This thread is about voting for someone instead of Against someone. Please do not turn it into a Hillary versus Obama thread. And please keep it polite.
I am going to vote for John Edwards when our state finally comes around in March.
I realize that by that time it may be over. I realize by that time that John Edwards may be statistically out of the race.
But for once in this election year, I am going to vote FOR someone instead of AGAINST someone.
I can’t remember the last time I voted FOR someone, IF EVER!
I live in a Red State that will not go for either Hillary or Obama. (Persoanlly I believe John Edwards could win my Red state though). When I vote in November, I will be voting AGAINST someone NOT FOR someone. So it is important to me (at least) to take this primary season as my opportunity to vote FOR someone.
Perhaps this is why so many people don’t taking voting seriously. Perhaps this is why so many people really believe that there is no difference between the candidates.
Because they don’t have anyone to vote FOR.
So in March, regardless of the delegate status I am going to vote for Edwards. And I would like to encourage others out there to think about this when you are voting.
Are you voting For a candidate? Or are you voting against a candidate? How about looking FOR a candidate that best represents YOU and take this opportunity to vote FOR someone. It may be the only chance you get.
25 thoughts on “Voting FOR someone instead of AGAINST someone”
Looks like a lot of Edwards supporters have the same notion as myself. Check this out at the NYT article entitled:
Plotting the Post-Edwards Strategy
https://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/30/plotting-the-post-edwards-strategy/index.html
I especially like this post….
“To all Edwards supporters: if you haven’t voted, vote for John. If you are ambivalent about the alternatives, which it seems many are, it is not a wasted vote. John is retaining his delegates and the more influence he yields over the campaign agengas and the convention, the better. Also, because most of us feel we cannot confidently predict who is more viable in Nov between HRC and Obama against McCain, it truly makes no difference. Obvioulsy, Obama and HRC each have serious but different vulnerabilities. On one hand, the Clintons have never lost a major election and it’s hard to count them out. On the other, Obama isn’t doing well enough in the primaries to make me think the dems are as in love with him as the media is plus he needs votes from independents but many independents are likely to choose McCain over Obama. Bottom line: if you know you will vote for a Democrat in Nov but you can’t tell who has the better shot of winning the GE, you should vote for John on 2/5. It does more than send a powerful message that there is an audience for John’s platform, it does the most to keep John relevant at the convention and in the future Democratic administration. I promise you will not be alone in sticking w/ John. Most of John’s supporters have serious problems with the other two. ”
“But on the record, he never liked or trusted Bush. ”
That’s one good thing I can say about Ronald Reagan.
“Lets start a campaign initiative for RON PAUL/EDWARDS ON
AN INDEPENDENT TICKET!!”
I would go with that except if should be EDWARDS/PAUL (G).
The last time I voted FOR someone was Ronald Reagan. For all the wrong reasons too. He wasn’t the smartest, or the most qualified. I just plain LIKED him. I felt in my heart he was honest, up-front, and would never willingly do me wrong. No ‘behind the scene personal gain’ dealings, no profiteering. I just plain TRUSTED him, knowing he would make some mistakes, but like my Dad, and as I am a Dad to my kids, he always tried his best to make things better for us.
I know he did some bonehead things. Iran-Contra, he said “trees make more pollution than cars” and he chose Bush Sr. for VP. Conservative to a fault, sometimes goofy, and always caught napping. That stupid 1981 tax cut and Reaganomics that created the worst unemployment in 42 years and 10.9 million unemployed. Then cut welfare and half a million, mostly children, ended homeless. Behind his back corruption, bribes and inside deals were rampant, making the Republican Party what it is today.
But on the record, he never liked or trusted Bush. When he said “There you go again” everyone wagged a finger at Carter. “Tear down that wall”, well you know they had to do it. And he pulled off the biggest bluff in history with Star Wars.
I miss the Gipper, and I miss that trust I had in him.
I’ll miss seeing Edwards out of the fray. Smart, honest (even though he is a lawyer) great smile and personality. Ya gotta love his southern drawl, and if I had the bucks and hair like him, I’d get a $400 haircut too.
I hated seeing his resignation speech. He looked tired, discouraged and without words. I hope he will be chosen and accept a V/P slot, whatever the outcome.
HEY! Lets start a campaign initiative for RON PAUL/EDWARDS ON AN INDEPENDENT TICKET!!
I understand your frustration. This is why I have voted against people for most of my life.
But I can’t forsake my right to vote even though I am not happy with the choices. After all, a lot of people have given thier lives over the centuries for that privilege. And there are many more in line waiting for the privilege.
Rest assured, it is more than likely to be more than just the Dem & GOP nominees in this race. Perhaps there is someone there you will be able to support even if it is only figuratively.
Since my vote doesn’t count anyways, I am free to vote for whoever without consequence. If nothing else, vote locally and forget about the other stuff….for now.
Wish I could but I am in Michigan. Remember that state? The one where Sen. Levin and Rep. Rangle in cahoots with our governor (all HC supporters then) pushed the primary back into January in violation of the Dem. Party rules to help give her a boost? The state whose delegates do not count and should not count since Edwards and Obama obeyed the rules and tooke their names off the ballot?
I’m way old enough to remember “Hey Hey LBJ…” and RFK’s speeches and Nixon. I have had enough. No more of these media/power-broker candidates who turn out to truly be dogs of a candidate in the general. (No insult to my real canines meant of course.)
