IT Workers Split For McCain, Obama

antipeon alerts us to a presidential preference survey, done in late February and early March, indicating that Obama and McCain lead among IT workers with 29% each. Clinton follows with 13%, just ahead of Huckabee (11%) and Ron Paul (9%). The Computing Technology Industry Association commissioned the poll, and the article notes that this trade group claims the population of IT workers is four times as large as the Bureau of Labor Statistics thinks it is — the better to make a voting block whose views must be attended to.

Pardon me saying so...

[Project2501a (801271)]

but the idea of a "voting block" made up by geeks, is uterly inane. Why, you say?
We like to think ourselves (ie, us geeks) as a special part of our society, (us vs the ID-10T problem). it's a dipole, hence a false dilema. we're part of the US society as much as everybody else. We are workers ourselves, even if most of us make a well-to-do living from our work.

But in no-way do we differ from another working caste of this society. In this Revolution http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Baroque_Cycle [wikipedia.org] of the wheel, we got the upper hand, because we are techically inclined. But the wheel *will* make another revolution, and we'll be bottom-feeders once again.

My point is, in these comming elections do not vote such and such because you are a geek/woman/black man/white man/polka-dotted-man from mars. Vote vote according to your class: a working man trying to make ends meet.

Re:Pardon me saying so...

[ciggieposeur (715798)]

when most polls show Ron Paul at under 5%, why do 10% of IT people support him?

Because many IT folks were fed libertarian talking points throughout their adolescence in the form of American science fiction. American sci-fi is disproportionately libertarian, with even an annual award (the Prometheus Award) given out by the Libertarian Futurist Society. Many famous names in sci-fi including Poul Anderson, Robert Heinlein, Neil Stephenson, David Brin, Larry Niven, and Vernor Vinge are/were associated with establishment libertarianism, and even Heinlein (who was supposedly co-opted by the libertarians ("TAANSTFL")) did little to publicly correct the impression that he favored anarcho-libertarian ideology.

Now twenty years later many IT folks have libertarianism sunk in very deep indeed.

Huckabee? Paul?

[jfruhlinger (470035)]

You know, IT people are generally all kinds of smug how much smarter they are than everybody else, but 20 percent of them are apparently still backing candidates who dropped out of the race several weeks ago.

H1-Bs

[hemp (36945)]

From an IT perspective, since all of the candidates some how think that there is a massive shortage of IT workers in the US and we should increase the number of H1-Bs to solve this problem, it really doesn't matter who is elected.

Its her connection with Tata and outsourcing

[Tangential (266113)]

Looking at the Clintons' record on H1B visas and Hillary's deep connections with companies like India's Tata (remember this http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-22654114_ITM [accessmylibrary.com]) its no surprise that IT professionals are rejecting her. She's all for sending our jobs overseas.

Net Neutrality

[MSBob (307239)]

McCain is against net neutrality (and I sense he doesn't understand the issue either) while Obama is for protecting net neutrality and - judging by the way his campaign is ran - is a lot more tech savvy than the other remaining candidates.

McCain is Bush #2

[jdb2 (800046)]

For crying out loud Bush *endorsed* McCain. To make it even clearer, McCain voted against the senate
anti-torture bill --1E6 hypocrite points-- and supports retroactive immunity for telecoms -- basically
indicating he's for the blatant and outrageous violation of the 4th amendment by Herr Bush even
though in public he disagrees with the policy - another 1E6 hypocrite points. If you still don't
believe me, he says that the U.S. needs the military option to deal with Iran. I rest my case.

jdb2

IT for McCain?

[Doc Ruby (173196)]

What could possibly make an IT person vote for McCain? He doesn't seem likely to even have a cellphone, let alone relate at all to anything IT people have to deal with. He's confessed he doesn't understand the economy. His Republican anti-immigration policies don't protect any IT jobs. What makes him seem like he could possibly represent their interests as president?

Surprised They're Split

[Bob9113 (14996)]

I'm a bit surprised IT workers are split. While I voted for McCain for Senate while living in Phoenix, I feel Obama is much stronger on tech issues. Here's what really sold me:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4yVlPqeZwo [youtube.com]

Read some more

[postbigbang (761081)]

Read his speech from last week. Think about leaders that you've disagreed with, too, but followed because you had faith in where they were going. There are lots of those in my history; we're not perfect beings and his pastor obviously has some issues with where America's been going. So do I. His pastor's not a showstopper for me. Given Clinton, who can't win, and McCain, who's too much of a turncoat and politico, Obama's the only remaining horse that can win this race and try to mend the mistakes made in two terms of an elected fear-monger.

Re:Read some more

[gambolt (1146363)]

Think about it. If he's been there for 20 years and never heard him say that kind of thing, isn't it logical to assume that he didn't say that kind of thing a whole lot?

