Obama lets you sign up for a blog on his website! Oh joy!

Mine!

What do you guys think of my letter?

I think there are more important things to worry about than video games?

I dont know why everyone is googly eyed over Obama, he won't win. He's black; instant-lose. Too many racist rednecks, southerners, and old people, not to mention the republican party. Hillary won't win, for basically the same reason. Giuliani could sweep it.

The first black and female president of the U.S will follow the second term of the transsexual communist midget President.

But yay for Kirbyness? Yayokay. ^_^

Forgive me for my ignorant views massassi. Clearly, Obama is the one to vote for for the democrats, not hiliary.

I'm debating whether to buy a shirt or not.

Great initiative there kirbs, I too am a big fan of Obama and what he stands for. I'm currently reading the Audacity of Hope, which is giving me a profound look inside how this man's mind works and a great deal of insight into his potential to affect this nation.

I really think your letter is well-written and relevant, but I have a few minor suggestions:

In paragraphs 7-9, you mention how


These are all good, valid points; however you go on to say:

First of all, their actions are not irrelevant. Man's actions are the problem here or, rather, the misuse of their available actions. Also, when you say "it is their thinking . . . that bred the problem," this seems possibly contradictory to what you said earlier in regards to "no offensive idea has ever sinned" "Offensive ideas", whether they be the Ku Klux Klan, Nazi Germany, etc. have definately "sinned" or in less religious terms, caused misery and suffering. "Offensive idea" is too vague a term and personally, I think you should just cut it or at least revise it, because it lends little to the paragraph and seems awkwardly worded.

also:

This is a very odd sentence. I'm sure there is a more concise way of getting your point across. And "has bread men" should obviously be "bred."

As for the rest of letter, you raise many excellent points, and I commend you for getting this out there!

sad, but Steven is right. Like always.

...who wouldn't vote for him anyway. I think Hilary has the potential to bring Republican voters to the polls purely out of spite, where I don't think Obama has that hate against him.

Where have you been living? There are way more southern blacks that will vote for him just because he's black. Though you can't really blame them given their education opportunities down there.

*falls over*

You consistantly amaze me with your ignorance.

Speaking of ignorance, have you ever even lived in the South? I know how it is. First hand.

Do you honestly think that the red-necks usually vote democrat anyway?

That wasn't what he was implying at all. He was saying that they aren't uneducated because they choose to vote for Obama.

He's talking about the fact you related the blacks' educational opportunities to the way they will vote. Get a clue. It's just a stupid thing to say, period.

Obama gets my vote hands down. HANDS DOWN. He is truly what we need right now. What a breath of fresh air he will be after our current loser.

1) I've lived in the south. Black people are no more/less ignorant than white people. There's still a majority of them that are gonna go "Oh look at him, I can relate, let's put him in office." How exactly do you think Bush won his presidency? He doesn't seem like a smart guy, he doesn't seem like even that honest of a guy--people relate. Sad, but the truth.

2) There's a lot of people who have been switching their votes. Democrats have been gaining momentum continuously as people begin to realize "Oh ****, Bush ****ed up. We're in a war we'll never win, and our troops are dying every day." (not to mention the thousands of iraqis, but I'm sure they don't pay them any heed anyways) You're not the end-all be-all of southern living.

Yes, most southern people are republican. No, this shouldn't really change the black vote at all (most black people vote democrat anyways, statistically). Yes, you are ignorant.

Christ, saying black people are uneducated thus don't vote republican. Could you seriously insult...yourself any worse? I mean, I know it was meant as a jab at us liberals, but you just made yourself seem like an idiot.

Obama will get elected for his personality, not his politics. Charisma always trumps ideology.

:banjo:

I assume you'll be voting for Bush in his third term then.

Are you prognosticating he will be elected president, or are you saying that if he does, it will be based on personality? It's hard to tell from the way you wrote it.

