A week ago, if you asked the average Democrat who was going to win this presidential election, the resounding answer was President Obama. But the latest Pew Research poll shows Mitt Romney ahead with likely voters, 49 to 45. Obviously, Governor Romney is benefiting from a bump after his superior performance at last week’s debate (even though Governor Romney made a boat load of false claims and spouted off inaccuracy after inaccuracy, not to mention he’d been saying one thing throughout the campaign and said the near opposite during the debate on numerous topics).
Personally, I think Governor Romney’s bump in the latest polls is a simple reflection of average people finally beginning to pay attention to the election. Sure, everyone’s been seeing clips of things on the evening news and people have been going to see the candidates speak for months now, but the average American has a job, a family, hobbies and other interests besides politics. The average American doesn’t watch MSNBC or FOX all day every day and doesn’t read the newspaper or the news websites that updates us on even the most mundane topics of the campaigns. The average American, the everyday Joe, the likely voters who are vaguely undecided (and who will very likely decide this election) are just now beginning to really pay attention to the election. They started last week at the debates, and if they haven’t listened to Mitt Romney before and heard all of his promises and claims for the last year or so, then what he said at the debate made perfect sense. In fact, it sounded pretty darn good.
And the Romney/Ryan campaign knows this and is taking full advantage of this—as they should. But here’s the thing: as citizens of this republic not only is it our duty to vote, it’s our duty to be informed voters. Know the issues, know the candidates.
Now, I’m not a political writer or pundit. I’m just an average person who gets really interested in politics every four years. It’s important to me. Also, I’m a proud liberal Democrat. The blood in my veins runs blue. President Obama doesn’t need to campaign for my vote; he has it just by showing up. There are Republicans out there who feel the same way about their party and candidate. And that’s great. But there are just as many undecided and independent voters out there who really do weigh the candidates equally, who consider the issues that are important to them. Or maybe they’re just not as interested in politics or as engaged as some of us are so they begin to pay attention as election day draws near, when they start to formulate their opinions based on the often desperate claims made by panicky surrogates as the poll numbers shift and tighten.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Reggie Beauchamps
Another day, another ignorant Obama cultist.
2 - Dr Dreadful
Another day, another drive-by GOP-bot.
3 - Clavos El Genio
Another day on the sniper range -- bullets flying from both directions.
4 - patty
And o agree with everything you have said here, Obama is my choice!
5 - Dr Dreadful
Typical American approach, innit, El Genio? Shoot first, think later.
It's rubbing off on me. This is disturbing. The other day I even ate beef jerky.
I need to increase my tea consumption to compensate.
6 - El Bicho
yeah, that should persuade her, Reggie.
7 - Chantal
El Bicho..... exactly. I'm totally reformed now. He sure told me!
*eye roll*
8 - Clavos El Buey
It's rubbing off on me. This is disturbing. The other day I even ate beef jerky.
OMG Doc!!
Put the jerky down slowly, keeping your hands in sight at all times...OK, now step away from the jerky -- HANDS IN SIGHT!!!
Good. Now SLOWLY reach for the bangers...
9 - Baronius
Yeah, the English never eat disgusting meat products...
10 - Dr Dreadful
Baronius, we English are very proud of our long and glorious history of consuming the most revolting meat products. (You literally do not want to know what's in our sausages, faggots, meat pies, meatballs, puddings etc.)
However, all of the above are prepared and eaten with panache, which is the very antithesis of what is embodied by the jerky stick.
11 - Clavos El Buey
I never realized panache was such an important ingredient in British cooking..:)
12 - Dr Dreadful
Yes, Clav, especially immediately prior to the start of Lent!
13 - Baronius
I once stared down an English pudding and managed to consume it. Positively Cthulhu-like.
Everyone does realize that the Lilly Ledbetter Act didn't institute equal pay for women, right? Equal pay for women had been the law for 45 years. The Lilly Ledbetter Act extended the period for lawsuits over pay discrimination, nothing more.
14 - Dr Dreadful
I've often wondered about you, Baronius, and I'm not talking about your surprisingly encyclopaedic knowledge of the Lilly Ledbetter Act!
15 - Baronius
More like wikipaedic.
I realize that I'm not going to persuade everyone that my politics are right, just like I'm not going to persuade everyone about religion. I figure though that if I can get one or two ideas across, and correct a couple of errors, then maybe the net effect of millions of people like me can steer someone to arrive at the truth. So, item one: the Lilly Ledbetter Act is being oversold by the Democrats. It didn't help women, except for those women who are lawyers, and it hurt those women who run businesses or are affected by the economy
(in other words, everyone but lawyers).
Item two: "new-home sales saw biggest jump in 47 years" is like Warren's article about growth rates. It doesn't make sense to talk about the increase or decrease without looking at the absolute value. The housing market is terrible. I'd hope that those who supported my criticism of Warren's piece will recognize that this article does the same thing.
Item three: nah. I'll leave it to someone else.
16 - Reggie Beauchamps
We have Americans dieing in the middle east while our president is talking about Big Bird on the campaign trail.
Oh yeah, he's the clear choice all right.
He's a failed empty suit with no leadership ability and an embarrassment to this nation.
17 - Glenn Contrarian
Baronius -
the Lilly Ledbetter Act is being oversold by the Democrats. It didn't help women, except for those women who are lawyers, and it hurt those women who run businesses or are affected by the economy (in other words, everyone but lawyers).
