Why is this election even close?!?!?

[BattyDem]

WTF is wrong with people? No matter how many times they get shit on by the GOP, they STILL think the Repukes will solve all their problems! Doesn't anyone have any common sense anymore?! ARRRRGHHHH!!!! :banghead:


(Sorry. Just needed to vent a little.)

[bookman]

1. I understand.

Feel that way myself sometimes.

[muntrv]

2. Because there are still plenty of bigoted jerks who, despite being screwed over

by the repukes, can't get themselves to vote for a black person.

[Tutonic]

27. Thats the money! They'd rather go down with the rotting ship than

be lifted to the raft by a black man. Putin and the world are waiting on them.

[tex-wyo-dem]

53. Not just a black person, but any....

Democrat or what they perceive to be the much hated librul. People forget that liberals/progressives/Democrats have been demonized for decades; most notably within the last 10 - 15 years. The hatred and distrust is deeply engrained in a sizable segment of the population...as far as they are concerned, Democrats are commies in sheep's clothing ready to raise your taxes, take your guns away and seize your property.

I don't care if Jesus Christ himself were running, these people would never vote for him if he were running as a Dem.

[ChazII]

84. Jesus

would run as an Independent. :evilgrin:

[Rockholm]

3. Ratings. TV needs ad revenue. Close election=more viewers.

The MSM will do anything they can to keep this close.

[Quixote1818]

4. It's close because McCain is considered by many as a "Maverick" and moderate

Republican. The GOP was wise putting him up against Obama because any Republican that was known for being hard-core Republican would be down by 15% or more. Obama's camp needs to do a better job showing the McCain has changed and is not the "Maverick" type he seemed to be quite a few years ago and has become a clone of Bush.

[ikojo]

22. Obama and the Democrats need to stop saying how

honorable McCain is and start attacking him. So, he was a POW, it doesn't make him a saint.

Do like Karl Rove does, attack McCain at his strengths. Call him a Republican rock star.

[BrklynLiberal]

46. His maverick reputation, much like the premature rumors of Mark Twain's

death, are grossly exaggerated..

[Quixote1818]

56. I agree, but because he has been a media "Celebrity" for so long

that image has been burned into peoples brains. There is a lot of crap in his record most people don't know about. I personally don't think he is that smart.

[BrklynLiberal]

57. I agree. He was something like 895 out of 900 in his graduating class in Annapolis.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

5. The GOP candidates are being carefully packaged by the far right

the MSM is controlled by the far right.

So

[1corona4u]

6. Who says it is? The stupid often wrong polls??

[Kablooie]

42. The polls are mainly wrong when cheating happens at the last minute.

The polls said that Kerry won by a large margin.
He did, except of the illegal stealing of the election.

Same with Gore.

[BrklynLiberal]

47. POLLING FRAUD MSUT PRECEDE ELECTION FRAUD..

If the polls showed that it was a complete landslide for Obama, it would be impossible for McSame to steal it. If it is kept looking close, the theft can appear almost reasonable.

That is EXACTLY what happened in 2000 and 2004...

[tomg]

78. You got it. MSM needs a horse race

so they give it a slant here and a twist there and it looks close. Better revenues, more excitement. AP and the like screws with enough headlines and biases an article here or there. Instead of discussing issues, everyone discusses the race - the whole process becomes solipsistic and self-reflective. "Why isn't Obama ahead more. Look how Palin energized the base." Low informational voters look for easy tags or scandals. MSM as a whole, frankly, couldn't care less who wins (IMHO). It's just a giant reality show.

That, though, creates the conditions that allow the Republicans to steal it - and MSM then gets to "explain" it all away.

[stuntcat]

(ty)

okay I wanna vent too.. I'm afraid everyone's mostly lost their fucking minds and I'm more scared every day. I need to let it out :cry:

[BattyDem]

11. Feels good to vent, doesn't it?

:hug:

[stuntcat]

12. ..

:hug: ty

[Kablooie]

43. No it doesn't! I wish there wasn't a stupid reason to vent in the first place!

[quantass]

7. Being Black is a big issue for people ... Imagine a Black man and a Woman as a ticket -- Not good!

Because it represents too much change for America to stomach and i personally think an Obama-Clinton ticket would have been disastorous for Americans....i dont think a lot of americans are ready for both a black man and a woman as the ticket...too much change.

