Across the Pond Politics

[Guest poppins]

We live in Connecticut, lovely place, been here almost 40 years, it's very much like England, fact it's called NEW england, very green.

 

Voting day today ! going to be a long night i think,maybe a long week ? hope not, Bush has to get back to work, Kerrys areal scare, but Edwards more so, (his running mate) it's because of him we have no flu vacs, he spent years sueing the drug companies for these sue happy people over here in his lawyer practice among other things.

 

got my fingers crossed

Poppins

[Snook 10]

Well, we'll find out soon enough.

 

Gonna be a close one, not sure what difference it will make to us, as even the Democrats seem to be further to the right then tories on some issues.

 

Anyone else notice the similarities between Kerry and Kennedy? Democrats with the initials JFK, from Connecticut, both Catholic... I wonder if Kerry will be travelling in Texas if he gets in?

 

Personally, i'd vote for Nader as he seems to be the only one that cares about his country and not money.

[nomme 10]

For anyone who's interested in the US elections, the CNN website has a

Tally Room where you can watch the results come in.

 

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/pages/results/president/

[royjames 10]

Well lets all keep our fingers crossed that the right man wins and you all know who that is dont you??

Looks like the state of ohiho will be pivitol and seems like iowa will also be very interesting,either way we will soon see.

VOTE BUSH.

[Snook 10]

Originally posted by royjames

VOTE BUSH.

 

And they did!

 

You have to hand it to the guy, he has a fantastic team behind him, and it wasn't exactly a massive surprise was it?

[JoeP 11]

Originally posted by poppins

Yes Roy

They do come accross as big headed and pompous too, like a lot, some spoil it for others, i'm english myself, i meet a lot of english people in this part of the states, in 40 years i'v never met an english person here i like, they seem different from at home, they don't seem interested in mingeling with there own country men here, especially me with my yorkshire accent ! i can still sence the snobbishness from them, makes me laugh now thought, but it's always nice to get home and hang around with (real) english people.

 

I spent a little time in Alaska some years ago and it was superb! I was treated very well by the locals, who were quite surprised to see a lone Brit off the tourist trail and made sure I was well fed and watered wherever I showed up!

 

Joe

[evildrneil 14]

Originally posted by Snook

And they did!

 

You have to hand it to the guy, he has a fantastic team behind him, and it wasn't exactly a massive surprise was it?

 

They say you get the government you deserve - the thing that now worries me is what god-awfull things must the Americans have done to deserve that - not for one term but for two!!!!

[Snook 10]

Originally posted by evildrneil

They say you get the government you deserve - the thing that now worries me is what god-awfull things must the Americans have done to deserve that - not for one term but for two!!!!

 

Awww, bless them. I love Americans, but they seem to be a little on the naive side. I'm not sure they really understand democracy by the comments they were making on TV last night. Things along the lines of... 'I think Bush has done a bad job with the economy, but I’m voting for him because there is a war on'... seemed to be the average thinking.

 

It is a genius system, one used in '1984' if I remember correctly, of telling everyone you are in a state of permanent war, then telling them that only a fool would change leaders in a time of war. Why change horsemen mid apocalypse, eh?

[evildrneil 14]

Originally posted by Snook

It is a genius system, one used in '1984' if I remember correctly, of telling everyone you are in a state of permanent war, then telling them that only a fool would change leaders in a time of war. Why change horsemen mid apocalypse, eh?

 

And the world ends not so much with a bang as a DOH!!!!

[chill 10]

I feel genuinly sad for the US this morning. I truly believe they've just done themselves incalculable harm. I don't really mean in terms of terrorism and foreign policy, Bush has dropped the ball on that already, and I think it naive to think Kerry could have begun to repair the damage done by the neo-cons. But if the first term was the time of the neo-cons, I think the second will be the time of the Fundamentalist Right.

Let's make no mistake about this, Bush is a born-again, evangelical Christian. He has <i>faith</i> and he uses that faith to guide him in the decision making process. Actions based on faith rather than logic are bound to fail at some point. And what is particularly disturbing for the deomcrats is that the electoral support for Bush is based on faith too, and faith is something you simply cannot counter with facts and logic.

To see in some way what I mean by this, take this quote from another website I saw this morning...

I dropped by my workplace for a moment on a quick latenight errand. We have a TV. It was tuned to CNN and the bulk of the room was in an understandable funk. Except a custodian, who was pumping her fist in the air celebrating the Bush victory. I was astounded (she's a good person and I had asumed we shared many common values) and asked her why. The first thing out of her mouth was: "Kerry supports gay marriage!" I said: "Um, that's not really true. He's stated flatly that he's against gay marriages. He supports civil unions and considers it more a matter for the state. Pretty much the position Bush took originally." I was informed that I was wrong and when I offered to bring it up in Google, she abandoned that complaint and launched into: "You think Kerry can protect us from terrorists? I don't want them damn Iraqians (*cringe*) knocking down any more towers!" She imagined she dealt me a rhetorical death-blow, since I stared blankly at her for a few seconds too long. "I finally told her that NONE of the hijackers were "Iraqian" -- that they were mostly Saudis, a few from the UAE, one was Lebonese and one was Egyptian." He snorted a few more things and it slowly, chillingly dawned on me: she was not merely blurring the line between Saddam Hussein and Osama Bin-Laden -- to her they WERE ONE AND THE SAME.

If I was a US citizen, I would feel nothing but despair right now.

[wibbles 10]

Originally posted by poppins

Seems to me that over half the people in the UK hate americans, the rest just pretend to like them, but you do have a choice, you can always go to another counrty to spend your dole money.

I'd say you're underestimating the feelings of contempt towards Americans, not only by Middle Eastern countries but Western European ones too.

As a country America is a laughing stock and personally I'd be embarrased to be abroad as an American. Its hard enough being British abroad and being associated with everything stateside.

 

How can you be proud to come from a country that basically bullies the world to get its own way with total disregard for the consequences. Rule Brittania !!!

[wibbles 10]

Originally posted by max

Can you tell me what this is, please?

 

Did you read that article by the nobel prize winning economist telling us what a mess Bush has made of the ecoomy (see my previous post)? Any comments?

 

Ignorance is bliss!!!!!!