Posts Made By: James Brown

Hi all again:

Thanks for all of the excellent and well reasoned replies. I learned a lot from this thread.

Jim

Here is my crew hiking through the aspens early on in the hike.

Jim

Wow.

Jim Moscheck said:

"That one."

That one's, pun intended is going to come back and bite him.

No doubt I lean left and I'm sure they don't agree with me on FOX, but I think Barrack Obama, in the blue trunks, got a TKO over John McCain. Obama was more to the point while McCain was all over the place in their answers.

What do you think?

Hi Jim:

I would give a win on style points to Obama. Nothing new of substance from either side except maybe McCain's plan to buy up bad mortgages, which is a plan no one even remotely understands yet.

McCain is not bad at these things. Either one of these guys is far better than Bush or Kerry (thank goodness). But Obama seemed smooth and presidential, McCain seemed stiff. Obama has really effectively addressed concerns that he "is not ready to lead" in these debates I think.

Obama probably picked up at least one swing vote tonight. Ms. Brown's. Although I am still a Republican, my vote is still up for grabs. Ms. B. promised me that she would vote against Mark Udall (D) in our Senate race if she votes O, so I guess that's something...

Jim

Hi Jeannie:

Please mention to Jim that I noticed that he is out of it for a few weeks and sure enough, the world almost falls apart! Do you suppose there is a correlation?

Tell him to keep getting well and don't let him watch too much TV!

Jim

Mike Strieber said:

What happened to all the surprises by the dreaded Republicans right before the election all you conspiracists predicted? What Bin Laden wasn't killed, no terrorist attacks, alert levels didn't go up, aliens didn't invade (space types; the other type certainly has)...?
Just curious...

Has there been a legitimate game-changing October surprise in recent memory? I recall that Gore tried to sink Bush with a late re-hash of an ancient drunk driving story. What am I forgetting?

Jim

Jim Brown said:

End game for McCain. Not surprising.

Jim

I should also say not too disappointing to this republican moderate. Political cycles are as real as sunspot cycles and this result was all but inevitable. I am hopeful that Obama will govern as a decent and moderate leader of high integrity.

Jim

Where were you in the prediction thread Mr. Tony-come-lately?

http://www.astromart.com/forums/viewpost.asp?forum_post_id=632082&poll_id=&news_id=&page=13

I've got 291-247 If I recall correctly. That might be way wrong....

Jim

Tony Aguire said:

its over...

Dude, it's been over since at least 6:34 MST.

Jim

Tony Aguire said:

NPR used the M-word...mandate


Here we go :S

Pundits and entertainers will throw around the mandate word. This is no big deal. Obama is smart enough to know that this is still a center-right country on most issues. Here is one example:

In Colorado Obama won easily and the Democrats won all the contested races. We are very much a blue state this go-round. Colorado rules allow voting on many ballot issues too. One initiative we voted for concerned a truly miniscule state sales tax increase specifically to fund much needed education for developmentally disabled kids and adults. The funds would be used to teach adults with Downs’s syndrome to cook simple meals for themselves or work as bag boys, that kind of thing. I'm a Republican and I voted yes, so did my wife. The tax increase was absolutely inconsequential. Well, this ballot proposal lost big time; lots of Obama supporters in Colorado reflexively vote against any tax increase, no matter how small or well intentioned. That speaks volumes to me about things like "mandates."

I hope you all read the editorial in the London Times I linked to the other day. I personally fee strongly that this opinion piece is that rare thing; a reflection of reality and truth:

[COLOR="Blue"]"Of course none of this is to deny that Americans will be voting for change on Tuesday. After the past eight years who could possibly blame them? But I sense that the change they want is for a welcome period of competence and decency. They would rather have a government that works than a new paradigm for the organisation of American society, a radical redistribution of income and wealth or a dramatically expanded public sector. And they certainly won't be voting for a “can't we all just get along?” foreign policy that subjugates US national security to the negotiated outcomes of debates in the UN Security Council.

What's more, I suspect Mr Obama is easily clever enough to know that this will not be his mandate either. The real test of a President Obama's political skills will be his ability to recognise the limitations placed on him by what is still a deeply conservative country, and his willingness to stand up to those in his party who will be impatiently pressing him to go much farther." [/COLOR]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/gerard_baker/article5050705.ece