why i am voting for senator obama
while i have never achieved "stardom" as a comic, i do have a dedicated and loyal fan base, helped in many ways by sirius and xm radio, both of which play my comedy a lot. when i am out here on the road i end up talking to dozens, if not hundreds, of people each week from the staff of the clubs to the patrons...and i am amazed at the number of them who tell me that they read this blog regularly.
some have told me that my writings on the presidential race have changed their minds and they now are voting for obama. in the hope that i can change a few more, let me list my reasons for why i am voting for senator obama. obviously most of these i have already covered but repitition does not hurt.
THESE ARE IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER OF IMPORTANCE:
1. WALKS THE WALK. all of his life obama has worked helping people. he started as a community organizer and then when he realized he could do more with a law degree he went to harvard and got a degree. while there he became the first african american to edit the prestigious HARVARD LAW REVIEW. that alone would have qualified him for a position with a large new york wall street law firm with a starting salary in the hundreds of thousands of dollars per year with perks the likes of which you and i cannot fathom. instead of cashing in on this, he went back to chicago and worked in some of the worst slums in america trying to help people pull themselves out of poverty. that speaks volumes to me. it shows me where his heart is, and that he likely cannot be bought.
2. INTELLIGENCE. not only did obama finish in the top 1% of his class at harvard (think how hard that must be...there are some really sharp people at harvard) when he got back to chicago and was working as a community organizer to supplement his income (community organizers do not make very much money), he taught CONSTITUTIONAL LAW AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO which is, in itself, an institution that is toward the top of all lists of prestigious universities. we live in a very complex world in very complex times and we need someone who is bright enough to see the complexity and respond intelligently to it. (john mc cain finished in the bottom 1% of his class and we have seen what george w. bush with his C average did) in addition, we need someone who knows the constitution, as it is obvious that gwb either did not know it or chose to just ignore it when it came to his own personal agenda.
3. HE IS COOL UNDER FIRE. we all watched the debates and we watched how each candidate responded. mc cain grimaced and rolled his eyes and looked angry. obama never wavered, never got off message and never showed disrespect as mc cain did when he either would not look at obama or referred to him as "that one." obama has never engaged in vicious attacks against his opponents and has brought much dignity to the process. he has always wanted this election to be about ISSUES that face the american people.
4. HIS ORATORY SKILLS. we are in tough times folks, and they are going to get tougher. we need someone who can speak to the american people in times of crisis and motivate and encourage them and the ability to speak well really comes in handy. we need someone who can reach across party lines to get people to put aside personal and party dogmas and work together for the common good and, once again, the ability to use the language to get important points across is paramount.
5. HIS POSITION ON ROE V. WADE. the republican party wants to repeal roe v. wade. as a feminist, i believe that it is a woman's right to chose what she does with her own body. the democratic party position is that roe v. wade should not be repealed. while i know this is a very devisive issue i must come down on the side of women making the choice. (incidentally, i really do have credentials as a feminist. when i was in business i had the very first office in the nation for mc millan publishing that had all female managers. i always promoted on ability and results and never on sex, or color. i have three daughters and have been married (or living together as man and wife) 6 times. my ex-wives and my daughters all like me and my wives will tell you that though i can be an asshole (hey, who can't?) they have no doubt that not only do i like women i respect them and treat them as equals.
5A. HIS POSITION ON EQUAL PAY FOR EQUAL WORK. why is it that a women makes less than a man for the same work? that is sexism at it's worst and must be stopped before we can really become a nation of equals.
