Posted on 08/13/2008 9:32:17 PM PDT by GulfBreeze
I want to TRY to post a McCain Round-up once a day or very other day. This one is a lot longer than some of the future ones will be, I promise.
Polls are useless at this point in the campaign for projecting a winner in November. They are however useful in showing the general standing that candidates have with the electorate and in displaying trends of changing perceptions and preferences.
One trend is clear; most true independents, after shaking off the groggy feeling of Obamania, are lining up with McCain. Event after event, issue after issue, McCain is drawing a clear distinct difference between himself and The One. One man is prepared by a lifetime of service in every facet of his life and the other is a media creation of hype.
First McCain hammered Obama mercilessly with body blows of truth regarding the situation on the ground in Iraq, the success of our troops, General Petraeus’ leadership and of course Obama’s total disconnect from reality and lack of boots on the ground to observe the truth of the situation.
Then came the European Oba-orgy. Senator Obama ran around and pretended to observe the troops progress and dissed their successes right in front of them and then proceeded to Europe.
In Europe, Bam-bam successfully misallocated the success of bringing down the Berlin wall to the efforts of “the people of the world”. (No one knows better than Berliners whose policies brought that wall down. They know it was President Ronald Reagan and Lady Margaret Thatcher who worked together to cage the Soviet Bear.) The One finished up by proclaiming himself a “citizen of the world”. This did not sit well with Americans who are tired of the ungrateful of attitudes of “world citizens” in the face of American generosity and sacrifice.
McCain, meanwhile, was busy touring the USA and making his pitch through out the heartland, talking an increasingly improved tough line on border security and immigration.
While American’s are sacrificing to keep fuel in their tanks AND pay for escalating grocery costs, Obama continues to try to force ethanol and wind as an immediate solution to our energy crisis.
McCain has softened his positions which had been skewed by older pandering to the envirowacko’s. McCain has called for offshore drilling and developing inland resources such as shale, Bakken oil reserves and major nuclear energy investments. Unfortunately he has yet to wise up on ANWR.
Most recently and dramatically has been the real life 3AM call. It was not a campaign point set-up by either party but rather a dress rehearsal when watched through the lens of American elections. Obama failed horribly while McCain did what he has been made ready to do by a lifetime of experience.
Russia, viciously and savagely attacked a Democratic state and American ally, Georgia, with impunity. Obama’s response was anemic and cowed. He tried 4 times over 3 days to finally get CLOSE to the right position.
McCain quickly gathered the facts and made the exact right statement which The White House later echoed. McCain minced no words and warned that Russia faced severe consequences if they failed to withdraw and honor their borders and neighbors. He contacted the Georgian president and assured him of American solidarity with their noble efforts.
In no small part the poll shift has been benefited by several other factors: A clever and entertaining shift in approach of the McCain campaign, highlighted by “Celeb” and “The One” commercials. Obama’s gaffes in removing the American flag from his plain and adding “The President” to his seat. The Obama presidential seal. Jesse Jackson’s “nutty” misspeak. Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton again. Then there was Bill Clinton. The general backlash from the perception of a media force feed on Obama.
All these things and more have added up to a dramatic shift in the national polling which has seen a double digit lead for Obama evaporate into a clear tie between the candidates. The most nagging question has been why the various electoral projections are lagging behind the national polls. I hope we are not overly stacked with McCain supporters in concentrated areas of support.
My general feeling is however that the shift toward experience will continue and McCain is looking for a solid win but nothing near any kind of landslide. Possibly even a plurality victory of the electorate with a majority in the Electoral College.
He is under consideration. And there isn’t a thing you can do about it, RINO.
The link worked when I added it about nine months ago. I haven’t added any links in about six months. Which kind of puts the lie to your claim that I spend every day adding to them. So you lied about my posting about McCain hours a day and you lied about my adding links all the time. You seem to be a prolific liar.
