Poll: who of the following would make the best president of the United States?

Jian would spend all his time getting $400 haircuts on airplanes, and then admiring his $400 haircuts.

Ani would export all males to Cuba. And Castro ain't nice.

Dan Bern would bore us with his music.

Hoopoe the Clown would, well, I have no idea who that is.

George Bush is a douche bag.

Wormy is our only hope! Wormy in 2004!

.... hehehe douche bag... *giggle*

I mostly agree here.

Actually, until this weekend I woulda voted Dan, but his political songs have gotten far to blatent and overt. Honestly, that's a lot of my problem with Ani too.

I still love his more subtle, and his apolitical songs though.

I might vote for Fordy though (and he could technically run. He'd have to move here and become a citizen first (what is it, ten years?) but he was born in the states.

I seriously think I'm going to write in Optimus Prime at this point. He seems better than anyone running at the moment.

Actually, I don't suppose we could call through the TV and elect Bartlett, could we?

I voted for Hoopoe of course but he isn't actually eligible, he's British. So the big question is who would his running mate be? Roger the Jester?

Same with Jian, he's Canadian.

Bah! The United States is *NOT* a democracy.� I really wish everyone in the media would ERASE that word from their vocabulary.� The US is not a democracy, and we wouldn't WANT democracy either.� Bleh.

Jian would make a horrible president, not only because of his politics, but because he'd be too busy shacking up with every intern in the greater Washinton DC area. :)

You know, the best country song to come out after 9-11 was Alan Jackson's "Where were you".� No matter what your perspective on life, I guarantee you, you can find something in that song that you did or can relate too.

Then again, I like Tobey Keith's "Courtesy of the USA" too.� I highly dislike Darrel Worley's "Have you Forgotten?"

"the best country song to come out after 9-11"
From all the ones I've heard, "best" is a very relative term there. (and that includes that one) I'm yet to hear a single good song focusing on the event. I like Dan Bern's song, but that's really more about ashcroft in the aftermath

Where was Fordy born?

Detroit, if I remember right

I dunno, I think Alan Jackson did a good job writing a song which captured how people probably reacted to the event, which is why I think it's one of the best.� It isn't political, or telling you what you should or shouldn't feel/think/do.� It just makes you think.

I also liked the "Johnny Walker Blues" by Steve Earl, but that's damn controversial. Blown out of proportion in my opinion, but controversial.

yay!

> Actually, until this weekend I woulda voted Dan, but his political songs have gotten > far to blatent and overt.

Ack.� Does that mean I'm NOT anticipating Friday night as much as I thought I was?

And here I was thinkin', geez I haven't seen Danny Burns (that nice Scottish lad) in awhile, this will be cool ...

Ani in 2004, Wormy in 2024.� (Or whenever she's, like, old enough, and they change the native-citizen requirement.� Although I'm not sure we can afford to wait that long.)

Michigan

Has anyone heard or read Ani Difranco's poem Self Evident!??!?!?!?!!!

Hmmm... I dunno Josh... I think Wormy is a little too right-wing for you...

Vote Wormy.

everyone's favourite friendly neighborhood 15 year old obsessive-compulsive pagan�polyamorous bisexual Canadian.

wow, i have more dirt to be dug up on me than even the current presidential candidates.

closer to election day, i'll talk about my platform. once again, vote wormy. help me gain control of a country i know little about and have only visited about 8 times.

Guess I learn something new every day :-) Now I'm just wondering how I never knew that.

400 dollar haircuts?? Why must it cost so much money to cut that man's hair? i liked it better long anyway.

I voted for him though, because george bush is awful, i dont really know ani or dan's music.�

jian would make a funny president because the country would become like one huge party. a nd instead of playing saxophone like bill, he'd rock out on drums. woooo baby.

To back up your point, look no further than the Pledge of Allegiance:

"...and to the republic for which it stands..."

-- Pauley

And every speach would be dominated by the words, "here's my point"

agreed. (from what i can remember.) i'm fond of alan anyway - he enjoys telling music row to piss off.

and that "have you forgotten" song makes my ears bleed.

Here's my point. . .mY point is. . .a calculator, that's my point.

everyone should:) Words and an MP3 can be found here. Go Ani!

Why? I thought he was a bit over the top last week, doesn't mean anyone else would. It wasn't a bad show at all, quite good really, just not nearly as good as when I saw him with the IJBC. I just think he has the same problem with political songs/poems as I do (and, in my opinion, Ani does too), in that they're too blatent, not subtle enough. That's why I don't write them much myself.
*shrug* I think that one just goes down to taste in the end.

Republic: A State in which supreme power is held by the people or its elected representatives or by elected or nominated president, not by monarch.
The Concise Oxford Dictionary 1978, p 953

Democracy: (A State having) government by all the people, direct or representative; form of society ignoring hereditary class distinctions.
Ibid, p 272

Seeing that the term republic is derived from the Latin res publica, thing of the people and democracy is derived from the Greek demos, people, it seems to me that "democracy" and "republic" have an awful lot in common, particularly a rejection of rule by heredity and the affirmation that ultimately power resides in the people.

To say a republic is not a democracy makes as much sense to me as saying a poodle is not a dog.

