As I mentioned before, I am not a fan of Barack Obama. Unfortunately for the voter counts I am not a fan of McCain either. Even if he was the best and the brightest candidate, his age and physical condition would be his major flaws. The problem is that he is not the best and the brightest. Scott Adams of the Dilbert Blog asked his readers to rank the most important arguments for both candidates. His conclusion is what I was saying all along but a lot better formulated:
If you agree that presidents have little power over economics, and both candidates will end up on the same place with international affairs, you have to decide between the inspiration of Obama and the senility of McCain. Those are the two most predictable elements.
You have to look past the superficial: first black candidate -irrelevant, good looks - not too important, experience - can be gained, military service and years as POW - not sure if that’s even an advantage and it ay not be such a great idea to start digging, considering what happened to John Kerry . When stripped of all the B.S. there are only few real differences between the candidates. There are also strategic considerations such as judicial appointments, and almost guaranteed McCain’s one-term presidency (if that). However, recent history shows that judges often refuse to follow party lines and may not vote in accordance with whoever appointed them. McCain’s age make the choice of VP a lot more important than usual.
I remain unconvinced that my vote is important, moreover, I think the whole presidential election is overrated, but that’s just me - I am not easily inspired, especially while piles of B.S. are slung at me from all directions. For those who are going to vote my best advice is to go with their conviction and make sure they know what their candidate looks like without the makeup.
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7 responses so far ↓
1
Chimpo
// Jun 9, 2008 at 10:48 pm
You are my new favorite blogger for two reasons. You have a photo of Judge from Nothing But Trouble, and you compared said character to John McCain.
I wish I knew how to quit you.
2
Shane
// Jun 9, 2008 at 11:00 pm
For not caring about politics, you sure talk about them a hell of a lot.
3
Shane
// Jun 9, 2008 at 11:03 pm
This is my favorite quote:
4
m.v.
// Jun 10, 2008 at 7:41 am
I enjoy talking about politics, just don’t care who gets elected, so tried to explain why.
5
emawkc
// Jun 10, 2008 at 12:35 pm
Okay, the advantage I see in voting for McCain is that it would provide a counterbalance (at least in terms of party politics) to the Democratic majority house and senate.
Whether it’s a strong counterbalance, and whether there is really any difference between Democrats and Republicans is a different topic.
Regarding your vote, Meesha, you realize that there are other offices for election on the ballot, right? Are you saying you don’t vote at all, or that you merely don’t vote for president?
6
m.v.
// Jun 10, 2008 at 2:29 pm
I agree that keeping executive and legislative branches deadlocked is better than having one-party rule.
Other offices are in the same category for me. Over the years I only liked one candidate - Adam Taff but somehow he got swindled into some illegal activities and had to serve time.
Also my understanding is that voter rolls are used for jury duty and I don’t care to participate in that either for many reasons, mostly because the concept of the “jury of one’s peers” had been tampered with.
7
Burrowowl
// Jun 10, 2008 at 11:50 pm
Over the past 80 years or so, the United States tends to do best when there is a Democrat in the White House wrestling with a Republican majority in the legislature. Politically-split governance tends to encourage all parties to put their best foot forward. The odds of the Republicans regaining the majority this year are slim. Very slim. Practically impossible. This is possibly the best possible argument from my perspective for a Republican president this time around, regardless of the individual merit of the candidate.
That said, the idea that the candidates can be assumed to put us in the same place internationally strikes me as silly. “Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran.”
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