The Vices of Their Virtues

As of this moment< America agrees that Obama has is more in touch with the pulse of the world as a whole and the more immediate pulse of our nation. Everyone who has read "THE GREAT IRAQI OIL GRAB" posted on Alternet.org on 5-22-06 already knows why mccain's foriegn policies include keeping our troops in Iraq forever. His (mccain's) idea for fixing our economy is to put the same ones who caused it in charge of fixing it. No wonder palin is trying to appoint a committee of her own in Alaska to look into allegations of her abuse of power. She must be getting her advice from mccain. this will be the eleventh president of my lifetime and I am tired of the same old ploitics as usual mentality that ends up being the majority of US citizens end up getting screwed in favor of a few. This is the very Reason why Barack Obama is pulling further ahead in the eyes of our country even as I write this post. Americans are tired of the policies that make it ok for our political leaders to lie to us, send our loved ones to die on foriegn soil so that corporations can make good profits, and cosider themselves above the laws of our land. We fully plan to make decisions "based upon the evolving standards of decency of a maturing society." Bush (who is returning to his family oil business next year, no matter who wins), mccain (who admitted that he has been a part of this continuing problem for 20+ years) and all of their partners are on their way out. America is tired of being like cattle being led to slaughter. Prime example: we are loaning our tax dollars to banks and lending institutions who will then loan them back to us (with interest) in order to make a profit for themselves. Something is seriously wrong with that . I don't see mccain as being someone who would even consider (past his campaigne promises) the needs of Main Street America.

Sorry - I do not want a hotshot fly boy with the power to push The Button in the White House.

Why in god's name would we give the power to drop bombs to a man who clearly would rather drop them than survive?

And if McCain doesn't survive, in the wings is a woman who's idea of crisis management is: "you don't blink." She sounds like a teenage playing chicken with her parent's station wagon.

Both are too emotionally unstable to be president, vice president, or even dog catcher.

Yes, it's very clear how McCain and Palin would govern - and I want no part of them.

I'll take sober over impetuous any day.

"Churchill needed FDR's caution and his competing intellectual understanding of the war and of the world that was coming into being..."

I believe the part about "the world that was coming into being" is a situation we find ourselves in right now. To my mind, Barack Obama sees that the world has changed far faster than anyone could have imagined just since the new century began. There was no huge grassroots movement online during the Election in 2000, like there is now. John McCain hasn't noticed that the world is rapidly evolving; practically before our very eyes.
He's still that fighter pilot trying to rid the world of America's enemies, real or perceived, who doesn't seem to be able to even distinguish between the two. A "Shoot First - Ask Questions Later" diplomavcy scares the bejeebers out of me!

BTW, as to your wondering if Obama is "too cool" to be POTUS, I don't think so. If you think about it, he wouldn't be where he is today if he wasn't able to relate to the average person. To have over 18 million people choose him to be the Democratic nominee for the Presidency in the primaries tells me that a lot of folks like him just fine the way he is. As to the undecideds, I think he's showing them that this country needs a deft hand (or a scalpel) to move our country forward and to improve our relations around the world. We don't need the heavy-handedness of a hatchetman who wants to "bomb, bomb, bomb Iran". A man running for President should have the judgment to refrain from making comments aloud that reflect poorly on our nation. His attitude will do nothing for future diplomacy, except to perhaps set it back 20 years.

I realize they don't teach "grace under fire" at Annapolis, but that's precisely what our country needs right now. Obama - Now, More Than Ever!

Senator McCain has passion & integrity - sounds good to me. He has gone across party lines, i.e. Kennedy-McCain, McCain-Feingold, bills. Yes, he ticks off the far left & the far right. Good for him. I believe that most Americans are in the middle. "The silent majority" as was coined many years ago. Thank you for your time.

believe her and you will be paying your taxes in Chinese Yuan

another enlightening comment from loriw. get off the cross: we need the wood.

Jayjunk2: Could you name one thing that McCain has not flipfloped on?
You talk about integrity. Where was John McCain's when he had a chance to fully fund the Vets. It seems he is quick to bring up his POW history but forgets that he turned his back on his VET brothers and sisters when the time came. Sorry I was a McCain supportor at one time, but that was before he sunk to the level bending over and taking it from his Conservative counterparts. As for Obama's community organizing do your research yourself, the originators of the Obama Mama's started from the women he helped in the COMMUNITY. He actually knows what it's like wonder if you're going to get gas, buy food or lose your job. But you're so hero worshiping blind that you rather follow McCain down the same road Bush has taken us on. God bless you if he wins. And if he does I hope he does all he said he would do for the American people......hmmmmm I havent heard one single policy from him that would improve your life or maybe you're rich and not worried about if you should pay your mortgage or buy groceries. In the immortal words of Kanye West John McCain dosent give a damn about the common main but I'm sure he makes sure all his corporate rich friends are going to be taken care of. But please do vote for him and if he wins please check back in with us and let us know how much better your life is.

