What are the Key Factors for Victory in the 2008 Presidential Election?

[turbo]

There are a lot of progressives and liberals contributing to Huffington Post, but there are conservatives posting there, too, including (just yesterday, and still up) an anti-Obama diatribe by Lynn Forester de Rothschild. For those not in the know, she supported Hillary Clinton (and was a prolific fund-raiser) until Obama won the nomination. Then she jumped on the McCain bandwagon. As a billionaire, she takes exception to Obama's tax proposal, saying he will create new taxes to enlarge the country's welfare system.

It's possible to find a range of views on Huffington Post - like any source of political opinion, you just have to filter through the identities and biases of the authors. Plus, many Huffington stories are direct links to the New York Times, Washington Post, New York Post, etc, or video links to the major TV channels, including FOX news.

 

[Astronuc]

With respect to the Daily Show, one can go to the website

Full episode - Barack Obama on Daily Show
http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/index.jhtml?episodeId=189757

Barack Obama on Daily Show
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=189761&title=Barack-Obama

Guest appearances on Daily Show
http://www.thedailyshow.com/guests.jhtml


I would expect one can find similar websites for the other show.

 

[Evo]

I considered that the HuffingtonPost was a biased site, but on the other hand this is merely a compilation of third party sourced material and is not the usual hyperbolics that can sometimes be found sourced from there.

Which is why you aren't banned.

I think a blanket rejection of anything from Huffington doesn't allow sufficient latitude and open-mindedness for some material that is sufficiently already mainstream.

I agree, many of the posts "by themselves" are ok. But all around the post are posts that are extremely biased and the uncensored blog and flaming isn't something we want to link to.

Unfortunately in order to have guidelines as to what is "over the top" or completely unacceptable, a line had to be drawn in the sand. If I allowed a link to a purely right wing blog that had an ok article but was surrounded by extremely slanted and rather nasty comments, that wouldn't be right either. To keep crackpot nonsense, conspiracy theories, and hate mongering from sneaking into the forum through links, I have to have the same rule for all sides.

As the Huffington Post becomes less one sided and filters some of the garbage posted by "commentors", I could see it becoming acceptable. It's not quite there yet.

 

[LowlyPion]

As the Huffington Post becomes less one sided and filters some of the garbage posted by "commentors", I could see it becoming acceptable. It's not quite there yet.

OK. I admit I never read down to the comments there. Speaking as someone reticent to express my own opinions absent foundation, in the off chance that I should even express them in the first place, I wouldn't want to see much seepage from ill thought out or unsubstantiated rhetoric.

In that spirit then I have removed the post, despite the spirit of good will with which I originally thought to share it here for its entertainment value.

 

[Evo]

OK. I admit I never read down to the comments there. Speaking as someone reticent to express my own opinions absent foundation, in the off chance that I should even express them in the first place, I wouldn't want to see much seepage from ill thought out or unsubstantiated rhetoric.

In that spirit then I have removed the post, despite the spirit of good will with which I originally thought to share it here for its entertainment value.

Those comments weren't bad at all on that page. I've read some that singed my nose hairs though.

 

[Math Is Hard]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/04/Dr_Pepper_types.jpg/800px-

Thanks, Ivan. I don't think I have ever seen that DP can.

 

[LowlyPion]

Thanks, Ivan. I don't think I have ever seen that DP can.

It used to be on the bottles.

Also there is a poker variant called Dr. Pepper where the 10's, 2's and 4's are wild. (Hint: If you're just drawing to an unsuited straight - fold.)

 

[turbo]

Bush is staying out of sight until after the elections, to avoid hurting GOP candidates' chances.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/31/u...1225548355-UVpe5EUlHZDfDcToh4YKWQ&oref=slogin

 

[turbo]

Apparently, Cheney didn't get the memo.

 

[LowlyPion]

Apparently, Cheney didn't get the memo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NyjxJTWWTQ

I guess the old Ventriloquist in Chief just couldn't help himself. Like he thinks that anyone could give a wet whistle to what he endorses after 8 years of leading the country to the precipice and now lending his shoulder still to push it over the edge.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

the old Ventriloquist in Chief

Did you come up with that one? That is a classic!

 

[Janus]

All you need now is a rotating spiral.

Like this?

http://home.earthlink.net/~jparvey/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/hypno2.gif

 

[LowlyPion]

Did you come up with that one? That is a classic!

I suppose so. I did a search for it just now and there are 5 Google references, but they are none of them a site I've visited.

