Posted on 10/20/2008 8:31:21 AM PDT by TAdams8591
Head Strong: McCain fails the big five tests His aim is untrue in too many areas, so a longtime Republican is voting for Obama. By Michael Smerconish - Inquirer
Inquirer Currents Columnist
I've decided. My conclusion comes after reading the candidates' memoirs and campaign platforms, attending both party conventions, interviewing both men multiple times, and watching all primary and general-election debates.
John McCain is an honorable man who has served his country well. But he will not get my vote. For the first time since registering as a Republican 28 years ago, I'm voting for a Democrat for president. I may have been an appointee in the George H.W. Bush administration, and master of ceremonies for George W. Bush in 2004, but last Saturday I stood amid the crowd at an Obama event in North Philadelphia.
Five considerations have moved me:
Terrorism. The candidates disagree as to where to prosecute the war against Islamic fundamentalists. Barack Obama is correct in saying the front line in that battle is not Iraq, it's the Afghan-Pakistan border. Osama bin Laden crossed that border from Tora Bora in December 2001, and we stopped pursuit. The Bush administration outsourced the hunt for bin Laden and instead invaded Iraq.
No one in Iraq caused the death of 3,000 Americans on 9/11. Our invasion was based on a false predicate, so we have no business being there, regardless of whether the surge is working. Our focus must be the tribal-ruled FATA region in Pakistan. Only recently has our military engaged al-Qaeda there in operations that mirror those Obama was ridiculed for recommending in August 2007.
Last spring, Obama told me: "It's not that I was opposed to war [in Iraq]. It's that I felt we had a war that we had not finished." Even Sen. Joe Lieberman conceded to me last Friday that "the headquarters of our opposition, our enemies today" is the FATA.
IMHO, one very big reason for rejoining the war in Iraq which I've not seen mentioned, but which I think is very important, is that other countries' willingness to attack the U.S. is in significant measure determined by their perception (or lack thereof) that the U.S. is a paper tiger. The fact that Saddam was openly flouting the terms of the armistice he signed was one of many factors contributing to other countries' "paper tiger" perception.
It is not coincidence that, almost immediately after the U.S. mobilized against Iraq, the Libyan government invited us to inspect and dismantle their nuclear program. Further, it is also not a coincidence that the Iranians have been increasingly willing to flaunt their nuclear efforts as the U.S. has become seemingly less willing to consider military action against them.
While it would be wrong for the U.S. to arbitrarily attack other countries just so it can appear "tough", that does not imply that it should allow other countries to flout their agreements with impunity. "Peace agreements" are meaningless without the threat of force to back them up.
Okay. : ) Why did he give your cousin a prize for her Christmas lights?
We are in agreement. Please see reply #52. We were justified invading Iraq for that reason alone.
I can’t tonight, but I’ll see if I can dig up a link to that beard story sometime this week. It was unintentionally hilarious.
Smerconish is more of an childish opportunist than a turncoat. He makes a living in a swirling pool of genetically deficient commie trash and education spurning, multi-generational welfare dependents inhabiting this tri-state region, fostered by many era’s of corrupt Democrap control of Philadelphia.
Smerconish’s humor is mired in adolescent scatology for the most part. But I’ve continued to listen to his local radio shows and interviews, and found some quite interesting, but I’ve decided that he is clearly of a liberal mindset, previously kind of occult, now outed. He is probably queer, too.
I've lived and worked in and around Philly all my life and found your description of some of Philly's residents to be quite apt. Thanks, much, for your comments! : )
I'd never heard of him either until this morning, and perhaps it was good that I hadn't. It seems there are quite a few Clyhmers out there who want to be in good with the MSM, and this guy's no exception.
I'm so very glad we still have a few Guys & a Gal With Guts (Rush, Sean, Mark, Mike G., Laura, San Diego's Roger Hedgecock, Mark Larson, and Rick Roberts) who are unwilling to compromise their Conservative principles to get chummy with the Media Elites). May God bless them all!
I don’t know if this is the reason,but I recall that he had a beef about how Christmas light are now those tiny white lights and not the large bulbs that come in an array of colors.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Smerconish
I was going to say that wikipedia has noted that his wife is a major campaign fund raiser for obama. However, that information is no longer listed.
Smerconish’s wife is a major fundraiser for Obama?
I love your tag line, btw! Very clever.: )
You said it all well, T Lady. Thank you for your response.
I love the white lights. I like the colored lights also but the white lights best. : )
Thank you! : )
ping
Thanks again! : )
Thanks again! : )
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