two weeks later...

My, but it has been a while.

I'll go ahead and apologize in advance for any typos. I (ironically) broke my "W" key a couple of weeks ago, and while it still works, it takes some effort to use, and sometimes it gets skipped over.

So... how bout that election?

I guess to say that I was surprised about anything would be false. I knew, whether I admitted it or not, that any Republican candidate would have an uphill battle to fight this year. But I really let myself get my hopes up about the North Carolina gubernatorial race. After all of the debates, the interviews, and the endorsements, I was just sure that anyone who had been paying attention to the candidates -- not the parties -- would be voting for Pat McCrory.

I was almost right. Madeline Shoemaker, the grassroots coordinator for the McCrory campaign did the math and found out that McCrory received 1,115,861 votes from non-straight ticket voters, whereas Beverly Perdue only received 857,546. Perdue, who distanced herself as much as possible from Barack Obama during the campaign should be falling all over herself to thank him for that win.

I've always been against straight-ticket voting. This is not something that I am suddenly against this year because of this particular election. I have never voted straight-ticket, and I have never suggested that anyone vote straight-ticket. It encourages uninformed voting, which is something else that I am very much against.

There's no doubt that there was a lot of that going on during this election. Every polling place I went to had Obama workers handing out little yellow cards with instructions on "How the vote for change". Step one was to vote for Barack Obama, step two was to vote straight ticket Democrat, and step three was to vote for a list of liberal judges (as those races are "non-partisan").

Voting straight-ticket Democrat in North Carolina is NOT voting fo change at the state level. Our Democratic governors have done a great job over the years of running our state into the ground. Pat McCrory was change.

The presidential election was Obama's before he even won the primary. Whichever candidate had won the Democratic primary was going to be our next president. We can thank George W. Bush and the rest of the big-government Republicans for that one. As much as I hate to admit it when the far-right is right, the Obama victory should (theoretically) promote change in the Republican Party. The idea of another Ronald Reagan isn't that exciting, but perhaps it's time for a Barry Goldwater?

Likewise, I was going to be happy regardless of who won our Senate race. Elizabeth Dole deserved to lose. Sure, she was going to be another GOP vote in the Senate, but she was nothing more than an opportunist when it came to running in North Carolina. Kay Hagan's victory will give the NC GOP a chance to put a real North Carolinian up against her in 2014.

But Pat McCrory was a victim of bad Republicans and uninformed voting. He ran a positive campaign about the issues, and North Carolinians showed that it pays to go negative (or hire Andy Griffith). I was at the election night party in Charlotte, and aside from the actual act of conceding itself, the most heartbreaking aspect was in Pat McCrory's concession speech when he brought up his positive campaign and appeared to realize, in front of our very eyes, that perhaps refusing to run attack ads had hurt him.

I know that at times I fall back on the Republican cliche attack system (such as the "Respect your president?" sign from the last post), but in all honesty I'm not that person. There are much more important things in politics than party politics. I want North Carolina and the United States to move forward and succeed -- I would never want for things to go horribly wrong just so the person from the other party will look bad or be impeached/voted out of office. I believe that both Barack Obama and Bev Perdue have our country's best interests in mind, which is why they worked so hard to get elected. We simply have different ideas of how to move our country/state forward.

If things really are better off four years from now, I will be the first to admit it. I want to see economic growth, but not at the expense of our country's brightest minds. I will not blindly support a Republican in 2012 simply for the fact that he or she is a Republican. I will look at who I feel will continue to move our country in the right direction. If Bev Perdue is the better candidate, then she will be able to count on my support. Let's face it, if the gubernatorial election had come down to Perdue vs. Fred Smith (McCrory's major opponent in the primary), I very likely would have voted for Libertarian Mike Munger.

I will respect Barack Obama as my president, and I will respect Bev Perdue as my governor. But I will also be watching them closely to make sure that they are not taking advantage of their positions -- just as I do with any leader, regardless of their party.

And you best believe I'll be leading the revolution if ever one is necessary.

Polls looking up for Pat McCrory

McCrory leads in Rasmussen poll

Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory has edged ahead of Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue in the gubernatorial race with less than five weeks until the election, according to a new WRAL News poll.

Polling firm Rasmussen Reports surveyed 700 likely voters statewide Tuesday and found that McCrory, the Republican candidate, holds a 50 to 46 percent lead over Perdue, the Democratic candidate...

The only segments of voters where Perdue holds a lead, according to the poll, are those under age 30, unmarried voters and those making either less than $20,000 or between $60,000 and $75,000 a year.
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So basically, the only voters who are voting for Perdue are people who are already planning to vote straight-ticket Democrat. I wonder if they would be so gung-ho to vote for her if they knew how reluctant she is to have anything at all to do with the party's presidential nominee, Barack Obama.

