20/20: You're Too Young And Too Dumb To Vote
By Cernig Friday Oct 10, 2008 4:30am
The Show: ABC's 20/20 Friday 10th October. The message: young people are too dumb to vote and should stay home instead. That's the thrust of a segment by John Stossel, self-proclaimed "libertarian" and regular contributor to the hard-right's fanzine, Commentary.
Watch it here.
The folks at Future Majority are understandably ticked, calling the segment an attack on the very idea of American democracy.
There is a lot that is wrong with this piece. Yes, there are many uninformed voters, but that category is not limited to young people, who are unfortunately the main target of this piece. Anyone who has ever watched Jay Leno could tell you that many Americans are uninformed about current events. Unfortunately, some see that as an excuse to rob people of their constitutional rights, and Stossel and ABC are happy to play along.
But all is not as it appears in this report. In talking with HeadCount, the group featured in the piece, it's clear that Stossel and 20/20 were not interested in giving the young people they interviewed a fair shake. They had a narrative to their story and stuck by it - facts be damned. More than that, they worked -um, creatively - to make sure their point of view dominated the piece.
According to Head Count, Stossel's team cherry-picked responses for their piece, giving the impression that respondents were far less knowledgeable than they were. "Far more ... were knowledgeable than implied by the report" and:
Many interviewees were knowledgeable about some issues, but less so when it came to other issues. The young voter responses included in the report were cherry-picked by Stossel and ABC producers to highlight only the incorrect answers.
Indeed, the show's one producer got into an argument with one young voter when the producer tried to say that the length of single term for a congressional representative was four years. The "young and dumb" voter had the correct answer of two years.
Stossel, in the segment, also interviews a fellow "libertarian", Bryan Caplan, who courted sensationalist fame with his book "The Myth of The Rational Voter". HeadCount also say that Stossel misrepresented their own work, not showing the educational work they do alongisde their voter registration drives. But then again, he's no stranger to creative editing to make people apparently support his own narrative.
Michael Connery at Future Majority is right when he says that voters may not always be able to identify Joe Biden or Ted Stevens on sight - but they do know their own lives: the ups and downs of medical costs, travel costs, food costs, their own sense of morality. That's all you need to be a participant in democracy.
Democracy is for all of us, not just a select few. As a nation, we eliminated the idea of literacy tests decades ago, and rightly so. Kudos to HeadCount for pushing back on this argument to the extent that was possible within the piece, and shame on Stossel and ABC for enabling it. Young voters have faced a hostile media for decades, always pining about youth apathy. Now, on the cusp of a record breaking turnout, for a major media outlet to question the validity of those votes on such flimsy grounds, in opposition our constitutional rights, is the height of irresponsibility. Dare I say it, it's unamerican.
If you would like to express your displeasure about this piece to ABC, send a polite but firm email to the producer, Andrew Sullivan, outlining your concerns: Andrew.G.Sullivan [at] abc [dot] com
It's probably significant that the party John Stossel is most likely to support (given his prolific Commentary output) has the least support among young voters. Encouraging young voters to stay home, because they're allegedly too dumb to vote, is tantamount to a booster for the GOP. ABC should be held to task for such a shameless piece of partisan "reporting".
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The kids will vote their own interests, just like the rest of us. With friends who may be dying on foreign shores, and idealism that may serve to elect Obama.
Unfortunately, I think boosh's social security "reform" was popular with them, since retirement was so far away, and they saw SS as a bank account that they should personally dip into, to play the stock market.
)O(
Stossel is a punk. How he stays on the air is beyond me.
Stossel stays on the air for the same reason Glenn Beck stays on the air. He serves the interests of his corporate masters well.
They are not going to give up their Bush tax cuts without a fight.
...or an arm, or their lives in hellholes selected for them by Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and their neocon daddies.
Stossel, I'm betting, has no problem with that.
The good news is that the young voters Stossel is saying should stay home have far better things to do with their life than watch 20/20, let alone take action cues from the show.
