Presidential Candidates

[GamerColyn117]

I am posting this thread to see some opinions on who people think is the best candidate for president for the 2012 voting year. I myself am not old enough to vote, but I really like to get into political debates and talk about politics.

I really think that John Huntsman will do a good job, he has a lot of great political background and he knows what he is doing. Mitt Romney is also in my top list for president. He is like John Huntsman in many ways, but he has many different ideas that would make him a great candidate.

Please keep it clean in here, but I don't mind wing bashing. All supporters of any political parties are welcome, and are welcome to argue with each other, but just keep it somewhat clean.

[SmilezRoyale]

Why do you like Mitt Romney

Serious question by the way.

[Iron-Hampster]

Mitt Rhomy is just as big of a liar, if not MORE of one than obama. Cain is living proof that even non white people can be biggoted jerks (says he won't hire muslims into his Cabinet) Ron Paul has plenty of support and is the only guy most democrats hate less than Obama but this is republican leadership hes running for, so he won't get that position. the others don't seem to be getting enough publicity to work out.

I would not vote republican OR democrat if i were American. Neither party has the nations best intrests at heart

[TNT]

Had to look up Cain again about that Muslim comment (just to verify that it had sources), and now it looks like he's not my second choice anymore...

Ron Paul all the way.

[BrianEtrius]

Huntsman I feel would be the strongest Republican candidate if he were to make it past the primaries. As a fairly liberal candidate on social issues, he could appeal to many moderates. The problem with the primaries? The exact same reason. He's not conservative enough. Plus the fact he worked under Obama makes himself hard to distance himself away. At this point I'm even wondering if he's campaigning for 2016, which would make a lot more sense.

I would pay more attention to Romney if he were to shut up about the Healthcare thing, and it's unfortunate too, because after all, Obamacare is really Romneycare 2.0. From a party standpoint though, he has to go after it because of the very obvious reason that it's Obama's plan. As Romney tries to paint himself more and more a conservative to get the nomination it's going to alienate moderates.

Ultimately I think the nod will go to Romney, as Republicans seem to give the nod to the second place finisher in the previous nominations. However, with the pool of nominations as is, it seems like many are testing the waters not for 2012 but for 2016. With that in mind I'll willing to put money that the Republican nomination for 2016 will be someone that's currently not running.

[SadisticMonkey]

At 7/2/11 11:31 AM, GamerColyn117 wrote: I really think that John Huntsman will do a good job, he has a lot of great political background and he knows what he is doing.

Yep, during times of radical change in America's economy and international standing, we should elect the most boring, moderate, conviction-less candidate imaginable.

That ought to fix things.

[All-American-Badass]

I'll be honest I'm not that impressed by any candidate at the moment but I hope that Rick Perry tosses his hat in cause out of all the potential candidates, he's the only one that I find good enough to give Obama a run for his money. He did a fine job running Texas as his tenure as governor, you can't really argue the fact that Texas is creating half the nation's jobs and has been the most financially stable of the states that have more than 5 million people during the ongoing recession. If Perry doesn't run I'll look into who the Libertarians have as candidates.

[TNT]

At 7/3/11 12:58 PM, All-American-Badass wrote: ... but I hope that Rick Perry tosses his hat in cause out of all the potential candidates, he's the only one that I find good enough to give Obama a run for his money. If Perry doesn't run I'll look into who the Libertarians have as candidates.

As a libertarian myself, I dislike Rick Perry.

just throwing it out there.

[SmilezRoyale]

Moderates do not strike me as people who somehow plant themselves firmly on issue positions that fall between what are commonly called liberal/conservative or left/right extremes. I.e. they can be lead to believe in anything or anyone, provided it is sold the right way.

They stand for nothing and thus can fall for anything.

To appeal to moderates means 1. to make oneself look reasonable 2. to make one's opponent seem extreme 3. To win the american beauty Pageant.

[Korriken]

I like Herman Cain myself, he's got the balls to tell the truth and say what he thinks, unlike other candidates.

[camobch0]

None.

Nah, but seriously, I don't really think any of the candidates are a good pick. I will NEVER, for ANY reason support a right winger or libertarian, they are both ignorant, sometimes quite racist parties/ spectrums. Obama is the best bet right now, and he's mediocre I guess. Definitely just a corporate shill and a shithead, but at least he won't knock back gay and civil rights, and fuck the country up too much.

