The Final US Election Thread

[Marshal Murat]

Seamus, if you do a quick google for EMILY's List, you'll find it supports pro-choice Democrats

[ICantSpellDawg]

Seamus, if you do a quick google for EMILY's List, you'll find it supports pro-choice Democrats

Yes. If I learned anything from the West Wing it's that the Comm Director is in charge of getting the speeches written and controlling the White House message.

When that job is in the hands of someone who has made it their life's mission to obliterate any unborn life issues, my feathers get riled up.

[CountArach]

Seamus, if you do a quick google for EMILY's List, you'll find it supports pro-choice Democrats

You sound surprised... A pro-woman group supporting pro-choice people, who would have thought?

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

You sound surprised... A pro-woman group supporting pro-choice people, who would have thought?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminists_for_Life

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pro-life_feminism

Pro-life doesn't mean anti-woman.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Murat/TSM:

Hey guys, I wasn't saying I found Obama's stance on right-to-life acceptable, I was merely commenting that it was hardly surprising that someone with her skill set/political outlook would get tapped for that position. It doesn't make me any more/less upset with Obama on that issue. Short of him having a "road to Damascus" moment, he's going to pick someone with that frame of reference. I am going to oppose him (them) on that issue. Feels more of a "yeah, 'bout what I expected" moment to me.

[Strike For The South]

Obama in the prep room

ROFLCOPPTER

[Lemur]

Wow, that guy does the best Obama I've yet seen. SNL should hire him immediately.

[Kralizec]

That's uncanny...he even looks almost exactly like Obama (about 15-20 years younger), moreso than Fey looked like Palin.

[CountArach]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feminists_for_Life

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pro-life_feminism

Pro-life doesn't mean anti-woman.

Of course not, but Abortion is truly a women's issue. Being pro-life is far more likely to mean you are pro-feminist. The idea that a woman can make her own choices overlaps between the two positions. I personally find pro-life Feminism to be somewhat hypocritical in that way, because they are saying that women can make their own choices and decisions in life, but that the government should control their birth right.

[Evil_Maniac From Mars]

personally find pro-life Feminism to be somewhat hypocritical in that way, because they are saying that women can make their own choices and decisions in life, but that the government should control their birth right.

The women can control their birth right, the government isn't saying they have to become pregnant. It isn't hypocritical at all - these organizations simply may not see the baby as part of the woman, but as a being in itself. Therefore, they are protecting the rights of the being that happens to be inside the woman as well as the woman herself.

[ICantSpellDawg]

Of course not, but Abortion is truly a women's issue. Being pro-life is far more likely to mean you are pro-feminist. The idea that a woman can make her own choices overlaps between the two positions. I personally find pro-life Feminism to be somewhat hypocritical in that way, because they are saying that women can make their own choices and decisions in life, but that the government should control their birth right.

Saying that abortion is a woman's issue is begging the question. By deciding that you are deciding that the unborn is not worthy of consideration.

Try to separate birth control from Abortion in your mind. One is a woman's rights issue, the other is a human rights issue.

[Banquo's Ghost]

Steer back on topic, gentlemen.

Thank you kindly.

[Lemur]

I thought I was done talking about the 2008 Presidential Election, but I was wrong.

It's nice to see Joe the Plumber finding gainful employment, especially given that it turns out he wasn't a licensed plumber.

-edit-

As usual, Wonkette deals with the absurd and horrific quite well:

Unlicensed craftsman Samuel Wurzelbacher, who is also known as “Joe the Plumber,” is doing commercials for some cheap-*** electronics online scam store, in which he both stresses the importance of and promises to offer personal instructions for setting up an analog-to-digital teevee converter that the olds and the hobbits will all have to purchase before February 2009, or else they’ll miss new episodes of their favorite program, Numb3rs. [...]

We could type about this video for 500 hours. The production values are staggering. He reads in monotone. About the teevee. You see what’s going on here, right? The 24% of this country that will sob if a Palin/Plumber ticket doesn’t seize the White House in 2012 will do anything this man says. And he’s telling them to buy a space gizmo from a shady looking mail-in outlet if they want to have any chance whatsoever of not getting killed by Terrorists immediately.

[TevashSzat]

I've had a thought I've been pondering for a while now:

Why do all of these politicians always try to represent the "common man" or try to seem like "Joe the Plumber."

Come on, the mere fact that you are running for president and have a half decent shot at winning it means that you are anything but a "common man." I understand how they want to perceive as they understand the feelings and needs of the average person, but the thing is as politicans who have been in Washington for a few years, their perspective has already been changed. Yet again, their mere ability to be a politician distorts their perspective and seperates them from the "common man."

Another thing is why do the public want a president that seems like the common man? You are electing a person that will greatly impact the direction of the country for at least the next four years and is perhaps the most powerful person on the planet and you want a "common" guy to do it? I don't know about you, but I would move to a different country if some random cab driver or even Joe the Plumber gets the job.

The reason that don't everyone want a president who isn't just mundane? We want a charismatic leader, a smart one, someone who understands things that we don't. Thats why we have a government, because the average person cannot govern well.

Wanting a "common man" president is like wanting a mundane doctor. Can't you argue that a doctor who has much more in a common with a normal person will have greater empathy and thoughtfulness? I wouldn't care how different my doctor may be from myself. I just want the best doctor out there who went to a good school, studied alot harder than I did, and spent way too much money in medical school because I want to be cured and feel healthier, not be better comforted as I lay there dying.

Okay, semi-rant done there. Just some thoughts....

[Lemur]

Why do all of these politicians always try to represent the "common man" or try to seem like "Joe the Plumber."

