Full Version: Another Republican voting for Obama
Michael Smerconish who does a conservative talk show in Philadelphia, and is frequently a guest on MSNBC, this afternoon, and in the Philadelphia newspaper today, said for the first time in his life, he is supporting a democrat; Barack Obama. He said he has had Obama on for a guest many times, and that what has impressed him the most about Barack, was that he is constantly talking about going after the bad guys that murdered over 3,000 Amercians on 9/11. This wasn't the only reason, but a big reason. He now said he is getting nasty e-mails from some in his audience, because of his choice.
as this guy has done... as Colin Powell has done and as I myself have done.... Many republicans are deciding to vote for Obama because of the many differences we have with what the W. Bush administration has done in the past eight years, what has happened to the Republican Party in the last few years and what we see happening as we nominate Sarah Palin and her ilk as bastions of "republicanism".
I can't support the current ticket and will be voting for Obama in the state of Florida
I can't support the current ticket and will be voting for Obama in the state of Florida
QUOTE(ung @ Oct 21 2008, 01:36 PM) 
I can't support the current ticket and will be voting for Obama in the state of Florida
Same here. I've never voted for a Democratic President, and I have deep misgivings about Obama, although there are also many things I like about him. But I can't support my party right now. They've betrayed conservative principals and sold out the party to idealogues. Above all, I can't vote to continue this god damned war that I believe we were led into via a willful lie. So much money, so many young lives.....for nothing......for the fulfillment of a petty grudge......it fills me with revulsion.
The latest Wall St. Journal/NBC poll has Obama up by his biggest lead now, 52-42%, and a Pew poll has Obama up by 52-38%. In addition to that the biggest negative now for McBush is Ms. Palin. A majority of people say his decision to pick her was not a good choice, and his judgement in doing so is called in to question.
Considering the Republicans have been trying so hard to convince the public they're not "country club elitist" types by offering us "moderate, compassionate conservatives", McCain is a wuss and I don't think he has the drive to make us want to believe he could be out next president. Obama, on the other hand, is treated like the second coming who can do no wrong--the win is practically being given to him less than two weeks before the actual election. Amazing how the public doesn't want to know about his Marxist/communist alliances.
The Republicans voting for Obama will get theirs in the end.
The Republicans voting for Obama will get theirs in the end.
QUOTE(OldSchoolBoy75 @ Oct 22 2008, 02:03 PM)
Obama, on the other hand, is treated like the second coming who can do no wrong--the win is practically being given to him less than two weeks before the actual election. Amazing how the public doesn't want to know about his Marxist/communist alliances.
Yes, what a Marxist record he has -- voting against FISA, dutifully rattling the saber over bin Laden and 9/11 (AMERICA: GET OVER IT), picking MBNA Joe Biden, promising to maintain the ludicrous embargo against Cuba, etc.
The difference between the two corporate parties -- on many issues, not all -- is often cosmetic.
QUOTE(OldSchoolBoy75 @ Oct 22 2008, 02:03 PM)
Considering the Republicans have been trying so hard to convince the public they're not "country club elitist" types by offering us "moderate, compassionate conservatives", ...... The Republicans voting for Obama will get theirs in the end.
What the hell are you talking about????
First of all, I was perfectly happy with the GOP being the party of "Country Club Elitists" and Wall Street types who favor small government and individual responsibility.
Instead, my party has been invaded by a bunch of religious fanatic rednecks who think that God and Guns is the most important thing in this country. Instead of having a smaller more efficient government, we're too busy trying to figure out who's sleeping with whom (note the correct grammar y'all) and how we can spend more money for Bo Duke, Luke Duke and uncle Jesse. WTF!!!!!!!
So now.... you say "we'll get ours in the end"..... and what's that? A reduction in the national deficit perhaps? An end to the occupation of a country who doesn't want us there?
And by the way.... The Country Club Republicans (which many of the god-mongers call "RINOs") ARE the "moderate compassionates". Duh! Bubba Joe in Montgomery Alabama is NOT vying for moderate status.
The religious groups who aligned with the Republican party did so because they felt they came closest to espousing the philosophy which came closest to theirs. There has always been friction in the party between the mainline Republicans and the religious conservatives. Everything has come out in the open now.
QUOTE(OldSchoolBoy75 @ Oct 22 2008, 10:03 AM)
Considering the Republicans have been trying so hard to convince the public they're not "country club elitist" types by offering us "moderate, compassionate conservatives", McCain is a wuss and I don't think he has the drive to make us want to believe he could be out next president. Obama, on the other hand, is treated like the second coming who can do no wrong--the win is practically being given to him less than two weeks before the actual election. Amazing how the public doesn't want to know about his Marxist/communist alliances.
