With the first debates over, I’m letting this post be open to discuss anything about the upcoming 2008 election. You can discuss economics, foreign policy, health care, whatever.
If you want, you can even discuss upcoming local and state issues as well. The only thing I ask is no bashing!
UPDATE: I’m keeping this on the front page until the election is over. This post is getting a lot of views so I thought it would be easier to keep it on the first page.
Shaun Miller's Ideas 
thanks for the post for that.
I wrote a post for you in response over on my blog, but in a nutshell, i think obama won. Check it out here:
http://culturedecoded.wordpress.com/2008/09/26/thoughts-on-the-first-presidential-debate/
I scored it 3-2 Obama. McCain won Nat. Security, and Russia while Obama won Iraq, Afghanistan, and squeaked out a victory on the economy.
I only saw the last half hour of the debate so I can’t say who was good overall. So basically I only caught Russia and foreign policy in general.
Just out of curiosity, does anyone know anything about Utah’s election? Any new propositions we should know about?
I think the thing that really caught me wasn’t the debate itself, but the style behind it. I noticed that McCain hardly looked at Obama. I don’t know if it was intimidation or contempt. They both accused each other of being stubborn, and the thing that really surprised me was Obama had some fight in him (basically calling McCain wrong on many issues or that he’s not speaking the truth). It surprised me because Democrats have the reputation of being soft-spoken kind of people (look at John Kerry in 2004) whereas Republicans are known to be tough talkers. I thought they were both tough talkers in this debate.
I got intimidation out of it. I guess even a former POW can’t fathom the Cold Communist stare of Ol’ Obama EvilEyes.
I think this election will get interesting once the VP debates get going. It’ll be interesting to see what Palin will say, especially after that whole Curic interview.
I bet she gets schooled on Thursday. Her only hope is to go on the attack and dodge questions.
There’s a talk on TED that I think every American should check out. You can get this by clicking “here”. It takes about 20 minutes to watch so do what I do: watch it while you’re eating breakfast or lunch.
The talk is by a moral psychologist and he explains the difference between liberals and conservatives from a moral point of view. I thought it was interesting. To get the best benefit, you should watch it in its entirety so that you get the whole context.
Jon Stewart from the Daily Show blasts how the politicians aren’t being authentic with their beliefs and issues. One thing that really caught my attention is that Stewart thinks that this election was going to be exciting, but he finds it boring just as the 2000 and 2004 election. He talks it over with Peggy Noonan. I think Stewart is correct that the politicians are trying to appease both sides instead of saying straight out, “this is the issue I believe in.” Check it out “here.”
Well, when he’s right, he’s right. Jon Stewart that is. I hate to say it but this election is getting stilted and stagnant as it gets closer to the election. I just saw the VP debates and although I was impressed with both of them, their answers seemed generic, subtle, and moderate. Where’s the hardcore hitting answers? Why not cut through the BS? Most of their answers were red herrings and that’s what really got to me.
I liked the moderator’s questions, but I wished the moderator asked about teaching evolution and intelligent design in the schools and see what Palin had to say. I’m expecting this debate to be a draw but each side will say that their candidate won the debate of course.
My conservative buddy and I felt it was a draw. Biden started out strong, but Palin rebounded towards the end.
…and she’s hot.
Interesting. FoxNews thought it was the opposite: that Palin started strong but Biden came out in the end.
I don’t see much of a difference between Obama and McCain…but maybe that’s just me.
Here’s a very nice article explaining what makes people vote Republican. It’s interesting, but the author says that this is a universal thing which I think it’s stretching it. But I don’t know enough about world politics to form a better opinion. The article is here.
Here’s a blurb from the article:
Welcome Aleksandra. I’m beginning to agree with you in general, but I think that the nuances are different. I hope as it gets closer to the election, we’re both wrong.
The author of that article came off as a douchebag, but I did as he suggested to his liberal audience and set my emotions aside.
The conclusion I came to is he’s essentially correct, but calling conservatism a “diagnosis” and sounding otherwise condescending is lame. I could beat his ass. 🙂
Anyway, I took the morality test that’s linked to his website. Everybody reading this should take the same test here:
http://www.yourmorals.org/
It nailed me spot on. You can go to the website here to see my score:
http://www.yourmorals.org/5f_new2_process.php
I would embed the link, but I’m a Caveman conservative and don’t know how.
KoMOPEUTOR Mak Kilur J maD! ARGhhG!!!1
Yeah, I agree with you Killer J that the article starts off kind biased, but I think he ends up nicely being somewhat objective. I took the article as not something scholarly, but more of a personal exploration of himself. I think it’s a nice exploration, but I do take some exceptions at what he’s saying.
Well, that’s cool you’re able to see the bias. Surprising, but cool!
Here are some other great sites to keep you busy with the election. I find them really informative, non-biased, non-partisan, and simple. One is factcheck.org and the other is votegopher.com.
Colin Powell supports Barack Obama. This article here explains why and I find his answers a breath of fresh air against the negative campaigning that’s been going on. Example:
and to the response whether Obama is Muslim or not:
Finally, someone who can filter through the bullshit of politics and just tell it like it is. You can see it below:
and here on his explanation on why he endorses Obama:
So Sarah Palin is getting some flack about spending $150,000 on pampering herself. My question is who cares? It’s her money (or perhaps the campaign’s money) and if the campaign supports her looking all dolled up, then let them.
BARACK OBAMA WINS!!! Now let’s back down to business. . .
Yes, down to business. Since small businesses will cease to exist three months from now, we need to hurry!
Ehh, they’ve been disappearing since modern capitalism. Do I need to say Wal-Mart?