This is the harsh truth and here's why:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26426721/

Maybe he is. But I have plenty of other reasons besides that to not vote for him this time around.

In fact, I'd be willing to bet that something goes significantly sideways with his health in the next 5 years. I'm not wishing it. But the odds are that it will.

And we can either know that we dodged a bullet by electing Obama, bite the bullet and deal with a possibly incapacitated President or reload the gun altogether when Romney takes over.

" Mr. President, we have a diplomatic solution."

" The missiles are flying. Hallelujah."

You're grasping at straws.

Cool. It means the libs are worried and have to dig up any excuse they can.

Awesome.

Yes it is!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/27/joe-biden-democratic-conv_n_121938.html

Biden comes out swinging with both hands. Love this guy already.

(that's the text of his opening speech tonight, BTW)

Edit: Come on man! McCain kind of sucks. He's old, he's gonna keep doing the same crap Bush did, he can't hold a position long enough to even worry about it, he's dull, he's got a crappy field of VP choices, his party is pissed at him (well a very significant fraction of it anyway), he's demonstrated incompetence MULTIPLE times on CORE ISSUES, he runs a seriously negative campaign that is abusing the REFORM laws he advocated for, he's bought and paid for (huge lobby money), can't relate to ordinary people, and he's a Republican and we all know what happens when too many people vote Republican.

Seriously, it's time to give up the dream and come clean.

There are NO compelling reasons to vote for this guy. NONE. And this is it! The best the GOP has to offer, and it's NOWHERE near GOOD ENOUGH.

Nobody can see you in the booth. Talk it up all you want, but go behind the curtain and do the right thing. Vote for Obama and let's put some very poor years behind us.

Send the GOP a clear message to start cleaning it up, rebuild and promote solid, worthy conservatives, not these corporate bastards robbing us blind with one hand, while pissing on our hard won rights with the other.

I wonder what the Republicans can up next week that could inspire me enough to consider voting GOP for just a few moments . . . hmm . . . nothing.

I just thought of something. Al Gore. Put the inventor of the internet on the GOP ticket and I'll consider it.

If 52% of voters are women, than wouldn't it be smart for Mccain to have a female VP?? That might sway aome of the heavy Clinton lovers to switch.

Just a random thought!

There are NO compelling reasons to vote for this guy.

Sure there is. It's spelled O-B-A-M-A.

Neither one of them are worth a damn.

But, I don't vote for Democrats, I don't care who the Republican candidate is.

Our once avid poster said that Abortion was his #1 issue.

My #1 issue is our 2nd amendment rights. Obama is so far left on them that I don't care if he was a Republican I wouldn't vote for him.

O-B-A-M-A spells R-E-L-I-E-F.

M-C-C-A-I-N spells R-E-L-I-E.

Well, if nothing else matters but Guns, perhaps staying home is a good idea then!

I didn't say nothing else matters.

What I said was that the 2nd amendment is my #1 priority for a candidate.

If I can't trust someone to protect that right, how can I trust them with anything else.

I'll mail my ballot in for sure, because I agree with the post that said "If you don't vote you have no right to complain"

You're grasping at straws.


Truth hurts

Who?

I doubt either of us is doing that. It's just an exchange, and not a bad one at that.

Well, Skybill, I think you've phrased this in a way that really does say, "nothing else matters", because you've positioned all the other issues in terms of that one.

So then, the others really don't matter then.

Sorry!

I've seen nothing that's suggests you are gonna lose gun rights under Obama. He's not a dictator like Bush currently is trying to be.

Say there were options that cut gun crime, while at the same time reinforcing the idea that we get to own guns! Do you favor that?

I do, and I think the right to own firearms is both established by the court as an individual right, and that it can be limited by local regulation that DEMONSTRATES a clear link to the regulation and a known harm.

Not a bad start to solving problems, wouldn't you say?

And that's the frame Obama is gonna work in, so what's the worry?

" You're grasping at straws."

Who is? What straws, exactly?

" Cool. It means the libs are worried and have to dig up any excuse they can."

Like what, McCain's age is not something that should even be considered? Or maybe you were talking about something else?

.....What straws, exactly..

The libs are grasping at straws with things like that silly survey.

They surveyed what, a little over 200 people and came up with their results.

Had they surveyed 20,000 or so I'd be more inclined to even pay attention to it.

Sure his age can be brought up. It's not a reason to vote/not vote for him though.

Don't you want a two term President. A strong one?

Those are valid things, given his age.

I do admit, I would overlook them, given other things were solid.

The SCOTUS defined gun rights. That isn't going away. They also laid the foundation for an eventual legal test regarding regulation.

D.C. failed because it's not linked to a known harm. That's a very good ruling, because it means any successful regulation will actually be doing something we find reasonable.

