US friends, tell us...

First of all, I want to say that this is not an inquisitive topic : I'm not asking you who is going to win or for wich one you are going to vote (even if you can talk about your idea of the winner and tell us why).
I'd just like to know how the election is lived IN the US by the Americans. I can tell you that here, in France, we talk about it everywhere and everytime : press, radio, TV, internet... It seems we are going to vote too !!

Choochoohothub wrote:

here, in France, we talk about it everywhere and everytime : press, radio, TV, internet... It seems we are going to vote too !!

Choochoo,

The election is everywhere here, also. One thing that we get here that you do not is TV advertising. National candidates (Obama & McCain) buy commercial time on local TV stations. I'm sure some states get more ads than others. I live in Wisconsin (north of Obama's home state of Illinois), and we see many Obama ads here (he has more campaign money to spend) and some McCain ads. Also, candidates for other offices (Congress and state legislature) show advertising on TV. I'm sure all the businessmen who are trying to sell us cars, Big Macs and Cokes are looking forward to getting back their advertising spaces on Wednesday!

My house also receives automated phone calls from candidates and from political parties, two or three per day lately. It is a little annoying, but all we do is hang up and it's finished. Parties and candidates also send advertising in the mail - yesterday we received three of them. Altogether in the last month, probably 15 or 20. It's kind of funny to think of how much money they're spending trying to convince people, when so many of us have our minds made up already!

Here in Spain they were talking about a movie called "Nailing Paylin" or something like that.... did you hear about it?

Also, yesterday some comediant from France called Sarah Palin pretending he was Nicolas Sarcozy, and had some interesting conversation.


Seems like Palin is getting a name in the US.

When there are big elections happening in other parts of the world, there is much ado about them here in the US too.
But being in the US you are smothered with TV ads, phone calls, mail, internet ads, billboards, everything! Most people I know are sick & tired of it and just want the election to be over.
Keep in mind, we are not just voting for the President. We have other elected officials running for offices so the ads are not just for President, but Govenors, Senators, Mayors, Representatives, and on and on and on.
Unfortunately the media does a great job of pointing out the flaws in candidates when they should be telling the public the most important thing is to just vote! At least we have the opportunity and we shouldn't take that for granted.
I refuse to discuss politics with anyone who hasn't voted in the last election. And as a general rule, I refuse to discuss politics!!
Politics is a lot like religion, everyone thinks they are right and everyone else's beliefs are wrong. There is no middle ground, and no room to even listen. It drives me nuts!
Who started this thread?? Someone pull the soapbox out from under me!!!!

And yes, Sarah Palin is getting a name here in the U.S. Did the comedian from France call all the presidential candidates, or just Palin? I thought our country had evolved from the last time we had a female vice-presidential candidate. This election has proven me wrong. Many people are going to say, "She made her bed!! She's a stupid so-and-so..." I'm not saying I think she would be a good VP. A prank phone call is a dumb junior high joke, and it's being turned against Palin. Who's the real idiot?

Wait! I forgot. I don't discuss politics.

La-la-la-la-la-la.....

And on Tuesday, the voting polls will be open. Media will be covering the voting process like white on rice. There will be lots of speculation as to who is in the lead, and who is going to have the most electoral college votes, long before the actual voting polls close. I really hope that this early discussion of who's winning will not hinder people from voting.

I'm probably going to be standing in line for a while waiting for my chance to vote. My hubby was smart and voted early via absentee ballot. Then, the tv will be on and I'll be chomping at the bit until the results are tallied. No matter what the outcome of the presidential election this year, the reaction of the general public will be watched closely.

Personally, I'll be glad when Tuesday has come and gone. I'm tired of the unsolicited phone calls, the mailbox full of junk mail, and the overwhelming dumbed down political ads on television. It almost makes me yearn for the days of the presidential elections when John Q. Public relied on stump speeches and newspaper coverage. Simpler times.

The US election is big news here in Australia.. probably bigger than our own elections I see these big massive rallies that happen in America, that just doesn't happen here.. I don't think anyone can be stuffed going to them I think the President of America is a really big thing to his people, as in people really are emotionally invested into him.. or at least it looks that way from an outsiders point of view.. in Australia we don't really care about our Prime Minister.. I mean we care who we get, but that's about it... Anyway, weird thing is I had someone ring me up asking if I could answer some questions for a survey they were conducting on the US elections.. which I thought was strange.. as in they asked me who I would vote for and blah blah.. who gives a crap who I would vote for?! I'm not voting in the US elections anyway!


