OK, McCain it is. I’m not happy. You’re probably not either. I don’t know who all these “Republicans” are who are voting for him in the primaries, because I’m not aware of one person who likes him. But, be that as it may, the RINOs have spoken and McCain is going to be the Republican candidate. What do we do now?
The pragmatists will weigh the pros and cons and decide which candidate will do less harm to the country. The petulants will go home and sulk, and either not vote at all or throw away their vote on a third party candidate. The punitives will actually cross over and give aid and comfort to the enemy in our country’s time of crisis, and cast their vote for the Democrats out of spite.
From a pragmatist perspective, what are the key issues? The economy, the war, immigration, healthcare, and Supreme Court appointments are probably the most important.
The economy is a big one, because there’s a fundamental philosophical difference in the way Republicans and Democrats address the problem. Republicans believe in fixing the economy by cutting taxes to stimulate growth. Democrats believe the way to fix the economy is by raising taxes and redistributing the wealth. Which do you prefer?
- McCain’s plan is to extend the Bush tax cuts, create more tax cuts for middle class families, make the current low capital gains and dividends tax rates permanent, and require a 60% majority in Congress to raise taxes in the future. He’ll also cut government programs that don’t work, earmarks, subsidies, and pork barrel spending.
- Mrs. Clinton’s plan is to eliminate the Bush tax cuts, raise capital gains and dividends taxes back to their previous levels, spend $10 billion dollars on extending and broadening unemployment entitlements, hand over $25 billion to low/no income families for “emergency energy assistance,” establish a $30 billion emergency housing fund, and put a five-year rate freeze on sub-prime mortgages.
The war is another big one. Would you rather we fight it over there or over here?
- McCain fully supports doing whatever is necessary to prosecute the war to the finish. He has consistently supported it from the start, and was an early proponent of the increase in troops.
- Mrs. Clinton and Obama both supported the Iraq spending bill that would have brought most of our troops home by next month. Mrs. Clinton has promised that, if elected, she’ll bring all the troops home within two years. Obama promises to do it in one. Then we can fight the terrorists on our own soil. That ought to be fun.
On immigration, it’s a wash. They all supported the same immigration bill. Yes, McCain was a sponsor of it, but it’s the one thing on which they all agree, so there’s no win here.
On healthcare, we all know what Mrs. Clinton’s plan is.
- Mrs. Clinton wants to legislate that everybody has to buy health insurance. For those who can’t afford it, she’ll just take the money out the rest of our pockets to make up the difference.
- McCain opposes mandatory universal healthcare coverage.
There are likely to be three Supreme Court Justice appointments during the next administration.
- McCain is a strict constructionist.
- Mrs. Clinton would pack the court with liberal judges who believe we all need to be protected from ourselves more than we do from criminals and, like children, we can’t be trusted with firearms. (It’s kind of hard to defend yourself in an emergency with a trigger lock on your gun, but Mrs. Clinton thinks it’s necessary so we don’t accidentally shoot ourselves.)
There’s another consideration for the pragmatists. The president appoints the heads of a lot of federal agencies. If we have a Republican (or even a RINO) in the White House, these federal agencies are going to be run by Republicans. If we elect the Clintons or Obama, they’ll be run by socialists. Remember, it’s not just the president you’re voting for, it’s the party, too.
Question of the day: If McCain were to choose Fred Thompson as his running mate, would that change your mind?
Government is Not Your Daddy 
You make good points, but I would disagree that voting third party is “throwing away” your vote. To me, throwing away your vote would be just handing your vote to somebody (or a party) who not only doesn’t represent your views, but dismisses them as “outdated” or “extreme.” The conservatives in the GOP have been handed their walking papers.
Unless McCain does something to make me believe he has anything other than distaste for me and those of like mind, I will happily take those papers and walk.
How about a McCain/Thompson ticket?
A McCain/Thompson ticket would have at least some impact on McCain’s “I hate Conservatives” image.