Both, at least on the democratic side. I think he'll be able to fight through the personal attack ads better than anyone else that's going to be put up. He also has the hallmark of Reagan, where he knows what he believes, says what he believes, and doesn't apologize for it and doesn't change it with the scenery. I think this is more influential to voters than what it is they actually believe.

My statement was also about the presidential process as a whole. I believe Carter, Reagan, Clinton, Bush Jr(not sure about Sr) were elected in large part due to their charisma, whither it be the charisma of an eloquent charmer(Reagan, Clinton) or the "average joe" appeal(Carter, Bush Jr).

If Obama were going up against Guiliani in the main race, I couldn't say who would win. But if the Republican party puts up some generic far right as their candidate(and I believe almost certainly that this will happen since moderates, much less liberals, in the republican party have no chance of getting the nomination) they will get stomped. They have no Reagan right now and Guiliani/McCain/Romney are too liberal for them.

Edit: Also, I just read the letter from Kirby. And if Obama comes back and disagrees with him, my respect for Obama will shoot up ten fold. Now, I actually agree with Kirby, but I noticed in his letter he gave zero out for Obama if he disagreed. Kirby pretty much gave Obama a script to read from and incentive not to disagree. Now, I doubt Obama is against what Kirby said(considering what Obama's view on the internet is), but I just think it'd be interesting if he disagreed, since it would be a very tough up-hill battle for him. I suspect, though, that if he does disagree, he just won't respond.

That's a very good point. I could have represented the other side far better. Damn partisan thinking creeps in, like that.

ballad = a sentimental or romantic popular song

ballot = a slip or sheet of paper, cardboard, or the like, on which a voter marks his or her vote

Oops. >.> <.<

Did you live there, or are you referring to Oklahoma? Because let me assure you, Oklahoma ain't the south. Oklahoma is in its own little limbo state between west, midwest, and south.

Kirby, I find it a little rude and slightly insulting that you didn't even respond to what I wrote. I'm not expecting you to agree with everything, but you didn't even do so much as to change your "bread" to "bred" spelling error? What gives?

Not a matter of representing the other side. The build up to it is confusing and the question itself is so loaded that you're pretty much telling him what he's supposed to say.

NO.


...they'll vote for him because he's liberal.



....


*runs*

Statistically, you're right Morf. Although it's judgemental, rednecks vote republican, black people vote liberal, that's generally how it goes, and that's the kind of thing politicians count on when they take polls.

You're either lying or haven't really ever been in a poor black neighborhood down south. That's obviously not to say that all blacks have it that bad, but the pre-civil war racism over the years really hurt much of the black population. Their neighborhoods are incredibly high crime areas that the police rarely even patrol. There is a lot of ignorance in those areas because the children don't have the at home opportunities and support to educate them selves.

Thee is no shortage of unscrupulous people who take advantage of this, and they tend to side with the democrats for the most part, for what ever reason. If you don't believe me look at black voting statistics. It's all 90%+ democrat.

Seriously, just drive through Mississippi some time. What I'm saying is painfully obvious at any small town. You'd have to be completely in denial to miss it. High crime high poverty areas tend to be less educated. I'm not being racist I'm talking about the result of racism.


I'm just pointing out a few things, there's no need to turn it into some idiotic political jab.

Hahahaha.

Dude, sorry, I lived in Alabama for 3 years, I visited southern Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina extensively. You're not only wrong, you're racist.

As someone who grew up in S. Carolina and was not allowed to play with certain children in school because my skin was too olive, I have to agree with DJ Yoshi.

You people are pathetic. You're so blinded by political affiliation that you can't even see the point I'm making. Bicker amongst yourselves, I've got better things to do.

Wow.

You overestimate the influence of the far right. Or, alternatively, you are yourself far to the left and thus see moderate candidates as far right. Neither extreme will decide this election. It's the independent voters that decide who the president is, and Obama is spending too much time trying to rally the minuscule far left and ignoring the center. Clinton, however, has pretty much told the far left to **** off. She has a much better shot at the presidency than Obama, and I'm sure the democrats voting in the primaries know that too.

