Tuesday, August 26, 2008

It’s not WHO, it’s IF.

(Let's take a break from the tree house today...)

I’ve had it up to here (pointing over my head) with the drone of TV talking heads pontificating on who is “pulling ahead or falling behind” in the polls.

Think about it. Are there actually people out there, serious voters mind you, who have NOT made their minds up yet?


At this point, are there really citizens still sitting on the proverbial fence waiting to be swayed on which way they will fall? I think not. At this point, NO ONE could possibly be THAT wishy-washy, and if they are then chances are they are not going to vote anyway.

Voters who think Obama is the way to go, a politician who will certainly take us sharply to the left, are going to pull the lever for him no matter what more the McCain people “find” on him in the way of “negatives.”

Folks like me, who believe that John McCain and his barely right of center platform is best, will vote for him no matter how many homes he owns. (He’s married to a multi-millionaire heiress—and they ONLY have eight houses? Enough on that Bob Beckel!)

It's always amazed me how few of us actually vote. Over the years, going back to the mid-70s, I’ve had animated discussions on who should be president with dozens of people. Then, when the time came to vote, it turns out that I was the only one to actually do it. It makes me wonder how many of these all-mouth-and-no-vote folks are the ones being polled. I do know that I've never been polled.

One pundit spouted a stat from recent past election cycles when polls actually showed a 15 point “bounce” for candidates after their convention. What? So, that means 15 out of 100 people polled actually switched their intention over to “the other guy” merely due to the excitement of THAT guy’s convention? Excuse my skepticism, but “No way!”

No, polls are BS. The people answering them are frauds. They have to be. More so this year since the difference between the candidates is as stark as any I’ve ever seen.

There is no one waiting to be convinced anymore since there are so few nuances between the two contenders. I mean Obama is so far left that he makes “Maverick McCain”—a senior senator not known in the past for being a dyed in the wool conservative—suddenly looking like an amalgamation of Ronald Reagan and Curtis Lemay.


Hence, there should be only two questions on any current poll:
1) McCain or Obama?

And …
2) (On pain of DEATH!) Are you REALLY going to vote?


And the emphasis SHOULD be on latter. If the pollsters could get THAT right then they would immediately be out of a job and they know it. Still, if we COULD get that one thing truly and honestly answered then we could stop all this ridiculous nonsensical polling, and better yet, end all the mind numbing TV discussions on the so-called “latest poll results.”

4 comments:

Ed said...

As an independent, I've sometimes waited until the very end to pick who I am voting for just because I've always felt that I was voting for the lesser of two evils or throwing away my vote by going third party. This year is somewhat different since McCain is probably the closest to center candidate in my lifetime that wasn't third party. Unless he does something to thoroughly disgust me, more than he has, I'll probably vote for him. This is the earliest I've ever decided.

People not voting always amazes me too but in the end, I guess I would rather our government be run by those who were voted in by those who cared enough to vote.

KA said...

I'm voting obama, and yes I'm voting. After all, this years election actually falls on my birthday. Last presidential election I was two days shy of the 18.

Amadeo said...

Get in there, Phil:

We need all the help we can muster to help our guy into the White House.

Was happy to hear of the Sarah Palin selection, since I blogged about her last February.

So far the bump after the huge stadium speech has not been the expected hurricane they thought it would be. The Palin news took most of the wind out of their sails.

Ed said...

I don't know if you get to see the GOP Convention over there but John McCain really sounded almost like his old self last night which did a lot to relieve me. I'm still not sure what to think of Palin.