talking about pretending. Most of us are voting this fall, so there has to be more to your vote than pure hatred for the other candidates?

saveuplife

OffHeGoes29 wrote:

Well that didn't take very long to fuck up.

I'm not talking about pretending. Most of us are voting this fall, so there has to be more to your vote than pure hatred for the other candidates?

I tried something like this before. It won't happen, unfortunately.

OffHeGoes29

saveuplife wrote:

I tried something like this before. It won't happen, unfortunately.

I hope that if I push it enough, it will. Its easier to say something negative than to say something constructive. I guess people are afraid to post their views? Its only strangers that read these posts, its not like your friends, family, and coworkers are here to judge what you have to say.

RolandTD20Kdrummer

OffHeGoes29 wrote:

Well that didn't take very long to fuck up.

I'm not talking about pretending. Most of us are voting this fall, so there has to be more to your vote than pure hatred for the other candidates?

sorry for the reality byte...

everything is awesome!

polaris

i will be either voting for Jack Layton of the NDP party or Sharon Howarth of the Green Party ... Although, the green party is more in line with my ideals - Jack has represented my riding well and is actually working in Ottawa ... he represents municipal issues which is a huge issue for voters in large cities ... as for my green party candidate - they have made huge strides and their platform has expanded to a reasonable point that a seat in the house of commons would be well earned ...

RolandTD20Kdrummer

polaris wrote:

i will be either voting for Jack Layton of the NDP party or Sharon Howarth of the Green Party ... Although, the green party is more in line with my ideals - Jack has represented my riding well and is actually working in Ottawa ... he represents municipal issues which is a huge issue for voters in large cities ... as for my green party candidate - they have made huge strides and their platform has expanded to a reasonable point that a seat in the house of commons would be well earned ...

I take it you caught Layton in that 1 on 1 with Peter Mansbridge the other day on the CBC?

Was he talking sense or what?

support up and coming alternate energy companies or subsidize big oil...hmm tough decision.

Don't hear much of that from the liberal/conservative team.

unsung

Ron Paul is Dr. No. Nothing more needs to be said.

polaris

RolandTD20Kdrummer wrote:

I take it you caught Layton in that 1 on 1 with Peter Mansbridge the other day on the CBC?

Was he talking sense or what?

support up and coming alternate energy companies or subsidize big oil...hmm tough decision.

Don't hear much of that from the liberal/conservative team.

i missed it actually - i've actually worked with jack for many years on various activist issues (mostly environmental) and he hasn't changed much ... although i don't agree with all his political manoueverings - i do believe that he has the interests of the people at heart and i respect him for that ...

OffHeGoes29

I'm supporting John McCain for these reasons:

True bipartisan cooperation during his years as a senator. He has crossed party lines to work with people on various issues. In fact most hard line rep. have out casted him because of this.

His military experience is unique, he would be the only president who was a POW (that I know of), which gives him insight that no other president has ever experienced. Ike had more military experience, but testing your limits for 5 years in those conditions speaks a lot about his character. With that being said, he knows better than anyone what it means to send our troops overseas in this current uneasy time in the world. His stance on the treatment of detainees upholds their rights. Wants to raise military pay to avoid a draft. The Air Force cut 40,000 people in 06/07 to pay for its F-22 and Osprey programs.

Hes against most forms of big government involvement, trying to keep taxes low to prevent people like you and me from paying off wasteful spending in the long run. Wants to reduce military spending in wasteful areas.

He's environmentally minded more so then any other rep. in recent history. Even though he wants to drill more, which I am against, he has a more realistic out come to our energy plan. It doesn't matter who you tax more, us or the oil companies; we pay for it in the end.

I'm for privatized health care, the socialist system doesn't work, it just spreads shitty healthcare for everyone equally.

Pro 2nd amendment

And one thing I noticed about his character, he is the first person to tell you what he lacks. If he says he doesn't know enough about an issue, hes telling the truth. Something you don't see in politics.

I will tell you I disagree about his stance on Gay rights, abortion, and drilling. But he has said that he will do whats best for the country, not whats best for him.

digster

OK, I'll try; I'm voting for Obama.

The beginning is that I strongly believe the country may be irrevocably damaged if we have another President similar to George W. Bush. This is not a swipe against McCain; I'm sure he'd be more competent. But nevertheless the policies are remarkably similar, and we can have no more of it. Obama's background I find very appealing as a presidental candidate. As a community organizer he would've learned (as I am doing now) the necessity of building bipartisan coalitions and compromising to achieve objectives. This also shows me that he's actually spent time with people less well-off in our nation, working directly with them to solve problems. He's a constitutional law expert, which I think would be a lovely change of pace.