6. HIS OPPOSITION TO THE WAR IN IRAQ. it was an illegal and immoral war against a country that had done nothing to us. iraq was not part of 9-11. there were no iraqis on those planes. there were no weapons of mass destruction. there was no connection between iraq and al qaeda and as a matter of RECORD, osama bin laden hated saddam hussain and the feeling was mutual. HE ALONE OF ALL THE CANDIDATES FOR PRESIDENT, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF DENNIS K., WAS AGAINST THE WAR FROM GET GO. compare that with john mc cain's enthusiastic support for the war even though john mc cain DID NOT READ THE INTELLIGENCE REPORTS THAT HAD ALL THE CAVEATS IN THEM ABOUT HOW THE INTELLIGENCE COULD BE WRONG. whose judgement was correct here? one rushed to war, while the other cautioned against it until all the facts were in. because of this, i am afraid that john mc cain would rush us into another war in the middle east, guaranteeing more hatred for america, more risk to american lives, more risk to american interests and even more drain on our treasury. we are spending TEN BILLION PER MONTH IN IRAQ, we need to get out of there as soon as possible and obama will hopefully do this and i am afraid that mc cain would not.
7. TAXES. obama will give a tax cut to everyone making less than $250,000 per year. obama will repeal the bush tax cuts for the rich. mc cain will give no tax cuts to the middle class and will continue the failed policy of bush of giving huge tax breaks to the rich and to corporations. I CANNOT EMPHAZISE THIS ENOUGH: TRICKLE DOWN ECONOMICS DOES NOT WORK! IT HAS NEVER WORKED! IT WILL NEVER WORK! HISTORY HAS PROVEN THIS OVER AND OVER. IT DOESN'T WORK FOLKS! DON'T BE FOOLED AGAIN! if anyone needs a break from taxes it is the middle class, not the rich. our wages have stagnated during the bush years....do you want more of the same? the middle class is the backbone of not only our country, but our financial success or failure. the gap between the rich and the rest of us is widening and if we are not careful we will end up as so many third world countries are, with a small percentage of the population rich and the rest of us in varying degrees of poor. anyone who does not think this could happen to us is not aware of history. we would not be the first great empire that crumbled over debts caused by foriegn wars and raiding of the treasury at home. (see rome, greece, persia, babylon, england, spain, france, etc.) some sank into oblivion and some came back from the edge but none regained their influence and world wide power. england is still hanging on, as is france, but we are supporting them.
8. HEALTH CARE. one of the biggest threats to our economy is the ever growing cost of health care. obama's plan, while not perfect, is so much better than mc cains as to be laughable. it is not "socialism" to bring health care to ALL OF OUR PEOPLE it is just common fucking sense. the cost of health care keeps rising, but if you look at where the money is going, it is not to the doctors and nurses but to the insurance companies and the large corporations that now own our hospitals. we must stop this upward spiral or it will cripple us in more ways than one. by allowing people to buy into a federal insurance plan THAT IS ALREADY THERE and making that plan cover pre-existing conditions, which WOULD NOT HAPPEN UNDER THE REPUBLICAN PLAN, we protect ourselves from financial disaster.
9. GREEN ENERGY. obama's plan is to invest billions into making america free from our dependence on oil. we have 3% of the world's oil reserves and we consume 25% of the oil. we are supporting regimes around the world instead of bringing that money back home. we cannot drill our way out of this folks. we don't have enough oil to do that. we need wind power, solar power, electrical power, wave power, thermal power and the myriad of other possible cures that could be out there. we won't find them unless we make a concentrated effort to do so. john mc cain is too tied to the oil companies and has been against every clean energy idea ever floated in front of him. we live in the 21st century and we must get 21st century ideas to confront 21st century problems. TO ME, SENATOR OBAMA REPRESENTS THE FUTURE, WHILE JOHN MC CAIN REPRESENTS THE PAST AND NO SINGLE ISSUE MORE ILLUSTRATES THIS THAN THE ENERGY POLICIES OF THE TWO. oh, john mc cain is giving lip service to green energy, but look at his past votes on the issues. he is in the pocket of the oil companies and obama is not.