[Iron-Hampster]

At 7/3/11 07:53 PM, camobch0 wrote: None.

Nah, but seriously, I don't really think any of the candidates are a good pick. I will NEVER, for ANY reason support a right winger or libertarian, they are both ignorant, sometimes quite racist parties/ spectrums. Obama is the best bet right now, and he's mediocre I guess. Definitely just a corporate shill and a shithead, but at least he won't knock back gay and civil rights, and fuck the country up too much.

neither party is libertarian. The republicans use it because it sounds pretty, not because they are interested in your freedoms. (example: true libertarians are accepting of both gay marriage, AND less gun regulation)

[SevenSeize]

At 7/2/11 11:31 AM, GamerColyn117 wrote: I am posting this thread to see some opinions on who people think is the best candidate for president for the 2012 voting year. I myself am not old enough to vote, but I really like to get into political debates and talk about politics.

That's awesome. I know plenty of people who ARE old enough to vote and don't give a damn about anything. Welcome to the boards good sir.

I'm in the same boat as a few others in here have posted, I really do hate all of our options right now. I'm no pessimist but just everyone that comes up, I don't care for. I'm hoping things will come together more as the elections approach.

I do know I am definitely voting for someone else besides our current president. I'm not going to hi-jack your thread, but I'm not satisfied with him and will be voting otherwise. Unless it's Palin. I'm not voting for her. So it's looking more and more like I may be between a rock and a hard place.

[SmilezRoyale]

If Mitt Romney wins the nomination I might vote for Obama. Bad Conservatives are bad for Conservatism, and Obama has done more to help libertarians than any president in US history.

But other than that, I'm probably not going to vote.

[LordZeebmork]

I think a point that a lot of you are missing is that social conservatism is mostly irrelevant. Did Bush manage to do much of anything about abortion? No. Well then.

I don't like any of the candidates, but I might consider voting for Thad McCotter, or maybe Herman Cain. I don't know much about Pawlenty, but he's another possibility. Romney is definitely out. Establishment whore.

[Head-Full-Of-Acid]

I'm probably gonna vote (if I do) for Obama, there's no one running for the Republican Party that really interests me, except for Ron Paul.

I think it's most of a bias on my behalf, I find it hard to support candidates who wear their religion on their sleeve unless they know how to seperate themselves enough to seem like a 'politician' and not a member of the clergy. You can say a conservative's social beliefs may not mean anything once they're in office, but I see their ideologies as a foundation for how their mind works, and makes it difficult to disregard what they believe.

I've watched both Ron Paul and Michelle Bachmann discuss their positions at the Republican Leadership Conference, and Ron Paul is a very unique politician. I don't always believe in his ideologies, but he actually addressed how he'd reform our budget. I hate politicians, like Bachmann, who spew a bunch of one-liners like "WE'RE GONNA TAKE BACK AMERICA" and dumb shit like that; falling back on rhetoric gives the voting party only a faint idea of what a politician plans to do while in office.

Too bad the nomination is a popularity contest, and there's not much of a point to vote for the 'third party candidate'. I guess our country will see how things go 2012.

[Iron-Hampster]

Bachman is the LAST person you should be voting for. manipulative person who hardly knows how to use the truth to her advantage and has to mislead.

[All-American-Badass]

At 7/3/11 05:17 PM, TNT wrote:

At 7/3/11 12:58 PM, All-American-Badass wrote: ... but I hope that Rick Perry tosses his hat in cause out of all the potential candidates, he's the only one that I find good enough to give Obama a run for his money. If Perry doesn't run I'll look into who the Libertarians have as candidates.

As a libertarian myself, I dislike Rick Perry.

just throwing it out there.

I have libertarian leanings but for the most part I'm conservative, but the libertarian's candidate in 2008 was pretty good so i have good hopes for who then nominate this election cycle.

[RydiaLockheart]

At 7/3/11 12:58 PM, All-American-Badass wrote: I'll be honest I'm not that impressed by any candidate at the moment but I hope that Rick Perry tosses his hat in cause out of all the potential candidates

I don't think people are gonna be voting for another Texas cowboy anytime soon.

[TNT]

At 7/4/11 12:46 AM, All-American-Badass wrote:

At 7/3/11 05:17 PM, TNT wrote:

At 7/3/11 12:58 PM, All-American-Badass wrote: ... but I hope that Rick Perry tosses his hat in cause out of all the potential candidates, he's the only one that I find good enough to give Obama a run for his money. If Perry doesn't run I'll look into who the Libertarians have as candidates.