For everything else, there's Mastercard

White sheet -- $4 at Walmart

Spray paint -- $3 at Walmart

Fine for compromising the structural integrity of your yuppie apartment complex -- $15


Having a top-floor apartment right across the street from an Obama/Biden rally and letting Obama know that not everyone in this hippie-infested city thinks he's "The One" -- PRICELESS

They're both losing -- moderator wins

So I've been watching the debate with a bunch of Republicans, and we've been having quite the ball. We've been trying to keep up with a list of drinking games, but there's way too many of them (everytime a candidate says "$700 billion",

At this point, I have to nix the live blogging, because we're having way too much fun, and I'm being a bore with the blogging. I'll be back tomorrow with an analysis of the debate.

ALSO look for me on CNN tomorrow. Obama is doing a rally in Greensboro, and Matt's apartment is visable from the rally site. We're getting up early and making anti-Obama signs to hang from his balcony :)

Obama and McCain on taxes and health care

Tax-rates and businesses -- John McCain is talking about how businesses don't flourish with higher tax rates, and "the worst thing we can do is raise taxes".

Obama is promising that 95% of the American people will get a tax cut. He's not mentioning the fact that we will see a price increase in products effected by the tax increase. He's accusing McCain of not giving ordinary Americans a tax break. Obama says that McCain's tax credit will actually tax benefits, even though we're getting a tax break for health insurance.

Mccain says that Obama is "walking the walk and talking the talk." He isn't voting for what he says he believes in.

Live presidential debate

I'll be live-blogging tonight's presidential debate from downtown Greensboro, NC at the CityView apartments. I'm at a debate watch party where we will be playing drinking games such as drinking everytime McCain says "My friends" or Obama says "change", so please forgive any typos.

Can I just say, first reaction, I love this moderator. Anyone that's going to make the candidates ACTUALLY answer a question, I love.

Also, Obama has GOT to stop saying "Main Street". We get it. You're for the common man. Wooo...

New drinking game, drink everytime Obama says "uhhhh". We may be dead by the end of this debate.

Obama is talking about salaries for police officers. Why is that a federal problem? McCain says that we have a long way to go, and we need to look at the regulatory agencies that weren't doing there jobs... but he has faith in the American workers... "Our best days are ahead of us"? What does that mean?

"What will the future scholars see when they study us?" -- Mona Lisa Smile

It was like everything just hit me at once.  Last night, I was browsing through the MoveOn.org videos (and LAUGHING my ass off), then this morning I read Jon's post on Gen Y'ers and their voting habits, and then, to top it all off, I saw a commercial on a network station this morning urging young people to vote.  "When you vote, you have a voice," the tagline taunted.  Basically, voting by peer pressure.  "It's so cool to vote.  Look, these kids are doing it."

I'm pretty sure it was a non-partisan effort, but what a crock.  If some pothead drop-out punk doesn't want to vote, who cares?  If some apathetic idiot wants to sit around and gripe about how he isn't going to vote because it's all fixed anyway, LET HIM.  Truth is, even the kids that aren't like these examples don't know jack squat about politics.  They can't tell you one thing about Obama or McCain that isn't some regurgitated online talking point.  "Well, I mean, John McCain says we need to stay in Iraq for 100 years, but Obama, he's like, wanting to change everything."  I feel like Julia Roberts in Mona Lisa Smile.  "WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?"

They don't even require Civics classes in some high schools today.  These kids can't name the three branches of government or tell you what their duties are, but we're pushing them to go out and help choose the next leaders of the United States.

In high school, student government elections are nothing more than popularity contests.  I saw a few kids work their way up the student government ladder for three years only to have some big shot on campus run against them for Senior class president or even SGA president, because it suddenly occurred to them that they needed something to put on their college application other than how many drunk chicks they had sex with.  And the sheep in the school vote for the more popular kid not because they think he is better suited for the position, but because he's in that hot band they heard Saturday night.

This is what we're trying to do to America's election system, as if we're not already halfway there.  These commercials don't ask you to make an informed decision -- they just ask you to get your ass to a voting booth on election day.  They couldn't care less whether or not you know what you're doing.  They just want to see voter turnout go up.

You know, maybe lower voter turnout is a GOOD thing.  Maybe only the people that take the time to learn about the candidates and make an informed decision should be the ones that choose the president, not just the dumb masses.  They're looking for quantity in the vote experience, not quality.

Neal Boortz is right.  There really should be some kind of an exam to vote.  Like if you go into a computerized booth and press "Obama", a question pops up about where he stands on a certain issue.  Not only would it force people to learn about the candidates, but it would force the candidates to actually TAKE A POSITION ON AN ISSUE (which is something we don't see much anymore either).

And I'm sure some young idealist will stumble upon this blog post and be morally outraged that I could suggest such a thing, and to retaliate, they'll be sure to get to the voting booth and cancel me out.  That's awesome.  Whatever floats your boat.  Just don't fool yourself into thinking that you have any freaking clue of what you're voting for.  Yeah, I know, CHANGE.  What does that mean?

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?

I need to get this off my chest...

My father is voting for Hillary on May 6th.

My mother is voting for Obama.

Me? I'm just glad they'll be canceling each other out. I'll be voting for Ron Paul, thank you very much.