Byrd's Eye View

Demonizing the candidates is a favorite pastime. Ultimately one of those candidates will be our new President. This President will be the freely elected leader of the United States. We, who are able to vote, are Americans. Republican, Democrat, or Independent, we are Americans. Let's not forget that fact, as we watch the campaign evolve. Pay ahead, with your best thoughts and don't allow yourself to get mired in the character assassinations, of one of our fellow Americans.

Hi Gadget, all three candidates have presented details for how they will carry out their plans on major issues. You can read about them on their respective websites:

Hillary Clinton: www.hillaryclinton.com
John McCain: www.johnmccain.com
Barack Obama: www.barackobama.com

This is a byproduct of the "infotainment" industry. People like a scary story--especially if it is (A). About someone they do not like, and (B). It is supposed to be true. The current administration has worked on this principle for the past 8 years. Fear is a powerful motivator. If you want people to vote for you, do what Cheney did--tell people that "The wrong vote in this election is an open encouragement to the terrorists." And that's what they have done to Obama. Clinton used this play out of Rove's playbook with her "It's 3 AM, and the phone rings in the White House--who do you want to answer that call?" And the American people ate it up. Maybe Barnum is right, and there truly IS a sucker born every minute...Unfortunately, those suckers vote.

HA! Emily, I am shocked to hear you use the word dumb. :-) I didn't think it was even in your vocabulary ... I watch you sometimes just for the upper buzz lol. You're a total ray of sunshine.

That said, personally I don't think Obama probably is any of those things outright, but I still think he is bad news. I think they all are this go round but wuddayagunnado? Oh that's right, write my guy in. :-p I wouldn't trust any of the candidates as far as I could throw them. Ok, well maybe that far, but certainly not as far as I could chase them down with my car. ;-) Just my $.02 :-)

** Nice to see you're human though haha. I had to check three times to make sure you were really the poster. lol

What's intersting about the Obama accusations, they were originally made in Insight magazine, a subsidiary of the Washington Times (not Post). This was then reported several times over the day on FOX News (citing Insight), which made no attempt to verify any of the information (they reported, you decided). I don't know whether or not FOX reported it when these lies were finally debunked, perhaps a regular viewer would know. I hope you're not biting the hand that feeds you Emily.

He says 'hope' he says 'change'. I like the country being the only superpower in the world. I like this country being the place where everyone in the world wishes they could be. I don't want to change that.

I think that Hillary would be bad for her policies too. . . but she'd be a ton better than Obama (she's not as liberal). So black candidates are OK. Obama is not. But me being against Obama for president to many people means that I am a racist. A lot of people think that if they vote for Obama, that means that they aren't a racist (that's not the case either). That is the problem with this years election.

And it is all driven by the media. Image is everything in this election. . . and Barack has a squeaky clean image conjured up by the media.

Here is the black value system!
1. Commitment to God
2. Commitment to the Black Community
3. Commitment to the Black Family
4. Dedication to the Pursuit of Education
5. Dedication to the Pursuit of Excellence
6. Adherence to the Black Work Ethic
7. Commitment to Self-Discipline and Self-Respect
8. Disavowal of the Pursuit of "Middleclass ness"
9. Pledge to make the fruits of all developing and acquired skills available to the Black Community
10. Pledge to Allocate Regularly, a Portion of Personal Resources for Strengthening and 11.Supporting Black Institutions
12. Pledge allegiance to all Black leadership who espouse and embrace the Black Value System
13. Personal commitment to embracement of the Black Value System.
Well I guess you good white folks got something against a people trying to teach do for self and not go around begging white folks for what they can get on their own? Is that it cookie so tell me cookie what problem do you see with the above mindset? And before you say it does not include white folks do you feel white folks are in the same condition as blacks?
And as for you Thacker you sound like me whining when I ask why don’t you people point out cookie when he makes his little racial innuendos. This world is over there is no remedy time is up!

Hi gadget--I too looked at the messages on the candidate sites. What I thought was noticably absent was tying this recession to our little war. This thing has already cost us a half trillion dollars. I wonder why the candidates aren't pushing the economic aspect of ending this war?

I love presidential election years. Politics fascinates me, especially national politics. A huge problem with the process (that can be corrected) is in the individual voter. We can't be spoon-fed information and take it without question. I think all to often that is exactly what people do. We have to take it upon ourselves to be informed about each candidate.

I am tired of cuts and pastes that are flat-out lies and the people who continue to spread misinformation when fact-checking is so easy.

Kudos to anyone reading the websites of the candidates. That's a great start, and gives us substantive conversations for the upcoming primary.

'FYI, Obama's father was born Muslim, but he was an Agnostic when he met Obama's mother.'

I could point to your (and most American's) blanket cut and paste of the concept that Islam is 'The Religion of Peace' without actually LEARNING about it - knowing a few black American Muslims or even wealthy Arab-American or Pakistani-American Muslims doesn't count.

I don't believe that Obama is Muslim. However, I think that if a Republican had gone to a church with a guy that spoke hate like Wright, people (liberal media) wouldn't be so quick to say 'what's the big deal?'

But in Islam, once a Muslim, always a Muslim. And in Islam the penalty for apostasy is death. It is actually the law of the land in Iran.

Here is an interesting current link about the culture created by Islam in Yemen (right next to Saudi Arabia). This news broke yesterday about an 8 year old filing for divorce from an abusive older husband approved by her family. You won't see this in the news because it violates the narrative that Islam is a 'Religion of Peace'.

http://yementimes.com/article.shtml?i=1145&p=front&a=2<
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I would think that the Muslim perspective on Obama's religious history is something that the Secret Service might want to be well versed in whether or not Obama 'is a Muslim'. . . as though being a Muslim would be a presidential dis qualifier (which is a bigoted statement in itself). Every time someone explains that Obama is not Muslim means that there might or should be a problem if he WERE Muslim.

Anyway, the problem with Obama is not what other people think of him, it's his