July Poll - Your Choice For U.S. President - 2004

[jay_too]

I found this in today's LA Times:

In Palm Beach County, Elections Supervisor Theresa A. LePore, the woman who designed the "butterfly" ballot that helped trigger a constitutional crisis in 2000, isn't worried this time around. She hasn't been watching the convention; the television in her office is tuned to such vintage shows as "Gunsmoke" and "Leave It to Beaver."

Despite this reassurance for some reason, I know we have a credibility problem. Or why doesn't someone get off their ass and fix the problem(s)? Oh wait...they are watching the Beaver.

jay

 

[jay_too]

This is a long, scary article on jihad via the internet:

http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?040802fa_fact

The following is a clip related to the U.S. election:

Four days later, the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades, a group claiming affiliation with Al Qaeda, sent a bombastic message to the London newspaper Al-Quds al-Arabi, avowing responsibility for the train bombings. "Whose turn will it be next?" the authors taunt. "Is it Japan, America, Italy, Britain, Saudi Arabia, or Australia?" The message also addressed the speculation that the terrorists would try to replicate their political success in Spain by disrupting the November U.S. elections. "We are very keen that Bush does not lose the upcoming elections," the authors write. Bush’s "idiocy and religious fanaticism" are useful, the authors contend, for they stir the Islamic world to action.

jay

 

[jonb]

Apparently, when all was said and done, they illegally scrubbed a hundred tmes more voters than Bush's margin of victory in Florida.

 

[KinkGuy]

Gore won the popular vote, the shrub got the electoral college maybe...but it was the Supreme Court that put shrub 43 into the White House. Now that's SCARY! Even I could get elected with my campaign manager being the secretary of state, my brother the governor and family members reporting the news. New voting machines, proven to be the least reliable and secure....but non the less, chosen and bought by the same people in Florida and now going into use in California. sniff, sniff, there's an odor around here.

 

[jonb]

Maybe Scalia was afraid that ducks might not be kosher.

 

[13788]

LoveGirl: I watched some of the Democratic convention, it was truly inspiring!

 

[madame_zora]

I missed it, anything noteworthy?

 

[13788]

Javierdude22: Well, ironically, the least interesting day was when Kerry himself spoke. I am sorry, but I truely believe you will have four more Dubya years ahead of you...providing nothing weird happens. This is truely a choice of the one who is the least worst. Even I would be doubting..

 

[ponybilt]

Originally posted by Javierdude22@Jul 31 2004, 02:25 PM
I am sorry, but I truely believe you will have four more Dubya years ahead of you...providing nothing weird happens. This is truely a choice of the one who is the least worst. Even I would be doubting..

Interesting thought. I hope not. You know it's not the right choice when terrorists and extemists are hoping for his re-election because he provides fodder for mobilizing the jihad.

On the other hand, has anyone ever heard of the supposed Indian curse on US presidents who are elected to office in a year divisible by 20? It foretells their death in office and only Reagan escaped (narrowly).

The "curse" was popularly attributed to the Indian chief Tecumseh, whose forces were defeated in 1811 at the battle of Tippecanoe by troops led by William Henry Harrison, the first of the seven presidents to die. Harrison also led soldiers against Tecumseh at another battle in 1813 during which the Indian leader was killed. An 1836 play had Tecumseh cursing the white man as he lay dying on the battlefield, but there is no evidence that he actually did so, but spooky nonetheless.

The seven presidents previously elected to Reagan in years ending with zero weren't so lucky. Here's the list:

- Harrison, elected in 1840, died of pneumonia after serving 31 days.
- Lincoln, elected in 1860, assassinated.
- Garfield, elected in 1880, assassinated.
- McKinley, elected to a second term in 1900, assassinated.
- Harding, elected in 1920, died of a stroke in 1923.
- Roosevelt, elected to a third term in 1940, died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1945.
- Kennedy, elected in 1960, assassinated.

Was the curse broken, or does Bush (elected in 2000) have something to be worried about?

 

[MisterMark]

Originally posted by Javierdude22@Jul 31 2004, 07:25 AM
Well, ironically, the least interesting day was when Kerry himself spoke. I am sorry, but I truely believe you will have four more Dubya years ahead of you...providing nothing weird happens. This is truely a choice of the one who is the least worst. Even I would be doubting..

All of the evidence suggests that Kerry is likely to win, Javier. Here's a graph showing the electoral college prediction for the last couple of months:

http://www.electoral-vote.com/info/graph.html

Kerry received mostly positive remarks from journalists and from the public after his speech on Thursday night. I don't think you're in touch with what's going on here.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5563217

 

[13788]

Javierdude22: Obviously, since I'm in the Netherlands. Unfortunately, my newspaper put a piece on the saturday paper that said Kerry didn't convince. They used a Boston Globe article. I don't know if that's a conservative newspaper, but I found the article and apparently the speech did impress so they said, but might not necessarily have convinced.

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/presid...rily_convinced/

I personally am not convinced either, or at least I wouldnt be if I were an American citizen. I would seriously question why he skipped his 20 years in Senate like many commentators noted.

 

[jonb]

Originally posted by ponybilt@Jul 31 2004, 07:14 AM
On the other hand, has anyone ever heard of the supposed Indian curse on US presidents who are elected to office in a year divisible by 20? It foretells their death in office and only Reagan escaped (narrowly).

It's an urban legend. For one thing, it never happened. For another, why did so many survive their first term? Did the curse predict the election results? (Bet the curse didn't see Florida coming.)

 

[jonb]

Originally posted by MarkSavage@Jul 31 2004, 09:11 AM
All of the evidence suggests that Kerry is likely to win, Javier.

If we have an election, that is. Bush is planning on postponing the election.

 

[MisterMark]

Originally posted by Javierdude22@Jul 31 2004, 11:17 AM
Obviously, since I'm in the Netherlands. Unfortunately, my newspaper put a piece on the saturday paper that said Kerry didn't convince. They used a Boston Globe article. I don't know if that's a conservative newspaper, but I found the article and apparently the speech did impress so they said, but might not necessarily have convinced.

Yeah, I know the article you're talking about. I read it and just couldn't relate to what Tom Oliphant was saying. He remarked that Kerry's opening statement, "My name is John Kerry and I'm reporting for duty!" was "un-Presidential".

Oh, please. Tom Oliphant's daughter is the main speech writer for John Edwards. I have to wonder if that has something to do with his criticism of Kerry's speech.

 

[BobLeeSwagger]

Originally posted by MarkSavage@Aug 1 2004, 06:20 AM

Oh, please. Tom Oliphant's daughter is the main speech writer for John Edwards. I have to wonder if that has something to do with his criticism of Kerry's speech.

The Boston Globe has had a strangely adversarial relationship with John Kerry for quite a few years now. Not being in Massachusetts, I don't know the reasons why, but the consensus seems to be that the Globe is hard on him.

On the other hand, the LA papers fawn over Boxer and Feinstein, even though they've never done much of anything. Go figure.