Him denouncing McCain/Feingold and McCain/Kennedy, as well as admitting he lied about Romney’s stance on the war (and apologizing for it) would do more. I know — I’m a big dreamer.
McCain’s chief problem seems to be that he’s just better at working with Democrats than he is at working with Conservatives. A Thompson VP ticket would certainly -help- to change that view, though.
I don’t think there are a heck of a lot of Republicans voting for him…a lot of his appeal is from independents. That’s not a bad thing for your side IMO.
“The petulants will go home and sulk, and either not vote at all or throw away their vote on a third party candidate.”
I strongly suggest this option for you guys, but I’m biased. It’s great fun to watch the GOP “coalition” fall apart BTW. :)
“The economy, the war, immigration, healthcare, and Supreme Court appointments are probably the most important.”
Luckily for you, McCain is wrong on just about all these issues.
“Republicans believe in fixing the economy by cutting taxes to stimulate growth.”
Right, but the problem is that this never works…”supply-side” is dead. McCain was never *for* the Bush tax cuts in the first place, which is one of the reasons why you guys hate him.
“require a 60% majority in Congress to raise taxes in the future.”
I might have missed that part of our Constitution that said that raising taxes requires a special kind of vote.
“McCain fully supports doing whatever is necessary to prosecute the war to the finish”
100 years! Now there’s a winning strategy.
“Then we can fight the terrorists on our own soil.”
No, then we can fight them in Afganistan and Pakistan…where they actually are.
McCain has absolutely no plan to solve the health care crisis in this country, period.
And to think that I had a GOP-supporter tell me the other week that, when it came to domestic policy, who the President was didn’t matter one bit…lol…
McCain would do better to select Reagan’s dead body than Thompson…Reagan would campaign harder…
Although RinoWatch supported Fred Thompson, Thompson for VP is not the decider.
ABC! “Anybody But Clinton” is the decider…. and even though RW detests RINO’s (McCain)there is a time to Hold your nose and Hold the RINO’s (liar) McCain’s feet to the fire. “Yes we Can”!
NYD said: “The punitives will actually cross over and give aid and comfort to the enemy in our country’s time of crisis, and cast their vote for the Democrats out of spite.”
Ugh. Nice example of the politics of division. I hardly agree that casting a vote for a Democratic candidate is the same as “giving aid and comfort to the enemy.” Nice hyperbole and vitriol.
And what is this “time of crisis” of which you speak? Are you by chance referring to the “war” on “terrorism”? Different candidates may have different opinions and strategies on the best way to remain vigilant against terrorists. Saying one side or the other has the only possible solution is a terrible disservice, in my opinion.
Welcome back, Wiggles. Haven’t seen you in a while.
Perhaps I should have used the term “opponent” instead of “enemy.” However, one of the definitions of enemy in the American Heritage Dictionary is “Something destructive or injurious in its effects.” I believe that to be accurate about the Democrat agenda. You disagree. But please grant me a little literary license here. Though I usually try to avoid hyperbole, I’m trying to get through to those who (IMHO) are abandoning their party for the wrong reason. So I may wax a little hyporbolistic. I feel no vitriol towards Democrats, however. I think many of them are simply misguided. ; )
Divisiveness is inherent in a two party system, especially during a presidential race. It’s absolutely necessary to highlight the inherent opposition between the two platforms in this particular race, at this particular time, because so many conservatives are claiming there is no real difference between the Clintons and McCain.
The crisis is twofold: our stumbling economy and our national security. I believe the Democrats’ agendas on both of these issues will bring significant harm to our country. I’m addressing those who agree with me, philosophically, but are willing to let the harm happen because they want to teach their party a lesson. I’m trying to convince them that we can’t afford that. A lot of conservatives sat out the last election, and all it got us was a Democrat-dominated Congress. I can’t see what they hope to gain by handing over the Executive Branch as well.
“I’m trying to get through to those who (IMHO) are abandoning their party for the wrong reason.”
No, no…by all means, let them abandon it…go to sleep…you’ll feel better after a long nap, I promise. :)
“I’m trying to convince them that we can’t afford that.”
