Posted on 10/29/2008 11:56:01 AM PDT by agrandis
Various of my friends and members of my extended family are urging me to vote for Sen. John McCain for President in the rapidly approaching general election. Few of them have much or anything positive to say about McCain himself, but they tell me that the dangers presented by the election of Barack Obama leaves us no alternative but to vote for McCain, thus blocking an Obama presidency. As always, we are told on all fronts that this is the "most important election in history."
For several reasons, I disagree with these friends and family members that our only alternative is to vote for John McCain.
Claim: McCain is the lesser of two evils.
There is not a real difference between the two presidential candidates of the major political parties in philosophy, worldview, or integrity. One is Black, and one is White. One is old, and one is young. I claim that, in spite of the rhetoric, this is where the differences end. In recent sound bites, on the topic of personal liberty and the Constitution, Obama sounds slightly more conservative than McCain. On abortion, McCain sounds a little more conservative than Obama. On foreign policy, McCain sounds slightly more hyper-interventionist than Obama, and neither sound conservative. But when you consider all of the rhetoric, their records, and the practical implications of their stated goals, all the supposed differences melt away, and we are left with another Bush Administration, or another Clinton Administration, with a slightly different flavor, but the same old direction for our nation: rapidly toward more foreign interventionism, more economic interventionism, more suppression of liberty, more complete reliance on government, more tax funding for all manner of evil, including abortion, unjust war, welfare for politically connected multinational corporations, more official corruption, and, eventually, bankruptcy, chaos and/or brutal totalitarianism.
To know how a President McCain would govern in the realm of economics, one only has to remember his actions of a few weeks ago, when he pushed for unprecedented powers for the Secretary of Treasury, and, along with Bush's urging and Obama's help, lead the way for the Senate to pass the infamous bailout bill, which was the exact bill which angry voters had just persuaded the House to reject, only now with over 450 pages of earmarks (pork), tax "extenders," and new powers for the IRS added to it. McCain publicly chided House Republicans for listening to their constituents and stopping the first monstrous bill in the House! Bush and McCain and Obama told us we were all going to suffer financial ruin if we did not pipe down and hand over our children's wallets to the banksters. Now that they have had their way, we have seen dramatic drops in all of the world's stock markets. What better example do we need to see that McCain and Obama are on the same page when it comes to economics?
What about the right to be armed? Surely McCain is better than Obama on that issue? For the answer to that question, I would direct the reader to this web address: http://www.gunowners.org/mccaintb.htm. It is a compendium put together by Gun Owner's of America, of John McCain's gun-control record.
What about immigration? More than even most Democrats, McCain has been a consistent advocate of uncontrolled immigration. In 2007, he was the co-sponsor of the McCain-Kennedy Act, which sought, among other things, to legalize the millions of illegal immigrants currently in the country. This was being pushed during the jostling for position in the primary elections, and was a very unpopular bill among the Republican rank-and-file in an election in which opposition to unchecked immigration was expected to play a huge role. Yet, somehow, John McCain managed to win the primary popular vote. Incidentally, none other than Barack Obama was an ardent supporter of this act, and also a co-sponsor.
The environment? See McCain-Lieberman Climate Stewardship Act.
Free speech? See the McCain-Feingold Act, a famously unconstitutional piece of legislation.
Foreign policy? Both candidates have advocated aggressive interventionism and nation-building. Both support our illogical and immoral policies in the Balkans, and hypocritically support the independence of a Muslim Kosovo, but oppose the independence of South Ossetia from Georgia. Both want to increase and expand our current quagmire in the Middle East.
Abortion, I am told, is where the important difference lies between John McCain and Barack Obama. Barack Obama is famously tolerant of all abortions, any time, any where. McCain, on the other hand, currently claims to be pro-life, and promises to select judges that are "strict constructionists," implying that he would nominate justices to the Supreme Court who would overturn Roe vs. Wade, if given the chance. But John McCain has flip-flopped on this issue, like so many others in his political career, several times. He has made statements in recent years that he does not want to see Roe vs Wade overturned. Also, McCain's role in promoting justice David Souter, the currently important role of Warren Rudman in McCain's campaign, and his voting record for past nominations in the Senate, is an indication of what kind of Supreme Court justices we really would get under a McCain presidency; they are not likely to be justices that would vote to overturn Roe vs Wade.
