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On Sun, 6 Apr 2008, Stephen Montgomery-Smith wrote:
2. According to Bloomberg News, McCain is more hawkish than Bush on
Iraq, Russia and China. Conservative columnist Pat Buchanan says McCain
"will make Cheney look like Gandhi."2
Good for McCain.
I don't want to give countries a pass when they are abusing their citizens
and threatening their neighbors. On the other hand, I don't want to have
World War III unless it is absolutely necessary. I want diplomatic
solutions whenever possible. I don't want to see all my nation's money
spent on defense while everything else falls apart -- that's what happened
in the USSR and North Korea and it never turns out well.
3. His reputation is built on his opposition to torture, but McCain
voted against a bill to ban waterboarding, and then applauded President
Bush for vetoing that ban.3
For me this is a difficult issue, but on balance I think I come down on
McCain's side.
I think torture has repeatedly been shown to be ineffective, so I think we
shouldn't use ineffective interrogation methods because people around the
world will hate us for using torture and we lose all of our moral
authority. We used to be the moral light of the world and now we're seen
as just as bad as the Egyptians.
5. The Children's Defense Fund rated McCain as the worst senator in
Congress for children. He voted against the children's health care bill
last year, then defended Bush's veto of the bill.5
Presumably for other reasons, though, than hating the little children.
Right. He doesn't hate them. He just doesn't want to help them.
Because...
6. He's one of the richest people in a Senate filled with millionaires.
The Associated Press reports he and his wife own at least eight homes!
Yet McCain says the solution to the housing crisis is for people facing
foreclosure to get a "second job" and skip their vacations.6
Well, I guess this is why I would have preferred Huckabee. Oh well.
...because he's been so rich for so long that he can't even conceive of
what it's like to be poor.
7. Many of McCain's fellow Republican senators say he's too reckless to
be commander in chief. One Republican senator said: "The thought of his
being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He's erratic. He's
hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me."7
I have heard this too. But these remarks might be left overs from smear
campaigns against him when he was running against Bush 8 years ago.
I really don't know what to think of that. He's been a Senator for 25
years and has his temper ever caused a problem? If not, why should it
start causing problems when he is President?
8. McCain talks a lot about taking on special interests, but his
campaign manager and top advisers are actually lobbyists. The
government watchdog group Public Citizen says McCain has 59 lobbyists
raising money for his campaign, more than any of the other presidential
candidates.8
I have a feeling that this evidence against him is circumstantial or
contrived.
I don't care much about this. If he wants to reduce lobbyist's influence
in Washington, and he does, in my book that compensates for his using
lobbyist help to win the election.
9. McCain has sought closer ties to the extreme religious right in
recent years. The pastor McCain calls his "spiritual guide," Rod
Parsley, believes America's founding mission is to destroy Islam, which
he calls a "false religion." McCain sought the political support of
right-wing preacher John Hagee, who believes Hurricane Katrina was
God's punishment for gay rights and called the Catholic Church "the
Antichrist" and a "false cult."9
I'm glad that McCain acknowledges the religious right.
I'm sure you are glad, but what's with these odd-ball preacher's he's been
associating himself with? That's definitely a minus for me.
As for some of what is said here, you need to take the plank out of
Obama's eye first. Heh, heh.
Obam's Rev. Wright is a big minus for Obama.
10. He positions himself as pro-environment, but he scored a 0--yes,
zero--from the League of Conservation Voters last year.10
This is an issue I am ambivalent about. I would describe myself as an
environmental hypocrite - willing to talk the talk, but still driving an
SUV.
We were tricked into buying SUVs and now they are costing us massively.
Do you have a second car? A good strategy might be to avoid using the SUV
when you can use a small fuel-efficient car or bicycle instead.
Mike
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