Media Endorsements of Presidential Candidates

[Gilgamesh]

I didn't know it was possible to be an atheist, yet not liberal.

[Ryantology]

I believe that, for the apparent closeness of poll numbers, the President will be re-elected by a fairly safe margin, if not so much as last time.

And the funny thing is, if the Republicans reined in their Akins, if indeed they did not try to make morality such a major part of their platform, they could have almost certainly ridden the perception of financial malaise to a national landslide. It is much more difficult to make an informed decision about economic matters than it is to recognize hatred, racism and misogyny.

[festive1]

I believe that, for the apparent closeness of poll numbers, the President will be re-elected by a fairly safe margin, if not so much as last time.

And the funny thing is, if the Republicans reined in their Akins, if indeed they did not try to make morality such a major part of their platform, they could have almost certainly ridden the perception of financial malaise to a national landslide. It is much more difficult to make an informed decision about economic matters than it is to recognize hatred, racism and misogyny.

I tend to agree with you, but I won't believe Obama's gonna win until it happens.

[Minimalist]

I'm fine with criticism of Bush where it is deserved.

But you apparently can't seem to do it yourself, can you?

You just lost a few points.

[DeistPaladin]

“We have little confidence that Obama would be more successful managing the economy and the budget in the next four years,”

Yeah, because a plan to increase defense spending, cut taxes 20% and balance the budget all at the same time has always worked well before.

Plus, Obama has been successful in handling the economy.

[Ryantology]

Yeah, you know, when Romney and his robots chant "we can't afford four more years", I think back to the summer of 2008 and how much worse things were for me, then. Everything was expensive and I was out of work, only for a few weeks but my girlfriend and I were so close to the bone that every day of that time was miserable.

To be perfectly honest, for me, things are quite a bit improved. That is just speaking for my own situation, of course, but then again, I am only voting for myself, aren't I? I simply do not perceive this country to be worse off than it was in 2008, and actually better in some ways important to me.

[Tino]

I didn't know it was possible to be an atheist, yet not liberal.

Yes it is. We free thinkers don't all need to think in lockstep. If you want to discuss it more, let me know.

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It's alright to notify the general public about the penalties associated with any crime. However, these signs are going up in predominately Latino and African American communities. Why not put them up everywhere?

Why did Willy Sutton rob banks?

I don't think you'd defend the Jim Crow-era southerners who stood around polling stations to intimidate African American voters. So why defend a group like this? One's stated mission does not always match the effect that a group may have. These people are trained to walk the fine line of legally intimidating people.

I don't defend them, but I also don't condemn them without knowing more about what they're really doing.

I'm not going back to the 1960's. This is today.
As for the illegal 2008 absentee ballots, those people should have been and have been convicted of crimes. They are serving their time, good. I will point out that casting illegal ballots is a very different thing to voter intimidation and actively trying to get the other side to not vote, even if these two means result in the same end.

The point is that skewing the vote in your favor, whether by fraud, intimidation, ballot stuffing or whatever the tactic, has been going on for a long time by both parties. You haven't given me any reason to thing that it's suddenly only being practiced by one side.

You still haven't presented any evidence of current, 2012, democratic voter intimidation and/or fraud. All my citations have been in the past few months.

No and as I said I'm not going to go look for accusations, as they're too easy to make.

In Pennsylvania where the voter ID law was put on hold for the 2012 election, they are putting up signs in heavily minority areas, in Spanish, saying you have to have an ID to vote.... That's pretty low.

We're so far apart here dear. I think people should have to show an ID to vote. I can't think of any responsible way otherwise to keep people from voting illegally. If illegal voting didn't favor one party so heavily (Democrats) this wouldn't be an issue at all.

[Ryantology]

If illegal voting didn't favor one party so heavily (Democrats) this wouldn't be an issue at all.

Evidence?

Both sides throw around tons of accusations of voter fraud every single election. Only thing is, Democrats seem somewhat less willing to disenfranchise voters who would never vote for them.

[Tino]

If illegal voting didn't favor one party so heavily (Democrats) this wouldn't be an issue at all.

Evidence?

Both sides throw around tons of accusations of voter fraud every single election. Only thing is, Democrats seem somewhat less willing to disenfranchise voters who would never vote for them.

Some things for you to read, don't know if you'll consider it to be evidence. Google the topic if you're interested in investigating it.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/howard-fos...18523.html

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/2...-john-fund

[Ryantology]

I don't. They are opinion pieces.

I would think something so apparently obvious would be backed by hard numbers readily available. But you give me opinion pieces, and Google gives me opinion pieces, which seem to carry absolutely no consensus. The only ones I see which purport numbers tend to focus on accusations. Cannot find any independent data on confirmed voter fraud cases.

The GOP has an obvious stake in stoking unsubstantiated fears of widespread voter fraud, so I am thus far forced to conclude that is precisely what they are doing and that whatever fraud exists is a: on a very small scale, b: done by both parties in roughly equal amounts, and c: probably far less prevalent now than ever before in an age of instant access to information.