The Real McCain

[Ninkobei]

http://therealmccain.com/

looks like McCain has a downside too..who would have thought it?

ps. at least watch the video. very good

my favorite part is when he obviously lies to the camera and gives body signals...oh wait that happens multiple times.

[Flacolaco]

It sucks that we're here at this point, the way things are.

No one ever says "I like Obama because..." or "I like McCain because...."

It's always "Let me tell you why I don't like the other guy."

I do it too.

I don't know how we can fix it.

[dude1394]

I like McCain because:

- He's willing to say no to earmarks.
- He's willing to say no to farmers lobby's for ethanol.
- He's a very,very strong foreign policy president. He's more than willing to do what needs to be done even if not popular.
- There is no doubt where he stands, he stands with the country, not his political career.
- He's a moderate, I'm not interested in the far right of our party, it's dysfunctional.
- He's probably the least spender in the bunch that we've had run in last 8 years. I'm sure he's more frugal than Dubya, Kerry, Gore and certainly Barack Hussein Obama.
- He's not some sort of jail-em-all-up and run-em back to mexico republican.
- He seems to be a pro-trader.

He's not the pureist of conservatives, but I've never like them much anyway. In fact if he'd been a governor I'd probably have supported him for the get go. One thing that I don't like about him is his being a moderate in that he'll take stands that I just don't agree with all of the time. He's not my perfect candidate but neither is dubya. I have no problems with Mac08.

Edit: I'm not crazy about his age because of health, energy issues. But his age gives him wisdom WAY beyond theOnes so it's a wash.

[Arne]

Originally Posted by Flacolaco

It sucks that we're here at this point, the way things are.

No one ever says "I like Obama because..." or "I like McCain because...."

It's always "Let me tell you why I don't like the other guy."

I do it too.

I don't know how we can fix it.

Well, when both of the candidates do not stand for something, then there won't be a solution to the problem. You need candidates who have uncompromised principled stances on the issues in order to say what you like about them. If they change their position every five seconds then it's easier for anyone to just point at how often the other candidate changes position or his latest private problem, or the way he speaks, or other Bullcrap issues:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZxJAyjDLxU

[jefelump]

Originally Posted by Flacolaco

It sucks that we're here at this point, the way things are.

No one ever says "I like Obama because..." or "I like McCain because...."

It's always "Let me tell you why I don't like the other guy."

I do it too.

I don't know how we can fix it.

I think I have read a few "I like Obama because..." posts. Janett comes to mind. But I also think Dude's response above is the first "I like McCain because...." post. I fall into the "I like McCain because I dislike Obama more" category.

[dude1394]

The problem is that you aren't voting for one dude in a vacuum. You are voting for a party. If you elect Barack Hussein Obama you are giving more power to Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and the rest of the democrats..you just ARE...

So do with it what you may. There are things I like about McCain and things I don't. But there's almost nothing I like about the democrats in congress. Well..probably nothing at all actually.

[jefelump]

Originally Posted by dude1394

The problem is that you aren't voting for one dude in a vacuum. You are voting for a party. If you elect Barack Hussein Obama you are giving more power to Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and the rest of the democrats..you just ARE...

So do with it what you may. There are things I like about McCain and things I don't. But there's almost nothing I like about the democrats in congress. Well..probably nothing at all actually.

On that you and I agree. I'll be voting for McCain.

[Flacolaco]

Originally Posted by jefelump

I think I have read a few "I like Obama because..." posts.

Janetts reasons are always as vague as Obama's speeches, though. I'd love to see a thread debating Obama's specific positions on a variety of issues. I think many of them are probably pretty indefensible.

I agree with what dude said above. Especially about giving Pelosi more power. One only need look at the events of the last two weeks to see how bad of an idea that is. For me, McCain represents: Bush tax cuts, drilling, nuclear power, and safety.

Since my wife and I are thinking about "starting a family" soon, I'd like for it to be as cheap and safe as possible. McCain seems to me like the best man for the job out of the two from which I have to choose.

[ribosoma]

With all of the talk of the first black president, or the first woman president, why isn't anyone talking about the first zombie president?

[alby]

Originally Posted by jefelump

On that you and I agree. I'll be voting for McCain.

good, good man.

[rabbitproof]

When you only have two options for a complex problem, the decision making often is made with a conservative (in the risk sense) mindset since both options are going to probably fail to represent your ass in its full fleshy entirety. And thus the term "the lesser of two evils" is so commonly applied to US Presidential elections.

Que pena.

[jefelump]

Originally Posted by alby

good, good man.

Obama has never been a real option for me. Since I'm going to be moving to the Chicago area (job transfer), I have been researching the various laws that might affect me (primarily gun laws), and I'm completely disgusted by what I'm learning. And I know Obama has had a hand in it, because he was a state senator there, before becoming a US Senator.

