Republican or Democrat on Nov 7th?

[sudsdudeshane]

I plan on voting a straight democratic ticket on Nov 7th. Simply, we need balance of power back in this country.
Anyone willing to share how they will vote on election day?

Lets do our own poll here..

 

[oxydolfan1]

Democratic.

 

[pulsatron]

American voting system

I have been watching news reports here in Australia about your mid-term elections and I was wondering how your system works i.e. is there only 2 parties or can others get in and what powers does Congress have regarding legislation and so forth.
Is it much the same as our Parliament with a Government party vs an Opposition party?
Just as an aside, we in my state of New South Wales have our state election next year and it is really a battle between the governing Labor Party vs the Opposition Liberal/National party and I hope the Liberals win because this Labor Governmnet is the most hopeless I can ever remember stuffing everything they touch up deliberately lying to Parliament and the public and covering up these disasters.
Cheers folks
Steve.

 

[tolivac]

Republican

 

[perc-o-prince]

Well...

I'm a Democrat by registration. However, the Dem candidate for Gov here wants to give state benefits like driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. They're ILLEGAL! Do you give other people with illegal standing state sancioned rights? I don't think so!

However, the Republican candidate opposes the breaks needed to keep seniors in their life-long homes, saying they're "overhoused" and need to make these properties available to younger people.

My ideal candidate would keep the standing of illegal immigrants just as the name says...ILLEGAL! No rights whatsoever. Everything else that's illegal is punished. Why should this be rewarded?????

He/she would also support keeping older folks in the homes they've built and lived in for many years.

They would also be able to seperate their religious views from their duty to the people they represent (unlike the dope living at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Wash DC). Moral values and religious values don't always fall parallel.

Now, if anyone can tell me where I can find such a candidate, whether it be for local, state, or national office, please don't hesitate to let me know! Otherwise, I'll have to continue voting for the lesser of the evils each time!

Chuck

 

[knitwits1975]

I am sick of the democrats and the republicans (especially the republicans), and as always, I am going to vote by person and not by party. Frankly, neither party offers the American population any kind of relief. I'll tell you that Mike McGavick, the republican candidate for senator will have my vote. I am voting for I-920 which will (if passed) eliminate the death tax in this state. I will also vote for the property fairness act (I-933) which will require that a property owner be compensated if a regulation prevents them from using their property for a certain purpose thus trashing it's value. One more that will get my vote is I-937, pertaining to energy conservation. I guess I will vote for some blue people and some red people. I (along with many other Americans) am fed up with the partisan nonsense.

 

[panthera]

Steve,

I can answer your questions only very generally, try Wikipedia for a more detailed discussion.
1) ((is there only 2 parties or can others get in ))
There is no limit to the number of parties or candidates who may compete. Generally speaking, a potential candidate must get enough people interested in signing off on a petition to be able to run for a given office. Practically, the US has been split into two basic parties for a very long time. The principles and moral positions of these parties vary over time; Abraham Lincoln was a republican, if long ago and far, far away. Today's republican party repudiates his positions on the limits of the executive and many other aspects of human rights.
The democrats, tho' frequently called "socialist" by folks in the US who have no sense of history or knowledge of what socialism is, are a party which traditionally leans towards human rights and government serving the needs of the weak - even if this means more bureaucracy. They would be center-right in a Western European context and the republicans somewhere to the right of...hmm, can't think of any democratic parties in Western Europe that far to the right.
2.((what powers does Congress have regarding legislation and so forth))
Congress has many functions, their main job is to legislate necessary laws and provide oversight of the executive branch in discharging its duties. A very complex and difficult topic. Historically, both parties and independents worked together to find compromises which both the "upper - Senate" and "lower - House" could live with, These were then signed into law or vetoed by the President. A veto can be overwritten, but it requires a quorum of 2/3...so is almost impossible.
Today, the main function of congress is to rubber-stamp what ever the president wants. Writing "habeus corpus" out of the nation's laws was probably the most significant legislative act since agreeing to fund the president's declaration of war in 1941.
3.((Is it much the same as our Parliament with a Government party vs an Opposition party?))
No, not at all. The president is not "primus inter pares" but a true corner of the triangle: executive-legislative-judiciary which forms a "balance of power". Or at least once did.
Most people who vote for the republicans are not doing so because they really think it is great to give up habeus corpus or because they like killing thousands of young American soldiers for no reason and to no end. They vote for them because the republicans are masters at manipulating hot button issues - see some of the posts above. People who vote for the democrats generally do so because they are the "lesser of two evils" and not because they have any expectations or hope the democrats will actually do anything.
So there you have it in a nutshell - a party which uses hate and fear to maintain power on the one side - and a party which stands for nothing, cares for no-one but lets people be on the other.
Many voters vote for "people not parties" which used to make a lot of sense, back when individual members of both houses "voted their conscience not their party affiliation." With very few exceptions, those days are gone. So a vote for a democrat who is, herself, a sensible supply-side economist would not change the basic orientation of the party's votes in the legislature. Equally, a vote for a decent republican (there are lots of republicans who are good people, incredible as that may seem) only results in providing a rubber stamp for this administration's policies.
Of course, this is all irrelevant - less than half the eligible population votes...and the republicans have gone to great lengths to make voting nearly impossible for many "leftest" voters in places like Florida and Arizona.
Panem et circenses did in the Roman Empire...Hate and envy are kiling this Republic.

