Spear Road Guy: Where were you?

Where were you when Gitreal and I were having our knock-down drag-out but stay-friends the whole-time discussion on why one votes democratic or republican? With the "vote republican" tag line at the end of your posts, you obviously have an opinion. Hopefully you'll entertain this question from me: Why?

I was at the guitar center today lookin at some sweet electronic drum kits when I saw one musician's car. The bumper sticker said "Democrat and Republican: Same @#$% different name." My initial thoughts were that this bumpersticker is bread of ignorance or apathy. You either don't know the party's stands on major issues or you just don't care about them.

For instance, if one wants the billions of dollars being spent on Iraq's infrastructure to shift towards domestic infrastructure and the war in Afghanistan, you'd best vote for a democrat.

If you want a less intrusive Patriot Act, better financial accounting in Iraq, stricter control on security contractors, expansion of SCHIP and programs to help the over 1.8 million veterans who have no health coverage (an increase of 290,000 since President Bush took office according to the Department of Veteran's Affairs), you would need to vote for democrats, as Republicans are currently opposing such reforms. If you feel torture should not be reworded and used under a different name, again, democrats along with John McCain and Chuck Hagel are your best bets.

If you want to see diplomacy given a full chance before we run head first into war with Iran, democrats are the safer bet.

If you would like the Consumer Protection Agency to grow teeth and pursue manufacturers of lead based and toxic toys, an expansion of powers that the GOP appointed Director amazingly opposes, you'd best vote in democrats.

Right now you're saying "these expansions would cost money. How do we pay for it?" Well, not like our President currently pays (using financing that our kid's kids will pay). Like Warren Buffet is pointing out: He pays about 16.8% of payroll income in tax. His secretaries and rank and file employees pay, on average, 30+%. Does this make sense? The people who have the least money benefit the least from our supply side tax structure? If this does make sense, by all means, vote Republican. But I, like Warren Buffet, feel that bringing the mega rich's tax obligation in to a range comparable to the average guy's percentage of contribution would help us balance the federal budget and ween ourselves from indebtedness to China. This is more an idea of democrats than it is of don't tax but still spend republicans.

If you, like me, feel that gays are used as political footballs in a very hatefull way, you might vote for the democrats (did you hear another REPUBLICAN, Richard Curtis, quit today because his CROSS-DRESSING and gay sex were discovered?) I believe republican anti-gay rhetoric fuels churches like the one in Kansas that pickets funerals saying "God hates F@##s". They certainly aren't motivated by democratic literature. They have said they feel troop deaths in Iraq are due to our nation's tolerance of gays. Sounds like Falwell doesn't it?

Republicans I'd vote for? Hagel, Specter, Walter Jones (R-NC), Olympia Snowe, Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa)

So, Spear road guy: Why should any independent or fence-rider vote "straight" (pardon the pun) Republican tickets, aside from the fact that it is fixed at the bottom of your posts? I'd like to hear your logic.

Kevin Hack King

ps: Isn't Logsden a Republican?

Ok AF A-10 Democrat

Submitted by Spear Road Guy on Thu, 11/01/2007 - 9:08pm.

I admit the GOP is in the midst of a down cycle right now. Hey, the Dems were there just a short time ago.

I'm not sure Logsdon is a Republican. He's definitely not honest. People ask me what is Logsdon getting out of all his bad behavior? He's got to be getting something under the table.

Even I agree that Westmoreland is a bum. I like Saxby and Johnny as our Senators though. Perdue is level-headed and doing a good job.

Obama is an empty suit - all feel and no substance. Hillary is just Hillary - scares me. Edwards is nothing but a pretty boy lawyer.

If it weren't for Iraq, I'm not sure the Dems would be out of the cellar.

Vote Republican

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I'm not sure Logsdon is a Republican.

Submitted by teetaw on Thu, 11/01/2007 - 10:38pm.

"I'm not sure Logsdon is a Republican. He's definitely not honest."

lol

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Spear Road Guy, I don't want to sound too disappointed

Submitted by AF A-10 on Thu, 11/01/2007 - 10:30pm.

But I was hoping for a bit more substance in this conversation. You may have noticed I laid out some issues and contrasted the two parties' views. Help me understand some things here, if you have time.

"Obama is an empty suit - all feel and no substance."

Law professor, successful businessman, senator. If he is an "empty suit", what was President Bush when he was selected in 2000, in your opinion?

"Hillary is just Hillary - scares me."

Does her support of SCHIP scare you? Does her agreement that the Iranian special forces is a terrorist group scare you? Does her desire for better financial accounting with respect to Iraq contracts scare you? I'm curious.

"Edwards is nothing but a pretty boy lawyer."

Umm... Are you in high school? Honestly. Are you? And I don't want any text messages thank you. Is Romney a pretty boy mormon? Is Thompson just a dopey actor? Is Giuliani a New York thug? Is McCain a reformed adulterer? Does name calling get anyone anywhere?

Finally, Spear buddy:

"If it weren't for Iraq, I'm not sure the Dems would be out of the cellar."

Yes, and if it weren't for 9/11 I'd be making a heck of a lot more money now. I'm afraid you can what if that one forever, but the party you support has handled Iraq as we all have seen. All the while they have told us how much it has improved. They have told us how well the "surge" has worked. But when the GOP led state dept. non-voled their people to Iraq, they told Condi Rice it was a QUOTE "Death sentence." So, Spear buddy: How honest is your party being with us right now? I'd really like to see Americans removed from another country's civil war; a country with no navy or Air Force to attack us here even if they wanted to.

Vote Republican, yeah, umm.. thought about it. No thanks.

Kevin "Hack" King

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the sad thing

Submitted by teetaw on Thu, 11/01/2007 - 1:46pm.

The sad thing is that current Republicans don't really care about economics or the future; they think we can just keep printing free money to solve all our problems, which will result in gross inflation, which we will have to raise interest rates to counteract, which will result in sky high interest in a decade or so. People will still be arguing it was so great that we liberated Iraq (since we didn't really find WMD's) but will it really be still worth the investment when we are negotiating for oil and they have us by the short hairs? Will it really be worth compromising our superpower status? I think we should have been working on energy independence this whole time. And isn't that a conservative value in the long run anyway?

We should have gone in, saw there were no WMD's, and let NATO handle the problems of the broken government. We sure as heck mucked it all up and ourselves in the process.

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Pure straight ticker voters..

Submitted by McDonoughDawg on Wed, 10/31/2007 - 9:52pm.

bear watching, I'll say that.

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