So who will it be for everyone this time?

[ceemes]

What do Canadians have vested in the election? Seriously, fill me in. Trade? Economics? Health care? Sure, shares our Northern border which means the cooperation of citizens to and fro for recreation, trade and military defense. What else? Is there serious policy in danger?

Can I get a rundown, pros and cons for both tickets on policies and agreements that would help or hurt Canadians? What parts of the policies will help you. What parts will hurt you?


The "we're curious" or "US elections are interesting" things just don't fill me in. Why US politics in an other than soap opera drama? What in this election will directly affect Canadians the way that Americans will be affected?


Our economy and stock market - How has it affect Canadians? I mean, are you seeing the same trends in your investments as Americans are?

I would like to think Canadians don't antagonize US citizens because of their partisanship. I would like to think they have their choices based on particular matters. Fill me in.

Same reason American have a vested interest in our elections, because we are neighbors, allies and each others main trading partners. I find it amazing that after 8 years of Bush's "pee" poor management and shoddy leadership that anyone could even think about support his clone McCain and some under qualified MILF. If you lot really wanted a pit bull in the White House, then you would of moved heaven and earth to get Hillery in. As it is, you now have a choice of 4 more years of the same, or some good looking empty shirt neophyte.

Of course Canada is in much the same boat. On the 14 we get to pick between the current government head up by the chinless blunder or a stumble bum quebecer........suxs to be us.

[Shorts]

Sucks to be a lot of voters these days.

I'm not voting for a Socialist.

Again I ask, give me substance and details - not "more of the same" brainwashed answer. As for Hillary, that cat also wanted to take my livelihood. So, take your gender issue off the table. That ain't it, but it sure is nice to see a woman not of the bra-burning persuasion on my side. As for the women's lib movements, they are only pro-woman when it suits them and their leftist agenda. They are not for me. So no, I sure as hell would not have put Hillary in the White House. I don't vote Democrat. I haven't met one that doesn't belittle my values or think I'm lower than dirt because I'm strong enough to stand on my own. To hell with that thinking.

You are the company you keep.

[matthew5656]

After having read this article I received via email, I can only laugh at Mr. Joe Republican and Janey Conservative.

JOE REPUBLICAN

Joe gets up at 6 a.m. and fills his coffeepot with water to prepare his morning coffee. The water is clean and good because some tree-hugging liberal fought for minimum water-quality standards. With his first swallow of water, he takes his daily medication. His medications are safe to take because some stupid commie liberal fought to ensure their safety and that they work as advertised.

All but $10 of his medications are paid for by his employer's medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance - now Joe gets it too.

He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs. Joe's bacon is safe to eat because some girly-man liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.

In the morning shower, Joe reaches for his shampoo. His bottle is properly labeled with each ingredient and its amount in the total contents because some crybaby liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained.

Joe dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because some environmentalist wacko liberal fought for the laws to stop industries from polluting our air.

He walks on the government-provided sidewalk to subway station for his government-subsidized ride to work. It saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees because some fancy-pants liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.

Joe begins his work day. He has a good job with excellent pay, medical benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some lazy liberal union members fought and died for these working standards. Joe's employer pays these standards because Joe's employer doesn't want his employees to call the union.

If Joe is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed, he'll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because some stupid liberal didn't think he should lose his home because of his temporary misfortune.

It is noontime and Joe needs to make a bank deposit so he can pay some bills. Joe's deposit is federally insured by the FSLIC because some godless liberal wanted to protect Joe's money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the Great Depression.

Joe has to pay his Fannie Mae-underwritten mortgage and his below-market federal student loan because some elitist liberal decided that Joe and the government would be better off if he was educated and earned more money over his lifetime. Joe also forgets that his in addition to his federally subsidized student loans, he attended a state funded university.

Joe is home from work. He plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive. His car is among the safest in the world because some America-hating liberal fought for car safety standards to go along with the tax-payer funded roads.

He arrives at his boyhood home. His was the third generation to live in the house financed by Farmers' Home Administration because bankers didn't want to make rural loans.

The house didn't have electricity until some big-government liberal stuck his nose where it didn't belong and demanded rural electrification.

He is happy to see his father, who is now retired. His father lives on Social Security and a union pension because some wine-drinking, cheese-eating liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Joe wouldn't have to.

Joe gets back in his car for the ride home, and turns on a radio talk show. The radio host keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. He doesn't mention that the beloved Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Joe enjoys throughout his day. Joe agrees: "We don't need those big-government liberals ruining our lives! After all, I'm a self-made man who believes everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have."

I don't vote republican. I don't vote democrat. I vote for whichever party I feel is morally correct and genuinely capable. Sarah Palin has shown very poor judgment and overall lack of experience and knowledge. The VP isn't an entry level job position that any "Hockey Mom" should be allowed the opportunity to be trained to do so. Second to commander in chief, following Dick Cheney's role, probably the most dangerous VP we've ever held in office. And people think Palin is electable for such a responsibility? Really?

