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[Derek]

Well, I just helped my good friend set up a website to espouse his Obama-lovin':

http://www.whyilikeobama.com/

The New York Times has backed Hillary, but their op-ed is honestly not nearly as well-argued as his (in my humble opinion).

How do you guys feel about the upcoming primaries?  I'm actually pretty excited for once...

(Testing the waters on political discussion in this thread.)

[Smithy]

Fuck these candidates! I vote for Zombie Nixon, because at least I can tell where he stands! Don't you idiots understand that all of these candidates on the poll want to take YOUR tax dollars and spend them on things? It's true! They want to get their hands on your hard earned tax dollars and spend it on a bunch of bologna programs that I've probably never even heard of! Furthermore, communists have infiltrated NASA, we need a candidate that will cut off their funding and reallocate it towards more noble goals, such as the social elimination of cats! Old people shouldn't be allowed to vote, because it's unfair to young people, and vice versa! We need a candidate who will bring back the draft and thin out the ranks of hippie-commie-socialist kids without political connections! A candidate who looks upwards, not mathwards! These are my political opinions, and before any of you FOOLS disagree, let me preemptively say FUCK YOU! A lot of you may call me a moron, but the fact of the matter is you're not a genius unless a significant portion of the populace considers you a moron! And by that measure, I'm a really big freakin' genius, so you should all shut up!





(Every forum needs a political whackjob!)

[AdamAtomic]

Gosh, which rich, white, religious, elderly male candidate do I choose???

Seriously though...let me put up a hypothetical situation for you.  Let's say you work in HR.  Every few years, it is up to the HR department at your company to pick a new CEO, cuz the last one just burned out or was fired.  So, you start sifting through your list of qualified applicants, only to find that it's surprisingly short.  Even though you usually interview or at least screen a few hundred people for mid-level positions, for CEO you are given only 8 or 10 choices, and to be honest, they're not that great.  Criminal records, fraud, bad business deals, broad lack of accomplishment, poor education, bizarre and frightening countenances...but hey, it could be worse, you could only have 2 to choose from, right?

So you go home that night to think it over, but when you get back to the office in the morning, some douchebag from accounting has just thrown out most of the applications, and all the executives are leaving you snide memos about how long you are taking to make your decision, come on, I mean pick one already!

This can't be right, can it?  I mean, CEO is a really important position at this company, how can you only interview TWO applicants?  What if they're both unqualified?  What if they're both incompetent?  Do you have to appoint one anyways?  Surely this is just an absurd joke perpetrated on you by the rest of the HR department, this is no responsible way to run a business!  There must be some way to at least reconsider some of those applicants' resumes that were thrown out, or just wait a little longer until someone applies that you can actually imagine might be able to perform even the most basic functions of the office.

Right?

[Calanctus]

I'm not sure this is a good idea Derek. I can't resist a political discussion, though.

The New York Times has backed Hillary, but their op-ed is honestly not nearly as well-argued as his (in my humble opinion).

I agree. The New York Times piece was pretty poor in general.

[Golds]

For me the single biggest issue is health insurance.  Of the current democratic field, Clinton has the best plan, but I don't really like the rest of her policies, Edwards is 2nd and I'm a fan, and Obama is the worst -- seemingly just federal subsidizes going right into the pocket of the same for-profit health insurance corporations.

My ideal ticket is Edwards/Obama, but at this point I'm hoping that Edwards grabs enough primary delegates to force a deal to become Vice-Presidential running mate to Obama or Clinton.

The NYTimes Clinton endorsement was pretty weak.  As far as I can tell they just praised all the candidates but picked her because she 'seems intellectual and has experience'.

[Alex May]

Would be good to see the poll results without explicitly stating that I don't give a damn

[Derek]

Would be good to see the poll results without explicitly stating that I don't give a damn

I didn't want to influence people by letting them view the results, but then I want to give people the chance to change their vote.

So... OKAY.

[TeeGee]

I'm for Obama. Not that I give a shit about USA, but I just want to see aliens. And the end of the world in general.

In movies, USA always have a black (or specifically Morgan Freeman) president when all this happens.

[Terry]

I liked Kucinich, but now that he's gone I'm rooting for either Obama or Edwards. Mostly I'm just against certain candidates, though (Hilary and all the Republicans). Not that it really matters anyway, seeing as I don't have any say in it

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

You forgot Gravel and Keyes.