John McCain has repeatedly stated his support for Federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, and has even implied that it should be increased.
McCain shows no tendencies to stop the over $1 billion of Federal funds that go to the Planned Parenthood Federation of America every year, and under a McCain presidency, funding for this and other abortion "services" would likely increase, as it has under the Bush Administration. Until those of us who are pro-life get away from the distraction of the fight for the Supreme Court, and trying to Federalize laws against a certain kind of murder, and instead focus on the right of a state to protect the lives of its citizens without Federal interference, and, more importantly, insist that those politicians who call themselves pro-life do all they can within their sphere to stop the taxpayer funding of abortions and pro-abortion propaganda, we will never make any political ground against the Culture of Death. It's easy to call oneself pro-life, but it's another thing to stand for life consistently.
Although conservatives today have chosen to support nearly all wars waged by the Federal government, and believe any and all justifications for these wars, unjust and needless wars are also the taking of innocent lives. In other words, it is state-sponsored mass murder. Why do we rightly speak out against the evil slaughter of millions of babies through abortion, but tolerate and even support the needless slaughter of hundreds of thousands of babies in other countries in wars that are based on government falsehoods and flimsy justifications?
Claim: McCain has better character.
Others will admit that there is no essential difference between the politics of McCain and Obama, but that Obama is a man of bad character, and associates with bad eggs, while McCain is a war hero.
While I, too, am very disturbed by Obama's personal and political associations, and do think his character is a relevant and important topic, I am equally disturbed by the associations of John McCain. Disturbingly, there is even some overlap in the nefarious associations of the two men. In the interest of space, I will leave it to the reader to investigate for themselves the following partial list of associations with John McCain: The regime in Libya, the regime in Georgia (the country, not the state), mob boss Joe "Bananas" Bonano, Charles Keating (how can we forget that?), George Soros, and Juan Hernandez (McCain's Director of Hispanic Outreach).
As for the designation of John McCain as a war hero, it is indisputable that he was shot down on a bombing raid, and that he spent over 5 years as a Prisoner of War (POW) in North Vietnam. However, what happened to him as a POW is disputed. Many Vietnam veterans, including some of his fellow POWs, claim that McCain cooperated with his communist captors without undergoing the torture he claims was administered. They claim that he was given special treatment by the North Vietnamese, because of his special status as the son of an Admiral, and because of his willingness to cooperate in producing propaganda with them.
These men who make these claims are also veterans, and were also held captive by the enemy as POWs, so there is no reason to automatically discount their claims, or to say they are less credible than McCain because of McCain's status as a war hero. Two things give credence to their claims, in my view. One is the frequency with which John McCain lies today (he has been caught in too many blatant and public lies to itemize here), proving that the truth is not something he finds to be important. Secondly, John McCain, as a US Senator, has doggedly stonewalled attempted investigations into the fate of the many POWs and MIAs left in Southeast Asia. The surviving loved ones of the many missing US Servicemen have been publicly belittled by McCain, and have been the recipients of displays of his famous violent temper, for simply wanting to know the truth about the fate of their missing family members. Further, McCain stated that no POWs in Vietnam were interrogated by Soviet agents. We now know through evidence and testimony that has since come to public light that this statement is not true, and also that McCain had to have known it was not true, based on his seat in the Senate. The demeanor of McCain toward these surviving family members of POWs and MIAs and their advocates, and his tireless efforts (teaming up with Senator John Kerry) to block their searches for answers, seems incongruous with his claims regarding his years as a POW.
John McCain's military career before being shot down in Vietnam was spotty, at best. He was known as a party animal, and lost five aircraft, including the one shot down over North Vietnam. Only two of these crashes could be considered combat-related, including a fiery explosion on an aircraft carrier that killed 134 sailors.