On the issues we seem to agree mightily; I agree with him that health care should be made affordable by the U.S. Government, and there should be a plan for everyone to buy into, but that you should not force people to change from their private coverage if you don't want to. I agree with him on the two main Homeland Security issues, that our ports need to be radically overhauled to be able to detect dangerous material, and that the most dangerous thing we have to work towards preventing is the acqusition of a nuclear/biological weapon on the black market by a terrorist group who then uses it in the U.S. I agree with him that there needs to be more focus on Afghanistan and less on Iraq, and it should not be discounted that he was entirely right about what was going to happen in Iraq in the following five years when most people, including some experts in the highest level of government, were dead wrong. On the biggest foreign policy decision of our time, Obama nailed it, and our sitting president did not.

In terms of energy, which is going to probably be one of the biggest issues, if not the biggest issue facing our country, Obama again gets it right. Energy is connected to everything, foreign policy, economics, etc. Simply opening offshore drilling stations here in America is not the answer; there won't be enough oil, it will take too long to have a positive impact on the price and we won't adjust our economy quick enough. And this is the only time I'll be negative; I just simply don't believe John McCain when he says we'll invest equally in offshore drilling and alternative energy. His record doesn't show it. Obama's record does, and he's right in that we need a new New Deal, one framed upon the basic tenet that our economy needs to afford us leverage when dealing with fundamentalist dictatorships in the Middle East and needs to protect ourselves and our planet. He's got the plans.

Finally, he's inspiring as a leader. This is often dismissed by his critics, but isn't one of the most important things a leader has to do is inspire his or her citizens? I believe that national service will improve drastically under his watch, our reputation in the world will be restored after a dark eight years, and we will be better equipped and better allied in military and diplomatic conflicts with our enemies.

OK, that's about it.

blackredyellow

Keep in mind this thread is VERY subjective, and not everyone has the same opinion of what each candidate will do, or what is a positive or a negative.


For Obama, foreign policy is the big area for me. We've seen how this past eight years went with bullying countries into support, and basically ignoring countries that you disagree with has gone. Combine that with our current neo-con vision of spreading democracy throughout the world, has been nothing short of a disaster.

Judgement is also an important part... Barack has been ahead of the curve with the war on terror. He was absolutely correct about Iraq before the war started, was months ahead with his focus on Afghanistan, and in terms of withdrawal, the Iraqi government, and even Bush have come closer to Obama's plan.

Obama also has a history of listening to both sides on issues, and I think that he has a better understanding of long term impacts of decisions.

While it may be a small issue, I also think that Obama & Biden coming from middle class families is a positive. I just think that coming from tougher roots, they both probably still have contact with friends and family who are not as well off.

Anon

Obama speaks about responsibility, on both sides of the system. He wants government to be able to help those who need it the most. He also wants to be able to provide funds for college, raising children, providing health care to those without it… but he always reminds us that we have to be involved in the process. Under him, if you give back to your community, to the country, to the different service groups like peace and Americorps, if you give your time and effort, then government is going to be there to support you because you freakin’ deserve it. This is not socialism, it’s responsibility. Much more “American”.

The best part is, Obama’s call to service isn’t strictly military. I love that. You mean, I don’t have to join the army to be considered an American. I don’t have to own a gun, don’t have to have slaved my entire life away just to earn the distinction of “salt of the earth” (which is the most condescending bull shit I’ve ever heard).

Obama wants to end this nightmare of war that has cost the lives 100’s of thousands of civilians whose only crime is being born in Iraq. I'm guessing only a small % of those who have died were terrorists. Gut feel, i don't have facts to back this up. There's too many dead and they didn't have terrorists stamped on their head when they were murdered. Makes me sick to my stomach that the Republican Party has succeeded with associating one religion with absolute hatred, that they’ve been able to instil this idea that every single person in the Middle East has a bomb and a gun and a distinct hatred for Americans. Absolutely not true. Under Obama, this shit will end soon.

John McCain makes me feel un-American. Always pandering to the idea that democrats never worked and that everyone in America is some kind of coal miner or steel worker just trying to get by. That’s absolutely not true and It's disgusting when he pulls out middle class buzz-words.

A vote for John McCain is a vote for 100 more years of war. I feel like we will be in a war with Iran and Russia because that’s going to be his answer to the problems they stir up, and because of all this “need” for military presence, there’s going to be a draft which I will beg anyone i know to take up their American right to dodge the hell out of. Fuck going to war. We weren't born to kill or be killed.

Obama’s tax cuts will benefit the bottom 80% of Americans. John McCain’s will benefit the wealthiest 20%. While both McCain and Obama plan to lower taxes for at least 95% of Americans, the Obama tax cuts are greater for those who need it the most. Yes, Obama plans to raise taxes on those who make over $2.5 million a year, but take a look at this data http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/16/competing-tax-plans-two-perspectives/ and see that John McCain’s plan cuts more taxes for the wealthiest than it does for the less well off. I don’t know where the McCain campaign got the idea that Obama plans to raise taxes on workers, just the top 1% of Americans.

