First, CNN ran this report...

Gender or race: Black women voters face tough choices in S.C.

Now you may be thinking what I'm thinking...

"How about voting for the best PERSON and leave race and gender out of it?...You'd have to be an unitelligent and uneducated fool to vote simply for race or gender."...

And the people who've read that article agree wholeheartedly...They ripped CNN such a new hole they had to create ANOTHER article for the bashing they took...

CNN readers respond angrily to 'race or gender' story

CNN...
Getting the backlash it deserves...

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"You get the respect that you give" - cnredd

I've heard some pundits talk about how it should be time to move past race and gender, and for them to not even be an issue.

Which is funny cause in most ways, I think it's the pundits and news media who are MAKING IT an issue in completely arbitrary and often denigrating ways.

Yup...

Somebody's got sell the papers and bring in the viewers...

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"You get the respect that you give" - cnredd

Well that certainly was offensive. I'm sure there are a black woman or two that are going to vote for Edwards. And I like Obama although I'm undecided at this point. I'm really getting tired of the race/gender issue. That was a very polarizing and partonizing article. It might reflect the views of a handful of women, but I don't find a conversation in a beautyshop very worthy of national news status. As far as I'm concerned it's a non-issue that the media keeps insisting on playing up.

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I'm sitting here trying to figure out which news service isn't offensive.

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Talking about music is like dancing about architecture

I don't really agree. I think most of us know no matter who we elect very little will change. It's not like our country will be flipped entirely upside down by electing choice A over choice B. Especially when you are considering two candidates that are both Democrats. If you thought there wasn't too big a difference between Hilary and Obama then you might be motivated by which piece of "history' would mean more to you: Seeing the first black man elected or the first woman. Doesn't necessarily make you stupid or unintelligent. Particularly if you're old and have a genuine desire to see such history made in your lifetime. Either one would be groundbreaking and so it's not a factor that should be ignored and there's nothing wrong with the media discussing it.

I won't be voting for either Hilary or Obama but there is a little part of me that finds the idea of either one of them rather exciting just on a "historical" level. I can't stand Hilary but I'd love my daughter to grow up knowing a woman is in the white house. It would be sort of thrilling. Maybe not something a white man can understand as Presidents are always white men.

Race or gender - I was wondering when that card would be played. In this day and age, none of this should even be in our minds as we move forward.

Certainly not in mine, I have one view on voting for the presidency. I vote on the candidates record of serving the American people, what they have actually done - not what they tout as campaign promise. Campaign promises are almost never fulfilled - it's not solely up to them, and hopefully it never will be.

A candidates true measure records itself with the test of time. Where they stand on a single issue matters very little, if they can't stay the course and get it accomplished. I have been doing far too much reading as the polls narrow down the field, and the reading reflects a great many things to me.

#1 - The American people are used to having career politicians in office, for the most part, rather than true statesmen. A politician will "sell" you their cause, whereas a statesmen will tell you the truth as they see it.

#2 - It has been a very long time since a President with a (real) military service record was in office. Bush Jr. would hardly qualify this, and his father was in the CIA (in no way qualifies).
Why would this matter? Because when you have stood on foreign soil with a weapon and a uniform, in the best interest of your nation, it makes you much more aware of how sacred the US truly is.
We are born free, and yet any member of the armed forces has elected to sacrifice that personal freedom for the freedom of many back home.
Although politicians take an oath to defend and uphold the Constitution of the United States, the oath a soldier takes is far more involved, as it very well could mean to death. This is a difference in commitment that shows in military veteran candidates.

#3 - The news media at this point, are showing their true colors (green as in money). I watch the news for a few hours every day, and yet all I see are commercials for "Billary" or Obama. I have never once seen a commercial for any of the other candidates in the running, and this shows better than any just how flawed our process has become.
In fairness, I feel that to show a commercial for one candidate, you should be required to show commercials in equal timeslot and quality for the other candidates. It is about choice, is it not?
They are merely embracing those that will perform in their best corporate interests, and it does show me who I won't be voting for (as I don't own or run a media agency, and I do care for our rights as citizens).

#4 - The best candidates barely have the money to make notice. I see personal (or corporate) wealth as an indication of compromise. Most sell-out queens in politics are the most dangerous people on earth. If they are not greedy in themselves, they have aligned with greed to get elected - who will they perform for while in office?

It's probably important to point out that I don't believe in the partied political system, and I don't believe that the US was ever intended to perform this way. In voting based on candidate record, I would have to vote for Mike Gravel first, and John McCain second.
Mike Gravel has stood the test of time in politics, and we all have him to thank for many things that go unrecognized (ending the military draft in 1975 for instance). He also never sought office for what it would do for himself personally - he calls his lack of campaign wealth a "badge of courage" and I commend him for that, as he hasn't sold out to private interests.
John McCain has stood the test of time as well, serving many years on our behalf - and taking many stands alone for the better of our nation. He understands what it takes to be a leader, and an American, and he understands the true price of compromise.

In this election, we need a President with the guts to make the changes we need to maintain our stance in the world. And I feel that either of these 2 men have SHOWN us they can do that - time and time again. They both believe steadfast that our Constitution and Bill of Rights have never let us down in our history, and won't as long as they have something to do with it.

lets vote for the best candidate and his political platform, not just because he /she is a woman or black..

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To be a poet or nothing.