Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Awesome

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  • Russell Brown,

    Ted Kennedy's speech was pretty good too:

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • chris mcnair,

    Michelle Obama is incredibly eloquent and empowering. She really does give Barry a run for his money.
    Unfortunately, I can see the right wing smears coming. I just hope that things don't devolve too much as the race heats up.

    auckland • Since Jul 2008 • 39 posts Report Reply

  • MikeE,

    Four more years :-)

    Washington DC • Since Nov 2006 • 138 posts Report Reply

  • sagenz,

    Yeah dont fuck up. Vote for the candidate with integrity and a long history of non partisan legislation rather than the charismatic preacher.

    uk • Since Nov 2006 • 128 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle,

    Unfortunately, I can see the right wing smears coming.

    After the US MSM decided that McCain came off best at that recent faith forum conversation thingy with The Purpose-Driven Life Guy (I mean, seriously, WTF on so many levels), I lost most of my hope. It was so clear to me that McCain came across like a complete douche, and that Obama was thoughtful and considered; but hey, it was also clear to me in 2000 that Bush was a stupid asshole, and he won. Twice.

    If Obama pulls this out, I will be stunned. Thrilled, and stunned.

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • dc_red,

    Because I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking: America, please don't fuck this up.

    That's what I thought and earnestly hoped for last time, yet the fuck-up was returned to Office, legitimately or otherwise.

    The last two elections have made me extremely cynical, to the point that I'm now rather torn between the "please don't fuck this up (again)" camp, and the "I don't give a fuck" camp.

    I think I've just resolved my position in favour of the latter, for what it's worth. ... Not much. ;-)

    Oil Patch, Alberta • Since Nov 2006 • 706 posts Report Reply

  • dc_red,

    Yeah dont fuck up. Vote for the candidate with integrity and a long history of non partisan legislation rather than the charismatic preacher.

    Alternatively, don't vote for the one who is certifiably mad as a meat-axe.

    Oh darn, I'm starting to care again ... thanks RB!!

    Oil Patch, Alberta • Since Nov 2006 • 706 posts Report Reply

  • David Cormack,

    Because I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking: America, please don't fuck this up.

    Oh god I totally agree with you, you just sit there open mouthed gaping at the gallup website that tells you that McCain has pulled ahead for the first time since the campaign began proper.

    But as has been pointed out, what point hope when a nation returns George Bush with a bigger (__nee__ actual) majority.

    Suburbia, Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 218 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Yeah dont fuck up. Vote for the candidate with integrity and a long history of non partisan legislation rather than the charismatic preacher.

    Sigh ... keep trying. I'm fairly well aware of the respective nominees' policy platforms, from healthcare and reproductive rights to foreign affairs (where, as I've explained, the people advising McCain are flat-out scary).

    I'm also aware that while Obama isn't perfect, his platform on internet and copyright issues -- geek politics -- is intelligent and informed to a degree that may well be unprecedented in such a senior political figure anywhere.

    Now tell me what you love about McCain's policies.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Danyl Mclauchlan,

    After the US MSM decided that McCain came off best at that recent faith forum conversation thingy with The Purpose-Driven Life Guy (I mean, seriously, WTF on so many levels), I lost most of my hope.

    I thought Rick Warren's questions were SO much better than the idiotic 'gotcha' topics that came up during the primary debates. Granted, Warren's questions were mostly about character not policy but that's still a vast improvement over the sustained trivial idiocy of the network debates.

    I suspect that the questions about character and personal belief (though not that important to me) were of great interest to the majority of American voters - much more so than Reverend Wright and why Obama doesn't wear a flag lapel.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 927 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    If Obama pulls this out, I will be stunned. Thrilled, and stunned.

    He came out of a bruising primary process ahead in the head to heads with McCain. He's remained ahead in the heads to heads with McCain. The "no-toss up states" metric is just bs, as any pollster would admit, and most polls are unable to account for documented the surge in voter registration among democrats, or the likely surge among young people and minorities. To top it off, he's consistently outperformed polls wheneve actual elections have been held.

    The campaign hasn't even started, and he's twice the campaigner and twenty times the public speaker as McCain. He's going to be able to play around with a lot more money than McCain.

    He has better surrogates. Moderate republicans are not even going to the convention. McCain will be the first person in history to enjoy a convention dip in the polls, after the most unpopular president in history gives him a half-hearted endorsment on national television. People are running away from his VP spot. He'll be lucky if he gets Romney, and Romney is a huge douche whom the voters despise.

    It's going to be a thing of Lyndon Johnsonesque proportions. You mark my words.

    And if it isn't, I have plenty or recipes for humble pie that I'll be sharing with you all on November 5th.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle,

    I thought Rick Warren's questions were SO much better than the idiotic 'gotcha' topics that came up during the primary debates.

    Oh, agreed. It's quite worrying that the most useful lines of questioning come from satirists (Stewart, Colbert, occasionally Letterman) and Rick freaking Warren, though. Plus I do find this 'make your Christianity paramount in the election' thing so disturbing. Church. State. Separation. Work on it, USA!