10. JOB CREATION. what we need to do, in my opinion, is to use federal monies to create jobs and millions of jobs could be created with the GREEN ENERGY push that was described above. beyond that, senator obama has stated that we will use the vast power of the treasury to create jobs, not only in energy but in rebuilding our roads, our bridges, our schools and other infrastructure components. think of what ten billion per month would do if it were spent here creating jobs for americans instead of being spent in iraq.
11. OUR INTERNATIONAL REPUTATION. when we attacked iraq without provocation we made enemies of millions of muslims and lost the respect of most of the western world. we have been bullies on the international scene for all of the bush years and we are hated for it. the election of senator obama would do wonders for our reputation by showing that we are moving beyond the bellicose unilateralism of bush, cheney and mc cain. WE NEED TO TALK TO OUR SO-CALLED ENEMIES BEFORE WE START BOMBING. that is a major difference between john mc cain, who seems to like war over peace, and senator obama. when george bush called iraq, iran and north korea the AXIS OF EVIL, it ensured that the populace of those countries feared and hated us. INCIDENTLY, ONCE AGAIN, THOSE THREE COUNTRIES HAD ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH 9-11. that kind of belligerent war-mongering and name-calling does nothing for our international reputation except to pull it down. while americans may not know history, the rest of the world does. we may like to think that we can go it alone but the truth of the matter is that we live in an integrated world and we must make allies and friends much more so than we need to make more enemies. john mc cain likes to make a big deal out of obama saying he would meet with the heads of countries that don't like us but to me, the willingness to talk before fighting is the mark of great men not little men.
12. THE SUPREME COURT. if elected, obama will have a chance to put someone on the supreme court who will look at the constitution as something that guards the rights of citizens over the rights of government and corporations. the present court with its conservative majority has consistently favored corporations over citizens and, i believe, that must change. also the supreme court could overturn roe v. wade if mc cain comes into power. that alone would make me want to vote for obama. the republican party is the party of the rich and the corporations and their supreme court nominees have toed the party line and we need to put a stop to that.
13. THE RACIAL ASPECT. an election of a person of color would show not only the world, but ourselves, that we have moved past our racial divide. the saying of parents all across this country that "anyone can become president" would ring so loudly and so clearly, that i believe it will do wonders for our country. it would remove an excuse that some of color use that this is strictly a white person's country and make them re-evulate their beliefs. the election of senator obama will ring the bell of freedom for all our people, white, black, brown, asian, native american and all the others who have come to these shores seeking freedom and equality. we would show the world that we practice what we preach.
i know there are men and women of good conscience who do not agree with me. i know that there are millions who do love this country as much as i do who will disagree with my take on these matters. that does not make them bad people, nor bad citizens, and because i know my own stupidity more than anyone does, i know i could be wrong...but in my heart of hearts and my soul of souls i don't believe i am. i really think that senator obama is our absolute best choice for president in this year of our lord, 2008.
some have told me that my writings on the presidential race have changed their minds and they now are voting for obama. in the hope that i can change a few more, let me list my reasons for why i am voting for senator obama. obviously most of these i have already covered but repitition does not hurt.
THESE ARE IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER OF IMPORTANCE:
1. WALKS THE WALK. all of his life obama has worked helping people. he started as a community organizer and then when he realized he could do more with a law degree he went to harvard and got a degree. while there he became the first african american to edit the prestigious HARVARD LAW REVIEW. that alone would have qualified him for a position with a large new york wall street law firm with a starting salary in the hundreds of thousands of dollars per year with perks the likes of which you and i cannot fathom. instead of cashing in on this, he went back to chicago and worked in some of the worst slums in america trying to help people pull themselves out of poverty. that speaks volumes to me. it shows me where his heart is, and that he likely cannot be bought.