While I'm writing about character, I will mention the fact that McCain left his first wife after she was in a car wreck that left her confined to a wheelchair, for a younger, much richer woman who has better political connections. He may repudiate the foolishness of his youth, and one need not be perfect to advocate virtue, but the abandonment of his first wife does understandably cast doubt on his character, and does not put him on strong moral ground to advocate family values.
Claim: McCain's no good, but his VP pick is:
Some argue that I should vote for John McCain because of his running mate, Sarah Palin. They agree that there is no difference in the character or policy views of McCain and Obama, but that McCain is old, and may die in office, and the true conservative Palin will take his place. But leaving aside doubts of the stories about her fighting corruption within the GOP in Alaska, and whether her professed feminism is good or bad for her family and our society, Sarah Palin shows her true colors by even being willing to be the running mate of John McCain, and being willing to promote him and his politics. She has embraced McCain's politics, and has already been willing to compromise her past views. If she is half the woman her supporters think she is, she will be somehow removed by the current corrupt GOP leaders, or she will remove herself.
In conclusion, I believe that a John McCain presidency would be at least as bad for our nation and our families as an Obama presidency, and perhaps even worse, since he would be falsely viewed as the conservative choice of the voters, though he would run the country in no appreciably different way than would Barack Hussein Obama. (I use the phrase "run the country" because thanks to the Congresses and the Administrations of the last 20 years, the President of the United States is for all practical purposes a dictator.) As we have seen with George W Bush, a Republican President gets support from much of the conservative portion of the population when he does things that would incite near riot by the same people if he were a Democrat. Therefore, perhaps it is better for a Democrat to hold that obscenely powerful position for now, with the hope for some popular resistance to his actions, and some unity in the opposition among conservatives.
Each election, conservatives reluctantly vote for someone for President who is more progressive, more socialistic, and less Constitutional than the candidate in the previous election. When will it end? When will we say "no more?"
I have decided to vote for Chuck Baldwin, of the Constitution Party. I urge all Americans who are tired of the lawlessness, corruption, and increasing totalitarianism of our current government to vote with me for Chuck Baldwin, or to vote for another Third Party, or to write in someone else, or to not vote for President at all. Don't throw away your vote! Why choose between drowning and hanging? Why choose between Benito Mussolini and Vladimir Lenin? This election, let's not give these nihilistic demagogues our consent to govern us. Just say no to Ocain and Mcbama!
Thanks for reading...
Dan Jacobson
WOW. Excellent.
Remember during the primaries we kept seeing that Juan Hernandez pic here...now it’s nowhere to be found.
If ever I had an inkling of willingness to vote for McCain, this article completely obliterated that.
Bush is quite a bit better than McCain, and I regret voting for Bush, why should I vote for McCain?!
It’s insanity.
If you only knew what I do lady if you only knew. :>{ I;'ve seen one too persons many suffer needlessly and recklessly in the hands of fools with a happy script pad. Yea I'll stand up even to a doctor and say to them they are wrong when I have ample evidence saying so. Been there done that saved a life for having a spine enough to dare question establishment. Actually I stood up to about 6 at one time as well as taking on the state they called trying to get a involuntary commital to a mental institutie because some idiots did not recognize Serotonin Syndrome even after they induced it. It was for someone I love more dearly than life itself.
Serotonin Syndrome
Care to enlighten me? If it’s too personal, you don’t have to answer.
She did OK till the medication began to build up. Actually it took several months as each person is different. One day she began becoming highly agitated and confused. I made a call to the shrink and he saw her that afternoon. He upped the dosage of Zoloft after a 5 minute session. When we got home she tells me she sees Satan.
So I load her up and off to the ER we go. Now several things could be happening. I was thinking maybe stroke due to her history. We get to the ER and the attending checks her and without even ordering so much as bloodwork or CAT SCAN says cal the state she's psychotic. I said doc please do some work ups fist and call her primary care doctor as well. He said no. I'm calling the state and she is to be committed to a mental institute. I called in the family then I tried to find her. They had moved her to another exam room with a guard on the door as if she could escape. {I had disabled her electric powered chair}.