20/20? Isn't that that show with all those really old people on it? And isn't it going to be broadcast on a Friday night? I have a feeling most of the young people targeted in this story will never see it.
I am one of those "really old people" and haven't watched 20/20 for years. Can't tolerate Stossel and the conservative program he promotes. I also have better things to do than watch 20/20. God Bless our young people.
Really old people? I think that is 60 Minutes.
20/20 is just a Stossel Fun Hour.
That was my first impression.... Friday night.... young people are on dates and at the movies not at home watching teh TV.
And if they do happen to see it... it would tick 'em off and make sure they vote...
So sad. I used to like John Stossel. I wonder what happened to him?
It is an old Republican trick to make people to stay at home. How many of the "uninformed" vote for Republicans? Quite a bit. If a person is happy working for a union, then they should never vote for a Republican, but they do because of other issues, like abortion or gay marriage. It does not matter to them they will wind up getting less.
The most uninformed, willfully ignorant, intellectually dishonest, magical thinking, incurious, intellectually and spiritually lazy, self-deluded voters I personally know of are, to a person, Republicans. I do not think I have ever seen a single group of people more eager to be lied to, especially if the lies come in the form of validation of their most base and ignoble instincts. With a few miniscule exceptions, it is the stock in trade of Big Media to present those lies, to pander to those who yearn to indulge their shameful inclinations, to manipulate that group. To Stossel, his masters, the The RNC and all those who are working to disenfranchise voters and game elections, the scariest thing in the world to them is a voter who is informed and can't be manipulated by lies. The young must be a real boogly-monster to them.
Good.
Re-thug-lics -- the party of immature, voraciously rapacious, despotic, doughy white, cowardly, angry, bigots, racists, perverts, xenophobes, pedophiles, murderers, war criminals, homophobes, misogynists, self-hating women, fetid wombs and consummate chronic liars.
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do you even know what those words mean or did you have to look them up in the dictionary because it is the biggest exagerration bordering on lie since "i did not have sexual relations with that woman."
But... but.... CLINTON!!
Wow! Did you intend to announce to everyone here that you don't know what those words mean? Did you know how stupid you would make yourself look?
This makes my other point here - that you find stupid voters throughout the entire voting demographic.
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i actually do know what all those words mean i was curious if he used a dictionary or not.
Uh huh.
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And we all know how many hundreds of thousands died because of that blowjob. Hundreds of thousands of innocent sperm were murdered!
So much more heinous ...........than say .............
"WMD's in Iraq" ?
hello again MCMetal. good point. but i think we have already argued about this and that i do not support the premise of why we went into iraq. so again get back to logical arguments.
Like the logic of bringing up a blowjob ?
What is wrong with you ?
Do you even comprehend a scant bit , the mindlessness and the amazing hypocrisy and ignorance in every one of your posts ?
Apparently not , I guess.........
Let me see here; you attempted to diss trittydi on her adjectives used for describing the Republican Party.
Because you were "just curious."
When you got called for bullshit, you "logically" brought up Bill Clinton's penis.
When somebody brought up WMDs as a counter to the CLENIS, you whined that it wasn't a "logical argument."
Somebody call the Waaambulance.
I'll be skipping chrissy's posts; he's just too "logical" for me...
There's always a candidate ready for that job.
Why don't all of us uninformed kids go let 20/20 know how much we appreciate this point of view?
20/20 Contact page: http://abcnews.go.com/Site/page?id=3271346&ca...
Thanks for the link. They just got a nastygram from someone who opposes literacy tests, poll taxes, and other idiotic ideas that discourage citizens from participating in their democracy.
If they're as dumb as Stossel thinks they are, he should be worried. They'll all be going into the News biz and he may have a lot of competition.
http://www.wilytrax.com
This is unconscionable. Luckily - I believe any effort to roll back the voting age would be doomed to failure. Isn't that the point here?