2. INTELLIGENCE. not only did obama finish in the top 1% of his class at harvard (think how hard that must be...there are some really sharp people at harvard) when he got back to chicago and was working as a community organizer to supplement his income (community organizers do not make very much money), he taught CONSTITUTIONAL LAW AT THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO which is, in itself, an institution that is toward the top of all lists of prestigious universities. we live in a very complex world in very complex times and we need someone who is bright enough to see the complexity and respond intelligently to it. (john mc cain finished in the bottom 1% of his class and we have seen what george w. bush with his C average did) in addition, we need someone who knows the constitution, as it is obvious that gwb either did not know it or chose to just ignore it when it came to his own personal agenda.
3. HE IS COOL UNDER FIRE. we all watched the debates and we watched how each candidate responded. mc cain grimaced and rolled his eyes and looked angry. obama never wavered, never got off message and never showed disrespect as mc cain did when he either would not look at obama or referred to him as "that one." obama has never engaged in vicious attacks against his opponents and has brought much dignity to the process. he has always wanted this election to be about ISSUES that face the american people.
4. HIS ORATORY SKILLS. we are in tough times folks, and they are going to get tougher. we need someone who can speak to the american people in times of crisis and motivate and encourage them and the ability to speak well really comes in handy. we need someone who can reach across party lines to get people to put aside personal and party dogmas and work together for the common good and, once again, the ability to use the language to get important points across is paramount.
5. HIS POSITION ON ROE V. WADE. the republican party wants to repeal roe v. wade. as a feminist, i believe that it is a woman's right to chose what she does with her own body. the democratic party position is that roe v. wade should not be repealed. while i know this is a very devisive issue i must come down on the side of women making the choice. (incidentally, i really do have credentials as a feminist. when i was in business i had the very first office in the nation for mc millan publishing that had all female managers. i always promoted on ability and results and never on sex, or color. i have three daughters and have been married (or living together as man and wife) 6 times. my ex-wives and my daughters all like me and my wives will tell you that though i can be an asshole (hey, who can't?) they have no doubt that not only do i like women i respect them and treat them as equals.
5A. HIS POSITION ON EQUAL PAY FOR EQUAL WORK. why is it that a women makes less than a man for the same work? that is sexism at it's worst and must be stopped before we can really become a nation of equals.
6. HIS OPPOSITION TO THE WAR IN IRAQ. it was an illegal and immoral war against a country that had done nothing to us. iraq was not part of 9-11. there were no iraqis on those planes. there were no weapons of mass destruction. there was no connection between iraq and al qaeda and as a matter of RECORD, osama bin laden hated saddam hussain and the feeling was mutual. HE ALONE OF ALL THE CANDIDATES FOR PRESIDENT, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF DENNIS K., WAS AGAINST THE WAR FROM GET GO. compare that with john mc cain's enthusiastic support for the war even though john mc cain DID NOT READ THE INTELLIGENCE REPORTS THAT HAD ALL THE CAVEATS IN THEM ABOUT HOW THE INTELLIGENCE COULD BE WRONG. whose judgement was correct here? one rushed to war, while the other cautioned against it until all the facts were in. because of this, i am afraid that john mc cain would rush us into another war in the middle east, guaranteeing more hatred for america, more risk to american lives, more risk to american interests and even more drain on our treasury. we are spending TEN BILLION PER MONTH IN IRAQ, we need to get out of there as soon as possible and obama will hopefully do this and i am afraid that mc cain would not.
7. TAXES. obama will give a tax cut to everyone making less than $250,000 per year. obama will repeal the bush tax cuts for the rich. mc cain will give no tax cuts to the middle class and will continue the failed policy of bush of giving huge tax breaks to the rich and to corporations. I CANNOT EMPHAZISE THIS ENOUGH: TRICKLE DOWN ECONOMICS DOES NOT WORK! IT HAS NEVER WORKED! IT WILL NEVER WORK! HISTORY HAS PROVEN THIS OVER AND OVER. IT DOESN'T WORK FOLKS! DON'T BE FOOLED AGAIN! if anyone needs a break from taxes it is the middle class, not the rich. our wages have stagnated during the bush years....do you want more of the same? the middle class is the backbone of not only our country, but our financial success or failure. the gap between the rich and the rest of us is widening and if we are not careful we will end up as so many third world countries are, with a small percentage of the population rich and the rest of us in varying degrees of poor. anyone who does not think this could happen to us is not aware of history. we would not be the first great empire that crumbled over debts caused by foriegn wars and raiding of the treasury at home. (see rome, greece, persia, babylon, england, spain, france, etc.) some sank into oblivion and some came back from the edge but none regained their influence and world wide power. england is still hanging on, as is france, but we are supporting them.
