President's Day

[filkertom]

Lincoln (actual birthday Feb. 12, 1809), Washington (actual reported birthday Feb. 22, 1732). It took 150 years and marketing savvy to lump them together so people can save money on washer-dryers.

Oh, and, Chimpy apparently refers to Washington as "the first George W." Nice.

Since I imagine most of you aren't actually "celebrating" this "holiday", what do you think of the presidential race at the moment? Try to be nice. I myself am leaning strongly towards Obama, with the hope that he adds Edwards to his ticket. I think John McCain is going to be shoved down our throats by the Corporate Media, and it's going to be necessary to point out time and again his inconsistencies and the fact that he wants to keep us in Iraq. I think Huckabee has lost whatever tiny smidge of cred he had with me by saying "running for office is sort of like being waterboarded". And I think that the Villagers, particularly William Kristol, are on another fuckin' planet, and I wish they'd stay there.

ETA: Picky, picky, picky, regarding Washington's birth date. ;)

Comments

[joshuwain.livejournal.com]

As it is, I've got the day off -today- and am dedicating it to gaming, writing, and relaxing. :)

As for the current political campaign, I'm very fond of Barak Obama, and -like you- am hoping that he picks Mr. Edwards as his running mate. I like Hillary but am very annoyed with her pandering on issues such as Flag Burning and Video Games. I find her intelligent but disingenuous. Now, mind you, this is not half as disingenuous as I find Senator McCain. Remember when he used to be cool?

The funny thing is, I'm actually feeling hope once again. I spent only one year as a reporter for a small, Gay and Lesbian Family newspaper and ended up covering the 2004 election. I'd never been more depressed in my life. But, and this is honest, Senator Obama's message and rhetoric is honestly making me feel hopeful when I thought my normal levels of cynicism would never allow it.

It feels very, very good to have that hope, well-founded or not.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Believe me, I understand the hope -- haven't felt this much since '92. But I want some policy, a lot of it, and Edwards has nearly everything I want.

[joshuwain.livejournal.com]

All too true. I was a big-time Edwards supporter ever since I met the gentleman in person while doing interviews for the paper back in the last election. He's honest, has good ideas on the environment and health care ... pretty much everything I want!

Obama is very inspiring and I'm really keeping my fingers crossed for what the world will look like this time next year!

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

I don't think it matters very much who we lean towards; Obama or Clinton probably has the nomination. And Obama is saying the least he can & still get elected. I can understand why he'd do that, but I feel like I'm being treated like a mushroom. "We the people", on the other hand have gone crazy. I think we'd elect a yellow dog--heck we're probably going to elect a woman or a black man--because we want a change so bad. Obama seems to have figured this out & is persuasively positioning himself as the candidate of change, while promising policies just to the right of Hilary Clinton--apparently he's going for the dissatisfied Republican vote. Well, he certainly--if I've got him right--is a very sharp PR man. But he's going to face enormous challenges, I hope he's up to them, and I hope he responds with progressive policies.

While it would be nice

[capplor.livejournal.com]

if the next pres were progressive, I'd settle for a real, but law-abiding conservative.

--r

Re: While it would be nice

[stevemb.livejournal.com]

"I'd settle for a real, but law-abiding conservative."

The trouble is that the current gang in charge of the GOP has driven most of them into the political wilderness.

Is it even possible to be an honest conservative any more?

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

Or maybe Obama and Clinton are the honest conservatives.

Re: Is it even possible to be an honest conservative any more?

[admnaismith.livejournal.com]

I'm having trouble parsing this. "Honest conservatives"???

Re: Is it even possible to be an honest conservative any more?

[mouser.livejournal.com]

Yea, it does parse strangely but they DO exist.

...they're just in hiding.

Re: Is it even possible to be an honest conservative any more?

[bryanp.livejournal.com]

Is it even possible to be an honest conservative any more?

So those of us who have some conservative beliefs are automatically dishonest? Gee, thanks.

To be fair I consider myself to be a moderate really, in that among my conservative friends I'm the liberal and among my liberal friends I'm the conservative. And both sides are pissing me off more and more. The polarization and vitriol coming from both sides is just sickening. I am so tired of "We disagree, so you're EVIL."

