<p>Just wondering. Why do you think this about Ron Paul?</p>
<p>Oops I don’t know how to quote. I was quoting shoebox10 from the first page where he was called whack.</p>
<p>archrival, to quote, put [ quote] and [ /quote] around the phrase. just take out the spaces in between the brackets.</p>
<p>after the vice presidential debate, Bob Herbet wrote an article for the NYTimes and the last part of the article struck me.
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<p>I respect John McCain and his years of service to this country. However, I’m going to be forthright and say that, most likely, he’ll croak in office. So what happens? Sarah Palin becomes president. powderpuff, i think you said earlier that Sarah Palin wasn’t running for President. But she’s running for vice president. And that’s the biggest point. She will literally be a heartbeat away from the Presidency and because of John McCain’s age, the probability of her becoming president is very high. I rooted for McCain in the primaries, but I was astounded by his VP pick. In the VP debate, she basically said, I’m not going to answer the question, I’m going to talk about what I know. If you are a president or a vice president representing our country while trying to negotiate a treaty/deal/something else, it’s not acceptable to ignore the topic at hand and talk about something completely unrelated. I don’t want an average run of the mill ordinary American hockey parent in those discussions. I want someone who knows what the hell they’re talking about and understands (or at least acknowledges) the complexity of the issues at hand.</p>
<p>the last quote comes from Gail Collins, another write for the NYTimes.</p>
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<p>That’s what I have a problem with. And so, my vote will be going to Obama/Biden.</p>
<p>edit: I think it’s great that everyone’s so excited for this election and so passionate in defending their candidates! And I think this debate reflects well upon our University; there are different views and perspectives everywhere and we’re seeing them here. Many prospectives have asked in the past about the political atmosphere at UVa, and this does show that not everyone here is a liberal hippie. Although, there are some liberal hippies lol. :)</p>
<p>Oh, thank the Lord, that effigy of Sarah Palin hanging from a noose has finally been taken down. It took about a week for her effigy to be taken down after a huge public outcry of foul. The secret service investigated it but didn’t consider it a “threat”.
BTW, though, the two people at the U. of KY who hung the effigy of of Obama from a noose yesterday, were swiftly investigated by secret service, police, and arrested. That effigy was removed within hours.
Such a double standard. Yes, the history of violence against the African-American population in the US is appalling. However, women should be respected too. Palin’s treatment in the press has been abominable; but, she doesn’t whine, she keeps going. Go, Sarah, go!!</p>
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<p>I agree with you Powder, but what other choice does the McCain – Palin ticket have.</p>
<p>The project for excellence in journalism just released a study on the media’s treatment of the candidates. Overall the negative stories for McCain are two and a half times greater than for Obama. [THE</a> INVISIBLE PRIMARY—INVISIBLE NO LONGER: A First Look at Coverage of the 2008 Presidential Campaign | Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ)](<a href=“http://www.journalism.org/node/8187]THE”>http://www.journalism.org/node/8187). A particularly sorry statement is that only one percent of stories about the candidates deal with past performance. Certain media outlets like MSNBC are running 73% negative stories for McCain vs only 12% for Obama. </p>
<p>Just yesterday the Obama campaign ejected 3 newspapers, The New York Post, The Washington Times, and one other from the Obama airplane for the remainder of the campaign. All three of these daily newspapers endorsed McCain for President.</p>
<p>Earlier this week an Orlando Florida reporter who was trained under Peter Jennings was interviewing Joe Biden and asked questions about Obama’s stance on Marxism based upon excerpts from Obama’s two books. Biden and the Obama campaign were furious, and has banned that station from any further interviews for the remainder of the campaign, cancelling additional interviews that had already been scheduled.</p>
<p>Is this intimidation of the press? Do only those friendly to the cause have access to Obama?</p>
<p>When I see people making decisions about who they are going to vote for based on papers like the New York Times, (especially using OpEd pieces) which is notoriously in the tank for Obama, I feel that the media has accomplished its goal. It has cheated voters from receiving an accurate account of the candidates.</p>
<p>It seems to me that the media is abusing its power under the guise of first amendment rights. They have a right to free speech, but the public has a right to know the truth in order to make informed decisions.</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s intimidation of the press to refuse to talk with a media outlet that’s basically insulting you. Why should news outlets be always neutral? Dissemination and propaganda are facts of life; that is, every piece of speech will always be coloured. But free market of ideas works under the idea that, “we are not afraid to tolerate any error, so long as reason is free to combat it.” Nothing is really preventing the public from knowing the truth (given that the US has one of the best environments for press freedom) – if the idea is meritable, it will be echoed loud enough.</p>
