Does It Really Matter Who Wins?

[dilloduck]

Yup.

He actually addressed quite a bit in that speech, I think, having now had time to read it.

Now whther he can actually get done some of the things he says he wants to do, is another matter.

But we can be damned sure that somebody who tells us he wants to stay the course in many of Bush's policies isn't even going to TRY to change things for most of us.

So, if you LIKE the direction we're headed, vote for the old White guy.

If you want to see the direction this nation is headed, vote for the younger Black fellow.

Are YOU better off that you were 8 years ago?

Then McCain's your guy.

If not?

Then he's not.

I seriously doubt that your attempts to paint McCain as a Bush clone will be successful.

 

[glockmail]

They are indeed more intelligent. McCain though has voted with Bush 90+% of the time. That is not far enough from the Bush policies for me.

Based on your avatar, Bernie Sanders is not far enough for you.

 

[dilloduck]

I also know full well it can get a lot better.

now if you only knew who it is that can accomplish that.

 

[AVG-JOE]

Not as simple as you would like to think. First of all, McCain is NOT Bush in spite of all the attempts to make us believe they are the same and secondly, if our country takes a direction other than the one it is taking now there is no guarantee that it will be better. Any reasoning person can tell you that. You know full well we can be a lot worse off than we are now.

Obviously, the only way for things to remain exactly the same is for Bush to be elected to a third term, (can I get an 'amen' on term limits? How about congressional term limits? But I digress...).

The thing you gotta ask yourself is "Do I agree more with Obamas vision for the future or McCains? If Obama wins, we bet the farm on his tax cuts for the middle class, incentives for business to create American jobs, education, etc. If McCain wins, we bet the farm on his plan.

Either way, we bet the farm... or at least what is left of it.

-Joe

 

[dilloduck]

Obviously, the only way for things to remain exactly the same is for Bush to be elected to a third term, (can I get an 'amen' on term limits? How about congressional term limits? But I digress...).

The thing you gotta ask yourself is "Do I agree more with Obamas vision for the future or McCains? If Obama wins we bet the farm on his tax cuts for the middle class, incentives for business to create American jobs, education, etc. If McCain wins we bet the farm on his plan.

Either way, we bet the farm... or at least what is left of it.

-Joe

I ask myself who has a more realistic view of what can be done for America to get from where it is to a place I would rather it be and while it sounds dramatic, I don't see this as any "last chance" situation. That's just another fear tactic .

 

[AVG-JOE]

I ask myself who has a more realistic view of what can be done for America to get from where it is to a place I would rather it be and while it sounds dramatic, I don't see this as any "last chance" situation. That's just another fear tactic .

I don't see it as some sort of last chance... We bet the farm every four years.

That being said, if we don't start to do something to stop and reverse the widening gap between the haves and the have-nots in this country, it won't be long before our infrastructure suffers from the violence that is sure to fill that gap. The only other option is to crash headlong into a police state.

-Joe

 

[editec]

When the wolf is already clawing at your door, as it is for far too many working class Americans, one doesn't really need to create scare tactics, one merely needs to address the well founded fears already out there.

That is why McCain has an uphill struggle, Dilloduck.

People are not frightened by what they do not see, they are quite reasonably frightened by what they are experiencing even now.

McCain's policies are essantially more of the same thing that Bush gave us.

If you disagree, please tell me what you think McCain plans of doing to change the policies that Bush initiated.

I can't see anything he says he wants to do that is fundmentally different formt he standard KILL THE BEAST BY BANKRUPTING IT ONE MORE WAR AND MOR ETAX CUTS FOR THE STUPENDOUSLY WELATHY ALREADY policies that Bush drove home in his 8 miserable disasterous years in office.

Show me where I'm wrong.

 

[dilloduck]

I don't see it as some sort of last chance... We bet the farm every four years.

That being said, if we don't start to do something to stop and reverse the widening gap between the haves and the have-nots in this country, it won't be long before our infrastructure suffers from the violence that is sure to follow. The only other option is to crash headlong into a police state.

-Joe

I don't think punishing successful people is the best way to close the gap. In fact I think it could very well lead to more financial suffering by the "have nots".

 

[editec]

I don't think punishing successful people is the best way to close the gap. In fact I think it could very well lead to more financial suffering by the "have nots".

That point is not entirely without merit.

I have absolutely no doubt that the superwealthy will bail out of the USA if they think their taxes are too high.

Hell they've been doing that (in the guise of free trade) for well over a decade now.

That's one the major reasons I'd like to see us review and roll back some aspects of that stupid stupid policy.

 

[sealybobo]

WASHINGTON – John McCain's chief foreign policy adviser and his business partner lobbied the senator or his staff on 49 occasions in a 3½-year span while being paid hundreds of thousands of dollars by the government of the former Soviet republic of Georgia.

The payments raise ethical questions about the intersection of Randy Scheunemann's personal financial interests and his advice to the Republican presidential candidate who is seizing on Russian aggression in Georgia as a campaign issue.



AdvertisementMcCain warned Russian leaders Tuesday that their assault in Georgia risks “the benefits they enjoy from being part of the civilized world.” McCain said Russia's actions against Georgia were “totally, absolutely unacceptable.”
On April 17, a month and a half after Scheunemann stopped working for Georgia, his partner signed a $200,000 contract with the Georgian government. That deal added to an arrangement that brought in more than $800,000 to the two-man firm from 2004 to mid-2007. Scheunemann is taking a leave of absence from the firm for the duration of the campaign.

“Scheunemann's work as a lobbyist poses valid questions about McCain's judgment in choosing someone who – and whose firm – are paid to promote the interests of other nations,” New York University law professor Stephen Gillers said. “So one must ask whether McCain is getting disinterested advice, at least when the issues concern those nations.”

McCain has been to Georgia three times since 1997 and “this is an issue he has been involved with for well over a decade,” McCain campaign spokesman Brian Rogers said.

McCain also has long ties with Scheunemann, a strong conservative who was an aide in the 1990s to then-Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott of Mississippi.

Scheunemann, who also was a foreign policy adviser in McCain's 2000 presidential campaign, has for years traveled the same road as McCain in pushing for regime change in Iraq and promoting NATO membership for Georgia and other former Soviet republics.

While their politics coincide, Russia's invasion of Georgia casts a spotlight on Scheunemann's business interests and McCain's conduct as a senator.

Scheunemann's firm lobbied McCain's office on four bills and resolutions regarding Georgia, with McCain as a co-sponsor or supporter of all of them.

In addition to the 49 contacts with McCain or his staff regarding Georgia, Scheunemann's firm has lobbied the senator or his aides on at least 47 occasions since 2001 on behalf of the governments of Taiwan and Macedonia, which each paid Scheunemann and his partner Mike Mitchell more than half a million dollars; Romania, which paid more than $400,000; and Latvia, which paid nearly $250,000. Federal law requires Scheunemann to publicly disclose to the Justice Department all his lobbying contacts as an agent of a foreign government.

Four months ago, on the same day Scheunemann's partner signed the latest $200,000 agreement with Georgia, McCain spoke with Saakashvili by phone.

 

[AVG-JOE]

I don't think punishing successful people is the best way to close the gap. In fact I think it could very well lead to more financial suffering by the "have nots".

There is a great difference between "Fair Taxes" and "Economic Punishment".

The mistake is believing that the people working hard to live paycheck to paycheck are not among the 'have-nots'.

-Joe