8. HEALTH CARE. one of the biggest threats to our economy is the ever growing cost of health care. obama's plan, while not perfect, is so much better than mc cains as to be laughable. it is not "socialism" to bring health care to ALL OF OUR PEOPLE it is just common fucking sense. the cost of health care keeps rising, but if you look at where the money is going, it is not to the doctors and nurses but to the insurance companies and the large corporations that now own our hospitals. we must stop this upward spiral or it will cripple us in more ways than one. by allowing people to buy into a federal insurance plan THAT IS ALREADY THERE and making that plan cover pre-existing conditions, which WOULD NOT HAPPEN UNDER THE REPUBLICAN PLAN, we protect ourselves from financial disaster.
9. GREEN ENERGY. obama's plan is to invest billions into making america free from our dependence on oil. we have 3% of the world's oil reserves and we consume 25% of the oil. we are supporting regimes around the world instead of bringing that money back home. we cannot drill our way out of this folks. we don't have enough oil to do that. we need wind power, solar power, electrical power, wave power, thermal power and the myriad of other possible cures that could be out there. we won't find them unless we make a concentrated effort to do so. john mc cain is too tied to the oil companies and has been against every clean energy idea ever floated in front of him. we live in the 21st century and we must get 21st century ideas to confront 21st century problems. TO ME, SENATOR OBAMA REPRESENTS THE FUTURE, WHILE JOHN MC CAIN REPRESENTS THE PAST AND NO SINGLE ISSUE MORE ILLUSTRATES THIS THAN THE ENERGY POLICIES OF THE TWO. oh, john mc cain is giving lip service to green energy, but look at his past votes on the issues. he is in the pocket of the oil companies and obama is not.
10. JOB CREATION. what we need to do, in my opinion, is to use federal monies to create jobs and millions of jobs could be created with the GREEN ENERGY push that was described above. beyond that, senator obama has stated that we will use the vast power of the treasury to create jobs, not only in energy but in rebuilding our roads, our bridges, our schools and other infrastructure components. think of what ten billion per month would do if it were spent here creating jobs for americans instead of being spent in iraq.
11. OUR INTERNATIONAL REPUTATION. when we attacked iraq without provocation we made enemies of millions of muslims and lost the respect of most of the western world. we have been bullies on the international scene for all of the bush years and we are hated for it. the election of senator obama would do wonders for our reputation by showing that we are moving beyond the bellicose unilateralism of bush, cheney and mc cain. WE NEED TO TALK TO OUR SO-CALLED ENEMIES BEFORE WE START BOMBING. that is a major difference between john mc cain, who seems to like war over peace, and senator obama. when george bush called iraq, iran and north korea the AXIS OF EVIL, it ensured that the populace of those countries feared and hated us. INCIDENTLY, ONCE AGAIN, THOSE THREE COUNTRIES HAD ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH 9-11. that kind of belligerent war-mongering and name-calling does nothing for our international reputation except to pull it down. while americans may not know history, the rest of the world does. we may like to think that we can go it alone but the truth of the matter is that we live in an integrated world and we must make allies and friends much more so than we need to make more enemies. john mc cain likes to make a big deal out of obama saying he would meet with the heads of countries that don't like us but to me, the willingness to talk before fighting is the mark of great men not little men.