If they want a real "litmus" test. Create one - for everyone. Let's see how the bigoted demographic fairs. You know - the re-Thuglic's BASE? They'd come out dumber than doorknobs.
If you want only "informed" or "smart" voters -- you have to take the entire electorate into consideration.
Leave the kids the FUCK alone.
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you know i dont see a lot of intelligent comments made on this website. when i use logic to make a point and ask simple questions i never get an answer to the question and usually get very hateful reply's. why do you all feel so threatened by a moderate conservative that uses logic to prove you wrong every single time i get on this website. and if you feel your party is ready to lead the country, and you represent the party because of your beliefs how am i to feel about expressing my opinions if obama were to win. i tell ya what not good, i wouldn't be surprised if his first action were to dissolve and remove from washington the gop. in which case he will probably have a riotous country and damn near civil war on his hands. but this is the guy that should lead us. obama, in my opinion, is the single biggest threat to american values and freedoms ever.
Hilarious - Now the Republicans are threatening us with civil war if the majority of voters don't elect their candidate. I guess this is the strategy they are now employing, as evidenced by their "Two-Minute Hate" rallies. Nothing like uniting the country in times of trouble!
i am not republican. lets get that straight. and nowhere on the obama media have i seen any rally where they have said lets cut off his head and kill the terrorist. if there were it would be all over the news like lindsey lohan's last arrest. so when you can show me proof and prove they are not obama plants then we can talk. as for uniting the country. obama has just as much role in splitting it as mccain. at least mccain doesnt want to take us socialist and then communist and then into non-existence like obama will.
Have certifiable proof of your unsubstantiated claim that Obama will take the US into socialism and then communism ...............
Then why to you do nothing but mouth their talking points?
Okay - so we take you at your word that you're not a re-Thuglic. Then let us help you. You're listening to the wrong people - Or at the very least - you should be adding something to the mix. Think about it.
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Chris wrote:
i am not republican. lets get that straight.
But you are unable to find the shift key, indicating that you are a either a dumbass or missing fingers or a fan of e.e.cummings. As a dumbass you deserve derision, missing fingers you deserve compassion, as a fan of e.e. cummings you deserve to be dragged across a parking lot of broken glass by a herd of little cat feet.
and nowhere on the obama media have i seen any rally where they have said lets cut off his head and kill the terrorist.
Cut off WHOSE head? Could you be more specific?
if there were it would be all over the news like lindsey lohan's last arrest.
That's Lindsay to you, dullard, and I don't see what she has to do with anything.
so when you can show me proof and prove they are not obama plants then we can talk. as for uniting the country. obama has just as much role in splitting it as mccain. at least mccain doesnt want to take us socialist and then communist and then into non-existence like obama will.
OK, you stupid little troll, kindly show me EXACTLY where Obama plans to "take us socialist and then communist". Supply the URL and point out to us the facts? Can't do it, can you? Why? BECAUSE YOU'RE A LYING PIECE OF CRAP TROLL. Now go away.
Maybe let's talk about Stossel's UNPATRIOTIC SEGMENT about how young people should probably not go to vote, because they're all too stupid anyway, and they'd vote without knowing anything.
So why does John Stossel hate America?
. . . when you learn to use punctuation and paragraph breaks. Some capitalization would be helpful too.
You help make my point that intelligence doesn't necessarily come with age.
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What, specifically, values and freedoms are being threatened by Obama? Please cite your sources. It is one thing to make a statement. It is another matter to cite your non-partisan sources.
Thank-you in advance.
my own opinion formulated from listening to obama's speeches and debates. please site sources that prove lets say bush is satan? you cant. but i can tell you this more and more moderates are calling into the right winged talk shows and saying the same things i am. hell i was saying this before sean hannity was. so do i have definite proof no. do i have what obama says. yes. course i really shouldnt believe what he says, all politicians lie dont they?
Upon beating She-Yawn Insanity , who came to the same conclusion ?
