As someone looking in from the outside:

i dont get you guys at all. honestly, if one was to look at this forum and read over without any prior knowledge of people's stances, one would think that those supporting hilary would just die if obama came to power and vice versa. you're so wanting your candidate to win that the stuff you guys say about the other candidate, part of your party is just so utterly horrible, one would wonder how you could ever ever vote for someone like that.

so i'm just wondering why. is this all part of your political cycle .. is that how you guys just run an entire election that if you even prefer one person a little more than the other, you present one as a God and the other as the devil but really at the end of the day, you'd be happy with either and would be willing to vote without hesitation for both against the republican party?

Not meant to be an attack. i just don't get it. i just find the negative comments you guys throw about the other candidate to be so utterly brutal.

dude for all i know, you're probably not even voting.

Whenever a Clinton is involved, this happens. Once she loses the nomination, things will be fine again.

It's the Clinton haters that have started all this really. It's one thing to dislike a candidate's policies and positions. It's another to hate someone on name alone.

I don't know if I would vote for Obama in the general election. I would have to see how he fairs against McCain in debates. I would also have to really hate McCain which so far hasn't happened. He's appears to be a nice guy. But the thought of another Republican in the White House is scary. It'll be a tough decision. If Hillary is the nominee, then it's a no brainer.

i would have to agree with you that i personally think the clinton haters really started the whole thing. its one thing to dislike ... its another thing to constantly pick it out and bash it. but i still do not understand why those supporting clinton would be engaging in that exercise too. i mean as i understand it, both of them are repsenting you, one just represents you more or you feel they are better. i sometimes get the feeling that you're all rather okay with the people. if a third person came along that was slightly unlikeable by those supporting both the candidate, the same shit will be flying on that person too.

i'm currently compiling the following chart for the way i think people stand in the heirachy

Your favorite Democratic Nominee - Angel.
Not like God cause they're not perfect but you love them and they the candidate has devine powers.

The Opponent - That uncle nobody wants to meet.
has a lot to say and has many opinions that no one else shares and couldn't care less about.

Edwards- Bread that is 3 days past its expiration date.
Its a piece of bread. its not much. and its old. nobody wants it. but when circumstances demand it, you'll still eat it.

Other Republicans - Herpes
Nobody wants them but hey, its better than cancer.

Osama - Cancer

I'm still a Republican. I'd be voting for McCain if any other Democratic nominee in my living memory is running against him.

Arsi, justy people on this board. About 70% of people interviewed said they are fine with each. But the number has been slipping. Like any protracted battle, emotions become more intense along the way. Its also been a bit rougher of an election cycle because of identity politics.

Also, because the two candidates have such different personalities. They have pretty similar voting positions, so this has become a fight about the Messiah vs. the Bitch, with people picking sides. It was bound to get ugly in a way that if people were voting on, well, voting records, it wouldn't have been. The candidates, in order to distinguish themselves from each other, have had to refine and play up character/personality, and as a tactic, that is always going to manifest in the public in a very different way.

Much of the wound can be healed if the loser supports the winner in a heartfelt manner.

Dude, there goes your right to marry and my right to choose what I do with my own uterus. That 4,000 will hit 10,000 over in Iraq for sure.

Don't fall for the Obama's cult followers discourse. That's sinking to their level. Both Dems are better than McCain by far.

I'm an independent.

Some Hillary supporters hate Obama because they see Hillary as their only hope to get in the wayback machine and go back to the 90s. Some Obama supporters hate Hillary because she's got the party in a headlock and is threatening to shoot it in the head if the voters come any closer.

Yeah, I agree with that too actually. I think most people aren't as animated about their feelings as forumers chatting about it here. And in the end, when the dems and reps start running general election campaigns, people are going to fall into ideological lines pretty quickly. Either you want to hang out in Iraq for, like, decades, and you are anti-choice, or you are not. McCain is different enough in domestic and foreign policy that we won't be dealing with the same king of campaigning about 'character.' Its going to go back to the issues as a highlighting of differences, and people are going to vote on that.

And lets be honest, none of it matters. The media picks someone they like, and that person ends up winning. End of story.

I'm not so sure. If that were the case, George Clooney would be president.

I'd probably really like Clooney as president, actually.



BTW, that's BS. I didn't like the 90's, and I think Hillary is far more liberal and far more responsible than what we had then. I'm voting for her (I know this might sound shocking to some) because I like the work she's done as a senator and I think she has many good positions on the issues.

I like how you made the pro-Hillary arguement actually a pro-Obama one (Hillary supporters are stuck in time, dated, and overcome by a detrimental nostalgia), and the pro-Obama arguement pro-Obama (Hillary is ruining the party). You should work media spin for him.

And there you go Arsi; witness exhibit 'A'. Those kind of statements, right there, are exactly why this race is so polarized!

Oh I'm sure your motives are fine. But you have to admit some Clinton supporters could be bought off if Obama promised another season of Friends.

Seriously though - I don't know why people would think a Hillary administration would be much different from Bill's when they always touted themselves as a 2 for 1 team.

That is the root of my respect for you in particular, because this is the first time in weeks I have heard an independent judgment from a Clinton supporter. The ones I meet tend to fall into two categories: militant feminists, particularly boomer-age ones; and ones that only echo campaign talking points, such as the charge that Obama doesn't have any plans.

Most people are not aware of Hillary Clinton's successful senate experience, as well as her record of working well with Republicans in New York. She is just as popular in Republican upstate areas as in the City. I am surprised that she has not spoken more about her Senate record, especially in light of the misrepresentation of her First Lady years.

But those are mostly Republicans. (And that's another reason why she shouldn't be the nominee, because they are going to be relentless against her)

For the first year of the campaign, there was no real bad blood between Obama and Clinton. Obama said nothing bad about Clinton for all of 2007. Seriously, try to find anything.

It wasn't until he started doing really well in the polls and the money raising that the Clintons started attacking him, and he responded. And it's her attitude that has angered many.

My wife, for instance, has gone from a "I like Hillary, but I think Obama would be better" person to a "I can't stand Hillary's lies and the way she and her campaign attack Obama and act like they are ordained" attitude.

Seriously, I've been following politics all my life and even have a political science degree. I don't follow anyone blindly, and I am no idealist who thinks politicians are perfect. But Hillary has gone from someone I could support wholeheartedly to someone who I would vote for only because the republican would be far worse.

and so it begins

It's just a little thing we call politics - - Bush bashed McCain real good in the 2000 primaries, and now look how nice they've gone and kissed and made up...

The gender and race issues have upted the ante, too.

I doubt we'd be seeing as much of a heated race if it were between two white men.

Agreed completely. She's been the most manipulative candidate in this election by far. Obama and McCain have surprisingly clean records in terms of playing lying and deception.

On top of that, Hilary seems like the type of person who would pick her cabinet/advisors based on loyalty instead of qualifications. That worries me.

I mean, I think she'd still do a good job. She has good intentions and is intelligent, so she wouldn't make a bad president. I just won't be voting for her now that McCain has the ticket clinched. On a side note, if Obama gets the dem ticket, I don't know who I'll be voting for, and probably won't know until real late in the election season.

You say that like it's a bad thing!

Honestly, this is the kind of thinking that put Bush in office and then kept him there.

I know you know that.

Bush is still in office because Kerry was a mess of a candidate, if someone like Obama had ran then, he'd be sitting on his ranch in Texas doing god knows what.