Of course you can, it’s happened before & it’ll happen again.
“A lot of conservatives sat out the last election, and all it got us was a Democrat-dominated Congress.”
Let’s not re-write history. The Dems got in because the GOP screwed virtually everything up. I agree…political parties matter a lot.
Nice backpedal attempt. I’m willing to grant some literary license. But saying that Democrats want to give “aid and comfort” to the enemy is patently disingenuous and offensive. I’m not sure what greater good such statements can aspire to. Democrats may have a different opinion about what to do about terrorism than you, but that is hardly they same as saying they want to “aid and comfort” the terrorists. You been listening to Coulter lately?
Wiggles, you’re misquoting me. I did not say the Democrats are giving aid and comfort to the enemy; I said that Republicans who vote Democrat are giving aid and comfort to the enemy (the “enemy,” in this case, being the Democrats). Though admittedly hyperbolistic, it was also tongue in cheek.
I do not consider Democrats to be “the enemy” in the same sense the terrorists are. (The difference is that the terrorists truly want to destroy us. The Demos don’t want to destroy us, they just don’t know any better. >:) I expected the snideness of the remark would have been obvious, but perhaps not.
Because of your comment about divisiveness, I assumed you objected to me referring to Democrats as the enemy. That’s what I was addressing by what you refer to as backpedaling. If you had actually interpreted my remark to mean that I was accusing Democrats of giving aid and comfort to our national enemy, then I suggest you reread the original post.
First, I apologize for misquoting you. It wasn’t intentional.
Now that I’m corrected, I’m still not sure what higher good is served by saying stuff like voting for a Democrat is akin to giving aid and comfort to an enemy. (A capital offense, by the way.)
NYD said, “I do not consider Democrats to be “the enemy” in the same sense the terrorists are.”
Oh, how gracious of you! :)
I think I see the difference between us. You apparently assume the worst about anyone who does not share your political views. I prefer to think that most of us – liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican – truly care about our country and just have differing opinions about what is best. Most problems facing our country are too sweeping and too complex to have any single ONE right answer, so I think it is the height of hubris to be so secure that your opinion is the only correct one that you can call those with differing views an “enemy.”
Wigglesworth, please note that I did say I was being snide, and the remark about giving aid and comfort to the enemy was tongue in cheek. I don’t think anyone really believes it’s a capital offense to give aid and comfort to the opposing political party. (Though it is counterproductive, which was my point.)
I do not assume the worst of those who disagree with me. As I said, “the Demos don’t want to destroy us.” (They think they’re acting in what they believe to be the best interests of the country.) “They just don’t know any better.”
And, while I did include an evil smiley after that statement, I do believe it to be true. By the same token, you clearly think conservatives are well-intentioned but misguided. So what you see as the difference between us is actually a similarity. ;)
Hey, it’s his website…if he wants to engage in wild hyperbole…I say let him. He’s not fooling anyone that hasn’t already been fooled I suspect…so whatever…
Thank you so much for defending my 1st amendment right, Mr. Guy. — And with such eloquence!
Being an eternal optimist, I’m going to make lemonade out of lemons but, not being an idealistic libertarian anymore, to me politics is always about choosing the lesser of two evils. Some self-righteous social con said to me on another blog. “But the lesser of too evils is still evil.” I replied. “So, should we then chose the worse of two evils?”
Here you go:
Here’s a little retort to another Republican’ts troll over at the Constitutional Matters Project……
The original article and this response ran over 10,000 words, so they cant’ or won’t publish..
Odd how after honorable service to my country in Viet Nam some “conservative” can call ME the enemy. This might be an indicator as to the mindset of the greatest political failure in the history of this country: The Republican party under our current “president.” And I thought Nixon was the absolute bottom.
To the uninitiated: the phrase “redistribute the wealth” is a catchphrase that Rush and the other idiots use. It’s code for “socialist”
If that’s the case, then:
Paying for public schools is socialist. Social Security for the disabled is socialist. Medicare and Medicaid are socialist. School lunch programs are Socialist. All redistributed wealth. Head start was Socialist but was totally gutted by this Administration, the Compassionate Conservatives(tm).
