My father was... & my presidential candidate is ....

[AP]

I've always wondered if people were picking their presidential candidates based on their experiences with their fathers growing up. For example, if your father were an authoritarian, and you never questioned that behavior, does that mean you're more likely to see the stern candidate as having a demeanor appropriate for the Cheif Executive.

The way people get so emotionally tied up with their candidates, there must be something (unconscious) that goes as deep as policy positions.

If there were more slots, I would have loved to include Dean and Clark. Maybe we'll do a second poll if this one doesn't drop like a rock.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

1. How 'bout: "My father was nice & I'm ABB"?

[southerngirlwriter]

2. it goes the other way, too

mine was an abusive prick, and my candidate is ABB, but preferably Edwards. Edwards is a great father who adores his kids, and I implicitly trust him because of that.

Father-relationships influence EVERYTHING. You're very astute to inquire about this.

[flpoljunkie]

3. What a silly poll, AP.

Mr. Nice Guy John Edward's record will perhaps now get a little scrutiny, and we will learn that his Senate voting record belies his opportunistic, faux populist campaign.

Edwards has close ties to the DLC and was one of their preferred candidates, the other being Joe Lieberman.

From today's New York Times: http://nytimes.com/2004/02/19/politics/campaign/19CAMP.html?hp=&pagewanted=print&position=

In attacking Mr. Kerry for his 1993 vote, Mr. Edwards rejected Mr. Kerry's contention that there was little difference in what they would do with future job treaties as president.

"I think your record is an indication of what you'll do in the future and also shows the strength of your convictions on a particular issue," Mr. Edwards said.

But Mr. Edwards acknowledged in an interview earlier this week that there was little evidence of his having opposed Nafta before 1997 or 1998, when he first ran for the Senate. He has close ties to the Democratic Leadership Council, a group of moderate Democrats that has pushed for liberalized trade agreements, but he said he had made his views known throughout that campaign.

"What I've said is when I campaigned in '98 — since I wasn't in the Congress when passed — I campaigned and I was against Nafta," he said in the interview. But he said it was not a major part of his Senate campaign.

[AP]

4. southerngirlwriter doesn't think so.

Why are the meatiest parts of that article NOT in quotes?

The NYTimes hates Edwards. Nagourney said he should drop out after Wisconsin.

This article is typical NY Times BS. They give you spin but don't have the quotes to back up the spin.

[flpoljunkie]

6. Are these Kerry quotes re Edward's trade stands meaty enough for you?

"We have the same policy on trade — exactly the same policy," Mr. Kerry said, campaigning in Dayton, where he stood in front of a huge banner that read, "John Kerry: Protecting America's Jobs."

"He voted for the China trade agreement; so did I," he said, referring to legislation that granted China permanent normal trade relations.

"And we, both of us, want to have labor agreements and environment agreements as part of a trade agreement, so it's the exact same policy," Mr. Kerry said, before registering a note of skepticism about Mr. Edwards's commitment on the issue.

"Well, he wasn't in the Senate back then," Mr. Kerry said. "I don't know where he registered his vote, but it wasn't in the Senate."

[AP]

7. Uh, Kerry isn't exactly an unbiased commentator on Edwards's positions.

He wants to blur the lines.

The China trade agreement was the ONLY trade bill, but it was apparently the only one they both voted yes on.

[Cuban_Liberal]

5. "My father was NICE and my candidate is EDWARDS"

:)

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

8. My father was a socialist union organizer and I'm voting Green.

But, he wasn't part of my life - he died when I was 4. I came by my socialism on my own.

[BL_Zebub]

9. My father was God and I'm still a Devil for Dean!

:evilgrin:

[Guaranteed]

18. Mine too.

My dad got fooled by Bush over the war, though.

He told me he's voting with me, from now on.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

10. You left out a category:

"My father was nice but distant and my candidate is Kucinich." :-)

[SpaceCatMeetsMars]

11. I think your poll is skewed because you are leaving out

the people who DO question their father's treatment. There must be something to the whole issue, though, judging by the way the media people seem to have such strange fixations on the politicians.

[adadem]

19. Exactly

My parents never questioned authority...the doctors, teachers, pastors knew best. I like Kerry because he questions and thinks through everything. The first time I heard about his Vietnam experiences and what he did when he came home made him a hero to me.
I tend to lean towards people who question everything....just like I do.

[Crunchy Frog]

12. My father was an authoritarian alchoholic

who my mother left when I was 8. I still consider Clark my candidate, even though he's dropped out.

Maybe he seems like the kind of father I would have liked to have had.:shrug:

[Padraig18]

13. "My father is deceased (but a nice man) and I'm for Dean & Edwards"

:hi:

[shimmergal]

14. My father was nice and I'm a former Clark supporter.

Now tending towards Edwards.

Basically I'm ABB though.

[JVS]

15. What the hell is this distant stuff? If someone is mean do you really ...

them close?

[West Coast Democrat]

16. My father is very progressive and has never done a mean thing

in his whole life! He's basically a saint. And...I'm a Clark supporter.

[Anwen]

17. My father is funny and intellectual...and my candidate is Dean.

:)