Applause to Barack Obama!!! Finally people of our great nation have a candidate who is not eaasily ruffled by the foolishness going on around him. Here we have a candidate who recognized the need not to interrupt delegate negotiations with presidential politics,is showing a genuine interest in reilef for everyday Americans, is willing to stop the senseless loss of American lives just so oil companies can do business in Iraq, and has finally admitted that our troops should not even be in Iraq when the enemies of our country are growing stronger in Afghanistan each day. His words and actions in last night's debate have clearly shown that he is a strong and confident leader. I'm confident that there can be no better choice if our country is to rise above this current crisis. on the other hand, mccain has run the most lie filled presidential campaigne in modern US history, made a choice for vice-president that couldn't have been based on anything other than media appeal, is engaged in a cover-up of her wrong-doings in her home state of Alaska, didn't tell America anything of substance in last night's debate, has shown himself to more concerned with theatrics than the genuine issues facing our nation, and his ideas on foriegn policy bring to mind the same ones that brought us the Iran-Contra Affair. We are totally tired of the kinds of policies and codling to specialinterest groups that has reduced our great nation to it's current state. Its too bad that the media jumped the gun last night and declared mccain the winner. mccain has been winning something for a long time . The disdainof the American population. Even his own supporters know that he is the wrong man to be running this country. I doubt that if they were not against democrats because of party, or just against Obama because his freckles are too close together for them to see enough white in between that any of them would cast a ballot in his favor. On second thought, every member of the special interest groups that he has supported would more likely vote for him in the hopes of being able to line their pockets .

Part 2

???Is John McCain a once in a lifetime politician???? continued

Many of my friends support Obama. I asked them "Can you show me something similar Obama has done something at a personal/political cost?" After much thinking they offered me two instances:

1) Obama worked as a "community organizer". I don't buy this. Obama rose rapidly from "community organizer" to state legislator, to federal senator to one of the youngest nominees for President. "Community organizer" seems to have been part of this rapid ascent.

2) Obama opposed the Iraq war. While I believe that the Iraq war was wrong, I don't think Obama's opposition carried any cost to him given that the sentiment in his liberal district was heavily against the war (unlike, say Clinton's state).

I repeat the simple question: Can you cite one example in Obama???s history that shows he is ready to bear a political/personal cost to do the right thing?

McCain is the one politician I expect to tell me the truth. He is a once in a lifetime politician, someone who can inspire by his character and courage.

I don't agree with many of his positions, but I don't expect there is any politician out there who is in perfect harmony with my views.

I believe that the economy is the most important issue facing the country. McCain has been getting a lot of flak for saying he doesn't know much about the economy. That is just further evidence about his honesty. No politician is an economics expert. Rather their job is to hire the right experts for the job. The federal deficit needs to be brought under control. When McCain says he will cut spending and curb the deficit, he is the one I believe. He will be the one who will hire the experts to get the job done.

There is a lot of money that is going to be spent of TV advertisements attacking McCain. A common refrain is "He used to be good, now he has gone bad". Of course that is what the opponents are going to say, as McCain's past is clearly good. A 72 year old man doesn't become something different from what he was for the first 71 years. He is still the same McCain.

Disillusionment with politicians is an almost permanent feature of politics. McCain represents an opportunity of a lifetime to break out of this morass of disillusionment and cynicism.

Character and courage are the rarest of politicians' virtues, and McCain is that rarity.

Honor your country, elect the man who represents character and courage.

JS

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End Part 2

Part 1

Is John McCain a once in a lifetime politician?

I came to know about John McCain in 2000 and have been following his political career since. Let me also say that I supported Gore in 2000 and Kerry (who later turned out to be rather disappointing) in 2004.

The one thing that always made McCain stand out from other politicians is his willingness to do what he considered the "right thing" at the cost of damage to his political career. Here are a few examples:

1) In 2004 he opposed a federal ban on gay marriage.
Why? He said it was not something for the federal government to be involved in.
Impact? Lost support of an important part of the Republican primary voters.