I found her slumped over unresponsive pupils fixed and non responsive as well. I yelled for the doctor and help STAT. {I have worked in nursing homes} The doctor just stands there. I said doc she's out cold do something. At that point by law I could sign for any and all treatment he said no. I said you stupid ##### what sort of mental condition comes on this fast and put the patient unconscious? He just stood there. I told a family member to watch her I was getting the van to get her out of there.
Next stop was a level one hospital. They were highly eager to treat her as she was unconscious upon arrival. They got her back around and I told them what had happened. that attending as wel;l starts the committal song and dance and evaded the same questions. Again I asked for her primary care doctor to be notified and was refused.
The state came in a few hours later and I warned them that I would hold all responsible for her care. The declined the hospitals request. The next day in walks a shrink who never saw her before and in about 5 minutes says Up the Zoloft. That was to start the next day.
That nigh about 48 hours into it she came back to normal. No hallucinations just somewhat confused as anyone would be. The next day at noon I went home for a shower. In walks the nurse with the Zoloft right before I leave. When I get home i call back to a family member in the room and she's tripping again. That night was pure hell for her and me. She was thrashing and talking. But the talking was making sense. It was like someone put her brain in rewind. The only thing I could not understand was her saying I must reveal myself. The next afternoon I again go home and as usual stopped at the Chapel on the way out to pray.
I got home and remembered some old FR threads. I got on line and typed in Zoloft +Tradodone +adverse reaction why I don't know. But the first hit was an article on Serotonin Syndrome which ironically the hospital where she was at pharmacology professor wrote. Iread it and readf a few more to make certain of what I was reading. I called my dad who was in the room with her and said I know whats wrong and I'm coming back right now to explain.
I drove in and it was on a Sunday. I asked to speak to the floor supervisor {an RN} and showed her the article. I asked the attending house doctor be notified immediately to begin detox protocol she said he'll be in tomorrow morning. This was in a major southeast hospital. I said OK then I prohibit you from giving her any further medications but Benzo's as of now. He came in the next morning madder than a wet hen asking me why I refused his orders. I showed him the article. He said that's pure rubbish. I said doctor please read me the name of the author then. He stammered and stuttered afterward and said yea that's it. So when can I transfer her to the mental institute? I restrained myself from decking him. That night she came back down from the trip. The next day they took her to do a CAT Scan and MRI. Two brain bleeders one fresh one old. She was discharged with partial Amnesia the following day.
Now back to the Xanax a much maligned drug but a life safer to a number of persons including myself. Benzo's are the counter agent to Serotonin Migration. That is why it took a few months for her to develop it. She now takes .5mg Xanax 3X daily and myself the same dosage 4 times daily. You see it almost happened to me before that. My sensory processing system is shot especially the Vestibular portion. I have myoclonic Seizures as a result of it. At first I was diagnosed as having Panic Disorder and they tried SSRI therapy. Ever have a blocked bladder from Paxil? You never forget a Dysreflexia experience if you survive it.
Later after firing 5 shrinks I found one who understood what I had and was comfortable with the Xanax. Persons with severe neurological issues for some reason are more prone to the reaction. But her doctors all failed to do a PDR or even use an ounce of common sense. As for revealing herself? Hilarious now. She loved the show Touched By an Angel. She thought she was Tess. Even funnier is she's white. :>}
Good comes from bad things. This whole episode I described set a chain reaction in motion. An Oral surgeon was going to do the extractions but first wanted the heart condition double checked. They did an Endorin {sp} treadmill on her and she got a clean bill of health on her heart. Before that day she had been on Cardizem and Persentine {sp} for about 15 years as no one had done follow up. She still takes the Xanax for Anxiety it’s in the safest class of such drug for her. No danger of Serotonin Syndrome from it. A good drug when doctors know exactally how to prescribe it. Many saddly don’t. It requires a 24/7 low level in the body. I weigh 250 and .5MG works for me. At my onset they had me on 2mg twice a day. I felt like a yo-yo and it didn’t help but a few hours a day.
‘Ever have a blocked bladder from Paxil?’
Well, no - didn’t know you could! Thanks for sharing your personal story. Best wishes to you & your wife, and I hope the rest of the year is smooth sailing for you.
