The Final US Election Thread

[Strike For The South]

I'm surprised because in the election thread we went one and a half hundred pages on things like:

1. "Obama's VP pick was just as bad/worse."
2. "Obama flip flops on everything, you can't trust him."
3. "Obama pretends to be for working people but he's really going to tax them out of existence."
4. "Obama's campaign and supporters are just as personal and attack just as low below the belt."
5. What? Weren't like the last 10-15 pages of the election thread people condemning Obama as a socialist? It seems like a lot of McCain supporters really believe that, and not just the idiot ones.
6. "The media just wasn't nice to her."

I don't disagree with your objective assessment of McCain's campaign, and yes Strike I know that you are non partisan in this race (though I wouldn't say you're totally politically neutral either, but close enough compared to a diehard McCain or diehard Obama supporter), I am just surprised to see people um... "confessing it", at this late hour?

I know there have been some early detractors on the Republican side of how McCain has run is campaign. But there have equally been many posters defending it or eviscerating Obama's as just as bad or worse in every single respect right up until the final page of the election thread. So I'm in a bit of shock.

1. Biden may be the ultimate politician but he certainly has a better mind than Palin and much more experience in foreign policy
2. True but McCain ran on trust and he destroyed that buy selling out for votes
3. Ummmm I would've voted for McCain 2000 but the 08 verison is a shell of the former man.
4. Not so much There really haven't been many attacks on McCain and Palin is like a Biden without the big words to cover her mess
5. He has very socialistic tendencies but painting him as Marx only turns the independents off and gives Obama ammo
6. Picking Palin

[JAG]

Just gonna do a lil WOOOOOP, before my hopes can get dashed.

[Crazed Rabbit]

Gah, any spots for updated results?

Also; voter intimidation in Philadelphia by a Black Panther guy with a nightstick. Good grief.

Luckily the police came and escorted the guy with the nightstick away.

CR

[Thermal]

OBAMA!

though i really dont have a clue, the UK has had such hype on the american elections, when it isnt even anything to do with us, its makes headlines day in and out, shows the obssession with the U.S, theres even american programs about the politics there starting, im sure non of you americans went go gordan brown when tony blair was kicked from downing street, thats if you even no who they are, the first being a fool, the latter being a liar, the UK is ran by a group of pigs and dumbasses

[Gregoshi]

...the UK is ran by a group of pigs and dumbasses

You got pigs, we got elephants, otherwise little difference.

[Hooahguy]

to quote Winston Churchill:
"i like pigs. dogs look up to us, cats look down on us. pigs treat us as equals."

[spmetla]

Wow! Those poll lines look long. Makes me proud to be participating in the election, though I did it with the far more convenient absentee ballot.

Sadly I didn't participate in the last two elections though I could have, feel real shame for it too.

I'll just be happy for the campaigning to be over. Way to too many months I've been hearing about these guys.

[Thermal]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/
haha just look here .co.uk you notice and the headline is....

[Louis VI the Fat]

Gah! Why oh why do the Americans have elections in the middle of the night? Can't they just organise them during the day like us civilised Europeans!? Now I'll have to go to bed later without knowing the result.

Oh well. I think I'll get up half an hour earlier tomorrow morning to catch up on the results over breakfast.

Also; voter intimidation in Philadelphia by a Black Panther guy with a nightstick. Good grief.

That is simply outrageous. What on earth is he thinking!?

Let's look on it from the upside. Whatever the outcome, this election has shown that it is possible for a Black man of ambition and intellect to become anything, including president.

Some Blacks may think that Obama is finally going to solve their rent problems. Or, as in the case of this man, at last make him king of the hood. On the contrary. I think our nightstick wielding brownshirt will soon discover that Obama just blew away his excuses.
Obama is not his saviour. Obama is a scathing indictimtment to him. Obama is the floodlight that lightens up that big 'I am an imbecile' sign on this punk's forehead. Some Black men make it to president. Others can't find it in themselves to get a job or go to college and would rather waste their lives intimimidating others on the streets. Fine. Obama shows, that this is a matter of personal choice and merit, not a matter of circumstance.

I think we may see a paradigm shift in race rethoric in America after today. And indeed elsewehere. Even after seemingly having gotten used to it over the last year, (If elected) a Black man as the most powerful man on the planet is an earthquake. It will send shockwaves through how we conceive of society, of America, and of race relations. Whether as a positively as a rolemodel, or negatively as an indictment, the discourse of excuses will change to one of less tolerance of excuses.

[Lemur]

Wow, some people get started early. Normally you'd wait until an election had been ratified before demanding: Impeach Barack Obama.

[Hooahguy]

Wow, some people get started early. Normally you'd wait until an election had been ratified before demanding: Impeach Barack Obama.

wow........
*shakes head*

[Xiahou]

Here's some fun stuff from Phildadelphia. Two men dressed in Black Panther uniforms appointed themselves as "guards" of a polling place- one of them was brandishing a nightstick.

Here's some coverage on FNC where they interview the poll watcher who called the police and had the armed man removed- his compatriot was allowed to remain.

-The first link is a cell phone video of the two men, the second is an interview with a GOP poll watcher who recounts what he saw/heard.

So... what were they thinking?

[CountArach]

Lemur's disease Xiahou. CR beat you to it.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

-- quotation on black panther intimidation thingee --

That is simply outrageous. What on earth is he thinking!?

Some days I am prouder of my country than others. Today I am quite proud. My candidate of choice (well, the one I was left with) is likely to go down in defeat. This happens to a big chunk of us yanks every 4 years. So how do we react?

The major "problems" receiving national media attention are one idiot at a Philadelphia polling place, long lines because there are so many people desirous of voting, and wet ballots not running through the optical scanners in VA or NC.

Think about that folks, and compare those "problems" to many of the elections you read about. Could it run this smoothly in Haiti? How many elections can you think of wherein a REAL decision was being made in a relatively close race where there were fewer problems?

On January 20th, many of us will compound this by watching a rather imperial president calmly watch himself shrived of authority and look on as his successor takes that power from him. He will congratulate his successor, and fade into history (for good or for ill). And then, in the weeks following, most of us who were disappointed in the results of this contest will treat tonight's winner with honor and respect and genuinely hope that his efforts yield success for us all.

There are times I am exceedingly proud of my country.