"I'm only voting for Romney because he's not Obama."

[Question Mark]

Does anyone else hear this a lot?  The majority of my family is diehard conservative, but even they don't like Mitt Romney.  They're still going to vote for him though... because he's not Obama.  This seems to be a common sentiment amongst conservatives, in my experience anyway.

I think it's fucking stupid.  They buy into all of the Fox News slander, and instead if voting for who they think can do the best job, they vote against who they're afraid of.

I guess that's the topic: do any conservatives you know like Romney (and I mean genuinely think he's great), or is he just the best they could get to replace Obama?

[Callie Del Noire]

There are a LOT of people I know who are doing it.. because they feel that the President is weak in various ways.  I won't lie.. for a constitutional scholar his actions on the side of freedoms and rights and due process scare the fuck out of me.. but as evil as those actions are I think Romney is going to screw things out.

[OldSchoolGamer]

A vote for Romney or Obama is a vote for the Forbes 400 and Bilderberg agenda: more power to corporations and the state (same thing these days anyway), continued skimming of wealth from the working class into the pockets of the elite, etc.

[ReijiTabibito]

A vote for Obama or Romney is a vote for a man with an unfunny name.  This November, vote for the man with the name everyone can laugh at.

Vote Rick Santorum! 

[Bloodied Porcelain]

I'm on my phone so I will keep this brief and apologize in advance for typos. It really bothers me when people say that... And I hear it ALL the time. Anyone who votes Romney is either ignorant to the issues and his stance one them (not to mention his history of selling out to whoever he can make money off of), deluded, or knows his habits and is just twisted in the worst way mentally.

I dont agree with Obama on everything but I think ultimately he means well but is largely trapped by a corrupt system and forced to work within it, sometimes to little or no avail. All in all, I think when you look at his term he is like the parent who loaned his high schooler the car and they wrecked it, but he doesnt have the money to fix it all at once... He's doing the best he can with what he has.

Romney and Ryan on the other hand... Well, they're just two more highschool boys with beer in their bellies.

[Callie Del Noire]

A vote for Romney or Obama is a vote for the Forbes 400 and Bilderberg agenda: more power to corporations and the state (same thing these days anyway), continued skimming of wealth from the working class into the pockets of the elite, etc.

Okay Oldschool.. I got to ask.. if you're so certain that the process is useless why do you even bother?

[LadyAVA]

Im so un-American in comparrison to my students (I teach HS seniors) - they ask me about who Im going to vote for and how I feel about Obama and Romney. Hehe they know so much more than me - its just sad!

[Oniya]

Im so un-American in comparrison to my students (I teach HS seniors) - they ask me about who Im going to vote for and how I feel about Obama and Romney. Hehe they know so much more than me - its just sad!

Skim a couple of threads in here - if nothing else, you'll be able to drop conversation starters on 'em.  (Some people get most of their political news from a comedy channel.  I get a good 25% of mine on an ERP forum.)

[Teo Torriatte]

What a coincidence. I'm gonna vote for Obama because he's not Romney.

No, really. I admit it, I fell for the whole "hope and change" thing last time and voted for Obama. It hasn't worked out so well, and I might have considered voting Republican(which I almost never do btw) if someone halfway decent had won the primary. Buuut... that was doomed not to happen almost from the beginning, with the class of clowns who ended up running, each one trying to out right-wingnut the next one.

[Hemingway]

A vote for Romney or Obama is a vote for the Forbes 400 and Bilderberg agenda: more power to corporations and the state (same thing these days anyway), continued skimming of wealth from the working class into the pockets of the elite, etc.

That's what it looks like to me as well, from the outside.

[Teo Torriatte]

And while that may indeed be true... a vote for anyone besides Romney or Obama is just a wasted vote.

So I choose to be realistic and at least go for the lesser of two evils.

[Question Mark]

And while that may indeed be true... a vote for anyone besides Romney or Obama is just a wasted vote.

So I choose to be realistic and at least go for the lesser of two evils.

I'm done voting for the lesser evil.  I'm voting for who I actually want in the Oval Office.  Gary Johnson 2012!

[errantwandering]

I'm in the same boat.  Obama has done absolutely terrible things to individual liberty.  His foreign policy is even more bloodthirsty and counterproductive than Bush's ever was, and his economic policies are a joke.  That said, Romney will be just as bad as Obama ever was, and he'll do his best to roll back the progress that the homosexual community has made over the past decade.  I'm voting for Gary Johnson this year: he's as close to a perfect candidate for me as I'm likely to see.

[Valerian]

From a thread down the way, "How close will this election be?":

Just wanted to also mention that Gary Johnson has something like 4.3% according to some polls.  Whoever gets elected will likely get under 50% of the vote no matter what.

You're talking popular vote there.  Unless Gary Johnson can get enough to carry one state (unless his base is in one of those states that can split their electoral vote), those 4.3% will only show up on the local news.

From what I've read of Gary Johnson, he certainly wouldn't be a lesser evil, no.  <.<

On the other hand, I'm reasonably okay with people wasting their votes in that direction, since I'm guessing a good proportion of those people would otherwise vote for Romney.