As a libertarian myself, I dislike Rick Perry.

just throwing it out there.

I have libertarian leanings but for the most part I'm conservative, but the libertarian's candidate in 2008 was pretty good so i have good hopes for who then nominate this election cycle.

Well that's pretty cool. I do disagree with the libertarians to an extent but they are the least I disagree with out of all of the parties available. Sorry if I was a tab ignorant by randomly saying that I dislike Perry without any sort of explanation. In all honesty he isn't the worst. That goes to Sarah Palin (if she decides to run or not).

[CaveStoryGrounds]

If I was American I would vote Obama. He's the best one of them all.

[SadisticMonkey]

At 7/3/11 09:19 PM, SmilezRoyale wrote: If Mitt Romney wins the nomination I might vote for Obama. Bad Conservatives are bad for Conservatism, and Obama has done more to help libertarians than any president in US history.

But other than that, I'm probably not going to vote.

I've been thinking about this actually, and I'm not even sure that Ron Paul winning would be a good thing, because he's not going to be able to really change much without a congress full of Ron Pauls, and it seems that he, and hence libertarianism, will all too easily be made the scapegoat as the American economy inevitably worsens during his time, not least because many of his policies would necessarily lead to worse economic conditions in the short term.

[SmilezRoyale]

At 7/4/11 04:08 AM, SadisticMonkey wrote:

I've been thinking about this actually, and I'm not even sure that Ron Paul winning would be a good thing, because he's not going to be able to really change much without a congress full of Ron Pauls, and it seems that he, and hence libertarianism, will all too easily be made the scapegoat as the American economy inevitably worsens during his time, not least because many of his policies would necessarily lead to worse economic conditions in the short term.

That doesn't mean for the sake of primaries that it wouldn't be strategic to support him.

I say let the libertarians wage a bloody war for control of the republican party, and in the meantime Obama can run the country into the ground at top speed, because the sooner the crisis begins the sooner it can end.

[Camarohusky]

At 7/4/11 09:54 AM, SmilezRoyale wrote: I say let the libertarians wage a bloody war for control of the republican party, and in the meantime Obama can run the country into the ground at top speed, because the sooner the crisis begins the sooner it can end.

Your assuming that Obama is harming the nation worse than anyone else who would be in office, and that just ain't true.

[All-American-Badass]

At 7/4/11 12:57 AM, RydiaLockheart wrote:

At 7/3/11 12:58 PM, All-American-Badass wrote: I'll be honest I'm not that impressed by any candidate at the moment but I hope that Rick Perry tosses his hat in cause out of all the potential candidates

I don't think people are gonna be voting for another Texas cowboy anytime soon.

I think people have already forgotten about Bush since Obama has been backing down on using the blame game on him lately and instead placing it on the Republicans in congress.

At 7/4/11 01:01 AM, TNT wrote:

At 7/4/11 12:46 AM, All-American-Badass wrote:

At 7/3/11 05:17 PM, TNT wrote:

At 7/3/11 12:58 PM, All-American-Badass wrote: ... but I hope that Rick Perry tosses his hat in cause out of all the potential candidates, he's the only one that I find good enough to give Obama a run for his money. If Perry doesn't run I'll look into who the Libertarians have as candidates.

As a libertarian myself, I dislike Rick Perry.

just throwing it out there.

I have libertarian leanings but for the most part I'm conservative, but the libertarian's candidate in 2008 was pretty good so i have good hopes for who then nominate this election cycle.

Well that's pretty cool. I do disagree with the libertarians to an extent but they are the least I disagree with out of all of the parties available. Sorry if I was a tab ignorant by randomly saying that I dislike Perry without any sort of explanation. In all honesty he isn't the worst. That goes to Sarah Palin (if she decides to run or not).

Well since you live in Texas you probably have better knowledge to what Perry is doing outside of what i mentioned so you likely have a good reason as to why you dislike him.
As far as Palin goes, she was well liked in Alaska and did a decent job running that state, but when decided to quit 2 and a half years into her term, I lost alot of respect for her. She's also prone to gaffs which since Obama took office is something you do not want to be because Obama set a new standard into how good at speaking you should be as much as i hate to admit that.

