After my first post, you countered by saying that she didn't represent the majority. I then proceed, with the help of Island Dog, to prove that she was in fact very similar to the majority of voters. At which point you reply by saying she isn't the majority of the majority. Can you clarify that argument? What I'm getting is that her style of thinking isn't part of the majority of people that are voting for ignorant reasons. In other words, the majority of people are voting for really stupid reasons. (He talks nice, he's white, etc.--I'm trying to get both sides here.) But people like her don't make up the majority of those people.

Are you saying that the majority of people are in fact, ignorant, but that this majority is seperated into groups? One group is voting for Obama because he talks nice, another because he's black, another voting for McCain because Obama is black, etc.?

No derbal213, I'm saying that to indict an entire class of voters because you've found some nutters or fools that agree with them, or you for that matter, is LUDICROUS.

Here is a decent op-ed piece that examines the culture waves that have happened in America from the early 1900's to today.  While it is bookended on an anti-Palin message, I think the material in the middle is what's relevant.  It's not presented as fact, but just some interesting analysis of the past and its relevance to the present and perhaps the future.

I'm not indicting an entire class of voters. I'm merely trying to say that is ridiculous for people on both sides to vote for stupid reasons like "they look nice" or "He's black."

1.  I don't think we will know who the majority of voters are until Wednesday morning.

2.   As to that bit about "the majority of people are in fact, ignorant" --  (yeah...pretty much, myself included on some things).  I believe the majority of people are KEPT ignorant, because, to quote Col. Nathan R. Jessep from "A Few Good Men" "we can't handle the truth" - We'd be rioting in the streets if we knew the truth. We would be sick with grief if we knew the truth.  A good fantasy with enough props beats the truth any day of the week.

Oh, and I want to point out there is a difference between the definition of the word ignorant and the word stupid.  

Thank you. I realize that there is a difference between stupid and ignorant. But what I'm trying to get across is that the majority of voters (on BOTH sides, in other words, the majority of people who have or will vote for any candidate) are ignorant to the real issues and are voting for stupid reasons.

I also, admit, that on some issues, I am completely ignorant. By no means do I know or claim to know everything. The issues that I do know something about, though, I agree with McCain on more than I agree with Obama. I respect that others feel the opposite. I'm not sure who said it earlier in the thread, but to quote them, "I'm not going to change your mind, and you won't change mine."

Yes, makes perfect sense.  Not sure about the 'majority' part, though - that's just conjecture.  Certainly applies to some, but we'll never know to what extent.

Well, duh! 

Just as it is for people to NOT-vote for someone because they "don't look nice" or "are black."

I'm glad we can at least find common ground that we all SHOULD be voting on the issues.  I hope this election portends a sea change in this regard.

True, remember that according to the bell curve of life, 1/2 of all human beings are average intelligence or less.  So BOTH sides get stuck with them en masse. 

Seriously, stupid is genetic, but there's no excuse in this age of information for ignorance.

Unless your arms were broke as a POW, so you can't use a computer.   (I'm sorry...I couldn't stop myself!)

I read your post. My point was that this is a different election.

People vote for different reasons in different elections. Someone may have voted for Bush in the last election for completely different reasons than why they are voting for McCain in this one.

I find it funny that many people are saying they are voting for Obama because of what Bush did. McCain is not Bush. Everyone should be comparing what McCain plans to do with what Obama plans to do. People should compare what McCain has done with what Obama has done. Bush is not in this election.

We have a new litmus test, folks - computer literacy. 

Well, as the Geico ad goes, it's "so easy even a caveman can do it."   LITERACY is important.  You probably wouldn't vote for someone who couldn't read (although I have known a very successful person who was illiterate--the rest of us had to cover up for him, as he caught the boss with his trousers down, and that meant if the rest of us wanted to keep our jobs, we had to do our job AND his when it came to the reading part).  We live in a digital age, and computer literacy is, in my opinion, rather important.

To borrow from a different debate I read on line, "what if the 3 a.m. call comes in the form of an e-mail?"

Also, it seems to me that although the president might not NEED to use the computer himself, if he is at the mercy of his underlings to "work the machine" for him, that means he's in a position to be compromised (moles, plants from the enemy that end up getting the position of keyboard money for the Prez), would be in a position to screen important information from his attention, or plant wrong information.  Ignorance leaves one vulnarable.

Maybe not, but McCain voted 90% in favor of everything Bush proposed.  I suppose that makes him Bush lite to some of us.  

McCain was definitely NOT Bush in 2000.  But he just BECAME Bush in order to get his party's nomination.  I used to have a HUGE amount of respect for John McCain, but when he hired the same mudslingers Bush used to beat him in 2000 for this campaign, I sadly saw the writing on the wall.  I really wish McCain had stayed true to his anti-Bush roots.  While he might not have won the nomination of his party, he'd still have his integrity.  Now he has lost both his bearings and the election (presumably).  I think this would have been a MUCH closer election is this was the John McCain of 2000.