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Tuesday, September 16, 2008

To Vote, Or Not to Vote…for Nader

By: Noah Baron at 12:02 pm

[Noah Baron mulls a protest vote. See below for Xavier Sala-i-Martin's thoughts on the matter. -Ed.]

Over the past weeks/months I’ve been thinking a lot about Ralph Nader and his candidacy. The following is an essay I wrote when I was really pissed off at the Democratic Party, and had momentarily forgotten that the Republican Party exists and pisses me off even more. Basically, do not necessarily take the following post as an indication that I will actually be voting for Ralph Nader but rather as part of an inner dialogue and my personal decision-making process.

At the time of writing this preface, my actual vote is probably for Barack Obama, but I am not entirely sure quite yet. My vote will depend on the following factors: (1) how much I hate Sarah Palin/John McCain/The Republican Party on election day/whenever I send in my absentee ballot; (2) how frustrated I am feeling with the Democratic Party; (3) whether or not I actually get an absentee ballot/whether it gets here on time.

Fellow Columbians, I have something to confess: this November, I will probably not be voting for Barack Obama. I will, instead, be voting for Ralph Nader.

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Tags: Communist, Douchebaggery, Homosexuality, Human rights, annoyance, awesomeness, controversy, decision '08, democrats, gay rights, health, hotness

Thursday, September 11, 2008

The Ice Queen Strikes Back

By: Noah Baron at 4:40 pm

[In the spirit of today's shambolic demonstration of non-partisanship or whatever, Noah Baron offers some non-partisanship of his own, re the sensational Sarah Palin. Wonder what she has to say about "service?" Only no I don't. -Ed.]

One of my close friends is a Republican. This fact, in and of itself, should not be terribly surprising to most — though it might be, considering the fact that I am — and you are too, probably — a Columbia student. In any case, what is important about this is that this friend is also, in the words of Russell Peters, “of the gay”.

Originally, he supported Rudy Giuliani. For a gay man, this, I suppose, is forgivable. Now, of course, he supports John McCain—and rabidly so. When McCain announced that he was going to make Sarah Palin his vice-presidential candidate, my friend was ecstatic, not stricken with grief, as he should have been. Instead, he went on about how the Ice Queen, the ever-so-humble expert on Russia, isn’t actually so bad when it comes to gay rights. “She’s a Grace!” he exclaimed, referencing the TV show “Will and Grace”, unbeknownst to me. “You mean a disgrace?” I asked, annoyed. “I mean,” he said, with his barely-contained lisp, “she has a gay best friend!”

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Tags: Douchebaggery, McCain, Palin

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