Let's get one thing out of the way right off the bat. The American experiment can withstand a jug-eared socialist as president. We've already survived a similarly appearing peanut farmer from Georgia with not dissimilar views. Old Grandpa Mulder's phrase comes to mind regarding them both; "smart in the classroom, dumb in the bathroom."
So why should you an I vote for this lightweight Jos. A. Banks model wannabe?
We have to for our children. (cue Meryl Streep crying) No seriously, are we to allow our children to grow up and live in the racist society that we live within today? I'm not going to argue whether it's racist or not. I'm not going to argue whether it's just a bit racist or a lot racist. And I don't much care what you even think about racism in America. None of that is an issue.
There is a professional racism industry in America. You all know of whom I speak. And, like it or not, those people have influence. If they didn't they wouldn't be able to extort money from America's largest corporations the way they do. And they have an audience. Maybe not a majority of black or white America, but a significantly sized audience that believes whatever the current party line is that is being spouted.
Worse than the race-baiters is our media which knows that nothing sells like a good race riot. Exhibit A: the OJ trial and aftermath. Every 18 months as regular as clockwork one of the mainstream press outlets publishes or broadcasts some type of "special" on "race in America". It's the same article over and over. Progress is being made but not enough and lingering effects, etc...you know the drill.
The Democrat nomination is not enough. Obama must be elected and he must serve his whole four years unencumbered by any type of influence as is ascribed to Dick Cheney regarding the current president.
If this does not happen we will never be rid of the useless and continuous dialogue on race that we are currently saddled with. We're long past talking about race and we, individually, know exactly what to do about it. Nothing. Nothing as in we hire people for jobs with no consideration for race and we deal with other races as if they were our own assuming they share our basic American values. (not a given, anymore) Talk is cheap and it's time that we start looking at our actual actions. But there is a movement, a powerful and, to some, persuasive movement that will not let go of the racial bone. It's always midnight in the garden of evil and these guys are bound to see something, even where none exists.
We live perhaps in the most superficial of ages. Half the populace believes that there's absolutely nothing worth dying for, much less defending. Half the populace has real concerns about the other half's native intelligence. Frankly, fascism in it's root forms has rarely been as popular to a wide segment of Americans than ever it has before. That Obama is able to superficially channel an American president who died long before a majority of current voters were even born merely makes the point further for the superficiality of life today, especially in politics.
So, Obama's gotta win. Then we can all heave up a sigh of relief, say, "been there, done that" and move on. If he picks Bill Richardson for veep we'll have hit the daily double, knocking off the La Raza kook element as well. But we must do this or we're going to have another fifty years of either investigating the racist nature of America or staring at the belly button lint we've found. I can live with either result-I'm over fifty-but I'd like for my daughter to live in an America that not only represents the Founder's dreams but ML King's dreams as well. And that America is colorblind.
So vote Obama. Because, if you don't, about 20% of you out there are going to be classified as "the problem" (otherwise known as "the racist element") and the re-education camps of political correctness, as administered by Hollywood and the media, are going to really get cranked up looking for a scapegoat for a lost election by the first black man to run on a major ticket. And those twits in Yurrup will decide we need some more lecturing on matters of sensitivity as well. And you really don't want to have to listen to the French any more than necessary, do you? Vote for Obama because he's black. I can't give you another reason to do so. Just do it. Or you're going to wish you had. It's only four years, we can do that on a dare. Most of you have underwear older than that.
And once we elect a black man to office we can stop talking about how a black man might never be elected and we might be able to focus on some of the really important duties of government-like figuring out where all our social security money went to, and how they're going to pay it back. Or that the world's second largest religion wants us all to assume room temperature as soon as possible.
__________________ The brain is merely a knot that keeps the spinal cord from unraveling.
Last edited by sailaway21 : 08-05-2008 at 02:05 AM.
I'm voting Democrat because I believe the government will do a better job of spending the money I earn than I would.
I'm voting Democrat because freedom of speech is fine as long as nobody is offended by it.
I'm voting Democrat because when we pull out of Iraq I trust that the bad guys will stop what they're doing because they now think we're good people.
I'm voting Democrat because I believe that people who can't tell us if it will rain on Friday CAN tell us that the polar ice caps will melt away in ten years if I don't start driving a Prius.
I'm voting Democrat because I'm not concerned about the slaughter of millions of babies so long as we keep all death row inmates alive.
I'm voting Democrat because I believe that business should not be allowed to make profits for themselves. They need to break even and give the rest away to the government for redistribution as Government sees fit.
I'm voting Democrat because I believe three or four pointy headed elitist liberals need to rewrite the Constitution every few days to suit some fringe kooks who would NEVER get their agendas past the voters.
I'm voting Democrat because I believe that when the terrorists don't have to hide from us over there, they will come over here and I won't have any guns in the house to fight them off with.
I'm voting Democrat because I love the fact that I can now marry whatever I want. I've decided to marry my horse.
I'm voting Democrat because I believe oil companies' profits of 4% on a gallon of gas are obscene but the government taxing the same gallon of gas at 15% isn't.
Makes ya wonder why anyone would EVER vote Republican , now doesn't it?
Obviously I will inflict the ridicule of the Donkey, but I actually like Obama. I also like McCain and have liked him for a long time. Obama is a bit of a unknown - but I wonder if that is really a bad thing???