Can’t pay for the war with those kinds of tax cuts. How we going to pay off the deficit? The one thing you never hear these new conservatives talk about is how to pay for the corporate welfare/tax breaks for the rich, the “tax refund” distraction and the cost of the little incursion into Iraq. Who is going to get stuck with THIS redistribution of wealth? The answer is your children and their children, that’s who. The WWII generation has been referred to as the “greatest generation”. What do you want to bet this one gets called the absolute worst?
The Republicans used to be the fiscal grown ups. They’re still trying to trade on that image. Look at the numbers and you get the feeling that it’s all they have, the IMAGE of fiscal responsibility, but don’t worry about anything: You’ll get another nice tax refund and your children be damned.
That’s right – we have to pay for this “war on terror.” See the tax paragraphs above.
“Entitlements.” Sigh. Another pejorative catchphrase implying welfare leeches and scammers living it up on the government dime.
Let me tell you something: I was disabled for a time and had to rely on “entitlements” including food stamps, emergency energy assistance, and Social Security.
You should try it some time, you’ll shut your trap about “entitlements” in a hurry. Learn 100 ways to cook rice, killer, and learn to love oatmeal and macaroni and cheese. Figure out where the local food bank is because everything I just listed above is going to leave you hungry and cold.
Learn to choose between food and heat too, as “emergency energy assistance” is useless, if you aren’t the first in line, you can’t get it.
This is the biggest lie the “conservatives” tell. Planes still fly. Our borders are still wide open. They can come here and do whatever they want to do, just like before 9/11. You can get put on a no fly list for going to a demonstration, but the borders are NO DIFFERENT than they were the day the towers came down. This is a shameful and disgusting way to run a war.
This is complete Bullshit, too. This war never HAS been a REAL war for people in this country, except my brothers and sisters who are doing the fighting and dying.
In a REAL war, a draft would have been instituted as soon as the Dummy finished ‘My Pet Goat’ and there would have been a million men on the ground as soon as they could have been trained. Bin Laden would have been captured IMMEDIATELY, AT ANY COST and streamlined into the General Population at any maximum security penitentiary where the predominant offenders are male rapists.
Instead, we get the NEOCON chickenhawk cowardice clusterfuck of an ‘on the cheap’ invasion and subsequent degeneration into what we have now…..and the real and only winners have been the subcontractors charging $500.00 for those apocryphal toilet seats. And Al Queda, who has grown from a couple thousand dead-enders into a multinational terrorist organization, all thanks to the recruiting tool that is the war in Iraq. And the fact that we didn’t kill every one of those bastards by Christmas, 2003.
I thought we were in the fight for our lives. Where is the total effort? Where is the sacrifice? Wherer are the gas stamps, the rubber/steel/aluminum recycling drives, the nylon stocking shortage? We aren’t sacrificing a damned thing. except the lives of our soldiers who’s coffins cannot be photographed. Your children are being sacrificed, their financial future, their standing in the world as Americans and what that means to the world. Rendition. Waterboard. Abu Grahib.
88% of our national guard units can no longer be counted on to help defend our actual country as they are depleted and exhausted from multiple deployments into Iraq. Stop loss as practiced by the Bush administration should be a war crime. Sending American soldiers into the grinder for FOUR YEARS is not defensible. If we are going to fight this war, we need a draft NOW, and bring these current soldiers HOME.
And as for this ruse that we’ll have to fight them at home, I get the feeling that is more total crap from the mind of Dick Cheney. We were hit hard on 9/11, where is the second strike? Surely they would come here to hit our civilian population instead of trying to fight us in the arena WE chose. I’ll fight the terrorists right here. I am NOT afraid of those chickenshit thugs. I tried to re-enlist after 9/11 but turned out to be too old. I would have gone to Afghanistan in a heartbeat, but no dice. Bush can go to Iraq himself.
Yep. this is going to be interesting.
