The Moderate Voice - Latest Comments in Why Democrats Should Support McCain

Re: Why Democrats Should Support McCain

johnmcccc — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 22:30:47 -0000

Everyone should see and share this immediately.

http://www.youtube.com/v/Pd...

Re: Why Democrats Should Support McCain

TruePatriot — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 19:53:15 -0000

John McCains constant reliance on his POW background to gain political power is a mistake. What people may not know is McCain’s flip-flop in regard to torture was a bigger mistake.

“In all the discussion of John McCain's recently recovered memory of a religious epiphany in Vietnam, one thing has been missing. The torture that was deployed against McCain emerges in all the various accounts. It involved sleep deprivation, the withholding of medical treatment, stress positions, long-time standing, and beating. Sound familiar?

According to the Bush administration's definition of torture, McCain was therefore not tortured.” - http://andrewsullivan.theat...

JOHN MCCAIN this week had a choice between his principles and propping up a failed president. He chose the latter - McCain drops the torture ball - http://www.boston.com/news/...

And what of McCain’s first wife Carol? Many don’t know the history of “The wife U.S. Republican John McCain callously left behind” His infidelities put strain on his first marriage, and he was divorced from Carol McCain, his wife of 15 years, in 1980. He married Cindy a month later.

Ted Sampley, who fought with US Special Forces in Vietnam and is now a leading campaigner for veterans’ rights, said: ‘I have been following John McCain’s career for nearly 20 years. I know him personally. There is something wrong with this guy and let me tell you what it is – deceit.’

Ross Perot: ‘McCain is the classic opportunist. He’s always reaching for attention and glory,’ he said. ‘After he came home, Carol walked with a limp. So he threw her over for a poster girl with big money from Arizona. And the rest is history.’
- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/...

And we continue with the rest of the history. John McCain is no more moral than John Edwards, and Cindy makes a $300 hair cut look like nothing. Who is Cindy McCain? Aside from their 7, or is it 11 properties, Cindy is known to spend as much as $7,000 in one month…on just one American Express card. So they are rich, out-of-touch Republicans. What’s new? The real story of interest goes a little further back.

“In 1989, following two back surgeries, Cindy McCain became addicted to the painkillers Vicodin and Percocet. To keep up with her daily need of 10 to 15 pills, she used other people's names for prescriptions and stole drugs from the American Voluntary Medical Team, a mobile surgical unit she'd begun in 1988 to provide emergency medical services around the world. A 1993 DEA audit of the amount of painkillers her charity had obtained quickly uncovered her thefts.”
- http://www.snopes.com/polit...

Her drug addiction isn’t the story, but rather how John McCain tried to cover-up the illegal activity with his political power. And if that’s not enough skeletons in the closet to worry about, in trying to link Obama with Rezko, McCain has re-opened the door to yet another scandal in his past.

“The problem with this attack? Aside from being thoroughly misleading -- Obama has not been seriously alleged to have done anything unethical in his interactions with Rezko -- this ad is a serious strategic blunder by the McCain campaign. Why? It blows wide open the door to talk about McCain's all-too-close relationship with Charles Keating and well reported on though somewhat forgotten charter membership in the so-called "Keating Five."

…In the end, the crash of Keating's savings and loan -- which had been shielded by some of his best friends in the United States Senate -- cost billions to the American taxpayer, as mentioned above, and all told the federal government ended up on the hook for close to $125 billion in the fallout of the crisis that befell the underregulated industry in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Does McCain really want to have to talk about all of this? About the Bahaman vacations he took paid for by Keating? Probably not. But he may soon have to as a result of the shortsightedness of his campaign advisors. Nice move team McCain!”
- http://www.mydd.com/story/2...

Conservatives claim morals are just as important as criminal behavior—you know, like perjury (no, I'm referring to Scooter Libby). But once again we see the hypocrisy as Republicans choose another candidate with questionable character.

