US Presidential Race

[Guard Dog]

My vote right now is Third Party. The idea of Hillary as President should be frightening to everyone and I just dislike all the rest. If I had to pick one I'd say Guliani. What say you?

[Tale]

I love Obama as a choice. However, Hillary would piss off every Republican I know and there's nothing better in the world than causing people to be pissed off over silly reasons.

[astr0creep]

Hillary Clinton : Wants to vote laws to block gaming. She's a woman

Barak Obama : He's black

John Edwards : Who?

Rudy Guliani : Ordered the demolition of the WTC and started the war in doing so( )

Mitt Romney : His name is too wierd.

John McCain : Looks too much like Cheney

Third Party/Other :

 

[taks]

both the dems and the repubs have a problem for the next race.

 

suffice it to say, the dems have a black man and a woman as their two leading candidates. both have an uphill struggle (whether that is right or not is not something i'm commenting on) with american voters. i just don't think early polls are accurate when it comes down to a choice between two "first timers" w.r.t. race or gender. i could be wrong, and won't complain if i am (though i'm not a hillary fan). edwards is the typical "live as i say, not as i do" liberal, which seriously dents his cred with average joe voter. he's a little too preachy about his causes, IMO. of course, if i had to choose between edwards and dean, edwards all day (dean is just plain annoying).

 

republicans on the other hand, just don't have anybody worth electing. i semi-like guliani, but i don't think he's electable. i don't like mccain. never have, never will. condi was considered for a while, but she has to cross both boundaries, race and gender. not likely to happen.

 

i'm hoping for the dark horse 3rd party, but that's an even longer shot. too bad the libertarians can't get organized enough to put forth a valid 3rd party candidate.

 

taks

[Hurlshort]

I don't know enough about Obama. I like what I've seen, but he might not be experienced enough.

 

I'd vote McCain if he could get through the Republican party primaries. But he won't because he doesn't cater to the party line enough. Which, oddly enogh, is why I'd vote for him.

 

I don't really get the whole "hate Hillary" thing. She's very experienced and her husband ran the country fairly well during his eight years. Sure, some credit should go to Reagan for the economic boom, but he managed it well enough. He was also much more effective at international politics than Bush. I'm not blaming Bush solely for the War on Terror, or even the war of Iraq, but I think they've focused way too much on creating a state of fear than building an international standard of protection. The whole "My way or the highway" stance is terrible for building bridges.

 

So...why do people hate Hillary exactly?

[taks]

i think she's fake. bill was poll driven, which tends to make people happy (i.e. he's doing what the majority want) but hillary comes across as pandering in order to get the swing, when all she really wants is a chance to show bill up. bill was not necessarily "more effective" at international politics, he was more politically correct (i.e. he was smoother), which inflamed people less when it came to dealing with miscreants. if that means more effective, than i guess i can't really debate that opinion. neither he nor bush really got anything done overall.

 

taks

[Hurlshort]

Hillary Clinton : Wants to vote laws to block gaming. She's a woman

 

That's inaccurate. She took up arms with Jack Thompson during the whole GTA thing, then realized Thompson was a loon who misrepresented everything, and distanced herself as far as she could. She wants a stronger ratings system. She's not pushing unconstitutional bans like Thompson.

 

Look, I'm not some democrat cheerleader, but there is an awful lot of false information out there about every one of these candidates.

[Enoch]

Disclaimer: It is ridiculously early in the campaign, and all of these views might well change during the coming months.

 

Disclaimer 2: I'm not a registered member of either party, but I tend to agree with the Dems more that the GOP, particularly on social issues. I also think the current Prez has done a particularly awful job, so I'm almost a lock to vote for whoever wins the Democratic nomination.

 

The hate for Hilary is mostly leftover hate for her husband, and it's mostly concentrated in people who would never vote for the Democratic candidate anyway. But she's not a particularly effective campaigner, and I worry that having her on the ticket will kill down-ticket Dems in the other races. She'll bring a lot of wackos out who wouldn't normally vote at all but who want to vote against her. I'm not as impressed as most with her experience, either. Vicarious experience through her husband doesn't go very far with me.

 

Obama & Edwards have great charisma, but both have pretty serious "Where's the beef" problems-- very little experience with national issues and almost none with international ones. Edwards seems a little close to the big unions for my taste, and I think Obama's politics are a bit more to the left than the general public realizes right now.

 

The guy I like is Bill Richardson. Governor of Arizona, former U.N. Ambassador. A moderate Democrat with strong campaigning skills, substantial foreign policy experience, and executive experience governing a state. Unfortunately, there are rumors that he has some Clintonish problems with the ladies. Wouldn't affect my support, but it may hinder his ability to keep up with the better-known candidates in the fundraising department.

 

The one candidate that really scares me-- and I mean scares as in his presidency could be a disaster for the nation-- is Rudy. Yes, he was effective in fighting crime in NYC, and he was a compelling figure in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks. But by all reports, he is extraodinarily self-centered, petty, and vindictive. He spent half of his time as mayor settling scores and trying to claim credit for the sun rising every morning. Completely the opposite temperament that I want in the man conducting my country's international diplomacy.

[Gfted1]

Im not informed enough about everyones stance but so far Im liking Rudy Guliani.

[taks]

that's why i only semi-like guliani. his stand on most issues is fair enough in my book, but he has done some things that don't make sense.

 

i hadn't really thought about richardson, but he's definitely a moderate and not too bad a choice.

