elections...whats your issue? (Page 2)

Agree completely.

it's pretty tough being a conservative (and there are many issues that I am not so conservative about) in the land of the liberals here in MA.  Gets even tougher on campus, where I am taking 2 political science class.  But the prof is funny, calls himself a leftie but he really is anything but.  So I save my strength for class, and just read this thread for enjoyment purposes only 

Last year I was in school in Cambridge....talk about sticking out like a sore thumb!

I love these forums because we never talk about politics I follow politics constantly, I work for a very liberal newspaper I work with the left of the left all day. Tri-ing is my escape!! I found this thread searching for posts about "ear plugs"... go figure. And I couldnt help but post. Its my thrid passion behind family and Tri-ing. Glad we could all stay civil.

Edit:
I know what you feel like sticking out like a sore thumb. I open my mouth and I've got three mouths coming right back at me so mostly I have headphones on all day but sometimes the discussion is impossible to avoid. My coworkers though love me enough I got an autographed picture of Rush to hang on my desk for christmas. So we're pretty civil too.

Edited by soupaman 2004-03-09 2:23 PM

I love listening to Rush.  Sometimes he is as out there as anyone else, but most of the time he just tells it as he sees it.  I love following politics as well, that's why I'm a poli sci major    (at the ripe old age of 41)

Soupaman,Are you a reporter? I used to be a reporter as well and even worked some stints with folks at the St. Petersburg Times and Palm Beach Post. I know exactly what you mean about sticking out like a sore thumb. Try being a black, female, Christian who believes in vouchers, (I'm an original voucher kid), stay-at-home mothering and loathes welfare in a newsroom packed with crusaders for the poor!!! I always found it ironic that folks who attended elite colleges proclaimed to know more about ending poverty than folks like me who grew up in it. Ha!I certainly had some interesting times in the newsroom, but it was most always civil, except for a few moments of stupidity from others.

No, Im not a reporter I'm a computer geek but I do work for the editorial side of the paper and one of my best friends is the editorial writer. We argue constantly and it keeps things interesting. He's considered throwing a tennis racket at me a time or two I'm sure. Of course its hard for me to keep a debate with him because like you said hes one of these educated (perhaps a little overeducated) types who gets paid to counterpoint guys like me. Our arguments usually end with something along the lines of "You're entitled to your opinion and I'm entitled to mine. But it doesn't mean my opinion doesnt count". Hes a great friend but cannot understand that I would have another point of view. Its kind of like I saw a comment earlier about Bush appointing conservative judges. In the mainstream its not okay to be a conservative judge in this country. You can be a judge so long as you think like liberals do. Conservatives need not apply. I think the best way to describe people like that is that they stand on an Ivory Tower or perch. Not really looking at whats best for the little guy but rather telling them whats best for them. I'm really big on rugged indivdualism. My mother was a single mother with two kids for 7 years and never once went on welfare so I know it can be done. And as far as vouchers go Im working like crazy to put my daughter into private school when shes old enough to go because I don't want her to be hostage to the NEA like so many unfortunate kids out there stuck in bad schools.

Whew. Sorry for the long post all just kind of came out.

Hey Tri Mom by Rush do you mean the awesome band from Canada with hits like "Tom Sawyer" "Limelight" and "2112"? Man, those guys rule! I saw them in concert a couple of summers ago. Good music to get psyched up to.

As far as politics go, Bush is doing a DAMS good job. If Gore were in the White House, he would have been focusing far more on the environment than on anything else and he would have been really boring.

The war in Iraq, there is so much more there than the WMD. Granted that those aren't there, but the country was run by a mass murderer. Take a look at all the mass graves they found. They were doing a country a service by getting rid of Saddam. Although, the country has not been turned around yet, these things don't get flipped like a coin. The United States also tried to establish democracy and overthrow dicators in the early 1900's down in middle and south America. Now many of those countries now have functions democratic governments that the U.S helped establish.

The Economy was on a downward slide even before Clinton left office. Now Bush has been doing everything in his power to try to boost it. Tax cuts and lower interest rates and now the economy is turning around. I see affects of this first hand with my dad's job.

That is my view, and I believe that Bush should be re-elected. Finally, being conservative on a college campus sucks. There are so few, but the many liberals here are don't vote that they should stop complaining. That is my two cents. I'm out. PEACE!

the war in Iraq started more than 30 years ago, when the repressive regime took over. It mounted as hundreds of thousands of Iraqis died, and then Iraq tried to annex Iran. When the US steps in we are the bad guy. If we do nothing everyone wants to know why the so-called world police (the US) hasn't done anything, and again we are the bad guy. I seem to recall the horror after WWII, and the world proclaimed "never again." Well, it's happened all over the place, and the US is the only country who has stepped up to the plate. Think Bosnia along with Iraq.