As for Obama, his 2nd Amendment views are an automatic pass for me. McCain's abortion views are just as abhorrent to me. If I can't trust them to defend a piece of the BOR they may not agree with, I can't trust them to defend the rest of it either. Hillary is as bad or worse. McCain is only slightly better on the 2nd with his calls to close a "gun show loophole" that never existed in the first place. So, which amendment do I go with? 2nd or 4th? Silly me, I want both.

Basically there's nobody running now that I have any desire to vote for. It's starting to look like I really will have to be drunk before I can bring myself to vote for one of them. Or give up and write in a protest vote.

But you don't buy the whole package

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

It doesn't have intellectual credibility any more--that's why the Bushites and the neo-cons have to lie so much. As far as I can tell Obama and Clinton are the real conservatives, now.

Re: While it would be nice

[moquif.livejournal.com]

a real, but law-abiding conservative
"I would have read about it in Ripply's Believe It or Not"
Cat, Red Dwarf, Justice

[mihai-lado.livejournal.com]

So the current President refers to Washington as "the first George W.?"

I refer to our current President as "George the Third."

[mouser.livejournal.com]

He's "Boy George" to me.

[admnaismith.livejournal.com]

And "Scrappy Doo" to me.

Except when he's "George the Turd".

[ladystarblade.livejournal.com]

See icon.

While I respect McCain as a man, and I kinda like how he manages to piss off his own party on a regular basis, I would only vote for him if Hillary was the Democratic nominee.

I honestly can't tolerate Hillary Clinton, and I fully admit that quite of bit of it is a matter of personal preference. I just flat out don't like the woman and I wouldn't trust her as far as I could fling her.

Obama, on the other hand, gives me a ray of hope...I honestly believe that he believes what he is saying, which puts him head and shoulders taller in an election year.

And as for Edwards...I've always liked the guy and am very curious as to what he'll do. I would love an Obama/Edwards ticket.

Oh, and those who are jonesing for a Obama/Clinton or Clinton/Obama ticket? It will never happen. Clinton doesn't want to play second fiddle to anyone and Obama doesn't want to give up 4 or 8 years of his political life in what would probably be a pointless VP office.

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

Name of the gods--you do know that McCain is anti-abortion, right? I don't have a link off hand, but he's really pretty repugnant in a lot of ways. Your media, hard at work.

[ladystarblade.livejournal.com]

I've never said I was crazy about his platform --in fact, I violently disagree with at least half of it-- but as the daughter of a Vietnam vet and coming from a military background, I respect the man himself.

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

Even despite his pro-torture votes? The way he's rolled over to the administration on the war? And now he's sold out to the religious right. (Somehow radical right-wingers never get called flip-floppers.) He's a very rigid, fanatical man; being a vet doesn't make him a better person.

[darthparadox.livejournal.com]

Meh. I respect his service, but I've long since lost any respect I had for the man himself - and he seems to have lost basically all of his principles.

I'll have to come down on this side

[capplor.livejournal.com]

Once, McCain was respectable. Then he voted for torture, ABSOLUTELY KNOWING (as his previous public statements prove) that torture is wrong and waterboarding is torture.

He's either gone extremely batty, or he is total political pandering scum. There is no other possibility.

Versus a bit of political expediency on Hilary's side, I REALLY don't understand why "moderates" would vote for him rather than her other than a total frenzy of media-induced but unadmitted misogyny.

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

This is exactly why I'm supporting Obama. People do not believe me when I say that there are a lot of people out there who would bite off their noses to spite their faces about Clinton; thank you for providing a supporting example.

[skemono.livejournal.com]

there are a lot of people out there who would bite off their noses to spite their faces about Clinton
Of course, if Obama gets the nomination, then by the end of this people will do the same regarding Obama.

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

On the other hand, I wonder if O. can carry any southern state? Maybe if he gets the Democratic Party to recognize the Florida primary?

He HAS been carrying the southern states

[capplor.livejournal.com]

For one thing, there's a large black population there, but the fact is the man has very broad appeal.

He's been carrying Southern *Democrats*

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

General elections are going to be a different matter. And if Real ID takes effect in May, as scheduled, it may be used as an excuse to keep citizens from voting as well.