Kid.

I voted for a write-in: Bill Murray

I'm 110% serious!

OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA.

There really is no other way to go.

-T

Never heard of him

Maybe in the next election after one or two terms, there'll be a candidate from Florida named Jeb Bush. Seriously, would you put a third one in office? Please do the world a favour will ya??

René-sick-of-the-election-a-pony

Am I infringing on Rickabilly's copyright??

I've said it before...

Hey everybody,

I really don't mean to be a threadkill, but I strongly suggest we drop this one. It started up over on Gretschpages, and things got really ugly, really fast. It started off with "Is Palin hot or not?", and a few weeks and 15 pages of posts later, people were taking their ball and going home.

It's not worth it. You can say,"If they don't want to talk politics, they can stay away from this thread." But people can't seem to stay away, and they can't keep themselves from replying, and all of a sudden they're bailing out on a board (that's supposed to be about Brian Setzer) because so-and-so doesn't agree with who should be President.

The election IS important. It SHOULD be talked about. Maybe just not here...

Hoping we're all still here on Nov.5,
Bear85

This place is an escape for me. Could you all please let this thread....unravel? It started out being about politics, without being about the candidates. But it's slipping right into what the rest of the world is doing.

Can't this place be different? Please?

OK - what election?

Thanks, Kitty - I needed that!

Fair enough. Soooo, what religion do you all follow???

i cant wait for these stupid (yeah they're still important) elections to be done with. oh, and im a student so i havent been recieving random calls or mail. boo-ya. haha

pony65k wrote:

Fair enough. Soooo, what religion do you all follow???

Gretschism!

My vote go to Budgie.

mjcodina wrote:

i cant wait for these stupid (yeah they're still important) elections to be done with. oh, and im a student so i havent been recieving random calls or mail. boo-ya. haha

Pssssh - Lucky! We get everything double, since our last name sounds hispanic, so we get it in spanish and english. My husbands hawaiian born fillipino - Toledo is the last name. It's really funny when I go somewhere and they call my name, cuz they're not expecting a red-headed white girl to get up. Most of the time they say "oh - Toledo?" like I dont know my own name or something.

I just saw on cnn that Obama's grandmother died of cancer.

Most people here on Germany I know prefer Obama, so do I.
I'm not sure if the polls say the truth, but I am not sure if it will be as clear as many people in Germany suppose.
Anyway, I'm buying caffeine energy drinks tomorrow to stay up and watch election NIGHT^^


Greets from Munich
Chris

I really am not too political,, So I really cannot believe ANYTHING that the two candidates are saying that will change. I looked at the Family values.. Once I saw Obama in aMuslim Costume. That was allI needed to see. There are TOO Many connections bewteen this Obama guy and what we are against as a Nation!

Even his name sounds bad... I may be stupid to some of you here. but Look at the families and make your choice. Because everything else is probably a lie.

I think a lot of people forgot what happened in New York in 2001 I worked there I was a lucky one NOT to be there at the eaxct moment. My 2 cents and No More..

GOD Bless Us all GOD Bless America!

Please don't believe or perpetuate the vicious lies that have been spread about either candidate. Let's vote on the issues and not slander.

All of the lies about Obama have been debunked over and over again, for anyone interested in the truth. I wasn't going to chime in on this, but I can't stand the spreading of smears when we should be voting on the issues.

Over and out...

[/quote]Pssssh - Lucky! We get everything double, since our last name sounds hispanic, so we get it in spanish and english. My husbands hawaiian born fillipino - Toledo is the last name. It's really funny when I go somewhere and they call my name, cuz they're not expecting a red-headed white girl to get up. Most of the time they say "oh - Toledo?" like I dont know my own name or something. [/quote]

yeah thats what happens with my mom too. shes also white and red-headed with a hispanic name. and then i come out looking hispanic but not speaking a word until i moved down to texas for 2 years and learned it there. imagine all these mexicans on the border speaking to me as if i know a lick of what theyre saying.

My biggest frustration as an American who is very interested in politics is that our media boils everything down into 30 sec sound bites. There is very little substantive political discourse so it becomes a popularity contest. And unfortunately, we Americans are often swayed by appearance more than substance.

So... It seems it's for B. Obama.
Good luck America and thanks to all the friends for their participation to the topic.

I really hope Obama turns things around. Without a healthy US economy, the rest of the democratic world suffers. Good luck.

René-a-pony