As for McCain, he really irritated me with the various pieces of legislation he supported (campaign finance reform, closing guantanamo, immigration, etc), and with this little "gang of 14" stunt. But in the end I have to side with McCain on foreign policy and keeping this country safe.

[jefelump]

Originally Posted by rabbitproof

When you only have two options for a complex problem, the decision making often is made with a conservative (in the risk sense) mindset since both options are going to probably fail to represent your ass in its full fleshy entirety. And thus the term "the lesser of two evils" is so commonly applied to US Presidential elections.

Que pena.

Definitely in this election cycle, "the lesser of two evils" applies. In prior election cycles, I can't say I used that philosophy.

[rabbitproof]

http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=PdJUCU...656/229/565225

Dramatic but man, ugly.

[mcsluggo]

Originally Posted by dude1394

I like McCain because:

1- He's willing to say no to earmarks.
2- He's willing to say no to farmers lobby's for ethanol.
3- He's a very,very strong foreign policy president. He's more than willing to do what needs to be done even if not popular.
4- There is no doubt where he stands, he stands with the country, not his political career.
5- He's a moderate, I'm not interested in the far right of our party, it's dysfunctional.
6- He's probably the least spender in the bunch that we've had run in last 8 years. I'm sure he's more frugal than Dubya, Kerry, Gore and certainly Barack Hussein Obama.
7- He's not some sort of jail-em-all-up and run-em back to mexico republican.
8- He seems to be a pro-trader.

He's not the pureist of conservatives, but I've never like them much anyway. In fact if he'd been a governor I'd probably have supported him for the get go. One thing that I don't like about him is his being a moderate in that he'll take stands that I just don't agree with all of the time. He's not my perfect candidate but neither is dubya. I have no problems with Mac08.

Edit: I'm not crazy about his age because of health, energy issues. But his age gives him wisdom WAY beyond theOnes so it's a wash.

hmmm. I agree with a good number of your assessments there. I admire Mac for 1 and 2 particularly (although "earmarks" have always been overblown a bit, standing against them is still admirable)

I also like 5,7,8 (i personally would like the moderate republican assessment of immigration issues the most, probably. Unfortunately that viewpoint has been fairly effectively screamed down by the rest of the party. The far left approach ends up being the only "other" offered alternative... and it certainly is not the best.) Mac has indeed been devoutly pro-trade, as well. Both of those positions are difficult to hold in his home state, unless you REALLY want to.

3--- well... we have differences

4. The "straight talk express" seems to have left the station without him on many issues. He is as prone to pandering as the rest.

6. We will see. He has changed tune here a bit as well. He now advocates sharp tax cuts without any indication of how to square the red-ink on the other side of the ledger, (other than "eliminate earmarks"... wich all told accout for someting like 20 billion in a budget that is measured in trillion denominations)

unlike the people on the far right and apparently the left... I am not too disappointed in what I think either candidate will do, and BOTH are EASILY a huge improvement over the current situation to me.

[dude1394]

Another in the "why I like mccain".

Mr. McCain, Republican of Arizona, named all the liberal judges on the court and noted that there might be several vacancies soon. “This nomination should be based on the criteria on a proven record of strictly adhering to the Constitution and not legislating from the bench,” he said.

And why Barack Hussein Obama isn't qualified. Even he knows it, I guess...

Mr. Warren asked Mr. Obama, Democrat of Illinois, which of the sitting Supreme Court justices he would not have appointed. Mr. Obama quickly named Justice Clarence Thomas, saying he was not qualified for the top court at the time.

“I don’t think that he was a strong enough jurist or legal thinker at the time for that elevation, setting aside the fact that I profoundly disagree with his interpretations of the Constitution,” Mr. Obama said.

[mcsluggo]

Originally Posted by dude1394

And why Barack Hussein Obama isn't qualified. Even he knows it, I guess...

i don't get it...?

[dude1394]

Originally Posted by mcsluggo

i don't get it...?

If he doesn't think Clarence Thomas was qualified, then he must not be either, since he's had at least as little experience as he perceives Thomas to have had.

[Underdog]

Originally Posted by dude1394

If he doesn't think Clarence Thomas was qualified, then he must not be either, since he's had at least as little experience as he perceives Thomas to have had.

Obama never stated "experience" as an issue - the words are right in front of your face:


"I don’t think that he was a strong enough jurist or legal thinker at the time for that elevation, setting aside the fact that I profoundly disagree with his interpretations of the Constitution”


(which word translates into "experience" in your mind?)

