What makes people vote republican

[bombardier52]

Now consider this. It certainly seems, when you look at this election in an unscientific way (no gallup poll BS), that Obama has far more support than McCain. Obama draws far greater numbers at his speeches and his supporters seem more passionate. Obama also raises a lot more money than McCain which indicates that people are more willing to donate to the Obama campaign than they are to the McCain campaign. Then consider the fact that McCain is a republican and represents the party that has gotten us into an unpopular war, an economic crises and has decreased our countries standing in the world. All these factors would lead us to believe that Obama should win this election easily.

All signs (polls aside) point to an Obama victory. So what will be the implications if Obama loses? Will people loss all faith in our supposed "democracy"? Will people trust the system anymore? How many accusations and investigations of voter fraud will come about in such a situation? Could violence and chaos insue? Will people riot?

I think these are all fair questions. I know that I already have trouble trusting the fairness of the system. I may never trust it again if McCain wins.

I disagree with your reading of the situation as it stands. I don't think anything points to anything right now.

If I could sum up what your point is: Because the "elite" and especially the media love Obama he is going to win easily. I mean come on, look how glorious he looks on TV and how smooth he is on interviews with reporters who "felt this thrill going up my leg" when he talks.

You have to make up your mind. Are republicans a bunch of uneducated rubes or are they evil geniuses who can figure out how to rig an election right under the eyes of a media who "felt this thrill going up my leg" when Obama talkes?

 

[bodie54]

I would have thought Kerry should have easily won also after that deception & waste(estimated 3 trillion dollars )that is the Iraq War:dunno:

At that point in time fear-mongering was still the trump card. Remember the various colored terror alerts? Plus Kerry ran a strategically poor race. Nothing wrong with being a gentleman, but Kerry did not confront Bush enough despite being "Roved" by the right.

Will fear-mongering carry the day again? It's certainly in full effect, what with Obama being painted as everything from a terrorist sympathizer to a communist to a black radical to a Muslim sleeper cell.

I have said and was roundly criticized for saying I feel in many ways this election is a test of how much racial progress we have really made in this country

I agree, to a point, though at the same time I don't want to dismiss the millions who disagree with Obama's politics while having no problem with his race. Still, if he loses, and the election's a close one, I know I'll be wondering just how big a difference those who refuse to vote for a black man (no matter his politics) made.

 

[cutandpaste]

:eek:

 

[Mr. Daystar]

Speaking for myself, I tend to vote Republican because...

1) They tend to be less likely to try and strip me of my Second Amendment rights

2) They also are less likely to want to hand my tax dollars over to people that can work for a living, and earn their own way.

3) They believe in a stronger military, and tend to not cut funding to such programs.

Unfortunately, they do tend to cut funding to programs involving people that genuinely do need help, like the mentally ill, or developmentally disabled. They also, obviously tend to force their moral agenda down everyones throat, by pushing a pro life agenda, and voting against gay rights. However, my gun rights are far more important to me, then most other things, I feel very strongly about that.

 

[ninetysixcavy]

WOW! This thread went no where near where I hoped it would.

I was hoping that we could attempt to see where the other side was coming from without beating each other to a cyber pulp. I have said this on other threads but I think it bears repeating. Thinking, logical, well read, well informed people can look at the same set of facts and arrive at different conclusions.

Ah well, at least it has been a raucous thread so far.

You wanted reasons, and you got 'em: i.e. abortion, 2A, tax, etc.

 

[girk1]

You wanted reasons, and you got 'em: i.e. abortion, 2A, tax, etc.

Exactly. Successful fear mongering on those issues & the Cultural/Identity politics I mentioned in an earlier post.

Certain Parties want to take your guns,kill babies,raise your taxes,unpatriotic (because they don't want to abuse our military as in IRAQ) & they aren't like us nor do they "share our values"( that Repubs have no problem wanting to impose upon others)

 

[ninetysixcavy]

Exactly. Successful fear mongering on those issues & the Cultural/Identity politics I mentioned in an earlier post.

Certain Parties want to take your guns,kill babies,raise your taxes,unpatriotic (because they don't want to abuse our military as in IRAQ) & they aren't like us nor do they "share our values"( that Repubs have no problem wanting to impose upon others)

I don't know it it's fear mongering. There is some validity to the issues that repubs run on.

 

[girk1]

If Obama was so popular he wouldnt' be 50/50 with an old white dude wearing diapers right now...:thefinger



Lets not forget who supported the Iraq war. There was only a handful of democrats that voted 'nay' on one level or another for the conflict. Most of them were for it. It wasn't just Bush.

