Saturday, May 17, 2008

10 things you should know about John McCain

This may very well be the only post I write about the Presidential election; I'm an optimist but my optimism does not come from believing in electoral politics.

However, this week I met three different Hilary Clinton supporters who told me they would rather vote for John McCain than vote for Barak Obama.

"I'm not a racist, but..." is the way all three conversations began. Yeah, sure, buddy......

Anyway, borrowed from Bligbi who borrowed it from MoveOn:

. John McCain voted against establishing a national holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Now he says his position has “evolved,” yet he’s continued to oppose key civil rights laws.

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.”

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.

4. McCain opposes a woman’s right to choose. He said, “I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned.”

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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.”


4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Did I miss number #10? Also, MichaelAnn, do you have an email address?

Unknown said...

You're right! Don't know if I missed #10 in my cut and paste, will check the original post.

My email address is michaelannb@gmail.com

Bill Dusty said...

Okay, I'll bite ;-)

1.) Many "civil rights" laws are merely special interest laws wrapped in good feelings. Enough with special laws for different people. Our laws should be blanket laws that protect everyone equally.

2.) He should be more hawkish. Being nice and cheery in the Middle East will get you dead - those tribal folks have no patience for peaceful people with such liberal ideas like "equality for women" and "freedom of speech" and lifestyles.

3.) If we start drawing up lists of different interrogation techniques to allow and not allow, the list would be long, evolving, and hampering in our efforts to obtain information from those who hate our country and would like to kill us. the waterboarding issue has turned into a media-driven political issue to bash the President.

4.) About half of America probably agrees with him. Not saying it should be illegal, but it should have remained a state issue. Also, too many feminists want people to dismiss a human fetus as some sort of virus to be irradicated. A fetus is a human life. We should be more considerate of that.

5.) Politics. Any child welfare program supported by Republicans is bashed (No Child Left Behind), anything they're against is held up as righteous.

6.) He's right.

7.) Politics.

8.) All politicians have close ties to lobbyists. Criticizing only McCain is, again, politics.

9.) You're bashing McCain for "having ties" to a controversial priest while at the same time (probably) downplaying Obama's ties to his equally (if not more so) controversial priest.

10.) VOTE MCCAIN! ;-)

JennX said...

I'm going to agree with bill, but to a point. I'm Libertarian and McCain and Co. scare the daylights outta me.

I am facing foreclosure. Its not sue to a sub-prime loan (my partner is a veteran)... but rather from a laundry list of breakdowns and plumbing repairs and numerous other expenses. And guess what? I just got a second job, my boyfriend is working about 70 hours a week now and we have canceled our vacation plans. We are also now shopping at Price Rite for groceries. its called taking responsibility. People who signed on for things they couldn't afford lose those things. If you can't read the fine print, you probably shouldn't sign up for a $150,000 loan.