I favor Ron Paul, but I can completely understand people not liking him because of the aggressiveness of his supporters and such. But overall I think he has the positions that match mine; Gravel is my second choice.

The reasons I don't like the others mentioned are:

Hillary Clinton - I see her as a power-seeker with no principles, especially because she used to be a Republican and switched to a Democrat in later life, because of countless things like

, and because of which groups fund her. She's also the most pro-censorship of videogames of any of the candidates, introducing that bill with Lieberman to mandate ESRB ratings for all games, which if it passed would basically put indie games out of business because few of us can afford to rate our games with the ESRB (it costs thousands of dollars).

John Edwards - He's too religious for me, I read that he once claimed to be possessed by the departed spirit of one of his dead clients during a trial. But I like him better than Clinton or Obama because he's more aggressively anti-corporate.

Barack Obama - I don't like him because he tries to appeal mainly on charisma and hope and change rather than mentioning anything substantial; if you've ever watched one of his speeches at a rally you probably know what I mean. I once described him like this: if someone was a foreigner who didn't know English, and listened to all the candidates speak, they'd like Obama the best, just because the way he says things. But I like him better than Hillary because he's less of a 'party man' (in the sense of a political party, not social partying).

Rudy Giuliani - I actually agree with a lot of his positions (except the war on terror), but his personality and corruption irks me so much that I'd prefer anyone else except Huckabee or Keyes over him. He also has a terrible "freedom means authority" quote.

Mike Huckabee - Wants to amend the constitution to make it say that the Bible takes precedence over the constitution.

John McCain - I like his honesty but he's extremely unstable, he's known for having a temper, for being superstitious, and for singing "Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran" and telling people to get a life if they were offended by it.

Mitt Romney - Much like Hillary I think he changes his positions to gain power rather than having any principles.

As for more on why I like the ones I do:

Ron Paul - I'm a libertarian so my liking for him is natural. But more specifically, it was incredible that he mentioned (on live television no less) that the US used the CIA to cause a coup in Iran in the 50s, and gave Saddam chemical weapons to use on the Iranians during the Iraq-Iran war; no other candidate would dare even admit such a thing. He also said he'd pardon everyone in jail for non-violent drug crimes (like marijuana use/possession and so on). Also his campaign has led to a lot of people becoming politically active for the first time, in

.

Mike Gravel - Ended the draft during Vietnam and personally put his career and life at risk to do so. And things like this take courage. He also favors direct democracy, where people personally can write and vote on laws, rather than leaving it up to Congress, which I think shows a good-hearted trust of the people.

[moi]

Ru Paul all the way

[Soulliard]

I still have hope that Bloomberg (the mayor of NYC) will jump in the race as an independent. America's entire political system is corrupt, and none of the other candidates are going to change that. Bloomberg, on the other hand, has done a great job of making New York's government more efficient and accountable, and he's the only one with the power to eliminate America's corrupt two-party system.

If he declines to run, however, I would support Obama. Anything's better than four more years of Republican control, and of all the Democrats, he probably has the best chance of winning the general election.

[fish]

im canadian!

[Alec]

im canadian!

No, you're from Quebec.

[BMcC]

im canadian!

No, you're from Quebec.

Haha, major burn.

[ravuya]

I was rooting for Kucinich, but now he's gone, so I am adrift in a sea of meaningless rhetoric and vaguely directed rage.

[Skibs]

[Inane]

Ron Paul!
Kucinich was my first choice though. Also, it's fun to pronounce it Cookinick.

I really don't like Obama and Clinton. I mean, of all black people and women who could run for president, they're pretty much the worst in my opinion.

I'm going to stop giving general, unfactual statements now.

[Tanner]

Chuck Norris supports Huckabee.

I can't vote, though, so I guess I'm safe from his wrath.

[ஒழுக்கின்மை (Paul Eres)]

Ron Paul!
Kucinich was my first choice though. Also, it's fun to pronounce it Cookinick.

I really don't like Obama and Clinton. I mean, of all black people and women who could run for president, they're pretty much the worst in my opinion.

I'm going to stop giving general, unfactual statements now.

I kind of wish Condi Rice would have run for president -- then there'd be someone who was both black and a woman; she probably wouldn't have much of a chance of winning though (though probably a lot more of a chance than Cheney would).