 

[maytagbear]

Democrat here, and proud of it

I used to vote for the best qualified person and to me, that was usually, but not always, the Democrat, but over the last 15 or so years, I have been voting a straight(!) Democratic ticket, and feeling a little sad that I have to do so.

For truly local races, I am more willing to consider Republicans, particularly for municipal judge and so on, especially if I happen to have their home phone numbers.

In 2004, Ohio had a nasty DOMA issue, which, alas, passed. I used it as a litmus test question for candidates, and if they replied that they were in favour, I did not give them my vote. I hate, hate, hate being a single issue voter, but there are times when it's necessary.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[sudsdudeshane]

Florida'a New Gay Governor...

What Floridians should know about Charlie Crist
By Wayne Madsen
Online Journal Contributing Writer

Oct 16, 2006, 00:16

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(WMR) WMR's intrepid sources in Florida report on some details about GOP gubernatorial candidate and current Attorney General Charlie Crist, or should we say Charlie Christodoulos.

Crist's father, Charlie, Sr., legally shortened the family's name in 1949, according to court records in Pinellas County, Florida. The elder Crist's father emigrated from Cyprus to the United States in 1912. We have also discovered a bit more about Crist's personal details, much of which have been obscured because of Crist's status as a "law enforcement officer." Under post-Patriot Act laws, personal details on law enforcement officers are blocked by special statutes.

WMR received the following article Friday from George Maurer, a Key West Florida radio talk show host. This article contains information that every Florida voter should know before casting their ballot before or on November 7.

"At the outset of this message, let me first get something off my chest. I’m a gay man who, never since I realized same more than 30 years ago, has ever denied same, and who served 30 years in the Army/Army Reserve. About Florida congressperson Mark Foley, I’ve found these past few days particularly troubling, especially so as I’m a progressive Democrat and very troubled about the HYPOCRISY of many of our Republican opposition.

Starting at the top, we have George W. Bush who constantly gives TV speeches in front of and with a picture background of military audiences. George’s only military background was a 6-year obligation with the Texas Air National Guard which he used to get a deferment from going to Vietnam, and from which obligation he was Absent Without Leave (AWOL) for the last couple of years of his tour. This same hypocrite has taken us to mammoth, unjustified, unpaid, prolonged war, killing hundreds of thousands of people. In the last couple of days, he and his hypocritical colleagues have enacted a military detainee bill which broadly defines “enemy combatants” and makes any US citizen or resident subject to same, without right of habeas corpus review, review only by an “enemy combatant review tribunal.” They have voted to pay for and construct a 300-mile fence between the US-Mexico 3,000 mile border.

Now we have Mark Foley. As an adult, I’ve never fooled around with underage males, let alone those over whom I’ve had some degree of power.

Now, even the most staunch of Republicans must know about Florida congressperson Mark Foley. But what about Charlie Crist (Jr?), Florida’s Republican candidate for Governor?

The following appears in the online material of the Insurance Journal, as a 9/16/06 posting of Beverly S. Hill of Tallahassee, Florida:

Charles Crist is an ’In The Closet Homosexual.’

The fact that he is GAY means nothing.

The fact that he is IN THE CLOSET and represents a party that hates GAYS means everything. This kind of hypocrisy is grotesque and cannot be tolerated. I hope we can all help Charlie ‘COME OUT’ before the election.'

Let’s take a look at Crist’s biography. This perpetually tan (at least from the neck up), handsome, 50-year old bachelor was born on June 24, 1956 in Altoona, PA.. Half Greek origin, half Scots-Irish, his Greek dad, Charles Crist, Sr., M.D., changed the family name in 1949, from Christodoulos, dropping the 'h' and the 'doulos.'