The condition is far more common to paraplegics and quadriplegics who are catheter dependent and the catheter blocks.
Thanks for the wishes. We've been together in this for 23 years next month. Near as we can tell while we were on a date an earlier in life undetected mild case of Polio likely came back on her and left her a quad.
Well then maybe you should step away from the meds. You’re playing the victim just a little too much for me.
Either way, I’m done.
I'm a fighter. As well I am when need be a political activist not associated with any group. I'll take on DEM and GOP elected alike I don't care about the letter after their name when doing so.
Have any of you ever stood alone against the Tennessee Valley Authority over Eminent Domain Abuse and won without using a lawyer? Very few persons do. I was threatened with them sending a U.S. Marshall for saying no to uncompensated taking of right of way. They sent an accountant instead and a damages estimator. I do not bully easy.
Have any of you exposed Medicaid fraud in your state? Have any of you personally fought against DEM and GOP alike who support Universal Health Care? Have you ever fought the governments contractor HMO's and overseers running it? Has your GOP senator being the U.S. Senate Majority Leader been a shill for it allowing it and fighting to with federal dollars fund it in your own state. He did just that yet was to be called the hero of the U.S. Senate by Too Studid to Read It Republicans for pushing a Bastardized Medicare reform plan straight from Hillary's handbook. BLIND SHEEP you deserve the government you choose and allow to be your Overlord. BAA more hay and feed please Master Bush /sarcasm
Too late for that in 2008.
I’m not a liberal in any way.
But if you are a conservative who is voting for the feckless Chuck Baldwin, you are essentially a eunuch visiting a brothel.
This is a seminal election for the future of the blessing from God that is America. Make a difference - because if you’re looking to make a real world statement by voting for Chuck Baldwin you are not. You’ve just made yourself an inconsequential wraith at a time when all citizens of virtue and valor need to stand up and be counted.
Regards.
Yes, that one, the one who has even less self-respect than all the conservatives now following behind him like a spaniel after...(well you know the rest).
Whyever should anyone be surprised at the disrespect with which McCain treats conservatives, when, in spite of the abuse he heaps on them, they return to him again and again like dogs after their own vomit. If they had any self-respect, like good Mavericks, they would have said, "Fuck You, Johnny-boy, you nasty old fart!" long ago.
Hey Slim I'll let you in on a little secret Da GOP doesn't want Conservatives to know. Chuck Baldwin is an Ordained Minister of the Gospel with a good reputation. Good enough for me.
GOD does not bless lesser of evils choices he blesses the actions and faith of those who stand up for what is right even down to the only man left standing against a multitude. Otherwise leaders are judgements upon nations reflecting the hearts of the people. In the past 20 years this nation and this old world has been on Fast Track to fullfilling End Times Biblical Prophecy even to the point our own nation giving aid to the enemies of Israel and encouraging the treaty with the anti-Christ be signed by Israel. And this was the GOP's doings. Be very afraid.
Chuck Baldwin is a nobody with no chance of winning. Baldwin should be a minister of the Gospel is he’s a minister of the Gospel.
Now? He’s an attention whore who is self destructive if he lives and owns the Gospel he preaches.
McCain emerged from the GOP Primary as victor. That’s the fact.
If you are serious about your priorities and principles, you need to be serious about your political options to satisfy them.
Your rational options, in late October 2008, is a scenario with either John McCain or Barak Obama leveraging the power of the most important political office on earth.
I would wager that most all members of this community could fire off a 1000 word missive on the ways that McCain has disappointed, neglected, insulted and disrespected the conservative agenda these past years.
But now - in the real world NOW knowing what we know about this Marxist Manchurian Candidate Hussein Obama - any conservative who would do anything but go to the ends of the earth to defeat this menace is either a fraud or a fool.
Voting against someone who is a clear and present threat to our freedoms trumps all else in my opinion. There is no virtue in making some statement to “RINOs” or “Republicrats” in this particular situation. The stakes are too high. The fallout is too onerous to ponder. Obama is an authentically bad man. He has fascist, authoritarian impulses we have never seen.