In the meantime “my friends,” not only has McSame voted with Bush 95% of the time, let’s not forget that McCain is to the right of Bush in regard to war-mongering. We’ll have to get out the old bumper stickers: “Four More Wars!” and “Drop McCain Not Bombs”

Re: Why Democrats Should Support McCain

Davebo — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 18:29:34 -0000

Recall, he was the guy who went to an Iraqi fruit stand surrounded by 100s of American troops and declared the streets safe.

He is living in a fantasy world.

Actually that, I could excuse.

But in this instance, McCain wasn't living in a fantasy world. He was lying to the American public about the situation on the ground in a blatant attempt to gin up support for continuing the occupation of Iraq.

On the subject of Iraq John McCain has been consistant. Consistantly dishonest with his constituents and Americans in general.

Re: Why Democrats Should Support McCain

kathyedits — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 17:28:23 -0000

The most common symptom, shared by all sufferers of these various *DS's, is "an outright rejection of data based on source".

No, it's a rejection of what is presented as data, based on facts.

Re: Why Democrats Should Support McCain

Egyptsteve — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 16:47:26 -0000

I agree. McCain is the only Republic who doesn't scare the beejeezus out of me -- the only one who doesn't appear to be either a complete moron, phony, or all-but-certain war criminal.

Re: Why Democrats Should Support McCain

PaulSilver — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 16:13:05 -0000

Pete,
Congratulation on Andrew Sullivan being one of your readers!!

Re: Why Democrats Should Support McCain

Asp — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 14:10:28 -0000

McCain is the only viable Republican candidate who would not endanger the future of American democracy if elected, since he alone rejects torture and the suspension of habeas. But I agree with Cosmoetica - McCain is dangerously predisposed to use military force preemptively.

Re: Why Democrats Should Support McCain

calling all toasters — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 10:19:01 -0000

Pabel--

1. I'm no fan of GWB's
Well, no one is, now.

2. I think you protest too much.
We didn't ask you to buy into stupid right-wing rhetoric. You did it all on your own. Why shouldn't we protest a libel against the people who have sinned (in your eyes) by being honest and correct?

Polimom--
Nice try. Clinton was attacked for many, many made-up "scandals" about his Presidency and one true one about his sex life. Bush has been attacked for being incompetent and malfeasant in his Presidential duties, which is long past the stage of being proven. It's not "derangement" if one's statements are true.

Re: Why Democrats Should Support McCain

Polimom — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 09:14:18 -0000

BDS and CDS (and more recently, RDS in honor of the Reagan/Obama backlash) are all categories of the wider PDS -- President Derangement Syndrome.

The most common symptom, shared by all sufferers of these various *DS's, is "an outright rejection of data based on source".

i.e.: If Bush / Clinton said it, it's wrong. If you agree with what Bush / Clinton (/ Reagan) said, you're wrong.

I suppose I could update that long-ago post to add another symptom -- that PDS sufferers cannot recognize the symptoms in anyone but their political opposites -- but there's probably not much point.

Re: Why Democrats Should Support McCain

Guest — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 08:29:00 -0000

To: "calling_all_toasters" and "kathyedits" ...

1. I'm no fan of GWB's

2. I think you protest too much.

Re: Why Democrats Should Support McCain

kathyedits — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 22:46:23 -0000

Using the letters "BDS" in any discussion should be enough to disqualify anyone from putting the adjective "moderate" before the noun "Republican."

"Bush Derangement Syndrome" is the nonsense term used to describe anyone who thinks Pres. Bush should be held responsible for trashing the U.S. Constitution and centuries of bedrock concepts of basic legal and human rights, for aggressively invading a country that posed no threat to the U.S. and thereby creating a massive threat to our security that did not exist before, for being the reason that just under 4,000 American men and women have died in a totally unnecessary and pointless war, and tens of thousands wounded in body and mind and soul, for politicizing science, for bringing this country into real and serious danger of becoming a fundamentalist Christian theocracy, for stifling dissent -- both among the general public and in his administration, for making personal loyalty to his own personal ideology more important than loyalty to the law and for that matter more important than loyalty to the Republican Party and larger party interests.