Please enlighten us with a list of those who find Insanity credible on ANY LEVEL...........
Perhaps the Pope thought so . . .
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0MKY/i...
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Er...Chris....It's beyond the power of the President to ban another political party. Believe me...given the power I would have done it!
pulling the stuffing out of his strawman like that. For all of his mewling about not being a GOP'er, he's got the litany of ditto-head talking points nailed. Even his assertion that he continually dominates in debate in this forum proves his delusional qualities.
The fantastical premise he proposes to justify his "Is this the guy we want running the country?" meme-parrotting just proves that reality isn't in his diet. So while I pity these unenlightened folk, I'm also begining to fear them a wee bit, because they're coming un-hinged.
"i wouldn't be surprised if his first action were to dissolve and remove from washington the gop"
Asinine statements like that are not using "logic to make a point".
If you have a point, make it. If you want to sling insults and ridiculous rhetoric, go visit Michelle Malkin.
PS The shift key is your friend.
to the two above commenters. no the president doesn't have the power, yet. and i tell you what if that were too happen i would probably march on dc demanding he step down from office because i do not believe in a socialist economy and i damn sure dont believe in a communist government. and McE as far as hurling insults one of your brethren told me to buy a can of gasoline, pour it on myself and light a match, for giving the reasons why i think the bailout should happen even though i dont like it. btw obama gave the same defense of it in the last debate. so if you are going to get onto someone about hurling insults talk to your brethren
ps independent thinking is your friend as well. but it just goes to show that you cant compete with my ideas, logic and common sense so you have to pick on whether i use the shift key. are you sure ur qualified to vote if your that petty?
punctuation is ALSO your friend.
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Independent thinking is your friend. No shit, genius, try taking your own advice by not listening to narrow minded, paranoid propagandists and furthermore, get some help for your arrogance and superiority complex.
If all else fails, go ahead and be a dupe and slave to the Politboro. You'll get what you deserve.
You had an opportunity to take the high road when you first commented on this thread. trittydi described Republicans as, among other things, child molesters and murders. At the moment, something like 43% of the electorate plans to vote for Senator McCain. trittydi's comment is therefore clearly and obviously ridiculous.
However, instead of just point that out, you immediately resorted to personal attacks "do you even know what thoese words mean" and then ended your first comment with a partisan anti-Clinton reference. What the hell did you expect would happen next?
Starting a comment with an insult and GOP red meat and then whining when your comment is not appreciated is hipocrisy "my friend".
properly nor spell, yet he thinks we should decipher his fiction-based rants. Why do you abuse English? Do you hate America that much? Stossel might have been pointing his finger at you, no information voter.
>>`ps independent thinking is your friend as well. but it just goes to show that you cant compete with my ideas, logic and common sense so you have to pick on whether i use the shift key. are you sure ur qualified to vote if your that petty?<<
"UR" That's a city in what is now Iraq.
Oh, and you have no logic. Obama is hardly a socialist.
And the only "qualification" a US Citizen has to vote is 1) age and 2) citizen of the US. Sowwiez.
Why does John Stossel hate America?
You claim logic runs your comments and then make silly playground 'predictions'. Please stay so we can have a good morning laugh to start the day.
If you are a Republican and really care about this country, then you need to recognize that your party has placed us in a very dangerous place both economically and spiritually. The last eight years has shown me that conservatism does not serve this country. I have never been more proud to be a LIBERAL because conservative IMO has shown that under the present administration, they have committed treasonous acts against us as a nation and we definitely need a change. If you believe in the Constitution, then you will stop the hate-mongering that has taken the campaign because your candidate has run out of options and is bringing attention to himself questioning his judgement and placing doubt on his ability to lead. You have painted a scenerio that under a Obama presidency, the country will suffer but we are suffering now under the Republican banner. It is puzzling that anyone would vote Republican given what has happen on their watch. John McCain does not want to talk about the economy which is a mistake on his part and has elected to run a smear campaign against Obama. Instead of listening to Palin and others' account of what really happened when Obama went to Bill Ayers house and the subsequent contact by Obama. Obama and Ayers was on a board that includedthe Annebergs who are Republicans and who I know are aware of Mr. Ayers colorful past. Does this mean that they have bad judgement too. You are an informed citizen need to do your homework and find out the truth for yourself and you will come away knowing that your party is not giving the Republican base the truth.
