I'm sorry but I must tell the truth....

[totes6]

You know? Just chiming in... I'm described as a "Conservative Libertarian", and NONE of the Republicans appeal to me...

BUT!

Obama appeals to me even less. And it's nothing personal mind you! He's very affulable, and charming... But... we disagree on guv'mint's role in every day lives...

SOOOO! Yet again... the GOP has me holding my nose, and pulling the lever for someone who does nothing to make me feel better.

They're two sides of the same coin, and I want a new coin.

Then stop holding your nose and pulling that lever that has the "R"hino behind it. Pull that third lever with an actual name behind it.I hear all to many times, that people vote for the Rhino cause that is what is forced on them. If you don't like it, stop voting for them. Stop playing the politician's game and vote for someone that will actually do something good for this country instead of good for just themselves. The only one forcing you to pull that lever is yourself. Just think if all of you who say you are tired of these Rhinos that the Republican party put up actually voted for an independent instead, pretty soon the Republican party full of Rhinos would probably be gone.

Remember there was not always a Republican or Democrat party. Those parties are recent additions to our political system if you look at it in historical perspective of our Country's History. People were fed up with the current political party and started their own. The Tea Party was a great start, but they allowed themselves to get sucked back into the Republican party and now we have Rhinos calling themselves friends of the Tea Party (Yeah right). We started to clean house last November and we need to continue to do it this November. But the house we need to clean in November 2012 is the Whitehouse. And personally, I don't want to see a "R" or "D" in there.
The Tea Party started the movement, but we still need to finish it. Every time you hear someone complain about being "forced" to pull that lever, remind them, they still have a choice. They don't have to pick one side of the same coin, they can choose that new coin. Now if you go out and do it and convince 5 more people to do the same and they go out and convince 5 more people each, and the pattern follows. There will be a huge upset that the Main Stream Media will have no idea what to do with.

[WRW]

I'm thinking ground swell and voting accordingly. This Country can not afford much more of "compromise to assure a winner". Votes for non-winning candidates do send a message...not only to the candidates, but to other voters as well.

[larry3100]

HERMAN CAIN

[Reverenddel]

" they still have a choice."

No, no they don't. If you do something to "make a statement", you get the same results as if you pulled the lever for someone you do NOT agree with.

I vote by percentages... I break it down to "Social", "Taxes", "Guns", "Business", and "Foreign Policy". Each one has 20% attached, and depending on the final percentage, depends on if I pull they lever.

[SHMIV]

Here's the thing:

We will have a candidate that will promise many wonderful things, and probably won't deliver on much of them.

We will a candidate who will promise horrible, wretched, and disturbing things, and probably WILL deliver on much of them.

And we may have a 3rd candidate that, realistically speaking, simply won't be accepted by the majority of voters, regardless of his promises.

We already know that Obama is the candidate who promises the horrible things. Ron Paul will end up as a 3rd party candidate, if he runs to the end. I'm not quite ready to call the Republican, yet(aside from stating serious doubts that Paul will get it).

In my opinion, anyone who gets the Republican nomination will be an improvement over Obama, and we simply cannot afford to let Obama have another term. Every single vote is going to count in this election. Should Paul run as a 3rd candidate, he will be pulling votes away from the Republican nominee and NOT from Obama. 3rd parties just aren't going to be electable.

The stated structure of morals and values in the Republican party are things that I agree with. The party just needs to run candidates who will actually act upon them. The solution is not to leave the party and start a new one, instead, we should take the party back. Taking over a party is not too difficult. The socialists started taking over the Democrats at the end of WWII, and a short 20 years later, they had a pretty firm grip. One of their tactics (and the most important one), though, was changing the culture. (By the way, did you know that Disney was a socialist? Ever notice the way that Democrat happy-feelgood nonsense shows up in Disney movies?) Here is one good way to start changing the culture back. We should all commit to befriending Liberals, then take them to the range. Demonstrate that guns are not scary; they've been lied to on that subject. If they've been lied to about that, what else have they been lied to about?

I'm going to assume (which is always pretty dangerous, I know) that we are all relatively conservative on this site, regardless of our political affiliations (or lack thereof, in some cases). I suggest that we do something similar to what this group of folks were doing down in Florida in 2008. I found a bunch of conservatives down in Florida when I was living there (who, incidentally, were mostly Ron Paul fans) that were committed to taking over the Republican party. They all registered as Republicans, ACTIVELY attended meetings, and some of them started actually running for offices. They didn't start running for major offices, but they did run at local levels, because that was a logical start. By the time that I met up with them, they had a pretty firm grip on the local chapters of the Young Republicans.

In the end, it's fairly pointless to squabble back and forth on the minor details on this or any other forum. We can all sit at our desks and regurgitate our opinions for the next year, then get up and vote, and come back home, but that really doesn't change much. I see a bumper sticker on many cars around here, and it's usually pasted in between Obama stickers and "Have You Hugged Your Tree Today?" stickers. It says, "Be The Change You Want To See". Finally, those silly hippies stumbled onto a pearl of wisdom. Hell, even a broken clock gets it right twice a day. (digital clocks excluded, of course.)

