Independents can be very odd

[Red Knight]

I'm not saying all of them but fer cripes sake just listening to the C-SPAN calls before the NH primary sent my head spinning like Linda Blair's.

One woman actually called up and said, she was an undecided independent who found HIllary really interesting but liked Edwards and also loved McCain and Romney and just couldn't decide who she would vote for.

McCain, Edwards, Hillary, Romney?

Jeesh lady, just pick a name out of a bag.

I can understand an independent who may vote for Nader instead of an Edwards or Kerry. At least it's still tilted left.

But to go from McCain to Edwards?

That's just weird and seems to show more ignorance than anything else. I mean---you gotta have some political philosophy, right? Yet--these types of people often swing an election. Hey--I can't stand rightwingers but at least they have some point of view(it's wrong of course but within their own minds it makes some logical sense).

Some of the undecideds/independents are just wacky.

And they vote.

[bicentennial_baby]

1. I'm an Indy...

Also a DK supporter, and I'd NEVER vote 'puke.

[Muttocracy]

2. concord monitor story on same topic

This one game me a headache and I couldn't finish it!


http://concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080109/NEWS01/801090312

[Red Knight]

5. LOL!

Sue Winters, Franklin

Voted for Romney

"I was wavering, and as I entered the voting booth, I started reflecting on his business experience. The economy clearly needs to be a focus. (I was considering) McCain and also Edwards. So I was certainly scattered."

(Yep....you were scattered.)



Kerry Bird, 65, Concord

Voted for Huckabee

"I was so dissatisfied with all the other candidates. Huckabee came to the company I worked for (Delta Dental), and he seemed to be reasonable. I liked the fact that he didn't claim to know more than a few of the answers (to questions). He'll get people to lead him, and then he'll get the answers."

(Great choice---Huckabee knows nothing but will be willing to follow some shadowy figure who will make the big decisions for him. Where have we seen this before? Oh yeah--Bush/Cheney)


It's enough to make you cry.

[LisaM]

3. I spend time in the San Juan Islands (WA state)

In two different election cycles, they voted once for Ross Perot, and another time for Ralph Nader.

I guess they just relate to the concept of the "other" more than they vote issues. Funnily, one of the jewels of the San Juans is Moran State Park, which was largely built by (as they are still referred to by old-timers) "the CCC boys". Yet these people seem to have no identification with party and simply don't seem to have retained any links to FDR's ideals at all.

[Missy M]

4. My thoughts too that you have to have some political....

leanings, whether it be health care, taxes, abortion, etc. How can you be undecided until you walk into the voting booth. It doesn't make sense.

[Native]

6. I'm an independent, and I've only voted Repub. in local elections...

last time was when the Republican candidate was a staunch environmentalist and the Dem. candidate was a complete whack job & ex-criminal. Sometimes the choice is made for you. I don't know if it's the birds of a feather thing, but most of the Independents I know always vote Dem. like me. Of the few I've asked, they cite their reason for registering as an independent as simply not wanting to be pigeonholed. I have to admit that I have gotten a lot of mileage out of it: I can argue points with Repukes that my Dem. friends can't, and I've managed to get some friends to switch. I can honestly say that if I'd been a Dem., they wouldn't have listened to me. Like you, I find the comments of these NH independents to be extremely bizarre. It's almost enough to make me want to change my affiliation, but then again...I wouldn't want to be associated with many of the extreme DU'ers on this forum either - the way they eat their young (other Dems.) is not exactly a family atmosphere I find attractive.

[Didereaux]

7. Some indies are as twirly-eyed as the aluminum hatters in the parties...present company excluded! h

;)

[enlightenment]

8. I'm an Indy, too - always have been, always will be

Like most Independents, I've voted Dem pretty consistently (but not completely) since 1976 - but I don't want to belong to ANY political party. That's not what democracy means to me.

I've met a few screwy Indys, but for the most part the ones I know are very thoughtful about their choices, perhaps because they don't have the umbrella of a "party" to shelter them (or the group-think of a party to influence them).

Independents DO have a political philosophy; it's just not the right vs. left, conservative vs. liberal, surety that defines the major political parties. Life is fuzzy - it's not black and white but many shades of grey - independents embrace that rather than seek the security of a point of view that is defined through consensus.

[Native]

9. Very well said, and I'd like to add that the surety that defines major parties

is also in constant flux, and candidates aren't always true to their party's philosophies. Maybe it's because I'm logical to a fault, but rigidly aligning oneself to something that is so fluid, doesn't make any sense to me.

[enlightenment]

10. Very true.

It always amuses me to hear Republicans call themselves the "party of Lincoln." I know they haven't spent much time looking at the history of their party, if they believe that the party they embrace is the one that Lincoln claimed.

Of course, the same can be said for the Democratic party - I suspect there aren't too many present day Dems who want to claim the "Dixiecrats" as part of their party. Nor should they; things have changed.

What doesn't change is the persistent polarity of the two major parties; despite claims to a "big tent" there isn't a lot of wriggle room if you join the club. I would prefer to see people define themselves by their leanings - are they social dems, liberal dems, conservative dems . . . do they lean left on social issues and stand upright or lean a bit right on economics? Or any other permutation of the human spirit - because that's much more true than just standing beneath the big tent and saying "I'm a Democrat."

The problem with tents is that, like any structure, they have entrances. And where a "door" exists, there also exists the means to shut the "door."

That's not what democracy means to me.