Ah. So it was much better, then, to continue the conservative Supreme Court's arbitrary decision to limit to SIX MONTHS AFTER INITIAL EMPLOYMENT the time frame in which a woman could complain about unequal pay for equal work, even though many - and perhaps most - people in the private sector do not know beyond a rough approximation what their co-workers are getting? Is that what you're saying?
It doesn't make sense to talk about the increase or decrease without looking at the absolute value. The housing market is terrible.
The housing market is no longer 'terrible', but it feels like you're comparing it to our housing market in the mid-2000's. We'll likely never again see such a run-up as we did in the mid-2000's...and we should HOPE that we don't see it again. Why? Because part of the cause of the Great Recession was the correction of the values of wildly overpriced houses (mine was foreclosed, too - it was $200K underwater). The mid-2000's housing bubble was caused by mortgages that were approved for just about all and sundry without regard for ability to pay...and I'm sure that you know this already.
So...no, the housing market is not 'terrible'. It's still not that good yet, but it's certainly getting better.
18 - Glenn Contrarian
Reggie -
On the day Obama took office, we were losing over 700K jobs per month, the economy was in free fall, and we were in two wars - AND he has faced what is quite literally the most obstructive Congress since the Civil War. Other than FDR and Lincoln and the Founding Fathers, can you name a single president who faced such a mess when he took office? In fact, the case can be made that even FDR had it better when he took over.
But I get it - you're just like my Tea Partier brother - since Obama couldn't just snap his fingers and magically make things all better within a day or two, well, THAT means he's a complete and utter failure!
19 - Baronius
Glenn - I think there's a way you can program one of the F keys on your keyboard to automatically generate "Yay Democrats! Boo Republicans! Race! [submit]".
20 - Glenn Contrarian
Baronius -
So instead of intelligently replying to what I pointed out in #17, you post a non sequitur.
Is that really the best you can do? Or do you feel your arguments are not strong enough to refute what I pointed out? Or do you just think it's unfair for me to defend something Obama has done when you and the other BC conservatives claim that he's done something bad - especially when the accusation is IMO quite wrong?
One more thing, Baronius - do you not remember the many times I pointed out that Reagan was one of our five best presidents ever? Or the several times I said that Bush 41 was a good and courageous president? In fact, I've said NOTHING bad about Bush 41 other than about Iran-Contra! And how about the several times I laid the blame for our factories going overseas at Clinton's feet? Or the times I pointed out what I think Obama's done wrong? Hell, I even wrote a letter to the editor of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (back in 2004, I think) sincerely congratulating Bush on Iraq's first free elections!
Or would that just not fit with your world view that it's flatly IMPOSSIBLE that I'm able to have a balanced viewpoint when it comes to Republicans and Democrats?
Tell you what, Baronius - since I HAVE said the above things, how about you do something that no other BC conservative has done: say what you think Obama and Clinton and Carter did that was good and right! How about showing that you really do have a balanced viewpoint!
Or will you stick to the Republican line that Democrats are never ever right, that we're nothing but bad for America, for fear that saying otherwise would that cause you to be forever rejected as a RINO, to be cast into the outer darkness where there are Obama hope-and-change bumper stickers and gay pride marches?
And while you're at it, answer the question I asked Reggie in #18....
21 - Reggie Beauchamps
Earlier today Obama campaign manager Stephanie Cutter stated that the Benghazi killings have only become a political issue because Romney and Ryan have talked about it on the campaign trail.
Is this woman trying to give Debbie Wasserman-Schultz a run for the money in the biggest fruit loop lefty of the year race?
Things are not going very well in Obamaland.
An American embassy is attacked, an ambassador and three other Americans brutally murdered and Cutter thinks the only reason people are talking about it or interested in learning more about what happened is because Mitt Romney brought it up?
22 - Glenn Contrarian
Oh, Reggie -
I notice you ignored the question in #18. And btw, did you know that it was the House Republicans who voted to cut $331 million dollars from the Obama administration's request for security for our embassies worldwide?
But hey, that's the Republican Party for you! Cut the funding for embassy security by hundreds of millions of dollars, but pretend they'll still be able to stay safe! Just like funding for schools - slice education funding to ribbons (like in Texas where forty-one percent of college-educated school teachers have to have second jobs in order to make ends meet), but expect the school teachers (even the ones with second jobs) to be able to do better jobs teaching our kids!
Reggie, here's a clue - YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR...and if you aren't willing to pay a premium price, you sure as heck aren't going to get premium service. It works that way with taxes, too.
And when are you going to answer the question in #18? Hm?
23 - El Bicho
Also an embarrassment to the nation: not knowing how to spell "dying".
24 - Clavos El Buey
Also an embarrassment to the nation: not knowing how to spell "dying".
And the "nation" should be embarrassed; he probably was taught (or not, as the case may be) in a government school; he's not the only one, there are tens of millions out there who were cheated by one or all of the governments "running" their schools.
That's what too often happens when you have to go to public school in the USA...
25 - Glenn Contrarian
Yeah, Clavos - that's why Republicans think we should slice-and-dice school funding. After all, don't our children get much better educations when their teachers have to have second jobs just to make ends meet...as is the case with 41% of all teachers in Texas?
If you want our teachers to perform as well as teachers in the best nations (educationally speaking), then it MUST start with paying them as much as they're getting paid in those other nations (relative to the economy and the cost of living). If you pay teachers a pittance, then while you'll still get a lot of teachers who love to teach no matter how little they get paid, you'll miss out on a heck of a lot of teachers who choose a different career instead just so they don't have to have a second job just to make ends meet!
You get what you pay for, Clavos - and if you pay crappy salaries, you're going to get crappy results.