The skinny on who’s left - the issues
February 7th, 2008Thanks Scott for lighting a fire under my ass to get this out the door.
Democrats
Hillary Clinton - For the War in Iraq, Hillary wanted a gradual withdrawal, which may be the most realistic of the candidates. She did though support the war in the beginning, and she flip-flopped her position too often, making people wonder if she goes where the polls go. She does have a good environmental record though.
That said, I wouldn’t want her for a President at all. She’s been horrible on illegal immigration and implied Lou Dobbs was racist, a low blow even for her. She gets an F- from Gun Owners of America. She supported the Patriot Act, and she supports the current War on Drugs which is a War on our Fourth Amendment and really should be none of the Federal government’s business. She thinks government is the solution to everything, whereas I think government needs to mind their own business and stay out of my life as much as possible.
Barack Obama - Although I like him as a person, I think he’s just plain too wet behind the ears to run this country. He’s too idealistic.
I was excited when he talked about outsourcing, for right now outsourcing is a serious issue affecting the Middle Class in this country. But he lost me when he said those against illegal immigration were scapegoating. Well, what do you expect from someone in an Ivory tower? I’ve seen people who started off poor or middle-class and became rich, then completely lose touch with how hard the common man and woman have it. Obama is one of those people.
Illegal immigration undercuts the working class. Employers do not have to give benefits or follow safety standards and right now, it’s really hurting the working class. Is not Obama aware of this?
He talks about eliminating taxes for seniors who make less than $50,000 a year. Why single out seniors? Sounds like a political gesture to me. He talks about restricting offshore tax havens, and I agree with him there.
I’m glad he never supported the Iraq War. I never fell for it either. I personally want bin Laden’s head on my car as a hood ornament. He’s not in Iraq though, and we’re wasting time in Iraq when we should be finding and killing bin Laden and his people.
He gets an F from Gun Owners of America, which to me is a serious blow against him. I don’t trust anti-gun politicians. There are 10 Amendments in the Bill of Rights, not 9.
Obama admitted to trying coke, which I think is a good thing. No, not doing coke, but rather admitting to it. You know Obama’s not going to keep secrets from you. I appreciate that.
Republicans
John McCain - If I had a gun to my head and had to choose between H. Clinton and McCain, just shoot me and get it over with. But Obama and McCain, I’d take Obama because at least Obama won’t lie to me.
McCain is a mean and bitter man, and I don’t want him running this country. He’s an extreme war hawk. When asked if we’ll go into Iran, he sang “Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran” to the melody of Barbara Ann by the Beach Boys. He later said it was a joke, but said we’d go into Iran if we had to. He also said we’d stay in Iraq for 100 years if we had to. Do you want us to stay in Iraq for 100 years? I certainly don’t.
McCain gets an F from Gun Owners of America and of all the candidates, he’d probably be the worst at guarding our Civil Liberties. Guiliani was bad too, but thankfully, he’s out.
Mike Huckabee - A longshot, but he’s not giving up. I have mixed feelings about Huckabee. One thing I have a strong problem with is he doesn’t mind if we’re more a Theocracy. I don’t want a Theocracy. My relationship with God is personal, and should have nothing to do with the government.
On the plus side, he’d be the best at fixing the illegal immigration problem. He’d enforce the laws that are already on the books and also supports building a fence. He’s also against gun control and pro-NASA. I’m very pro-NASA because I believe in supporting technology. He’s also for less taxes, which would be a good thing. We pay way too much in taxes in this country. He pissed off the Anti-Defamation League, which is another plus. They get offended by EVERYTHING, so I’m sure they’d hate me if I ever got into the spotlight. Huckabee also has the most realistic energy program, and is one of the only ones to mention research in things like biodiesel, wind, solar, hydrogen, and biomass energies. He also recognized the Turkish Genocide against the Armenians, which a lot of politicians were too thin-skinned to do.
On the minus side, he’s for the War in Iraq and is for bringing in even more troops. He’s for teaching Creationism in school, which I’m very much against. He’ll put the 10 Commandments in school, which I’m very much against. That is choosing one religion over another, and the First Amendment is VERY much against that. He’s also anti-abortion, anti-gay marriage and anti-medical marijuana, which are fine if those are your personal views, but none have a place in Federal politics. They’re State issues.
Ron Paul - Paul is pretty much out, but since he’s the guy I’d be supporting, I’ll give him his due.