[scheming daemons]

8. Three letters: MSM

[rhett o rick]

18. Plez, can we call it Corp-Media? nm

[kath]

41. I like to call it the CPM.

Corporate Propaganda Ministry.

"McPravda" works too.

[rhett o rick]

87. Very good. nm

[hvn_nbr_2]

88. I've been calling it CorpoPravda but I like your McPravda too. nt

[Az]

9. Because advertising and marketing work better than reason

Because lying is easier than telling the truth.

[EffieBlack]

10. Because Obama is black

whether anyone wants to admit it or not.

[stuntcat]

17. When I wore my Obama shirt..

My mom sent me an Obama shirt. The one time I've worn it so far was to the grocery store. Five minutes after I got there a worker in produce told me Obama couldn't win because he's black.
The one thing I've learned the last few years is not to have much faith in people, especially groups. I will not be at all surprised if Sarah Palin is our President by 2010. I can already tell you we'll be fighting at least 3 wars by then and burning up more tons of gas every day and still complaining about the price of it.
okay sorry.. I'm just freaked out from now on..

[VoodooGuru]

21. Have to agree. It's the elephant in the room...

No pun intended. :silly:

[LSdemocrat]

64. Bingo.

It's a sad statement that if Obama had the exact same resume, message, campaign, and speech-making ability but looked like and was named John Edwards, we'd probably be ahead by 15%.

[elocs]

13. We will not know for sure how close it is or isn't until after the election.

Let's just continue to work as hard as we can to get Obama elected because that is all we can do.

[BattyDem]

14. I'm not giving up ... I'm just frustrated.

How did our country get so damn stupid? :shrug:

[Beregond2]

15. There has always been a lot of stupid in America.

But there didn't used to be a party whose entire modus operandi was to encourage and exploit that stupidity. Now there is.

[rhett o rick]

16. So who says it is close? Some damn corporate sponsored polls? nm

[MadrasT]

19. Big Hug

because I totally understand :hug: :banghead:

[BattyDem]

26. Thanks.

:hug:

[trashcanistanista]

20. I really don't think it is close. I think the MSM want

it to seem close. How many republican activists have contacted you? Any one you know? People are just not that stupid.

[endthewar]

24. Precisely. They talk about Palin helping in various states and no polls or evidence to support it.

[ShadowLiberal]

23. Several reasons I think

1) People are freaking morons who think McCain will be different from Bush, or who really buy into the neocon fear argument that terrorists will strike them down if we ever elect a democrat to the whitehouse.

2) The media has often been heavily biased against us, attempting to make it a close election. I mean seriously, I think the most negative story they've aired about McCain in months is how many houses he owns, while I could think of at least half a dozen things just as negative, or even more negative they've aired about Obama trying to bring him down. Nonpartisan watchdog groups even show that the media talks twice as much about Obama and is far more negative about him then McCain. They also frequently make up stories to grab attention even if they're normal (like Obama having a white voter problem, when he's actually doing 1 or 2 percent better among whites then Gore and Kerry did).

3) Not sure how much of a factor it is, or how much it helps/hurts either party's poll numbers, but I think between 10 to 20 percent of the nation has just a cell phone and no landline phones. In the 1948 election historians looking back at the media's disastrously wrong "Dewey has this thing won" coverage and partially blame on the fact that polls were conducted entirely on landline phones, when quite a bit of the poorer people in the population (not sure of the exact number) didn't have a landline phone, thus didn't get polled, and poorer people tended to support Truman and not Dewey. I would think that democrats would be more hurt by this today, since younger people (a base of support for Obama) are more likely to have no landline phone, but then there's other groups that are more likely to be republican that fall into that category as well.

4) Some cite the Reagan/Carter election to explain this, the polling between the two was fairly close for a while apparently, until the debates when Reagan showed people he's not a 'lunatic' (or something like that, I forget what the problem was dogging Reagan for a while according to those news stories, Reagan was president when I was born so I wasn't there for that election). The theory goes that Obama needs to show people in presidential debates (that will be much more heavily watched then primary debates) that he's not a risky inexperienced nut who will bring all of those bad things about that republicans are attacking him for.

[Hubert H. Hubert]

25. The IQ and the life expectancy of the average American

recently passed each other going in opposite directions.