12. THE SUPREME COURT. if elected, obama will have a chance to put someone on the supreme court who will look at the constitution as something that guards the rights of citizens over the rights of government and corporations. the present court with its conservative majority has consistently favored corporations over citizens and, i believe, that must change. also the supreme court could overturn roe v. wade if mc cain comes into power. that alone would make me want to vote for obama. the republican party is the party of the rich and the corporations and their supreme court nominees have toed the party line and we need to put a stop to that.
13. THE RACIAL ASPECT. an election of a person of color would show not only the world, but ourselves, that we have moved past our racial divide. the saying of parents all across this country that "anyone can become president" would ring so loudly and so clearly, that i believe it will do wonders for our country. it would remove an excuse that some of color use that this is strictly a white person's country and make them re-evulate their beliefs. the election of senator obama will ring the bell of freedom for all our people, white, black, brown, asian, native american and all the others who have come to these shores seeking freedom and equality. we would show the world that we practice what we preach.
i know there are men and women of good conscience who do not agree with me. i know that there are millions who do love this country as much as i do who will disagree with my take on these matters. that does not make them bad people, nor bad citizens, and because i know my own stupidity more than anyone does, i know i could be wrong...but in my heart of hearts and my soul of souls i don't believe i am. i really think that senator obama is our absolute best choice for president in this year of our lord, 2008.
posted by Ron Shock | 9:49 AM
20 Comments:
Here's what I think is an amazing story:
My dad is 72 and from Tennessee, and holds the beliefs you might expect from someone of his background. He was adamant that he could not vote for a black man for president, and neither would anyone else, and McCain was going to win in a landslide.
Then his friends started sending him e-mails saying Obama was a Muslim, Obama was a terrorist, Obama was a Marxist. He said, "They know none of that's true, but even after I send them a link proving it's not true, they just keep sending it! It's like they don't care if they're lying!"
And then one day he said, "I hope he wins." Now he's registered to vote for the first time in 12 years so he can cast his vote for Obama.
In these e-mail exchanges he said he was curious that another friend of his was always Cc'd but never joined in. He said today that guy called him and said he had voted early and he voted for Barack Obama. "I'd rather vote for a half breed than a half wit," my dad quoted him.
These are truly some damn interesting times we're living in.
1. I'm more cynical, (and originally from Chicagoland), so I see his "community organizer" as an entry-level position in the Daily Machine.
2. Won't argue with intelligence, although he has a somewhat different view of the constitution than I do.
4. Regan was a good actor, too.
5a. Yes, but. I've seen too many incompetent people who honestly believe that their lack of success is due to discrimination.
7. The top 1% income earners pay 40% of the total tax bill already, the top 10% pay 70%. The bottom 50% pays 3%.
32% pay no income tax.
9. Government green energy will wind up like Ethanol--The well-connected will get subsidies without helping the problem. We need to drill to help short term, we need to expand nuclear, and we need to free industry to find the solutions that work best. For government funding to work, you'll need to predict scientific breakthroughs accurately.
11. We need something between Carter and George W. Some situations call for military response. Ideally our enemies will believe we are more likely to use military than we really are.
12. I don't see liberal judges as typically favoring law-abiding citizens over government.
Here we are discussing Gov. Palin's clothes - oh, wait, we're onto the makeup now - not what either man is going to do to save the economy. This isn't an accident. It is part of a manufactured narrative that she is stupid.
Governor Palin and I don't agree on a lot of things, mostly social issues. But I have grown to appreciate the Governor. I was one of those initial skeptics and would laugh at the picture. Not anymore. When someone takes on a corrupt political machine and a sitting governor, this is not done by someone with a low IQ and a moral core made of tissue paper. When someone fights her way to get scholarships and work her way through college even in a jagged line, that shows determination and humility. When a mother brings her son with special needs onto a national stage with love, honesty and pride, that gives hope to families like mine as my older brother lives with a mental disability. And when someone can participate in the Sarah Palin rap on SNL, that's a sign of both humor and humility.