I guess it's a case of spontaneous parallel invention.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Like this?

http://home.earthlink.net/~jparvey/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/hypno2.gif

Darn! I tried it, but I guess images won't work in signatures.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

If Elizabeth Dole loses in NC, this will be the first time in fifty years that we haven't had a Bush or Dole in office.

 

[LowlyPion]

Why does McCain keep pulling this stuff?

McCain says he has always had faith in his country

By BETH FOUHY
Associated Press Writer
SPRINGFIELD, Va. (AP) -- Republican presidential candidate John McCain on Saturday criticized Democratic rival Barack Obama's comment that his victory in Iowa's caucuses last winter had "vindicated" his faith in the American people.

"My country has never had to prove anything to me, my friends," McCain said while campaigning in the Washington suburbs in northern Virginia. "I've always had faith in it and I've been humbled and honored to serve it."

McCain was referring to a remark Obama made at a campaign stop in Des Moines on Friday. "My faith in the American people was vindicated and what you started here in Iowa swept the nation," Obama said.

In response to McCain's remarks, the Obama campaign called the criticism "pathetic" as well as a distortion aimed at attacking the Democrat's patriotism.

"Sadly, this is what we've come to expect from a desperate, dishonorable campaign that will say anything in a failed attempt to win this election," Obama spokesman Bill Burton said.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MCCAIN?SITE=ALMON&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

 

[turbo]

McCain had a rally yesterday in Desert Storm Park, Phoenix, AZ. Somehow in his home state, in the 5th largest city in the US, he only got about 200 attendees, and about a quarter of those were journalists. He should have bused in a few thousand school-kids.

 

[jal]

There will be a MAJORITY dem. congress and a dem. senate.
They will put the campaign promisses on the back burner as they try to deal with reality.
It does not matter who gets in. Majority rules.

 

[chasely]

McCain had a rally yesterday in Desert Storm Park, Phoenix, AZ. Somehow in his home state, in the 5th largest city in the US, he only got about 200 attendees, and about a quarter of those were journalists. He should have bused in a few thousand school-kids.

My girlfriend goes to Univ. Missouri, Columbia. Columbia has a population of about 150,000. The Obama rally there on Thursday drew between 35,000 and 40,000 people. It is a college town, but nearly a third of a city's population is an impressive figure to draw to a rally.

 

[jal]

Can I get a clarification on Socialism?
Is Palin a socialist for taking money from the oil companies and giving it to the people of Alaska?
As a bonus, a residential address in Alaska would entitle you to no state income tax
because the state gets all of financial needs from taxing the oil companies.
Is Palin a socialist for advocation raising the child care benefit? She would have to take the money from a few and give it to all.

Is Palin a socialist for advocating giving the right of parent of special needs kids to choose the school of their choosing and funded by the gov.
Would not the needs of those kids require that their parents be subsidized
to be able to live near their child?
If I was living in Alaska I would want to have my kid go to a school in Cal. so that I could get away from the cold winters.

I assume that all of those programs would require a bigger gov. to be able to administer all those programs.

Isn't capitalism sink or swim on your own?
The USA cannot have socialist programs like Europe, Canada, etc. because it would destroy the capitalist spirit of americans. hummmm!

Is the pot blacker than the kettle?

 

[LowlyPion]

Can I get a clarification on Socialism?
Is Palin a socialist for taking money from the oil companies and giving it to the people of Alaska?

No. She is a Patriot. An Alaskan Patriot.
It's free enterprise.
She's merely charging a toll to remove resources from their state.
(Never you mind that those resources are no more the state's than the state seems to think that it is not belonging to those that discovered them.)

Isn't it clever the way she has managed to balance their budget?

 

[Astronuc]

(Never you mind that those resources are no more the state's than the state seems to think that it is not belonging to those that discovered them.)

Mineral rights belong first to the nation, or to the state if the federal government transferred or assigned those rights explicity, or to individuals who own the land if those rights are transferred to the individual by the federal government or state. One has to pay careful attention to the deed of the property one is buying. If the original deed does not contain mineral rights, or if a successive deed transfers or reassigns the mineral rights, then one does not have ownership of the minerals under one's land. It as simple as that.

West of the Mississippi River, most of the mineral rights were retained by the US government, to be later assigned to whomever expressed interest in developing the minerals. Most people probably are not aware of that - but that is why oil and gas, or minerals exploration companies can come onto one's land to drill or mine, and one has little recourse to prevent that.


