http://www.sodahead.com/users/feeds/user/228008/votes/atom/ http://images.sodahead.com/images/profiles/0/0/0/2/2/8/0/0/8/profiles_onlinepic_1254_77135_media.jpeg Newt's Answers &amp; Comments at SodaHead.com Copyright © 2008 SodaHead.com All Rights Reserved 2008-03-03T20:03:09Z Newt http://www.sodahead.com/question/21798 <b>News reports say Ellen DeGeneres has adopted and then given away dogs 9 times before. Does this change your opinion of her?</b><br/><small>(Celebrities)</small><br/><br/> <div><a href="http://www.sodahead.com/question/21798/"> <img alt="News reports say Ellen DeGeneres has adopted and then given away dogs 9 times before. Does this change your opinion of her?" src="http://images.sodahead.com/images/polls/0/0/0/0/2/1/7/9/8/polls_pg6a.jpg_4710_684762.jpeg_poll_large.jpeg" align="top" border="0"/></a> <b>36 answers</b>, <b>+3 raves</b> </div> <br/><br/> Newt answered <br/> <a href="http://www.sodahead.com/question/21798/"> <img alt="No way! I still side with Ellen!" src="http://images.sodahead.com/images/polls/0/0/0/0/2/1/7/9/8/polls_060902_ellencarcrash_hmed_10a.hmedium.jpg_4929_667948.jpeg_answer_3_small.jpeg" align="left" border="0"/></a>&nbsp; <a href="http://www.sodahead.com/question/21798/">No way! I still side with Ellen!</a> <br/>&nbsp;&nbsp;and said : <a href="http://www.sodahead.com/question/21798/">Really, who cares?</a> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 2008-03-03T20:03:09Z 2008-03-03T20:03:09Z Newt http://www.sodahead.com/question/55357 <b>Ellen DeGeneres believes gay jokes are the beginning of violence: Do you agree?</b><br/><small>(Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual)</small><br/><br/> <div><a href="http://www.sodahead.com/question/55357/"> <img alt="Ellen DeGeneres believes gay jokes are the beginning of violence: Do you agree?" src="http://images.sodahead.com/images/polls/0/0/0/0/5/5/3/5/7/polls_default_3327_534364_poll_large.jpeg" align="top" border="0"/></a> <b>215 answers</b>, <b>+24 raves</b> </div> <br/><br/> Newt answered <br/> <a href="http://www.sodahead.com/question/55357/"> <img alt="I agree completely. Violent jokes lead to violence acts. Anyway, they aren't funny." src="http://images.sodahead.com/images/polls/0/0/0/0/5/5/3/5/7/polls_ellen_2718_901878_answer_1_small.jpeg" align="left" border="0"/></a>&nbsp; <a href="http://www.sodahead.com/question/55357/">I agree completely. Violent jokes lead to violence acts. Anyway, they aren't funny.</a> <br/>&nbsp;&nbsp;and said : <a href="http://www.sodahead.com/question/55357/">I was once attacked at knife point because I went to a gay bar. What country is this! I&#39;m smarter and tougher now, and I interrupt anti-gay jokes and attitudes whenever I see and hear them, but what a shame kids are still perpetuating the nonsense that&#39;s it&#39;s not OK to be gay. I&#39;ll even go farther than Ellen - it doesn&#39;t start with jokes, it starts with the Church and narrow minded religions. The Catholic Church and Christian leaders have found a way to make money off fear and hatred. If we can stop them, we&#39;ll finally move forward to a world that accepts all of humanity.</a> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 2008-03-03T19:58:23Z 2008-03-03T19:58:23Z Newt http://www.sodahead.com/question/16816 <b>Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama? Celebrities Pick Their Choice - Who would you rather elect?</b><br/><small>(United States)</small><br/><br/> <div><a href="http://www.sodahead.com/question/16816/"> <img alt="Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama? Celebrities Pick Their Choice - Who would you rather elect?" src="http://images.sodahead.com/images/polls/0/0/0/0/1/6/8/1/6/polls_2084656165_thumb0_1251_153095_poll_large.jpeg" align="top" border="0"/></a> <b>67496 answers</b>, <b>+311 raves</b> </div> <br/><br/> Newt answered <br/> <a href="http://www.sodahead.com/question/16816/"> <img alt="Undecided. (Please Comment)" src="http://images.sodahead.com/images/polls/0/0/0/0/1/6/8/1/6/polls_061216_ClintonObama_xtrawid.jpg_4313_678397.jpeg_answer_3_small.jpeg" align="left" border="0"/></a>&nbsp; <a href="http://www.sodahead.com/question/16816/">Undecided. (Please Comment)</a> <br/>&nbsp;&nbsp;and said : <a href="http://www.sodahead.com/question/16816/">America wants a leader who will inspire us, reassure us and rebuild our county and our trust in government. This year there is more at stake than just the U.S. presidency. We have a potentially historic opportunity to take back the Senate and fire all the Bush-policy rubber-stamping obstructionists in Congress. Progressives see a path to change and are poised to invigorate