    (The Purpose-Driven Life is sitting on one of our bookshelves at home. My husband's family in Texas gave it to us for Xmas when we visited in 2004. A not-very-subtle hint to forgo our heathen ways, I believe. It didn't work, obviously.)

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Matthew Poole,

    Now tell me what you love about McCain's policies.

    Quite probably they want another hawk. That or they want him because of his fervent Christianity. Or both.
    Whilst having enormous respect for how he acted while a PoW, I just don't want to imagine how much worse the world will get if there's another hawkish POTUS. Dubbyah's administration has done a stellar job of making the US global enemy number one, and McCain doesn't seem to have all that much in the way of his own thoughts on interventionist policies. Dialogue? What's that? What do you mean we can't just go invading other countries because they've pissed us off?

    Obama's not perfect, by any stretch, but I can live more easily with an isolationist than an interventionist. Ideally US politicians would tell their domestic lobbies to STFU and walk the free-market talk that they insist everyone else follow, but until that happens it's better that the US not try and force their own broken ideals onto others.

    Auckland • Since Mar 2007 • 4097 posts Report Reply

  • David Cormack,

    It's going to be a thing of Lyndon Johnsonesque proportions. You mark my words.

    My rugby watching mates and I have a rule whereby whenever Dan Carter lines up a kick, we abuse the shit out of him, his kicking ability, the way he's wearing his hair, whatever we can think of to ensure we don't hex him.

    Giovanni my friend, I hope you haven't commited the ultimate hex.

    Suburbia, Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 218 posts Report Reply

  • sagenz,

    free trade, campaign finance reform, the surge, strength in deomcracy, not "peace in our time " appeasement.

    compare that with a tech policy written by his campaign fundraisers. big deal for barry

    uk • Since Nov 2006 • 128 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    Giovanni my friend, I hope you haven't commited the ultimate hex.

    See, I'm Italian and we have a proven remedy for that, so I can assure you that whilst writing that I had a hand firmly planted on my... Which accounts for the slow typing.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle,

    Sage old chap, what do you think about McCain's stance on reproductive rights?

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • sagenz,

    slash pork, simplify taxes...be willing to fight your own party over what is right rather than blind tribal allegiance

    need i go on?

    uk • Since Nov 2006 • 128 posts Report Reply

  • Matthew Poole,

    Plus I do find this 'make your Christianity paramount in the election' thing so disturbing. Church. State. Separation. Work on it, USA!

    Yeah, it is funny. They have technical separation, in that there's no official religion (which is, after all, what separation is all about), but with POTUS being expected to be a "rah rah rah" Christian it's pretty notional. For such a "progressive" country they're stupidly conservative. We've got a woman who's at least agnostic, and nobody really pays that much attention except for the raving fundies. It's certainly not of importance to a major portion of the electorate. But Helen would be pretty much unelectable in the US for her religious views alone, even if the US was finally able to reach a point of sufficient enlightenment that a woman could make it to the top.

    The Political Compass view of the US presidential primaries candidates for this election is quite amusing, not least for the little blurb at the top.

    Auckland • Since Mar 2007 • 4097 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle,

    be willing to fight your own party over what is right rather than blind tribal allegiance

    ...until the 'maverick' narrative stops being useful and you decide you really need to be president this time around, so you start cosying up to the religious right and giving George Bush lots of hugs...

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    It's going to be a thing of Lyndon Johnsonesque proportions. You mark my words.

    I'll grant you that's possible. I'll go so far as so say that a recent, small swing in some polls (most of which Obama still leads) is hardly the end of the world.

    McCain has enjoyed success in depicting Obama as an out-of-touch elitist (rich, from the man who can't remember how many houses he has), and as Pew notes, McCain has the edge on perceptions regarding judgement and character (doubly rich, given much of what McCain has actually said and done).

    But given the way Obama's team took him from nobody to nominee in 18 months, you'd have to expect they'll make a reasonable job of addressing this.

    The swift-boating campaign trying to link Obama with the former Weatherman Bill Ayers is astonishingly cynical and dishonest. TPM has an interesting article about the Obama campaign's strategy of dealing with this sort of flith at the local level, rather than make it a national talking point for the commentary goons that fill the news channels. We'll see.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • sagenz,

    Danielle. I had paid no attention to it because it is simply irrelevant 25 years on in choosing a president. But I googled to be sure he did in fact hedge. I support. he is instinctively pro life but not punitive. I cannot see how you can have any other policy and claim to be humanitarian. abortion ends a potential life but the needs and choices of the women need to be taken into account. how is that anything other than an approach that recognises reality.

    uk • Since Nov 2006 • 128 posts Report Reply

  • sagenz,

    thats woman not women

    uk • Since Nov 2006 • 128 posts Report Reply

  • Joe Boden,

    The fix is in anyway. Obama would need to win by about 50 million actual votes in order to "win".

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 97 posts Report Reply

  • Danielle,

    it is simply irrelevant 25 years on in choosing a president

    Irrelevant to whom? Important people, the ones with penises?

    He voted against funding for contraception for teens and now supports the repeal of Roe V. Wade. His main advisor on this, Tom Coburn, is cracksmokingly, breathtakingly insane.

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report Reply

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