Hillarycare will die in comittee faster than Terri Schiavo after the machine was unplugged. Yet another ruse by the dittoheads.
And what IS the conservative stance on healthcare? According to the most recent Bush budget, the largest ever proposed including the biggest deficit in the history of Mankind, it’s to cut Medicare and Medicaid. Apparently it’s just fine that we allow 46 MILLION people in this country to live without basic health care. The Republican candidates have NO plan as far as I can tell. A shameful chapter in this country, the richest in the world, to deny citizens basic health coverage.
BUT: Whatever you do, you have to support the military. Not the troops or their mental health, of course, but the big ticket items made by Grumman and Boeing and General Electric……..and, of course, Halliburton.
But Veterans get denied, misdirected and the health care malfeasance extends to them, too.
More crap from the wayback machine: The assault weapons ban was allowed to sunset without more than a snivel from the gun control nuts and NO ONE is talking about it anymore. It’s a ruse and you know it. I’m liberal about most domestic programs but they will NOT take my guns. Gun control in any true sense has been roundly beaten and I watch very carefully for movement on this. Gun control will NOT be tolerated by the voters and you know it. Stop with the BS.
And while we talk about the law – It doesn’t matter what kind of judges are in place in the Supreme Court – the “InfraGuard” program, linked with the 43 “Fusion Centers” and overseen by NORTHCOM render your civil rights moot. Strict constructionism becomes meaningless. On the other hand, maybe we need liberal judges to find a way to undo some of the crap ‘signing statements’ the Conservative Mental Giant has been slipping under the door.
Thanks for FINALLY using the word “socialist.” You know perfectly well that socialism is not really part of the story with even the most liberal of the candidates, but it makes for a hot button that you can punch to create a flap with the kool-aid drinkers out there in Neocon land. Shameful, and irrelevant. You’d shit little green apples if I called you a fascist or a NAZI, but every election cycle, it’s wooooooo!!!!!!Socialists!!!!!!! woooooo!!!!.
And, if I may, it’s kind of beneath someone as obviously intelligent and observant enough to put together these articles you come up with.
Only if you want to cast a new episode of “Law and Order.”
And don’t worry, I dislike politically correct liberals as much as anyone.
Welcome to Daddyland, scumby. WRT your reference to being called the enemy, you might want to read my earlier exchanges on this thread with Wigglesworth.
You’re correct that redistribution of wealth, in all its many forms, is socialist. I use the word descriptively, according to its definition. The word itself is not intrinsically pejorative, though you choose to interpret it that way. Personally, I don’t favor socialism. Many liberals do agree with the principle, but don’t like the word, presumably because conservatives tend to use it as an epithet. Pick another word, if you prefer, as long as it has the same meaning. It’s all the same to me. It’s the underlying principle to which I object.
I do not support “corporate welfare,” or any form of subsidies or protectionism. Nor do I support the “rebates.” (See my comment from 1/26, 8:13 pm, on this thread.) Bush is not a true fiscal conservative, and has been a great disappointment from that perspective.
“Learn 100 ways to cook rice, killer, and learn to love oatmeal and macaroni and cheese.”
I have lived on rice and beans, cabbage, potatoes, and biscuits made with flour, water, and margarine, with an occasional chicken (when it was on sale), whose carcass I cooked down to soup after stretching the meat as far as it would go. I know how to subsist on minimal rations. At that point in my life, I was living in a ghetto in NYC, and all of my neighbors collected foodstamps, welfare, and various other entitlements, which they subsidized with unreported income from various illegal activities. They ate a lot better than I did. And I know that you can buy anything with foodstamps, incuding cigarettes, dope, and stolen property, for 60 cents on the dollar.
I also know there are people who use government programs as they’re intended, as a temporary stopgap in an emergency. (Charities also serve that purpose, though many people are too proud to apply for charity but have no compunction about getting it from the government.)
I agree with you that we have prosecuted this war inadequately. (See my response to Mr. Guy, 2/10, 1:33 pm, on this thread.)