John McCain and Sarah Palin support drilling in ANWR, and I absolutely do not. There’s one reason I can’t vote for McCain. Drilling for oil in America is not going to quell the rising price of gas, just destroy parts of the Earth and sections of it’s ecosystem that some people believe are very important to human beings sticking around for a while. He also has said repeatedly that he wants more nuclear power plants (I think 15).

Obama wants to rid us of the same dependence on foreign oil.
Within 10 years save more oil than we currently import from the Middle East and Venezuela combined. He also understands that doing that doesn’t mean we have to bring the oil home. It means changing the way we produce, consume and reuse our energy sources.

Put 1 million Plug-In Hybrid cars — cars that can get up to 150 miles per gallon — on the road by 2015, cars that we will work to make sure are built here in America. Sure, I can understand the desire to rid ourselves of foreign oil, but let’s do that by changing the energy infrastructure. Waaaaay better,as far as I am concerned, than voting for McCain.

There's a lot a stake for me, i have not had children yet. I want something better than this to bring them into. I don't have 'blind faith' that Obama is going to solve all our problems, i am not unrealistic as to what he can and can't do, but i do have hope that with the right people around him, he is the best candidate.

Say i'm wrong, and i'm placing faith and trust in someone that doesn't deserve it, obama gets in, and he continues with Bush doctrine, the conversation in 4 years will be much different. We won't be fooled twice now will we.

Clearly i'm hoping this will not be the case.

catch22

obama for 2 reasons:

1. energy policy- the fact is, america is never going to be the manufacturing economy it used to be. big auto is not coming back and we cannot compete with china and other countries in terms of keeping costs down. this country became the powerhouse it is because of innovation and being ahead of everyone else in technology... nuclear power, autos, space program, internet and computers. renewable energy is the way of the future, period. i have long said i don't understand why we're getting beat by japan on this one. obama wants to turn it into another 'race for the moon' and i think that is spot on. we are capable of this and sooner than the current oil people want us to believe. it's a chance for us to rejuvenate our country's economy and prepare it for the 21st century.

2. war/military force- obama wants to get us out of iraq and let them take over. i agree. the prospect of being there for 100 years is not a good one. obama says we should never have taken our eyes off the prize in afghanistan and he is right. let's get ourselves back on track. his views also lend credibility to my belief that he would exercise military force in a far more reasoned and intelligent manner.

OffHeGoes29

catch22 wrote:

obama says we should never have taken our eyes off the prize in afghanistan and he is right. let's get ourselves back on track.

I'll agree with you on this one.

digster

Obama also has the ability of stating his points clearly and in a straightforward fashion, although he does have the tendency to ramble when he is in a debate. For example, he claimed that the Iraq war has not been aiding national security because "you cannot fight a terrorist organization that operates in 85 countries around the world by occupying one." It's kind of hard to argue with that, and it shows how in this case it is the Democratic candidate who has the stronger approach to foreign policy.

OffHeGoes29

Come on people, apparently there is 50 people that support Obama on here and 8 for McCain, let hear your reasons.

drivingrl

I'm voting for Obama for many reasons, but there's really only one that's very important to me.

Justice Stevens and Justice Ginsberg will not be around much longer - whether they both retire or (heaven forbid) pass away while on the bench. If McCain is elected, that would mean two more conservative justices in the Supreme Court. No, thank you.

DriftingByTheStorm

Cynthia McKinney,
because on a positive note, she is NOT a mainstream partisan hack.
I have seen her in congress relentlessly and FEARLESSLY standing up for what she believes in ... asking TOUGH questions that have left her utterly ostricized from the big machine.

I don't really give two shits if she is "crazy".

She is not bought and sold, and at this point that is ALL that matters.

We need ONE OF OUR OWN in the white house.

And i don't give a flying fuck if she is "electable".
People need to get over that in a big way.

I will HAPPILY "throw my vote away" rather than SELL IT OUT to some two faced shill of a rich man's con.

PS -

unsung wrote:

Ron Paul is Dr. No. Nothing more needs to be said.

And Ron Paul is NO LONGER ON THE BALLOT, my friend.
Believe me he would get my vote if it was worth a lick at this point,
but you are throwing it away (LITERALLY) if you try to vote for him.
HE DOES NOT HAVE AN ELECTORAL SLATE UP FOR THE OFFERING.
YOUR VOTE LITERALLY GOES IN THE TRASH if you try to "write him in".
:(

Shadowflame05

I'm voting for Ron Paul, because it seems as if he really does believe that Love can change the world. I don't know about you, but I love Love. "theres just one word that I still believe and its Love"