Michael Koby - Latest Comments in The State of United States Politics

Re: The State of United States Politics

mkoby — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 15:06:40 -0000

I think race has little to do with it. If Obama was white, most of the people voting against him would still do so, as race has nothing to do with it (it's largely his economic policies people have issues with).

For a more specfiic example look at 2004 for example. The democrats needed a candidate that could beat Bush. Kerry and Bush were neck and neck in the polls. Bush eventually won (both the electoral and popular votes). A large percent of the people who dislike Bush now disliked him in 2004. Now according to many (including republicans) Bush didn't meet expectations in his second term either. So now it's safe to say that more people dislike Bush than in 2004. If more people dislike Bush and the republican party than in 2004, why are all the polls show McCain and Obama in a neck and neck race? Some people vote their party for the reasons that J.P. mentioned above, others vote party because they believe in the general ideals of the party.

Re: The State of United States Politics

rdr66 — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 14:38:17 -0000

If McCain was a minority candidate and Obama was white - the polls would say 60% - 30% Obama. Republican Ideals...?

Re: The State of United States Politics

mkoby — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 10:03:37 -0000

Yea, there is probably some truth to what you say about poll numbers.
However, with this country's political landscape being split like it is, I
can very much see the polls being really close (and the actual election for
that matter).

I still hold to my last comment though. I think a lot of people out there
still hold to the ideals of the Republican party. I hold to this not just
because of the polls but also due to conversations I have had both online
and off with various people. There are 2 reasons that Ron Paul didn't make
it to main campaign.

1) Ron Paul was largely ignored by mainstream media. So much so that on one
republican debate, he was the 5th most popular candidate and when the 3rd
most popular dropped out (moving Ron Paul into the 4th position), the
station holding the debate changed the rules so that Ron Paul wouldn't be on
the debate.

2) Ron Paul is marked as republican, but his views generally move towards
the Libertarian side of the political spectrum. He's so far "right" that
republicans think he's "extreme" so even if he had been followed by
mainstream media, I doubt that he would have been able to grab the
nomination because the party would have voted someone more "center".

With that said, I'd like to mention that I was all for Ron Paul (still am)
and was really gunning for him to win the nomination. It's a pity he didn't
win.

Re: The State of United States Politics

J.P. Hamilton — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 09:22:36 -0000

I don't trust the poll numbers. I don't think they are accurate and I think they will always show only a one or two point favor each way. You could run Hitler against Ghandi and the polls are going to show "a tight race". The fact is this: there are many people that are just that dumb. When you figure that out, you don't have to constantly wonder why things are the way they are.

As for your last comment, if there were really a whole lot of people out there still holding on to the ideals of the Republican party, it would be Obama vs. Ron Paul. The McCain campaign would have died off sometime last year. I think that a majority of people who claim to be Republican, don't even know what that means. To them, the party is like a football team they have always rooted for. They don't even know why.