VFR debate on the 2008 election

VFR had probably the most vigorous debate of any discussion site in the U.S. about the 2008 election, except that the main choice for our commenters was not between voting for Obama’s main opponent and voting for Obama, but between voting for Obama’s main opponent and not voting for Obama’s main opponent (whether that meant voting for some third party or write-in candidate or not voting at all is immaterial here). I came down, in what I described as the most difficult non-personal decision of my life, to not voting for Obama’s main opponent (see My Vote.)

Obama has turned out to be significantly worse than even most of his strongest critics had predicted. Who could have imagined, just for starters, the cosmic irresponsibility of the stimulus bill? The DHS report portraying essentially all conservatives as potential terrorists is another landmark. But there are more landmarks than one can keep track of. In the last ten days we’ve had Obama’s release of the top secret information on enhanced interrogation of terrorists and his decisoin to release Uighur terrorists from Guantanamo into American society. As I’ve said recently, if I had foreseen that Obama would be as bad as he’s been, the factors that went into my decision process would certainly have been different, but I can’t say for sure that the decision itself would have been different.

For those who want to look back at what readers and I were saying before the election and compare it to the reality that has emerged since then, here, for the record, is VFR’s debate from October and November 2008.

VFR debate on whom to vote for, 2008

Mac Donald vs. Ingraham on the election; and more thoughts on Obama vs. McCain

What an Obama victory will teach the Democratic party

One afternoon, two opinions

McCarthy on what Obama has in store for us

Obama and Dems threaten to silence conservative talk radio

Medved warns that Obama immigration policy would “permanently remake America demographically and politically”

Obama: a reconciler, not a radical?

The Wall Street Journal’s case against Obama

Obama funded Afro-centric education

Chuck Baldwin (and other possible alternative choices)

The only way the Obama puzzle will be solved is by electing him—which is not a reason to elect him

Congress is the Thing [a long discussion of what Obama would be like]

With no regrets, VFR reader rejects both major party tickets; so does Ron Maxwell

Obama will fundamentally alter the nation’s character

Obama: a natural man for our time?

Reader says Obama will rule through lawlessness, intimidation

Yes, Obama would sign the Fairness Doctrine—but are we sure that McCain would not sign it?

Obama’s true radicalism

An agonizingly difficult decision

Those who celebrated Obama’s victories then, fear his victory now

The silver lining of an Obama presidency

Still agonized

The man who votes yes and no at the same time and transcends all opposites

Will an Obama presidency lead to a white awakening, or to the final white surrender?

The red diaper baby

VFR presidential poll

Presidential poll and discussion, cont.

A case for McCain

Does McCain love our country and want to preserve it? An exchange with Andrew McCarthy

Poll closed

One reader’s (tentative) decision on the election

McCain again says amnesty is his top priority

As liberalism is to Christianity, Obamanism is to black liberation theology

The evil people who are Barack Obama’s closest associates

Which would be worse as U.S. president—a messiah, or an Ivy League sophomore? How about both combined in one person?

Challenging the hope of a conservative resurgence under Obama

My vote

The man, the agenda

Comparison between the coming Obama presidency and the O.J. Simpson acquittal

Recent entries on the election decision

Obama as seen at VFR, before and after the most extraordinary and disturbing American event in our lifetime

The sack dance begins


Posted by Lawrence Auster at May 02, 2009 08:14 AM | Send
    


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