***Of all the folks I’ve asked that question to, this is the first time I’ve seen a strait-forward answer. I commend you on your honesty.***
I’ve stated that I would rather have McCain than Obama. This doesn’t mean I’ll vote for him, but yeah, I would rather have him than Obama.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2043240/posts?page=75#75
See also post #73
“...yet I seriously doubt that if we went to war with the whole world at once, we could BE them.”
BE should be BEAT (the capitalization is just for clarification, not emphasis).
“You didn’t answer the question.”
We have defense agreements with our allies. We’ve done this since the 19’th century. We don’t place troops inside nations so we can meddle in their affairs. That’s unsupported Paulista nonsense.
“I don’t believe we need to be spending all this money”
We spend about 3.7% of GDP on defense.
You’ve shown no evidence to support Ron Paul’s ficticious accusations against America.
“Some Iraqis did want it. That doesn’t mean most did..”
Ron Paul claimed that we wouldn’t allow Iraq to govern themselves. You’ve shown no evidence to support this accusation.
“And there isn’t a thing you can do about it, RINO.”
Well, you got me there. There’s nothing I can do to stop you from voting for a Truther. What a brilliant observation on your part./s
This doesn’t answer my question.
“The link worked when I added it about nine months ago.”
lol
“I haven’t added any links in about six months. Which kind of puts the lie to your claim that I spend every day adding to them.”
I didn’t say that you spend every day adding to them. I said that you spend all your time rallying against McCain, knowing full well that if McCain loses, Obama wins.
Defending our allies doesn’t necessitate that we have troops there 24/7. We can deploy well armed and mobile forces within a day, assuming we want to stop whatever nation is invading our “allies”. I put this is quotations because many of our allies consist of countries that burn our flag and cheer when things like 9/11 happen.
Besides, the bulk of where our troops are placed is in countries like Germany and Japan, countries that are more than capable of defending themselves. And we do to an extent meddle with other countries’ affairs while claiming to support “democracy” (which I have my own problems with since we’re a republic not a democracy and there is a difference, though that’s a different topic), all the while supporting dictatorial regimes. Pakistan, Vietnem, Iraq at one point, etc.
We put ourselves in a tricky situation. Georgia is a democratic government yet we can’t do anything because that would risk war with Russia, and Russia has oil (not to mention a modern military). We support Musharraf (I realize he just stepped down, but that was very recent) and “the lesser of 2 evils (evil defined by us)” and we can’t always support our “allies”. Israel and Saudi Arabia are our allies; there is a conflict of interest.
Especially to the uneducated, we seem extremely hypocritical. All many of these people see is a great empire looking to take their lands and resources, and without proper perspective (that being the key), our actions support their suspicions.
As far as defense spending, 3.7% doesn’t sound like a lot, but then GDP is NOT government spending. Government spending accounts for just below 20% of GDP and defense is about 20% of that. That doesn’t include appropriation bills where hundreds of billions (over the course of the war) have been tucked in for Iraq. And to think that the government even accounts for 20% of all the spending in our economy is insane to me. This is limited government? This is America? Entitlements shouldn’t exist. That cuts the budget in ahlf, if not more. We secure other countries borders but not our own. The combined war effort and welfare spending is causing revenue shortfalls which leads to printing money (inflation) which in turn brings a devalued dollar. We can’t keep this up.
I’m not even necessarily arguing that defense spending NEEDS to be cut, just that we seriosuly need to reallocate where the money is going, and if done efficiently, we could be safer, more secure, and possibly be left with a surplus.
***He claimed that... the U.S. ‘will not permit any of the three regions of Iraq to govern themselves’...***
That’s what you said. We didn’t allow the 3 regions to split up after we took over and before their government was fully functional. Some Iraqis wanted a partition into 3 countries and we didn’t allow it. We didn’t permit the Iraqis (that wanted it, which wasn’t necessarily a majority) to govern themselves in 3 different regions. There’s no hidden or overt anti-American agenda there. You don’t need more evidence than the fact that the country DIDN’T get split up while we controlled it. This is a neutral and factual statement.
