February 7, 2008

• Stuper Tuesday

  Now, a super wednesday semi-diurnal rant! This one’s highly political and offensive and is not intended for anyone…

  #1 – Hill-dog

  This’ll be quick, well, not really: the more I think about it, the more I HEART Obama and am reluctant to vote Hillary. I would certainly vote for her over Romney or Huckabee. McCain, who I was pulling for in 2000 and would’ve had my vote over Gore, might get my vote over Hillary; this fact scares me. I really feel we need a Democrat in the white house, and I am afraid that Hillary’s nomination would put a lot of folks like me over to the dark side. Some reasons for this:

  -McCain’s history of bipartisanship deals, which would attract independents like me.
  -Hillary’s unique ability, by her fault or not, to be very divisive and unite the religious conservatives against her.
  -Her claim of universal health care, when several experts have said the number of people insured under both will be very similar.
  -Her inability to answer many things straight, the ‘definition of is’ factor. On the war, she can not admit it was a mistake to authorize force. Can’t you say you were wrong and we can move on? Instead she gives a long winded explanation, which leads to ‘I trusted Bush not to use it.’ Maybe I’m wrong, but one of the biggest problems with the current administration is their inability to admit mistakes and have any accountability. Do we need more of this?
  -I liked Bill, but the thought of him having power again scares me in a constitutional sense.
  -Her constant claims of “ready on day 1.” Guess what: Obama has four (4) more years of experience as an elected official. FOUR YEARS!!! He was a state senator for 8 years before going to the US Senate. So, where is this extra experience? Was it the 8 years you were in the white house? I don’t think that helps, it certainly didn’t help dubya. He had lots of time IN the white house too. So, if anyone is ‘ready on day one,’ it is Obama more than Hillary.

  A fellow Xangan has a great list here.

  

  I like Obama more because:
  -Emphasis on early childhood education, the easiest and most effective method for improving our schools.
  -Constant attacks on lobbyists and what they stand for. Campaign finance reform has been my #1 issue in politics since 2000 (another reason McCain looks good to me).
  -Hope. Sure, it’s idealistic, non-specific, and emotional, but that is exactly what we need, as a country, right now. He is such a demanding and powerful speaker, his actions and voice will be the motivation which can do so much unseen and unmeasured good. Hillary is not known to inspire because of her personality, more because of her chromosome makeup. Obama has a similar characteristic, but his charisma can inspire so much more. I’d rather reach for greatness than settle for less because of fear or apathy.
  -The republicans have no idea how to beat him, the Clinton plan is tried and true.

  I am seriously, very seriously, considering giving a few bucks to the Obama campaign, even though I can’t really afford it, even though car insurance is due in 5 days, he inspires me that much, and I think his potential for good is that high.

  

  #2
  Utarded

  Mitt Romney got 90% of the republican vote in Utah. This just proves what so many believe, that Utahans are the stupidest, strangest, most reclusive people in the nation. 90% is unfathomable. You could poll people and ask “Do you like puppies?” and you wouldn’t get 90%. Hugo Chavez doesn’t get those numbers from his own state-run polling. Are Utahans that sheepish? Are they that dogmatic? I love this state, and I love living here, but it’s things like this which make me want to run far, far away.

  The media in political coverage has often broken down constituencies by race, gender, and religion, and while doing this, have mildly insinuated that the group in question (i.e. women for Hillary, evangelicals for Huckabee, aged for McCain, African-Americans for Obama) are somewhat stupid or bigoted for the way the vote breaks down. What does that say about Mormons then? I looked all over the internet, and I could not find any data on this, but here is my little thought experiment:

  62% of Utah is LDS
  99% are Republican, I’m guessing, and would be or associate with ‘evangelical’ by most definitions.
  Romney got 90%, Huckabee got 1% (Huckabee does have a history with LDS) of the ‘evangelical’ vote.

  That means Romney got 90x the votes of Huckabee. Why? Is it his pro-gay rights, pro-abortion, and throwing money-around stance? Is it because his literally is the Republican John Kerry (though Bush got 3x the vote of Kerry in 2004)? What could it be? Is it ONLY religion? How sad and embarrassing.

  Update: He’s out, not sure what to think. The Rush’s of the world will be fuming over picking between 1. the guy who works will liberals (how terrible) and is reasonable 2. the guy we like except he wants to help the poor (like jebus would).

  P.S. I listen to NPR now.  I am so old.

  P.P.S. My main political show is Countdown with Keith Olberman.  It is informatiove, fair (though, like MediaMatters.org, looking at the faults of the right), and really funny.

  • 1:01 am
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