Sigh. Another troll.
Now that Scott McClellan says he'll vote for Obama how long will it be before Rush Limbaugh starts calling him a self-hating white wimp with a shady Scottish background?
The bandwagon is getting full. I saw a headline on msnbc that Obama is getting a large majority of support now from people who supported Bush twice.
Two more conservatives are now on the ballooning bandwagon. Former Mass. Gov. Weld, and Christopher Hitchens...Weld is extremely impressed with Obama. Said he believes Obama is extremely intelligent and ready to lead on day 1.
QUOTE(hockeyTom @ Oct 24 2008, 05:46 PM)
Two more conservatives are now on the ballooning bandwagon. Former Mass. Gov. Weld, and Christopher Hitchens...Weld is extremely impressed with Obama. Said he believes Obama is extremely intelligent and ready to lead on day 1.
They may be Republicans, but neither Weld nor Hitchens is a conservative.
Well this just sucks. I received my ballot in the mail Thursday. I'm voting absenty since I'll be out of town on the 4th. Our ballot has the first half and the last half of an arrow next to the persons name. All the voter does is fill in between the two halves to make a complete arrow for your choice.
I called the election board Friday to ask a simple question: If I write in my name in the President section, does that void all the other selections I made for the other positions/canidates? They said yes. Any other mark other than completing the arrow will void the ballet. That just sucks. So in the president section I voted for that guy with gray hair and big, giant ears that stick out from his head.
Once again, I have to give my consession speech.
I called the election board Friday to ask a simple question: If I write in my name in the President section, does that void all the other selections I made for the other positions/canidates? They said yes. Any other mark other than completing the arrow will void the ballet. That just sucks. So in the president section I voted for that guy with gray hair and big, giant ears that stick out from his head.
Once again, I have to give my consession speech.
I thought this was a great Letter to the Editor in the local gay newspaper (maybe because I've been harping on the Supreme Court factor for so damn long). This letter reminds of the chilling issues the LGBT community has faced in the recent past and where we could be headed based on the outcome of this election.
Dallas Voice
Seems this election would be a good time for the LCRs to vote their social issues JUST THIS ONCE. Who can deny it would give them a much better chance to "work within their party" in the future? With the GOP out of power, they should be more willing to take a closer look at their past actions and stances on issues and MAYBE soften up just a tad on the anti-gay front. Have you learned nothing from the past 8 years from your party? It's time to get their full attention when they actually NEED you. Seize this opportunity for leverage PLEASE.
QUOTE
Supreme Court appointments are key
Last week I had lunch with two life-long Republicans who have decided to vote for Barack Obama and Joe Biden. This is the decision of a wealthy, straight couple in their late 60s.
Lots of factors influenced their decision, but at the top of their list was the impact the next president will have on the Supreme Court and the direction the court will set for the future. This conversation was in sharp contrast to a recent conversation in which I learned that two smart, educated, gay women were planning to write in Hillary on their ballots to protest Obama’s failure to name her as his running mate. On the heels of that conversation, a gay man told me his vote was going to McCain in spite of the implication of that choice for the Supreme Court.
These last conversations stunned me because, after 30 years in the trenches working for equality and justice, I see that our freedom as gay people is directly tied to the decisions of our nation’s highest court. For those interested in civil liberties generally, and, more particularly in the civil liberties of LGBT people, this election should be a one-issue election: the Supreme Court. After all, an administration lasts at most eight years; a Supreme Court justice is appointed for life.
Our freedom and equality are precarious. We are one vote away from being re-criminalized, one vote away from the majority being allowed to deny us protection from discrimination. In whose hands do you want to place the selection of the justice who will be that one vote: President McCain or President Obama?
Have we already forgotten Romer v. Evans, Lawrence v. Texas and Bowers v. Hardwick?
Romer was a challenge to the action of a majority of Colorado voters in passing Amendment 2 to the state’s constitution, an amendment prohibiting any judicial, legislative or executive action designed to protect gay and lesbian people from discrimination. In a 6-3 decision the Supreme Court held that Amendment 2 violated the United States Constitution. The ruling means that a majority of citizens cannot vote away the constitutional rights of a minority. Justice O’Connor was one of the six in the majority on that opinion. She has already been replaced by Samuel Alito. If there were a vote today it would be 5-4.
Lawrence was the federal challenge to the Texas sodomy statute, a statute that criminalized private, consensual, same-gender sex and to Bowers v. Hardwick. That was the 1986 case in which the court stated that the constitutional right of privacy granted to heterosexuals did not apply to homosexuals. In a 5-4 decision the Lawrence Court overruled Bowers and the Texas statute and recognized a right for adults to engage in consensual sex in the privacy of their homes “without intervention from the government.”
