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This should stir something up
Oct. 16th, 2008 03:31 pmThe three-and-a-halfth (and thankfully last) Presidential debate was on last night, and I honestly paid significantly less attention to it than I had the others. However, it turned out to be the most interesting one so far, because McCain really did take off both his gloves and the softer backup gloves he wears underneath them this time, and really made a point to attack Obama's trustworthiness and decisions, while Obama was kept very defensive. There was also an admittedly very good line about not being George Bush at one point. I was surprised, then, to see that the popular opinion is once again that McCain remained the underdog - it seems that this was because Obama stayed calm under the pressure being applied to him, while McCain looked like he was actually going to burst several times at how little he managed to get to him.
Now, with a perfect four debates to the Democrats, people all over the place are saying that the race is over and decided, which honestly makes me even more worried. Because even though a lot of poll tracking sites now put Obama's certain states above the 270 electoral votes needed to win, there is still (still!) the issue of undecided voters that could make the all-important swing states swing wildly either way.
I don't even have a vote myself, and I fear that the election will now depend quite a lot on, well... the intelligence of the voters. Don't take this the wrong way, because I mean it in pretty much the opposite way - your vote doesn't determine your level of brain activity. There are many reasons to vote for Obama - he promises to turn the country and possibly by extension the world around from the current sort of appalling mess it's in now. In the same way, there are many reasons to favour McCain, because... well, actually, I can't think of any specific ones myself. Maybe if you earn more than a million dollars a week and don't want it going towards energy other than the oil that you're buying off the Middle East. But there must be some, because I've read accounts from many (well, two) eloquent and reasonable people detailing exactly why they want to go for him. The trouble is this - you will also be voting for McCain if you're just an imbecile.
I mean it - as much as I wish otherwise, the Internet is not the best place in general to find intelligent conversation, but having seen viewpoints vomited up by people from both sides of the spectrum, I don't think I can really describe the level of racist, backward and ignorant viewpoints as made by those in the Republican camp. Even respected (well, if you count Ann Coulter as respected rather than, for example, bloody insane) columnists from that side take delight in a despicable primary-school bullying level of politics, choosing to delightedly spotlight his second name instead of calling him by the one he uses.
There are also accusations, as you can just about see in that monstrous piece of gibberish above, that he "hates" America and had an education at a place that also hates it - but what's the problem with that? You'd be hard pressed now to find a place that doesn't. And the only thing that I can see that's interpreted as hate from him is that he, unlike a lot of the country, seems to acknowledge that significant parts of it are a bit rubbish and seems to have a decent idea about what to do to fix them. You can't ever improve yourself or anything else without acknowledging your faults.
I will finish, then, by linking to one of the greatest pictures of him ever, and possibly refrain from mentioning any of this again until the start of November.
I hope the people reading this who can register to vote have done so. Like certain breakfast cereals, I don't think it's possible to appreciate that privilege until you don't have it.
Now, with a perfect four debates to the Democrats, people all over the place are saying that the race is over and decided, which honestly makes me even more worried. Because even though a lot of poll tracking sites now put Obama's certain states above the 270 electoral votes needed to win, there is still (still!) the issue of undecided voters that could make the all-important swing states swing wildly either way.
I don't even have a vote myself, and I fear that the election will now depend quite a lot on, well... the intelligence of the voters. Don't take this the wrong way, because I mean it in pretty much the opposite way - your vote doesn't determine your level of brain activity. There are many reasons to vote for Obama - he promises to turn the country and possibly by extension the world around from the current sort of appalling mess it's in now. In the same way, there are many reasons to favour McCain, because... well, actually, I can't think of any specific ones myself. Maybe if you earn more than a million dollars a week and don't want it going towards energy other than the oil that you're buying off the Middle East. But there must be some, because I've read accounts from many (well, two) eloquent and reasonable people detailing exactly why they want to go for him. The trouble is this - you will also be voting for McCain if you're just an imbecile.
I mean it - as much as I wish otherwise, the Internet is not the best place in general to find intelligent conversation, but having seen viewpoints vomited up by people from both sides of the spectrum, I don't think I can really describe the level of racist, backward and ignorant viewpoints as made by those in the Republican camp. Even respected (well, if you count Ann Coulter as respected rather than, for example, bloody insane) columnists from that side take delight in a despicable primary-school bullying level of politics, choosing to delightedly spotlight his second name instead of calling him by the one he uses.
There are also accusations, as you can just about see in that monstrous piece of gibberish above, that he "hates" America and had an education at a place that also hates it - but what's the problem with that? You'd be hard pressed now to find a place that doesn't. And the only thing that I can see that's interpreted as hate from him is that he, unlike a lot of the country, seems to acknowledge that significant parts of it are a bit rubbish and seems to have a decent idea about what to do to fix them. You can't ever improve yourself or anything else without acknowledging your faults.
I will finish, then, by linking to one of the greatest pictures of him ever, and possibly refrain from mentioning any of this again until the start of November.
I hope the people reading this who can register to vote have done so. Like certain breakfast cereals, I don't think it's possible to appreciate that privilege until you don't have it.