Only a handful:dunno:

If my numbers are correct the House vote went something like this:

For Resolution Dems(81) Rep(215)

Against Resolution Dem(126) REP(6)

Over 60% percent DEMS voted against it right?


Senate went something like this:

FOR : DEMS(29) REP(48)

Against DEMS(21) REP(1)

Now the Dem Senators dropped the ball a bit as a little over half voted for ,but in total 147 out of 257 Dems in Congress voted against. More than a "handful" I would say.


And there is too much fearmongering/Identity/Cultural politics being played for a Black Dem to seperate from an opponent or win this election. Even McCain has admitted that this is a campaign about "personality" than issues. He knows Obama can not win when it comes to the "he's like me", "can relate to him", "has my values" tactics that they sucessfully play on.

 

[ChefChiTown]

What makes people vote republican

Math.

In most major elections there are only 2 parties...Democrat and Republican. If you vote, there is a 50% chance that you will be voting Republican. Math, my friend...maaaaaaath.

 

[No_Man]

Exactly. Successful fear mongering on those issues & the Cultural/Identity politics I mentioned in an earlier post.

Certain Parties want to take your guns,kill babies,raise your taxes,unpatriotic (because they don't want to abuse our military as in IRAQ) & they aren't like us nor do they "share our values"( that Repubs have no problem wanting to impose upon others)

Wait a second... I do indeed decide my vote based on many of those issues, and I am indeed afraid of what the Democratic party would do in regards to those issues if they controlled both the White House and Congress. Barack Obama has:

1. endorsed handgun bans in both Illinois and Washington D.C.
2. defended the legality of partial birth abortion
3. supported increased taxes for those making over $250,000, keeping the Alternative Minimum Tax, and raising Capital Gains Taxes.

Thus, he has a history of voting in ways contrary to my reason and conscience. That is not fear mongering. That's informed voting.

 

[georges]

Speaking for myself, I tend to vote Republican because...

1) They tend to be less likely to try and strip me of my Second Amendment rights

2) They also are less likely to want to hand my tax dollars over to people that can work for a living, and earn their own way.

3) They believe in a stronger military, and tend to not cut funding to such programs.

Unfortunately, they do tend to cut funding to programs involving people that genuinely do need help, like the mentally ill, or developmentally disabled. They also, obviously tend to force their moral agenda down everyones throat, by pushing a pro life agenda, and voting against gay rights. However, my gun rights are far more important to me, then most other things, I feel very strongly about that.

that is true :yesyes:

 

[BlueBalls]

Speaking for myself, I tend to vote Republican because...

1) They tend to be less likely to try and strip me of my Second Amendment rights

2) They also are less likely to want to hand my tax dollars over to people that can work for a living, and earn their own way.

3) They believe in a stronger military, and tend to not cut funding to such programs.

Unfortunately, they do tend to cut funding to programs involving people that genuinely do need help, like the mentally ill, or developmentally disabled. They also, obviously tend to force their moral agenda down everyones throat, by pushing a pro life agenda, and voting against gay rights. However, my gun rights are far more important to me, then most other things, I feel very strongly about that.

I may just be a dumb European who has no idea, but can I ask why that is? Are your guns the most important thing in your life or did I just get the wronge vibe from that, and if they are the most important thing in your life why is that and doesnt that seem strange that it is?

 

[tubuler]

You have to make up your mind. Are republicans a bunch of uneducated rubes or are they evil geniuses who can figure out how to rig an election right under the eyes of a media who "felt this thrill going up my leg" when Obama talkes?

Republican politicians aren't "uneducated rubes", although, they do pander to uneducated rubes for votes.

And as far as their ability to rig an election goes, I'll cite two examples. Florida 2000. And this:

IN mid-August 2003, Walden W. O'Dell, the chief executive of Diebold Inc. (the company that makes all the electronic voting machines used in presidential elections), sat down at his computer to compose a letter inviting 100 wealthy and politically inclined friends to a Republican Party fund-raiser, to be held at his home in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio. ''I am committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to George W. Bush next year,'' wrote Mr. O'Dell, whose company is based in Canton, Ohio.

That is hardly unusual for Mr. O'Dell. A longtime Republican, he is a member of President Bush's ''Rangers and Pioneers,'' an elite group of loyalists who have raised at least $100,000 each for the 2004 race. [New York Times]

It's very troubling when the CEO of the company that manufactures the machines we all vote on has incestuous ties to the GOP. So yes, I do think voter fraud is possible. Even under the the watch of the media who, as you put it, "felt this thrill going up my leg" when Obama talks.

 

[bombardier52]

Republican politicians aren't "uneducated rubes", although, they do pander to uneducated rubes for votes.