My real issue with McCain is whether he will see the end of his presidency. So am I voting for his VP? I will tell you what, if he somehow got Colin Powel or Rice to run as his VP, he would certainly get my vote. If Obama gets Hillary to run as his VP, he certainly WILL NOT get my vote. A lot more seems to be riding on VP's this election than in the past.
At any rate, in the past, I have often voted against one candidate which caused me to vote for another. This will be the first year I actually vote for a candidate - though I am not convinced which one that will be yet. I honestly feel that either way, we have two good choices, and the prospects are bright. That is a nice change from the past.
I personally don't like Obama and I wonder why the fact that he has a white mother isn't played up more. I would never vote for him and I hate Bush and all that he stands for. But you guys kills me with how we have had almost 8 years of Bush and it is still all the democrats fault.
__________________ S/V Scheherazade
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Tony Orlando stand in and Burt Reynold's stunt double.
You seem completely oblivious to the role of the Republican party in promoting racism in our politics. The republican party chair even apologized for doing it and you still cant see it (or so it seems) If you doubt what I say then before you dismiss it read this
Note that this article is from USA Today, hardly a left wing rag. It is this history that makes McCain's protestations of innocence on race matters ring hollow to many people. Of COURSE he doesnt come right out and say racist things to the media. He doesnt have to - The history of the Southern Strategy makes it crystal clear what is going on to anyone willing to simply listen to what your own party leaders apologize for.
I dont give a pass to the likes of Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson (though Al has a better sense of humor than most politicians). But there is an elephant in your own party and it isnt the one on the bumper stickers.
"I'm voting Democrat because I believe three or four pointy headed elitist liberals need to rewrite the Constitution every few days to suit some fringe kooks who would NEVER get their agendas past the voters."
"I'm voting Democrat because I believe that when the terrorists don't have to hide from us over there, they will come over here and I won't have any guns in the house to fight them off with."
They DONT have to hide from us over there. Thats because Bush quit going after them when he decided to take his eye off the ball and invade Iraq instead of getting Osama. No doubt you will find a way to blame Dems for it but it was Bush who failed to get Osama to this day. I put him at the top of my terrorist list. Where do you put him?
"I'm voting Democrat because I love the fact that I can now marry whatever I want. I've decided to marry my horse."
Really, sailking, if you feel the need to marry your horse then I wish the happy couple all the best. I sort of wonder about the mechanics though .....
But more seriously, how would you marrying your horse hurt anyone but the horse?
The history of the Southern Strategy makes it crystal clear what is going on to anyone willing to simply listen to what your own party leaders apologize for.
The Myth of ‘the Southern Strategy’
By CLAY RISEN
Published: December 10, 2006 Everyone knows that race has long played a decisive role in Southern electoral politics. From the end of Reconstruction until the beginning of the civil rights era, the story goes, the national Democratic Party made room for segregationist members — and as a result dominated the South. But in the 50s and 60s, Democrats embraced the civil rights movement, costing them the white Southern vote. Meanwhile, the Republican Party successfully wooed disaffected white racists with a “Southern strategy” that championed “states’ rights.”
It’s an easy story to believe, but this year two political scientists called it into question. In their book “The End of Southern Exceptionalism,” Richard Johnston of the University of Pennsylvania and Byron Shafer of the University of Wisconsin argue that the shift in the South from Democratic to Republican was overwhelmingly a question not of race but of economic growth. In the postwar era, they note, the South transformed itself from a backward region to an engine of the national economy, giving rise to a sizable new wealthy suburban class. This class, not surprisingly, began to vote for the party that best represented its economic interests: the G.O.P. Working-class whites, however — and here’s the surprise — even those in areas with large black populations, stayed loyal to the Democrats. (This was true until the 90s, when the nation as a whole turned rightward in Congressional voting.)
The two scholars support their claim with an extensive survey of election returns and voter surveys. To give just one example: in the 50s, among Southerners in the low-income tercile, 43 percent voted for Republican Presidential candidates, while in the high-income tercile, 53 percent voted Republican; by the 80s, those figures were 51 percent and 77 percent, respectively. Wealthy Southerners shifted rightward in droves but poorer ones didn’t.
To be sure, Shafer says, many whites in the South aggressively opposed liberal Democrats on race issues. “But when folks went to the polling booths,” he says, “they didn’t shoot off their own toes. They voted by their economic preferences, not racial preferences.” Shafer says these results should give liberals hope. “If Southern politics is about class and not race,” he says, “then they can get it back.”
I wonder sck5, is there anything negative in the US that ISN'T the fault of the GOP?
For instance, what did the Great Society do for blacks, besides create generations of single parent, welfare families?
Which party in the White House has appointed more blacks and other minorities?
Which party in the White House has done more to help end disease and poverty in Africa?
And which party was it that made it possible to pass the civil rights legislation of the '60's?
Does racism exist in this country? Of course it does. It exists where ever there are people different than other people. Whether by race, creed, gender, or anything other form of difference. To try to blame one political party for it's existence is disingenuous at best, if not down right slanderous.
Will electing a black person to the Presidency end racism. Of course not. No more than electing black officials to state or local positions ended it in those places. It is only time to elect someone, when they are the most qualified for the office, not because they will be the "first" of some demographic to be elected.
__________________
John
Ontario 32 - Aria
Free, is the heart, that lives not, in fear.
Full, is the spirit, that thinks not, of falling.
True, is the soul, that hesitates not, to give.
Alive, is the one, that believes, in love. JCP
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