Home > Politics > Who are you voting for?

Who are you voting for?

February 5, 2008

I really liked Obama, listening to him in radio debates with that odious miscreant Alan Keyes during their state senatorial campaigns.  He was steady, avoided macho talk, ignored personal attacks and addressed the subjects with informed clarity.  He has real qualifications to understand our constitution, which we need right now.  His Illinois senatorial record shows he can work with people who oppose him.  So if I can, I’ll vote for him today.

Thing is, when I first moved to this Illinois county, 25 or 26 years ago, I registered as a Republican, having voted for Ronald Reagan.  But Reagan made a Democrat or at least an independent out of me and – I can’t remember if I changed my registration to ‘Independent’.  So I might end up just voting on the local school levy issue and letting the rest go. It might also be difficult to vote at all, because I’m quite sick and it will depend how I feel by late afternoon.  I’m going back to bed and will see how it goes.

(And yes, I will thoroughly wash my hands before approaching the voting area.  And afterward too.)

Who are you planning to vote for, and why?  Who would completely ruin the country if elected?

Categories: Politics
  1. February 5, 2008 at 14:30 | #1

    As of right now Obama would get my vote also.  I won’t go into why—just that he is the man right now.

  2. February 5, 2008 at 14:32 | #2

    Who are you planning to vote for, and why?  Who would completely ruin the country if elected?

    Is that a rhetorical question? Huckabee of course!

    I’m gonna go with Obama. He’s the only candidate that doesn’t sound like a nut when he talks, understands the Constitution, hasn’t been completely bought by special interests, understands the needs of less politically popular groups like Community Colleges, and has pretty good ideas of what the country should be doing right now.

    That’s all for now.

  3. Me
    February 5, 2008 at 18:42 | #3

    I’m voting for the republicans, on the off chance they could win with some help from Diebold.

    The best way to get the US to turn progressive is to put Republicans—particularly the current ilk, oligarch’s and religious nutniks—back into power. They’s the party of fiscal responsibility, small government and constitution defending and I aim to let them carry their policies even further.

    Eight years, is not nearly enough to radicalize everyone.

    Plus, I really likes it when politicians say, “…the interests of the American people…”, because if they didn’t, we’d never know whose interests they was representing.

  4. February 5, 2008 at 18:56 | #4

    I don’t think anyone could “completely ruin the country if elected” (heck, Dubya’s done his darnedest, and it’s still not quite ruined).

    That said, of the “big” candidates, Huckabee, most likely, would be the biggest danger.  If we go with just the top two in each party, I’d actually have to say McCain (for a variety of reasons I’ll likely go on and on about should he get the GOP nomination).

  5. February 5, 2008 at 19:41 | #5

    It would be Hillary, if I weren’t registered as an Independent.  I like Obama and am more than comfortable with either as the next President.  But Obama’s claims on his positions, voting record and accomplishments have been a bit, shall we say, “enhanced”.

    Hillary’s rep as polarizing is largely undeserved, and a product of the right-wing-dominated media spin machine.

  6. February 5, 2008 at 19:48 | #6

    Here’s a great reason why I’m voting Obama and not Hillary or McCain… Apparently Obama is the only candidate that actively seeks to not accept money from lobbyists.

  7. February 5, 2008 at 20:52 | #7

    Well I’m back; thanks everyone for the comments and please feel free to leave new ones.  MrsDoF hauled my worthless butt down to the polling place where voted.  Probably won[t make it into work tomorrow either.

  8. EdK
    February 5, 2008 at 22:45 | #8

    Obama and Paul are the only ones I really respect.  Even though I disagree with a lot of what both have to say, and Paul certainly couldn’t deliver on his plans to dismantle the IRS, etc.

    Whoever gets elected is going to find themselves constantly stressed out to the max due to the policies of the last ten years, and the unwillingness of elected officials to face reality.  But then again, the American public is guilty of reality aversion as well.

    Wasn’t there a Heinlein (?) novel about a theocratic president coming to power in 2012?  If the next president can’t fix things, that may be a possibility as “America turns to God”.

  9. February 5, 2008 at 22:45 | #9

    I made it there and back, too, though the caucus turnout was significantly huger than the organizers had originally anticipated.

  10. February 6, 2008 at 00:33 | #10

    Heinlein’s Revolt in 2100 has a revolution against the last of a line of “Prophets,” founded by backwoods fundamentalist Nehemiah Scudder in, yes, 2012.

  11. February 6, 2008 at 14:18 | #11

    *Shudder*… That is easily the scariest political novel I’ve ever read.  The fact that Huckabee is a realistic candidate for president only makes it more frightening.

    There will be a lot of unrealistic pressure on our next president to fix all the damage done by the current one in, oh, his first 100 days in office.  But just the debt alone will take more than a generation. 

    With some chauffeur help from MrsDoF I did manage to haul my worthless butt down to the polling place, where I had no problem voting for Obama.  Since I insisted on a paper ballot I had to ask for a Democratic or Republican one, so much for confidentiality.  But I guess the deal is they figure nobody’s going to sacrifice the chance to vote in their own primary just to screw with the other guy’s. 

    I also voted in favor of a school levy – not something I really know a lot about but the vote was simply to reinforce MrsDoF’s vote in favor.  She works for the school district and hopefully knows more about it than I do. Looks like it’ll cost me about an extra $50 a year.

  12. EdK
    February 7, 2008 at 21:57 | #12

    If it passes …

  13. February 8, 2008 at 19:51 | #13

    Obama doesn’t take corporate money?

    http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/03/us/politics/03exelon. html?scp=2&sq=exelon&st=nyt

  14. February 9, 2008 at 09:55 | #14

    I said lobbyists. All candidates take money from corporations and would never argue that point. Also that link didn’t work for me…

  15. Patrick
    February 16, 2008 at 15:12 | #15

    I voted for Obama in my primary (I live in Maryland).  I also worked at the polls that day (February 12).  Maryland has a closed primary, so you had to have been registered in the party you wanted to vote for, unlike many other states where you can choose which party you’re going to vote in when you get to the polls.

    Needless to say, this made some people very upset.  It’s their own fault though, Maryland sent out material months ago telling people exactly this information, had they bothered to read it.  It was a freaking insert, one folded page in the mailbox, not a 120 page voting manual.  It had your registered party printed right next to your mailing address.

    But I digress.  With regards to confidentiality, we did have to ask (confirm) with each voter which party they were registered for.  It’s unavoidable in primaries since you get a specific ballot and we have to make sure you get the right one (even electronically).

Comments are closed.