And as far as their ability to rig an election goes, I'll cite two examples. Florida 2000. And this:

It's very troubling when the CEO of the company that manufactures the machines we all vote on has incestuous ties to the GOP. So yes, I do think voter fraud is possible. Even under the the watch of the media who, as you put it, "felt this thrill going up my leg" when Obama talks.

Its just as troubling to me that most of the media has incestuous ties to the democrat party. How many didn't vote in the panhandle of Florida in 2000 because the media called the race for Gore before the polls closed? Was that by design?

2000 results for Escambia County Bush 73,017 Gore 40,943
2004 results for Escambia County Bush 93,367 Gore 48,243
Population change in those 4 years 1,016

2000 results for Santa Rosa County Bush 36,274 Gore 12,802
2004 results for Santa Rosa County Bush 51,988 Gore 14,637
Population change in those 4 years 20,000

2000 results for Okaloosa County Bush 52,093 Gore 16,948
2004 results for Okaloosa County Bush 69,654 Gore 19,358
Population change in those 4 years 9,800

That's 52,000 more votes after two years of an unpopular war. There might be a chance that people didn't vote in 2000 because the media called the state for Gore.

 

[86150]

Republican politicians aren't "uneducated rubes", although, they do pander to uneducated rubes for votes.

And as far as their ability to rig an election goes, I'll cite two examples. Florida 2000. And this:

It's very troubling when the CEO of the company that manufactures the machines we all vote on has incestuous ties to the GOP. So yes, I do think voter fraud is possible. Even under the the watch of the media who, as you put it, "felt this thrill going up my leg" when Obama talks.

IT'S also troubling when news anchors and 80-85% of all the media outlets are doing everything but BLOWING Obama and basically politicking for him.

As for the "uneducated rubes" comment, I will let that be, simply because you have no clue what you are talking about.

Uneducated is someone who follows a candidate that screams "change" and has said nothing about WHERE this change will come from besides failed policies that nearly bankrupted the country 30 years ago.

These democrats that you love so much just introduced a bill, in the dead of night by the way, That effectively ends oil exploration off our shores, and if passed, you better be ready, because the price of oil will skyrocket.

Between that and your glorious democrats raising taxes, along with the removal of tax cuts, hope you can live on bread and water, because these moronic pieces of shit are gonna make sure the common citizen can't even GO TO work everyday.

These shit stupid bastards have no clue how hard things are already for normal people.

Raising taxes in the middle class (you REMOVE tax cuts & that's what you are
doing to them)obama voted to remove these tax cuts, which hit the middle class right where they live FOUR TIMES. Sorry bastard.

RAISING taxes on businesses, WHY THE HELL do you THINK they have been going overseas for 16 years? You know, since that shithead Bill Clinton RAISED taxes on industry when HIS stupid ass was in office.

By the way this economy has been drawing up since these shaky loans became commonplace when CLINTON pushed THAT agenda. AND the man in charge of Fannie Mae was a clinton adviser (conflict on interest anyone?) and is NOW obama's financial advisor. (There is a solid decision!) And left that job with a 100 MILLION DOLLAR golden parachute pension. 100 million bucks for being a worthless dipshit!

Nice work if you can get it!!!!!

Good luck finding a damn job that DOESN'T include the phrase "You want fries or onion rings, Sir?" If all of obama's "promises" come to pass.

Just these factors ALONE should make anyone planning to vote for a democrat question their own sanity.

The things these people are planning are simply insane, they have NEVER WORKED. Why can people not see this.

The democrats are out of control. They are a runaway train that has to be stopped. They are doing things that are at best underhanded and at worst dangerous.

The democrats have caused me to come to this point, for the FIRST time since I started voting, I will vote a straight ticket, if they have a D in front of their name, FUCK 'EM. I will NEVER EVER vote for a democrat again, the things they have done over the past few months alone have driven me to come to this decision.

Obama is dangerous, as is Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Dickhead Turban.

Spotted al bore is insane and losing his grip on reality.

 

[Member2019]

Huh?

And as far as their ability to rig an election goes, I'll cite two examples. Florida 2000.

Jeb, right? Anyone who knows anything about that election knows he had nothing to do with what went on. Turn off the Michael Moore IQ 75 channel and actually read-up.

I'm not saying the Republicans didn't stage an unbelievable fight for Florida, using all sorts of politics right down to Harris. But it wasn't rigged before the votes were cast.

Sans maybe CNN and other media outlets reporting Florida was Gore's with only 2% of the counties reporting and the polls hadn't closed in the panhandle yet. That pissed a lot of Floridians off in general, on both sides.