 

taks

[Volourn]

Obama or Guliani.

[Gromnir]

obama's biggest obstacle might not be that he is black, but rather that he ain't black enough. h. clinton is currently doing better with black voters, 'ccording to polls. one reason given for this were that black voters didn't identify with obama... presumably 'cause he had a white mother, his father is actually from kenya, and he grew up in indonesia and hawaii and attended a prep school from 5-12th grade. his father and mother divorced when he was 2 and dad went back to kenya leaving mom and his maternal grandparents doing the actual child rearing of the young obama. is a great story, but it seems that many black voters just don't feel that obama is their black candidate.

 

also, and this may offend the sensibilities o' some posters in this particular place, but obama may not be religious enough. obama admits that he were pretty much raised w/o religion until he reached his 20s. weren't til he started a career in politics that he found religion. this fact seems to bother both some % relgious and non-religious voters alike. nevertheless, we suspect that finding religion were, at the very least, necessary for somebody with an eye on the oval office.

 

obama is an intriguing candidate...

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Enoch]

And, by the way, nobody in this thread so far has spelled Rudy's name correctly. It's Giuliani.

[Hildegard]

I just don't know what's the thing with Guliani...the guy sucks big time...dudes biggest advantage should be what? Good management during crises, good choice in fighting terrorism, strong leadership??? LOL to all of those claims, he proved how good he was after 1993 when he put NY command&control centar in the WTC, the guy is nothing but an average Italian actor in US politics:teehee:

[Gfted1]

And, by the way, nobody in this thread so far has spelled Rudy's name correctly. It's Giuliani.

 

 

Heh, I cheated and looked at the poll choice.

[Pop]

Not decided yet, really, but Denver's going to host the DNC this time around so I'll hopefully be able to discern the dem's real platform and maybe take bets on what promises they intend to break if they win. Not going to vote republican, though, no matter who's running. There was a time in which if there wasn't anybody I liked in the dem camp I'd vote for McCain, but he lost me on the Habeus Corpus thing. Honestly, I don't really believe in the system. My elected representatives do not work for me, so why would I work for them? I might just end up not voting, if Hillary runs.

[Sand]

I have to vote for Obama. I don't particularly like Hilary Clinton all that much. She disturbs me. Also Edwards reminds me of John Ritter's character Ted from Buffy. I also find him disturbing. Republicans are so far away from what I believe the direction of this country should go it is not even funny, with the exception of Rudy. He is the only acceptable Republican there, even then it is questionable.

 

However if I would make a dream team President/Vice President I would want to see Obama/Giuliani ticket. Even though they are Democrat and a Republican, I think they would mesh well.

[Tale]

I still have my suspicions that Obama is actually a black Republican, but figures that translates into Democrat for being voted for. Simply because I know some die hard Republicans who like the guy.

[Sand]

Obama has the charisma to lead people, but he lacks overall experience to lead a country, however teamed up with a more experianced candidate for his vice president he ould do a lot of good, and a lot of damage control after Bush's **** ups to put the US back on track.

[Darth Drabek]

Heh, pretty soon Newt Gingrich will join the fray, or so I hear. Now he is a thoroughly detestable man. He ran roughshod over Slick Willy for his extramarital activities while conducting his own on the side.

 

I like Barack Obama and John McCain. I've always voted Democrat, so I'll probably vote for their candidate come November, but I wouldn't be too upset if McCain ends up in the Oval Office. I respect him; he's an admirable character.

 

I'm sure Giuliani will be using the "9/11! 9/11! 9/11!" campaign technique, and I really don't think Americans want to hear much more of that right now.

 

Hillary lacks her husband's charisma (does anybody remember his speech at the last Dem convention? He really made Kerry look like a stuffed suit), and she'll have a hard time shaking the "coattail rider" image.

[Pidesco]

Barack Obama because he's black.

[Sand]

Well, Which ever runs I'll be voting for the one who is the closest to abide to these issues...

 

1. Totally restructures out foreign policy and makes the Iraqis take control over their country and gets our people home in 2008.

2. Allow equal and fair treatment for all Americans and strives to remove bigotry that the Bush Administration supports, allow gay/lesbian/transgender marriages/civil unions.

3. Revamps the the Immigration system that would allow more immigrants and give fair treatment to all regardless of country of origin, but at the same time provide harsher penalties to those who break the laws and the companies that hires them for not doing a thorough background check before hiring.

4. Allow full funded stem cell research without restrictions,

 

If it is a Republican, so be it. If it is a Democrat, so be it. I highly doubt a single Republican will side with me on a single issue here, so it seems clear which side I will be voting on. Too bad my vote is worthless anyway.

[SteveThaiBinh]

It's hard - I know so little about most of them. If there were a vote tomorrow (and I were eligible to vote), I'd probably vote for John McCain. I've heard that he's a moderate conservative, not particularly friendly to the Christian Right, but most importantly he might do something about how politics is funded in the US. I think that would be very healthy, not only for US democracy, but for how democracy is perceived in the non-democratic world.

[Dark Moth]

Anyone who can improve our economy, education, military, and help the immigration problems, as well as providing security. Any help on the energy problem, as well as allowing for stem cell research and being friendly to the Christian right, is a big plus.

Edited March 13, 2007 by Dark Moth

[Oerwinde]

I think Hilary should give vice president a try before going for President. Gives people a chance to get used to her close to the big office before she tries for the whole enchilada.