About the statistics to which I alluded: The ones I heard were from Southwestern PA only, where I currently live, and were higher than in the 20's. The pollsters offered some interviews, which included people expressing the reasons they wouldn't vote for Obama. They sickened me.
If overall, the percentage is in the 20's, and honestly has nothing to do with race, I'm much happier. Not happier that I seem to be living in a racist state, but happier that, as a country, we
have progressed past the stereotypes.
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Originally Posted by KSig RC
In short: what makes this group so much worse?
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Because it's become too much like the "there was a priest, a rabbi, and a minister in a lifeboat" type joke, and the whole concept of POTUS should not be a joke. Not so much McCain, but both the Obama and Clinton teams have, at times, made this an election of voting for a (black, woman) or you're (racist, sexist). These are stereotypes that we simply should refuse to pander to. The jokes about McCain being older are just getting started, in comparison. I will admit that "nutjobs" was too strong a word, but this has been one ugly election, and we're not even to the Conventions yet.
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Second point (to further discussion): is there something inherent or latent in politics or people who become politicians that leads to the sort of problematic behavior that we associate with them? Is it a power issue?
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Of course. Power is the only reason most people run for an election, and is the ultimate aphrodisiac. You're a smart guy - I've never thought otherwise, I just don't care for your condescending attitude - so you know that power is what it's all about. Why else spend so many millions upon millions of dollars for a $400,000/year job?
Nobody alive is perfect, and there will always be failings. Some people feel that certain faults are worse than others. The reasons I may not care for a candidate may mean nothing to someone else, and vice versa. Some of these moral faults may have absolutely no bearing on the ability to be a president with strong ethics. There are people who have gone through a personal struggle that would turn stomachs, but have come out of it with a very strong moral/ethical stronghold.
And that's the key word for me - strong. The tearing apart of each candidate will dog November's winner throughout his/her term, and in doing so, will weaken the Presidency. Is losing our status as the strongest nation really worth it? I really don't think so.
At the risk of being mocked, I really do think we'd be so much better off with a six year Presidential term, with no chance of reelection. Why should a President have to spend most of his first term learning the ropes then preparing for his/her next election? I think we need a better form of spending caps. They're estimating as much as $90 million dollars to be spent on Pennsylvania
alone this month - why not require matching dollars to be spent on the National Debt? Should we really have primary elections spread over five to six months?
I've shortened this quite a bit, mostly the anecdotes, but I think the main points have been made.