[Question Mark]

From a thread down the way, "How close will this election be?":

From what I've read of Gary Johnson, he certainly wouldn't be a lesser evil, no.  <.<

On the other hand, I'm reasonably okay with people wasting their votes in that direction, since I'm guessing a good proportion of those people would otherwise vote for Romney.

Now I'm curious: why do you think he'd be greater evil?

[Valerian]

Well, he isn't quite as scary as Romney, but I still wouldn't be comfortable voting for him.  I agree with some of his positions (he supports gay unions and is pro-choice), but other ideas of his frighten me.  He's all for FairTax, for example.  He also wants to abolish student loans, eliminate corporate taxes, and remove all federal funding of stem cell research.  Admittedly, I'm a little biased on that last one, as stem cells saved my niece's life, but the mere fact that they are saving lives seems to me to mean that federal funding there can only be a good thing.

He's also been described as "the original Tea Party candidate".  So, yeah, scary as far as I'm concerned.

[Teo Torriatte]

At least we know where he stands on things.

I think the most scary thing about Romney, is that no one really has any way to know what he would do if he is elected, because he has been all over the place and changes positions at the drop of a hat.

[Oniya]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_positions_of_Gary_Johnson

I just took a quick look at his positions, and the first thing that stands out is his desire to shift Medicare/aid to individual state control.  Like that's going to lower corruption? 

What I've read of the so-called 'Fair Tax' (23% sales tax?  'Annual Consumption Allowance'? ) leaves me feeling ill.  The President's Advisory Panel for Federal Tax Reform cited the 'prebate' (a deposit intended to offset the tax based on family size alone) as one of their chief concerns when analyzing their national sales tax, stating that it would be the largest entitlement program in American history, and contending that it would "make most American families dependent on monthly checks from the federal government" (source). 

He opposes the Affordable Care Act, and thinks that it and Roe v. Wade should be overturned.

He opposes Net neutrality, saying that it impedes business competition. 

Yeah, I've read enough to keep my vote where it is.

[mia h]

Fair Tax it's one of those things like Healthy Plauge and Military Intellegence, but if it means the rich get to pay even less tax so it must be good right?

As for I'm only voting for <insert name> because they're not <insert other name>, it always happens regardless of who the candidate is. If the GOP and DNC swapped platforms and campaign promises today the die-hards will still vote for thier party regardless, people are dumb like that.

[Valerian]

Hrm.  Do we know where he stands, though?  The list Oniya found says he's both pro-choice and against Roe v. Wade... which is odd.  The list I found (http://www.ontheissues.org/gary_johnson.htm) states only that he supports "women's right to choose until fetal viability," and thinks we should "leave the decision up to the woman."

I'm not normally against states' rights, but what he's suggesting seems impractical at best.  If a woman happens to live in a part of the country where all the states have chosen to ban abortion individually, then she doesn't get to decide anything unless she can afford to get someplace where it's still legal.

[Callie Del Noire]

I'm liking some of what I see....till I see the cutting. Er..gutting of defense, total elimination of corporate taxes and instituting the Fair Tax.  Which ain't.

[OldSchoolGamer]

And while that may indeed be true... a vote for anyone besides Romney or Obama is just a wasted vote.

So I choose to be realistic and at least go for the lesser of two evils.

Why go for the lesser of the two evils?

[OldSchoolGamer]

I'm in the same boat.  Obama has done absolutely terrible things to individual liberty.  His foreign policy is even more bloodthirsty and counterproductive than Bush's ever was, and his economic policies are a joke.  That said, Romney will be just as bad as Obama ever was, and he'll do his best to roll back the progress that the homosexual community has made over the past decade.  I'm voting for Gary Johnson this year: he's as close to a perfect candidate for me as I'm likely to see.

The closest the Forbes 400 would ever allow Gary Johnson to get to the White House would be the bottom of a rock quarry somewhere in eastern Virginia.

Fortunately for Gary, the Forbes 400 own the media so they can just order no one to talk about him, thereby ensuring he never gets the name recognition or pr necessary to be a serious contender.

[OldSchoolGamer]

Okay Oldschool.. I got to ask.. if you're so certain that the process is useless why do you even bother?

I don't.  I'm in the process of moving my financial life offshore so that when this place falls apart and the goose-step becomes mandatory, I'll be somewhere far-off that no one cares about.

[OldSchoolGamer]

Well, he isn't quite as scary as Romney, but I still wouldn't be comfortable voting for him.  I agree with some of his positions (he supports gay unions and is pro-choice), but other ideas of his frighten me.  He's all for FairTax, for example.  He also wants to abolish student loans, eliminate corporate taxes, and remove all federal funding of stem cell research.  Admittedly, I'm a little biased on that last one, as stem cells saved my niece's life, but the mere fact that they are saving lives seems to me to mean that federal funding there can only be a good thing.

He's also been described as "the original Tea Party candidate".  So, yeah, scary as far as I'm concerned.

Let's face it: many Libertarians these days are just corporatists who want to be able to legally smoke weed.

Notice I said "many," not "all."