The biggest problem Obama (and, for that matter, Clinton) has is that he won't define his position on anything remotely tough. I've yet to see him answer any tough questions. He talks a big game about getting out of Iraq, but as soon as you ask him what happens to the Kurds if we leave he clams up. Ask him what should be done about illegal immigration, and he gives you some jazz about comprehensive reform. Yeah, but, what will you change? Er... comprehensive reform! Kerry did the exact same thing, and he lost because of it.

You live in Oklahoma. We actually LIVED in the south. We're also older and more politically experienced than you are.

And we're the ones who are blinded? Grow up, stop being racist, and then give us a speech on politics.

I live in Virginia myself. You know, the state where the 'Atheist Hero' Jefferson lived? He owned slaves. Racism in professional life is dead. It's been beaten to death by trivial lawsuits. And by people who think it's racist for Bush to call Obama articulate. Racism in social life, however, is neither avoidable or illegal. For example, my libido is racist. It's the sad truth. I only like white people porn.

I don't think anyone is contesting the fact that a lot of African-Americans in the South come from poor neighborhoods. However, they ARE contesting your claim that African-Americans vote for Democrats because they are ignorant.


...thanks for sharing?

I only like white people porn, too. Black people porn feels... like I'm stealing. Like I'm not cool enough to jerk it to a black chick.

By the way, daft: It's already sent. I'd rather not change what's already been written, as if I'm trying to cover it up. It was rather late when I wrote it, so spell check was a clickity-click fest.

Well, it's easy to see you're racist.

Boom in the sig.

God dammit, I'm going to regret that.

So he takes YOUR quote and not mine?

I SAID IT FIRST.

I would also like to say that everyone who votes for democrats is a fool. However, their foolishness is not related to their ignorance. Some very intelligent people are also fools. For example, that guy on NBC who thought calling the US Military a bunch of mercenaries wouldn't upset people. (We don't pay them very much.) You do have to acknowledge that there is a connection between ignorance and poverty. Specifically, the way to get out of poverty is to get educated. If you remain ignorant, you'll never make as much money as people who get a good education. It is also true that people who start out with money have more opportunities to get a good education, but that doesn't mean the poor can't get an education too. They just have to work a little harder at it. Instead, they just want the government to give them stuff. That's why poor people vote Democrat : The democrats promise them stuff. It has nothing to do with color, and everything to do with taking the easy way out.

What they never realize is that taking all the money away from the rich people won't help them. Let's imagine Bob. Bob has two billion dollars. The government takes all his money (Oh dear!) and wants to distribute it evenly over every American. No, wait, first the government has to take their cut. That's a lot of money. They're going to want at least half. And some will mysteriously vanish. In fact, a lot of it will just walk away. And there's a lot of bureaucracy to pay for. Okay, so, about 600 million of Bob's money makes it to the people. There are 300 million Americans. We all get two dollars. Woot! I can get a couple burgers off the McDonalds' dollar menu! Oh, wait, I still got to pay the sales tax. Damn.

And Bob is just as poor as us now. Poor Bob.

As foolish as it is to support fiscal liberalism (Democrats), it's equally as foolish to support irresponsible fiscal liberalism (Neoconservatives).

If Bob isn't willing to give the government $1.2 bn who will? Thanks to tax shelters and tax cuts for the wealthy, rich people and companies pay basically no taxes. The richest 2% of the population has 90% of the money and 100% of the political power. Criminals and poor people don't work or pay taxes. So that leaves the entire burden of running the country on people 'poor like the rest of us'.

The neocons can't get blood from a stone, so they're taking out debts. Sooner or later those debts are going to have to be repaid. And guess who's paying it? That's right: you. Not Bob, who - incidentally - also happens to be the head of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Enjoy!