"I don't vote the party I vote the man".....

[KensPen]

I have always thought that an ignorant statement....
Reagan Democrats shoulder a lot of the blame for the current makeup of the Supreme court...
A president is the mouth piece of the party and can help sway elections at every level across the states...

that being said...

I really like John McCain.
always have,

I watched the interview with Gretta VanSustern (sp?) last night, and he impressed me with the way he attacked the Presidents performance based upon facts and plain speech, he was rather devoid of rhetoric.

The man seems to want to serve his country for the simple purpose of making it better.

I respect that very much.

[Dogmudgeon]

1. I like McCain, too

And I respect him.

And I admire him.

But I take great issue with his politics.

He's a conservative. Not a neo-con, but a conservative. So I doubt I'd ever vote for him.

But I long for the days when conservatives were part of American political discourse, and not just wealthy sociopaths.

--bkl

[LincolnMcGrath]

2. yeah, what he said. lol

Respectable guy. Who wants Unions crushed, SS privatized, etc, etc.

[KensPen]

4. good points....

BUT...
I much prefer a person whose opinions differ from my own,
but who I TRUST.
than a hand puppet of big business like Bush.

At least with McCain the changes that he supports seems to be based on a way of changing things for the better. I also trust him when he expresses his beliefs and positions. I don't feel like he is lying to me.

I would rather a man like McCain who has ideas and desires to effect reform, than a man like Bush who is seeking to effect change by generating a deficit so huge programs will be cut from necessity.

[Kanary]

6. Are you hearing the level of "settling" you're willing to do?

Good for him to be honest. Isn't that a tragedy that we've sunk so low that it comes to this?

Sounds like you're willing to vote for him. To heck with the fact that he'll gut S.S., and there goes a whole lot of us, right down the drain. Will the loss of us matter to you? I have to ask that.

In another thread, there is talk that the poor will revolt. This is why that probably won't happen.. we'll all just quietly kill ourselves, and get out of your way. Because a "honest" man who will do away with us is OK by the rest of you. That's why we feel abandoned, and why many don't bother to vote. We don't matter, and haven't since Martin Luther King was shot.

Kanary

[KensPen]

8. I believe in the ying and the yang of politics.....

I have NEVER pulled a lever for a person who was not a Democrat...

that being said....

I do not think the world would be a better place if all the Republicans died.
That is the sentiment of the Right, at the moment and it scares me.

I kind of like having balance in washington (with a Democratic majority)

that being said....

I would prefer the leadership of the opposition to be lead by voices like McCain, rather than those of the current Administration.

[seasat]

3. I wonder if we should start referring to Neo-cons also as

corporate liberals.

:silly:

I mean they believe in subsidies to poor large mulibillion dollar multinational corporations. I actually hear that some of those executives can only afford one Lear jet. The horror. I'm suprised they aren't sponsoring telethons for them. Can you imagine the excitment on the large corporate farmer's face as Bush passed that agriculture subsidy bill? How about the tears in the eyes of the large oil executive as they advocate drilling every federal reserve and give them more subsidies? What about the airline executive that could afford the new Lambroghini after that bailout? Yes, it is no longer correct to call them conservatives, they are corporate liberals. :crazy:

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. no, 'liberal' and 'subsidy' are not linked in any way

'corporate agents', maybe, since they are working on behalf of the corporations.

If anything, subsidies were strongly opposed by the original Liberals:

"In England — in many ways the birthplace of liberalism — the liberal tradition in politics has centred on religious toleration, government by consent, personal and, especially, economic freedom."

Standford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

So Free Trade can be said to be part of Liberalism, but subsidies should have no part in it (they lessen the economic freedom of everyone who doesn't get them).

[dmkinsey]

5. For a Republican

McCain is OK. I can respect him even if I disagree with him. If he wants to go on TV and tell how bad bush policies are, well, I'm all for that.
(I voted for him in the 2000 Michigan primary,lot of us did)

[tom_paine]

9. I used to think that way during the Days of the Old Republic

I freely admit now to being a fool for it. To not fully recognizing the precursors of Imperial Totalitarianism.

(I suppose I recognized them peripherally, as the Attempted Coup of 1998 mademe comment, "There is something disturbingly 'Roman Empire' about these proceedings." but full comprehenesion of the Bushevik evil and their ever growing Nazi-style demonization andd dehumanization and lie-laundering propaganda infrastructure escaped me)

I cannot now under any circumstance support any caniddate who runs under the Imperial Totalitarian Party (once known as the "Republican" Party during the Days of the Old Republic), even for dogactcher.

Commitment to the Founding Fathers' vision of America demands this, at least until the crisis is over.

[GregW]

10. I voted for a Republican twice ... for the 'man'

Votes for Tom Campbell when he was the Congress-critter for Silicon Valley ... I thought he did an excellent job representing our interests.

That being said ... he also voted for impeachment and so my opinion of the 'man' nosedived ... and guess what, he wasn't reelected.