Obama back in the pulpit

[Lainer]

Originally Posted by Stefan F

EDIT: about McCain not being conservative enough, why did only 15ish percent vote for Ron Paul?

Because the other 85% is made up of Neo-con retards....

[stylie]

Originally Posted by Lobo

Yeah!, and now can you tell me what the hell does it mean?

As soon as he starts speaking english... oooooooh yeah!!!

[[WDW]Megaraptor]

Well Stefan it's interesting to hear about Belgian politics...here in America our political campaigns start 2 years before the actual election. And the tactics used by both sides leave America's political landscape looking like the aftermath of a nuclear war. As such, the only way we Americans can keep our sanity is to viciously mock our politicians, especially the ones we disagree with. If you've ever seen American political satire shows like The Daily Show, Colbert Report or Saturday Night Live you'll know what I mean.

As for who I support, I have supported McCain pretty much since I learned he was running for president. I thought he was the best candidate back when there were 20-some people running. So obviously I still support him now.

McCain definitely isn't a third Bush term, in fact, McCain has been the most visible critic of Bush from within the Republican Party over the last 8 years.

As for my political affiliation I am not a member of a political party.

As for Ron Paul, I don't think he got 15% of the Republican vote...more like 7-8%. And the real reason he didn't get more is because he's a nutter. His foreign policy views got a lot of publicity, but his other views are where he gets his nutter credentials. He wants to abolish the Food and Drug Administration (which regulates food and medicine safety in the US) because "people can make their own choices about what medicines are safe." He also wants end virtually all government social programs, and to abolish income tax. He also wants to put the US dollar back on the gold standard, withdraw America from the United Nations and kick the UN out of New York. He's also very anti-immigrant, almost xenophobically so. During his campaign, it came out that a newsletter had been published in his name in the 1990s which was full of anti-government conspiracy theories, stuff about Jews and freemasons secretly controlling the world economy, racist stuff about black and hispanic people and support for paramilitary militias, some of which were virtually in armed revolt against the US government in the 1990s. IIRC some of Ron Paul's own writings were published in this paper, but Ron Paul claims he didn't know what was going on in his name. He also accepted money from neo-Nazis and many neo-Nazis and KKK types strongly supported his candidacy.

[Stefan F]

I agree on how elections are one big smear campaign, i honestly only follow it for the past 8 years, but the bush kerry thing pretty much had it all.
Its also the reason i support Obama now, Hilary Clinton had almost a 1:1 policy strategy as obama, but she played the game very dirty with hate and smear ads where i thought... is this really needed? it can only backfire. And big props to how obama handled it, he would react firm to any acusation asap so the media wouldnt blow it up.

I cant help but see McCain do the same thing, why not point out his policies?i have a real hard time finding anything big he would change about current policies. And as i said when linking his youtube, 50% is hate ads, 50% is victory in iraq ads, i mean is this it? he is going for president with those things?

McCain was indeed critic of bush 8 years ago, calling him names and more, as i said before over those 8 years it got less and less, to the point where his policies are streamlined with Bush, and Bush even endorses McCain, and by the amount of mistakes he makes when talking about foreign policies.... i really have my doubts.

About ron paul, he really had some uhm not so common ideas indeed, although besides foreign policies i do agree with the dollar being equal to gold.
About the so called racist remarks by him, that wasnt more then an attempt to discredit him, it was indeed in one of those magazines, but he didnt write it, i dont think anyone still thinks he did after there was zero evidence.

Again raptor i sometimes wonder what sort of media you watch when i read the last part, cause i dont know if you try to discredit him or trying to assume he supports the KKK?
When donations are made through paypal for example, by the millions(?) of donations there isnt a guy behind the computer asking where the donation comes from."hey its the KKK here, can we donate?" -ron paul "yea sure i got a racist magazine!".
If there are donations comming in they are gladly accepted, if they would need to do a background story check on every single donation...also he refused to give the money back i believe
Just to show what kind of big deal media tries to make out of stuff, and has alot of people sniffing through those candidates their past trying to find SOMETHING.
Al they had to do was inform the public about his policies, and the public will decide with their vote if its a good idea or not, not that hard to do.

[jumjum]

Originally Posted by Lobo

...And I can't care less if Charles Manson likes Obama, it means crap and is just one of your fear tales for the Halloween campfires, old chap.

You'd be right if that was the case. But you're ignoring the question of whether Obama likes him back. Obama is still Bill Ayers friend, and Bill Ayers is still Obama's friend. When given the chance by tame newsmen within the last 90 days to 'splain his friendship away like he did with The Good Reverend Jeremiah "God Damn" Wright and Calypso Louie Farrakhan, he stuck to his guns and 'lowed as how Billy was good folks and his buddy, so leave them alone.

Ayers and Dohrn aren't regular folks - they're still red hot to bring down Amerikkka; it consumes them. Such people do not have time, or any respect, for "reasonable", "rational", "moderate" people - much less as friends. Their friends are as filled with contempt for their country as they are. That's why they're friends.