It's just one of those quirks of democracy. You know in your head that the leadership should be comprised of the best and the brightest, but hey, aren't they kinda smug? Aren't they a lot like that egghead kid in class who always knew the answers and raised his hand before everybody else and went to a good college? And don't you kinda hate those elitist bastards?

That's how we wind up with either

1. Smart people who pretend to be folksy and common, or,
2. Genuinely ignorant anti-intellectuals

Sadly, the fakes are the better option here. (Examples: Mitt Romney, Barack Obama.)

The genuinely ignorant, incurious and common are just kind of ... whatever. They're great on your church charity board, but you really, really don't want the nation taking marching orders from them.

Or maybe you do.

(That video is insane, isn't it? What's tjhe story with the gay black Amish man thanking Sarah Palin for the "dignity she showed"?)

[Lord Winter]

Looks like Gates is staying as Secertary of Defence.
Kudos to Obama for keeping around a comptent guy instead of having to breif a new guy to the job just for the sake of partisen politics.

[Lemur]

Yet another Catholic pastor commands his flock to confess for the sin of not voting Republican. This is getting to be a trend ...

"If you are one of the 54 percent of Catholics who voted for a pro-abortion candidate, you were clear on his position and you knew the gravity of the question, I urge you to go to confession before receiving communion. Don't risk losing your state of grace by receiving sacrilegiously," the Rev. Joseph Illo, pastor of St. Joseph's, wrote in a letter dated Nov. 21.

The letter was sent to more than 15,000 members of the St. Joseph's parish. It is one of 34 parishes in the Stockton Diocese, which has more than 200,000 members in Stanislaus, San Joaquin and four other counties. [...]

A Greenville, S.C., priest told parishioners earlier this month that those who voted for Obama risked placing themselves "outside of the full communion of Christ's church" by their vote.

That priest's action was supported by his diocese, the Diocese of Charleston, S.C., which said the priest was simply asserting church teaching.

But the Most Rev. Stephen Blaire, bishop of the Stockton, Calif., Diocese, said he disagrees with Illo. He said Catholics should not feel compelled to disclose how they voted to their priest.

Blaire said Catholics who carefully weighed many issues and settled on a candidate, such as Obama, who was supportive of abortion rights, were not in need of confession. He said confession would be necessary "only if someone voted for a pro-abortion or pro-choice candidate -- if that's the reason you voted for them."

"Our position on pro-life is very important, but there are other issues," Blaire said. "No one candidate reflects everything that we stand for. I'm sure that most Catholics who voted were voting on economic issues.

"There were probably many priests, and I suspect many bishops, who voted for Obama."

[Lemur]

Looks like the graphic design from the '08 U.S. election is getting ripped off by the French. Curse you, Gallic plagiarists!

[Marshal Murat]

Lemur, what I want to know is why they create signs in English for a French general public?

[seireikhaan]

Well, if you notice the fine print above the slogan, that is actually in French.

[CrossLOPER]

Lemur, what I want to know is why they create signs in English for a French general public?

1. It's an effective slogan, best kept as is.
2. Dar sum reeeedin' peepole.

[Louis VI the Fat]

I must repeat what I asked Vladimir about that French army blog. How on earth did you come by this?
Are you all reading French blogs nowadays?

Sarkozy may desperately wish he was American, but even he realises that a president using an English slogan has the political life span of a US senator admitting he's been having a homosexual affair with Hugo Chavez. Or of an Arkansas governor who's been photographed with the works of Darwin. Or of a British PM who uses anti-terror laws to intimidate his parliamentary opposition. (Wait...not the last one. )

These 'Sarkobama' posters, as they have been dubbed, aren't official. They are quite the mystery!

They suddenly appeared all over Paris last week. Nobody has claimed them. The UMP was suspected at first, I myself suspect the Communist Party, both deny.
The slogans are leftist, environmentalist: 'Producing a clean ecological source of energy? Yes we can!', 'Create one million jobs? Yes we can!'
It is clearly a well-prepared and expensive campaign, not the work of a few students. Nobody has yet claimed responsibility. Does this mean there are more surprises in store then? Oh, the suspense of it all!!

[Hooahguy]

well, today is the run-off in GA for senate. everyones very antsy here.....

[CountArach]

well, today is the run-off in GA for senate. everyones very antsy here.....

Chambliss is polling anywhere from 3-6 points in public polling and I expect that will hold steady. That said the Democrats have an enthusiasm advantage that may be tough to overcome (Run-off generally have a 25% or so turnout). Also Martin will probably struggle to overcome the huge slump in African-American turnout.

[Hooahguy]

sexephil has something to say on obama

[CountArach]

Chambliss won, unsurprisingly.

Franken still in with a very strong chance after a very strong day's showing.

[Crazed Rabbit]

Oh, please no:
Bill Clinton mentioned for wife's Senate seat


CR

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Oh, please no:
Bill Clinton mentioned for wife's Senate seat


CR

Spouse serving out the balance of a resigned/deceased/promoted Senator is fairly traditional actually. Bill would make a pretty good senator too, very much in tune with NY politics. PLUS, from a party standpoint, he'd beat Giuliani like a drum in a re-elect should he wish to retain the seat, preventing a "steal" by the GOP.

[Lemur]

The Clintons are like some kind of unstoppable robot of doom. You know, the kind that you shoot with rockets and set on fire and dip in molten magma and it just keeps coming.

They're like the Terminator. But political.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Kinda wierd though, for me. Even though I'm closer to 45 than 44, there has been a Bush or a Clinton in the White House, the Administration, or the Cabinet for the entirety of my adult life! George 41 took the oath as VEEP in January of 1981 when I was a month short of my 17th birthday. With Barry now "Hot for Hillary" as SecState, this will continue!