Where Did Everyone Get Their Candidate Information?

[bradleyclark86]

The election is over and Obama is our new prez. But I'm already looking ahead 4 years to the next election; could maybe call it..."doing my homework." I was wondering where everyone got info on the candidates? Cause we all know the media is biased to an extent. To explain why I ask...I'm a registered Libertarian, but I enjoy discussing/debating bipartisan politics. Gives me a good chuckle, and an opportunity to spread the message of the third parties... *smacks self for evangelical reference* So, preferably non-biased sources but I'll take what I can get. Anyways, if you can look past my sarcasm and insanity, I would love the assistance.

[Bye bye now have fun]

i used stumbleupon and found ron pauls wiki BEFORE he was running and i was talking to some friends and they said that he was crazy then he started to run and they liked him then they jumped on the obama wagon. i just voted for nader because i figured he was a bigger "fuck you" vote than barr was

[bradleyclark86]

At one point, it was between Nader and Barr for me. I like some of the things Nader had to say...especially with wanting to bring more political light to the third parties. Not just his, but ALL of them.

[gaia.plateau]

I first came to know Michael Ignatieff in his groundbreaking books "Empire Lite", "The Lesser Evil", and "Human Rights as Politics and Idolatry" which I researched for various papers.

It is my understanding that Ignatieff is one of the most intelligent and objective human beings on earth, and therefore I will be casting my absentee vote for him as Prime Minister of Canada, should a general election be called next May as is likely.

Even if he does look like a vampire.

[judgeposer]

As far as columnists, including Ignatieff, though he's much more than just a columnist obviously, I read David Brooks column in the NYT, and anything William Kristol wrote, who incidentally predicted the Sarah Palin nomination far before it became official. Those are two examples of conservatives who have the pulse of conservative politics - though their ideas stray from typical conservatism. I would also add Noah Feldman, a law professor at Harvard. With race consuming so much of the analysis/debate, I enjoyed Cornel West's and Michael Eric Dyson's contributions. I read postings on Politico, CNN (which had neat profiles and rather objective insight this past election, and nearly everything Factcheck.org offered. If the money game interests you, check out opensecrets.org, and for tax plan comparisson, I consulted the Tax Foundation. Edited December 21, 2008 by judgeposer

[Hojo]

I looked only to FOX News for my political coverage. Any station that calls itself "Fair and Balanced" has to be, right?


Totally kidding. I was a Ron Paul supporter all the way. He didn't get much coverage from the major media companies, so I went with whatever I could find.

[bradleyclark86]

Thanks guys. I really appreciate it. Unbiased info is hard to come-by. I live in the Bible belt/Republican belt so everything I hear tends to be...quite slanted.

[Bye bye now have fun]

well im in a college town and live in maryland when im not at school so its pretty much the opposite. everyone has a boner for hope/change bullshit. talk is cheap

[zeppyrkr]

you have to go to tons of different websites and look at info on both sides, there really no unbiased info out there. this year i did tons and tons of researching i read articles on both canidates and what i really found is politics to 90% of people has little to do with politics, people are single issue voters and use very stupid reasons for why theren't not voting for a candidate rather not finding things they like about there candidate, but honestly if you ever had a politics class or done any research you should know where you stand at least it was black and white for me, im an atheist pro-choice, equal rights kind of person ... and seriously guys why do you waste gas voting for 3rd party candidates, like i totally agree i think nadar would make a good president but seriously you drove to go vote for him?

[Bye bye now have fun]

im an atheist pro-choice, equal rights kind of person

I fail to see what religion has to do with anything. people can be whatever they want, and dont act like youre better than religious people because atheist do the same crap. i see people preaching atheism and trying to convert me and saying the other side is wrong. and guess what? both sides offer 0 proof that they are right.

... and seriously guys why do you waste gas voting for 3rd party candidates, like i totally agree i think nadar would make a good president but seriously you drove to go vote for him?

i dont see why you wasted your time voting because obama was going to win nomatter what. shit i dont see why you even vote i mean they agree on most stuff and their "issues" that they disagree on are mostly pointless. this is the kind of crap views that lead to the shithole were in now. also i had a mailin so i walked to the post office on the way to class. and guess what i STILL voted even thou i knew my ballot was tossed because maryland is way blue.

