Observations and inanities by a second-shift assistant supervisor in the Puppy-Grinding division of the Evil Atheist Conspiracy® (our motto: "Sure it's cruel, but think of the jobs!"), your host, Brent Rasmussen.
A question...
...I'd like your response to: Are you sick and disgusted already because of this insanely early presidential election campaign?
Yeah, I am. And I'm a hard-core political junkie, the kind of person who can wage a passionate argument with someone over whether the order of the state primaries can make a difference to the selection of candidates. I can get all wonky on obscure Senate procedures. I can tell you which of the national polls have what kind of built-in demographic bias, and how you need to balance raw numbers reported in the media in order to understand what they really mean. I can cite which states have been 'bellweather' indicators of likely election outcomes over the last 50 years. I'm addicted, and I know it.
Yet I am completely fed up with how early the '08 presidential election campaign has gotten going, how much money has already been spent on it, and how many people (well, at least in the media) are paying attention to it. People - we're over a year out before the conventions. Does *anyone* really think that the conditions we have today are so stable that nothing will change that might influence your opinion of who is best to lead this country 18 months from now? Seriously?
I think that this is a reaction to just how dreadful the Bush administration has been on almost every level, and how much all of us really want to have it over and done with. By engaging our attention early into who the front runners are on each side, by listening to debates (or news reports about debates), by getting excited by this or that demagog, it's like we're trying to skip to the end of W's term.
But hoping does not make it so. We have a long time before Bush is out of office, and a lot of things can happen. The same skeptical attitude I bring to thinking about religion I apply to politics. I'm not ready to jump on this or that bandwagon when the situation could change so radically and there's so much work yet to be done.
You?
Jim Downey
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Blah!
All I ask is a president that is honest regardless of race,religion, or sex. That will never happen, politician always promising a bridge when there is no river. Following with that it is usually that the religious that do not care. I am the only atheist in my family. My sister calls me "mediocre" because I have a political stance. I am a centrist and this will be the first time voting me (just turn 18 this year)
$$
I fear the earlier the crap begins, the more likely the nominee will be the one with the biggest bankroll, rather than the best ideas.
Politics
Does it really matter in the grand scheme of things? Most of these cabinets are inept anyhow.
Yes.
Yes, it does matter. Can anyone seriously argue that a Gore administration starting in 2001 would have done as disasterous a job in office as BushCo has?
Jim Downey
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Like Science Fiction? Read my novel, Communion of Dreams, for free.
Yep
I think it would have been far worse. Not only is Gore, in my very humble opinion, about a half a bubble off, I think he is a downright and even calculatedly evil man.
I really don't see how you can say that
If ever there have been 'evil' men Then George Bush and Dick Cheney meet that qualification. They go above and beyond meeting and I daresay exceed the qualification. Just ask yourself the two questions that matter. 'Who profits?' and the twin 'who pays?'
Who has profitted from this administration?
War contractors like Halliburton.
Oil companies.
The corporate media.
Other big corporations like the credit card companies.
Saudi Arabia and China who are making interest on the money they loan to finance the debt.
Bush and Cheney themselves from expansion of powers and privileges of their offices.
Who has paid?
The servicemen and servicewomen have paid with their lives, limbs and peace of mind fighting in a country which neither attacked nor threatened this one. Their families have paid heavily in grief.
The Iraqi people who have lost many more lives, many more limbs, any hope of peace of mind and have had hundreds of tons of depleated Uranium dropped on and fired at them.
Anyone who pays taxes in this country (talk about taxation without representation!) has paid and will continue to pay for this misbegotten military adventure for quite some time.
Anyone who could have benefitted from all of that money wasted on an unnecessary war if it had been spent say on medical research or hurricane preparedness has paid.
What do you think Al Gore would have done that would have been far worse than this? (and I have only scratched the surface of what those two vipers have done).
I hear you Jim
Although, in a way I'm glad it started early. I'm one of the people who wants to see a black or female president, so early on I wanted Obama or Clinton to win. Fortunately, with the ammount of time this has taken already, that's worn off, as I worked through the "you know you really want to be judging these people by competance rather than by gender/race/religion" arguement. And we all know whatever president is going to succeed Bush is going to have to be able to deal with the mess he got us into.
Honestly, I don't want Hillery to win. It's three fold really. 1) She doesn't seem like a big enough change from what we've been having. 2) Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton sounds way too much like the makings of some bizzaro dynasty. 3) She was one of the politicians that hopped on the "Lets legislate video games" bandwagon a few years back. Now that sounds like a rather petty reason, but thinking about it, if Hillery has a knee-jerk reaction to something as harmless (in relative terms) as kids playing with Grand Theft Auto what's her reaction going to be to an actual terrorist attack.
In another way I just don't care. I'm regestered as an Independant and in the state I live in I can't legally vote in the primaries, so it's not like I really have a reason to care until the main election comes along. So ya, I wish they'd just shut up and talk about something that actually matters, like how Bush said he will considder reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 (oh joy, more inaction), or that thing the blogs have been on about with the giant embassy complex in Iraq.
Boy, howdy.
And even worse if you list it by terms: Bush-Clinton-Clinton-Bush-Bush-Clinton. I've heard people argue that it isn't her fault her husband was prez, and we shouldn't hold that against her. I remain unconvinced.
Jim Downey
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Like Science Fiction? Read my novel, Communion of Dreams, for free.
early campaign = distraction from impeachment
The early campaign serves very nicely as a distraction to lure people away from thoughts like impeaching Cheney & Bush...it's all a circus, mind you. The real electioneering is going on behind the scenes, out of the public eye...think Bilderbergs, think Council on Foreign Relations (--Bill Clinton was their chosen favorite long before he played his sax on MTV, don't ya know)...with a little help here and there from Diebold, et. al.
I can't lay claim to wonkhood
But I agree with most of your points: Too early. Earliness brought on by the abysmal Bush administration which most everyone wants to end. Presently my attitude is to view the race as entertainment (and hey what isn't these days?) and wonder whose money will run out first.
This is one of the few
This is one of the few "cons" I have for fixing election dates in Canada. If they move to fixed dates, I'd like to see them also impose a maximum campaign length. It's too easy for this situation to occur when so many of the details are known so far in advance.
At this rate, they'll be campaigning for the 2012 elections in a month or two. I'll be a US citizen by 2012, so at least I'll be able to feel involved sooner than I expected. Right now things are even more annoying for me than they probably are for others, because I can't vote!
still hoping for impeachment
I still don't understand why nobody in Congress is still talking about impeachment. Well, that's not true. I understand it, but I don't like it.
I'm not even American nor do
I'm not even American nor do I live there and I'm hooked on Obama winning. What do you mean it'll never happen?! Don't you watch 24?