-George Carlin

[BattyDem]

30. LOL ... I love that line!

:rofl:

Oh damn ... we really need Carlin now. :(

[BrklynLiberal]

48. GREAT LINE...Leave it to Carlin to be able to encapsulate so much in so few words.

[Historic NY]

28. I heard this tonight, I told them if eveything is fine with you then vote McSamne..

me I'm out of dodge ASAP if he wins, I can't afford the taxes on a pension I'm a sink and your guys are dinks. They wanted to know here I would go, I have a passport i have several vehicles..its easy.

[d_b]

29. It isn't.

[falcon97]

37. That's correct.

Although it would be nice to see a strong breakthrough in OH or CO to really feel comfortable. Having grown up in OH, I suspect the close polls there are due to race.

[Agent William]

31. Incredible!!

I don't know why Obama doesn't have 100 percent.

I guess the argument is, "well she's just like me". WTF? WTF? WTF?

It is so insulting that they but that "woman" on the ticket.

I feel the same way.

:banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

[Agent William]

32. Incredible!!

I don't know why Obama doesn't have 100 percent.

I guess the argument is, "well she's just like me". WTF? WTF? WTF?

It is so insulting that they but that "woman" on the ticket.

I feel the same way.

:banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

[Marsala]

33. It's close because being a Democrat is a liability in itself

Hillary wouldn't be doing any better, and God help us if we had nominated Edwards. Democrats have become permanently cast as the party of big government, higher taxes, cultural disintegration, and weak national security. It's completely ludicrous, but any Republican automatically has the advantage on these issues due to decades of propaganda reinforcing this. If Bush was running for a third term, he'd be polling around 40%.

The only reason that we have a chance at all is that Bush made being a Republican into an even bigger liability. Imagine if Bush hadn't invaded Iraq, wrecked the economy with terrible policies and trampled all over the Constitution. We wouldn't have a chance. Even the Platonic ideal Democratic candidate (i.e. Mark Warner four years from now) couldn't win.

[Marsala]

Addendum: it probably isn't as close as it appears.

But the fact that it appears close despite the McCain campaign's spiral into insanity over the past week is extremely aggravating.

[ShortnFiery]

34. It's not. Don't believe what the Corporate Journalists and Pollsters spoon feed you.

They lie. :(

[HowHasItComeToThis]

35. THE ENEMY WITHIN HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED

IT IS THE CORPORATE MEAN SCREAM MEDIA

[Kablooie]

40. I don't think so. I believe that much of the country is totally brainwashed.

They believe that Democrats are evil and will destroy all that's good.

The Republican mind control is nearly totalitarian.

It is complete insanity.

[Beartracks]

67. That is SO not true...

But whatever. Did you hear the latest on Lindsay Lohan turning down Playboy?






Just in case someone needs to see this... > :sarcasm:

[1776Forever]

36. Does this make sense to anyone? People are not listing there phone numbers if they are in debt now

So I think the ones that are answering are more of the Repub's who have phones still. I have one that is unlisted. We had to move because of family member with chronic illness and no insurance but we are both voting for Barack for sure! No one can get a hold of us for us to tell!

[kster]

38. Because our votes/ballots are being counted in secret, and the two

that we want to win REMAIN SILENT about that little fact, as long as there is silence and lies (about how the votes/ballots) are counted they can continue to make it appear close.

Our guys are in a race/contest, and they remain silent about how their contest is, in this case, counted.

I hate to say it but our guys are wimps or they are playing a part in this game, I believe its the latter.

But what do I know. :)

[intheflow]

39. That's EXACTLY what it's about.

This election isn't close at all. But I can see the swift-boating kicking again which they'll credit with changing every. single. independent. vote to Republican on election day. :grr:

[1corona4u]

55. I'm an Indy, and I don't think so....

and all of the Independents I know are voting for Obama.

[intheflow]

72. That's my point.

Every independent I know is voting for Obama, too. But this is about Republican vote stealing via electronic voting machines. Very easy to monkey with the programming to make it appear that independents made a last minute switch to McCain--just the way Kerry "lost" in '04, just the way Gore "lost" when private citizens were refused access to e-voting raw data because the companies making the voting machines said that information was proprietary.

[BrklynLiberal]

44. It boggles my mind every time I hear that it is close. I simply cannot comprehend how

80+% of this country can believe that we are headed in the wrong direction and yet there are people among that 80+% who would still be willing to vote for someone who is guaranteed to continue the same policies.

