Seeking Direction About the Election

Off Topic Politics & World Issues
1

I’m 20 years old, and moderately confused about this upcoming election. I will come clean now: I have been involved in my studies for the past 2 years, and my knowledge regarding politics and the current Politicians sucks. I did not devote time to politics in the midst of my summer schooling and summer job, nor have I sat down to extensively analyze the candidates as of late (again, between school, two jobs, and training).

I apologize for my ignorance, but can somebody please point me in the direction of something un-biased, or share some personal thoughts regarding McCain and Obama’s stances on Health Care, Energy Consumption, and taxes? I’m vaguely aware of what Obama wants to do with Healthcare, in that it’s supposed to be similar to what our military has got going on right now. Am I right about this? I want to be able to make an informed decision, but it seems that the information passed on to me from the news is real biased, and insanely liberal-minded friends aren’t always the best source of information.

2

I’ll bite in the hope that this is a sincere post.

A public Forum like this is not a place to get an “unbiased” opinion. An opinion that is purely objective and unbiased, some would say, is almost an impossibility.

Forums like this are best viewed as great places to get varying opinions on a subject so that one can come to their own conclusions.

If you want to know where the candidates stand OFFICIALLY on certain topics and issues, its best to go to their respective Websites:

http://www.barackobama.com/index.php

Good luck!

And make sure you vote!

Mufasa

3

I really would seek your information elsewhere. There are way too many extremists on both sides of the political spectrum in these forums. Mufasa had some good links, though. And check out on how the actually voted on the issues. Watch the news. News stations with a more liberal bias like CNN and those with a conservative bias like Fox. Try to wade through the bullshit. Get as much direct speech from the candidates as you can rather than recycled interpretations from talking heads.

4

Let me confuse you a little more.

You see, every problem in the United States has just two things in common: Republicans and Democrats.

The Republicans and Democrats are like the Cowboys and Redskins, or the Browns and the Steelers; two rivals, each have their fans, but ultimately they both play the exact same game. Their styles are different, but to the spectator it’s still the same game.

And every election they’re both out selling “change”. Change? They’re the only two players in the game. They have their chance and never make any change. After all, what will they sell next election? If they actually change anything, they won’t have a platform to sell to gullible voters.

It’s wonderful to see idealistic young people want to get involved. As you get older and have seen more elections, and different things start to seem important to you, you’ll start to recognize the bullshit.

The only way to get any real change is to vote for a third party, like the Libertarian party, or some other party of your choice. Personally, I think it’s important to enable a third party with the support of votes. Some people think it’s a waste of a vote but I disagree. Voting for the same old thing is a waste. You can check out http://www.libertarianparty.org/ website. I haven’t researched any other third party sites yet.

OK, I’ll get off my soap box now.

5

Just vote for one of the guys that get talked about on TV alot. Apparently, one of those men are it.

6

[quote]LIFTICVSMAXIMVS wrote:
Just vote for one of the guys that get talked about on TV alot. Apparently, one of those men are it.[/quote]

No way I’m voting for Brett Favre

7

ontheissues.org

those should be helpful.

in general it’s important to balance biases, like jsbrook said. As far as news outlets go, you’re never going to get an unbiased opinion, and it simply takes too long to explain issues vs. using 5-10 second sound bites that sound authoritative. So just balance biases by listening to various sources that lean different ways.

Try to discern whether you’re listening to news (what/where/when/how) or commentary (the why/analysis/prediction stuff). Commentary SHOULD be more biased that what passes for news, since it’s an opinion conveyed by a pundit, “expert”, or some other person. News SHOULD be less biased because it is simply reporting an event, the location, time, etc. Of course, this is not always the case, and many “news” stories contain a large amount of hidden commentary. Sometimes it’s almost undetectable, and sometimes it’s painfully obvious.

8

[quote]AssOnGrass wrote:
Brett Favre[/quote]

He’s a fine American hero.

9

I’m thinking about voting for Bill Parcells.