The Dem. Party has been shooting itself in the foot for years with these middling candidates who try to please everyone, satisfy no one by say nothing while walking a tightrope of correctness. Not one of them in the past few decades has been able to come out and call a ‘spade’ a ‘spade’. They pussyfoot around and call it a “metal digging implement.’ And forget them being able to get down and talk to the Bubbas and Bubbettes by calling the ‘spade’ by the name they do which is a ‘goddamn f’ing shovel.’
NOW is the time for all people to VOTE FOR SOMEONE!
If you can’t find someone to vote FOR right now, there is a problem.
I will vote FOR Edwards as I have stated before for the reasons stated before regardless of what others say and I encourage others to take back this process and vote FOR the people they believe in instead of AGAINST people.
That’s the epiphany that has come to so many voters. Do not indulge in the fallacy of the false alternative.
The sooner more drop out, the more delegitimized the process is and the greater the likelihood of some possible reform.
Most sincerely,
T. J. Flapsaddle
“I refuse to have to vote for a candidate I loathe just to satisfy the Democratic power brokers who really make the selection by their allocation of money and support.”
Then follow my lead, my friend. I am going to vote FOR Edwards regardless in March. So what if some people say it’s silly and doesn’t count! If enough people like you and me stood up for what we believed in and voted FOR our candidate whoever that might be, we might actually together wield a little bit of power. To me it’s worth a try, if nothing more than to wake up, shake up the pundits and the Dem party heads.
My gut tells me that if we did this, we could end up with a brokered convention where our candidates delegates actually count FOR something. And in the overall scheme of thing it’s not going to matter…we still end up with the Clinton/Obama choice. But who knows?
Now I realize that’s not what the pundits or the party heads want. So What? Let’s shake things up!
And rest assured if either Clinton and/or McCain end up their parties nominees, there are plenty of people standing in the wings waiting to run as an independent against them.
If you feel compelled to sit out in November, so be it. But there’s nothing left to lose by voting for whoever you want to vote FOR regardless of what the pundits say.
Ever heard of drafting a candidate? I just heard a pundit today talk about how close it could be in the delegate count between Obama and Hillary. What if the Edwards/Richardson/Kucinich delegates actually were the ones that decided the nominee?
Don’t give up just yet. It still might prove to be an interesting horse race. Assumptions are dangeous things and generally prove to be incorrect.
I quit. They can have the general election without me. The media can pick the one they will declare the winner and to whom they give the favorable attention and press.
To hell with supporting the party candidate. I have swallowed enough of the garbage of having to vote for the weak candidates who were pleasant but not appealing in the general election but who satisfied the Dem meme of being ‘correct’ according to the moneybrokers and pollsters.
Enough already with the candidates nominated by the Dems for the past few years. I sighed and voted for Mondale. I closed my eyes and voted for Dukakis. I voted for Clinton figuring he had to better than Bush. I then voted for Clinton again but with severe reservations about the economic policies (all the Free Trade stuff which flew in the face of everything I learned for my economics degree.) I voted for the passive milquetoast Gore, and then Kerry who looked the part and sounded the part on paper but was incompetent at campaigning.
I quit. No more. No more ‘oh so correct and moderate’ candidates who are losers. No more ‘candidates who have a broad appeal according to the pollsters and are politically-correct’, no more losers where it would be obvious to anyone who talks to real voters who are not political junkies and are just Joe and Jane Sixpack.
No Clinton. Not ever. Manipulative, duplicitious, self-serving, and lacking in core principals except how to get and keep power. As a woman of the same age group and professional qualifications, it has always been obvious that the whole thing revolves around matching her husband. (And spare me the false claims that she has been involved in public policy for 35 years. She was a corporate lawyer in a 5th or 6th rate boondocks law firm while hubby climbed the political ladder.)
No Obama. He openly said he isn’t interested in the support of anyone over 45, so I will reciprocate in kind with ‘screw him’. It is fundamentally stupid to insult people whose votes you will need from the outset. Then he is University of Chicago. There is a litmus test to get hired for the law school faculty. They have to pledge undying devotion to alter of Milton Friedman (free market kook and U of C faculty.) U of C even tried to teach legal concepts solely based upon free market economics with cost-benefit analysis! (And yes, we have personal knowledge of the Law School.) Finally, his policy proposals (what there are) are either (a) plagiarized from Edwards when pressed to produce something or (b) read like the 20 page term paper the student started writing at 3 AM to hand in at 8AM. As far as policy creation or implementation goes, what else could you expect from someone whose only experience is
(a) the Illinois state legislature (one of the weakest legislatures in the US) where he was not exactly noticeable and his former colleagues have warned that he is a lot more conservative than he is letting one, and if that is the sole criteria for experience, there are probably 10,000-15,000 other candidates out there; and
(b) being in the US Senate only long enough to have figured out where 1/2 the restrooms are?
I will stay in the house and a pox on all their houses. (And anyone who doesn’t think that with Obama that race won’t be a huge issue in the general and he will get slaughtered in the southern and western and border states where Billy Bob votes, is delusional. All the repetition of the chant about ‘race is irrelevant’ won’t convince Billy Bob to vote for someone with a name he can’t pronounce and from a background with which they are not comfortable.)
I refuse to have to vote for a candidate I loathe just to satisfy the Democratic power brokers who really make the selection by their allocation of money and support.
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