Normally, I wouldn't do this. I have been noticing, though, that questions in General have begun receiving answers of "McCain Rocks!" or "Obama Rocks!" or that favourite of the ages: "Bu$h Sucks!" whatever the real subject.

In light of the fact that the current financial crises mean we are about to enter the new Dark Ages, when we will barter bones and stones for a new axe with which to defend our families, now more than ever the US election will affect us all. This thread is a place for you to discuss the upcoming event.

What is this thread?
This thread is a place for rational reasoned discussions and debates around the US election 2008. It is a place for mature adults to put down their reasons for voting for one politician over another. It is a place where those of us who don't live in the US can learn about the system around the election and to gain a greater understanding of why the US public will vote one way or another. It is a place where reason and politeness will reign and where we can all sit down in overstuffed armchairs with a pipe, a smoking jacket and a snifter of brandy and put the world to rights in friendly company.

What is this thread not?
This thread is not a place for mindless cheerleading, for people to fall out, for flamewars to start or for threats to be made. It is not a place for one party or another to extend their advertising campaign. It is not a partisan place (no party is greater than the other in the eyes of LQ). It is not Fight Club - you can freely discuss the rules and the thread.

Without trying to belabour the point, this thread will be watched carefully and will be moderated where it is felt necessary. Mods may well post their opinions, as is their right as members, and those opinions will not reflect the views of LQ.

The whole thread is an experiment: we have seen that religious threads can be useful and reasoned and polite, so we're giving it a go with politics. If it works, who knows? maybe there will be an election thread for your country.

It is stickied and will be closed after the election. The election date, in case you didn't know, is Tuesday 4 November 2008, a little over a month away. If you haven't already, register to vote - if you don't vote, you throw away your voice and cannot complain if you aren't heard.

So, enjoy the thread and keep it clean please.

Rational and reasoned?

You are joking, right?

Forget McCain. He rocks. Forget Obama. He rocks too. Forget Bush. He sux. (obligatory commentary upon current and future presidents...)

Also forget megathreads!

We Want Cindi! After checking out this YouTube presentation, how could you EVER doubt???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbEEyTIVKMI

ROTFLMAO

The most important fact to consider is that by voting for either the Republican or Democratic candidate, you are throwing away your vote. There is no significant difference. Who cares?!

The Third Party voter or the principled non-voter speaks much more loudly about the shameful condition of the American electoral situation.

Yeah. What he said.

We Want Cindi!

Nope. Like I said, this will be watched

Ideally, this will be somewhat educational - why are US types going nuts over particular things? Some of the apparently important stuff does not seem that way to outsiders.

This is the place where Americans can explain why they do things the way they do in their elections.

If anyone is stuck for a topic, tell us about the Electoral Colleges and why they matter.

Well...

My post about Cynthia McKinney can't be realistically called a political post. McKinney's connection with the presidential election is (1) incidental, (2) humorous and (3) pitiful.

So it doesn't really belong in this "reasoned and rational" megathread, because McKinney is anything (and everything) BUT reasoned and rational. The really sad thing is that there actually was a district that would elect her to congress

The VP debates are now on. Time for me to watch so that I may include my smart ass remarks at each candidate. I'm inclined to agree with rickh. Vote/don't vote, doesn't matter much. This country has been bought by your unfriendly neighborhood corporations/lobbyists.

Personally I don't think much of voting for third parties either. It's a two party system, the other parties are there to make things look like a proper democracy. In reality, no only does voting not count for anything at all, even if your vote counted, it still wouldn't count for anything at all, the electoral college decides not you. And, if I can get even more paranoid, I suspect they don't even decide. Yes, you are living in a totalitarian system disguised as a democracy, but you won't realize it until it's too late. Oh well.

P.S. I don't vote, even tho I can. I protest by not voting.

Sorry, XavierP, but at the moment it's a Golden Virginia roll-up, a T-shirt, and a mug of coffee.
In the UK we have a third party, the Liberal Democrats, but they have little or no chance of getting in power. We've had 18 years of crap from the Tories, followed by 11 years of crap from the pseudo-Labour party - so I'm inclined to agree with rickh and H_TeXMeX_H about whether it's worthwhile voting.

A third party? Is Ralph Nader still registering as a candidate?

Well, the GOP took government back for the people when Lincoln was elected. Then Theodore Roosevelt (GOP) took government away from special interest groups again. Will a GOP candidate save us again? Certainly not McCain, but I'd vote for Arnie. Looking back at Teddy Roosevelt's era, the GOP was split into a pro-special-interest group ("conservative" - they were really more "let's govern by not governing - let people do as they will) and the "progressive" group. Hordes of republicans loathe Arnie - so maybe he's the guy to split the party into a progressive side (and leave the regressive side behind).

So who are you guys voting for - Bevis or Butthead? I know the Oval Office is currently occupied by both of them, but this time around we only have a chance to vote one or the other.

An outsiders view:
Obama - good at spouting cliches.
McCain - good for a laugh (unintentional).
The only hope for America is a miracle: the resurrection of the Kennedy brothers - well, RFK, anyway.

I've never understood the concept of a "smoking jacket". Are you supposed to put said jacket on whenever you wanna smoke a cigarette? What feature set does the jacket provide which helps you with the smoking process?

It's probably supposed to stop the smoke from entering your clothing, which you cannot help, is does anyway.

They were just a comfortable jacket to relax in. Not worn any more, except by upper-crust types like XavierP in his stately home.