MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA. The 2008 Republican National Convention. Without any setup beyond "Why do you support your candidate?" (including variations such as "What about your candidate moves you to support them?" and "What appeals to you about your candidate?"), I interviewed three different people or groups of people to attempt to explore what it is about Barack Obama, John McCain and Ron Paul that inspires support.
Why Do You Support Your Candidate?


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"Are you afraid to state why you're supporting McCain?" I love the question. Frequently I give up when someone doesn't want to be on camera, but that's a good way to get them to speak. Makes them look like the fools. And the way you laid it out, even handed, it makes them eat their words.
Thanks, Kyle. Yeah, I guess my nature leads me to dig in just a little when people don't want to be on camera. Within reason, por supuesto! I am not about invading people's personal private space, but in a public square and at a moment like this one, it usually means you are on to something salient. Guerrillero bideo all the way baby! Thanks for your time and thoughts.
Perfect video! The supporters of each candidate sure tell a lot about the candidate, just by the supporter's earnestness OR hostility. You captured the whole essence. Great work!
It's ironic that the McCain folks are the most fearful to answer questions on camera when the candidate they support will likely do more invasions of their privacy and distribute their words to people they don't have a chance of knowing.
Meh, their loss! I'm supporting the intelligent one!
The Ron Paul supporters made me smile. I wish those dudes didn't have so much vested in Paul and would take to the streets for what they're chatting about. But then again, I shouldn't assume they don't do that.
Puglover, you nailed what I loved about the contrast. Thank you for your words.
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Sylvia/M what a great point!
And I really liked the Ron Paul supporters I met, for the most part, I agree. They had a good energy. Thanks for taking the time to comment.
Great video and juxtaposition.
You can see the eagerness for change in the Ron Paul supporters and the honesty in the Obama supporter who has also had enough of the craziness we've experienced the last eight years. The McCain supporters were an odd couple and they've obviously been affected by our Republican run government which has run amuck. If they're so fearful of cameras then why are they voting for McCain?
Isn't it strange that republicans have to compare their VP candidate to the democrats Presidential candidate?
Democrats, between sniggers of derision and snorts of disgust, contend that Sarah Palin, John McCain's vice-presidential pick is ridiculously unqualified to be president.
It's a reasonable objection on its face except for this small objection: it surely needs to be weighed against the Democrats' claim that their own candidate for president is self-evidently ready to assume the role of most powerful person on the planet.
At first blush, here's what we know about the relative experience of the two candidates. Both are in their mid-forties and have held statewide elective office for less than four years. Both have admitted to taking illegal drugs in their youth.
So much for the similarities. How about the differences?
Political experience
Obama: Worked his way to the top by cultivating, pandering to and stroking the most powerful interest groups in the all-pervasive Chicago political machine, ensuring his views were aligned with the power brokers there.
Palin: Worked her way to the top by challenging, attacking and actively undermining the Republican party establishment in her native Alaska. She ran against incumbent Republicans as a candidate willing and able to clean the Augean Stables of her state's government.
Political Biography
Obama: A classic, if unusually talented, greasy-pole climber. Held a succession of jobs that constitute the standard route to the top in his party's internal politics: "community organizer", law professor, state senator.
Palin: A woman with a wide range of interests in a well-variegated life. Held a succession of jobs - sports journalist, commercial fisherwoman, state oil and gas commissioner, before entering local politics. A resume that suggests something other than burning political ambition from the cradle but rather the sort of experience that enables her to understand the concerns of most Americans..
Political history
Obama: Elected to statewide office only after a disastrous first run for a congressional seat and after his Republican opponent was exposed in a sexual scandal. Won seat eventually in contest against a candidate who didn't even live in the state.
Palin: Elected to statewide office by challenging a long-serving Republican incumbent governor despite intense opposition from the party.
Executive experience
Obama: Makes executive decisions every day that affect the lives of his campaign staff and a vast crowd of traveling journalists
Palin: Makes executive decisions every day that affect the lives of 500,000 people in her state, and that impact crucial issues of national economic interest such as the supply and cost of energy to the United States.
Religious influences
Obama: Regards people who "cling" to religion and guns as "bitter”. Spent 20 years being mentored and led spiritually by a man who proclaimed "God damn America" from his pulpit. Mysteriously, this mentor completely disappeared from public sight about four months ago.
Palin: Head of her high school Fellowship of Christian Athletes and for many years a member of the Assemblies of God congregation whose preachers have never been known to accuse the United States of deliberately spreading the AIDS virus. They remain in full public sight and can be seen every Sunday in churches across Alaska. A proud gun owner who has been known to cling only to the carcasses of dead caribou felled by her own aim.
Record of bipartisan achievement
Obama: Speaks movingly of the bipartisanship needed to end the destructive politics of "Red America" and "Blue America", but votes in the Senate as a down-the-line Democrat, with one of the most liberal voting records in congress.
Palin: Ridiculed by liberals such as John Kerry as a crazed, barely human, Dick Cheney-type conservative but worked with Democrats in the state legislature to secure landmark anti-corruption legislation.
Former state Rep. Ethan Berkowitz - a Democrat - said. "Gov. Palin has made her name fighting corruption within her own party, and I was honored when she stepped across party lines and asked me to co-author her ethics white paper."
On Human Life
Obama: Devoutly pro-choice. Voted against a bill in the Illinois state senate that would have required doctors to save the lives of babies who survived abortion procedures. The implication of this position is that babies born prematurely during abortions would be left alone, unnourished and unmedicated, until they died.
Palin: Devoutly pro-life. Exercised the choice proclaimed by liberals to bring to full term a baby that had been diagnosed in utero with Down Syndrome.
McCain/Palin 2008
cp, yes the eagerness of the Ron Paul supporters is palpable. And they weren't the only ones. I met other Ron Paul supporters (watch for a new vid later today, Thurs) who were also young and articulate and engaged.
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Jaime, thanks for the treatise. Sadly, I'm not sure extremely long lists like this do much to advance a cause as they dont seem to personally engage readers or come from a personal place—which is to my mind the strength of blogs, but I'm sure some people will find your effort useful. Rock on! And thanks for your time.