In the race for president, Attytood endorses...
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In the race for president, Attytood endorses...
...no one. If you've been reading this blog from the proverbial Day One (late February 2005, if you're keeping score) you'd know that early on, in one of the many posts that were destroyed in the same way that many great sports highlights of yesteryear were taped over, I announced that I would never endorse a candidate. And I never have. In fact, I don;t think that newspapers should endorse candidates, either,. for the same reasons I'm about to spell out.
It sounds like a contradiction -- numerous times I've argued for a form of journalism in which writers don't feel constrained from forcefully uphold certain ideas, as long as they are fair and true to the facts. So why not say I endorse Candidate X, or Candidate Y? I think writers can and should feel passionate about their ideas, and their ideals. If you read this blog regularly you know that I support freedom of speech and freedom of protest and assembly with few constraints, that I oppose war that's not fought in self-defense or to prevent ongoing genocide, that I also oppose capital punishment, that I believe in a kind of capitalism in which everyone has a fair start with equal access to education and health care.
Those are ideas -- and the core principles do not change. Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, to name just two politicians, are only human, born to make mistakes. In an election, they will say what they're going to do -- but you may have noticed that when they get into office they don't always keep their promises. And I think when you endorse a politician, you become too vested in their success. And when that happens, you rationalize those times they stray from the core principals -- when they instead deserve criticism.
Obama is the perfect example. He's done a number of things that I approve of -- his stimulus program probably prevented the Great Depression II, he worked to save the auto industry, his flawed health care program is still a big upgrade from what we had, and after a slow start he's done more for gay rights than any president who came before him. But he's been a huge disappointment in some areas -- continuing and actually expanding some of the worst national security abuses of the Bush eras, falling short in his promise to close Guantanamo, and a lack of transparency. I've seen far too many progressives defend actions like the Obama administration "kill lists" or continuing the Patriot Act when they'd be taking it to the streets if George W. Bush had done the same things. That's wrong. I've repeatedly criticized Obama on the blog for his handling of these matters. Anything less than that would be hypocritical.
That's not that there are not major, important differences between the major candidates. While they don't talk nearly enough about some things that are really important, like Afghanistan or climate change, there's a big gap in how they'll handle matters like income inequality, regulating Wall Street, providing health care, and rights for women and gay people, Voters who pretend those differences don't exist do so at their own peril. And the only thing I can guarantee is that whoever gets sworn in on Jan. 20, he'll get ripped on this blog from time to time.
I'm going to be off from tonight through Monday. But if you want to endorse one of the candidates (including third-party candidates like Jill Stein or Gary Johnson, if you hate drones or like pot) in the space below....the time's yours. Make the case.
Nice photos: President Mitt Romney and three county commissioners.— Mr. Smith- Now why would you insult county commissioners by comparing them to a putz like Barry?— bil,l atkins
Personally I am happy to endorse Obama, despite the flawed human-rights record, over Romney. If Jill Stein had a chance of winning...it might be possible to go with her. Green is good!- As a life-long Republican, I would normally be inclined to vote for Romney - but given just what a lousy candidate he is, given that his economic policy of tax cuts w/o paying for them is likely to be disastrous, and given that his approach to foreign policy seems so confused and contradictory - I'm just going to have to hold my nose and vote for Obama.— Talking point sleuth
- Sloth got free ObamaPhone. We know who he votin' fo!— bil,l atkins
- Give your dog whistle a rest and do some research.http://www.factcheck.org/2009/10/the-obama-phone/No taxpayer money is spent on these phones, and discounted phone service to the poor has been around for over a decade. (HTML deleted) — smallestsmurf
- This comment has been deleted. — sharkmeat
- Sharky, this just shows how warped your worldview is. You believe that income belongs to the government. Taking and redistributing less income from somebody who earned it is not something that needs to be "paid for." There is a significant difference between writing somebody a check and confiscating less earnings from somebody. — jfar86
- then what do you call the Universal Service Fee? — Tom813
- Smallestsmurf:correct, but it's budget EXPLODED in the past 3 years. — bearsfriend
- Will, the stimulus plan was laid down while Bush was in office, Obama only had to OK it, and as for the US auto industry bailout, GM is still in trouble and Chrysler is now owned by an off shore conglomerate. As for the gays .......who really cares... Sure, Obama spent his first two years in office passing his health care bill but was it worth it...... As Rome burned Nero strummed his violin.— RufusG
- Benghazi is worse than Watergate.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/post/white-house-e-mails-blow-up-its-libya-cover-story/2012/10/24/713ed4e6-1d8e-11e2-ba31-3083ca97c314_blog.html— Frank S. - Lol still with the worse than Watergate nonsense? Seems like Romney and the brains of his campaign disagree. Maybe that's why he didn't even bother bringing it up on Monday night. Give it up, Frank.
Jennifer Rubin, a George W. Bush apologist, is symptomatic of the whole political class of Republican punditry. I personally think it is on the genes of Southern White Republicanism and many northern whites caught the disorder and exhibit severe I.B.S. Another four years of I.B.S. looms and severely conservative Republicans will need to station their lives next to the can.
Intrade odds are back up to 60-40 for the President. Almost all of the battleground states are still comfortably in the Obama column, so this air of inevitability we've seen, heard and read about concerning a Romney presidency is nothing more than a Rovian ploy, eerily reminiscent of what happened in the last few weeks in 2000. Gore ended up winning the popular vote by a half percentage point nationally. We very well might see that again - except this time working in the Democrats favor. And if you think Republicans can whine, we ain't seen nothing yet...— wokmaster - Libby Dorks...LOL!!!
10/25/12
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Thursday shows Mitt Romney attracting support from 50% of voters nationwide, while President Obama earns the vote from 47%. Two percent (2%) prefers some other candidate, and two percent (2%) are undecided.
In the swing (BATTLEGROUNDS!!!)state of New Hampshire, Romney is up two, while the president has the edge in Nevada. In Ohio, the race is now tied at 48%.
The Rasmussen Reports Electoral College projections show the president with 237 Electoral Votes and Romney 235.— sarah89
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