The word "deranged" is more appropriately applied to people who believe that one should accept and support a president who has committed and encouraged as much evil and who has harmed the United States as much as this one has. Or perhaps we can recognize the existence of another syndrome -- Bush Delusional Syndrome.

Re: Why Democrats Should Support McCain

calling all toasters — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 22:36:03 -0000

Anyone who buys into the idiotic idea that there is a Bush Derangement Syndrome clearly has nothing to say to Democrats or sane people in general. Kindly please offer your advice to your fellow idiots, and leave Democrats alone.

Re: Why Democrats Should Support McCain

Guest — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 20:22:54 -0000

Cosmoetica,

I have to agree with Paul. Yes, McCain is hawkish, most Republicans are, but I also think it's unfair to call him a "warmonger." His essay in Foreign affairs is remarkably similar in tone to Obama's, with a few differences, of course.

Re: Why Democrats Should Support McCain

Guest — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 20:21:25 -0000

Brad DeLong -- I don't have a daughter, but I do have several nieces and what McCain said about Chelsea is inexcusable. That said, I don't see a perfect candidate in the lot, none who has been faultless in his or her public much less private comments. I'm willing to forgive a senseless comment in exchange for a candidate who I believe is more enlightened in many ways and better experienced than any of the others ... D's included. And I say that having a very keen respect for Sen. Obama.

Re: Why Democrats Should Support McCain

Brad_DeLong — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 19:24:52 -0000

You seriously want me to support a man who stood up in public and said "The reason Chelsea Clinton is so ugly is that Janet Reno is her father"?

Do you have a daughter?

Re: Why Democrats Should Support McCain

ChenZhen — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 18:24:05 -0000

I could have sworn that the whole BDS thing had been debunked. Didn't Peggy Noonan post something about it?

Re: Why Democrats Should Support McCain

Ron Beasley — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 16:55:34 -0000

There is one reason I will not vote for any Republican this time around - the Supreme Court. The next President will probably appoint two justices.

Re: Why Democrats Should Support McCain

cosmoetica — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 15:51:10 -0000

Paul: He has been beating the war drums against Iran as much as Bush has.

He has bought into the whole 'we're winning in Iraq meme, even though we've barely returned the level of violence to the unacceptable levels it had in early 2006. Recall, he was the guy who went to an Iraqi fruit stand surrounded by 100s of American troops and declared the streets safe.

He is living in a fantasy world.

The war, and those who want more of it, is a stand no sane person, R or D, can support.

That is warmongering at its core.

Re: Why Democrats Should Support McCain

PaulSilver — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 14:32:22 -0000

Pete,
I tend to agree with you. While I favor some combination of Obama and Clinton, I also hedge my hope by sending money to McCain as someone progressive on many of my top issues: Bi-partisanship, Campaign reform, immigration, environment, fiscal restraint... I sense that he would avoid inflamming social issues while looking for middle ground.

Also I don't characterize him as a war monger. I suspect that he would be extremely careful and reluctant to put troops in harms way. But once they are in harms way, as in Iraq, he wants to honor their sacrifice by finishing the intended job. I personally do not agree with that POV, but I respect it.

Re: Why Democrats Should Support McCain

cosmoetica — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 13:55:05 -0000

The problem w McCain is that he is a warmonger. Yes, he's less nasty than the average R, and not as phony as Mitt & Rudy, nor as Christ-crazy as Huck, not cap L Libertarian Crazy as Paul, but he's utterly detached from reality re: Iraq. He will not win, even if Hillary gets the D nod.

Re: Why Democrats Should Support McCain

JSpencer — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 13:34:07 -0000

Good points you make there Pete. Of all the republican contenders, McCain is the only one who I wouldn't be upset to see reach the Whitehouse. You've already covered the main reasons, but I also see him as being the only one who hasn't gone down to the crossroads when it comes to his integrity - discounting that little scandal back in the day that is. I could live with Obama too, and to a lesser extent, Hillary. As for Mitt and Huck, you can throw em in a barrel and send them over Niagara Falls for all I care. (and I'm pretty sure I could come up with a few others to put in that barrel too - on both sides of the aisle)