Union Dues

jill from Florida. I am curious...... You don't like Obama and the Democrats, you don't like Bush and the Republicans, but some how you like Mccain... A man that has voted 95% with Bush and the Republican agenda of NAFTA, big oil, globalization, etc, etc. what gives?

In some of your postings you sound like an independent, but in others you sound like a rabid Republican. I detect some confusion in you. Let me try and help. Since you grasp the concept of party platform you most understand that every candidate Obama, or Mccain most conform to the agenda of their party first and foremost. The agenda of their respective parties is defined, it is not up for debate, and it is the basic blue print that will be utilized to govern.
With Bush we knew that we were empowering the Right -Conservative wing of the Republican party..... We got Neo-Cons, a war in Iraq that was not necessary, the return to fiscal irresponsibility, the rise of big oil, no energy policy, no foreign policy at all, etc. etc.
With McCain we used to have a maverick. One of the very few Republican leaders independent enough to actually go against the party platform..... But no more. In order for McCain to win he will have to do what the "base" of the GOP asks him to do period. The problem with it is that the "base" of the GOP is ....... Yes, you guess it...... The same neo-cons, Republican right wing nuts that supported Bush.

Now I don't know about you, but that kind of "change" is precisely the one I do not need, and our country can not afford any more. After 8 years of an incompetent ideolog in the WHite House, real change can't come too soon..... Even if it is from some of those hated "Liberals"..... For if Obama turns out to be even half the president "liberal" Clinton was , I for one will take it any day from the likes of a "conservative" W Bush.



Obama can be a lot of things dear, but he is not in the pocket of the Neo-cons, right wing nuts..... McCain is now, that is if he wants to win of course. If not, he can go back to his old job of being the quaint maverick of the Republican party.

I don't own any guns and I am not a blue collar worker, I am a life long Democrat but no way could I vot for Mr. & Mrs. Dumbo!

"Perception"--I noticed that you snidely mentioned that you don't know what Obamas energy policy would be. Well, if you fo to BarackObama.com, there is a link to a PDF which contains his energy policy proposal, as well as just about every other policy you could possibly want to know about. This information has been available since this past January, so it's high time that people like you stop pretending that Obama and his policies are some kind of enigma, and just do some research. If you don't like Obama, that's one thing. But this whole game of the Obama critics whining about how they don't really know who he is or what he stands for, is just silly. He has given hundreds of speeches, he has a couple of extremely revealing biographies out, and he has persistently and patiently, explained what his goals and policies will be as President. The truth is out there, go lasso it in. If you like what you hear/read, please join this call for change.

Actually Obama has stated that he supports the research and development of new energies, thereby minimizing our reliance on foreign oil. If you think drilling is the answer you'll be waiting at least a decade to see results from such an endeavor. Tthere is no easy way out of our energy problems, and at least Obama is man enough to admit it. McCain is the master at selling false hope wrapped up in a coastal drilling package. If you're looking for a quick fix to the current gas prices, you're living in dreamland, because no such quick fix exists. It will take years to get of this mess either way, so we might as well accept the fact that we're going to have to make sacrifices while we work on bringing new alternative energies to the mainstream. Otherwise, we'll just be passing down our problems to the next generations all in the name of convenience.

Even if I did not know any of the candidates I would vote for the one who says he will give
those making less than $ 150,000 a tax break and tax the ones above that more. Which in my book makes sense, earn more, pay more taxes. That what happens to me when I work
on Sundays, Holidays, etc., I pay more in taxes though it is hardly worth it to make the extra
money because Uncle Sam wants his right away. Why would anyone even consider NOT to vote for Obama is beyond me. His tax policies affect us all.

McCain uses Vietnam ordeal against jibes over wealth
REUTERS by Andrew Gray Aug. 25, 2008

BURBANK, California (Reuters) - John McCain, who often invokes his ordeal as a Vietnam war prisoner to show his devotion to his country as he runs for U.S. president, drew on the experience again on Monday -- this time to deflect sniping over the number of houses he owns.