Stossel is concealing the truth by cherry-picking his interviews. What a dunce. Does anyone really watch his reports anymore? I don't. As for the young person who correctly argued that U.S. Representatives serve terms of two years with a producer who had the terms wrong, I am LOL. And just when is Stossel going to do a similar report on what the Joe Six Packs of the world know about politics? He won't have to go far. The nearest corner bar will do. Then we will see what sort of voter the GOP is pinning its hopes on.
I completely agree with Stossel's main point. The idea of voting just to be voting is a misguided one. A vote is a powerful tool and should be used responsibly. It's the uninformed voter that gives the first name on the ballot an advantage, or inflates the votes for the candidate with the more "American" sounding name. It's also the uninformed voter that dumbs down the entire election process.
People should not be encouraged to just vote, but to become informed and then vote.
Any youth voter who isn't really engaged politically isn't going to vote anyway. They find they're "too busy" -- or they "forget". I know this from talking to my kids friends. They don't even register for god's sake.
But if they're engaged politically - as my kids were at that age - then they're paying attention to the issues and they vote because they care. They wouldn't dream of "not voting" - as is true with - unfortunately - MOST - of the people they know.
I think a truly critical look would find that their demographic is nearly as well informed as the U.S. population as a whole.
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People should not be encouraged to just vote, but to become informed and then vote.---> all liberals should follow the advice in this statement
The US would have been far better off if the Republican voters had stayed home in 2000 - but now somebody has to clean up their Godawful mess.
uh-huh. so clinton's lack of action on terrorism would have gone away, the effects of his downsizing the sec would have gone away. no i dont think so. lets put it like this, stuff that happens the first year of a presidency should be blamed on the last president. take 9-11, you blame it on bush, but i say they didnt plan, train and implement it eight months or even ten months. they did most of that under clinton. furthermore, if gore had been president i think that he would have been more concerned with saving the polar bears than dealing with terrorism, saying that a couple of cruise missiles will be fine, not dealing with the problem. bush's two biggest mistakes:
1. he hired all of his dad's cronies
2. the intelligence community fed him information he wanted to see due to his pressuring or his cabinets pressuring. either way the intelligence he got and based his case for going into iraq was flawed and he bought into it.
all the other stuff he gets blamed with because it happened during his tenure but if you look at the root causes they go way back and are usually tied to democrats in some way.
The Dems are responsible for Iraq , Katrina , illegal/warrantless wiretapping/spying on fellow Americans , outing an undercover CIA officer , no-bid contracts , the continuation of Ronnie Retard's "Trickle Down Your Leg" economic sham theory amongst a whole host of other sorry episodes ?
Knock off your "I'm not a Republican" crap ; no one tries to fob off every ounce of blame onto the opposition party unless they back the other one loyally ...........
What?? Bush made MISTAKES??? Not one, but two??
I can't subscribe to this notion - after all, he was selected by GOD. Doesn't that mean he is infallible, like the Pope?
But the poster is right - we can't blle Bush for anything that happened during the first eight years of his Presidency, never mind the FIRST year. Neither can we hold Republicans responsible for what happened during the twenty years they controlled Congress. That would be just unfair.
Of course, 9/11 was Clinton's fault - after all, he ignored Richard Clarke when the latter warned him about al qaeda, and refused to pay attention the PDB entitled "bin Laden Dtermined to Strike in the US"... oh, wait a minute, that was Bush.