[Flacolaco]

You should have bolded these words instead

at the time for that elevation

Those would be the ones that probably could translate into "experience"

[dude1394]

I was tacking off reports that he quoted a lack of experience, explicitly. Instead it was an implicit "lack of experience" it appears after he caught himself.

From instapundit

OBAMA JUST SAID CLARENCE THOMAS DIDN'T HAVE ENOUGH EXPERIENCE TO SERVE ON THE COURT: Kinda ironic, huh? (Scalia's qualified, but Obama wouldn't have nominated him). Just turned off the TiVo and his appearance with Rick Warren was on.

But WSJ also took it this way also.

So let’s see. By the time he was nominated, Clarence Thomas had worked in the Missouri Attorney General’s office, served as an Assistant Secretary of Education, run the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and sat for a year on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, the nation’s second most prominent court. Since his “elevation” to the High Court in 1991, he has also shown himself to be a principled and scholarly jurist.

Meanwhile, as he bids to be America’s Commander in Chief, Mr. Obama isn’t yet four years out of the Illinois state Senate, has never held a hearing of note of his U.S. Senate subcommittee, and had an unremarkable record as both a “community organizer” and law school lecturer. . . And when it comes to rising from difficult circumstances, Justice Thomas’s rural Georgian upbringing makes Mr. Obama’s story look like easy street.

[dude1394]

And another in the "why I like McCain series".
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archive.../08/021280.php

Among the interesting contrasts presented at the Saddleback Civil Forum was the one elicited by Rick Warren's question on how each candidate had bucked his party. The question was of course right up McCain's alley, but he gave a surprising and powerful answer:

Climate change, out of control spending, torture, the list goes on, on a large number of issues that I have put my country first and I’ve reached across the aisle. but I’d probably have to say that one of the times that probably was one of the most trying was, when I was first a member of Congress, and I’m a new freshman in the House of Representatives and very loyal and dedicated to President Reagan, whom I still think is one of the great, great presidents in American history — (APPLAUSE) — who won the cold war without firing a shot, in the words of Margaret Thatcher. He wanted to send troops to Beirut for a peacekeeping mission.

My knowledge and my background told me that a few hundred Marines in a situation like that could not successfully carry out any kind of peacekeeping mission. And I thought they were going into harm’s way. Tragically, as many of you recall, there was a bombing in the Marine barracks and well over 100 brave Marines gave their lives. But it was tough, that vote, because I went against the president I believed in, and the party that believed that maybe I was disloyal very early in my political career.

What was Barack Hussein's Obama's tough choice?

Like McCain, Obama holds himself out as the kind of politician who can reach across party lines to get things done. Given the partisanship and thinness of Obama's legislative record, however, Warren's question presented a challenge for Obama. Here is what he came up with:

Well, I'll give you an example that in fact I worked with John McCain on, and that was the issue of campaign ethics reform and finance reform. That wasn't probably in my interest or his for that matter because the truth was both Democrats and Republicans sort of like the status quo and I was new to the Senate and it didn't necessarily engender a lot of popularity when I started saying, you know, we are going to eliminate meals and gifts from corporate lobbyists. I remember one of my colleagues whose name will be unmentioned who said, "Well, where do you expect us to eat, McDonald's?" and I thought, well, actually, a lot of our constituents probably do eat at McDonald's so that wouldn't be such a bad thing. I think we were able to get a bill passed that hasn't made Washington perfect but at least it [is] moving things forward.

Hugh Hewitt draws on David Freddoso's reportage to demonstrate the factitious quality of Obama's account:

Obama cited McCain here as his cover for acting in a bipartisan or non-partisan fashion. The detailed account of this "teamwork" from David Freddoso's new book [The Case Against Barack Obama, pp. 97-99] puts the lie to Obama's account. In fact Obama approached McCain and "promised to work with him seriously on a bipartisan lobbying and ethics reform package," in February 2006. After some work "McCain thought they had an agreement." Freddoso continues: "Then Obama's party leaders took him aside and set him straight. They had an election plan, and they weren't about to have [Obama] ruin that by working on both sides of the aisle to accomplish something substantive in 2006."

Freddoso then reprints the account of the Obama double-cross reported by Marc Ambinder, then working for the highly respect National Journal. Obama sent McCain a letter backing out of the effort.. McCain responded with a blistering rebuke. "I concluded your professed concern for the institution and the public interest was genuine and admirable," McCain responded. "[T]hank you for disabusing me of such notions."

No matter what one thinks of the merits of the Obama flip-flop, for him to cite his work with John McCain on Senate reform as the best example of his willingness to work against party and self-interest is more than just oily. It is deeply deceptive.

[chumdawg]

The real McCain is the guy who DID buck his party left and right as he saw fit. The real McCain is the Democrat wearing a Republican suit and tie. The real McCain is the guy who wants to run with Lieberman. The real McCain is the maverick who goes about things his own way.