McCain grew up around war his entire life, and doesn't plan to stop or persuade it. He won't change the tax code. He won't change health care. McCain has still refused to pull out of Iraq even when our national debt is the largest of any in our world's history. A country that we should not have invaded in the very first place. There are too many broken and hurt families who are now paying the ultimate price, simply to line the pockets of those who preempted this war on energy, this war for oil. This can go on, and on, and on.

[Shorts]

After having read this article I received via email, I can only laugh at Mr. Joe Republican and Janey Conservative.

[

I can only laugh at you as you think a quippy email is the truth.

[Shorts]

But since we're playing: Google Post-It:

Joe Democrat

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF JOE DEMOCRAT

Joe gets up at 6 a.m. and fills his coffeepot with water to prepare his morning coffee. He can only afford to drink four ounces a day because his tree-hugging governor raised the sales tax for the fifth time in four years to pay for gov't run Daycare, the Playboy channel for incarcerated sex-offenders, free needle-exchange programs, social services for illegal aliens, and condom-vending machines in preschool.

But he savors every drop, for next year he'll only be permitted to buy decaffeinated coffee because FDA testing found that force-feeding lab rats 20 gallons of coffee per day raised their cancer rate by .0003% per thousand.

With his first swallow of water, he rations his daily intake of medication. He can't afford all his meds because some stupid commie liberal ambulence-chaser drove rx costs through the roof with frivolous law suits.

His meds are subsidized by his employer's medical plan because some liberal closed shop union workers fought their employers in order to garnish employee wages so that Joe would labor under the illusion that someone else is picking up the tab when in fact his employer is reaching into Joe's own back pocket.

He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs. Joe's bacon is unsafe to eat because some girly-man liberal fought for limited liability laws so that if anyone dies of food poisoning, the meat packing industry will pay a fine and pass the cost on to the customer.

In the morning shower, Joe reaches for his shampoo. His bottle is properly labeled with each ingredient because some
crybaby liberal thought that he was too stupid to know that imbibing a pint of shampoo might be harmful to his health.

Joe dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. Joe begins to cough, choke, and gasp for breath because some
environmentalist wacko liberal fought for passage of the Kyoto treaty, allowing Third World countries to contaminate the world air supply with carbon monoxide.

Joe doesn't dare go out at night because some
environmentalist wacko liberal lawmaker forbad the spraying or draining of malarial swamps.

Joe lost his first home to wildfire because some
environmentalist wacko liberal lawmaker forbad the thinning old growth forrest land.

His dad used to take the train to work. But when the Federal highway system destroyed our once-magnificent train system, Joe had to resort to the filthy, crime-ridden subway system because some fancy-pants liberal fought to disarm law-abiding citizens so that street gangs could mug commuters, then cop a plea based on post-traumatic slavery disorder.

Joe begins his work day. Joe's dad used to support his family at a middle class lifestyle on a single income. But it now takes two or three incomes to do the work of one because liberal bureaucrats drove up the cost of doing business through overregulation and usurious corporate taxation.

If Joe gets bored with his job, he can fake an injury and collect workman's comp., retiring to the slopes of Aspen to recuperate because some stupid liberal didn't think that employees might try to bilk the system.

It is noontime and Joe needs to make a bank deposit so he can pay some bills. Joe's deposit is federally insured by the FSLIC because some godless liberal thought that financial institutions should be able to defraud their customers and then file for bankruptcy, thereby shielding the pension and severance pay of board members while sticking the taxpayer with the tab.

Joe has to pay his federal student loan because some elitist liberal decided to subsidize college education so that universities, freed from competitive pressure, no longer had to keep tuition costs down.

Joe had the GPA and SAT scores to get into Harvard, but he had to settle for a community college because racial quotas kept him out while admitting inner city students who couldn't read or write, but had mastered multiple techniques of fitting a condom in high school sex-ed.

Joe is home from work. He plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive. He has to practice defensive driving because some America-hating liberal had alcoholism classified as a legally-protected disease and disability.

He arrives at his boyhood home. The countryside used to be a quiet, leisurely, pristine place to live until the Federal highway system and force bussing overran the bucolic countryside with suburban sprawl as urbanites fled the cities.

His family used to live off the land, in harmony with nature, until some big-government liberal stuck his nose where it didn't belong and demanded rural electrification, powered by fossil fuel consumption.

He is happy to see his dad. Dad will be the last generation to retire on Social Security because some wine-drinking, cheese-eating liberals regularly raided the SS trust-fund to subsidize social programs, instead of allowing workers to invest their own earnings in compound interest-bearing accounts.