2) In 2007 he teamed up with Kennedy to write an immigration bill.
Why? He said that the reality of the situation is that illegal immigrants would not be expelled, instead stricter border controls were needed.
Impact? Besides the Clintons, Kennedy is probably the least popular liberal politician for many Republican primary voters. McCain's probability of winning the nomination fell to a low of 6% on intrade.com

3) 2005 onwards McCain was the leading opponent of torture in the Senate.
Why? Torture is not worthy of America.
Impact? It was seen as going against Bush/Cheney's position on the matter.

4) Change? You want REAL CHANGE? Washington has long been seen as a place where lobbyists and politicians form "mutually beneficial" relationships with each other at the cost of the ordinary citizens. The most important legislation that tried to break the corrupt relationships was the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA, McCain???Feingold Act, Pub.L. 107-155, 116 Stat. 81, enacted 2002-03-27).
Impact? As Feingold put it, the bill made both McCain and Feingold so unpopular with their fellow legislators, that they only could lunch with each other.

5) The Iraq Surge. When the Democrats were trying to cut off funding for Iraq in 2007, and supporters of continuing the war were hedging their positions, McCain clearly came out in support of the surge. Why? McCain said that losing the war would create chaos in the mid-East and prove costly to America. As he said "I would rather lose a campaign than lose a war". Impact? In 2007 the surge was quite against the public sentiment.

6) And of course his refusal to end his captivity early, an offer the Viet Cong made to an admiral's son.
Why? He wanted same treatment as his fellow captives.
Impact? Continued captivity.

End Part 1

His honorable POW-ship aside, I'm afraid McCain's continued slew of rash political stunts (Palin, debate and pre-debate maneuvers, the list goes on) make it clear why McCain got shot down over Vietnam. I hope the country can understand the difference between this kind of gambling and the ability to take calculated risks (which requires some intellect) before November 4th.

His honorable POW-ship aside, I'm afraid McCain's continued slew of rash political stunts (Palin, debate and pre-debate maneuvers, the list goes on) make it clear why McCain got shot down over Vietnam. I hope the country can understand the difference between this kind of gambling and the ability to take calculated risks (which requires some intellect) before November 4th.

With the media treating Americans like children, it's no wonder anyone believes McCain only differs in character. State some facts! Thank heaven for McClatchy Newspapers! McCain failed in foreign policy, and it's supposed to be his strength!
http://www.centredaily.com/news/politics/story/867627.html
Saturday, Sep. 27, 2008
McCain misstates some facts in debate on foreign policy
By WARREN P. STROBEL AND JONATHAN S. LANDAY
- McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON ??? John McCain and Barack Obama clashed repeatedly over foreign policy in their first presidential debate Friday night, crossing swords on Iran and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

McCain made the most notable misstatements and stumbled over the names of the leaders of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose name he couldn't pronounce, and of Pakistan, referring to the latter as "Qadari" instead of Asif Ali Zardari.

McCain incorrectly asserted that former Gen. Pervez Musharraf rescued Pakistan from being a "failed state" when he seized power in a 1999 coup.

"The problem with the strategy that's been pursued was that for 10 years we coddled Musharraf. We alienated the Pakistani population, because we were anti-democratic," Obama said.

"There was a failed state in Pakistan when Musharraf came to power," McCain responded. "Everybody who was around then and had been there and knew about it knew that it was a failed state."

Though Pakistan was wrestling with problems like tensions with India and serious poverty when Musharraf took power in an October 1999 coup, it had a democratically elected government and was far from being a "failed state" - a country in social and economic collapse where the government no longer exercises authority.
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On Iraq, McCain went after Obama for opposing the 2007 surge into Iraq, contending that the addition of 30,000 troops succeeded in suppressing the sectarian violence that was ravaging the country.

"This strategy has succeeded, and we are winning in Iraq. And we will come home with victory and with honor," McCain said.

Many experts inside and outside the U.S. government, however, say that while the surge was crucial, it was not the only factor that has led to an 80 percent reduction in violence. Gen. David Petraeus, who oversaw the surge, has also said he will never declare a U.S. victory in Iraq.

"This is not the sort of struggle where you take a hill, plant the flag and go home to a victory parade," Petraeus said in a Sept. 11 interview with the BBC. "It's not war with a simple slogan."

Asked if he would send more troops to help contain the worsening war in Afghanistan, where U.S. combat casualties are now running higher than in Iraq, McCain said that he would, and that they would be used in the same strategy - a surge - that Obama "condemned in Iraq."

But senior U.S. defense officials say that a similar strategy can't be replicated in Afghanistan.