The second oldest of four children and the only son, the family moved to Atlanta when young Charlie was 6 weeks old, and where his dad went to medical school. In 1960, then Dr. Crist got a job at Bayfront Medical Center and the family moved to St. Petersburg, Florida. In 1966, Dr. Crist won election to the Pinellas County School Board.

From 1970-74, presumably, Charlie attended St. Petersburg High School where his dad was football team doctor, and where Crist was said to have played quarterback until 'his playing career was cut short by a knee injury his senior year.'

At the Crist home on Snell Isle, Charlie was said to play catch with the boy next door, Felix Fudge, who 'was four years younger.'

Apparently, in the fall of 1974, Charlie decided to go to Wake Forest University in North Carolina, because, despite his high school knee injury, he, according to an 8/27/06 St. Petersburg Times’ news article, 'hoped to extend his football career at a small university. . . . *** (B)ut he was a walk-on, a bench warmer who played in junior varsity games but never took a snap in a varsity contest.' Of course, Crist’s official state bio merely says he “attended Wake Forest University, where he played quarterback. . . ."

Now unlike AWOL George W. Bush, there’s not a word anywhere that I’ve seen about Charlie’s draft status in 1975 as the war was ending in Vietnam, and the draft as well, and no indication that he served a single day in the military. 'After his sophomore year at Wake Forest, a homesick Crist gave up on football and *** decided to transfer to Florida State University,' presumably in the fall of 1976. After graduating from FSU in June, 1978 (?), Crist apparently, in the fall of 1978, entered Cumberland School of Law in Birmingham, Alabama.

In the summer of 1979, Crist, while attending law school in Alabama, entered his one and only brief marriage to a woman, Amanda Morrow. During the 1979 holiday season, Crist’s sister Catherine Kennedy said his 'head was down and his shoulders were slumped.' Crist was the one who filed for divorce only some six months after the marriage and it was dissolved on 2/15/80. 'Like Crist, Morrow did not marry again.' In the Miami Herald 8/24/06 commentary 'Naked Politics”, 'Bruce' posted 'What’s this about Charlie’s ex-wife, Amanda Morrow, being a lesbian? Does the press know that she has lived with her partner for years? Is this why Charlie’s marriage failed? Is this why Mr. Crist is for Civil Union for gays? Does this mean that their marriage was a sham?' Presumably, Crist graduated from the Alabama law school in June 1981.

Crist’s reported chronology from 1981 until his 1992 election to the state senate is inexact at best. As far as I can glean it, he twice failed the bar exam before passing it on the third try.

While struggling with the bar exam, he apparently 'interned' with the State Attorney’s Office (in Pinellas?). (It helps to have a Republican medical doctor daddy.) Presumably in 1982, he got a five-year job as ‘general counsel' for the St. Petersburg-based National Association of Professional Baseball Players, the 'controlling body' for minor-league baseball in the US, Canada, Mexico and the Dominican Republic.

Given time off for various months at end during the 5 years, he unsuccessfully ran for the state senate in 1986. Then, supposedly in 1987, he joined his brother-in-law’s, J. Emery Wood’s, one-man law firm.

In 1988, Connie Mack won US Senate election, and Crist worked for a year as Mack’s state director. He returned, for a couple of years apparently, to his brother-in-law’s law practice, and Charlie was then elected himself to the state senate in 1992 where he served for four years until 1996. In 1997, who knows what he did? In 1998, Crist ran unsuccessfully for US Senate against Bob Graham. In 1999, Jeb Bush appointed him Deputy Director for the Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation and he then won election as Florida Education Commissioner where he served from January 2001 to January 2003. From January 2003 to date, Crist won election and has served as Florida’s Attorney General.

One might sarcastically suggest that a person with an undistinguished academic career, an almost non-existent private sector career, who’s tan, handsome and articulate and has a fairly rich Republican daddy, certainly deserves to be on the public dole as Florida’s Education Commissioner and Attorney General. Now, of course, Crist is the Republican nominee to be Florida Governor.

One should note that, while Education Commissioner in 2001, Crist was reported as condemning a play with a gay theme that 'offended Christians' (see May 2001 newsletter, TransFamily.).

For the past year, as Crist’s quest to be governor developed, Charlie has supposedly been 'dating' Kathryn 'Katie' Pemble, executive vice-president of the Bank of St. Petersburg. Pemble is 41 years of age, divorced, and has a 7-year old daughter. As to possible marriage with Pemble, Crist says 'I haven’t thought about it.' In mid-September, 2006, 'millionaire Reform Party gubernatorial candidate Max Linn ' . . . 'insist(ed) that Charlie Crist is gay” . . . 'on Orlando radio station WFLA-AM 540' . . . to talk show 'host Bud Hedlinger. . . . ' Linn said 'he would ‘put my hand on a stack of Bibles’ to say Crist is gay.' His sexual preference is not to women. . . . ’(See Gadfly in governor's race may have a sharp stinger.)

