Algorithm Names Powell 'Ideal' Vice President Candidate 543
CWmike writes "Turns out the ideal vice presidential candidate for Sen. John McCain is the same person as the ideal vice presidential candidate for Sen. Barack Obama, according to a sophisticated online survey based on technology developed at MIT. Mr. Ideal? Colin Powell, a former U.S. Army general and former secretary of state. Affinnova's survey methods doesn't use the typical polling method of asking respondents to pick a name from a list. Instead, it gives respondents larger concepts, including photos, biographical information and possible first-term priorities. Affinnova calls this algorithm 'evolutionary optimization.' Steve Lamoureaux, the company's chief innovation officer, said of the VP finding: 'We never imagined that the same candidate would show up for both parties.'"
Re:Unlikely (Score:3, Informative)
Bush/Quayle, Kennedy/Johnson, Eisenhower/Nixon, and Roosevelt/Truman seem to suggest that multi-generational winning tickets are not uncommon. Plus, Kennedy/Johnson even had an older VP, as I am guessing Teddy Roosevelt did.
But yes, Colin Powell is unlikely to be a VP, since he has said many times that he doesn't want to, and he is more believable than most when he makes that claim.
Re:mmmkay (Score:4, Informative)
Re:huh. (Score:2, Informative)
If Powell had resigned in protest over the planned invasion of Iraq then he would be considered by many more Americans to have great foresight, intellect, and integrity. Because he didn't resign, but instead became a shill to push the Neocon's agenda, his reputation plummeted.
Even if Iraq had had chemical weapons labs (which they didn't), and those labs had posed some immediate strategic danger to the U.S. (which they wouldn't have even if they had existed), then the "Powell Doctrine" called for the use of overwhelming force to utterly defeat the enemy (purportedly Iraq) in the shortest time with the fewest casualties. Yet Powell shilled for a war that was conducted on a shoestring on the insanely optimistic grounds that it would be a cakewalk and the U.S. Army would be greeted as "liberators" and have roses thrown at their soldiers as they marched through the streets of Baghdad.
The result? Thousands and thousands of dead people (Americans and Iraqis and many other nationalities) who didn't have to die. Powell was either too stupid to foresee this disaster or too spineless too oppose it. Take your pick.
Re:Who does age matter to? (Score:3, Informative)
The problem is that the Republican Party has been hi-jacked by a kleptocratic industry group, who's only concerned with the oil companies profiting. They've mouthed the standard party lines while doing almost exactly the opposite. Small government, no nation building, defense; all out the door. So, in reality, McCain is distancing himself from BushCo and trying to get back to the traditional Republican party and it's values.
Another thing, here in the states, standing out from the crowd can't hurt. If he can distance himself from Bush, he may be able to grab some swing voters. They make up around 30% of regular voters in the US and usually decide national elections.
Not for Obama. (Score:3, Informative)
Aside from all the opinions on Powell's character, he's a Republican. And supposing Powell would take the job, why would a Democrat want to make a Republican the president of the U.S. Senate? Powell would tie-break for the Republicans every time.
As others have said, this algorithm is deeply flawed, if for just this reason.
GIGO? (Score:3, Informative)
When the mainstream media inputs enough garbage into the American mind, garbage comes out?
I can't be the only person in the U.S. who was directed to foreign web sites like the Guardian, Telegraph and Independent during the drumbeat to war. Only a few days after Powell was waving his pencil around about the killer bioweapons at the UN, the Guardian had photos of the poultry plant the White House was calling the bioweapons factory. Same with the roving bioweapons labs aka weather balloons. A rational person, who I guess would have great difficulty relating to the American people, might think Colin "I vus only followin' mein orderz" Powell's honor and integrity would be hovering around Benedict Arnold territory.
Re:Who does age matter to? (Score:3, Informative)
How about Reagan? There is significant evidence now that in the last years of his presidency, he was suffering from advanced stages of Alzheimers'.
Re:An alternative they didn't seem to face (Score:3, Informative)
Heh. I think you'd have both vendors moving towards the center, but claiming the other person was so far out that they were falling off the boardwalk. Or they move towards the center on issues they affect, but move towards the edges on issues they can't, so they can appear to be on one side while still serving their ice-cream-manufacturing overlords.
Re:The Race Card. Re:Who does age matter to? (Score:2, Informative)
I'm not saying it's right, just that you're wrong.
Re:Meet the new boss... (Score:4, Informative)
As one of the few who voted against it, Obama is literally the only sane choice for president.
Obama was in neither the House nor Senate when the Iraq War Resolution was voted on. As such, he could not have "voted on it". He was, at the time, a critic of the war and, since then, although he has continued to speak out against the Iraq war, he has also voted in favor of every war funding resolution that has been sent to the Senate floor while he has been a member.
None of this is to imply that he is not still the best candidate in the race, but people should remember (a) to get their facts straight and (b) that Obama is still a relatively inconsistent politician who still needs his feet held to the fire (as evidenced both by these votes and the recent FISA flip-flop).
Re:Webb, Richardson, or Clark are better choices i (Score:4, Informative)
It is important to remember three things: Colin Powell is a lying cocksucker who covered up a war crime in Vietnam. Seymour Hersh is a brilliant journalist who broke the story of that war crime.
Third thing: For almost a year, Seymour Hersh has been writing in the New Yorker about Dick Cheney's preparations for a war, possibly even a nuclear first strike, against Iran.
Fear.
Re:The Race Card. Re:Who does age matter to? (Score:3, Informative)
If whites are so overtly racist, then why are groups like the KKK almost universally reviled amongst whites (yes, even out in the sticks),
I live out in the sticks and pretty much everyone here is racists and hates the KKK for being racist. Part of the deal with racism is that it's not really logical.
You should see how people laugh when they tell an off color joke about how expendable Mexicans are, or recite that old chestnut "Pontiac stands for Poor Old Ni--er Thinks Its A Cadillac" or implore you "don't be such a Jew", and how offended they get if you call them on it.
Whites are still pretty racist. In my experience, a fair percentage of people from any population anywhere are racist.
Re:Who does age matter to? (Score:3, Informative)
yeah sorry i had a way more detailed post before but power went out so i got lazy. I definitely did not say all old people are evil. Mccain said "I hated the gooks. I will hate them as long as I live." even if he was referring to only war 'gooks' the statement is troubling. We know he is religious and we know his stance on gays. Also we have a quote of him calling his wife a trollop and a cunt. And we know he left his first wife pretty ungentlemanly. Anyways when I said 'alot of old people' i meant comparatively, i didnt mean most. I just think its safe to say given mccains situation while being raised white man born on a military base in the 30s. combined with what we know of his policies, it wouldnt be a wild leap to say some of these things of him.