He’s got an A+ from the Gun Owners of America
He never voted for the Iraq War and opposed it from the beginning
He’d lower taxes
He believes in a smaller Federal government, and stuff like abortion, gay marriage, stem cell research, and medical marijuana are State issues, not Federal issues. Paul has the best understanding of the Tenth Amendment, in fact, better than everyone else who’s running put together
Paul is by far the best on Constitutional issues and would protect your Freedoms and Rights better than anyone else
He supports tighter border security and ending welfare for illegal aliens
He was against the Patriot Act from the beginning, so he never fell for that crap either
He is against domestic surveillance. Do you want the government looking at what books you checked out, or listening to your phone calls, or watching you when you take a shower? Well, Ron Paul and yours truly don’t.
I’ll get to the Libertarian and Green reps another day. I still have to find out who they are. I don’t know whether the Reform Party still exists or not. If it does, I’ll give them their due since we all know the corporate media won’t.
dear lord i just have awful visions of the choice coming down to hillary and john mccain…god help us all.
From the outside it seems a bit like it is all about what the individual politicians want rather than what their political party and its supporters want?
I like the new digs and I’m excited to be able to read from work. Stupid filtering software.
Speaking of Domestic Surveillance, Did you hear about crossing the border with electronic devices like laptops and cell phones?
I believe Hillary is going to get the nomination. Treachery and deceit usually win out over youth and idealism. If its McCain and Hillary I’m just staying home and getting drunk.
Lime - God help us all is right.
Miladysa - Yes, there is overlap among party members, but there are people who are completely independent of their party as well. And there are those who are blank slates who just do what their voters want. So it’s all pretty confusing.
JACC - I’m off that porn site so you shouldn’t be blocked now. No, I haven’t heard about that border thing.
Beach - Sounds good. Four years of McCain or Hillary and I think I’ll become an alcoholic.
Once again we agree. In addition to your reasons for not supporting HC, I can’t imagine anyone putting up with more of Bubba (and not just the sex stuff either). Small town ‘politics’ just doesn’t cut it nationally.
If our choices wind up being Hillary or McCain, I think election night would be a perfect time for a blogfriends reunion, since we’ll ALL be drinking anyway.
Oh my, you’re guys are all going to finish as alcoholic, because, sure enough, you will have to choose between McCain and Hillary.
Bridget - Yeah, it looks like it.
Tshsmom - Or maybe an online drunk fest.
Kitem - Yeah, not a good outlook. It’s like having a choice of which leg you want broken.
That would work! We could wind up with some interesting posts. Your last drunk post was funny. You’re a cute drunk.
If Ron Paul can’t get in, I’ll go for Hillary. She’s good with money and her First Lady is too.
ZS good post but I have a response to you in my latest blog post, McCain actually does have a 100% rating from the gun owners of america in 2006. He’s inconsistant but better than anyone on the left side of the spectrum.
Tshsmom - that was years ago. I’m surprised you remember that.
Kate - Maybe you are a liberal after all.
Ben - The thing is he’s so wishy washy on the gun issue. He’s had an F before, so I find it hard to trust him. That’s why I’ll probably either vote Libertarian or write in Ron Paul.
Based on your breakdowns, we are royally screwed. Which means basically that we are royallys screwed. What the hell is wrong with our system that we can’t have more viable candidates to choose from. If I could roll up the best parts of Huckabee and Paul, we would have a winner. There is absolutely no way I can vote for a man who can deny the theory of evolution. That is simply lunatic. Ron Paul actually sounds like a great candidate to me. I have to know however that my leader isn’t going to roll over like a meek dog for national security.
You’re welcome by the way. Keep going throughout this process. You know how I and all your readers respect your political views.
When Huckabee was campaigning here in Michigan, he actually told a group of people in Warren that if he were President, he’d re-write the Constitution to more fully align with the Bible. I’ve had enough of the Religous Right for the last 8 years.
Do we want to stay in Iraq for 100 years? NO. But I do want us to stay there until we finish what we started. We owe them that much.
I will support McCain. Huckabee lost me with his re-write of the Constitution talk (even though I like the fair tax). Obama is an idealist. Idealists worry me alot. They tend to get so caught up in their “vision” that they can’t see reality. Clinton, well what can you say, Clinton is Clinton. I’d rather not go that route.
Paul would be interesting but I think the Libertarian foreign policy he espouses of bring our troops from everywhere home and ignore the world is pretty much suicidal. Green party candidates? NO thank you. I like technological civilization and have no interest in becoming an agrarian peasant to save the world.