[kinsfire.livejournal.com]

I, on the other hand, find that Obama's stated comments - more than once - that if he found it necessary to deal with Al Qaeda by ignoring Pakistan and simply attacking within their borders without warning, he would - well, do we really need a Democrat GWB?

NONE of the candidates are people that I like, but when I really pay attention to Obama, he strikes me as the worst kind of politician - a Kennedy. Look so god-damned sincere, mouth all the things that everyone wants to hear, and then do whatever the hell you please. I don't know that he's that way, but with his comments like the one I mentioned above, he certainly gives me that feeling. Hillary is disliked and knows it. Oddly, that may well be her strongest point.

But I repeat - I don't like ANY of the candidates. No matter who we elect, it will be More Of The Same.

How I hope to be proven wrong, though.

But Huckabee isn't out of the race yet, either, damnit.

[maiac.livejournal.com]

I'm holding out for a second ballot at the convention that results in Al Gore being the nominee. A girl can dream.

But seriously, I'd rather see Obama than Clinton as the nominee. The various quizzes that match my policy preferences to candidates show him a closer match with what I want in a president. I am, however, avoiding the campaign 'news' as much as possible. The noise-to-signal ratio is way too high.

If/when McCain becomes the Thug candidate, I hope somebody amongst the Democrats finally does a decent job of rolling out the oppo. McCain is not the "good man" the mediawhores make him out to be. He's dishonest and has a nasty temper.

[zeekar.livejournal.com]

Careful throwing around words like "actual" with Washington's birthday - according to the calendar on the wall, he was born on Feb 11, 1731, but when they changed the calendar in 1752 he sagely adjusted his birthday to keep the anniversary in sync.

I'm holding out a lot of hope for Obama. Hillary would be Politics as Usual, and McCain scares the crap out of me even more than his theocratic competition...

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

You beat me to the Julian/Gregorian trivia point! You can make a lot of money on bar bets by proving that George Washington wasn't born on Washington's Birthday.

[kengr]

Except you can't. Trying to win the bet that way is cheating. Really.

He *was* born on Feb 22 *gregorian*. And since the Gregorian calendar hafd been in effect in *other* parts of the world for well over 100 years at the time...

The Feb 11 was the date in the Old Style calendar (still used by some Orthodox churches). Of course, the slippage is now up to 13 days...

Feb 11 (Old Style) and Feb 22 Gregorian were the same day that year.

[hyrkanian.livejournal.com]

NPR via WUNC reported this morning that Obama was in Chapel Hill yesterday, to (privately) ask Edwards to back him. I'd be thrilled with Edwards as VP to Obama, personally. I agree what other comments have said, that Obama is the first person to stir a ray of hope in many election cycles. I've *never* contributed money or time to a political campaign before, but I'm seriously considering doing both for Obama.

[maiac.livejournal.com]

I've read that Edwards has signalled he wants to remain neutral so he'll have more bargaining power at the convention.

[annearchy.livejournal.com]

Chimpy apparently refers to Washington as "the first George W."

Gah, the irony. It burnssssssss!

Not really

[capplor.livejournal.com]

If George W, is the first George, then we have George H.W. which makes George W. Bush to be George III. England had a mad King George III. So do we.

Re: Not really

[annearchy.livejournal.com]

See, Chimpy McDumbass can't count either :P

[admnaismith.livejournal.com]

Yup, I went from Edwards to O'Bama too. He's the last one left on the menu who inspires some kind of excitement in me.

If Clinton is nominated, I will vote for her in the general, but it will be with a sense of deep resignation, and most of my energy will go into the local Barrayar Senate race. For O'Bama, I would canvass.

McCain is no more than four more years of the status quo. Seems to me, anyone who supports him either doesn't like the 20th Century much and wants it repealed, or else is unfamiliar with the Supreme Court.

[louisadkins.livejournal.com]

I'm hoping for Obama, at this point. I was trying to stay out of the Obama/Clinton choice (I wasn't allowed to choose between the two officially, as I had just changed my address) but the Clinton party lost a lot (in my book) when they started trying to get dirty. Also, I like the 'Change' platform. I know a lot of people that have found their hope back, and that alone is a good thing. As long as his policies seem be continue to be defined out well and good, I hope he wins.

