Politics: A plea for moderation and bipartisanship
Posted in Politics with tags Barack Obama, Joe Biden, John McCain, Sarah Palin on September 9, 2008 by Billy DennisMerle Widmer writes:
Even though I disagree with a number of McCain and Palin’s beliefs and actions, this Republican combination, once elected and with our help, can slow down this countries slide into populism and socialism. The Republicans, independents and many border line Democrats must be convinced to lay aside their own personal slights, jealousies, disappointments and “large” egos, tone down the “Faustian bargain made with Dobson and his ilk (See Dobson’s choice, 2/9/08) embracing most of the fundamentals on which this great country was founded and elect McCain/Palin to office.
And I have to agree. McCain spent the primary (at least the early part) telling voters that he was a different sort of candidate. he wasn’t going to trash anyone. He quickly learned how to play the game. As soon as his campaign figured out that McCain’s choice of Palin changed the game from a likely Obama win to a dead heat in the polls, the knives came out: Palin is a secessionist. Palin faked her pregnancy. Palin is a bad mother for not stayi9ng home with her kids. Palin is a gun-toting lunatic. Palin hunts endangered species. Palin had an affair. Palin. All denied and either proven untrue or died on the vine for lack of evidence.
The only reason I was considering voting for Obama is because I thought he might be the game changer we need to move us away from the hateful partisanship we’ve been experiencing from the left and right. McCain — who is NOT a Bush-style Republican no matter how much they try to make him out to be — is probably the change agent Obama tells people he is.
I can’t think of one single accomplishment of Obama OTHER than to win elections he was originally predicted to lose. Although I do believe the nation does owe him an eternal debt of gratitude for knocking Hillary Clinton out of the race.
Obama wrote two autobiographies, and not one significant piece of legislation. McCain has his name on significant pieces of legislation, whether or not you like that legislation. And McCain has a record of reaching across the aisle, not just talking about it.
McCain’s politics regarding the economy, energy, national defense and foreign relations are far closer to my own that Obama. I think McCain is honorable. He certainly would not have managed the Iraq and Afghanistan in the same way as Bush.
I don’t see McCain putting right-wing zealots with little legal brilliance on the Supreme Court. He couldn’t do it with a Democratic controlled Congress, and I don’t see him wanting to do so. I shudder for the future of gun rights and property rights with Congress giving a rubber stamp to Obama’s picks.
And McCain is on the right side when it comes to limiting the powers of the Presidency that were allowed to expand under Bush.
Again, both Obama and McCain have their pluses and minuses. Obama simply had more minuses than pluses.