In fact I remember many Republicans being in favor of such a plan. There were 3 different ethnic regions, why not split them up? It’s not something that matters now, I’m just pointing it out.
“Defending our allies doesn’t necessitate that we have troops there 24/7. We can deploy well armed and mobile forces within a day...”
That’s right. We could withdraw our forces from Iraq and send them to Okinawa for rapid response to events in the middle east.
Ron Paul/John Murtha ‘08!
I’m not talking about Iraq where there is an insurgency. I’m talking about an actual invasion of a sovereign stable country. Korea for instance. If North Korea was dumb enough to invade, it would not be difficult to reinforce the South (assuming we wanted to get involved and that we didn’t have troops there). Like I said, rapid deployment forces could get well armed and mobile troops in there within a few days.
Iraq is our mess and we started it so obviously we need to finish it. Do seriously not think we can deploy troops within a matter of hours anywhere? The time delay is only due to the speed of the planes. And where else exactly do we need to meddle with now? Are we going to invade and nation build Iran too?
“That’s what you said.”
No, that’s what Ron Paul said. You still haven’t provided any evidence that the U.S. would not allow the Iraqis to govern themselves.
“We didn’t permit the Iraqis (that wanted it, which wasn’t necessarily a majority)”
The democratically elected government of Iraq calls for a unified Iraq with a central government. This nullifies your entire argument. Your attempt to provide cover for Ron Paul’s false accusations against America is invalid. Some Iraqis wanted to break Iraq up, but since America didn’t break Iraq up, Ron Paul’s accusation is valid? What nonsense.
You had also claimed that you ‘wouldn’t put it past the government to do something for resources, or the benfit of people it knows. This administration has a lot of questionable activities.’
What do you base this upon? I’m not interested in specious analogies that have no relevance. Specifically, which ‘questionable’ activities indicate that the U.S. would launch Operation Iraqi Freedom with kleptocratic intent?
” we started it “
Saddam started it by violating our cease fire agreement. You need to stop reading the revisionist history of Ron Paul.
“If North Korea was dumb enough to invade, it would not be difficult to reinforce the South (assuming we wanted to get involved and that we didn’t have troops there). “
I have little confidence in the logistical planning of someone who supports Ron Paul’s foreign policy.
We controlled Iraq before the government was established! We didn’t partition it. I’m not accusing America of being imperialistic in this sense. All I’m saying is that we didn’t partition it. Is that so hard to understand? Again, this was before the government in Iraq was functional!
As for as this administration goes, replacing Colin Powell because he wasn’t as hawkish, “terrorists” having no rights which doesn’t sound bad until you realize that there is no solid definition of terrorists i.e. it is at the government’s discresion who can be labeled a “terrorist”, torture, holding enemies indefinitely in an undeclared war (prosecute them for God’s sake!), etc.
You’re saying that because the government has done things in the past with its own and international legislation (like ignoring them) that I shouldn’t be suspicious now? Why else would I be suspicious? I’m not accusing the government of going to war for oil, but I sure don’t rule it out especially since we went to war for WMD’s and we “WERE going to find them”. Sorry I don’t have as much blind faith in what our leaders tell us. I question things, especially when they come from people in a position of power. There’s a difference between questioning and accusing.
All I said is that we started it. By that I mean major conflict. That’s not an accusation. I’m saying by invading Iraq and toppling Saddam, we essentially made a commitment to stabilize the country. I also said we should see that commitment through.
If you seriously don’t believe we can deploy effective, mobile, and well armed troops anywhere in the world within a matter of days then I don’t know what to say. That info comes from watching the history channel, reading about the military, being in the ROTC, and straight from the mouth of an ex-special forces (green beret) Lieutenant Colonel, who happens to be my PMS (professor of military science).
Support for a candidate says nothing about your logistical planning abilities.
And there’s nothing we can do to stop you from voting for a RINO.
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