This is INSANITY!!!

[Tigress DEM]

45. It's the koolaid.

It's the lies.
Obama will raise your taxes. (A real TV ad)
Have they even LOOKED at the two tax plans side by side? How many of the brain dead voting for McSame are in the top tier tax brackets?




http://blogs.wsj.com/wealth/2008/07/02/how-the-rich-would-fare-under-obama-mccain

[PuppyBismark]

62. I will take this when I knock on doors for Obama N/T

[RNdaSilva]

49. Did you hear Michael Moore on Larry King tonight?

He doesn't think it's close...neither do I.

Work on the ill-informed. I'm convinced that I've convinced at least two of the ill-informed to vote for Obama. If all the smart people could influence at least two of the Faux types it would be a landslide. Don't give up, there are some sub-human types that will never become educated. In the end, hopefully they're in the minority.

[RNdaSilva]

50. p.s. Michael Moore is one of Obama's better surrogates.

Better than many whom are tasked to do so. He does have an audience...listeners.

[Pacifist Patriot]

51. I honestly don't get it and wouldn't believe it if I didn't run across so many people who

do think McCain hung the moon. It's nothing short of bizarre to me.

[JStatus330]

52. 04

Why was the election in 04 even close?

[zb1965]

54. Because the GOP is getting prepared to steal the votes again...

...they are capable of it. Are we gonna let them ??? HELL NO !!!

[donheld]

58. Who says it's close?

The polls do. Who owns/runs those polls? Are we being set up for "the fix?"

[marlakay]

59. This has to do with lack of education in our country

and people graduating with mostly a 6th grader smarts...and add that to right wing propaganda and the churches making everyone think they are going to hell if they vote liberal.

If you live in the country they say liberals are going to take your guns away...if you live in the city and have money, they are going to tax you to death.

we are just the big bad meanies of the country...i give the republicans one thing, they are great at spreading shit and smears about us and having them stick while blatant lies.

[amborin]

60. heard on NPR today

that the NRA will now release untold millions for campaign funds for McCain, now that he's chosen Palin

and their get out the vote will top 95%

can we dems match that?

we have to, or we...

[jeffrey_X]

61. There are a lot of people out there who don't support the right, BUT they hate the left.

because they were taught that liberals were bad. Even though it goes against their own interests.

It's a big problem.

[samuraiguppy]

63. how do you

know it is close? the polls are completely cooked. No way to really tell.

[Beartracks]

65. Because...

... they believe what they want to believe: that the slimiest, most unethical, goober of a sinful Republican is a) just being slandered by the lying liberal media, and b) ALWAYS better than any godless, commie, wuss of an elitist Democrat.

[Bobbie Jo]

66. I posted this on another thread, but fits better here:

They're playing the "base" like Pavlov's dog. Ring the bell, and they salivate on cue.

The MSM is showing you how the base performs on command and it becomes credible. The media had better follow the dog and pony show, or else accept the blame if/when McCain loses the election.

Bottom line...We're not living in an alternate reality. The majority of Americans (outside the base as described)sees right through this farce. If they can get you to question this reality, they stay in the game.

Notice one of their favorite talking points: "With the disaster of the last 8 years, why is this race even close? It should he a landslide." Heard this? Not only have you heard it, you bought it.

The polling, as always, is a reflection of party affiliated registered voters. aka...the base. It's going to show a fairly balanced distribution between parties with slight variations to indicate a lead or a loss. So up until the actual votes are cast, it's going to appear close enough to be within reach of either candidate.

Polling is NOT capturing a true picture of the electorate, and is not accounting for the massive turnout that we're going see. The ground game in this election has been fully engaged for some time. This is where elections are won or lost, and the Obama campaign is all over it.

You're not going to see reality via MSM, but look further...shows like The Daily Show, Colbert, Bill Maher, KO, etc...reflect the the views of the majority of Americans. The massive turnout in 2006 was only the first wave.

If we were playing poker, McCain is going all in with a pair of deuces. The bluff is all he has left.

Obama is calling his bluff. I suggest we follow his lead.

[TheKentuckian]

68. I agree with you in many ways but we cannot discount that they're

are a lot of stupid people.