[gunderwood]

I have a question. If not Ron Paul then who would you vote for?

Write in vote for my pet corn snake, Steve. He has a proven track record of results; chiefly strong pro constricting, pro suffocating, and pro eating of rodents.

An invaluable skill in DC which will benefit us all should he win.

(4 of 5)

Well played.

[gunderwood]

3rd Party at this point may be my preferred choice to staying home in a drunken stupor. If the R's put up a non-solution to the problems our country faces, that is on them. I'll be damned if I will facilitate or encourage them!

+1

[gunderwood]

You know? Just chiming in... I'm described as a "Conservative Libertarian", and NONE of the Republicans appeal to me...

BUT!

Obama appeals to me even less. And it's nothing personal mind you! He's very affulable, and charming... But... we disagree on guv'mint's role in every day lives...

SOOOO! Yet again... the GOP has me holding my nose, and pulling the lever for someone who does nothing to make me feel better.

They're two sides of the same coin, and I want a new coin.

Then stop holding your nose and pulling that lever that has the "R"hino behind it. Pull that third lever with an actual name behind it.I hear all to many times, that people vote for the Rhino cause that is what is forced on them. If you don't like it, stop voting for them. Stop playing the politician's game and vote for someone that will actually do something good for this country instead of good for just themselves. The only one forcing you to pull that lever is yourself. Just think if all of you who say you are tired of these Rhinos that the Republican party put up actually voted for an independent instead, pretty soon the Republican party full of Rhinos would probably be gone.

Remember there was not always a Republican or Democrat party. Those parties are recent additions to our political system if you look at it in historical perspective of our Country's History. People were fed up with the current political party and started their own. The Tea Party was a great start, but they allowed themselves to get sucked back into the Republican party and now we have Rhinos calling themselves friends of the Tea Party (Yeah right). We started to clean house last November and we need to continue to do it this November. But the house we need to clean in November 2012 is the Whitehouse. And personally, I don't want to see a "R" or "D" in there.
The Tea Party started the movement, but we still need to finish it. Every time you hear someone complain about being "forced" to pull that lever, remind them, they still have a choice. They don't have to pick one side of the same coin, they can choose that new coin. Now if you go out and do it and convince 5 more people to do the same and they go out and convince 5 more people each, and the pattern follows. There will be a huge upset that the Main Stream Media will have no idea what to do with.

+1

We'll most likely get a RINO because the majority of Republicans haven't reached that level of disgust with the current leadership. Complain, but when push comes to shove they just hold their nose and vote how their told anyways. I can't do that any more.

[mamabearCali]

Reverenddel is right on the money. We conservatives simply can't afford the luxury of wasting an opportunity to vote against 4 more years of Obama, which I fear will leave our country too socialist and too totalitarian to ever return. It's THAT bad, in my view. So it would behoove us to make like the republican equivalent of a yaller-dawg democrat and vote for whoever winds up opposing Obama as an electable alternative. It might leave a taste in my mouth that's close kin to having a skunk crap in it, but the alternative would be worse.

I have to agree with this. I would rather have my two year old throw up in my hair again than vote for Romney, but if it is either that or Obama takes another four years. I'll vote for the R and wash my hair real good that night. Perry is ok, but just ok. I don't trust him, but then I have learned not to trust any politician. Ron Paul would be great, but I think when he stands up next to the annointed one he is going to look like "Crazy Uncle Ron" and thus give the election to Obama.

[AppleaDay]

Hardcore republicans will vote republican
Handcore democrats will vote democrat
To win an election a candidate needs to play towards swaying the middle. The more the country polarizes the more this will be true. We're pretty far along that path as it is.
I wholeheartedly agree about being sick of having to hold my nose when I vote. Change will have to be incremental, though. Ron Paul is too old to make it long enough for the country to be ready for him. He can help shape the debates, though.

[Kreutz]

I have a question. If not Ron Paul then who would you vote for?

Write in vote for my pet corn snake, Steve. He has a proven track record of results; chiefly strong pro constricting, pro suffocating, and pro eating of rodents.

An invaluable skill in DC which will benefit us all should he win.

(4 of 5)

Well played.

I got the idea from Little Boot. Many consider it as evidence of his insanity...but I think he must have been lucid that day to so eloquently express his utter contempt for the Senate with that one action.

[Kreutz]

Ron Paul is too old to make it long enough for the country to be ready for him. He can help shape the debates, though.

John McCain probably saw action in the French and Indian Wars and he got to go up against Obama. Youth is as much an asset and simultaneous liability as old age is. Both have advantages and disadvantages.

[SHMIV]

Ronald Reagan had some age on him when he ran, and he got two terms.

[mamabearCali]

I was pretty young when Ronnie came into office (like a toddler) so I really only know him by video, but though he may have been older he still looked pretty young (hair colored, nice tan, etc etc). I think Ron Paul will not look presidential enough beside obama--that is not fair in the least and I don't vote by that, but many people do. So as much as I like him I fear that he would get beat and beat bad just because he is not a 10 word genius and he has white hair. His answers while thoughtful and correct 99% of the time take 2 minutes to come to the end of it. It is easier to hear "hope and change" and "Ron Paul wants to end (fill in the blank with your pet program) than to fully understand a very complete response to a question.