Has she made mistakes? Of course, she's human. But the attention paid to her mistakes has been unprecedented compared to Sen. Obama's "57 states" remarks or Sen. Biden using a version of the Samuel Johnson quote "There's nothing like a hanging in the morning to focus a man's thoughts".
Most people don't understand the details about Sen. Obama's plan for Iraq. When he says "combat troops", he's not talking about all troops. He plans to leave about 50,000 there indefinately. That's not ending the war.
As a lifelong Democrat, I can't justify my party's treatment of women and working people as just part of the new kind of politics. It's wrong and someone has to say that.
And please don't say the Republicans are worse. If they are then maybe it's time for a third option.
While I admire this blog, and agree with it to a degree, I must ask: What about Ron Paul? He was another candidate that voted against the war. He is a candidate that definitely knows the constitution, as any of his speeches or interviews will show. He, along with Dennis K and Ralph Nader, are the ONLY candidates in this race that have really raised questions about the Federal Reserve system and how they have plundered our wealth through hidden inflation. He was the first member of Congress to propose term limits legislation in the House, and he also declined to attend junkets or register for a Congressional pension.
While I find Obama much more preferable to John McSame, I still have to ask: What about Dr. Paul?
Wendy B.-- Whatever positive attributes Sarah Palin might have...she lost me the moment she stepped on a stage and repeatedly lied in my face...a double insult in my opinion...if you are going to lie Sarah, at least don't insult my intelligence as well.
Then, when she deliberately incited the audience to issue forth with violent epithets toward her opponent and has never admonished them... that not only disgusts me, it frightens me.
After that, whatever respect I had for her (or John McCain --and I once had great respect for him) was gone.
She is an immoral charicature and she has meanness in her heart. I do not want someone with malice in her heart or a nasty attitude and mouth, interacting with the international community or running my great country. This is not an intelligent or thoughtful woman...if she were, she would not spew forth with some of the idiotic things that come out of her mouth. She clearly does not think before she speaks and that is dangerous.
Sorry...your argument is weak and if you cannot engage in critical thinking 101, please do not vote.
This is a crucial time...a time for serious people...who have actually read the republican and democratic platforms and also understand the character of the people who propose to lead our country.
The republicans are owned by big corporations and McCain took more than one hundred THOUSAND dollars from Keating, while Obama walked away from a multi-million dollar Wall Street career to go back and work in his community.
Character matters, and if you don't think so, then may God have mercy on us ALL now...
I really think my comment was the most interesting of all.
wendy, what blog are you commenting on? there is nothing in this post about sarah palin.
seth, ron paul had two GREAT ideas: get out of iraq and stop the war on drugs. but he didn't have a chance on the republican ticket and, i think, he does not agree with a good portion of the libertarian party platform so he could not run as one of them. i want him and his ideas to stay on the public scene and i hope he doesn't fade away into obscurity.
art, yours is the most interesting of all up to now.
now everybody...GO OUT AND VOTE!
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
After reading this blog entry, I couldn't NOT pass it on. I receive multiple daily emails from, for the most part, intelligent and thoughtful people. Having said that, this boils down and succinctly puts so much of what has shaped my decision and won my vote for Senator Obama.
I copied the text of this blog and sent it on with the following preface:
The following comes from Ron Shock’s blog yesterday. (For those of you who don’t know Ron, check out www.ronshock.com.)
He outlines the reasons that have led him to vote for Barack Obama next week.
Please take a look at this—most of it you’ve probably already read in one form or another, but this is a succinct statement of a number of facts that, in my mind, get to the core of why I, too, will cast my vote for Barack Obama in 8 short days.
Please feel free to pass this along!
I ENCOURAGE YOU ALL TO DO THE SAME.
Ron, I continue to appreciate not only your thoughts and analyses, but your willingness to put it out there with truth, wit, and--my personal fav--a 'hint' of sarcasm from time to time.
Happy Fucking Friday!