Joe's Dad was forced into early retirement, without a pension, because some
environmentalist wacko liberal discovered a snail-darter in the cooling system of the local nuclear plant, where his dad used to work.

Joe's uncle used to be a cattle rancher until he was driven out of business because some
environmentalist wacko liberal lawmaker kept him from shooting wolves that preyed on his livestock.

Joe's cousin used to work at the local lumber mill until he was laid off because some
environmentalist wacko liberal discovered a spotted owl on timber land.

Joe's relatives used to receive assistance from the local chapter of the Salvation Army until it had to close its doors because some liberal civil libertarian sued it for refusing to offer domestic partnership benefits to all its employees.

Wine-drinking, cheese-eating liberals also invented a Constitutional right to an abortion, resulting in 45 million fewer workers to support the retirees.

In addition, wine-drinking, cheese-eating liberals promoted SS so that no able-bodied, adult child should ever be saddled with the onerous burden of caring for the elderly parents who devoted the best years of their lives caring for them when they were young and helpless.

Finally, wine-drinking, cheese-eating liberals lobbied for involuntary euthanasia so that burdensome parents can be put out of their children's misery.

As the day ends, Joe reflects on his nation, his liberties and his freedoms. He is free because conservative cold warriors kept commie lefty Liberals from unilaterally disarming America.

Joe resents having to be so dependent on gov't goods and services, but since he didn't ask for it, since--indeed--it was imposed on him anyway, against his will, and forcibly deducted from his hard-earned wages, the only way he can recoup a fraction of his losses is to play the hand he's been dealt--even if the deck is stacked against him.

But given a choice, he refuses to a vote for a Massachusetts liberal who was drafted; who tried to dodge the draft by requesting an education deferment to study in Paris; who volunteered for the Naval reserves (when his deferment was denied) to duck active duty service; who gamed the three-purple-hearts-and-your-out policy by writing up his own glowing after-action reports about his self-inflicted flesh-wounds; who, after receiving a dishonorable discharge, laid the groundwork for a successful political career by slandering his comrades-in-arms; who eventually ran for president on the platform that he served honorably in a dishonorable war; and who angrily denounced a war he authorized.

Joe gets back in his car for the ride home, and turns on NPR. The radio host keeps saying that liberals are good and right-wingers are bad. He doesn't mention that the beloved liberals have fought for the infringement of every freedom that Joe's old man used to enjoy and take for granted.

[matthew5656]

Haha shorts I never said I thought the entire article was absolutely the truth. It's certainly not the entire truth, and I think your version has some valid argument also.

But I simply laugh at people like you who hold onto their parties nominated candidate, regardless of whether or not such candidate genuinely has their country's best interest in mind. Once McCain takes office in January, surely you can hold onto your guns and ammo, but forget about having a president who carries the people's vested interests in mind. You know McCain is one of the richest in the senate composed of mostly millionaires? And do you honestly think BO and JB would attempt to take everyone's rifles, shotguns, and handguns away? No, he wouldn't. Nor does he want to continue an unlawful war, nor does he want to leave the mass majority of middle class America behind having dealt with stagnant wages, rising costs in food/energy, the largest disproportions in personal income and net wealth ever since the 1920s, and sketchy health care. And BO does not plan to take over the HMO companies, but he certainly does not intend to tax health care benefits like his opponent plans to. But I think I should stop now, why try to convince you or anyone else anyway? You're convinced of your party, and most unfortunately, I am convinced of mine. I really don't know how much greater the world would be having elected BO, but I'm willing to take that chance for too many disastrous reasons regarding McCain and his policy proposals. But who cares, really? I wouldn't be at all surprised if John McCain and all of his campaign running lobbyists try to hijack the election like it has been previously in 2000 and 2004.

[matthew5656]

Oh and this is a short editorial I found off the New York Times involving the recent vice presidential debate. Surely another matter of one's views and political opinion, so I warn all of those die hard Sarah Palin supporters not to wrap themselves up in reading this direct response. But here is an overview of the debate:

The Vice-Presidential Debate

We cannot recall when there were lower expectations for a candidate than the ones that preceded Sarah Palin’s appearance in Thursday night’s vice-presidential debate with Joseph Biden. After a series of stumbling interviews that raised serious doubts even among conservatives about her fitness to serve as vice president, Ms. Palin had to do little more than say one or two sensible things and avoid an election-defining gaffe.

By that standard, but only by that standard, the governor of Alaska did well. But Ms. Palin never really got beyond her talking points in 90 seconds, mostly repeating clichés and tired attack lines and energetically refusing to answer far too many questions.

Senator Biden did well, avoiding one of his own infamous gaffes, while showing a clear grasp of the big picture and the details. He left Ms. Palin way behind on most issues, especially foreign policy and national security, where she just seemed lost. It was in those moments that her lack of experience — two terms as mayor of a tiny Anchorage suburb and less than two years as governor — was most painfully evident.