“Hillarycare will die in comittee faster than Terri Schiavo after the machine was unplugged. Yet another ruse by the dittoheads.”
Hillary is a dittohead? =:[]
WRT your reference to being called the enemy, you might want to read my earlier exchanges on this thread with Wigglesworth.
*Right – I didn’t see that exchange before I posted. No harm, No foul.*
I know that you can buy anything you want with foodstamps, incuding drugs and stolen property, for 60 cents on the dollar.
*And, left to their own devices, financial institutions come up with loan bundling and sub-prime mortgages. The point being that there isn’t one aspect of this country of ours that hasn’t been abused by some scumsucker or other. They are both reprehensible, and should be punished accordingly, but oversight is non-existent any more. Shameful on ALL sides of the isle.*
*Look. Some uh, – socialism – to use your word, is, I believe, necessary. Health care and education are my big ones. I have NO idea how children in public schools now are going to compete with the Japanese and Chinese in 10 years. A rigorous Liberal Arts education helped form Thomas Jefferson, and that ought to be good enough for our public schools. At a minimum, rigorous science, math, history, and yearly classes in the Declaration of Independance, the Constitution, and the Bill or Rights. Simply learning to pass tests to advance a grade is complete BS and we are about to reap the “benefit” from No Child Left Behind.*
*There is no excuse for the illiterates coming out of our school system now. None.*
Hillary is a dittohead? =:[]
*Now, now now…..you know what I meant by that ;~)*
I don’t believe healthcare is the responsibility of the government. To quote Jackson from a thread on another post, “The Constitution states that it is a purpose of our government to ‘promote the General Welfare.’ It doesn’t say anything about providing it.”
WRT education, my proposal is posted here.
“Hillarycare will die in comittee faster than Terri Schiavo after the machine was unplugged.”
I don’t agree with this…we must do something to fix the health care crisis in this country. Even if her plan sparks a debate where another plan comes to pass…that’s fine with me as well.
“The assault weapons ban was allowed to sunset without more than a snivel from the gun control nuts and NO ONE is talking about it anymore.”
I disagree here as well. We’ll be revisiting this issue on a national scale real soon I bet. As long as the bodies keep piling up that is. No one is out to take anyone’s guns that were bought and used legally.
I believe that the socialist agenda, who’s desire is a totalitarian form of govt. must, of necessity, confiscate our weapons. Success cannot be guaranteed without it…It’ll just take a little more time for the propaganda machine to convince the masses. The UN stands ready to help in this endeavor.
**I believe that the socialist agenda, who’s desire is a totalitarian form of govt. must, of necessity, confiscate our weapons. Success cannot be guaranteed without it…It’ll just take a little more time for the propaganda machine to convince the masses. The UN stands ready to help in this endeavor.**
Your guns are already useless, killer. Look up:
InfraGuard
Fusion Centers
Northcom
3 domestic programs all well funded and now operational.
You think that the “socialist propaganda” is a threat to your way of life, well, while you weren’t looking the Cheney administration sold you out like you were Valerie Plame.
Best of luck, though, looking out for those socialists under your bed.
RE: USNORTHCOM –
USNORTHCOM is the U.S. Northern Command. In terms of what I just wrote – they now have infrastructure to fully implement Martial Law.
There was no such thing as USNORTHCOM before Oct.1 2002
McCain passes the conservative test in several very important ways; he defends the Second Amendment, he is pro-life, he is a fiscal conservative and believes in strict constitutionalists as judges. While he isn’t perfect and not my first choice he beats the heck out of either Billary or Obama. So, all you that will either not vote or vote for a third party better think about it. I and a bunch of others did that in ’92 and look who we got! We could get them again.
[…] NotYourDaddy wrote an interesting post today on There are Worse Things than McCain! — Really. Here’s a quick excerpt: On immigration, it’sa wash. They all supported the immigration legislation backed by Bush. Yes, McCain was a sponsor of it, but it’s the one thing on which they all agree, so there’s no win here. On healthcare, we all know what Mrs. […]
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