US 2008 Presidential Campaign/Debate Discussion Thread - The Fifth Installment

[deep]

Originally posted by anitram


If I voted in my own self interest, I would be voting for the Conservatives here, given my tax bracket.

But I would rather pay 46% tax than make 1/4 of my salary to escape it...

100,000 income, taxes of 46 % = 54,000


1/4 of 100,000 = 25,000



it sounds like 54,000
is more in your self-interest

than 25,000

[anitram]

Well, clearly.

But you constantly hear people in the highest bracket kvetching about their marginal tax rate and voting solely on promised reductions.

[deep]

This is the day

that the Democratic party

and in particular Obama and his people lost the November election.


they will let the Michigan voters be heard and counted

I guess the election will be close
and if they divide delegates on votes

it won't give the wrong candidate any help

but,

There will be no re-vote in Florida

no way to fix that

and we do not want to re-iterate that one candidate can not win the most important swing state.


So Florida is a "give me " for McCain

[deep]

This is unbelievable!!


Why would anyone want a coward for "Commander in Chief"?

Plan for new Michigan Democratic primary falters

Tue Mar 18, 2008 7:02pm EDT

By Kevin Krolicki

DETROIT (Reuters) - Michigan Democratic Party leaders on Tuesday said a proposal to re-run the state's contested presidential primary in June, which could potentially benefit the campaign of Sen. Hillary Clinton, was stalled and unlikely to be approved before a deadline this week.

Opposition from lawmakers backing Illinois Sen. Barack Obama's campaign seemed certain to scuttle any proposal to hold a June 3 "do-over" Democratic primary in the Midwestern state.


"There are definitely not enough votes now to support the proposal," said Callie Collins, a spokeswoman for state Sen. Tupac Hunter, co-chairman of Obama's campaign in Michigan.

[Irvine511]

i see you've already decided the black kid in class is the troublemaker. no matter what he does, that's what he'll be.

[martha]

Originally posted by deep
This is unbelievable!!


Why would anyone want a coward for "Commander in Chief"?

What an overreaction.

[deep]

why not hear from the democratic voters in Florida and Michigan?

especially now or in June

Obama will get many more votes than if the primaries were held at the time the party would have approved.

To get the nomination by not counting votes in Florida is very BUSHleauge.

[BVS]

What were the numbers of how much a re-do would cost?

[A_Wanderer]

Get ready for 4 more years

PRINCETON, NJ -- John McCain's 67% favorable rating is the highest of any of the three major candidates running for president, and ties for his highest in Gallup polling history.

McCain's favorable rating matches the 67% he received in February 2000, when he was in the middle of his first run for president. But since that point, McCain's image in the eyes of Americans has undergone significant shifts. The Arizona senator had favorable ratings in the 57% range as he began his presidential campaign last winter, but as his campaign floundered this past summer, his favorable rating dropped as low as 41%. At that point, many observers had written off the former POW's campaign. But McCain came roaring back, winning the New Hampshire primary and then clinching the Republican nomination. His current favorable rating represents a gain of 26 points since last summer, including an 11-point increase since he won enough delegates to ensure his nomination on March 4.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/105073/McCains-67-Favorable-Rating-Highest-Eight-Years.aspx?version=print

The funniest thing would be if Sting2 turned out to be right

[deep]

Originally posted by A_Wanderer
Get ready for 4 more yearshttp://www.gallup.com/poll/105073/McCains-67-Favorable-Rating-Highest-Eight-Years.aspx?version=print

The funniest thing would be if Sting2 turned out to be right

Obama is also the only candidate who a majority of Americans -- roughly 60 percent -- say does not have the right experience to be president, the poll showed.

That number is significantly higher than the 38 percent who say Clinton isn't experienced enough and
the 31 percent who say the same for McCain.

[martha]

Originally posted by A_Wanderer

The funniest thing would be if Sting2 turned out to be right

Never underestimate the fickleness and the idiocy of America voters.

[Irvine511]

McCain is enjoying a grace period.

we'll see what happens in the general.

there's no question, he was, by far, the smartest GOP nominee out of that field.

[deep]

Originally posted by Irvine511
McCain is enjoying a grace period.

we'll see what happens in the general.

there's no question, he was, by far, the smartest GOP nominee out of that field.

huge learning curve from 2000
to now

I really believe that lobbyist / affair story was a plant

to get him to explode like he did on maria schriver in 2000

the whole rap on him,
that he is fly off the handle wacko
has been put to bed

[anitram]

Originally posted by Irvine511
McCain is enjoying a grace period.

If Obama had said this, people would be up in arms over his lack of foreign policy knowledge...

Sen. John McCain, traveling in the Middle East to promote his foreign policy expertise, misidentified in remarks Tuesday which broad category of Iraqi extremists are allegedly receiving support from Iran.

He said several times that Iran, a predominately Shiite country, was supplying the mostly Sunni militant group, al-Qaeda. In fact, officials have said they believe Iran is helping Shiite extremists in Iraq.

Speaking to reporters in Amman, the Jordanian capital, McCain said he and two Senate colleagues traveling with him continue to be concerned about Iranian operatives "taking al-Qaeda into Iran, training them and sending them back."

Pressed to elaborate, McCain said it was "common knowledge and has been reported in the media that al-Qaeda is going back into Iran and receiving training and are coming back into Iraq from Iran, that's well known. And it's unfortunate." A few moments later, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, standing just behind McCain, stepped forward and whispered in the presidential candidate's ear. McCain then said: "I'm sorry, the Iranians are training extremists, not al-Qaeda."

The mistake threatened to undermine McCain's argument that his decades of foreign policy experience make him the natural choice to lead a country at war with terrorists. In recent days, McCain has repeatedly said his intimate knowledge of foreign policy make him the best equipped to answer a phone ringing in the White House late at night.

[diamond]

Originally posted by Irvine511


there's no question, he was, by far, the smartest GOP nominee out of that field.

[Irvine511]

Originally posted by deep

the whole rap on him,
that he is fly off the handle wacko
has been put to bed

i know people on the Hill who will tell you, in no uncertain terms, that he is wacko. and a press whore. and an asshole.

but as for the media narrative,

you might be correct.

but let's remember,

general elections are between two individuals. it's a choice that people make between two candidates. it's a direct comparison.

all GWB had to do in 2004 was beat John Kerry.

[Irvine511]

Originally posted by diamond

he was the only electable candidate out of that bunch.

[Irvine511]

Originally posted by anitram


If Obama had said this, people would be up in arms over his lack of foreign policy knowledge...

remember that market that McCain visited in early 2007, where he was trying to say how calm and lovely Iraq had become? and all the while he was wearing a bullet proof vest? it was very Dukakis-in-the-tank?

that same market was determined to be too unsafe for him to visit on this his most recent visit.

we have a long, long way to go before November.

McCain is out of the spotlight. this trip abroad is barely making news.

[deep]

Originally posted by Irvine511
but let's remember,

general elections are between two individuals. it's a choice that people make between two candidates.

we are in agreement
again

I have written in here many times
in November it will be
candidate A or B, only.

[deep]

Obama is also the only candidate who a majority of Americans -- roughly 60 percent -- say does not have the right experience to be president

That number is significantly higher than the 31 percent who say the same for McCain.