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<p>40% don’t pay federal taxes? Cuz, I worked in the summer and the meagre amount I earned was still taxed. In fact, I believe the marginal tax rate is 10% even if you start from zero. The tax rate of 25% – what Andrew Mellon would have reserved solely for the top income tax bracket – is what people earning $30,000/yr or more will at least pay. And that’s just for federal income taxes.</p>
<p>It’s not creating a welfare state to slash taxes across the board. I believe the idea would have sat very soundly with Andrew Mellon, who you know, being one of the richest philanthropists in the US at the time, wasn’t exactly a socialist sympathiser. </p>
<p>Furthermore, tax rates and incomes aren’t independent. Increasing or decreasing tax rates across the board by 20%, will not raise or decrease revenues by 20%. There’s an economic principle called [Hauser’s</a> Law](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hauser’s_Law]Hauser’s”>Hauser's law - Wikipedia) that relates to this. I need to further investigate Obama’s proposed tax policy in particular, but how can it ever be a bad idea to make one of your campaign focal points lower taxes? Since higher tax rates can actually generate less revenue (by lowering GDP), and lower taxes can generate more revenue, shifting the burden to the wealthy AT a lower tax rate, I fail to see how any “welfare state” is created by tax cuts.</p>
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<p>First of all, I am not an ignorant twit voting on the basis on 2 articles read in one newspaper. If there is such a person, I hope they don’t vote. In fact, you’d be amazed at how long/intensely I’ve been following some of the candidates in this election. Right after Obama made his speech at the DNC in 2004, I knew he would be running for office, especially after reading more about him. We also had to write a 15-20 page paper about one of the candidates from both sides of the primary race in my gov class; I chose McCain and Clinton. And I devote at least 2 hours everyday to scouring for more material on this race. So, I know what I’m talking about. The two articles I cited accurately express how I feel about Palin. The reason I cited them is because 1) I’m too lazy/busy to write up a dissertation on an internet chat room originally designed to aid with college admissions and 2) if I ever had to write a paper on this for a class, it would be cheating if I copied/pasted anything of what I wrote here in my paper. In fact, that’s one of the main reasons I’m trying to stay out of this thread; I’m very passionate about this election but I have a crazy amount of work to do and so, I have to prioritize.</p>
<p>P.S. I hope we can all be friends again after this is over.</p>
<p>48 hours to go. Thank god I’ll be amongst a group of e-school boys in a place were we can’t get too loud when results come in.</p>
<p>C’mon shoe, getting loud is part of the fun!</p>
<p>I was just sent this funny video: [YouTube</a> - Obama Added To Mount Rushmore](<a href=“http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6DwN-zt-24]YouTube”>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6DwN-zt-24)</p>
<p>I thought it was funny so I thought I’d pass it along to CC, please note that I voted Republican! Hope someone out there enjoys! It’s down to the wire, but I have faith and respect for both candidates. These are interesting times indeed!</p>
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<p>Yup, we are lucky to have a choice. Many others don’t.</p>
<p>Thanks powderpuff.</p>
<p>Both candidates? There are only two now?</p>
<p>Sorry, you are right cav.</p>
<p>Maybe I should have said, relevant candidates.</p>
<p>I wonder how many people aren’t going to class tomorrow in order to “vote”.</p>
<p>One of my classes was officially canceled. I’m still attending the other one.</p>
<p>My final comment on this:
Obama won. By a landslide. You may not support him fully, yet, but obviously your fellow Americans do. This is a free democracy, but everyone needs to work together under one leader. McCain proved to be an excellent politician and worthy person during the campaign, and I hold him with high regard. I think he is going to be very close with Obama, since he is a senior Senator, and realizes America needs change. Things are going to be rough come January, as the newly elected/returning office holders are faced with the worst economy we’ve seen in 70 years (hopefully it will be better then!), huge upset with the current administration, and a declining status in the world. But, I think every politician in Washington got a wake-up call: we do need change, and quickly. The Bush error is over, and now we can pick up and move on where Bush and his administration failed, and continue their successes. And you need to remember: the country, as a whole, elected him. It wasn’t one person, or his “radical friends”, or crazy college students, or any other group. It was a majority of a nation.<br>
I know McCain supporters are going to be upset and call Obama lots of names and point out his scandals and say he’s a socialist and the country is going to hell. But, Barack Obama is going to be the President of the United States for four years, beginning in January. Yes, it’s you’re right to free speech and dislike his actions at some points. However, he will still your President, and he should be respected and honored at all levels. The country, as a whole, and all of its politicians, right, left, or independent, should be respected as well.</p>
<p>Well said Shoebox.</p>
<p>The obvious bias of the media (including the strategy of of omission) towards Obama (as determined by independent organizations, not just me) is the low point of this election for me, regardless of who had been elected. And next thing you know you will have a media Fairness Doctrine vote coming before Congress…so what about our Constitution? I pray for the best but I am not optimistic, sorry. </p>
<p>Thomas Jefferson: “Experience hath showns that even under the best forms (of Government), those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.”</p>