> Bah! The United States is *NOT* a democracy.
> I really wish everyone in the media would ERASE
> that word from their vocabulary. The US is not a
> democracy, and we wouldn't WANT democracy either. Bleh.


It's a constitutional representative republic, actually. But in addition to the media, we'd better apprise a certain GWB of that subtle distinction -- especially since he became president because of it. And it would probably be good for him to know this before he goes off trying to remake another foreign country into a "democracy".

I wouldn't exactly call myself left wing. Aside from the warhawk thing, she beats the pants off of any other candidate I've seen. :)

Fourteen years. I was just admiring Article II, Section 1 this morning, and rejoicing in the fact that Ah-nulled can't run for president.

All you need to do these days to get a constitutional amendment is to go to the local town hall, present the text you'd like to be included in your amendment, and show one form of ID. I've discovered that they accept a library card as that ID.

Since when is the Pledge of Allegiance one of the documents on which this country is founded?

"The U.S. is not a democracy" is every bit as pedantic and meaningless as "communism is a great system...on paper"

Yes, but the key distinction is a democracy is majority rule. A republic, which shares many aspects in common with a democracy, adds a layer of indirection via respresentation and also has the people retain most of the "power". A democracy has the majority having the power.

Furthermore, ours is a constitutional republic in that the powers of the government are few and specific and the powers reserved to the people are numerous and unspecified (i.e. whatever is not given to the government are retained by the people).

A more concise analogy would be to say that a dachsund and a basset hound are both hound dogs and used for the same basic purpose, but have key differences.

Actually, most politicians now refer to the US as "our great democracy" Democrat and Republican alike. The Bush Administration (like so many administrations before them) are too busy wiping their butts with the Constitution to notice the difference.

*blink* warhawk? er...not me. pro-war in terms of the Iraq situation, yes...but warhawk, no.

other than that...yeah for pants-beating!
i'm really liking this poll. :P

and i'd like to know why those pointy A's keep showing up in all my posts.

if i am president, pointy A's will be the first to go.

What songs did he do that rubbed you the wrong way? All I can think of is My Little Swastika, but that's not very preachy.

"he's just a peacenik. . .and she's just a warhawk"

it's Wormy in a landslide!

I'd vote wormy, no doubt.

Second on the list would be Ani, I think... but she's a bit to flighty.

Jian definitely has a head for politics, so there is really no reason why he would not make a solid pres.

Dear god, though, can you imagine the state of the union addresses???

4 hours into it: "So, here's my point."

Actually, until this weekend I woulda voted Dan, but his political songs have gotten far to blatent and overt. Honestly, that's a lot of my problem with Ani too.




words against ani... um. I have a bone to pick with you lego boy. ;-)

I inserted myself in the last presidential election. it started out as a joke and then the local press made it a thing.

I made signs for "the ZIL party" "stop the bullshit! vote ZIL" "there's prozac in your water! vote ZIL" etc...

everyone wanted to know who this ZIL party was and who was the leader... I was never found out. but I did get some votes. not that it mattered in the end.

�it would be hilarious!!!!! hours of poltiical rehtoric simplified into a few sentences.

Who would do the simplifying?

Murray

No, I love "My Little Swastika"!

It was really his constant drilling of "get Dubya outa office", which is a point I very much agree with, but it was getting old about half-way into the show (and the cultish chorus at the end was really ovetr the top). Song-wise, the two that bugged me were the one I just mentioned, and his "if I were president" (or something like that), which was mostly just a rant, noting that inventive. *shrug* None of that stuff seemed the least bit unique. Just the same rants lots of people have, and I know he's a much better writer/preformer than that.

Yeah, and you don't like Dr. Demento, what's your point? ;-)

Heh.
So Murray as vice prez?

Actually, hell! Murray for prez!!!!

Recall Wormy! Murray for Prez!

hee. We can play California even better than they can.

I'm gonna try and run a pastrami sandwich against bush in '04, it'd make a better prez. but it would never win, after all, it's jewish.

as much as i liked the phrase "incompassionate wad," i vote wormy 2004.� all hail!

TEAM WOMAN!

�-= george =-

She... doesn't like Dr. Demento???� *heartbroken*

I just KNEW there was a question I forgot to ask...

Only four hours into the speech...

My mother was listening to him talk once and had to leave the room because he was making her nervous, then she was like, "you sound just like this you know..." But with me it's, 'um', 'oh what was it' or 'I said.'

what is it with the phrase "douche bag"�making a comeback?

:)
*S*

heehee...Norg remembers team woman. yay.

you know, i don't even know how i got that name. :P

when my mom heard him talk she said she'd love to meet him so she could ask why he felt the need to swear.

of course norg remembers team woman.� norg invented it.

you got that name because you had that feather boa like thing when you did the jian impression, and i think it prompted me to do the Animal chant of "WOMAN!� WOMAN!" during the course of going up to the microphone...

at least, i think that's how i remember it. :D

�-= george =-

that sounds about right... but it wasn't a feather boa, it was her shirt... it was fuzzy and blue... like grover.

mmmmmgrover. mmmmmwormy.

well if you take into consideration that a usual state of the union speech is a little bit less than an hour and a half, you gotta have the two and a half hours of the ums, and him listening to what he just said and what not.

yup. woman!� the performance was awesome too. :D

�-= george =-