the splicing experiment is almost complete …
why am i having visions of vincent price?
July 2, 2008
john w. mcbush, party of one? two?
Posted by didionsmommy under non-didion news, politics[13] Comments
[13] Comments
July 2, 2008
the splicing experiment is almost complete …
why am i having visions of vincent price?
July 3, 2008 at 6:21 am
It seems a little unfair to applaud Obama for ‘expedience over honor’ but to criticize McCain for seeking to win by using some of the best players in the game.
As Ames said, “…that’s the general election, and it’s high time we played that game.”
To use his logic, tactics and bedfellows shouldn’t matter as long as our guy gets into the Whitehouse. Then he will no doubt become a saint and the best President ever…right?
July 3, 2008 at 9:26 am
you are assuming “criticism”, when all i am saying is mccain is echoing-to-the-point-of-actually-becoming W(ver. 3.0) …
i have no problem with his hiring decisions. i balk, though, when i hear people say mccain is NOT becoming a mouthpiece of the current administration, which — if i remember correctly — is a point you often make.
i suspect you will find it increasingly difficult to support your claim as the election season progresses.
***
on a separate administrative note, i am having a terrible time accessing didionville either through wordpress or directly. hmmmm …
July 3, 2008 at 9:27 am
nevermind … i think it’s fixed. didionville must’ve been overloaded with hits … HA!!!!!
July 3, 2008 at 11:04 am
I think it’s pretty basic that in an election year both candidates will be asked to offer their opinion on the most recent administration. McCain is being honest when he defends those points he agrees with.
As for being a Bush clone, I disagree. Bush’s administration was marked by a neo-con foreign policy and an evangelical approach to social issues. I don’t see McCain favoring either. I expect him to be more Reagan-esque on foreign policy and fairly moderate on social issues. If you look at everything other than healthcare and taxes, he’s not too different from Obama.
July 3, 2008 at 12:17 pm
wow!
really?
the league of conservation voters currently lists john mccain with a score of 0%.
http://capwiz.com/lcv_stage/dbq/vote_info/?sort=Last&command=results&last=mccain&submit.x=0&submit.y=0&submit=go
the lcv lists obama with a score of 67%.
http://capwiz.com/lcv_stage/dbq/vote_info/?sort=Last&command=results&last=obama&submit.x=14&submit.y=16&submit=go
naral gives mccain a score of 0%.
http://www.naral.org/choice-action-center/in-congress/congressional-record-on-choice/arizona.html
they give obama a score of 100%.
http://www.naral.org/choice-action-center/in-congress/congressional-record-on-choice/illinois.html
the u.s. chamber of commerce give mccain a score of 100% and obama a score of 55%.
http://capwiz.com/chamber/scorecard/?chamber=S&session=1092&x=17&y=9
and then there’s that whole iraq thing …
July 3, 2008 at 12:52 pm
The LCV is nuts and it’s why I don’t turn to them for guidance on the environment. Perfect example, McCain publically supported Lieberman-Warner but because he couldn’t vote on it, he was given a 0.
I have never liked ’scorecards’ based on voting records because they are skewed.
Let’s look at the big ones:
environment – McCain is actually left of obama.
gay marriage – virtually identical positions
NAFTA – identical positions
jobs creation – identical
drug policy – identical
And if you want to talk about Iraq, neither one of them is pulling troops if things stay like this, so again, they aren’t much different.
July 3, 2008 at 3:45 pm
“nuts”? interesting you say that. theodore roosevelt, iv, sits on the board as an honorary chair … not that the fourth generation need exactly mirror the first, but i would think there would be some philosophical consistency over the years, especially considering the family legacy.
i think mccain’s zero rating might be due to the fact that he was absent at all the votes on various environmental legislation.
compare his voting record …
http://capwiz.com/lcv_stage/bio/keyvotes/?id=192&congress=1102&lvl=C
to obama’s …
http://capwiz.com/lcv_stage/bio/keyvotes/?id=3181&congress=1102&lvl=C
just in case there was, perhaps, an error in the accounting, i checked hillary clinton’s record …
http://capwiz.com/lcv_stage/bio/keyvotes/?id=10902&congress=1102&lvl=C
and the record of the two senators from kentucky …
bunning …
http://capwiz.com/lcv_stage/bio/keyvotes/?id=263&congress=1102&lvl=C
and mcconnell …
http://capwiz.com/lcv_stage/bio/keyvotes/?id=262&congress=1102&lvl=C
it seems like N’s really are “no” and Y’s are “yes” and ?’s are “absent” … mccain’s got A LOT of ?s …
and regardless of the sanity level you assign the lcv … an empty voting record is an empty voting record …
and if mccain is left of obama on environmental plans, then why does mccain expect a 60% decrease in greenhouse gasses by 2050 with his plan, while obama projects and 80% reduction of same with his?
i will give you one thing … obama — being from a farm state — has supported tariff and other subsidy legislation that mccain has opposed.
July 3, 2008 at 4:33 pm
re: foreign policy …
here is an article from the council on foreign relations, written in early june, and describing an apparent struggle between “realists” and “neocons” among his foreign policy (and other) advisers …
http://www.cfr.org/publication/16194/foreign_policy_brain_trusts.html
i simply do not see what you see in your portrait of a republican party that is progressive and shedding its neocon (and — slightly off the main topic: evangelical) extremism.
here is the cfr article re: obama’s foreign policy advisers, etc.
http://www.cfr.org/publication/16188/foreign_policy_brain_trusts.html
July 3, 2008 at 4:44 pm
i don’t support an immediate withdrawal from iraq. we created chaos for millions of people, and we need to stay and clean it up … BUT we need help … and that is where obama’s approach is going to work better than mccain’s …
obama wholeheartedly supports multilateralism, and i believe he can build a substantive coalition with our powerful allies to stave off the violence and create more than a nominal government in iraq.
July 5, 2008 at 10:51 pm
Republicans for Environmental Protection give McCain high marks. he has gotten positive marks also from The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, Ducks Unlimited, Trout Unlimited, Quail Unlimited. These are all true conservation groups. LCV is conservationist in name only. The reality is that they are a far-left environmentalist organization and take most of their cues from Greenpeace and the Sierra Club. I would consider their endorsement an insult.
McCain has been leading on the environment for over a decade. His record in congress is pretty clear. REP has a full listing of it over there. I would encourage you to read it.
http://www.rep.org/McCain_enviro_record.html
I think that mccain’s projections for greenhouse gas reductions are lower because he favors realism over fantasies.
On Iraq, Obama would be doing voters a favor if he was honest that he won’t be pulling troops. There are a lot of his supporters that believe he will.
I don’t think i’ve ever said the GOP is progressive. To the contrary, I think the GOP is almost at rock bottom and my hope is that when they rebuild it is with a more Progressive approach. But i also don’t think the DNC is pursuing progressive goals either.
July 31, 2008 at 12:49 pm
DM – I was reading some literature I just received from Republicans for Enivronmental Protection. Apparently your buddy Theodore Roosevelt IV is a lifetime member of REP. Interestingly though, they endorsed McCain months ago. I wonder if he protested?
Hope you feel beter soon!
August 1, 2008 at 2:50 pm
“my buddy”?! feeling a little snarky, are we!
frankly, i don’t see membership in these groups as mutually exclusive, and i definitely don’t think the lcv is as crazed and as maniacal as you paint them to be.
August 1, 2008 at 10:53 pm
They ARE crazy. Some day you will see the light.
And just for the record, we should ALL have a buddy named Theodore Roosevelt.