I honestly hope you revisit your approach before Tuesday. I will joyfully join you in ridiculing and ragging on a President McCain and weak teet RINOs whenever justified. But ... I certainly prefer that we have some RINOs in office to ridicule given that the only real-world alternative is leftist, anti-American Democrats. Regards!
I'll take all that under appropriate advisement, but my current visceral fear revolves around a Marxist who today promised that "It is only four days until we begin a fundamental transformation of the United States of America."
Not a transformation of Executive Branch public policy and political ideology of that institution: No, Obama is gonna tear down corrupt and anti-egalitarian America and build one of his own historically brilliant design.
Obama is a pathological megalomaniac and fancies himself destined to be a historically inspired and benevolent autocrat. This guy - and the ilk around him - intend to rule, not govern. Believe it. He's totally invested in this messianic mojo.
I'm happy, however, that you're vigorously defending against this whole GOP/anti-Christ caper.
We need more Baldwins. You curse the very ones who if given a chance can actually help turn this nation back around. His being a Minister of the Gospel is not a prohibition of national leadership by any means. There is no Biblical nor Constitutional prohibition of such.
If Chuck Baldwin is an ordained minister he should be ministering his flock to leverage the power and peace of serving Christ to manage the challenges of their daily lives.
I don’t know him as a minister, but I sure know him as a bozo political commentator and unqualified professional gadfly. What has he ever accomplished to warrant consideration for the most powerful, complex and scrutinized political office on earth?
Knock yourself out Tuesday. You will have contributed nothing to achieve your alleged priorities.
Here's a true story. A Virginia preacher along with a former GOP appointee under Nixon, a retired Colgate Polmolive employee, and a founder of a Conservative foundation called Free Congress set off on a quest that would change the nations political direction in a time of great political and national uncertanity. Confidence had been lost in the office of POTUS due to incompitence of the then current POTUS and three before him as well. The nation was also in the middle of an unprecidented M.E. crisis and on the brink of war. They persuaded many ministers to join in on their group. This was near the end of Carters term in office.
The movement was family values social conservative based aimed at Conservatives and not just GOP or Republicans. It was the Liberals worse nightmare. Of the GOP candidates running for POTUS one man took up their cause and made much of it his platform for office. He won by a landslide. He reached deep into the Democratic Party not once but twice. There was no days on end of counting a tied election and chads as he actually had an agenda that was vastly different than anyone in any party running.
The men who helped him by starting the group were Jerry Falwell, Howard Phillips who once served under Nixon and went on to being the founder of the Constitution Party, Ed McAteer retired from Cologate, and Paul Weyrich. They convinced ministers from many churches and others to join their movement. The rest is history.
Baldwin for over a decade has been a Conservative author and many of us in here know as much especially those with pre- election 2000 sign on dates. His political sin? Not blindly following Bush but rather being critical as many Conservative writers have. Why? Because many times Bush has been wrong. As a result Republicans let him and the GOP majority slide. Why? For political expedience of some insane notion that by being like the rats they could defeat them. Well they were half right. They became one with the rats.
What qualifies a man for POTUS? Simple. Look in the Constitution of the United States. What the biggest irony of this is the first Republican POTUS was a lowly former congressman. He was a member of a third party newly formed. Worse his voice was so shrill and high pitched that few could stand to listen to him. On the day of his historical speech in Gettysburg, PA few people even showed up. He also suffered from chronic depression most of his life. As well his life was full of business and political failures including bankruptcy. In short Lincon was perhaps one of the most unqualified man to ever run for POTUS. Now you still want to sit here and debate what qualifies Chuck Baldwin for office?
We'll never have another Reagan as long as we have Liberals controlling the GOP as we do today. They have enablers called complacent voters who are willing to kick at Lucy's football yet again like a Good Old Charlie Brown Republican is expected to do. Maybe in 2012 Lucy wont yank it away. She'll promise again and Charlie Brown Republicans will kick yet again. Reagan's kind today is much too right wing nutter for their liking or so they are told to say, think, and vote.
NO MORE! If not now then when? After the last elected Republican has dealt away the rest of our rights and freedoms to the DEMs for supporting yet another stinking bad trade deal?
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