Many of the people that in principle side with us, also don't bother to vote, many haven't a clue because they've tuned out no longer believing in the process.

I think we're up but it's outrageous that even 40% of the population could buy this nonsense.

[Bobbie Jo]

69. You might be surprised...

Many of the people who have never really bothered before are the same people who are losing their homes and find themselves unemployed after years of making a decent salary. You would be amazed at how many middle class families have the the bottom drop out of their otherwise normal lives. They're paying attention out of sheer frustration, and motivated to show up.

btw...Rupukes can always count on a least 40% party affiliation. Likely voters are another matter entirely.

[NYCdem18]

70. a

http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/index.php/site/comments/are_obama_and_mccain_virtually_tied_090508/

[Bobbie Jo]

73. Thank you!

Nice explanation.

[FrenchieCat]

71. That's how I see it.

The media is playing us. They always do....except for this time.

[Overseas]

92. I agree. Lots of the polling inteviews previously registered voters.

I think if the polling interviews the same number of Dems and Repubs, it gives a false view of the American people.

Democratic voter registrations are way way up.

The cell phone vs. land line issue is a contributing factor too.

[Egnever]

95. Wow good post!

I hope people read it

[Awsi Dooger]

74. Five basic reasons

* Open races are tight by definition, since both candidates are at least somewhat an unknown quantity
* A Democrat has difficult time managing a margin in a national race, because the country is basically 21% liberal, 32% conservative
* In a horrid climate for their side, the Republicans nominated someone who can pretend to be a moderate and is generally viewed favorably by the public
* When we narrowed it to either a black or woman atop the ticket, we reduced our potential advantage by a point, or maybe two on the outside
* The most vital swing states like Ohio, Virginia, Florida and Colorado are slightly conservative in nature, or at best dead even with the national tendency. We'll be in far better shape when states like Virginia and Colorado feel 5-10 more years of demographic shift.

[JoshDem]

77. Three reasons I can think of:

1)McCain is Repubs strongest candidate and a moderate
2)Obama lack of experience along with his race
3)Its a moderate to conservative country and we are in the minority

[SeattleGirl]

75. Because a lot of people in this country are "stoopid".

And because a lot of the smart ones only have cell phones, not land lines.

Or something like that.

[Naturyl]

76. Creed and Greed

Wedge "values" issues (abortion, etc) plus greed (taxes) = Repuke votes.

[Life Long Dem]

79. If you believe the polls.

[DailyGrind51]

80. They aren't polling those w/o land lines!

[BattyDem]

89. Hmmm ... that's actually a very good point!

:toast:

[shanti]

96. yes, and

what is the demographic of those without landlines, generally speaking, that is? you got it - the younger people.

[mtnsnake]

81. Because people who vote Republican are the biggest fools in the world, bar none

That and they don't know anything about politics, other than they were brought up to vote R. Fucking idiots.

[judasdisney]

82. Why are Democrats letting 2008 be "about Obama" or "about Palin" instead of ABOUT BUSH?

[terrya]

86. I think the message "McCain and Palin aren't about change" is supposed to address that.

And it's a good message.

McCain, as we saw from the convention, is laughably trying to portray himself as the instrument of change. As long as Obama and Biden hit hard the message, people will hopefully see through that.

[quaker bill]

83. It is not as close

as the media would have you believe. McCain was always going to get 40+ percent of the vote, perhaps even as much as 45 to 46 percent of the vote. It only appears close when Obama's numbers dip a bit. The "closeness" of the race is all statistical noise, outliers, and sampling error. We will win this election by 5 to 7 points, minimum.

[terrya]

85. Because there are some seriously stupid people in this country.

That's why.

Sheer ignorance. It's like "What's the Matter with Kansas". People clearly voting against their own economic self interest.

[BlooInBloo]

90. Americans are mean, bigoted, and stupid.

[Imagevision]

91. Close?!?! - check out the electoral vote page and you'll see Obama is ahead by 90+ electoral votes

[backscatter712]

93. People are mean and stupid.

And the mean, stupid assholes outnumber us.

Is there a country I can move to where smart, civilized people are the majority? Cuz it ain't America.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

94. Because A Plurality Or Majority Of Americans Are Fat, Dumb, And Happy

We are also poor proxies for the average Merikan...I wish I had a dollar for everybody I met or overheard who is gushing over Sarah Crockett...