Sarah Palin's a Brainiac

[Archaea]

Originally Posted by landpoke

I'm not suggesting he's centrist, just that he's moved toward the center. His stated platform is nowhere near as left as what it was when he was trying to win the nomination.

What issues are you comparing? Just curious, because he is very deft with language, trying to preserve any course of action. Reading him is akin to reading some of the most clever witnesses you'll ever find. He would be a difficult person to cross examine as pinning him down is not easy.

A centrist would be nice for once, none were running. McCain stood for nothing as far as I can see, and Obama stands for every liberal's wish list. The only consolation my liberal friends offer me, "he won't be able to get everything he wants," offers me little consolation. I feel like the homeowner being tied up by a bunch of robbers leaving the home with the silverware, money, guns and children for ransom, whose wife leans over and says, "don't worry honey, they can't carry the piano."

[landpoke]

Originally Posted by Archaea

What issues are you comparing? Just curious, because he is very deft with language, trying to preserve any course of action. Reading him is akin to reading some of the most clever witnesses you'll ever find. He would be a difficult person to cross examine as pinning him down is not easy.

I agree.

Iraq springs to mind. I'll have to dig around for others.

2007
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2007/09/...0171189629808/

Today
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/iraq/

[landpoke]

Originally Posted by Archaea

"don't worry honey, they can't carry the piano."

The thing that keeps me going is the knowledge that the ponderous, plodding and generally mediocre federal bureaucracy will by it's very nature keep him in check. If not in rhetoric at least in results.

[Archaea]

Originally Posted by landpoke

The thing that keeps me going is the knowledge that the ponderous, plodding and generally mediocre federal bureaucracy will by it's very nature keep him in check. If not in rhetoric at least in results.

But what if that bureaucracy loves what he's giving them. Bureaucrats are ponderous because it benefits them, and that's also their training.

If however, something benefits them, such as do this for your huge pay increase, you'll think they'd be slow? No, they'd be like BYU coeds chasing down the the last bag of twinkies.

[PaloAltoCougar]

Originally Posted by Tex

I thought surely you must be joking. Even I can come up with reasons someone might want to vote for Obama.

A few reasons off the top of my head for McCain:
- Credible on national security in the face of further Islamic extremism, America engaged in two wars, and a potentially nuclear armed Iran
- Promises SCOTUS nominees in the mold of Roberts and Alito
- Make Bush personal tax cuts permanent, cut corporate tax rate
- Hawkish against government spending, particularly earmarking and pork barrel

Now you may like or dislike those positions, but it's hard to find them uncompelling.

Charles Krauthammer made his endorsement of McCain quite convincing last week.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...302867_pf.html

Okay, I was being a bit facetious. It's just that there has been so little of "McCain will be an excellent president because ..." And Krauthammer's piece was good, although strange in places. When he speaks derisively of someone ..."who's never had to make an executive decision affecting so much as a city, let alone the world?", couldn't one say the same about McCain (I admit I may not be up to speed on McCain's history)?

I've also been somewhat persuaded by the comments of a conservative friend who has served as counsel to a major Senate committee for a couple of decades. He has said, without admiration, that McCain "is the nastiest son of a bitch on Capitol Hill." I know a lot of people may regard that as a compliment, and that we need a muy macho executive. I don't, and I think McCain is ill-suited to the Oval Office given the times.

And by the way, given McCain's womanizing over the years and, by all accounts, Obama's status as a devoted family man, are such issues now regarded as passe?

[PaloAltoCougar]

Originally Posted by landpoke

The thing that keeps me going is the knowledge that the ponderous, plodding and generally mediocre federal bureaucracy will by it's very nature keep him in check. If not in rhetoric at least in results.

Frankly, I'm banking on this myself.

[Archaea]

Originally Posted by landpoke

I agree.

Iraq springs to mind. I'll have to dig around for others.

2007
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2007/09/...0171189629808/

Today
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/iraq/

More wordsmithing. First say something appealing to your fanbase, "I'm going to get them out now." To, "Immediately I will tell my cabinet to work on getting them out."

He realized immediate departure may be more difficult than initially he thought. He's just clever, but I don't see anything terribly centrist about his situation. He's got some Bill Clinton in him, liberal in nature, but cover your butt so that anything you do will look like it's what you wanted in the first place. Nothing centrist about that. He is much more deft with words than McCain.

[TripletDaddy]

Originally Posted by Tex

I thought surely you must be joking. Even I can come up with reasons someone might want to vote for Obama.

A few reasons off the top of my head for McCain:
- Credible on national security in the face of further Islamic extremism, America engaged in two wars, and a potentially nuclear armed Iran
- Promises SCOTUS nominees in the mold of Roberts and Alito
- Make Bush personal tax cuts permanent, cut corporate tax rate
- Hawkish against government spending, particularly earmarking and pork barrel

LOL. He approved of $150K to be spend on dresses and makeup for Palin. What a hawk!

The pork doesn't taste as bad when it is served on your own plate.

I like your list, although I am surprised you left off that he was born on a military base. In other words, I don't like your list.

[Tex]

Originally Posted by PaloAltoCougar

Okay, I was being a bit facetious. It's just that there has been so little of "McCain will be an excellent president because ..." And Krauthammer's piece was good, although strange in places. When he speaks derisively of someone ..."who's never had to make an executive decision affecting so much as a city, let alone the world?", couldn't one say the same about McCain (I admit I may not be up to speed on McCain's history)?

Possibly. McCain has never held elective executive office, so I'm not sure what McCain claims as executive experience. Nonetheless, I think it's safe to assume Krauthammer is underwhelmed by Obama's resume for the position he's seeking.

As to how much or little of "McCain will be an excellent president because..." I humbly submit that the breadth of your exposure to the campaign has to have been sorely limited. I am no McCain fan, believe me, but it's not as though these arguments have not been made, and extensively.

Originally Posted by PaloAltoCougar

I've also been somewhat persuaded by the comments of a conservative friend who has served as counsel to a major Senate committee for a couple of decades. He has said, without admiration, that McCain "is the nastiest son of a bitch on Capitol Hill." I know a lot of people may regard that as a compliment, and that we need a muy macho executive. I don't, and I think McCain is ill-suited to the Oval Office given the times.

I think the temperment argument is totally bogus. And this is coming from someone who does think McCain is a jerk.

Originally Posted by PaloAltoCougar

And by the way, given McCain's womanizing over the years and, by all accounts, Obama's status as a devoted family man, are such issues now regarded as passe?

Not passe, just not important enough to sway my vote to a leftist. By the way, McCain himself cites this part of his past as his greatest moral failure. Political posturing? Probably, but he seemed sincere.

[RedHeadGal]

Originally Posted by BarbaraGordon

Redhead, if you don't mind, help me with a political discussion from elsewhere: Do you think the PUMA phenomenon is a myth?

BG: I wish I could speak to this with some authority. But I'm not part of any kind of organized Hillary group, and I'm not a member of the Democratic party, so I feel no need to protect the party unity. I will say, however, that I personally count myself as an Obama supporter with misgivings. It's been hard to adjust.

I also have to say that my initial reaction when I first heard McCain had chosen Palin, a woman, as his runningmate, I felt a surge of hope and thought for a moment I could be persuaded to give McCain another chance at my vote. Of course, I knew precious little about her at the time, and it didn't take me long to say "thanks but no thanks for that bridge to nowhere."