Comments on: Two Solid Choices

By: mike mcEachran

mike mcEachran — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 23:05:30 +0000

Why do McCain’s speeches sound like he’s reading a children’s book (poorly)? With awkward intermittent smiles? Someone give him his pudding and send him to bed.

By: Ed

Ed — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 21:31:46 +0000

I would suggest before you base your decision on “expanding government” you do a little research on the policies of the Republican administration that McCain promises to continue. Under W, we’ve had the biggest government expansion in history.

The idea of small government conservatism went out the window 7 years ago in the post-9/11 runup to war. We’ve seen huge increases in spending, and the creation of huge bureaucracies, all under the guise of fighting the war on terrorism. Additionally, we’ve seen activist judges (to co-opt another false Republican meme) consistently usurping the Constitution and suspending civil liberties in an effort to bestow greater power to the Executive Branch.

By: ExiledIndependent

ExiledIndependent — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 19:21:17 +0000

Obama is a great liberal candidate, but McCain is not a great conservative candidate. This is why Obama will likely win in November–he engenders genuine enthusiasm within his party’s core as well as the larger halo of Democrat-centrists. McCain doesn’t do that at all. I would argue that McCain has not so much become centrist as he has random. He’s not conservative enough for the Republican core, and he doesn’t have enough personality and energy to pull the middle ground away from Obama.

By: gerryf

gerryf — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 17:42:34 +0000

If this were eight years ago, it would be easier to go along with the two good choices idea.

McCain is not what he once was.

He was against the tax cuts for the rich before he was for it; he opposed the influence of the regligious right (labeling key far right religious leaders as “agents of intolerance”) but now actively courts their favor; he opposed overturning Roe V. Wade, but now supports it; he was for campaign finance reform, but now ignores his own rules when it benefits him; he once decried Bush bottom feeders like Sam and Charles Wyly and Grover Norquist, but now actively seeks their support; he said he was opposed to torture, but torture is OK for the Bush administration….

The one area he is most consistent in is his stance on the war, but this is WORST decision ever.

His experience as a legislator is no indication of what he will do as an administration (a charge that can also be made about Obama).

He opposed the new GI Bill, which seems to fly in the face of his support for the troops.

He openly admits the economy is not his area of expertise.

You say that he is resistent “to solving problems by expanding government”, and I might go along with that if his solution to the war was not throw more money at it and hope we win.

I voted for McCain in the Michigan 2000 primary, but that McCain and this McCain seem like distant cousins.

By: kranky kritter

kranky kritter — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 15:39:50 +0000

i couldn’t agree more, Alan. I think the important point here, for folks who would quarrel, is that such a judgement is being made comparatively. These candidates are IMO an easily demonstrable cut above George Bush, Al Gore, John Kerry, John Edwards, Mitt Romney, and so on. Sure, they have flaws, but I ccan imagine talking meslef into either McCain or Obama if they were facing any of the folks in the laundry list above. And Hillary Clinton is conspicuous in her absence from that list. I dn’t like her as well as the chosen 2, but I think she’s a cut above the same list.

i simply can’t work up anything approaching the derangement that both sides on the partisan divide have been furiously brewing.

That said, there is plenty of time for us to develop a healthy dislike for one or the other, or failing that a very substantive reason to prefer one over the othewr. My primary concern with Obama is that he veers into such demagoguery that he believes too much in his own clippings. My primary concern with McCain is that he may no longer be up to the demands of the job.

By: rob

rob — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 15:37:03 +0000

You know it’s funny you mentioned that. I’m open about who I plan to vote for when, but when asked the other night, I honestly couldn’t say. Like you said, I think it comes down to that I’m considering voting for someone, as opposed to against someone.

By: Jim S

Jim S — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 15:36:46 +0000

Is McCain deranged? No. Is he a Bush clone? No. But about 75% (or more) of his policies are nothing more than a continuation of Bush policies. That’s enough for me to strongly oppose him. He is with Bush on Iraq. He is with Bush on tax cuts. He is currying favor with the religious right and promising to support everything they want. He is with Bush on the kind of Supreme Court justices he would at least try to appoint. Whether he could succeed or not is irrelevant. The desire to stay the course with the Bush administration in so many ways shows what kind of President he wants to be and that’s not the kind we need.