Comments on: Hillary Wins Pennsylvania, Declares AP…

By: peter

peter — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 21:45:59 +0000

I give him credit for going against his party (and popular opinion) on immigration and campaign finance reform, as well as originally voting against the Bush tax cuts.

I recognize that he’s flip flopped somewhat — as politicians are wont to do — but just because you’re not a virgin does not mean that you are a whore. In the brothel of politics, I think McCain is a fairly clean player.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 19:59:35 +0000

Wait, you think McCain’s views are NOT poll-driven? Can you explain his about-face on immigration in any other way? Or the fact that he went from conservative heavy in 2000 to almost-a-Democrat in 2004 back to religious-right-pandering-phony in 2008? There’s no way to understand this guy except as someone who will do or say ANYTHING to get elected.

You’re certainly right that Dole and Goldwater are respectable for their consistency of thinking. Too bad McCain hasn’t got a shred of that.

By: peter

peter — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 16:05:06 +0000

I give McCain a lot more credit than that. (Also, I have a lot of respect for Bob Dole and Barry Goldwater: don’t agree with them much, but respect the consistency of their thinking and their obvious love of country.) McCain has a compelling life story, his views are not poll-driven, and the media love him. I also would not underestimate the strength of the Republican political machine. No matter who wins the Democratic nomination, I think the ball game will go nine innings before we know who the winner is.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 14:22:42 +0000

Actually, here’s your comparison. McCain is like the political lovechild of Dole and Goldwater. Disaster will ensue.

By: Ryan

Ryan — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 10:51:01 +0000

Then just you wait. McCain is just like Dole, only he’s also completely nuts. Who needs the boring old soldier when you can have the boring old soldier who wants to bomb Iran and start a war with Russia?

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 03:43:37 +0000

Hmmm…you may be right. What an election that would have been: Dukakis vs. Dole! Then again, Dukakis had the sacrificial role against the Reagan juggernaut, much like Dole to Clinton…

By: Peter

Peter — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 03:27:52 +0000

Dukakis was worse.

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 02:48:18 +0000

Well, Ryan, you know I disagree with you about McCain so I won’t go there – but Bob Dole was the worst presidential candidate in my lifetime. Good man, but horrible candidate – then again, he was a sacrifice to the then-unbeatable Bill Clinton…

By: Ryan

Ryan — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 01:07:23 +0000

Well, you’re all free to believe what you want, but the fact that McCain can’t break 50 when he’s running against no one says everything that needs saying. He’s the worst presidential candidate in 50 years and I can’t wait to see him utterly dismantled. Say what you will about Bush’s “chances” against Gore and Kerry, but he was only wrong, incompetent, and stupid; McCain is wrong, incompetent, stupid, and insane. This is going to be a massacre.

By: peter

peter — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 00:09:21 +0000

Whether society cares about me or not – and I’m sure that it doesn’t – has little if anything to do with what I should do.

I’m not a smoker: if I voted my own self-interest, I’d vote to raise the cigarette tax to $10 a pack. I get over 20 miles to the gallon, and the wife has a Prius: my self interest would be to raise the gas tax to $5 a gallon. Then I would take the money from the two taxes and vote for a low flat tax so I pay the same marginal tax rate as the mailman.

I expect to fund my own retirement – so I would vote against Social Security. I have a company health care plan – so I would vote against Medicaid. I’ve never been on welfare and rarely needed unemployment insurance – so I would vote those programs away too. Foreign aid to countries I’ll never see? Fuhgeddaboutit. Why should I send tax money to support programs which I am unlikely to ever need or use?

I think you get my point. If we all voted strictly out of self interest, the law of the jungle would apply and the strongest would prevail. If you really believe the e pluribus unum stuff, then I think the responsible course is to vote with the interests of the country as a whole in mind.