Obama/Biden vs. McCain/Palin

[GatewaySnayke]

The issue is having ten years of experience in these offices, yet there's really nothing to show for it, and it doesn't live up to the image that has been painted of him. There is time there, but not enough meat. He's got a whole slew a few grand changes he wants to make, but in the office that actually proposes these changes as bills, he's done hardly anything to make them a reality.

Wrong.

[Arthur Dent]

Yet another reason to stop using vague and mostly meaningless terms like liberal and conservative.

[ghostrunner]

He's to the left on stem cell research, opposed the constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, is critical of Bush's handling on Medicare, received an "F" from the NRA and was rated high by the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence. These aren't really right-win positions.

Conservatives are also critical of Bush's handling of Medicare. Anyway, not being right wing doesn't make you liberal. He's always been middle of the road when you take everything together. Outside the guns/violence stuff, I'd say he's pretty comparable to Schwarzenegger.

[clevername]

[Outside the guns/violence stuff, I'd say he's pretty comparable to Schwarzenegger.

it still freaks me out that I can read a sentence like that and understand it in a political sense.

[Cole Burns]

Ya know, it's kind of funny reading all these comments. So very partisan in at least half the posts.

Fifteen years ago I was a strident conservative, before Neo-Con meant anything. I was idealistic and proud to be a Young Republican. In fact, it was a great time to be a Young Republican. The GOP had gained leadership in Congress again, we were underdogs fighting the establishment. We had that shine of a brand new Contract with America.

But then, politics (as it usually does) happened. The Contract with America went out as Pork Barrells rolled in. Congress did the unthinkable and impeached a president for lying in an affidavit (hardly grounds for firing someone, especially the leader of the free world). Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse BAM -- Absolute Power. With the White House and Congress wrapped up, the old proverb was made true: Absolute Corruption. What G-Dub wanted, G-Dub got, deficit and smaller gov't be damned.

Now I'm wiser (I'm definitely older). True, I don't have a dog in the hunt. But I have learned one thing: Their All Dogs! No one politician is going to speak for everyone. No one man is impervious to corruption. No one party is going to look out for the interests of the people when they can just as easily look out for their own interests.

I'll keep checking this thread for entertainment value, and post here now and then when I feel the inclination to. But I've decided already how I'm voting this November: INDEPENDENT. I'll find the best option on my state's ballot, a guy that I agree with most, because I don't agree with either of the main candidates. But that's not all. I'm voting against ALL the incumbents on the ballot. I don't care if I like the guy, agree with the guy, or am related to the guy...he's fired! 14 years of incompetency in Congress. 25 years (plus?) of the Good-Old-Boy connections in the White House. I'm done! We need something fresh.

And to answer the question, NO, I don't think we'll get away from Politics as Usual if the Great One Obama is elected. He's still beholden to his party, and any candidate beholden to a party is not beholden to the people.

Let the People Speak!

[AdmiralKird]

"Experience" isn't the issue.

Obama has ten years experience in public office and
a degree in political science with an emphasis on
international relations; he received his degree at
Columbia, which is as hard as it gets. He's the only
senator serving on three of the four committees on
foreign policy.

The issue is having ten years of experience in these offices, yet there's really nothing to show for it, and it doesn't live up to the image that has been painted of him. There is time there, but not enough meat. He's got a whole slew a few grand changes he wants to make, but in the office that actually proposes these changes as bills, he's done hardly anything to make them a reality.

He sponsored or co-sponsored 152 bills in the 109th congress.

He sponsored or co-sponsored 116 bills in the 110th.

He passed the Global Poverty Act (S.2433), the Legislative Transparency
and Accountability Act (S. 230) , and the the Lugar-Obama proliferation
and threat reduction initiative. Considering that congress is deeply divided
and gridlocked, I'd say that's pretty good.

And 8 years in the Illinois senate:
http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2007/ ... APHIC.html

Not miraculous, by any stretch; but far more active and effective
than McCain's surrogates make him out to be.

He's been an average junior Senator, with most of his work focusing on campaign reform, not the larger issues he's been talking about on the campaign trail. If you just just look at the numbers of bills that he's co-sponsored or introduced, there's some very strange wording on some of them suggesting that other Democratic party members have been trying to boost his resume for the run-up to the election. There's nothing in his service that suggests he's something extraordinary or that he will bring this new-found change to Washington, it's all a lot of talk. His record shows he's an average Junior Senator, which gives me little reason to think he deserves the presidency.

[Cole Burns]

Link

Another person in the class quoted Geisel as saying that "he hated George W. Bush and that he wanted to put a bullet in the president's head," according to the Secret Service.

Geisel denied in a written statement to a Secret Service agent that he ever made those threats, and the documents don't indicate that he ever took steps to carry out any assassination. He was charged only with threatening Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee, but not for any threat against President Bush.

Burn...

[Radbird]

This Geisel?

[PujolJunkie]

Link

Another person in the class quoted Geisel as saying that "he hated George W. Bush and that he wanted to put a bullet in the president's head," according to the Secret Service.

Geisel denied in a written statement to a Secret Service agent that he ever made those threats, and the documents don't indicate that he ever took steps to carry out any assassination. He was charged only with threatening Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee, but not for any threat against President Bush.

Burn...

Threatening to do something to Bush is about as common as saying "Hi" anymore. It's become a fixture in America.

[clevername]

I've already seen this slander on some other sites. Folks actually believe it (basically the same ones who send you mass emails about how he's a secret Muslim terrorist, too). But it's nice to see Time call some people out on it in general and raise some questions about another suspicious negative ad from McCain.

http://www.time.com/time/politics/artic ... ml?cnn=yes