Asked about Israel, Ms. Palin reeled off her support for “a two-state solution, building our embassy also in Jerusalem, those things that we look forward to being able to accomplish with this peace-seeking nation.” Asked about the possible use of nuclear weapons, she declared “nuclear weaponry, of course, would be the be-all, end-all of just too many people and too many20parts of our planet.” On Iraq, all she had to offer was the false accusation that Barack Obama wants to surrender.

Mr. Biden directly challenged Ms. Palin’s debate prep on Afghanistan — pointing out that the commander there had disagreed with Mr. McCain’s call for an Iraq-style “surge” in Afghanistan. Ms. Palin tried to contradict him, but the most memorable part of her answer was that she got the general’s name wrong.

One can argue (and her supporters will) that Ms. Palin is a newcomer and can’t be expected to know all of the wonkish details, that what matters is the image she projects. Except, anyone who is running for vice president in these very dangerous times needs to have detailed knowledge.

When it came to domestic issues, Ms. Palin mainly relied on enthusiasm and humor, talking about hockey moms, soccer moms and Joe Sixpack almost as often as she used the word “maverick” to describe Mr. McCain or herself.

But she offered virtually no detail — beyond the Republican mantra of tax cuts — for how she and Mr. McCain would address the financial crisis or help Americans avoid foreclosure or what programs they would cut because of the country’s disastrous fiscal problems.

Ms. Palin’s primary tactic was simply to repeat the same thing over and over: John McCain is a maverick. So is she. To stay on that course, she had to indulge in some wildly circular logic: America does not want another Washington insider. They want Mr. McCain (who has been in Congress for nearly 26 years). Ms. Palin condemned Wall Street greed and said she and Mr. McCain would “demand” strict oversight. In virtually the next breath, she said government should “get out of the way” of American business.

There were occasional, disturbing flashes of the old, pre-campaign Sarah Palin. Asked about the causes of global warming, Ms. Palin suggested that man had some role — but she wasn’t saying how much.

In the end, the debate did not change the essential truth of Ms. Palin’s candidacy: Mr. McCain made a wildly irresponsible choice that shattered the image he created for himself as the honest, seasoned, experienced man of principle and judgment. It was either an act of incredible cynicism or appallingly bad judgment.

[Shorts]

NY Times is as left as you can go without catching up to the setting sun.

Think for yourself and vote for reasons better than the Socialist bandwagon you jumped on. Argue all you want until you're blue in the face about a candidate, but seems like you haven't considered the most important person.

[matthew5656]

I thought the NYT summarized the debate most thoroughly and accurately enough, but I understand you don't buy into the NYTimes, just as I don't waste my days watching Fox news or CNN. But begin a google search of all of the major news network's public opinion polls following the debate. Both candidates were decent speakers, but the major difference between her and Joe Biden was that she didn't have a substantive clue of what she was actually speaking about. And Joe Biden obviously won if you judge his performance via knowledgeable understanding and substance. You want substance, right? So I laugh at you and feel sorry for you even more if you honestly think and believe that Palin conquered the VP.

Survey USA: Biden 51% Palin 32%
Undecided 17%

MediaCurves.com tracked independent voters, showing them breaking to Biden 67% to Palin 33%.

CNN/Opinion Research Biden 51 Palin 36
CBS Biden 46 Palin 21
Fox Biden 61 Palin 39
MSNBC Biden 53 Palin 37

[Shorts]

Don't imply I'm stupid or uneducated. It makes you look pathetic.


Biden does talk a lot. Its what he does best. He should know a lot of what goes on in politics. He's been a US Senator for decades and on the Foreign Relations Committee for years. It's a given he's filled it with global news. I didn't expect anything less from his performance at the VP debate. He's tried a POTUS run before (prior to this years run) but shot himself in the foot due to plagiarism. That haunts him often, as recent as in the VP debate. Frankly, he's an outright liar and hothead. But he handled himself well at the debate, at least on the hothead part. He maintained the liar status. He's got decent positions, but the end doesn't justify the means.


Move on to a substantive argument. Spouting drivel and regurgitating speculative numbers doesn't hold water. What say you about both ticket's policies? What do you think?

The housing and economic debacle was ushered in years ago - read a bit about the Clinton Housing Bubble. Again, the end hasn't justified the means. They all mean well with government programs but when these guys think up programs, they don't do a risk assessment. And if they do, they hide it. After all, they have to sell it to Congress and the people. The better it sounds without you knowing the full consequences, the easier it is to sign in. And its all happy go lucky this is great! But when warning about impending problems are voiced, they are ignored because its fun when the money is flowing in. No one wants to slow down the gravy train by blowing the whistle.