[zeppyrkr]

im an atheist pro-choice, equal rights kind of person

I fail to see what religion has to do with anything. people can be whatever they want, and dont act like youre better than religious people because atheist do the same crap. i see people preaching atheism and trying to convert me and saying the other side is wrong. and guess what? both sides offer 0 proof that they are right.

... and seriously guys why do you waste gas voting for 3rd party candidates, like i totally agree i think nadar would make a good president but seriously you drove to go vote for him?

i dont see why you wasted your time voting because obama was going to win nomatter what. shit i dont see why you even vote i mean they agree on most stuff and their "issues" that they disagree on are mostly pointless. this is the kind of crap views that lead to the shithole were in now. also i had a mailin so i walked to the post office on the way to class. and guess what i STILL voted even thou i knew my ballot was tossed because maryland is way blue.

you dont think RELIGION plays any part in this, idk about you but many pro life conservatives preach to me, i was called a socialist, muslim and a terrorist for wearing a obama pin to go vote, and i live in a very very republican area.

also i dont give a rats ass what religion you are, im sorry i told you what i am, but many not all christians are very un equal people, they hate people not in there religion and love things in there traditional way. im very liberal, i think government should play 0% in social life, and 100% in economy im sorry if it weren't for regulations Walmart would run there world. politics is pointless to argue about, call me what ever you want its done and over with and even if i voted for you canidate it wouldn't change shit.

but i did drive to vote for mr. obama because i didn't think it was a for sure defeat especially where i live. and i do think he was the only reasonable candidate for me atleast, haven't you ever seen the south park episode on Voting? its like voting for a turd sandwhich or a douche your pick.

I COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY AGREE BIPARTISAN IS HORRIBLE, a 2 party system is baddddddddddd but it is going to change anytime sooon, im sorry im a conformist but face reality i dont think either of us will see a third party candidate win ... sorry

[NickReppinThe909]

comedy central !!! jkjk good thing i cant vote (not a citizen)

[PSKmustang]

I listed to all but the last debate (I heard it was the best one but by then I had heard enough).

Primarily I vote Republican, but socially I tend to agree with the democrats more. I am stuck in the middle with a ton of issues.

I voted Obama last minute after pretty much supporting McCain. But on the night before elections, I just sat and thought. First, I would like to see the Republican party stop giving a big "F You" to everyone and assuming there way of doing things is the best way (I love my PS3, but Sony and the Republicans are identical: "Don't tell me what you like, we'll tell you what you like."). So I voted Democrat to add one more vote to the skew so that Republicans can get their head out of their ass and reform.

Second, they anticipate three US Supreme Court Justices to retire and/or die. I like the current court balance. It feels like a solid 4-4-1 court. Where an issue can go any which way. They anticipate the 3 to retire/die would be liberal justices and nothing scares me more than a heavily lopsided Court.

So, my info came mostly from my own analysis of what I read and what I know. It was a take everything with a grain of salt mentality. Most importantly, I played devil's advocate with everyone.

It was stated before, but read from multiple sources. Although, the whole Obama bandwagon is scaring me off a bit. They are, in my feelings, putting so much pressure on him. 4 years is alot of time and it's not alot of time.

[bradleyclark86]

There's been a lot of good points made. I knew going into the election that Barr was going to lose, so I wanted to get informed about Obama and McCain. I found on campus (here's where I agree with zeppyrkr) that a person's party choice solely relied on maybe one or two issues.

"I hate abortion and thing fags shouldn't marry and...Jesus is awesome, and I'm a woman and Palin's a woman so I'll vote for her."

"I say if you don't like abortions or gay marriage, then don't get one. And if you don't want a black president, you're a racist."

Those are arguments that I really did hear (paraphrased a bit). And my sincerest apologies to GNUWorldOrder, but despite the first amendment, religion has plays a huge roll in politics. I wanted to write in former governor Jesse Venture when he said "I don't care what Obama's preacher has to say. All I care about is what Obama has to say." (interview with Larry King; look it up on youtube)

And like PSKmustang, I watched some of the dabtes. And just from what I watched, here's what I found: Obama did an excellent job firing people up and getting them excited (especially the younger crowd like mine); couldn't find squat on McCain cause it was always "Palin this, Palin that"; Palin scares the shit out of the me, and is the kind of person to take 15 minutes to tell you the sky is blue; and couldn't find squat on Biden.