Look at when he said it. It was right after 9/11. Everybody was saying crazy shit for a few weeks after 9/11. People were seriously proposing that airline passengers be required to fly in hospital gowns. Pat Robertson was blaming the whole thing on the gays. I was ready to join the marines.

Re:Hillary, anyone?

[avandesande (143899)]

I had the pleasure of growing up in one of the few really integrated towns/school districts. I had many black friends but none that would invite me over because they were afraid of what their father would say.
Rev. Wright is sadly enough the norm...

It would be nice if we could brush the situation under the rug, but we can't and we shouldn't. I don't believe that Obama shares the Rev. thinking, and I can understand why he doesn't disown him.

If you really want to find out the current status of race relations in the US watch some of the Chris Rock videos on youtube.

Re:Hillary, anyone?

[Zymergy (803632)]

I'll add another log onto your flame war bait fire....

John McCain is the *ONLY Candidate* (of the three) who can claim "IANAL".

We can all admit to ourselves, that there are FAR MORE Lawyer jokes then Honored Veteran & Hero Air Force Pilot jokes... Just saying...
To serve in the military is NOT the same as to serve in any elected office.

Re:Hillary, anyone?

[Daniel Dvorkin (106857)]

I want McCain. He's the only one who's proven his courage and loyalty under fire.

<sarcasm>What, by getting shot down?</sarcasm>

Seriously, whatever young John McCain, fighter pilot, may have done four decades ago, it's clear that old John McCain, politician, has no integrity left today. Look at the way he rolled over and showed his throat for Bush's people after the smear job they did on him in the 2000 campaign. Look at the way he talked tough about banning torture by the US military and intelligence services, then voted for the Military Commissions Act. He's a cowardly, self-serving, party-line Republican, and anyone who falls for his "straight talking maverick" act is a fool.

If McCain had associated with a minister who was a white supremacist and KKK supporter, he would have been kicked out, just like that.

Bullshit. McCain is closely associated with -- in fact, has courted and embraced -- right-wing preachers like John Hagee and Rod Parsley, who are on record with views that are at least as extremist as anything Jeremiah Wright has ever said. And yet somehow, the "liberal media" has failed to pick this up. Just like Bush, McCain is getting damn near a free ride from the press while his Democratic opponents are picked apart.

Re:Hillary, anyone?

[spleen_blender (949762)]

I hope you enjoy war with Iran and a never ending war on an intangible concept that can't technically be defeated. Real bright decision there, chief.

Re:Hillary, anyone?

[GodfatherofSoul (174979)]

I too was really disappointed that sen. Obama didn't take the opportunity to say on the record that racism is racism and that black people shouldn't behave in a racist manner either. Just seems to me to be common sense, as well as common courtesy. Race relations are largely a mess because of the differing standards that come into play. As well as the willingness to not play well with other minority groups.

Did you read the speech? The whole point was that people have reasons for their flawed beliefs, and we should empathize with what the origins are, but he in no way endorsed them. I think a lot of people haven't gone any further into this subject than "Wright is Barack's pastor" and a few 10 second YouTube.com clips. As for standards, they're different because people in this country have historically been treated differently. I think the speech was historic in that it spoke at an adult level. Now, if you chose to evaluate his words at the same old bumper-sticker level, then that's your fault.

Richardson was the best candidate that the Democrats fielded this election

That's obviously a very small minority opinion. Resume bullets are only a small part of the job interview. Remember, GWB had great resume bullets as well.

Re:Hillary, anyone?

[pohl (872)]

Well, he did run the tap at that awesome kegger...

Re:Hillary, anyone?

[GodfatherofSoul (174979)]

Hell yes Bush did. He looked GREAT on paper:

• Graduate of Philips Academy
• Degree from Yale
• Air Force National Guard pilot during Vietnam War (he bragged about this often neglecting to say he never served in theater)
• MBA from Harvard
• Son of U.S. President (that alone opens any door in this country for you)
• Two-term governor of one of the largest states in the Union
• CEO of several corporations
• GM of Houston Texans (I think)

My point is that resume bullets look good when you don't have to give the details; i.e. rejected by law school and daddy got him into the Guard to duck combat service, CEO of several failed companies, ripped off tax payers of Houston on the stadium deal then turned around and sold team to reap profit from stadium tax, only got into Yale because of legacy, etc.

Re:Hillary, anyone?

[Metasquares (555685)]

Taxes must be raised or spending must be cut. The current economic situation demonstrates that stimulus policies based on debt spending do not work in the long term. Sure, it worked sort of well for a few years, but the bubble just burst and now we're all paying the price for it.

Re:Hillary, anyone?