[Moose12]

Jummy, do you honestly believe that Obama is friends with Charles Manson?

[[WDW]Megaraptor]

Yeah Hillary is pretty much hated by at least half of the US population...that's why I laugh at people who think Obama should pick her as his VP.

But don't get Obama wrong, like any politician I'm sure he can play dirty when it benefits him.

As for where McCain differs from Bush, well, McCain wants to strictly ban waterboarding of detainees in US custody and he wrote and proposed legislation to ban this (which was eventually passed). He also wants to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay. He also opposed Bush's attempts to amend the US Constitution to ban gay marriage. He also has been a prominent figure in spearheading reasonable immigration reform, rather than the "let's kick all them Mexicans out" ideas that have taken hold in the Republican Party as of late.

McCain basically has a long history of bucking his party's political platforms whenever he thinks it is necessary and he also has a long history of working with Democrats to solve many problems.

If you want to talk about McCain's policies versus Obama's, a good place to start is energy policy.

McCain wants to end government subsidies of corn ethanol because it's driving up world food prices (people are starving), and because corn ethanol isn't a good source for fuel anyways. It takes more than a gallon of oil to make a gallon of ethanol, plus ethanol only has 2/3 of the energy of gas so you have to burn more and get lower fuel mileage. Plus, it would take 2 1/2 times the current farmland in the United States to supply only 50% of America's energy needs.

McCain also has the nifty out of the box idea to offer a $300 million prize for the first company or person to come up with a new design of battery which can power a car and meets certain standards making it far better than any electric car batter around today. He also wants to vastly expand our nuclear power plants so we can provide more electricity without burning fossil fuels.

One thing that I do not like about McCain's energy policy is that he wants to drill for oil off the US coast and in the Arctic wildlife refuge. If we start churning up our national parks and national seashores every time a company wants a natural resource that is there, then designating land as a protected national park has no meaning. However McCain does say he wants it left up to the states to decide if they want oil drilling off of their coasts, so that issue is a big part of my decision on who to vote for for North Carolina governor.

Obama wants to continue government subsidies of ethanol. He also opposes the construction of any new nuclear power stations. And he somehow thinks we can cut our greenhouse gas emissions by 80% over the next few decades. To my knowledge, he has never explained how this is possible without using nuclear power and new battery technology. He just doesn't seem to me like he has a coherent energy policy at all.

[Lobo]

Bill Ayers, red hot to bring down Amerikkka?, hehe, if you think so...

Reading some stuff about him I don't see any major diference with other leaders of 68', like Daniel Marc Cohn-Bendit, they were angry people, and the world was upside down, your soldiers were killing and dieing in strange countries, and these dudes were against, but I don't think they hated Amerikkkka, they just thought that your leaders sucked.

Now they are assimilated, why you care?...ah yes, because Obama danced tango with him in the neighborhoud, wait...maybe they smoked some joint together?, damn, Obama you are so doomed, do like Bill, you didn't inhale the smoke.

[Stefan F]

Well i agree with McCain on the biofeul crap, it only raises food prices and huge amounts of jungle of the world are burned down to make 2-3% of the worlds need for feul.It just cant be a longterm solution, new "oil" is as bad as million year oil.

I do agree with no nuclear power, its very cheap which makes it attractive, also we wont "ever" run out of power with it, but.... even if nothing happens its not as clean as they make you believe, studies in belgium showed cancer among kids is 2digit higher then somewhere else in the country + you are stuck with alot of waste that we now put in bunkers, but crates from 30 years ago are leaking.... and no one dares to fix it, basicly for a thousand years or more we are telling future generations "hey its our mess but you can live with it.
And if something happens....i think one tjernobil is enough to learn our lesson, i rather pay 5 times the price for energy then going full nuclear....yes it has gotten "safer" and technology has advanced but still...

About obama cutting emissions by 80%.... i dont think he even has to do something for it to happen , in 40 years the known oil resources are depleted, so we have to find a solution now, cause in 40 years it will be a bit too late, so its good obama is going very radical in investing in new technology.

I didnt know McCain was against torture....or closing gitmo...dont blame me but its not like i dont try to find out stuff he stands for, i do know he said its a sad day for the USA that the gitmo detainees would get rights and a trial etc.

[[WDW]Megaraptor]

Originally Posted by Stefan F

so its good obama is going very radical in investing in new technology.

That's just it. He isn't proposing investing in ANY new technology, just biofuels which are already proven to not be a solution.

I don't see how a nuclear reactor can cause cancer in the people living around it...as for chernobyl well that reactor was falling apart when it had its meltdown. Also it's interesting to note that the initial death estimates from chernobyl have proven to be way off the mark and the actual number of deaths is far less than what was predicted.

Originally Posted by Stefan F

I didnt know McCain was against torture....or closing gitmo...dont blame me but its not like i dont try to find out stuff he stands for, i do know he said its a sad day for the USA that the gitmo detainees would get rights and a trial etc.

I don't blame you, the media is doing a terrible job of providing balanced coverage in this campaign...see my earlier posts in this thread.