Anyway, this financial meltdown would never have happened if Clinton had just kept it in his pants.
I just can't wait to take my razor-sharp understanding of reality to the polling booth in November!
Chris, you're not planning to vote, are you? We wouldn't want you to justify Stossel's point.
>>stuff that happens the first year of a presidency should be blamed on the last president. take 9-11, you blame it on bush, but i say they didnt plan, train and implement it eight months or even ten months.<<
I'm sorry, that's nonsense.
Anyone who has 10 MONTHS TO PREPARE FOR AN ATTACK THEY KNOW IS COMING, and DOES NOT PREPARE.. and is instead "surprised" by such an attack... well, there are only two possibilities at that point.
1) Incompetent
2) Complicity
#1 is bad enough.
The most informed people I know are very Liberal. Very, very Liberal thanks to Bush and Company. There are very few uninformed Liberals because Rove successfully made the word liberal into something to be embarrassed about.
The MISinformed tend to believe that Senator Obama is a Muslim (and if he were, that would be the worst thing possible). They believe that the Republican party is the party of fiscal responsibility, when almost all facts point to the more wasteful party. They believe that Obama will raise their taxes (when most do not earn more than $250,000). They believe that Bush was perfectly within his rights and spoke to God before he illegally invaded a country. They believe that the world is 6,000 years old, understand nothing about AGW let alone most sciences, despise the "Liberal" institutions of higher learning, think Darwin has been disproven and "Intelligent" Design is something to be taught alongside evolution...
Sorry to take so many "they" phrases from the likes of an O'Reilly, Hannity, Limbaugh and Rove, but I do believe that there is a very small percentage of Conservatives who try to be truly informed about the issues. Most are voting for politicians who will only make their lives worse.
Most of the informed Conservatives will vote with their pocketbook when they are wealthy. Understood. The rest are totally misinformed and duped in my opinion.
first of all i am not rich, by no means of the imagination am i rich. so when you say i vote with my pocketbook you are wrong about me. no obama is not a muslim and i argue with people that say he is. and no the republican party has become a spending party with the war in iraq and now this bailout plan. look at my above comment about the invasion of iraq. and i believe that the whole world only 6000 years old is bs and scientifically disproven. intelligent design is an interesting theological study but evolution is still king in my books. and here is my biggest point of this post: when obama punishes the rich for being rich he stifles the american dream which in turn stagnates our economy even further because there is no motivation to better yourself financially, they is no desire to create the next computer system. taxing the rich has a negative impact on our economy. i personally think we should have a fair tax like ron paul said. so tell me, i am misinformed and duped? i just about agreed with you on everything but i still think obama is dangerous. so now we have eliminated the hes a retarded republican blowhard maybe we can start a conversation.
Ronnie Retard - $200 billion plus DEFICIT
Shrub the 1st - %300 billion plus DEFICIT
Chimpy the Wonder Monkey - $500 billion plus (and climbing) DEFICIT
B Clinton - $200 billion plus SURPLUS
Trickle Down Your Leg economics is ABSOLUTE BULLSHIT ; any questions ?
>>i believe that the whole world only 6000 years old is bs and scientifically disproven.<<
Well, I'm glad to hear it. Except that anyone who was even remotely intelligent wouldn't even HAVE to come to that conclusion. The very NOTION of a 6,000 year old Earth is not just "bs", it's LAUGHABLE. It's a FAIRYTALE. By how you wrote "I believe", it seems to indicate that you actually considered the view of a 6,000 year old Earth at one point...
The most miss and uninformed globs of crap on the planet ........
Are you letting Re-Thuglics off the hook because you know it's a lost cause?
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who need to be informed. There's no possibility that there are some conservatives needing more information as well?
Quick Chris, better throw in an allegation about Whitewater in your next comment.
