[Sean]

Feeling especially patient today, so I temporarily suspended my one person ignore list.

Originally Posted by IsiliRunite

Because of the previous success of smear campaigns about irrelevant topics, like John Kerry's swift-boat saga, I think the proof is in the pudding that real issues aren't as important to "swing" voters as issues of personal character and personna.

More than 4-5% of Americans don't hold built-in allegiance ("I am a Republican" or "I am a Democrat") to either candidate, and that is the type of voter I'm speaking about.

Well now you're changing your story. You say 4-5% now, but earlier you said "20-30% in the middle, the people that have to make a decision, will sway the election IF one prejudice in their mind is more prevalent than the other."

And it appears that you're claiming the election will swing one way or another based primarily on which prejudice wins out, bigotry or white guilt. To quote nearly your entire first post, "It's really a battle of white guilt (supportive prejudice) vs. bigotry (negative prejudice). I don't believe it will come down to issues or principles, just which wins out in the "gut feelings" of the majority (white) voters".

I'm in the middle. A white, middle class, 35 year old registered independent with a high school education. I like Obama for the reasons that I believe the bulk of his supporters do. He's campaigning on the platform that we need to shift the direction the country is taking. He's respectful of opposing viewpoints. He's good at finding common ground. He wants to involve the American people in the political process more than we have been for nearly a decade. He's more willing to put what's right ahead of what's politically expedient. And he actually inspires people to get involved and to care about politics, an often overlooked plus for a President. Prejudices will of course be a factor, but I don't think there's evidence that they'll ultimately be the deciding factor, as you initially asserted.

Originally Posted by IsiliRunite

I am not claiming profundity, or universal truth, by mentioning my hypothesis. I was just bringing up a potential facet of the election I have not heard much about, seeing if anyone had anything to add.

Well now you're tempering your statements to a more reasonable level. But that doesn't change why people first jumped on your comments. Once again, I'll quote your first reply: "It's really a battle of white guilt (supportive prejudice) vs. bigotry (negative prejudice). I don't believe it will come down to issues or principles, just which wins out in the "gut feelings" of the majority (white) voters".

So for you to now say that:

Originally Posted by IsiliRunite

I guess when a person believes all of their words are groundbreaking or profound, they try to prove that everyone elses' words are not profound even if they did not submit their work to the board of review. Hence...the dirty debate team felt they could make a 'you-wrong-me-right' discussion out of nothing! Meddling kids...

...is a tad disingenuous.

Originally Posted by IsiliRunite

Lighten up, people. Even if you are all competing with me, the debate should have been discussion in the first place, and we should all be on the same team...

No one's competing with you. We were all just apparently taken off guard by the extreme nature of your initial post, and responded accordingly. Even you seem to have realized your comments were a bit beyond reality, because your subsequent posts have taken a very different stance, as I mentioned at the top of this reply.

Originally Posted by IsiliRunite

So, dirty collectively believes Obama has too much going for him and too much going against McCain for prejudices to really matter. Alright, I will take your collective perspectives into account and reflect on them.

I actually do feel that they "really matter", but I don't think they'll play a deciding role in the election. I think they really matter more in a sense that prejudices existing on the level they do are a social problem we need to continue working towards solving.