[nimitzbrood.livejournal.com]

I'll be nice.

I think all the candidates suck but some suck less than others.

I think that with some notable exceptions whoever we get will likely not be near as bad as we've had in there the last 8 years. (I hope.)

I...am not sure what else to think. My tinfoil is still a'rustling and I fear another 8 years of degradation but can't seem to get enough information in my head to decide for good or ill on any one candidate candidate that actually has a chance of winning... :-(

[moquif.livejournal.com]

I think Clinton has too much baggage to make her an effective President. For the past 7 years we've heard "Questioning the President helps the terrorists." But do you think those who said that will continue that attitude if Clinton is elected? Of course not! The same will happen if Obama is elected, but I don't think it will be half as bad. Sexism is more acceptable in this country than racism. If Clinton is elected, then the conservative mud machine will go into overdrive and do everything they can to prevent her from doing her job then blame her when things go wrong. It's not fair, correct, or American but that's life.

Being in Illinois, I prefer Obama. I like his stance and his attitude and I think he's more likely to listen to the other side and be willing to compromise so things can get done. Someone has to be mature and take the first step to unify the country. Bush Jr refused to do it in any meaningful way. Clinton is unlikely to as well. McCain is about as bad as Bush when it comes to arrogance. Huckabee is the only person who I think would be worse than Bush. So who does that leave?

[unclelumpy.livejournal.com]

There's only one person with the power to inspire the GOP voter base to action;

[tcgtrf.livejournal.com]

I'm out of the process for this particular round unless someone comes up that I need desperately to vote against. Eight years of Hillary would do more for Libertarianism (as a backlash) than getting Ron Paul elected (as a forelash), but I can't bring myself to pull that lever.

So, I'll wait, abiding my time here in Champaign, sitting twenty minutes in the future, waiting for the opportunity to make a difference to come around again on the wheel.

My colleagues at Urbanagora seem to be equally divided between support for Obama and McCain. Their idealism and optimism will very likely be smashed quite soundly in the next year.

TC Trumpinski

[sylverwolfe.livejournal.com]

Obama with (hopefully) Edwards is my best-case scenario. Clinton...I dunno. I'm still scarred from when she moved to NY. And the Republicans just terrify me at this point. My hot-button issues are health care, civil rights, and scientific research (let's cure some stuff, like say diabetes, cancer, AIDS, and whatnot).
I love my country. My gov't scares the PEE outta me. If I could get away with it, I'd seriously think about running away to Ireland or something for a few years. At least there I'd know what kind of craziness to expect. The crap Americans can pull on each other amazes me every day.

[rook543.livejournal.com]

My Prediction...

McCain/Romney vs Obama/Edwards

McCain will probably take Romney as a running mate simply to appease the base. And I think Romneys withdraw and immediate endorsement of McCain was just for that reason and to possibly beat Huckabee to the punch.

Obama will go with Edwards as they are of one mind on many issues and again, Edward is a base play.

I think Hillary still has a chance, but lately she has been seemingly flailing about (figuratively) and trying any strategy she can think of...unfortunately everybody sees this and it makes her look desperate.

Huckabee & Paul? Well they have a chance in the same way there is a chance a monkey will fly out of my butt.

What to expect: McCain will be attacked on his age, and his support for the war. Also he was one of the Keating 5. Old news, but they may try to bring it out again...

Obama will be attacked on his lack of experience and his pattern of voting 'present', and his seeming to have "entered the senate already running for president".

Just they way I veiw it at this point

[schol-r-lea.livejournal.com]

Aside from once again voicing the opinion that the terms 'conservative' and 'liberal' are utterly meaningless - there are greater divergences of opinions within those two supposed groups than their are between their ostensible common platforms - I would like to say that Huckabee is absolutely right: running for office, and holding office, is like torture. Or perhaps it's more like a painful, lingering poison that saps your vigor and eventually kills you if you don't get away from it.

And the people we want leading us go out of their way to do this to themselves. Think about that next time you argue in favor of a candidate - any candidate - and consider just how sane they real are if they would willingly take the absolute worst job in the world. Don't be fooled by the cushy lifestyle and the supposed 'power' of the position: the POTUS is trapped, nay, enslaved, and only someone on a deranged ego trip would choose to step into that place.