And this: ...
It's very troubling when the CEO of the company that manufactures the machines we all vote on has incestuous ties to the GOP. So yes, I do think voter fraud is possible. Even under the the watch of the media who, as you put it, "felt this thrill going up my leg" when Obama talks.

No offense, but corporate CEOs are allowed to take stands, and the fact that he said it publicly makes it transparent. If he didn't say anything, people would still accuse him.

My favorite still has to be the CEO of Loral, a huge defense contractor and the single, largest individual contributor at the time of his little "fun." Read up.

It's one thing to have espinage occur. It's another for the White House to stomp on the report, when it was clearly motivated by political contributions. I've got more if you want them.

This sort of shit goes all ways, and you can point fingers everywhere.

SIDE DISCUSSION:

BTW, Diebold actually makes some damn fine products. The problem? Customers.

Diebold and IBM both have ATMs, voting machines and other systems based on Linux and VxWorks. Unfortunately, banks ask for Windows based solutions, especially bloated, crappy ones. I've personally compromised these Windows systems as a paid job function. Why do the banks ask for them? They say they are "easier to support."

Let's see here, all of us NASA and defense engineering pukes target everything embedded with Linux and VxWorks (have for over a dozen years now), we have "dumb as shit" technicians who assemble these things sometimes, and they don't have a problem "supporting them." Meanwhile, I'm always amazed at how many blue screens and inescapable "prompts" I see out of embedded Windows CE and XP devices everywhere I go.

Individually Linux and VxWorks still greatly outnumber embedded Windows CE and XP systems combined, by a huge margin, yet people think they are easier to use and support. Handhelds still make up only a small portion of the market, and people don't care if they have to "reboot" their phone.

For ATMs and voting machines, people like me care, let alone don't expect technicians to know how to troubleshoot embedded Windows at all anyway (which is nothing like the desktop). That's the problem with voting machines, stupid consumers (states/counties), just like banks with ATMs.

 

[YMIHERE]

This just in: Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results Of 08 Election

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBrDzZCOQtI

 

[tubuler]

Re: Huh?

Jeb, right? Anyone who knows anything about that election knows he had nothing to do with what went on. Turn off the Michael Moore IQ 75 channel and actually read-up.

I'm not saying the Republicans didn't stage an unbelievable fight for Florida, using all sorts of politics right down to Harris. But it wasn't rigged before the votes were cast.

Sans maybe CNN and other media outlets reporting Florida was Gore's with only 2% of the counties reporting and the polls hadn't closed in the panhandle yet. That pissed a lot of Floridians off in general, on both sides.

I have read up. Many publications have been written about the controversy surrounding the 2000 election. For example, the book How to Rig an Election: Confessions of a Republican Operative by Allen Raymond (republican campaign advisor), talks about the voter suppression that occurred in Florida in 2000. Much of which was accomplished through the use of caging lists. Which, if you don't already know, were used by the republican party to eliminate potential voters from the democratic party's voting roll.

And Prof. There is no need for the "Turn off the Michael Moore IQ 75 channel and actually read-up" comment. You know as well as I do that plenty of improprieties took place during the 2000 election in Florida. It's been well documented. And not just by Michael Moore.

No offense, but corporate CEOs are allowed to take stands, and the fact that he said it publicly makes it transparent. If he didn't say anything, people would still accuse him.

When the CEO of Diebold says he is "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year" it has to raise eyebrows. Especially considering the Diebold voting machines susceptibility to election tampering. And the fact that electronic voting machines leave no paper trail.

Princeton University researchers have taken apart a Diebold machine, examined it from every angle, written a paper on its flaws and have come to the following conclusions:
1) Malicious code "can steal votes with little if any risk of detection."

2) Said code can be installed in one minute or less.

3) The Dieblod machines run Windows CE 3.0 -- so, they're susceptible to viruses.

4) Some problems would require the entire replacing of hardware, yet another security risk.

 

[bodie54]

That's 52,000 more votes after two years of an unpopular war. There might be a chance that people didn't vote in 2000 because the media called the state for Gore.

That's an interesting point, except that after-call malaise would impact Democratic voters too, yes? And if no, why not?

 

[choctaw gringo]

IMHO, people vote Democrat or Republican because they enjoy taking sides and don't really care what the truth is. They just like feeling like part of the team.

For example...

I grew up in Cleveland and have always been a die hard Cleveland Browns fan. Even though the Browns fucking suck (and I know it), I will always claim that the Browns are better than "your team" no matter what (unless you're talking about DA BEARS!!!). The same goes for people who "choose sides" with Democrat or Republican.

The feeling of "belonging" is quite something, ain't it?

yup, 3k member.