US elections

Anomica

Anomica

Trooper
Just out of curiousity, how many of you US citizens voted yesterday? In almost every country in the western world less and less people actually vote in the elections, thus having a say and taking their part in the democracy that so many people around the world fight and die for. There is a problem in Sweden, where the number of voters have been falling constantly for 20-odd years, so I'm just a bit curious. I don't care which party you vote for, only if you voted or not and why - if you're willing to say.
 
The senate is still undecided, due to Montana and Virginia. Those states' races were so close that laws requiring mandatory recounts came into play. The Democrats need to win both to win the Senate (giving them 51 or 100 seats) while the GOP needs only one of them (50 seats plus VPOTUS's tie breaking vote)

Due to the stakes involved, we probably won't know the final outcome for at least a day.

Any American who voted Republican this time is a tool. Even if you love Bush, you gotta admit the GOP needed a swift kick in a nuts.
 
Can we expect a Florida type of re-count like what happened a couple of Federal elections ago?  I hope not.  :down:
[This is a response to Duke's post]

<*Reads Polaris' post.  Sigh.>

Next Federal elections should be interesting.  Who takes over where Bush leaves?  How to fix the Afghanistan and Iraq problem?  Tough decisions.  I don't envy the position of the next US president.

Anomica said:
Just out of curiousity, how many of you US citizens voted yesterday? In almost every country in the western world less and less people actually vote in the elections, thus having a say and taking their part in the democracy that so many people around the world fight and die for. There is a problem in Sweden, where the number of voters have been falling constantly for 20-odd years, so I'm just a bit curious. I don't care which party you vote for, only if you voted or not and why - if you're willing to say.
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I don't know about Swedish voting or general lack thereof, but in the US most people who do not vote stay home because they're not impressed with their party's platform.  Generally, voters do not switch parties; the voting results are either 'for my party' or nothing.  In other words, apathy, which is a dangerous mentality, is not a major problem in American politics.  At least this is what I gather from watching Washington experts being interviewed by Canadian media in these last couple of days.
 
From the way I understand it, Kahny, there's about 20% for either major party who will vote that way no matter what (or not at all). The remaining 60% are the ones who aren't affiliated with any party and are particularly finicky. That's why the candidates spent so much to get their messages/attacks out.

Next President of the United States (if my dreams com true):
townhall.jpg
 
Genghis Khan said:
<*Reads Polaris' post.  Sigh.>
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Oh, don't feel bad. I live in the most Democratic county in the state of Michigan, so my vote never counts anyway... ;)

Besides, I've pretty much heard everything on the Internet about my political views, from about 2000 onward. About three years ago I stopped arguing with people about it; I find a policy of 'live and let live' to be a lot more effective than political debate anyway. At least in this country, people seem to have their minds made up at a young age, and never change, regardless of what happens (no, I'm not just talking about my party, either).

But I digress. Like I said, life goes on. We'll see how things turn out, huh?  :bigsmile:
 
The automatic recounts in Montana and Virginia are nothing but a legally required formality. The Democratic candidates were ahead by several thousand votes, and no one disputes the method of counting the ballots. If you compare to Florida in 2000, the margin was only a few hundred votes and there were multiple possible ways to count the votes.

And regarding Obama as president: NO. Not yet. The guy doesn't have sufficient experience. He's only been a Senator for 2 years. 2016 might be a good year for him, but 2008 is too soon. Even Bush had 6 years as governor of Texas behind him. And don't tell me about Obama's 8 years in the Illinois state legislature. That's not a big enough political stage to count.
 
And here I thought the only qualification you needed to be President of the USA was 50%+1 of the electoral college vote.
 
Anomica said:
Just out of curiousity, how many of you US citizens voted yesterday? In almost every country in the western world less and less people actually vote in the elections, thus having a say and taking their part in the democracy that so many people around the world fight and die for. There is a problem in Sweden, where the number of voters have been falling constantly for 20-odd years, so I'm just a bit curious. I don't care which party you vote for, only if you voted or not and why - if you're willing to say.
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if the elections were to change something my friend, they would be illegal

it's sad
 
IronDuke said:
And here I thought the only qualification you needed to be President of the USA was 50%+1 of the electoral college vote.
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To be president? Yes.