[zeppyrkr]

There's been a lot of good points made. I knew going into the election that Barr was going to lose, so I wanted to get informed about Obama and McCain. I found on campus (here's where I agree with zeppyrkr) that a person's party choice solely relied on maybe one or two issues.

"I hate abortion and thing fags shouldn't marry and...Jesus is awesome, and I'm a woman and Palin's a woman so I'll vote for her."

"I say if you don't like abortions or gay marriage, then don't get one. And if you don't want a black president, you're a racist."

Those are arguments that I really did hear (paraphrased a bit). And my sincerest apologies to GNUWorldOrder, but despite the first amendment, religion has plays a huge roll in politics. I wanted to write in former governor Jesse Venture when he said "I don't care what Obama's preacher has to say. All I care about is what Obama has to say." (interview with Larry King; look it up on youtube)

And like PSKmustang, I watched some of the dabtes. And just from what I watched, here's what I found: Obama did an excellent job firing people up and getting them excited (especially the younger crowd like mine); couldn't find squat on McCain cause it was always "Palin this, Palin that"; Palin scares the shit out of the me, and is the kind of person to take 15 minutes to tell you the sky is blue; and couldn't find squat on Biden.

well looks like you summed it up, i guess you really just have to go with you own gut reaction, i do suggest i dont remember the exact site but i took an awesome quiz on major topics and it showed up a % of what you agree with on the candidates, and gave information like dates and places and what the candidate said that makes them one way or the other. mine came out like 85% obama and 60% mccain, they do agree on a couple things! and thats what most ppl dont realize, the public makes the gap between candidates way bigger then it actually is. also dont ever ever watch fox! ohh there horrible, i remember them saying things like "Obama is the most liberal democrate" which is very very very untrue! just like it would be untrue to say mccain was the most conservative. so yeah i guess at the end of the day i know the worlds going to keep going and if it ever gets to bad here im going to canada which i plan on doing after college any way.

[bradleyclark86]

if it ever gets to bad here im going to canada

Haha, that reminds me...after Obama won, a bunch of my Republican friends said they were gonna move to Canada and all that. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Canada very "left leaning" with a dash of socialism? I mean...that's a GOP's worst nightmare. I'm all for Canada though. Took a trip there a few years ago and I'd go back in a heart beat.

[Bye bye now have fun]

Those are arguments that I really did hear (paraphrased a bit). And my sincerest apologies to GNUWorldOrder, but despite the first amendment, religion has plays a huge roll in politics. I wanted to write in former governor Jesse Venture when he said "I don't care what Obama's preacher has to say. All I care about is what Obama has to say." (interview with Larry King; look it up on youtube)

theres a difference between does and should. religion shouldnt have anything to do with who you vote for. if there is someoen that agrees with everything people want but is a satanist people wont vote for him because hes a satanist

[judgeposer]

[...] Those are arguments that I really did hear (paraphrased a bit). And my sincerest apologies to GNUWorldOrder, but despite the first amendment, religion has plays a huge roll in politics. I wanted to write in former governor Jesse Venture when he said "I don't care what Obama's preacher has to say. All I care about is what Obama has to say." (interview with Larry King; look it up on youtube)

[...]theres a difference between does and should. religion shouldnt have anything to do with who you vote for. if there is someoen that agrees with everything people want but is a satanist people wont vote for him because hes a satanist

Just to clarify, the First Amendment protects our freedom of religion. Both the Establishment and Free Exercise clauses place prohibitions on Government behavior to the extent that Government cannot establish a state religion, recognize on already existing religion as official, or place unreasonable limitations on believers exercising their religious faith. The Supreme Court in 1947, through the Incorporation Doctrine, interpreted this Amendment as applying to state (and local) governments. To be sure, there is no prohibition against mixing politics and religion - in other words, the Amendment prohibits certain government behavior, not the behavior of its citizens with respect to religion. Edited December 24, 2008 by judgeposer

[judgeposer]

[...]Second, they anticipate three US Supreme Court Justices to retire and/or die. I like the current court balance. It feels like a solid 4-4-1 court. Where an issue can go any which way. They anticipate the 3 to retire/die would be liberal justices and nothing scares me more than a heavily lopsided Court. [...]

Supreme Court retirements depend largely on the party of the incoming administration. Of course, deaths...we can't predict.