Those who are so focused on WMDs are blinded by reality. The fact is that chemical engineers have been captured or turned themselves in, high ranking military officers in charge of torturing their own people have been captured, and the country is in the process of defining their own brand of democracy. Schools have been reopened and people who were not allowed to attend before are going for the very first time.

My sister in law is married to an Iraqi man who surrendered to the Americans in '91. He has since become an American citizen and takes nothing for granted the way most of us do. He lost his whole family to the Hussein regime and tells stories that make your skin crawl. All I can say is thank God Gore was not in office on 9/11, but if he had been he would have had to have done about the exact same thing as Bush. I just doubt he would have had the backbone to follow thru and complete the job. Bush is a leader, acting on what he feels is the right thing to do, and like it or not, that's what was needed after 9/11, a leader, not someone who governs by poll results. I will probably vote for him again, because the Dems platform seems to be "anybody BUT Bush" and that's not good enough for me. They have not spoken to any issues that interest me, only removing Bush. Kerry is as "big money" as any republican, don't let the Dem label fool you. Check out his voting record then decide.

well said Ellen, i totally agree

.:aidan:.

so glad I decided not to touch this thread! LOL

Hey cool, something happened on this thread after all. *rubs hands* My sneaky plan of shutting up worked!

On Iraq, I don't and didn't believe we went in there because of the WMDs, I agree with trimom there. However that was the pretense used to sell this war and provide us with the urgency to get involved right away. Wolfowitz (sp?) and company have been writing on the theme of getting rid of saddam since gulf war I, and they saw their opportunity after 9/11.

Getting rid of Saddam is a good thing, but I don't see what the urgency was about. If it was about stopping genocide in Iraq, why act now when that was 10 years in the past? If it was about stopping torture and rape, etc then why not stop it in other equally dismal parts of the world like Myanmar, Syria, etc.

No, I think this was about walking into the heart of the middle east and trying to remake it in our image, in hopes that the rest of the muslim world would become more western. I'm sorry if you don't think this is a reasonable point of view, but I think it's true. I don't beliee it was anything as straightforward as a war for oil, but that's certainly at the bottom of our interest in the region.

I don't want a leader who 'goes with his gut', I want one who thinks things through and actually makes the best decision.

16 Resolutions in 12 Years. How soon would be soon enough?

so then I take it you are for reinstating the draft, because the last time I checked our miltary was already spread kind of thin. But I do thank you for making my point, when we go in somewhere we're the bad guys, when we don't do something, we're the bad guys.

I think you're only a little off the mark with regards to making the region in our own image. The most successful nation-states are democracies, there is no debating that point. But none of them are exactly in our image, they are all unique in some identifiable way that makes them different enough from us to make us wonder if they are doing something better than we are. But democracy in the Middle East would probably be nothing but a pipe dream without the guidance of a nation-state who has been there, done that. You want France to do that in the Middle East? Germany maybe? Yeah, I'll take our chances with Americans in the region. And the last time I checked, we had a strictly volunteer military. Anyone who has recently joined knows the inherant risks involved. Those that have been around a while are even more aware. Yes, I did 4 years knowing I could have been shipped anywhere, and my brother has just received orders for 2 years in Turkey, with his wife and kids.

I don't necessarily think it's about making the Muslim world more like us, but about having a stable region. Like it or not, we are dependant on the region for some of our oil supplies and stability only helps the global economy. We can cry out against gas guzzling SUVs til we are blue in the face, but I think what's more important is that we all depend on oil to whatever degree in our own lives. I personally do not want to ride my bike 50 miles each way to school!

ok, now I am REALLY leaving this thread alone! LOL

I swear I pinky swear I was only looking for ear plugs when I found this thread.

Preach it TriMom! Whew!

I didn't say that we should step in in these other parts of the world, what I said was that the reasons we were given were not the real ones. You're inferring where I'm not implying.

Do I want france to invade the mid east? No, I don't. I don't want us to invade and remake it either. It's not our business being the master in someone elses house, even if that is where they keep our oil.

And will everyone sing the same tune if the UN were to pass resolutions against us? (Not that it can)


Edited by wrybosome 2004-03-11 8:01 PM