[GamerColyn117]

I like where this has gone. I agree with a lot of people in here. I'm almost positive that Osama will make it pretty far, but I sure hope he is shot out of the air by some unexpected candidate. In June Mitt Romney had most of the Republican votes. He was then 51% to 49% in the lead with Osama, while some "unknown" candidate rose in the polls to well above both of them.

I am a "Right-Winger" but I see the good in all sides. I don't bash the Democrats at all, in fact I wanted Kerry to win in the 2004 elections because Bush was failing. I would like to see some real change and not this fake "change" Osama promised. He has only made it worse.

[sjane135]

Does it really matter who wins? They all do the bidding of our slavemasters...the international banking cartel. I mean, I really like Obama but he just went status quo in keeping Geitner and all the Fed chronies. So after seeing that I truly realized it does not make much of a difference other then one might be worse then another. I mean, many people in other countries like us again because of Obama so that was a perk

[Camarohusky]

At 7/4/11 03:48 PM, All-American-Badass wrote: Obama set a new standard into how good at speaking you should be as much as i hate to admit that.

The funny thing is, is that Obama didn't set any standard or raise any bars about speaking. Take a look at all fo the Presidents before Obama. All but 1 talk liked educated, civilized people. They had different styles, but it wasn't until Bush II that wetolerated a Persident who spoke well below the position.

[SmilezRoyale]

At 7/4/11 01:38 PM, Camarohusky wrote:

Your assuming that Obama is harming the nation worse than anyone else who would be in office, and that just ain't true.

Anyone else? Certainly not the worst. Anyone else who is running for president? Maybe, I'm not as sure.

First I exclude religious issues because I do not think that a religious rightist agenda will ever succeed on the federal level. At least not yet. Social liberalism is in danger in the long run more because of the fact Religious demographic cohorts, [and racial/ethnic cohorts with strong correlations to religious affiliation] are reproducing at a rate much faster than social liberals. And Atheists are downright sterile.

On Foreign policy It is conceivable that a Republican could do worse. Some neoconservatives have tried to portray Obama's foreign policy as weak and I believe Tim Pawlenty and a few of the candidates running have taken to this. However at this point i suspect that it is bluffing. But who knows?

Economically, I'm expecting something the same, or something more mild.

The point is that if a Republican president is an authoritarian, many conservatives who are not consciously partisan will be forced to defend authoritarianism and authoritarian policies.

[Camarohusky]

At 7/4/11 05:54 PM, SmilezRoyale wrote: First I exclude religious issues because I do not think that a religious rightist agenda will ever succeed on the federal level. At least not yet. Social liberalism is in danger in the long run more because of the fact Religious demographic cohorts, [and racial/ethnic cohorts with strong correlations to religious affiliation] are reproducing at a rate much faster than social liberals. And Atheists are downright sterile.

I wouldn't be so quick on both of those conclusions. I only takes a small move to completely throw the current religious/secular governance off balance. The appointing of another Scalia or Alito could serious damage this country's ability to protect itself from religion (I leave it singular, as there is only one religion that seeks to overthrow our government). Second, I say that social liberalism is growing. Sure, birth rates among social liberals are lowering, however, Generation Y grew up in a world where social liberal ideals were much more hte norm thanbefore, and the more things become more socially liberal, the more normal ALL Americans will see it.

On Foreign policy It is conceivable that a Republican could do worse. Some neoconservatives have tried to portray Obama's foreign policy as weak and I believe Tim Pawlenty and a few of the candidates running have taken to this. However at this point i suspect that it is bluffing. But who knows?

Seeing as we have had a much higher reputation around the world since 08, even when we have not changed our style much shows that Obama has got this foreign policy thing down. He is allowing us to have our cake and eat it too. That was not the case with Bush, and I seriously doubt any Republican in the pool could do that.

Economically, I'm expecting something the same, or something more mild.

During the time of Reagan, the "tax less, spend less" method of economic governance went politically extinct. We have tax more, spend more, or thee even less responsible tax less, spend more, which has been championed (oh so ironically) by the business savvy Republicans.

Many people here are vocally saying "Anything is better than Obama" without really paying attention. Those on the right are just mad because his name is proceeded by a (D), and those on the Left are mad because they did not get everything they wanted even though they KNEW they couldn't get it.

The whole economy issues is another problem. Turns out our stupid populace believes in alchemy. The growing population of idiots who think they know politics are convinced that a President can turn shit into solid gold. The economy would be shitty with or without Obama.