Give me a break. If Republicans had done their homework when they voted for Bush, we would not be in this mess. Oliver Stone's movie really says it all when you see how dumb this president really is. Letting Cheney and others ruin this country is a result of the Republican base being uninformed when they went to the voting booth. The question of judgement was not taken into account when voting for this presidency. On the question of young not being informed about the issues, let me tell you what my son's friends are saying about why they are going to vote Democratic.
1. They don't want to be used for the express purpose of fighting in the military for illegal wars since Bush lied to this country.
2. They don't want to have this huge debt hanging over their heads when they enter society as paying taxpayers.
3. They don't want their Constitutional rights minimized as demonstrated by the Bush Administration's quest to delete their rights under the Constitution with these illegal signing statements.
4. They don't want to grow up in a world where Americans are seen as tyrants and opportunists and they want our image restored on the world stage.
In a nutshell they want to take BACK the country that Bush has decimated and run in the ground with his agenda of the NEW WORLD ORDER. You would be surprised if you knew that they did not buy the reason why we invaded Iraq and who was responsible for 9-11. I will tell you that they believe the culprit lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue because there is evidence out there that challenges what the 9-11 Commission's findings were. I will tell you that they don't believe it was Osama Bin Laden. So to say that they are not informed does not characterize the real facts.
The writing is on the wall. The demographics of the US are changing: by mid-century (at the latest), whites will be in the minority.
The right wing base is dying off and getting backed into a corner by the realities of global economics and diversity.
The only way they can maintain any relevancy politically is by vote suppression.
They know they can't appeal to young people with ideas, so they plan to shut them out.
BINGO!
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and obama will shut us all out with his socialism/communism. again obama and his staunch supporters are in my opinion the greatest threat America has ever seen and the media is failing to expose him as what he is, another corrupt democrat.
Chris, where have you been for the last eight years? Do you really think that anyone can come close to the Republicans when it comes to corruption and croneyism? Have you compeltely forgotten Enron, Katrina, no-bid contracts, torture, and trumped-up pretexts for war? Not to mention the financial meltdown which the Bush Administration has bequeathed to the next President? If voters with no clue stayed home, the Republicans would NEVER win an election.
How many does that make ? Twelve ?
There are double that number in the GOP having breakfast in the White House right at this very moment , you GOP tool.................
Obama is not & never has been a communist. He is a supporter of the market anarchy system that has brought the world economy to a grinding halt & raped the world for the sole purpose of concentrating wealth into the hands of a small ruling class of capitalists. He is a corrupt democrat like McCain is a corrupt republican playing a corrupting game with the future of the world. Get your Marx on: http://www.marxist.com/wall-street-socialism-...
and his redistribution of wealth is not socialism or marxism. well tell me what it is then. o wait you cant because that is exactly what it is. no use denying it anymore.
Collecting less from those who have and make less is not REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH ; it isn't as if those living in poverty are going to be suddenly "rewarded" with half a CEO's salary.
But , it's funny how you have no problem with those already fabulously rich , being unfairly and unnecessarily rewarded by the government with tax breaks.
Perhaps you haven't noticed, but the trend since Reagan has been to redistribute the wealth UP from you and me ('cause you say you're not rich) to the corporate fascists. This current financial crisis has mainly been staged to continue that process as quickly as possible, so Cheney, Bush and the rest of their neo-con buddies and CEO friends can suck as much out of the rest of us as they can before the sail off to Dubai.
Look around you kid - the country is - literally - falling apart - in every sector as well as our infrastructure. Are you so well informed because - like Palin - you read "it all"?
You do know this is a thread about uninformed voters, don't you?
Re-Thuglics have been running the country for 20 of the past 28 years. You can deny it to yourself - but the reality is there. Re-Thuglic policies have failed catastrophically. Look it up.
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....trittydi, go easy on chris. It's obvious how he follows you around on this thread that he has a crush on you.
no i like hard political debate, but with someone that wont spew party talking points at me. if someone can get away from that they can hit me as hard as they like.
