The Candidates

http://www.2008votersguide.org/

Is a great site if you're interested in finding out just who exactly are the people behind the faces you see plastered in 20,000,000 signs across the county. I've always admired the Center for Civic Engagement for their work in the community. I think their efforts could be aided just a little bit more by students. But let's turn our focus towards the Presidential candidates.

For now, I'll give only minute analysis. Once the races are final, I will go more in depth.
And for the record, while I may be a Democrat, my family and I have always voted on issues, never on party.

From the Democrats:

Sen. Hillary Clinton: A woman who's had her turn already. She's a good candidate, but she cannot win. Despite having the same stance as her opponent, she's lost it. She's turning to attacking Sen. Obama on non-issues because really, she's got nothing on him anymore. I have nothing against her, personally. If she gets the nomination, I will campaign for her. She may not be the best out of the two Democrats, but she's not a republican.

Sen. Barack Obama - Barack is relatively young, but as Sen. John Kerry pointed out in his visit to campus yesterday, a number of great figures, including MLK and Thomas Jefferson were young when they made it big. Until recently, I was not a fan of Obama. I was a diehard Bill Richardson fan, then made a jump to McCain (who seemed lucid and who was not HIlary Clinton), and from there, made a final jump to Obama. Despite some of the things that have been said about him, I think he is the proper candidate for the job.

From the Republicans:

Sen. John McCain - In 2000, "Maverick" McCain acted on his conscience and was very bipartisan, opposed the Republicans in a lot of things, HELPED PEOPLE was essentially, "the man". He would have utterly crushed Al Gore. But Karl Rove kickstarted a rumor that cost him the nomination and doomed our country for 8 years. Instead of abandoning the party, McCain became the Bush administration's lapdog. Since then, while he has flashes of being his own man, he has betrayed his own principles.

Gov. Mike Huckabee - Governor Mike Huckabee wants to put God in the constitution and erase the line of Church and State. Nothing else needs to be said.

Congressman Ron Paul - Ron Paul is an ideal libertarian, but at the same time, a lot of his believes are way off the map. Restoring the gold standard, criminalizing 12,000,000 immigrants-no amnesty at all-, abolishing the Secretary of Education, pulling out of the United Nations, getting rid of the CIA, privatizing public parks (so if someone waned to put a brothel in Dean Porter park, they could do it). It's all nonsese. Plenty of people out there are supporting Ron Paul as a type of "hero" of the constitution, but he's not. He has some fresh ideas, granted, but the sheer...stupidity of others, like abolishing the SoE, makes the good ideas blink out of existence. He's had a lot of popular support through the internet and grassroots efforts, but few seem to be really materializing.

There's a joke that goes,

Ron Paul was praying one night, and the Lord finally answers. "Yes, my son?"
Ron Paul asks, "Lord, will there ever be a woman president?"
The Lord replies, "not on your lifetime".
Paul then asks, "Lord, will ther ever be peace on the middle east?"
The Lord replies, "Not on your grandchildren's lifetime."
Then finally, Paul asks, "Lord, will I ever become president?"
The Lord replies, "Not on my lifetime."