McCain's Democratic rival Barack Obama last week accused the Republican senator of being out of touch with ordinary people after he was unable to say in an interview how many houses were owned by him and his wife Cindy, a wealthy heiress to a beer distributorship.

In an appearance on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, McCain, 71, said his priority was to keep Americans in their homes in tough economic times.

Then he recalled his Vietnam experience.
"I spent 5 1/2 years in a prison cell without -- I didn't have a house. I didn't have a kitchen table. I didn't have a table. I didn't have a chair," he said.
"I spent those 5 1/2 years ... not because I wanted to get a house when I got out."

U.S. HOUSING WOES
Rising energy prices and the faltering economy have become central issues in the race for the White House. The next president will inherit problems including a mortgage crisis that has cost many Americans their homes.

McCain said he was prepared to deal with that and sought to play down the controversy over his family's assets.

"I'm proud of my record of service to this country and it has nothing to do with houses. What it has to do with (is) putting Americans in houses and keeping them in their homes. And that's what I know how to do," he said to loud cheers from the studio audience.

On the show the Arizona senator listed four homes he and his wife have -- one in the Washington area, two in Arizona and one in California. Media reports and Democrats have said the couple have at least seven properties when investments are included.

McCain said he was proud of the way his wife's father had built up a large business after fighting in World War Two.

With the Democrats engaged in their convention in Denver this week that will formally nominate Obama and the Republicans due to meet next week, polls show the two candidates locked in a dead heat in the popular vote. McCain predicted a tight finish in the November 4 election

Obama's house in the affluent Chicago neighborhood of Hyde Park is worth more than $1.5 million, and he has made millions from the publication of two autobiographical books.

Who cares how many homes McCain owns?Obama is a multi millionare himself.And hes a lawyer,his wife also.did McCain ever have a sweetheart real estate deal with a convicted felon aka Tony Vesco? Please.Obama is the only democrat the party could nominate that cant beat McCain.

If you cannot see that Barrack Obama is a compassionate and kind human being, you are an idiot. The same kind of idiot who put an evil man in power, George W Bush.
Maybe it is time for you all to start looking into people's eyes. When I first looked at Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rove, I could see the evil in their eyes!! I was right!! When I look into MC Cain's eyes I see the same evil and the guy really freaks me out. He won't hesitate to push on the red button, believe me!

McCain would be a 3rd term of Herbert Hoover.....were almost there now....but don't worry Obama will be our Franklin D. Roosevelt and our John Kennedy !!!

Maybe just maybe his 200 weeks as a Senator has something to do with it.............

I love the comment that the Bush administration has spent millios on R&D in the field of renewable energy!!
True enough, but absolutely misleading. If one looks hard enough, there is no area of government where money is not spent by the millions. renewable energy is just one more example. Obama as Bush, and Mccain does have a renewable energy plan... Not a "wait and see" plan..... Please look up Obamas renewable energy plan before you talk dear sir.

The difference between Obama and Bush or McCain is that in the case of the Republicans the focus is to drill more, and in the case of the Democrats it is to come up with alternatives to oil. You Republicans might not like to run your cars with anything other than oil, but drilling in Alska, off the coast of California, Florida or even in your living rooms is NOT GOING TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM.
Any new drilling dear Republicans will only go into the world oil markets to be sold to the highest bidder. Last I checked no oil conglomerate is telling us that they will sell only to Americans at a set fix price .... Or did you Republicans?
The economies of many third world nations are exploding. China, India, Brazil, Indonesia just to name a few countries have put 7% + growth in their GDP for years now..... And they all need oil to feed their economies.... But Republicans think 3% of the proven reserves in the world that are represented by the Alaska, and off shore reserves can make a difference!!!!
The answer is not only no, but hell no!! Any five year old can do the math. Of course the math for oil loving lobyst is " we drill more, we make more" ... That's the math they can take to the bank , and we (the American people) can take to our economic grave.
When I see McCain give us the dril, drill, drill B.S. as some kind of solution, it makes me feel sad and angry for the Americans that actualy buy this kind of nonsense.