[gambolt (1146363)]

Don't forget Hageee's whole idea that the goal of US foreign policy should be to promote apocalyptic war in Israel so Jesus can return and take all the white strait people away in the rapture.

Re:Hillary, anyone?

[cayenne8 (626475)]

"Um, McCain solictited and got the endorsement of John Hagee, an outspoken anti-Catholic pastor of a megachurch in Texas. Among other things, Hagee has called the Roman Catholic Church "the Great Whore" and says that Catholics are apostates (non-believers)."

While that is a bit extreme.....it is nothing unusual for religions to point at others to say they are wrong, or doing the wrong things. If they didn't , well how would they differentiate themselves and get people to believe in what "they" say, you know?

This is something MUCH more different than putting someone down for being of a certain race, or sex....something you don't have a choice in. You can decide what church you want to go to.

That being said...I think Obama got a HUGE slide on associating with that preacher who was giving some really, really racist 'sermons'. If someone white was known to be going to a church where the minister was extolling how the black man had been responsible for all the crime in the US or something equally distastful....I can imagine that white candidate would apologize enough or distance themselves enough to have a remote chance of staying in public office, much less run for high office. I was shocked how little this stuff Obama's preacher's statements initially was played on tv and discussed in the general media. It did finally get out there, but, it took a bit IMHO.

I still like a lot of what Obama says....I think he's a great orator....and I'll listen to what he has to say....but, I hate the double standard we have here in the US about what is generally tolerated by what minorities can say about whites vs what whites can say about minorities before the racist card is thrown and they are publically crucified.

Personally...I think both sides need to quit being so thinned skinned....and people shouldn't get so upset when someone says something offensive about someone. Free speech kinda negates freedom from offense.

Re:Hillary, anyone?

[jdfox (74524)]

McCain also solicited and got the endorsement of the Reverend Rod Parsley, pastor of a megachurch who recently published a book calling for the destruction of Islam [motherjones.com].

>Personally, I think these types of attack vectors are silly. People make all kinds of friendships and relationships
>throughout their lives, and to be held responsible for all the beliefs and actions of those friends or associates is just ridiculous.

Certainly, a candidate shouldn't be judged on their friendships alone, nor should those friendships be evaluated out of context. But McCain has publicly accepted the endorsements from Hagee, Parsley, and other unsavoury characters. These are not simply business associates or friends, whose political views he happens to disagree with. McCain publicly calls them his "spiritual guides". That seems like poor judgment at best, and hints that he might have some private views which voters should get to know more about before granting him control of the most powerful military on the planet.

The same standard should apply to all candidates, not just McCain and Obama, but also Hillary Clinton, whose connections with "The Family" [thenation.com], a church group from the rightwing Dominionist [sourcewatch.org] movement, deserve similar scrutiny.

Re:I think McCain would be the choice today

[Daniel Dvorkin (106857)]

McCain might help the economy if he is true to his word about reducing government spending.

I really wouldn't count on Mr. "Hundred Years in Iraq" to do that if I were you.

Re:I think McCain would be the choice today

[raehl (609729)]

Oh come on...

The electorate is so stupid about some things.

McCain doesn't plan to be or want to be in Iraq for 100 years. But, he plans to be there until the job is done. Why can't we recognize this as the only honest answer to the question? Not "We must leave Iraq immediately no matter what!" but "We will leave Iraq when it makes sense to leave Iraq."

Now, I'm still a fan of getting the hell out of Iraq, but I'm suspicious of anyone who promises to do so no matter what.

On the pastor front, who the hell cares what Obama's pastor says? That makes about as much sense as caring what McCain's mom says, or what Hillary's husband says, you know, the one who got his pole smoked while his wife was in the same building. EVERYBODY knows people who are even good friends of yours who say stuff that you absolutely don't agree with, or that is just downright stupid. If we all refused to associate with people who sometimes said things we didn't like, we'd have a pretty hard time talking to anyone!

If you videotape what someone says for years, you're going to have some tape of somebody saying something stupid.

And in this specific case, I think Obama understands, and tried to communicate, that while he doesn't personally agree with his pastor's decision, he understands why his pastor feels that way, and why a lot of Americans feel that way. It's not that these Americans hate America, it's that they feel that America has not treated them well. Some of their feeling is justified, and some of it is blame transference, but it's important to understand that. Justified or not, it's going to be difficult to resolve what causes opinions like Obama's Pastor's opinion if you don't even understand it.

Anyway, this pastor stuff is going to blow over. McCain doesn't even care about it - as he's an upstanding candidate who wants to campaign on the issues. It's only totally-desperate-Hillary who cares.

Re:I think McCain would be the choice today

[k_187 (61692)]

Go away, I won't have your infernal logic sullying this discussion any longer.