I saw some humanity with leaving the pregnant daughter out of the TV dissection . I think its gloves off time now .
That is too funny. I thought Republicans were in favor of getting the government out of the business of helping the poor and letting churches do it?
Speaking of Governors, do you remember what Republicans said about Clinton, who had 12 years of experience as the Governor of Arkansas? That’s right. 12 years as the Gov. of a small state didn’t qualify one to be president!
To be fair, Palin is not running for president.
That is too funny. I thought Republicans were in favor of getting the government out of the business of helping the poor and letting churches do it?
Speaking of Governors, do you remember what Republicans said about Clinton, who had 12 years of experience as the Governor of Arkansas? That’s right. 12 years as the Gov. of a small state didn’t qualify one to be president!
I am past my limit.
I toyed with voting for Obama but decided I couldn’t. I was leaning towards McCain, but his campaign strategy recently has left me looking for anyone who is willing to run a modestly decent campaign. I think he’s past the point of no return and I don’t view him as being worthy of a vote anymore. He’s done a disservice to the honorable man he used to be. He may end up being a decent President, but he’ll have to do so without my vote.
I haven’t voted for a President since '96 (which was my first and only Presidential vote), I fear that may have been my one and only time.
There are two of us! I must say that I am in good company.
Not if your company is me…
I toyed with voting for Obama but decided I couldn’t.
May I ask why?
You may … 
He’s a decent candidate for me on social issues, but ultimately I’d like to see a candidate who is a less inclined to have “I’ll spend more on …” as his first response to an issue.
I’d like for more of his platform to involve serious reviews of existing government programs to determine their efficacy meet the needs and demands of the country, and not necessarily tout new programs or more money for current programs. More money may not be the solution, nor may it be a government thing to tackle. The community organizer and decent talk of “personal responsibility” are pretty decent credentials, but my understanding of his policies are that they are still heavy on government involvement.
I was also rather disappointed with Biden, I thought Richardson would have been the perfect pick. If you want to have a “grown up” running mate, don’t go with the Washington insider.
I don’t really find McCain to be the right fit for me either. I can’t look at the Republican party as a fiscally conservative party either with a straight face. It’s nice rhetoric, but ultimately each party has shown that they can’t be fiscally responsible.
I’m also fairly disgruntled with politics. Even on a day to day basis it is too strongly a “Screw that other party” thing, with not enough focus on solving the right problems for the right reasons.
All the above coming from a IMO perspective. I can clearly be wrong.
Thank you for sharing. I understand what you are saying about more government spending, but at the same time Obama seems more amenable to the idea that we cannot continue endless deficit spending. McCain seems to have less problem with that, and comparisons of both candidates spending/tax proposals indicate McCain will grow the deficit faster.
The policies of the last 8 years have been a disaster for this country, and only in the past week has McCain stolen Obama’s mantra of “change,” though he has yet to identify anything that he wants to change. Otherwise, McCain’s policies look very much like what we’ve had during the Bush years. Not good. Add to that the selection of Palin, who isn’t ready or qualified to step in should something happen to 72-year-old cancer survivor McCain.
I understand about not wanting to vote unless the candidate is what you want, but in practical terms, the “lesser of two evils” thing makes a lot of sense, especially if you are in a state that, by any stretch, could be in play. Thus, it seems that anything other than a vote for Obama increases the odds of McCain winning, resulting in a continuation of the failed policies of Bush, and the very real possibility of Palin running the country. Do you think that would be a good outcome?
To be fair, Palin is not running for president.
That is too funny. I thought Republicans were in favor of getting the government out of the business of helping the poor and letting churches do it?
Speaking of Governors, do you remember what Republicans said about Clinton, who had 12 years of experience as the Governor of Arkansas? That’s right. 12 years as the Gov. of a small state didn’t qualify one to be president!
To be fair, there’s like a 33% chance she could be president if McCain wins.
You may …
He’s a decent candidate for me on social issues, but ultimately I’d like to see a candidate who is a less inclined to have “I’ll spend more on …” as his first response to an issue.
I’d like for more of his platform to involve serious reviews of existing government programs to determine their efficacy meet the needs and demands of the country, and not necessarily tout new programs or more money for current programs. More money may not be the solution, nor may it be a government thing to tackle. The community organizer and decent talk of “personal responsibility” are pretty decent credentials, but my understanding of his policies are that they are still heavy on government involvement.
I was also rather disappointed with Biden, I thought Richardson would have been the perfect pick. If you want to have a “grown up” running mate, don’t go with the Washington insider.
I don’t really find McCain to be the right fit for me either. I can’t look at the Republican party as a fiscally conservative party either with a straight face. It’s nice rhetoric, but ultimately each party has shown that they can’t be fiscally responsible.
I’m also fairly disgruntled with politics. Even on a day to day basis it is too strongly a “Screw that other party” thing, with not enough focus on solving the right problems for the right reasons.
All the above coming from a IMO perspective. I can clearly be wrong.
You’ve summed up my position. If Barr is on the ballot, I’m voting for him.
If I could have the old “my religion is none of your damn business” McCain and another moderate running mate (ridge, liebermann, …), it’d make the decision easy.
I supported Richardson in the primary, btw.
Well McCain continues down a slope that is just fascinating to me, on a day to day basis I have more of a hard time remembering why I considered voting for him.
I tried to convince myself of the “lesser of two evils” thing 4 years ago, and I was ready to vote Kerry, but when I was standing there to vote I realized I just couldn’t do it. I was voting against Bush, not for Kerry. For about 8 seconds I almost voted for the Libertarian candidate to “prove a point”, but knew nothing about the guy and felt like it was not a good reason to vote for someone.
This year, I’m going to research the other candidates and maybe I’ll find someone I can palate as a “none of the above” candidate.
Ultimately I think McCain intends to back away from a lot of his election rhetoric when he gets in office, probably throw a lot of “circumstances have changed, and reality dictates I do x”, and that x more closely fits where he was about 8 years ago. However, I don’t see where he’s going to get the staff and appointees to carry out his policies, and he’ll end up using a lot of the base that he’s been courting and it won’t go the way he wants.
I’m going to Europe next week for 10 days, I think I’m going to totally avoid US politics, and hopefully come back a little bit more refreshed. I think I’ll just have to revisit things then. My two best friends are about as polar opposites on the political spectrum as you can get. I’m going to write them both and have them respond with the reasons they think I should vote for their guy. We’ll see.