The next president will, in all likelihood, have the opportunity to name at least two justices to the Supreme Court in his first term.
I write this letter as a plea to gay people who are thinking of using their one precious vote as a protest and to those who have failed to appreciate how fragile our freedom and equality are. I write also to those brothers and sisters who normally vote Republican.
Your economic well-being may be more tied to your civil liberty than you have considered. What if you are a lawyer and are re-criminalized by the Supreme Court, how will you ethically hold a license which requires you to obey and uphold all laws?
I write also to those who are in solidarity with the LGBT community, friends who have cheered the victories we have obtained in the courts these past 30 years. You have often asked: What can we do? We need you now more than ever. If for no other reason, vote on the single issue of the Supreme Court, because our freedom and equality depend on the choice you make. If this issue is as important as I believe it is, simply not voting for McCain and Palin is not enough. We must do everything possible to affirmatively elect Sen. Obama.
Lee Taft, J.D., M.Div.
Dallas
Last week I had lunch with two life-long Republicans who have decided to vote for Barack Obama and Joe Biden. This is the decision of a wealthy, straight couple in their late 60s.
Lots of factors influenced their decision, but at the top of their list was the impact the next president will have on the Supreme Court and the direction the court will set for the future. This conversation was in sharp contrast to a recent conversation in which I learned that two smart, educated, gay women were planning to write in Hillary on their ballots to protest Obama’s failure to name her as his running mate. On the heels of that conversation, a gay man told me his vote was going to McCain in spite of the implication of that choice for the Supreme Court.
These last conversations stunned me because, after 30 years in the trenches working for equality and justice, I see that our freedom as gay people is directly tied to the decisions of our nation’s highest court. For those interested in civil liberties generally, and, more particularly in the civil liberties of LGBT people, this election should be a one-issue election: the Supreme Court. After all, an administration lasts at most eight years; a Supreme Court justice is appointed for life.
Our freedom and equality are precarious. We are one vote away from being re-criminalized, one vote away from the majority being allowed to deny us protection from discrimination. In whose hands do you want to place the selection of the justice who will be that one vote: President McCain or President Obama?
Have we already forgotten Romer v. Evans, Lawrence v. Texas and Bowers v. Hardwick?
Romer was a challenge to the action of a majority of Colorado voters in passing Amendment 2 to the state’s constitution, an amendment prohibiting any judicial, legislative or executive action designed to protect gay and lesbian people from discrimination. In a 6-3 decision the Supreme Court held that Amendment 2 violated the United States Constitution. The ruling means that a majority of citizens cannot vote away the constitutional rights of a minority. Justice O’Connor was one of the six in the majority on that opinion. She has already been replaced by Samuel Alito. If there were a vote today it would be 5-4.
Lawrence was the federal challenge to the Texas sodomy statute, a statute that criminalized private, consensual, same-gender sex and to Bowers v. Hardwick. That was the 1986 case in which the court stated that the constitutional right of privacy granted to heterosexuals did not apply to homosexuals. In a 5-4 decision the Lawrence Court overruled Bowers and the Texas statute and recognized a right for adults to engage in consensual sex in the privacy of their homes “without intervention from the government.”
The next president will, in all likelihood, have the opportunity to name at least two justices to the Supreme Court in his first term.
I write this letter as a plea to gay people who are thinking of using their one precious vote as a protest and to those who have failed to appreciate how fragile our freedom and equality are. I write also to those brothers and sisters who normally vote Republican.
Your economic well-being may be more tied to your civil liberty than you have considered. What if you are a lawyer and are re-criminalized by the Supreme Court, how will you ethically hold a license which requires you to obey and uphold all laws?
I write also to those who are in solidarity with the LGBT community, friends who have cheered the victories we have obtained in the courts these past 30 years. You have often asked: What can we do? We need you now more than ever. If for no other reason, vote on the single issue of the Supreme Court, because our freedom and equality depend on the choice you make. If this issue is as important as I believe it is, simply not voting for McCain and Palin is not enough. We must do everything possible to affirmatively elect Sen. Obama.
Lee Taft, J.D., M.Div.
Dallas
Dallas Voice
Seems this election would be a good time for the LCRs to vote their social issues JUST THIS ONCE. Who can deny it would give them a much better chance to "work within their party" in the future? With the GOP out of power, they should be more willing to take a closer look at their past actions and stances on issues and MAYBE soften up just a tad on the anti-gay front. Have you learned nothing from the past 8 years from your party? It's time to get their full attention when they actually NEED you. Seize this opportunity for leverage PLEASE.