Obama and the whole democratic is quickly becoming a joke. It's not that I don't believe in the cause it's that the party always *** it up in the end. What the party needs is a good ole fashion purge. God I wish I were Stalin. I would send the DNC leadership to Siberia and replace it with people who actually know how to win elections. Right now the democratic party is nothing but one big joke. Anxiously awaiting McCain's victory speech.

Stellar African American families like the Obamas HAVE paid their dues well enough.
It is FAR PAST TIME for these so called "blue collar" union constituents to STOP "CLINGING" to narrow-minded "bitter" and USELESS racist idology. They WEAR this type of thinking and point of view
like a badge of honor.
America is on the verge of being LEFT behind the rest of the world as long as we TOLERATE this ingrained crusted over, toxic, type of thinking, especially endorsed by MSM publications like NEWSWEEK. The type of "code" words used consistentlyl by MSM "exotic", "we don't know who they are" , they have to "redefine" themselves is DISGUSTING. Aftican American familes are JUST LIKE EVERYBODY else, with the same work ethics. morals and dreams. WHAT A DRAG, literally, this kind of BACKWARD diatribe has become.

An elistest has nknow idea the struggles of the working class and neither does his well educated better than the working supporters.America should have the intellagence to pick better candidates then Obama or McCain, but then they did vote bush and Channey twice.

Funny how the ones who ask about moral values are the gun clinging idiots, criminals,liers, corrup and of course not the brightest of american society. Bush and Cheney are typical example. You republicans have a great reputation!

Wake up please Mr. Fineman. Reach out to Clinton supporters? The Obama campaign has been too busy taunting and humiliating Clinton supporters or shouting at them to get over it. Explain the timing of a 3am phone call to announce of course that his veep is someone else, that's as petty and awful as it gets. I could understand the smearing of Bill Clinton as a racist because at least Obama got the nomination with it. However, taunting Clinton and in effect her supporters through timing the VP announcement at 3am was just plain hubris. Perhaps they can get away with it this year courtesy of the legacy of Bush. Perhaps not. In any case it wasn't necesarry and Obama could have put this whole election in the bank by being classy enough to simply put HRC on the ticket. Instead the bonehead baits by a 3am call. I don't mind vicious as a candidate, however I do mind stupid. That was stupid. If Obama doesn't win in November that was the turning point.

Jill. Fair enough. You discovered that politicians are nothing but a bunch of liars. And that goes for Republicans and Democrats alike. Now if you are fair with the facts, you would come to understand that as bad as Democrats are, and trust me I agree with you that they are bad.... They do not compare with how bad it can get when a Neo Con right wing extremist ideolog is empowered...... That Jill is frankly ruinous for our country... And we had those nuts running the country for eight years and now they want more !!!

Let's be honest here. McCain needs the Right Wing extremist to win..... Obama does not need the extreme left to win. I hope you understand that when it comes to power, the Right Wing of the GOP has it over the Republican party , and any GOP candidate, while the Liberal extremist of the Democratic party can't even come close to that kind of leverage.

The Republican moderate is by all accounts an endangered species, and is in my opinion a big loss for our country. Clinton on the other hand could arguably be called a moderate Democrat and he was in power for eight years. tell me Jill, when was the last time we had a moderate Republican in power with a moderate GOP majority as his/her base?

The way I see it is not about Obama, or McCain for they will tell us wherever the polls dictate . This election is about how we see the future of our country, that is to say controled by extremist, and blind partisans or not. Good or bad we have to deal with Democrats and Republicans extremist I know that, but in my view the key is not to let them get too much power, or if they do, keep it for very long....... I repeat, I do not want to have even the remotest possibility of having the Neo-Cons Right wing extremist remain in power....with Obama I have that certainty, with McCain I do not.
There. Nothing against McCain ... In fact I like the man and I believe he could be jsut as good a president as Obama..... But like I said, Obama is the enemy of the Right WIng/ Neo-Con nuts and that's all I need to hear to vote for him.
Change Jill happens when we put our elected officials on notice that we will not tolerate extremism and incopetence...If Obama ends up with a bunch of Liberal Nuts dictating policy, trust me I will be the first one to tell them to take a hicke and give a Republican a chance.