Problem is, we haven't seen the real McCain in at least several weeks, and I don't expect him to make an appearance between now and the election. You aren't seeing McCain these days, you are seeing what the handlers and strategists and campaign managers want you to see.

What you are seeing is a puppet. The "real McCain" can't win, but maybe the puppet can.

[Flacolaco]

And the Messiah supporters continue to bring generalities and accusations having to do with pretty much nothing.

Seriously, which specific Obama policies do you people like? Which stance on which issue do you rally behind? Details, specifics.....ready....GO.

"I like Barry Obama because....detail #1 on issue #1, detail #1 on issue #2.." very specific, without a single reference to any other human being but Obama....here we go....

[chumdawg]

I like Obama because he's about ten times more intellectual than John McCain and any typical bible-thumping, war-drum-beating jingoist Republican.

I like Obama because he doesn't seem to agree that US=righteousness and Rest of the World=evil.

I like Obama because he has upside. The Republican candidate (and this would have been true of any Republican who won the nomination) represents more of the same, and I am not inspired by the present state of the Republican party.

I like Obama because his taxation policies, relative to McCain's, favor the common man...and I am a common man.

I like Obama because he seems to think that people are inherently good and it is the responsibility of government to bring that good out, while McCain seems to think that people are inherently bad, and it is the responsibility of the government to drown that bad out.

I like Obama over McCain because it's a new century and Vietnam was 35-40 years ago, before I was born. The world has changed a lot since then, and I'm not especially interested in reliving that bygone era.

I like Obama because he's a black man and I believe that our country needs to elect a black man, and a woman, sometime in the not too distant future...all else being equal.

I like Obama over McCain because I'm pretty sure Obama wouldn't send us to war against Russia...and I'm afraid McCain would...and I don't want to see our country fighting a war against Russia.

I like Obama because he has the intellectual capacity to consider several different points of view rather than be steered by dogma...and I think that our country indeed comprises several different points of view. In other words, I like the idea of concensus more than I like the idea of saluting the commander in chief.

[Underdog]

Originally Posted by chumdawg

In other words, I like the idea of concensus more than I like the idea of saluting the commander in chief.

So, you're a fan of democracy over fascism?


(because some people would call that un-American...)

[Usually Lurkin]

Originally Posted by chumdawg

I like Obama because he has the intellectual capacity to consider several different points of view rather than be steered by dogma...and I think that our country indeed comprises several different points of view. In other words, I like the idea of concensus more than I like the idea of saluting the commander in chief.

you mean like not voting for the "Born Alive" act because he could only think of it as a political attack on abortion rights? Sometimes clear thinking is better.

[DirkFTW]

Originally Posted by chumdawg

I like Obama over McCain because I'm pretty sure Obama wouldn't send us to war against Russia...and I'm afraid McCain would...and I don't want to see our country fighting a war against Russia.

Russia's goal is to reassert itself in the region and weaken NATO. How do we convince them they DON'T want to do that?

When Russia invaded South Ossetia, this was McCain's proposed solution. He doesn't say "DUKE NUKEM ALL!" like you're afraid of.
"Russia should immediately and unconditionally cease its military operations and withdraw all forces from sovereign Georgian territory. What is most critical now is to avoid further confrontation between Russian and Georgian military forces. The consequences of Euro-Atlantic stability and security are grave. The government of Georgia has called for a ceasefire and for a resumption of direct talks on South Ossetia with international mediators. The U.S. should immediately convene an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council to call on Russia to reverse course. The U.S. should immediately work with the EU and the OSCE to put diplomatic pressure on Russia to reverse this perilous course that it has chosen. I repeat, the government of Georgia has called for a ceasefire and for a resumption of direct talks on South Ossetia with international mediators. The United States should immediately convene an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council and to call on Russia to reverse course. The U.S. should immediately work with the EU and the OSCE to put diplomatic pressure on Russia to reverse this perilous course that it has chosen. We should immediately call a meeting of the North Atlantic Council to asses Georgia's security and review measures NATO can take to contribute to stabilizing this very dangerous situation. Finally, the international community needs to establish a truly independent and neutral peacekeeping force in South Ossetia."

That's a rather healthy dose of middle finger as opposed to the extremes of fisticuffs or patting everyone on the head. In fact, it's a whole lot of diplomacy and international peacekeepers. The only language that could arguably be construed as involving military is where he calls on NATO to help stabilize the region.

No one likes war. The Russians are banking on that right now. Is there a way to stand up to them without war? I believe McCain's blueprint is spot-on. It's actually the lofty rhetoric of Obama put into practical steps.