So, as we now have an incoming Democrat administration, we may see Justices John Paul Stevens, David Souter, or Ruth Bader Ginsburg retire - one, a couple, or all, perhaps. If McCain won, we probably wouldn't encounter any retirements since certainly none of the left-leaning justices would retire, leaving a Republican admin. to appoint their successor. Also, none of the right-leaning justices have expressed any interest in retiring, as most are young, and all enjoy their job. Certainly now, with an Obama administration, we will not see any of the Court's conservatives retire - but of course we don't know about "natural retirement."

In the event of Court retirements, hopefully we will witness a civilized appointment and vetting process. The precedent here - a Democrat president - suggests little opposition or "Borking." We'll see, I'm sure. Edited December 24, 2008 by judgeposer

[zeppyrkr]

if it ever gets to bad here im going to canada

Haha, that reminds me...after Obama won, a bunch of my Republican friends said they were gonna move to Canada and all that. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Canada very "left leaning" with a dash of socialism? I mean...that's a GOP's worst nightmare. I'm all for Canada though. Took a trip there a few years ago and I'd go back in a heart beat.

i haven't looked into that much but im sure its not perfect there either, no place will ever be perfect to many ppl because we all consider perfect as something different. and while saying iif things ever get really bad ill go there is one thing, and to all honesty i doubt it will ever get to that point. one thing that i dislike about america is our image to the rest of the world, im sorry the people didn't want war but now everyone of us has a bad reputation for it. i guess im just going to stop thinking about politics for 4 years lol the more i think about stuff like that the more mad i get and being able to do nothing about it sucks ... Edited December 24, 2008 by zeppyrkr

[gaia.plateau]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Canada very "left leaning" with a dash of socialism?

Every liberal democracy in the world is left leaning with dashes of socialism, compared to the US. After WW2 the US went in one direction and the rest of the world went in the other; if Eisenhower were running today he would be so unelectably liberal that Ted Kennedy would call him a pinko Commie fairy.

I COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY AGREE BIPARTISAN IS HORRIBLE, a 2 party system is baddddddddddd but it is going to change anytime sooon, im sorry im a conformist but face reality i dont think either of us will see a third party candidate win ... sorry

"Bipartisan" means compromise and cooperation between parties, or "reaching across the aisle". It doesn't mean a two party system. I'm assuming you weren't aware. Edited December 24, 2008 by gaia.plateau

[oolatec]

I live in Chicago, and have seen what the likes of Obama have done first hand. No wonder why I voted for someone else.

[bradleyclark86]

theres a difference between does and should. religion shouldnt have anything to do with who you vote for. if there is someoen that agrees with everything people want but is a satanist people wont vote for him because hes a satanist

Anyone else hear about the guy running for governor (Minnesota, I think...) on the "witches and warlocks" ticket? He was a self-proclaimed vampire or something. Gave me a good chuckle. He wanted to change executions to impaling and to cut down on crime, use the aid of Italian mob families to hunt down criminals.

[kikkoman1231]

I live in Chicago, and have seen what the likes of Obama have done first hand. No wonder why I voted for someone else.

Obama, Blago, Ryan and Daley piss me off to high heaven.

Machine politics at its finest. All advocate higher taxes, but it has resulted in piss-poor public service such as:

a) terrible public school system (low budgets, little spending for schools in low-income areas, old books, rundown schools, etc.)
poor maintenance of roads (unfixed potholes, delayed response for snow plowing)
c) budget deficits
d) outsourcing parking contracts to foreign investors (results in high-cost parking in downtown area)
e) failing to cut tollways (tollways were supposed to be abolished in the 70's in Illinois, but they kept it -- not like our high taxation pays in efficient maintenance of roads)

and more..

We have the highest county and city taxes in this country. Property taxes are fairly high too. County clerks demand bonuses at the expense of the taxpayer.. what a fucking joke. Edited January 9, 2009 by kikkoman1231

[bradleyclark86]

Taxes will always be the double edged sword of this country. The people want them as low as possible so they can enjoy their paychecks, but yet the government needs money to do stuff (granted, they should invest is GOOD stuff, ex: roads, schools, etc.) Right now, here in Kentucky, the hot topic is whether or not to legalize gambling. Louisville (and the rest of the state) is losing A LOT of money to Indiana's gambling boats. There's 2 groups of people fighting to keep it out of the state: the hardcore religious right who feel that gambling is immoral, and the horse owners who fear losing business to the boats.