BTW - in the US, it's only socialism if the other guy is doing it.

 

[LowlyPion]

Mineral rights belong first to the nation, ...

Only because they make the laws. They are no more one person's than the other.

They are on the planet.

And we are here.

That's about as far as I would concede.

(Where's my copy of the Communist Manifesto again? ...hmmm)

 

[OmCheeto]

Can I get a clarification on Socialism?
Is Palin a socialist for taking money from the oil companies and giving it to the people of Alaska?

Isn't capitalism sink or swim on your own?

Is the pot blacker than the kettle?

Silly foreigners...

Socialist and Communist are now used as curse words in America, based upon the difference in tax hikes/cuts on various economic demographics proposed by the heretofore non-mentioned opponent, and have no relation to their original meanings.

Examples:

Communist: One who would impose an annual wealth tax of 0.25% on those worth more than $100,000,000
Socialist: One who would raise the taxes on those that make more than $250,000 by 2%
Right-wing neo-fascist conservative: One who would impose a flat tax and sales tax on everyone

You see?

We don't use the word capitalist except in a good way.
For most everyone is one. And I don't just mean Americans.
For instance, we generally never call someone a stinkin capitalist pinko.

That would be like my mother calling me a "Stupid little SOB".

 

[jal]

No other state governor has succeeded in nationalising (killing the capitalist drive) as much as Palin.
Are there any Republican readers that would like to correct Palin's record?

 

[Astronuc]

Only because they make the laws. They are no more one person's than the other.

Well - the US did take the land that belonged to others, or was otherwise occupied, in the first place. In that case, it was a matter of 'Might Makes Right', which has long been the way of the world.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

A personal comment: I have found over the years that before an election, I do a sort of last minute gut check. Have I gotten carried away with one thing or another and lost sight of the truly important issues? I was thinking about this last night and arrived at an unavoidable conclusion. All else aside, I am just as certain that Obama is the right man, as I was that Bush would be a disaster. And I can still recall with great clarity waking to the news that Bush, not Gore, had won in 2000. It was like my worst nightmare coming true and I told EVERYONE as much. Well, I was 100% correct. [This may be why, for the first time in my life, my mother asked for advice about the election]. Bush HAS been a disaster for both the nation and the world. It has been as bad or worse than I imagined.

To former Bush supporters who now support McCain: We warned you about Bush, but you refused to listen. Why won't you listen now? Have you learned nothing? And I'm not talking about McCain here, I mean Palin. McCain would suck, but Palin is Cheney with lipstick, which is why Cheney likes her.

If you think Bush has done a fine job, then clearly we live in different universes and discussion is pointless.

 

[Janus]

Darn! I tried it, but I guess images won't work in signatures.

Here's a version that's small enough to be used as an avatar.

http://home.earthlink.net/~jparvey/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/hypno3.gif

 

[Astronuc]

Only two more days, and then hopefully no more stupid phone calls from the candidates, parties, pollsters or anyone else either trying to convince us to vote for someone, the party or polling us as to who we are voting for.

Are those registered as independents get ignored by both parties, or do both parties barrage one with phone calls to support them?

 

[turbo]

I am an independent, and I am getting several robo-calls a day from McCain's people trashing Obama. I have gotten calls from Obama's people, but I always talked to a real person, and they were polite and were not negative against McCain.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Here's a version that's small enough to be used as an avatar.

http://home.earthlink.net/~jparvey/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/hypno3.gif

Hah! Thanks.

 

[turbo]

Hah! Thanks.

Oh, noes! Must cut off mullet and vote for guy that's not white! I don't need a cigarette, though. Darn twirly spirals - I like to smoke!

 

[jal]

Here is tomorrow’s paper. Already 69 comments
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081102.wcampaignibbitson1103/BNStory/usElection2008/home?cid=al_gam_mostview
Gallup's verdict: It's all but over for McCain
With pollster predicting Obama will win, Republican's only hope for upset rests on Pennsylvania
• Comments ( 69)
•
JOHN IBBITSON
From Monday's Globe and Mail
November 3, 2008 at 12:33 AM EST
=====

 

[LowlyPion]

Here is more data than you can shake a stick at.

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/search/label/today%27s%20polls

 

[Ivan Seeking]

If you haven't voted, please ignore everything that you hear between now and the election, and vote! We don't know how the voting patterns will break. It could be that Obama supporters are voting early, and McCain supporters will come out late. We need every vote that we can get, in every State.