Greg the White wrote:

Syd Lexia wrote: I really hope Obama doesn't get to nominate any justices to the Supreme Court. I hope he does. I want free healthcare by a law-making body, because the insurance company I pay now almost didn't help pay to fix my broken pinky without me threatening them legally. I want tax loopholes closed so the millionaires pay their fair share. I want a president that doesn't base foreign policy on LOOKING tough. I want a president that doesn't make kneejerk economic decisions on factors that need serious deliberation. I want a man who chooses the right people for the right job. I want out of Iraq, because we shouldn't have been there, and I don't want to lose another friend to a wasted cause. I don't give a shit about earmarks. Not at all. If they build parks, bridges, bases, museums, or fund scientific research and the arts, then stuff every bill full of earmarks. They only make up about 2% of our GDP. I voted for Barack Obama, and I'm happy with the outcome. Not because he's black, not because he follows an ideological label that I try to identify myself with, not because his opponent, once one of my favorite politicians, has now become, and definitely not because I felt I should, but that I want to. I voted for him because I have obsessively read about economics, foreign policiies, politics, and their histories, formed an opinion of what should be done, and though I don't agree completely with Obama, I think he's the best choice. Today's a happy day for me, no matter how much of the "liberal media" tries to downplay it to just electing a black president.

That's fucking fantastic, but none of that has anything to do with the Supreme Court. Generally when you quote something, your reply is actually relevant to the quote.

Optimist With Doubts wrote:

Syd Lexia wrote: I really hope Obama doesn't get to nominate any justices to the Supreme Court. yeah same here, I'm sure his first picks would be Hitler Stalin and Mussolini

His rapid political assent is certainly comparable to Hitler or Mussolini. Not so much Stalin. Stalin earned his spot.

That's not entirely true. Stalin was in the party from beginning, and he clearly had ambition. He was not well-liked by Lenin, but Lenin gave him a high-ranking title essentially to appease him. When Lenin died, Stalin had enough backers that he was able to force himself into the party's top slot instead of Trotsky, Lenin's intended successor. Once he had control of the party, he became paranoid and would constant have people he perceived to be his enemies killed, jailed, or both.

Kennedy's assent is tempered by the fact that he was a war hero, not to mention that he served in public office for 13 years before becoming president, 6 as a Congressman, 7 as a Senator.

Barack Obama, on the other hand, has only been in the on the national stage since 2004, when he ran for Senate and was chosen to give a speech at the DNC. After his original Republican opponent dropped out of the race due to a sex scandal involving his ex-wife, Obama won a largely uncontested race. So unlike Kennedy, Obama did not pay his political dues. He has become president after only three years on the national stage, and his entire campaign is based around the worst kind of political opportunism and explotation. He was seemingly groomed for the presidency largely due to the Democrats' belief that minority voters, most of whom rarely care enough to vote, could be energized to vote for a minority candidate, regardless of whether or not he was experienced enough or deserving of the job. They were right.

He was governor of California, one of the most populous and prominent states in the country for 12 years. People knew who he was. More importantly, he had an indisputable political history that he could point to. He could tell people what he did as governor of California to reform the state.

He also campaigned for Goldwater in 1964, and while Goldwater's campaign was unsuccessful, Reagan became an instant star within the Republican Party. A speech he gave on October 27, 1964 in particular, is attributed for launching his politcal career. Appropriately, the most famous lines were about the economy:

"The Founding Fathers knew a government can't control the economy without controlling people. And they knew when a government sets out to do that, it must use force and coercion to achieve its purpose. So we have come to a time for choosing."

Here in 2008, those words seem eerily timely.

mjl1783 wrote:

Hmmm... A politician with no national experience becoming the golden boy of his party because of his speeches and sloganeering.

How about that he has no experience whatsoever?

Obama has no record, no past precedents on which to judge him, other than a corny book? Obama's success is a shining testament to the failures of the Republican Party. In 2004, America was considering dumping Bush. The Democrats thought they had the election in the bag. Then they ran John Kerry against him, a man who was stiff and unlikeable. On top of that, he had history and beliefs, and those could be attacks.

This time around, the Democrats changed their strategy. They ran, in essence, a cardboard cutout against McCain. Obama has no political history, no demonstrated beliefs, nothing that could possibly damn him other than his troubling personal connections, which he simply shrugged off. Meanwhile McCain had been forced into running a platform far less centrist than what he believed in; he was himself a cardboard cutout of the real McCain. So the Dems ran a campaign about nothing against a campaign that they were able to label as "four more years of Bush". The American people decided that even nothing would be better than four more years of Bush, and Obama coasted to an easy electoral victory.

The tragedy here is that McCain, the real McCain, deserved to win. He has spent nearly his entire life in service to this country, a country that he loves dearly. And there would have been nothing more fitting and beautiful than for McCain to end his career in the highest office our country has to offer. Sadly, his party was more interested in selling its platform than in selling McCain. And unfortunately for them and for him, McCain was much more saleable than their platform. If the party machine had allowed him to show the class and character he showed in his concession speech on the campaign trail, he would be our president-elect right now. But he's not. And while most people would be bitter, McCain is already anxious to get back to work in the Senate and help get America back on track.

Palin was an awkward choice. The bigger issue though was the sudden economic crisis.

Eh, that's fine.

Besides, Jeebus and Plethora would probably side with you anyway, and I don't feel like being gang raped.