As a Fat Bastard Limpballs , She-Yawn Insanity and Glen Speck listener ; are you under the impression that you could find 3 more partisan , ignorant , stupid and more full of shit losers than that trio ?
I wish you luck on that grand search ................
and yes its all republicans fault. i challenge you too look at all the sources of this financial mess and decide who is to carry most of the blame. and my point in banging my head against this wall is too show you all that you listen to party talking points instead of thinking for yourselfs. what i am saying is not some off the wall stuff. my opinion about obama is based on what he himself said, how can you get any closer to a source. as for republicans controlling it 20 out of 28 years that is a true and undeniable fact, there has been a republican president for that amount of time, doesnt mean the gop had control. do you think bush has control of the government right now? did bush have control back when he was president? hell did clinton have control when he was president? the answer is no because the congress went to the other party. so again nice try but it doesnt stand up.
Check it out ~~
http://www.armchairsubversive.org/
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Stossel should stick to interviewing pro wrestlers. That would be much more entertaining!
I loved that interview too. I wish Stossel would interview me--I do Thai boxing.
I completely agree with
Fri, 10/10/2008 - 05:49 — Bill Norton (not verified)
I completely agree with Stossel's main point. The idea of voting just to be voting is a misguided one. A vote is a powerful tool and should be used responsibly. It's the uninformed voter that gives the first name on the ballot an advantage, or inflates the votes for the candidate with the more "American" sounding name. It's also the uninformed voter that dumbs down the entire election process.
People should not be encouraged to just vote, but to become informed and then vote.
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That's true regardless of age.
Additionally, informing the public on the issues is part of Stossel's job, but that's too hard, so he'll simply denounce.
)O(
Do those jackasses really think that telling a group they are too stupid to vote will actually make them not want to vote? The mind reels.
Hey! You gonna vote?
No.
Why not?
That guy on the TV said I'm too stupid to vote.
That was... ugh. Just disgusting. Is that what 20/20 has become as a TV show? Advocating that people should /not/ vote?
You know who's at fault? You are! You wanks who are the producers and anchors of 20/20. People aren't informed enough to vote because you guys can't do your jobs! Your journalists! You people are the ones who should be ashamed.
Just be glad your jobs aren't up for a vote. You wouldn't have McCain's chance in Michigan of getting elected.
yes the media isnt doing its job and its benefiting obama. for example, a lack of investigation into his relationship with ayers, his relationship with ACORN, and his relationship with Freddie and Fannie. if the media were doing their jobs these stories would be fully investigated and published without spin so the american people could decide. rush limbaugh and sean hannity are right when they say the proffession of journalism is dead, they have lost their spine and their balls and the american people are going to suffer because of it
Being such paragons of virtue and the ultimate in the field of journalism ?
They're to journalism what Chimpy is to great public speaking......
Palin "pals around" with some extremists who hate America. They hate it so much that they wish to form their own government. Who does she pal around with? Her husband, of course (who has been paling around with other women, doncha know?)
So why is it that when Obama meets a man during a Republican fundraiser, he has to be identified with this person's past as well? Isn't it enough that Obama denounced Ayres past?
When did Palin denounce her husband? I must have missed it. Oh yes... Palin was actually part of that movement, and spoke at their events.
Up for a proper vetting of Palin Chris?
sure, but neither me nor you have the ability to do that. look the aip is a crazy political party whose founder hated the american government. but as far as i know they never set any bombs. ayers did and was unrepentent. and no obama didnt denounce them he said they happened when he was 8. but given all of obama's relationships shouldn't the american people be getting a proper vetting of him? o wait the media wants obama elected. so stop exagerrating something and lets get down to brass tax. you elect the president not the vice president and among those two obama is the worse man for the job by far.
What the hell has McDepends done in almost a 3 decade career in the Senate , outside of staying in that position of power ?
That is all Johnny Boy is ; a survivor .
And an ambitious , self-serving , self-aggrandizing lying sack of shit...........Nothing else.