Write in Paul.

You gotta vote for somebody, if not the two top candidates then write in someone. Like paul..

Vote for my pq.

Elections in the US always seem like settling for what you can tolerate rather then what you want.

I think you should vote for Obama, yes you might disagree with some of his views but at least you will know that he is competent and that his sudden death won't put into power someone like Palin.

That's just it, Farhad. I'm not sold that his is competent. And I don't like McCain. at. all.

I don't want to spend 4 years regretting who I vote for.

Didn't you vote for Bush?

I think to say he is not competent is just ridiculous, the man came out of nowhere to lead one of the most successful campaigns in recent history.

McCain has always been there and ran previously, Bush was bank rolled by his fathers connections.

Paul, or Nader.. or even barr.

I don't know your politics, but I'd recommend voting third party, rather than not voting.

If your objections to Obama are truly about his competency, and not his ideology, watch the debates and some of his policy speeches. He's no dummy, and he'll be surrounded by the best and the brightest in every topic.

You should search for a third party candidate who reflects your beliefs, but if you can't find one, don't vote at all or write in yourself

Voting for a candidate that doesn't reflect your ideology undermines the entire representative system.

Leading a campaign doesn't prove anything yet, Farhad. If he'd governed a state successfully, then I'd feel fine about him. I definitely want a president with a different foreign policy. After what Bush has done we NEED it.
McCain has tried to be president for ever and was never good enough then.. what makes him good enough now?

Bush has screwed us over domestically and world wide. And yes, I did vote for him in 2000. My personal views on things have changed dramatically since then. I've regretted that vote ever since.

Imstellar that's just it. You always get "you're throwing your vote away" speech. If I go that route, I'm writing in Ron Paul. He's the only man in this entire race I feel could be trusted. I like his politics, but men like him never win elections. Get rid of the IRS? The Federal Reserve? That's just craaazy talk. Paul is too radical.

But it's like Farhad said, in the US we have to settle for who we can tolerate.

Bush governed a state. Look how that panned out. Kennedy was never a governor either, he brought America back from the brink of nuclear war. I don't think being a governor qualifies you to be president, Sarah Palin is a governor of Alaska not to mention.

And leading a successful election campaign when you are a political nobody, declaring your taxes, not accepting public funding is something. To say that it's meaningless is just wrong. Look at someone like Romney, he had money, he had the support, and he failed. Look at Hillary, she had the money, she had the name even and she failed. To say his campaign proves nothing is belittling the accomplishment of his character and his team.

Oh and I forgot to mention that if Obama is elected, we can all rely on Fox News to bring us constant updates about every little fuck up and non fuck up he commits.

Tonight on Fox News : Barack Obama Farts In The Oval Office. The Terrorists Win.

The way I see it, voting is a chance to have your voice heard by millions. It is a chance to have your beliefs and inner convictions manifest in public policy. It is a chance to have your voice become the voice of the nation.

To me, the only way one could "waste their vote" would be to surrender their voice, beliefs, and convictions altogether by selecting a representative who is contrary to their very person.

I'm just not seeing you on it all, Farhad. Imstellar, your idealism is heartwarming. I felt that way once. Yes, I'm being pessimistic

I didn't mean Farhad that only governors are qualified...only that he hasn't proved himself. I'm sorry, but he hasn't. Being a front runner in a campaign doesn't prove anything either. Candidates are packaged and promoted... geesh look at Palin.
I don't care what sifts go up here showing her inadequacy , people are buying her! I heard a group of people just yesterday wish they could put Obama and Palin together on a ticket. WTF?? What ticket would that be pray tell?

It's like that line in Zoolander, "I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!"

IMO, Obama has the intellect and the temperament. He thinks things through, has good personal and diplomatic skills. McCain..doesn't.

Neither of them does it for me, but I cannot stand the thought of a young Earth Creationist like Palin to be the vicepresident of this country.

young Earth creationists think dinosaurs lived among men....
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2008/09/15/bess/index1.html

I was not going to vote at all until Palin scared me shitless.

I think that the past year and several months have shown that Obama knows what he is doing and can competently execute his goals and set forth a compelling agenda. No one else in presidential election history has created such a detailed list of policy proposals, and he beat the Clintons.

Running a campaign is of course not the same as running a country, but Obama's is one of the most flawlessly executed in history.

My belief is that everything must be done to stop McCain from taking over the country and possibly declaring war on Iran and Russia. His foreign policy belligerence is what keeps me up at night worrying. We can't risk his presidency at all.

I don't really buy the whole 'not voting is bad' thing. In theory it's fine, but that's assuming we're presented with any reasonable choices. I was pretty gung-ho to vote Bush away in 2004 but then the Democrats went and put fucking John Kerry up and that was the end of my enthusiasm.

I'm not feeling that way this year. I've liked what I've heard from Obama for several years now. I had two fears over the course of this election:

Obama or Kucinich vs Paul - Who to Choose? Probably Paul, but it would have been tough.
Giuliani vs Clinton - Early on it looked like these would be the winners. 2004 all over again!

What about Obama has you doubting his abilities? Or is it just lack there of anything that makes you worried?