politics in ways we haven’t seen since the 1960s. But can Obama keep their attention when pitted against pop culture movie stars and idols that dominate our news? Will the “Yes We Can” movement last long enough to carry us through the elections next fall? If Democrats, Independents &amp; progressives want to win the 2008 presidency and, more importantly, achieve a landslide takeover of Congress, Democrats need a candidate who doesn’t have cultural/religious/ideological baggage the GOP can use to rouse their conservative religious base. Both Clinton and Obama have issues the GOP will exploit. Why is it that the fake-morality minority continually out-votes progressives? Because fear and hate are greater motivators than desire for positive change. The GOP knows that and uses fear of gays, anger at abortions etc. to motivate their religious base. The left simply doesn’t use its majority political clout to ensure the country is run the way we want it to be run. Hillary Clinton is the GOP’s best Get Out The Vote strategy in 2008. Obama may be a close second. If Sen. Hillary Clinton wins the Democratic nomination, she will inspire conservatives to vote as no one else has ever before. Right-wing voters don&#39;t just dislike her, they actively despise her! They&#39;ll vote in droves to ensure she doesn&#39;t win the Presidency. Read their blogs, listen to right wing talk shows, heck, talk to them around the dinner table if you don’t believe me. The right wing discussions indicate many Republicans not inspired by their current candidates won’t bother to vote. Unless Hillary is running, of course. Then they’ll vote for whoever is running against her. While at the polls, they’ll also vote for all those rubber-stamping, obstructionist Republican Senators we’d like to fire. Clearly, Hillary Clinton against any of their hopefuls is the Republicans&#39; best GOTV tactic, even more so than their anti-gay and anti-choice strategies that have spurred their followers to vote in the past. For that matter, plenty of people would vote against Barack Obama simply because of his skin color, or because they’re tricked by his name or his upbringing into believing he’s Muslim. (Even Muslims consider Obama a Muslim because his father was, and that automatically makes him one too.) While we should not dismiss his prospects just because racism and voter ignorance stand in his way, we can and should be realistic about what Republicans and conservatives will do to beat him. Even his name will be used against him: Barack Hussein Obama. Whew. I can hear the pundits and right wing talk show manipulators already. The problem is, even when our candidates inspire us, our voting turnout remains low. If we’re not careful, the spiteful, negative voting of our opponents may result in a lost opportunity to elect new Democrats in Congress as well as our being stuck with a war-mongering Republican president again next fall. Savvy voters need to take a step back to look at the big picture. It’s time for progressives to face reality: A Primary win for either Obama or Clinton may result in a huge loss next fall. Yes, I’m inspired when I hear Obama speak, and I’d love to see a woman President in my lifetime. But this year we have the unprecedented opportunity to fire all the Bush-policy rubber-stamping &amp; obstructionist Republicans in the U.S. Senate and replace them with Democrats who can get us out of Iraq, enact true election reform, and get big business out of our government. We might even get a handle on health care, equal rights and immigration issues on the way! Are we just hoping and pretending we’ll finally have a woman or person of color elected as President? Polls show that John Edwards is the only Democratic candidate who can win when paired against each of the Republican candidates, yet he’s still in third place in the Primary. If we end up with an “Anybody but Hillary” race next fall, or if Obama can’t shake free of his name, childhood school experiences and racism, we may up with yet another Republican president, or at the least, lost opportunities in the Senate. Perhaps Sen. Obama will recognize that he could win the Democratic nomination but his well-known inexperience and the fear of terrorism will cost Democrats the presidency for another four years. Could John Edwards win the Democratic nomination and the presidency if either Obama or Clinton teamed up with him now, bringing their skills and voters to the table? Perhaps Edwards should announce that if he wins the primary, he’ll ask Obama to run for Vice President. Will the “Yes We Can” movement continue if Obama runs as number two? If Democrats and progressives