As to Crist’s being gay, 'Linn claimed to know this because he and Crist were in the same 1985 class of Leadership St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce program. ‘We discussed it,’ Linn said. Linn . . . said if Crist were to win, he would be subject to extortion and blackmail. In the next breath, Linn said he would avoid mudslinging but that Crist’s personal life is a special case because it’s about integrity.”

WMR has also learned that Crist's fraternity brother at Florida State was Brent Sembler, son of major Bush and Crist financial backer Mel Sembler. Sembler, who served as George W. Bush's ambassador to Italy and Daddy Bush's ambassador to Australia, was the brains behind the founding of SEED, Straight, Inc. and the Drug Free American Foundation (DFAF). Straight and SEED have been accused of abusing teens undergoing drug rehabilitation, including subjecting teens to brainwashing techniques. And what doctor served on the advisory board of SEED and approved of such techniques that subjected underage teens to brainwashing? None other than Dr. Charlie Crist, Sr., the father of the man who seeks to replace Jeb Bush and Governor of Florida. And why has Bernie McCabe, the State Attorney for Pinellas County, never brought charges against SEED, Straight, and DFAF for child abuse? It might have something to do with the fact that McCabe is a campaign contributor to Charlie Crist.

It is clear that Crist's candidacy is an attempt to continue the Bush "banana republic" regime in Florida. And that spells big trouble for Democrats in the 2008 presidential election. After all, we should all remember what Jeb Bush and his hand-picked Secretary of State Katherine Harris pulled off in 2000.

© 2006 WayneMadsenReport.com. All Rights Reserved.

Wayne Madsen is a Washington, DC-based investigative journalist and nationally-distributed columnist. He is author of the forthcoming book, “Jaded Tasks: Big Oil, Black Ops & Brass Plates.” He is the editor and publisher of the Wayne Madsen Report.

Copyright © 1998-2006 Online Journal
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[frigilux]

Democrat. Fortunately, the Dem candidates are very strong in MN this time around.

Am I optimistic there will be a huge Dem sweep through either congress or the senate? Not really. I think the current national polls will prove themselves to have been too optimistic. That will give their media a big 'shock' story on the 8th. I think the Republican base will turn out for them in force, even if it's begrudgingly.

Having said all that: Come on, America: Prove me wrong! I'd love nothing more than to return here on the 8th and say "I WAS WRONG" in great big capital letters.

 

[runematic]

For the most part, Republican. I will vote for a Democrat for the House of Representatives (Tim Holden). He's pro-gun/pro-NRA and that means ALOT to me. Other than that, REPUBLICAN. Rick Santorum is a much better choice than Bobby Casey for Senate.

 

[sudsdudeshane]

runematic~

Pro Gun/Pro NRA...That means alot to you? There is a war going on in Iraq and hundreds of our soldiers are dying everyday. I would think you would mention that! Sorry pal..Santorum is toast. I guess you support a homophobe to be your senator. You are on the wrong site pal...most of the posters on automatic washer.org are gay men.

 

[washerboy]

yellow belly

I participated in early voting yesterday. Every buttom I pushed I head a voice saying "yellow belly Democrate". Oh well it just worked out that way. Gov. is a hot topic here. Term limits is getting the current white sheet in the closet out of office. The Rep. are saying the Demo. candidate is to "liberal for Arkansas"..hummm..how is respecting the rights of tax paying citizens liberal? I guess not wanting to shove moral values and Jesus down my throat is considered liberal. Just part of living in the south..deal with it and go on. Hey... Dont forget to VOTE!!!!

 

[runematic]

I could care less about the sexual orientation of the fine folks on this site, shane. It makes no difference to me. You started a topic and I responded to it. If you can't handle someone else's opinion too bad. Sorry I hurt your poor little feelings. Also, how does the war in Iraq = my right to keep and bear arms as guaranteed to me in the 2nd Amendment of the Constitution? You also imply discrimination and then you're telling me I'm on the wrong site?? Hundreds of soldiers are dying every day? Go back and curl up & listen to Stuart Smalley some more. GEEZ. Oh, & read the crap you posted above. You are pissed at me for supporting Santorum and you post an article about some guy that is running for Governor is gay and it sounds like he must be stopped. So the guy MIGHT be gay. WHO CARES! So he's republican. OHHH HE'S BAD. SOMEBODY STOP HIM FROM WINNING. You are supporting a party of racists and bigots as well. Remember Robert "Sheets" Byrd, the grand dragon of the KKK? Big Dem. Repub's put Condolezza Rice & Colin Powell in the cabinet. What do the so-called tolerant dems do? Call 'em Uncle Toms. I had been trying to stay out of the political discussions on the earlier threads. It always causes too many hard feelings. Again, I could care less about anyone's sexual orientation, it's a$$holes that I can't stand.

