(no subject)

[felis_ultharus]

We're still waiting for a Quebec election. I'm not exactly enthused. I'll be voting for a party that I hope does well, but has never won a seat in the assembly, so I'm not exactly expecting to be overjoyed on election day.

I have higher hopes for our neighbours to the south. The good news is that in state-by-state projections of electoral college votes -- the only ones that count in that most-broken-system-in-the-Western-world -- Obama has 259 solid electoral votes out of 270 needed, while McCain has 157/270. Forty-seven are leaning toward Obama, which isn't the same as victory, but if he only wins eleven of those -- or eleven of the 75 too-close-to-call -- he wins the presidency.

The broken electoral system is one of Obama's four big hurdles, and he seems to be clearing it. He's been warning against another: voter overconfidence might lead his people to stay home on election day. The department of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms seems to be on the ball preventing assassination attempts.

The other real worry, though, is Republican cheating. Because they will cheat, like they did the last two elections. Already, an unusually large number of names are disappearing from the electoral list.

Not that Obama is paradise. He's still big-business, and far too laissez-faire for my taste. I tend to vote with my heart for third parties that won't win, so I'd likely be a Naderite if I were American.

Still, it would be nice for our neighbours to choose a president talking openly about cap-and-trade systems and re-opening NAFTA.

And it'll be interesting to see what our anti-environment, pro-NAFTA, ultra-pro-American Prime Minister does if Obama wins -- especially since someone in his office tried to sabotage Obama's campaign during the primaries. I doubt Obama's people have forgotten that.

Meanwhile, in the midst of the election, Sarah Palin said some revealing things about economics.

I'd always suspected that the attachment to laissez-faire economics had more to do emotion than any real logical thinking, and Palin exposed some of that this week when she warned that Obama's "socialism" would replace people's family with the government. Then she finished with, "I don’t know what to think of having in my family Uncle Barney Frank or others to make decisions for me."

For those who don't know, the only thing Barney Frank is known for is being openly gay and a loudest and most unapologetic voice for LGBTQ equality in the US Congress. So it's coded homophobia. No surprises there, but McCain's been trying to run a fiscal-conservative platform, so it's another clue that Palin's slipped her leash.

Comments

[rougemacabre.livejournal.com]

And we're still on for today at 2, yes?

[felis-ultharus.livejournal.com]

Yes, we are ^_^

[rougemacabre.livejournal.com]

Excellent, early morning person. ^_~

[bronnyelsp.livejournal.com]

There's a quiz on the American presidential candidates' political views which informs me that I am closest to Brian Moore for the Socialist Party, followed by Cynthia McKinney for the Greens. I have to admit, because the American system is SO broken, and because their conservatives are so much scarier than ours, if I was in a swing state, I'd vote for Obama, but if I was in a safe state I'd probably vote for Moore, depending on what I could find out about the policies of each candidate from my own research.

I have little respect for Nader after hearing that he accepted Republican finance in the 2004 election.

When I posted the results from my quiz, a new addition to my friends list (he added me from the carfree community informed me that he's planning on voting for Moore himself. I suppose it's some kind of encouraging that even in a system like America's, third party voters do exist, however rare they are.

[felis-ultharus.livejournal.com]

I didn't know that about Nader.

I'm a firm believer in voting for what I believe in. Only in this last election this month did a candidate I vote for stand even an outside chance of victory, but I still vote my conscience.

[esprix.livejournal.com]

Didn't catch Palin's comment. What a fucking tool.

[felis-ultharus.livejournal.com]

She's really pissed me off a lot this election. I try to focus more on Canadian politics, but the one-woman train wreck keeps pulling my attention back.

She's managed to be homophobic, really right wing on economics, and religiously bigoted specifically against my religion -- along with being hypocritical and generally smug.

I really want to see her lose this election.

[esprix.livejournal.com]

Plus, you know, McCain is an old fuck.

[felis-ultharus.livejournal.com]

Yeah. But by Republican standards, that's the best that can be hoped for on his end. With Palin, they've upped the ante for evil.

[esprix.livejournal.com]

Should, by some godawful twist of fate, they win, I would never, ever pray harder for someone's continued good health than McCain. I couldn't imagine a more evil president than Bush, but Palin would certainly fit the bill. And she's thinking about a 2012 run? I feel ill...