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
RON SHOCK DID JAIL TIME FOR BURGLARY SO HE AIN'T VOTING FOR ANYONE. I DID JAIL TIME FOR GROWING POT AND I AINT VOTING.
IF YOU DID YOUR TIME YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO VOTE. YOU KNOW A LOT ABOUT OBAMA SO PLEASE EXPLAIN WHAT HE IS GOING TO DO TO RESTORE OUR RIGHTS.
THANKS.
Did alex c. put his entire post in quotations because he is incapable of putting forth an original thought into a comment????
If I wanted FOX news commentary, I'd go to their website.
Divide and conquer. The rulers have been promoting race war as a counter to class struggle since the 1600s. They are very good at it.
After the election the economy may get still worse and there will be further military adventures. As things unravel the game will be: blame the Black guy. This process has already started.
As far as U.S. military planners go, the election cycle and the public’s feelings are only a factor in determining the timing and announcement of aggressive actions, kind of like taking into account the weather for an optimal time for the Normandy landing in WW2.
It’s a military dictatorship with Handsome Presidents. The election is a joke, but more importantly, a waste of the people’s time (except, perhaps some local races). Get over it. Think and find effective ways to rebel.
joe, regardless of what name you write under...you will be deleted. now go away. get a life.
liz, regardless of what name you write under....you will be deleted. now go away. get a life.
Ron, I agree, those are two great ideas Dr. Paul had, but I don't think his great ideas are limited to just those two either.
For one, I think the fact that he (along with Kucinich and Nader, I believe) has drawn attention to the fraud that is the Federal Reserve and it's irresponsible monetary policy is very admirable.
Unfortunately, we are looking forward to hard economic times in this country from poor monetary policy and just really bad ideas (not only from GWB, but also from Democrats and Republicans alike through the last several decades) and neither of the two candidates in the forefront are going to be able to solve this mess. I don't think Obama, as good as his intentions may be, will help out the economic problems on their way and many of his programs will probably further bankrupt the country, I feel.
Obama's redeeming features, in my opinion, are a few of his social policies (decriminalizing marijuana, gay rights, and a handful of others), but he just doesn't have enough that I support to cast my vote for him in good conscience, so I will be voting for a third party.
i wrote a post a year or so ago about how we don't really have a two party system but instead we have one party, the war party. that as we look at presidents from kennedy to the present, one thing remains constant: we are either at war or we are preparing for war and military spending just keeps going up and up. here in 2008, we have ground troops fighting two wars in the middle east and undeclared wars, under the guise of the "drug war" in low level conflicts all through south america. (why do other countries hate us so?) one of my fondest hopes, and it could be a pipe dream, is that senator obama, because he is so new to the national scene and was not the candidate of choice of the democratic party, may be our last hope to break this seemingly endless cycle of war, war, war. he is not, i hope, going to be a president of the military industrial complex that ike warned us about, but a president of the people.
the WHO song, fooled again, plays constantly in my mind.
john mc cain, on the other hand, is permenantly married to the war party and would, if given the chance, involve us in even more wars in more places. i do not mean to say that senator mc cain is a bad man but he is a product of his entire life and sees the world through a prism of "us vs. them", where i believe we must see the world as one place with one people and that peace is the most noble of all goals.
peace to us all.
Obama in a speech said that the military is not enough and we need a National Civilian Security Force. Its there on youtube in his own words, check it out. What the fock???!!!
Just remember the old saying, "Be careful what you wish for; you just might get it."
If we just listened to our balls....
(Sorry, had to say it. LOL!)
I've spent 2 years supporting and working for Barrack Obama.
Today, Indiana, IN DE FUCKING ANA, voted for a black liberally progressive Democrat.
I had worked for 17 hours running Get Out the Vote stations and oversseing 3 polling sites yesterday ( after coming home from Bear's)
I didn't go out with everyone last night.
I came home, sat up in bed with my wife and daughter, and watched history on TV.
I then slept like a baby.
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