I'm a proponent of, "if you don't know, don't vote." Although, this is a monumental election this year. I suggest you hit the books, do some good hard research and watch out for biased opinion. You owe it to yourself (and your children) to make sure you make the right decision (even if that decision is to not vote)

I don't know if it is a strong enough reason for you on its own, but consider the Supreme Court, swampgirl. In the next four years, there will almost certainly be 2 resignations, both on the liberal side. In the next eight years, there could be as many as 5 resignations. If McCain is elected, you can expect to have one of the most conservative Supreme Courts in history. If Obama is elected, you can expect a more balanced court (since he will primarily be replacing liberal Justices). An ultra conservative court will invite litigation on all of the most radical proposals from the right wing. It won't just be a matter of the Court overturning Roe, and upholding the kinds of abuses that have been going on for nearly eight years (illegal surveillance, suspending habeus corpus, etc.). Imagine school prayer being compulsory. Imagine creationism being required teaching. Imagine not just gay marriage being outlawed, but homosexuality itself being outlawed. Imagine a permanent ban on all stem cell research, not just preventing federal funding of it. Imagine an expansion of executive power that would make Cheney drool. Imagine the removal of even more of the checks and balances in our government.

Some of those may be a stretch, but just imagine a Court in which Alito is considered the moderate.

Obama is definitely the lesser of two evils on policy.

As for the experience: It's a young-earth creationist sportscaster vs. a lawyer who went to Harvard. Duh. McCain probably won't live 4 more years.

Obama plays poker, McCain plays craps - http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1819898-1,00.html .

Paul for the conscience, that's me. I wouldn't be voting otherwise, so it's not throwing away my vote.

^agreed. Family is going to call me an idiot. But I'd rather write in who I believed in than pick who I could tolerate.

" the man came out of nowhere to lead one of the most successful campaigns in recent history."

lots of asshole tools came out of nowhere

Vote Quimby.

^he didn't come from "out of nowhere"...he's a congressman. He's been around, and he has a clue...about things other than being owned by the elite under the guise of power and self-advancement. Your quote came from nowhere, as far as I can tell ( quick google search, lol)

I say "poopy-cow" (my newest curse word) to the entire political system...
just read up on the electoral college system...does it really matter who we vote for individually anyway? nah. I will write him in on general principles. That's the limit of my sick-of-politics brain.

Don´t vote

>> ^Farhad2000:
Oh and I forgot to mention that if McCain is elected, we can all rely on EVERY SINGLE NEWS CHANNEL OTHER THAN FOX to bring us constant updates about every little fuck up and non fuck up he commits.
Tonight on EVERY News CHANNEL: McCain Farts In The Oval Office. The Terrorists Win.


Fixed that for ya. hehe

I feel the erge to write in "none of the above" and check that box lately. That or Barr.

Just out of curiosity, what state do you vote in? If your state is hard Red or Blue your vote for pres does not matter at all, so write in who you would want to win, and then vote down the ticket where you might have some effect. I used to live in California, always registered/voted third party, to help them with inertia, since I know the state would go Blue no matter what I did. Now I live in Pennsylvania, it's going to be close here, and I would kick myself hard if I stayed home and McCain took my state by a few votes.

If you are in a swing state, I have to say looking at Obama's CV, the man is brilliant, while simultaneously not seeming to be evil, maybe my standards are low, but I have not had a choice that good in a long time. Biden seems with it, I would pick him over McCain, but he does not give me enthusiasm. Neither McCain nor Palin seem with it enough to be even remotely safe in the office.

Indiana

I'm splitting my vote up here; Mitch Daniels for Governor (Republican?!... I know! and I post on the sift!) and Barack Obama for President. (I'm also voting for the new Republican Attorney General of Indiana, but that's a whole 'nother thing... www.z4ag.com)

Obama first really caught my attention when he spoke eloquently about the importance of transparency in where government money is going. But much more important than his speeches, he introduced legislation (with a Republican colleague) to begin doing exactly what he knew was important; use technology to make it easy for everyone to see who is getting what, when and why. (http://pogoblog.typepad.com/pogo/2008/06/shining-a-brigh.html) He's done this 'practice what you preach' thing a few times over, like in pairing up with former Indiana Sen. Dick Lugar to drag us back on track in the very neglected area of destroying stockpiles of Cold War and older missiles just sitting around in other countries (http://obama.senate.gov/press/070111-lugar-obama_non/).

Anyhow, after that I looked through his webpage and what other bills he has supported and read some of his speeches, and it became clear that he's almost too good to be true. I read about him being raised by his mom and his grandparents, and of how his mom dying of cancer making a huge impact on how he saw the Government failing American's in an area that effects everyone. Blah blah blah... I'm way for Obama now.

So I actually went out into the country with a friend recently and did some 'canvasing' for Obama down a lot of gravel roads. I learned there's a lot of indecision out there.


... oh yeah, one more thing I wanted to mention; the McCain campaign loves to point out how liberal Obama's senate voting record is*... the asterisk next to this comment is to remind you he's been in there for four Bush years, four years of voting against completely ridiculous political bullshit that poisoned some otherwise good bills. Obama seems like a guy who loves working towards an agreement, but despises anybody trying to force his tacit approval of bullshit.