Can you believe this? "I'm not voting for Obama, he's black."

An interesting article:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/us_elections_2008/7682876.stm

Here are a few excerpts:

"If it wasn't for Obama I would vote Democrat. Blacks just cause trouble, that's the taste I've got in my mouth."

At a local restaurant a friendly waitress started chatting to us. The conversation turned to politics.

She shrugged, she was not even sure when the election was to be held, she could not pronounce Mr Obama's name.

"I like McCain because I can say his name, so I'll probably vote for McCain."

She was not well informed, but her views were clear.

"He's from Africa or something. I don't even know where he's from. I know he grew up here, but he's not from here. I think American presidents should be from America."



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It's those kind of voters who scare me the most, archaic views, ignorance at it's worst (best?) but they're able to go vote... yikes.

 

Oh yes, I believe it. And yes, ignorant voters are scary. They are easily swayed by hate, religion, and anything else that stirs up intense emotions.


Abner

 

And they're on both sides...

As a teacher, I get to deal with ignorant kids every day. I'm amazed at how many kids are wearing Obama shirts, but can't tell me a lick about him. Then I have kids that argue that we should support McCain because he's a republican, but can't tell me what the Republicans or McCain stand for. It's all about image and this "Us vs. Them" mentality.

-Matt

 

For better or worse that is why we have always had the electoral college. The government has never trusted the average citizen to be educated enough to make a knowledgeable presidential election decision. Perhaps rightly so.

 

Perhaps the average citizen is not to be trusted with the vote. However, there is plenty of evidence to suggest the intelligentsia are no more trustworthy. The electoral college was established to protect the government ruling class from the people at election time.

 

It isn't limited to kids, believe me. I was at a Halloween party the other night and had to endure a lengthy diatribe from a woman about how wonderful Obama is. I let her finish, then asked her some questions about his positions on basic issues like taxes, health care, etc., and she couldn't answer a single one. She finally called me a racist and stormed away.

 

I expect that there are some white voters who prefer to vote for a white candidate.

Black voters look to be favoring Obama by something like 10-1, so they don't seem to be reluctant to favor a black candidate. Nobody in the media finds that worthy of comment.

It is interesting that the link in the first post leads to a BBC page. I've noticed that the European (and Canadian) media often present a rather dark and distorted view of the average American, especially those living in rural areas. To these enlightened writers, the United States consists of a few islands of liberal urbanity in danger of being swallowed up by a dark sea of crude and bigoted redneck barbarism.

That caricature isn't true of course, as anyone who has actually driven across America (as opposed to flying over it) knows.

But nevertheless, we have European opinion-leaders joining New York comedians in ripping Sarah Palin to shreds because her middle-class lifestyle is too similar to that of most Americans, and we have reporters quoting opinionated diner waitresses as examples of the crude and bigoted white American that they set out to find.

 

The irony being, of course, those columns would all be written in German if it weren't for the redneck barbarians of the United States.

 

I would prefer to see it as a different point of view, without political influence as is often the case by US media. I read the news from Germany, Britain, France, US and Canada... it is rather interesting to see how the same story is represented by other nations.

US media certainly have a knack of deflecting an important issue for an irrelevant issue (whatever became of the voting system glitches in the previous Bush election?..it was hid well), so getting an international view allows for a better view, imho.

 

Ummm....there weren't any?

 

The inability to articulate and discuss the issues of a favoured candidate is not limited to any particular election, party, or country. Maybe a Cliff's Notes edition for each candidate in an election is needed before voters cast their ballot.

 

And how many times have blacks had a black person to vote for? Abolitionist Frederick Douglass ran for Vice-President in 1872 on the Equal Rights Party ticket along with presidential candidate, feminist, magnetic healer, newspaperwoman, prostitute, and stock broker Victoria Woodhull. Monica Moorhead has run as the presidential candidate for the Workers World Party a few times, at least in 1996 and 2000. But has there ever been a black candidate for president (or vice-president) that had any real chance of winning? I cannot remember the last presidential election where white dudes didn't have any white dudes to vote for.

 

Between Jesse Jackson and Alan Keyes, there's been a black candidate in every Presidential election I can remember offhand.

 

I am not sure that you do see a lot of different news to the US. A lot of US news is supplied via Associated Press from the US or some US network affiliated with the offshore television station. The US press are usually supplying the offshore product. Maybe they write or present differently for the intended audience. Editors may put their slant on the material perhaps.

Unfortunately, there would appear to very little media anywhere that is not politically biased. The US Presidential Election is an extremely long process in comparison to here. Our politicians would be in therapy. Most people in this country have an extremely short attention span for politics would have gone surfing or fishing long ago. Sport, not politics, rules here.

Politicians get knocked off the page because of some sporting event. The whole nation stops for the Melbourne Cup (horse race) in November. This might be why our dollar has a very weak pulse and had the last rites administered! I don't know how much the opinion of our media is worth. Remember they are being paid in AUD.

 

Did either Jackson or Keyes ever make candidate status (or were they both mere also-ran nominees)?

 

That depends what your definition of "candidate" is.

Oh, and I forgot Al Sharpton also.

 

A nominee is one of many competitors who expect (or at least hope) to become their party's candidate. A candidate is the nominee who won their party's nomination to run in the general election. Example: For the Democratic Party in 2008, Hillary was one of the nominees but Obama is the candidate.

 

I think you have that backwards; there can be only one nominee of a party.

 

I usually steer clear of the political forum, but this has been the most fascinating election in the 30 years that I have been voting. I have known people who, in this election, would not vote for...

Barak Obama, due to his race
Hillary Clinton, due to her gender
Mitt Romney, due to his religion
John McCain, due to his age

 

Hmm. Where can we find some "official" source that would settle the question of many nominees, one candidate (per party) or many candidates, one nominee (per party)?