10

[quote]LIFTICVSMAXIMVS wrote:
AssOnGrass wrote:
Brett Favre

He’s a fine American hero.[/quote]

Perhaps… but a flip flopper nevertheless.

11

http://images.t-nation.com/forum_images/5/e/5e5c3-hijack.gif

[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:
I’m thinking about voting for Bill Parcells.
[/quote]

Now I can vote for Parcells

12

If Bill can turn the Giants, Jets, Cowboys, Patriots, and soon to be Dolphins around, I’d love to see what he could do with America.

Ain’t no salary cap for the government…

13

[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:
I’m thinking about voting for Bill Parcells.
[/quote]

Isn’t he older than McCain?

14

[quote]rainjack wrote:
FightinIrish26 wrote:
I’m thinking about voting for Bill Parcells.

Isn’t he older than McCain? [/quote]

Yes but he can change a light bulb by himself so that nullifies it.

15

[quote]rainjack wrote:
FightinIrish26 wrote:
I’m thinking about voting for Bill Parcells.

Isn’t he older than McCain? [/quote]

Palin can still be VP as long as she understands her only job is to cast a tie breaker votes for NFL related issues.

16

[quote]LIFTICVSMAXIMVS wrote:
rainjack wrote:
FightinIrish26 wrote:
I’m thinking about voting for Bill Parcells.

Isn’t he older than McCain?

Palin can still be VP as long as she understands her only job is to cast a tie breaker votes for NFL related issues.[/quote]

Pelosi: “Should Ed Hochuli be penalized for the ridiculousness at the Denver- San Diego game?”

(Unfolds the paper with a drumroll)

“Pig answers… YES!”

17

[quote]Mufasa wrote:
I’ll bite in the hope that this is a sincere post.

A public Forum like this is not a place to get an “unbiased” opinion. An opinion that is purely objective and unbiased, some would say, is almost an impossibility.

Forums like this are best viewed as great places to get varying opinions on a subject so that one can come to their own conclusions.

If you want to know where the candidates stand OFFICIALLY on certain topics and issues, its best to go to their respective Websites:

http://www.barackobama.com/index.php

Good luck!

And make sure you vote!

Mufasa

[/quote]

This is a sincere post, and thank you very very much for the information! I’ll be sure to use it.

As for everyone else, thank you for the opinions and pointing me in the right direction. I’ll be spending the next several days going through it, and will make it a priority to view the debates.

18

[quote]dreads989 wrote:
Mufasa wrote:
I’ll bite in the hope that this is a sincere post.

A public Forum like this is not a place to get an “unbiased” opinion. An opinion that is purely objective and unbiased, some would say, is almost an impossibility.

Forums like this are best viewed as great places to get varying opinions on a subject so that one can come to their own conclusions.

If you want to know where the candidates stand OFFICIALLY on certain topics and issues, its best to go to their respective Websites:

http://www.barackobama.com/index.php

Good luck!

And make sure you vote!

Mufasa

This is a sincere post, and thank you very very much for the information! I’ll be sure to use it.

As for everyone else, thank you for the opinions and pointing me in the right direction. I’ll be spending the next several days going through it, and will make it a priority to view the debates.[/quote]

If I were you I would NOT get your news or opinions from TV news no matter what channel. Too much bias, too focused on the soundbite and the gotcha quote, too superficial…TV news is terrible, all of it.

I would read newspapers, or, ideally, longer form journalism. All of it will have biases, but if you pick reputable news sources at least they will stay within the bounds of honesty most of the time.

Liberal: The New Yorker, New York Times, The New Republic, maybe The Nation

Conservative: The American Conservative, The Spectator (British, but has the odd piece on American politics, and very good), maybe National Review, but not National Review Online, The Weekly Slandered, or the Wall Street Journal, those three are as painfully cheerleader as you can get

Libertarian: Reason

If you want a fairly evenhanded paper, the underappreciated Christian Science Monitor is a very good choice.

19

Democracy Now! is also a good one, as well as, moveon.org.

20

[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:
Democracy Now! is also a good one, as well as, moveon.org.[/quote]

Don’t forget Countdown with Keith Olbermann