[RugerJoe]

Ron Paul and Herman Cain are the only gop offerings that have captured my attention. I wish Huckabee had entered the race this time around as well. I'm not voting for Romney or Perry. I'm one of those conservative libertarians, and if the gop wants to torpedo a slam dunk chance at the presidency.....more power to them. You will never catch me voting for Obama, but I'll gladly vote third party or abstain from voting if I don't believe in any of the candidates. I am just tired of voting against the most liberal instead of FOR a libertarian conservative.

[Reverenddel]

Agreed RugerJoe (I love Ruger's as well) Ron Paul, and Herman Cain are my fav's, but the milquetoast bastages who appeal to the middle will win... But this statement?

"In my opinion, anyone who gets the Republican nomination will be an improvement over Obama, and we simply cannot afford to let Obama have another term. "

That statement sums it up for me... The LAST election? Was about Dubya... this election? Is about OBAMA! If he tries that tired line of "I inherited..blah, blah, blah..." Whatever...

You either lead, follow, or get out of the way.

[SHMIV]

This will be my 4th presidential election; at least the 4th that I've been allowed to participate in. The 1st was Bush and Gore. My Bush vote was actually a vote against Gore. Same thing with Bush and Kerry. The last presidential election, my McCain vote was a vote against Obama. And so shall it be with this election, sadly.

Whether we like it or not, we are still (for all practical purposes) a 2 party nation. Granted, independents and other parties are allowed to participate, but look at the numbers. Independents and parties other than Republicans and Democrats don't gain enough traction to matter to them ( "Them" meaning the independent or other party).

Since the running Democrat is ALWAYS going to push for the most socialist of policies, I'm stuck with the casting a vote for the Republican. I hate it, but that's how it will be until we can find marketable Republicans that will act like Republicans. And, yes, I did say marketable. Another sad, sad truth is that presidential elections have morphed into dangerous popularity contests.

[gunderwood]

This will be my 4th presidential election; at least the 4th that I've been allowed to participate in. The 1st was Bush and Gore. My Bush vote was actually a vote against Gore. Same thing with Bush and Kerry. The last presidential election, my McCain vote was a vote against Obama. And so shall it be with this election, sadly.

Whether we like it or not, we are still (for all practical purposes) a 2 party nation. Granted, independents and other parties are allowed to participate, but look at the numbers. Independents and parties other than Republicans and Democrats don't gain enough traction to matter to them ( "Them" meaning the independent or other party).

Since the running Democrat is ALWAYS going to push for the most socialist of policies, I'm stuck with the casting a vote for the Republican. I hate it, but that's how it will be until we can find marketable Republicans that will act like Republicans. And, yes, I did say marketable. Another sad, sad truth is that presidential elections have morphed into dangerous popularity contests.

It will continue to be like that as long as they know you will vote for them anyways; there's no incentive to change unless something is at stake. If they don't change they won't get my vote and it will go to some third party like it did last presidential election. Them's the stakes and the sooner more people do it the sooner we can get some real change and start fixing things around here because it's not going to happen before then. The whole "2 party excuse" is just nonsense. "Third" parties can and have tossed out one of the 2 main parties (thus becoming one of the two) when people decided voting for the lesser of two evils was still evil.

Republicans push for socialistic programs too...the prescription drug program wasn't passed with a D in office.

[SHMIV]

Again, the answer is not to create a new party, but take the Republican party back. Register as a Republican, actively participate in Republican functions, and start running for offices. Start small; school boards, mayor, etc. Work up to State legislation and Governor. Continue upward. Things won't change over night, but they will change.

I am well aware that some Republicans, in trying to appease Democrats, will spinelessly support socialist programs. I don't like it. Most Republican voters don't, either.

The last president that we had that was neither Republican nor Democrat was our 13th President, Millard Fillmore, associated with the Whig party. He left office in 1853. Admittedly, Andrew Johnsons political affiliation is a little fuzzy, but I don't believe that he was ever elected to the presidency. The significant parties have been Republican and Democrat since 1853. I don't see that changing any time soon.

I'm afraid that, in order to get Obama out of the White House, we are going to have to cast a vote for whoever the Republican nominee is.

[davasmith]

To answer the question poised at me earlier, I like Cain. He is the only one at any of theses debates that tells the American people what his plan is. I am very excited to see so many people talking about what I've been saying and thinking for quite some time. BTW, I do know what behooved means and I used it out of context to see how many of the "intellectual verbal engineers" would be bothered by it and not stay on topic. Ya'll have once again impressed me. I know I'm in good company here and that we love this nation and want to fix her. I'm here like every one else, I'm disgusted with today's realities and have hope for tomorrow's improvements.

* I will abstain my vote if there are no candidates who share my belief values, however doing so I realize that I lose my ability to bi*ch about anything until the next time I can vote. (message) -------- VOTE!