McCain vs Obama?

...The extent to which this derived from 'salt of the earth' types (whoever they are) is utterly a matter for conjecture.

To clarify, I'm just making the observation that many people voted for Bertie because he's a great auld dub/salt of the earth/whatever, as opposed to FF policy. I'm not suggesting that these voters were in the majority or responsible for keeping FF/Bertie in power, just that the phenomenon exists.

Plenty of other examples of this too obviously.
 
To clarify, I'm just making the observation that many people voted for Bertie because he's a great auld dub/salt of the earth/whatever, as opposed to FF policy.

Indeed you are, but I'm just wondering if that observation is supported by the available evidence? Admittedly it may be so in his own constituency where Ahern always received a large personal vote (although not much different than some of his peers like Willie O'Dea or Brian Cowen), but there is scant evidence elsewhere to suggest that the Ahern factor contributed significantly to the FF core vote.
 
Admittedly it may be so in his own constituency where Ahern always received a large personal vote (although not much different than some of his peers like Willie O'Dea or Brian Cowen)

Which is the general point I'm making re voting motivation - nothing to do with Bertie in particular BTW.

...but there is scant evidence elsewhere to suggest that the Ahern factor contributed significantly to the FF core vote.

I didn't claim that it did contribute significantly.
 
..seem to be voting for Obama simply because he is a black man

The fact that 90%+ of black Americans will likely vote for him doesn't reveal very much about racial voting because democrats have traditionally counted on more than 90% of the black vote anyway.

However a recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll revealed that 8% of white voters called race the most important factor in picking a President and for black Americans it was more than double the percentage for whites at 20%.
 
...democrats have traditionally counted on more than 90% of the black vote anyway.

...of the black people that actually voted that is. Turnout in the more deprived areas is traditionally low here but the potential for a black president will surely entice more black Americans to polls though?
 
yes agreed...if Obama can entice to the polls some of the millions of eligible black Americans who don't show up to vote and they do so mainly because he's black then the 20% figure in that poll would be an underestimate.
 
As far as I know the Afro/American population is only 6%. The Hispanics are on about 16%. So, if colour is the decider here then McCain is a shoe-in. An awful lot of people in New England would not vote for Obama regardless of his politics. And they are within their rights. I watched McCain live last night and, although not a spring chicken, got his message across nicely. Appeasement does not work.
 
McCain said that illegal Irish immigrants in America should be allowed to become citizens. When asked why, he said, “My wife’s family owns Budweiser. It would be good for business.”
(Conan O' Brien)

Seriously though, he did make a statement in this area:

[broken link removed]
 
We now know Obama is pally with terrorists..

"We now know .." ?

This information was in the public domain months ago, along with details on Sen. Obama's pastor of choice, Rev. Wright.

It was noticeable that the Obama campaign response did not include a denial, just to throw mud back in the direction from which it came.
 
There's a story going around some parts of the US media that Obama wasnt born in the US and so isnt eligible for President. Some of the media have asked him for his birth cert as proof, but it hasnt been forthcoming.

All he's come up with so far is a short certificate which confirms that he was born on a particular day, but not the location - hasnt produced the equivalent of the "long form" of his birth cert. Story seemed to break when a member of the Obama family in Kenya mentioned that they remembered his birth. The story goes that Obama's parents returned to Kenya for the summer when college term in Univ of Hawaii ended. Mrs. Obama booked a flight back to US to give birth, but was refused permission to board the plane because she was in late stages of pregnancy. Obama was born in Mombassa. A few days after the birth, his mother returned to the US and registered his bith [US citizens are allowed register their children, even if born outside the US].

In Hawaii, members of the public do not have access to birth cert records, so cant be verified by looking in the public records - needs to be produced by Obama.
 
There's been another twist to this story - Obama may in fact be Indonesian.

After separating from Obama's father, his mother moved to Indonesia and married an Indonesian called Soetero. Apparantly Obama was legally adopted by Soetero and the name on his birth cert amended to Barack Hussain Soetero. He was registered in school in Indonesia (where he spent most of his primary school years) as Barry Soetero, a muslim Indonesian citizen. The muslim part is interesting, because he attended a catholic primary school in Indonesia.

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=72656
 
Does anybody know what exactly are Obamas Irish connections?

He once passed an Irish pub in Chicago.


McCains family are originally from Donegal - there's some town up their where most people are related to him.

Palin is from an Irish catholic background. Her family - Sheerins, are from Roscommon.
 
Read something on paper before that Obamas mothers people were Keaneys or Kearneys from Co. Offaly. We don't hear much mention of this so just wondering.
 
In Hawaii, members of the public do not have access to birth cert records, so cant be verified by looking in the public records - needs to be produced by Obama.[/quote]


Obama has produced his birth certificate from Hawaii. This was clearly identified in the CNN biography of Obama. The birth cert was also shown to CNN and was proclaimed to be authentic. There was actually more controversy about John McCain not being born on American soil as he was born in Panama but at that time the Panama canal was under US control so he is eligible!!
 
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