truly want change, we need to start talking to each other about how to get there, recognizing that neither Barack Obama nor Hillary Clinton are likely to win next fall. Molly Ivins said, “There are times when regular politics will not do, and this is one of those times.”1 Progressive Democrats who heed those words can aim for NO REPUBLICANS LEFT BEHIND in 2008. To do so may take some initiative on our part, given the likelihood that not even Oprah could convince Obama that his running for VP would better serve America. But we could do it for him, if we decide in advance to support a winning team. We need to face up to reality before our wishful thinking sets us up for failure again next fall. Oprah/Obama can you hear me? Maybe it’s time to tell Senators Obama or Clinton that we’ll support them, but only if they’re willing to run for VP. Email them, call them, tell them to do what’s right for America. In the spirit of Molly Ivins, let’s try something different this time.</a> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 2008-02-08T21:10:07Z 2008-02-08T21:10:07Z Newt http://www.sodahead.com/question/37425 <b>Which Democrat presidential candidate is easier for the Republicans to defeat in 2008?</b><br/><small>(United States)</small><br/><br/> <div><a href="http://www.sodahead.com/question/37425/"> <img alt="Which Democrat presidential candidate is easier for the Republicans to defeat in 2008?" src="http://images.sodahead.com/images/polls/0/0/0/0/3/7/4/2/5/polls_hillary_obama_184_0545_103710_poll_large.jpeg" align="top" border="0"/></a> <b>547 answers</b>, <b>+5 raves</b> </div> <br/><br/> Newt answered <br/> <a href="http://www.sodahead.com/question/37425/"> <img alt="Hillary Rodham Clinton" src="http://images.sodahead.com/images/polls/0/0/0/0/3/7/4/2/5/polls_hillary_rodham_clinton_0713_243086_answer_1_small.jpeg" align="left" border="0"/></a>&nbsp; <a href="http://www.sodahead.com/question/37425/">Hillary Rodham Clinton</a> <br/>&nbsp;&nbsp;and said : <a href="http://www.sodahead.com/question/37425/">See this blog Yes We Can <A href="http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/newt/CP9C" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://my.barackobama.com/pag...</A></a> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 2008-02-08T16:24:14Z 2008-02-08T16:24:14Z Newt http://www.sodahead.com/question/39232 <b>Who do you want to see win the Republican presidential nomination?</b><br/><small>(United States)</small><br/><br/> <div><a href="http://www.sodahead.com/question/39232/"> <img alt="Who do you want to see win the Republican presidential nomination?" src="http://images.sodahead.com/images/polls/0/0/0/0/3/9/2/3/2/polls_Republican_Elephant_5509_254042_poll_large.jpeg" align="top" border="0"/></a> <b>5890 answers</b>, <b>+96 raves</b> </div> <br/><br/> Newt answered <br/> <a href="http://www.sodahead.com/question/39232/"> <img alt="Mitt Romney" src="http://images.sodahead.com/images/polls/0/0/0/0/3/9/2/3/2/polls_romney_5354_499521_answer_3_small.jpeg" align="left" border="0"/></a>&nbsp; <a href="http://www.sodahead.com/question/39232/">Mitt Romney</a> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 2008-02-02T18:14:50Z 2008-02-02T18:14:50Z Newt http://www.sodahead.com/question/32227 <b>Which political issue is the most important to you and why?</b><br/><small>(Other)</small><br/><br/> <div><a href="http://www.sodahead.com/question/32227/"> <img alt="Which political issue is the most important to you and why?" src="http://images.sodahead.com/images/polls/0/0/0/0/3/2/2/2/7/polls_m_a653867ec5de19147ec19df3c5e39708_5950_870867_poll_large.jpeg" align="top" border="0"/></a> <b>11994 answers</b>, <b>+58 raves</b> </div> <br/><br/> Newt answered <br/> <a href="http://www.sodahead.com/question/32227/">Civil Liberties</a> <br/>&nbsp;&nbsp;and said : <a href="http://www.sodahead.com/question/32227/">Civil Liberties is key to reclaiming our government because the GOP uses civil rights as a wedge issue. When Democrats decide to stand up for civil rights, Republicans won’t be able to use GOTV strategies (Get Out The Vote) like gay-baiting to motivate their minority base to vote. If federal law mandated equal rights for all American families, and IRS, social security and health care rules are likewise fixed, gay marriage would be a less effective a wedge issue, and Democrats would win more elections on the real issues. See more here: <A href="http://www.blogforamerica.com/view/18544" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.blogforamerica.com...</A></a> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 2008-01-18T20:36:09Z 2008-01-18T20:36:09Z Newt