 

[sudsdudeshane]

runematic

You are intitled to your opinion..However, to address your response:

Charlie Crist's sexual orientation is an issue. He is a republican running on an anti gay platform when he himself is widely rumored to be a closet gay himself. He opposes same sex marriage,opposes gay adoption,supports to amend the state constitution to ban gay marriage.I would gladly vote for a republican who isn't a hypocrite as long as he is moderate.
Secondly,I agree with your right to bear arms which we all know is guaranteed in the constitution. I just find it unusual that given all the violence going on Iraq,you wouldn't even mention that. Not even in your response!.
You are intitled to your opinion,as am I.. That is what makes this country great.

 

[sudsdudeshane]

runematic

Nobody is attacking you..We don't do that on this site...Have you ever debated anyone before??? sometimes even debates can get heated

 

[washertalk]

Ah, the scandals...

All the news coming out...

Sadam Verdict conveniently scheduled for Sunday, administration admits they are politicizing it.

GOP has been found suppressing voters in numerous places around the country, surprise. o'reilly blatantly trying to discourage viewers from voting, giving false information.

Mega church pastor Ted Haggard steps down after gay sex accusations. He spoke with g.b. jr. or advisors every Monday.?

GOP using the "Laura-bot,(ms. I can't speak fluent English)" laura bush, apparently bush isn't as welcome or effective at speaking engagements.

Numerous reports show that IRAQ, IRAQ, IRAQ near total collapse/kaoss.

Sen. "Maccacca-witz" george allen's Bully thugs assualt a reporter and Allen is unapologetic. Allen tries to blame Webb. hmm.

Abu Ghraid officer found guilty of torture being sent, not to prison, but back to Iraq.

repubs. desperately grasp at John Kerrys joke of g.b.jrs. failures in IRAQ, IRAQ, IRAQ, but it back fires becasue it leads viewers to IRAQ, IRAQ, IRAQ.

bush administration posted Nuclear Bomb building Guide on the internet. What were they thinking? ... or hoping for?

Several government reports about poverty and society that normally are released in October were delayed until mid November. Covenient as it is known the reports show negative information about the GOP lead administration.

Protest movements WITH IN the military calling for Congress to end the IRAQ war. This even in consideration that the military leadership has made a deliberate effort to block certain "liberal" websites and other progressive media access by officers. And how many Honerable Generals have come out against repubs and critizing the war.

In a desperate act to hold onto seats bush is traveling to obscure places to "help" GOP but frequently Senators won't be photographed with bush. lol.

So I am just picturing most ignorant repubs, nervous, with eyes closed, fingers in their ears, walking in circles and singing:
"La La, La La, I can't hear you,
La La, La La, I can't hear you..."
Oh well, repubs can keep their fingers crossed that Diebold voting machines are as corrupt as they ascribe to.

It is amazing how E voting "glitches" always tend to be in republicans favor. ?! We need to have outside observers to monitor our elections due to the republican fraud, and "vote flipping".

But seriously, Keith Olberman, Jack Cafferty, Stephanie Miller, and Al Franken are GREAT!

Some good news sites you may not know:
slate.com, truthout.org, mediamatters.org, wonkette.com, rawstory.com, crooksandliars.com, huffingtonpost.com

 

[dalangdon]

Straight Democratic

No suprise there.

NO on the estate tax repeal. The money lost from the state's coffer by getting rid of this tax would have to be made up somewhere else - and that's the rest of us (only 2% of the people in the state make enough money to be affected). No thanks. The Nordstroms, Blethens and Gates will just have to pay their fair share.

NO on the land use initiative. I don't want to get in the same mess Oregon is in, just so some jerk can open a feedlot next door. Plus, that will wreak havoc with the military bases. They might have to close some of them, which would destroy the economy in some towns.

YES on the conservation. I'm all about the conservaton.

 

[oldwasherguy]

Republican,because I dont want the gov. taking my money and giving it out to welfare bums. Charity belongs with charitable institutions like the salvation army or the church. Not the gov. Don