QUOTE(HornFan @ Oct 26 2008, 01:49 PM)
I thought this was a great Letter to the Editor in the local gay newspaper
Excellent post HornFan; both the link and especially your comment on the LCR's influence that follows. Gay's, regardless of party affiliation or lack thereof would be politically masochistic to vote against their very obvious and critical issues in this presidential race. And gay Republicans doubly so. They could have more influence in a minority Republican party than they currently have if they support a change in the party in power in the executive branch now, even if they split the ticket and vote Republican - or whatever - for legislative offices.And one does not have to be an apologist for Obama's imperfections on our issues to understand that, and to vote for him.
If nothing else he has shown a superior understanding of the theory and literal words of the Constitution, and I don't think one has to be a scholar on the document - though he is - to appreciate his knowledge or to understand the importance of preserving it oneself.
I was discussing an Obama victory with my brother the other night. BTW-he's another republican voting for Obama. We were discussing the possibility of an assassination attempt, God forbid. In the past these attempts whether successful or not have always been made by an individual acting on his/her own accord. We all know about these attempts.
But this time, being a black president, there are many organizations and groups out there who have the strength and money to pull this off, the klan, aryan skinheads, various militia groups and well as individuals. It's a terrifying prospect. These crazy people are so full of hate, they will stop at nothing.
In this day and age it would be an even more tragedy. This would devistate the already rocky global economy. It would pave the way for immediate strikes from terrorism factions. And I'm sure there would be other results that I can't think of right now.
I just hope the secret service, the FBI and other government agencies have forseen these possiblities and have doubled their efforts to keep him safe for the next four years. This is a good man who can actually put this country on the right course.
But this time, being a black president, there are many organizations and groups out there who have the strength and money to pull this off, the klan, aryan skinheads, various militia groups and well as individuals. It's a terrifying prospect. These crazy people are so full of hate, they will stop at nothing.
In this day and age it would be an even more tragedy. This would devistate the already rocky global economy. It would pave the way for immediate strikes from terrorism factions. And I'm sure there would be other results that I can't think of right now.
I just hope the secret service, the FBI and other government agencies have forseen these possiblities and have doubled their efforts to keep him safe for the next four years. This is a good man who can actually put this country on the right course.
I know we're getting off topic here but Baxion, you and your brother aren't from Bells, Tennessee, and West Helena, Arkansas are you? 
I kid, I kid.
Link
I kid, I kid.QUOTE
(CNN) -- Federal prosecutors charged two men with plotting a "killing spree" against African-Americans that would have been capped with an attempt to kill Sen. Barack Obama while they wore white tuxedos, federal officials said Monday.
Paul Schlesselman, left, and Daniel Cowart said they planned to kill more than 100 African-Americans.
1 of 2 The U.S. attorney's office in Jackson, Tennessee, said Daniel Cowart, 20, and Paul Schlesselman, 18, were self-described white supremacists who met online through a mutual friend.
Both men have been charged with illegal possession of a sawed-off shotgun, conspiracy to rob a federally licensed gun dealer and making threats against a presidential candidate.
The men planned to kill more than 100 African-Americans, including 14 who would be beheaded, according to the affidavit. But federal law enforcement sources said there was no evidence Cowart, of Bells, Tennessee, and Schlesselman, of West Helena, Arkansas, had any details of Obama's schedule.
Paul Schlesselman, left, and Daniel Cowart said they planned to kill more than 100 African-Americans.
1 of 2 The U.S. attorney's office in Jackson, Tennessee, said Daniel Cowart, 20, and Paul Schlesselman, 18, were self-described white supremacists who met online through a mutual friend.
Both men have been charged with illegal possession of a sawed-off shotgun, conspiracy to rob a federally licensed gun dealer and making threats against a presidential candidate.
The men planned to kill more than 100 African-Americans, including 14 who would be beheaded, according to the affidavit. But federal law enforcement sources said there was no evidence Cowart, of Bells, Tennessee, and Schlesselman, of West Helena, Arkansas, had any details of Obama's schedule.
Link
Sorry HornFan were not. Happy to say. Though it is a little creepy I posted my response just one day before this happened. Glad it was foiled but fear this is only the beginning.
Ken Duberstein, who served as Ronald Reagan's Chief of Staff, came out (as reported yesterday) in support of Obama, saying he was influenced by Colin Powell's endorsement.
His interview with CNN's Fareed Zakaria is to be aired tomorrow.
His interview with CNN's Fareed Zakaria is to be aired tomorrow.
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