Obama Opens Up a 9-Point Lead

[Velociryx]

I dunno...maybe I'm just hung up on semantics, but when your party has been large and in charge for the last 8, and when you're on record as towing the party line more often than not and spending a whole lot of your time helping advance your boss' agenda, it's a little tough to squeeze genuine "mavrickiness" out of that.

Note that I am not saying Obama is the real mavrick here. Come to think of it, I've never heard his campaign try and spin him AS a mavrick.

That'd be like trying to get Shrub on the ballot for a third term and having him run as "the outsider"

-=Vel=-

"You're darned right!"

(I get the feeling I'm going to have a whirlwind love-hate relationship with Ms. Palin)

[Naked Gents Rut]

If a Republican who flirted with being Kerry's running mate in 2004 isn't a "maverick", then no one is.

[Velociryx]

I'll definitely give him "insane" for that one, but the whole "maverick" thing is going to be a tough sell.

I doubt I'm alone in thinking that he looks a lot like "more of the same" and you just can't say that and the M-word in the same breath. At least not convincingly.

$0.02

-=Vel=-

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by Velociryx
Note that I am not saying Obama is the real mavrick here. Come to think of it, I've never heard his campaign try and spin him AS a mavrick.

Given his voting record and connections to the Daley and Stroger machine, I doubt they could do that with a straight face.

[Naked Gents Rut]

I doubt I'm alone in thinking that he looks a lot like "more of the same" and you just can't say that and the M-word in the same breath.

Well, there certainly are a lot of dumb people in America. Even as jaded as I am, however, I never would've believed that they were dumb enough to be convinced that John McCain is the same as George W. Bush. It boggles the mind.

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by Naked Gents Rut
If a Republican who flirted with being Kerry's running mate in 2004 isn't a "maverick", then no one is.

I didn't know there was another candidate for The Maverick.

[Velociryx]

I doubt they could (call Obama a maverick) with a straight face either.

OTOH, if I vote along party lines ~90% of the time, that *does* make it a harder sell for me as well. To paraphrase Biden during the debates, if you want to be seen as a maverick, you have to do something other than agree with your boss the vast majority of the time.

I think that's prolly not unfair, but again, just this individual's two cents.

And on that note, I'm going to bed.



-=Vel=-

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by Naked Gents Rut


Well, there certainly are a lot of dumb people in America. Even as jaded as I am, however, I never would've believed that they were dumb enough to be convinced that John McCain is the same as George W. Bush. It boggles the mind.

It's probably Palin's fault for responding to that so poorly. What would you have her say?

[Aeson]

I think 90% is fine to differ from a party and still be (relatively speaking) a Maverick. Depends on what you differ with though, and whether or not you tend to lead your party or follow that 90%. (Cause a persuasive Maverick can get a stampede going )

I think he qualified for the term 8 years ago, and maybe even as far back as 4, but definitely not the last few years or through the campaign.

[Velociryx]

I guess maybe that's where my brain is headed. I'm not saying he never was (once upon a when), but times change.

People change, and lately, he hasn't shown me what I'd consider a whole lot of maverick.

I mean...I used to have a sexy, full head of hair.

It would be strange (in an Emperor's new clothes kind of way) for me to go around raving about my awesome head of hair today. It's just no longer true.

I think Aeson may have hit precisely on what I'm feeling from McCain.



(and now I'm really going to bed!)

-=Vel=-

EDIT: I'd still have to define the "maverick boundary" at something other than towing the line ~90% of the time, but where, precisely, I dunno. A minor point in any case.

-V.

[Naked Gents Rut]

I think he qualified for the term 8 years ago, and maybe even as far back as 4, but definitely not the last few years or through the campaign.

I'm sure the logic behind this is impeccable.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Originally posted by Naked Gents Rut
Well, there certainly are a lot of dumb people in America. Even as jaded as I am, however, I never would've believed that they were dumb enough to be convinced that John McCain is the same as George W. Bush. It boggles the mind.

Then again when you have people who think he was pro-CHOICE in the past, I can believe it.

[SlowwHand]

John McCain and Barack Obama somehow ended up at the same barbershop.
As they sat there, each being worked on by a different barber, not a word was spoken. The barbers were even afraid to start a conversation, for fear it would turn to politics.
As the barbers finished their shaves, the one who had Obama in his chair reached for the aftershave.
Obama was quick to stop him saying, 'No thanks, my wife Michelle will smell that and think I've been in a whorehouse,'
The second barber turned to McCain and said, 'How about you?'
McCain replied, 'Go ahead, my wife doesn't know what the inside of a whorehouse smells like.'

[Aeson]

Originally posted by Naked Gents Rut
I'm sure the logic behind this is impeccable.

Feel free to ask if you have any questions about the issue

[Naked Gents Rut]

OK. How do you logically explain your view that McCain was a maverick eight years ago, but merely "may have been" a maverick four years ago? McCain exploring the option of becoming the Democratic VP candidate in 2004 surely seems more "mavericky" than simply running against Bush for the Republican nomination in 2000, but you seem to think otherwise.