To be a good president? No. More is required.
 
____no5 said:
if the elections were to change something my friend, they would be illegal

it's sad
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.....(after got informed for the results up to now)

but it's more sad, that after all these years of republican lies, still the victory of democratics is half.....it's very very sad
 
SinisterMinisterX said:
To be president? Yes.

To be a good president? No. More is required.
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Come on SMX.  We've seen people that have some "experience" (shithead Bush comes to mind :innocent:),  but perhaps we could give the "inexperienced" a chance.  Don't forget,  once you get involved in politics you're drawn in the mud no matter what,  so if this guy hasn't had too much experience,  he may be a little "cleaner".  I do realize though,  that this means he is more vulnerable to "bad influences",  but what the hell?  <_<
 
Perhaps I should clarify my position regarding Barack Obama. I believe the man could make an excellent president at some future time. However, I feel that Senators who run for president should have at least one full Senate term under their belts (preferably at least two). The reason for this is that it takes a few years to build up a large number of political alliances among the other members of Congress, and these alliances are the primary advantage that a Senator brings to the presidency. 2008 is just too soon for Obama. 2012 is possible, 2016 is even better.

The standards are different for state governors, or those who come from the military. They have executive experience as their primary asset.

Regarding Bush's experience as Texas governor: his behavior then was substantially different from the way he has acted as president. As governor, he had a reputation for reaching out to Democrats and forging bipartisan alliances to get things done. Had he continued this behavior as president, he might have been all right.

There is one argument in favor of Obama running in 2008: the Democrats don't have many strong candidates to choose from. In a weak field, Obama is a better option.
 
IronDuke said:
From the way I understand it, Kahny, there's about 20% for either major party who will vote that way no matter what (or not at all). The remaining 60% are the ones who aren't affiliated with any party and are particularly finicky. That's why the candidates spent so much to get their messages/attacks out.
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I was essentially quoting a Washington-based political researcher when I said that.  That is not to say that your comment is wrong, by the way.  :ok:

PolarisSLBM said:
At least in this country, people seem to have their minds made up at a young age, and never change, regardless of what happens (no, I'm not just talking about my party, either).
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This is similar to my above post.  Also, according to my psychology classes in university: a) political views are predominately formed by one's parents; b) they are not likely to change.

I did not believe in either of these premises and still do not.  No offense.  ;)

PolarisSLBM said:
But I digress. Like I said, life goes on. We'll see how things turn out, huh?  :bigsmile:
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You're right about that.  The "big issues like Iraq" will not be over once Bush leaves the office, which to non-Americans at least is the main reason for not liking him.  According to CNN, Americans thought "Iraq" was the 4th most important issue with "lying and deceit by gov't" being #1.
 
I voted yesterday and mostly voted Democrat with a few Republicans in the mix.
 
____no5 said:
if the elections were to change something my friend, they would be illegal

it's sad
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I still believe in this saying, but I'm very happy.....The people of US has dissapointed me some years now with it's elections behaviour......Now I see young people to go left something that is hopefull

I hope Democratics didn't promised things they can't do, because if it will happen so, a big part of this wave will be quickly dissapointed.....It was time for US, to start to get the sympathy of the rest of the world !!!....The youth of US did got the point !!! Bravo!!

ps : the youth allways does !!

ps#2 : ....so the below self quoting is not valable any more

____no5 said:
.....(after got informed for the results up to now)

but it's more sad, that after all these years of republican lies, still the victory of democratics is half.....it's very very sad
Click to expand...
 
The anti Republican stance shown here is worrying to say the least - especially in the light of what happened in January.

Do we really need to return to a forced, laboured style of politics? The US has already been dragged through so much unnecessary mud. Are we not in this for the long haul.

As Bill O'Reilly so wisely put it: it is vital that we win in Iraq.
 
Why is it worrying? Do you immediately freak out when someone doesn't agree with your point of view?
 
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