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Make Your Mark
Jan
10
the decider…
Filed Under Barack Obama, Democrats, Dennis Kucinich, John Edwards, Presidential Debates, Primaries, bill maher, get informed!, hillary clinton, presidential candidates, republicans, selectsmart.org | Leave a Comment
So, it’s coming down to the wire around here. My primary is coming up next month, and I’m still on the fence. I’m having trouble finding the nuances of difference between Clinton, Obama and Edwards, and I have to say, the debates are really helping.
I posted a quiz site a while back, and I just took the quiz again. My results were the same. If my theoretical candidate gets 100%, Barack is #2 at 78%. With Kucinich coming in 3rd, Hillary coming in 7th and Edwards coming in 9th. So there you go.
But then I’ve been watching the AMC series Mad Men and I can’t help but be grateful to Hillary and women like her for women’s lib and I think I’d love to see a woman president. Can I vote for her because of that? Do I really prefer what Obama stands for more? I’m not sure…I liked his book a lot. Especially what he had to say about ending the generational poverty in poor areas. But I also agree with Edwards “no special interest” rantings.
What I’d really like to do is squish them into one person.
As for the republicans, I just like to squish them.
Anyway, take the quiz. It’s fun. And informative. After you’re done, you can post your candidate preferences on a forum. I clicked around a few and a everyone I looked at was the polar opposite of mine. It just goes to show you that what Bill Maher says is true, we are like two separate countries voting for two separate presidents. (If you don’t have HBO, like me, you can download Real Time with Bill Maher on iTunes for free!)
I wonder if anyone will really be able to bridge that gap - or cross the aisle.
Oct
9
YouChoose ‘08
Filed Under CNN, Politics, Presidential Debates, YouTube | Leave a Comment
If you haven’t seen the YouChoose ‘08 site on YouTube, you should check it out. You can pick an issue, and then watch a video of each candidate giving their views on the issue. If the candidate hasn’t posted a response, their icon will remain grey. Or you can go by candidate and watch all their videos. OR, you can post a question, and have it answered by a candidate! I’d love to hear from anyone that’s actually posted a video question and received a response.
You can also post responses to the candidates’ answers. Here’s a response to the question “What should our energy policy be?” Embedded video was unavailable, but here’s the link.
May
24
Polarizing issues
Filed Under Barack Obama, Chris Dodd, Democrats, Iraq, Politics, Presidential Debates, get informed!, john mccain, life, live green, presidential candidates, recycle, republicans, soldiers, taxes, war | Leave a Comment
Pro Choice or Pro Life? Gay Marriage? New taxes? Welfare reform?
I recently had a very long conversation with my friend regarding abortion. She has long voted for Republicans simply because she’s pro life, and in line with the leaders of her church, she votes for extreme conservatives. She also took advantage of programs available to her when she had her children such as no cost health care for her delivery (provided by the government) as well as WIC and food stamps. Her husband owned a small business and they had a few very lean years. The fact that the people she was voting for were basically against those programs intended for low income families never really dawned on her or mattered to her.
So here’s my real question? Do the real, daily-life issues matter to voters? Or only the big, sensational issues?
For example, the cost of health care really effects my family. We have high deductibles for our PPO, and end up spending a lot out of pocket. We pay into Social Security every month weeks, and yet, there’s about 100% possibility that we’ll never see that money again. Same with Medicare. We have a young son, and we’d like for there to be quality public education for him and some natural resources available for his grandchildren. Likewise, we pay a lot in taxes and we’d like to see that used more wisely - if not, then give it back. We could use it to save for our retirement, since we won’t have Social Security.
What I’m saying is that I’m glad to know where the candidates stand on issues like abortion. It helps me to understand what kinds of Supreme Court Justices they would appoint, the kind of legislation they might pass/veto. However, I wish less time was spent during the debates on these polarizing topics. I want to know what these people are going to do about issues that effect our everyday lives.
One last topic…Bring the troops home or stay the course? Some candidates (Obama, Dodd) say that they’re going to bring the troops home immediately, while some are sticking to the “stay the course” doctrine (McCain)…do you think this will be a deciding factor in the election? Personally, I want the troops home yesterday - three years ago, even. But what I’d rather hear them talk about is how they’re going to repair the US’s reputation and standing in the world. How we exit Iraq will be a part of that, but I’d like to hear more specific plans for diplomacy.
May
18
2nd Republican Debate, Pt. 1
Filed Under Duncan Hunter, Fox News, Iraq, Jim Gilmore, MSNBC, Marine Corps, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Politics, Presidential Debates, Republican Debate, Ron Paul, Rudy Giuliani, Sam Brownback, Tom Tancredo, Tommy Thompson, john mccain, marines, presidential candidates, republicans, taxes, war | 6 Comments
Paid for, presented by and moderated by Fox News. That alone was troubling to me. But as they went through the many Republican candidates, I was struck by amount of public service - both in state and federal government. Impressive amount of government experience.
I’m typing these notes as I watch the debates on msnbc.com, so bear with me if it’s a little incoherent or long winded. You can skip around to the different headings if you’re not interested in the topics. Also, these are just my opinions as I watch this 2nd debate. I encourage everyone to watch the debates, and form their own opinions!
Read more
May
10
Sierra Club info on candidates…
Filed Under Presidential Debates, presidential candidates | Leave a Comment
Here’s a good link that shows research the Sierra Club has done into each candidate. They are not endorsing anyone yet, but there’s good info here.
South Carolina Sierra Club Chapter 2008 Candidates Info
May
9
Presidential Debates on MSNBC
Filed Under Barack Obama, Bill Richardson, Brian Williams, Chris Dodd, Chris Matthews, Democrat Debate, Democrats, Dennis Kucinich, John Edwards, MSNBC, Mike Gravel, Presidential Debates, Uncategorized, hillary clinton, presidential candidate book challenge, presidential candidates | Leave a Comment
First of all, if you haven’t seen the debates, I hope you’ll go to MSNBC and watch them. They’re broken up into short segments, so they’re easy to view. (Although I wish you could rewind.)
I also want to preface this by saying that although I liked Brian Williams and Chris Matthews, I felt that there was obviously more time and questions given to some candidates, and some candidates were clearly ignored. For example, I would have loved to hear more from Fmr. Sen. Mike Gravel on the Democratic Debate.
I would like to say that I’m on the fence, and giving both sides - dem and rep - equal time. But I’m not. I watched the whole Dem. debate, and although I was sick of Iraq and terrorism by the end of it, I was interested in what each one had to say, possibly with the exception of Gov. Bill Richardson. More on that later.
As I started the Republican Debate, I was instanly annoyed with their answers. Then as I moved onto the segment concerning abortion, and they all said, (paraphrasing, of course) “down with Roe v. Wade” - with the exception of a wishy-washy stance from Giuliani, I couldn’t watch anymore. There’s no way I’d vote for any of them.
I will go back and watch because I want to know what they stand for. I will go back and watch because I’m sure they will make good points, have valid ideas, and offer solutions that Democrats will not. But not today.
Here’s my snapshot take on each of the Democratic candidates (links go to their official election sites)…after the jump.
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