My point in that is Obama just isn't gonna pass something to take guns away. Won't happen. It's not gonna happen because it won't pass the court test (and that's one I find acceptable), won't happen because there are a lot of other things that contribute to increased gun crime and death we can address easily.

Wages, health care, education, etc...

IMHO, you are being used as a tool. McCain comes with a lot of bad baggage and you get essentially nothing for enduring it as the dynamics still apply!

Didn't McCain float out a " I'll just go for one term "? lie?

Skybill sez: "They surveyed what, a little over 200 people and came up with their results. Had they surveyed 20,000 or so I'd be more inclined to even pay attention to it."

Setting politics aside for just a moment, I think 850 is the magic number. After 850 people are polled at random, very little meanful changes in the results occurs. In fact, I believe KSKD did an in-depth post on this a while back.

Yes he did.

I see age as a primary concern. At this stage in life, he could tip over at any time. Not his fault --it's just part of being human.

Who he picks as VP will be very significant because of this.

Also, he shows signs of not being able to handle the details over a sustained time. That means who he picks as advisers and for his cabinet is also very significant.

They are gonna call the shots simply because McCain is highly likely to need them for core information on a regular basis. Manipulate that and you manipulate McCain.

Finally, I see this as yet another way to establish power without the direct consent of the people. We got Bush from the SCOTUS, and we got him again with the election mess, and because Kerry was a puss.

This time, we need to actually elect the person calling the shots and I don't see that happening with McCain, even if the election runs clean and he wins by a solid margin.

The level of corruption in the GOP is very high right now. Lots of people could easily see jail and serious fines, if we had a President that actually dealt with that stuff.

Best case scenario for the party is a President who isn't all that strong on his own, thus the legal games and ambiguity over separation of powers and the checks and balances that come with that favor them.

This is McCain people! It's extremely clear.

This isn't a survey, but a study.

288 people, tracked over a very long period of time = some solid data that clearly indicates more research is warranted.

It's not enough to say, "he's too old" by itself, but it is enough to look at his current behavior and not give him a pass on age.

Combine that with other factors (see post above) and it's something worth discussion. I don't see an easy out to dismiss age at this time, and I believe that is where Vitalogy was going with his post in the first place.

McCain is a figurehead presidential wannabe. He's not got the chops to really have any answers to the big problems overseas or at home. He's been a fat cat Senator for so long he can't even keep track of his own wealth. He can't make up his mind on so many issues, vacating many positions he built his career on in order to placate the Republican right. Bill is correct. John McCain is on the wrong side of history. This country needs to move forward, not continue to move backwards.

>>John McCain is on the wrong side of history

That makes sense coming from Bill Clinton.

How is he wrong?

McCain represents the past and present path. Neither of these are good for us overall.

If we elect McCain, we are saying the last 7+ years are ok. Most all of us don't agree with that idea.

And that is where Bill Clinton was going with that, and he's spot on too.

We are not in a place where simply denying obvious, observable facts about McCain is gonna cut it. The assumption there is that he's going to be a fine president otherwise.

False.

Put another way: defending him isn't enough.

Tell us why he's gonna be the better President. That's the story that matters here, and it's totally weak where Grandpa McCain is concerned.

(war hero doesn't cut it either, just so you know)

Here are your McCain supporters

23 percenters for sure!

Oh god help us!
I hope those guys are at most 2 percenters!

Yeah, one percent for the guy on the left, and the other percent for the guy on the right!

Just did a internet search to find out the specifics of John McCain's platform. The item that leapt out at me was the listing of his experience, which was this:

"Experience: Senator, navy pilot, beer distributor".

Beer Distributor? Looks like he's got the college fraternity vote sewn up.

Wonder if the RNC will have a toga party on Thursday night?

I think McCain's age is fair game and if the Dems were smart, they'd find sneaky ways to bring it up. Give the GOP a little dose of their own medicine. Lord knows they deserve it.

Obama can roll out a wheelchair for McCain at the first debate. That'll do the trick.

if the Dems were smart, they'd find sneaky ways to bring it up.

That's about the most two faced statement I've ever heard.

If the GOP dug up something on Obama (of which I'm sure they can and will) all the libs would be pissing and moaning so loud we'd have to wear earplugs.

They have been digging stuff up huge! Of course Obama supporters are bitching, and they've every right to.

Factor out all the mud slinging and the McCain Presidency looks just lame compared to the Obama one.

And that's exactly why they are throwing the mud. They've got nothing else really.

Obama knows this and isn't gonna need to stoop to throwing much mud back. This is the beauty of taking the higher ground, keeping it and managing it.

I personally don't think sneaky is necessary. Simple, fact based, rational concerns about how viable McCain is gonna be over the next 8 years is not throwing mud and totally valid discussion.

Two faced? I fight fire with fire, and usually just a tad more fire than was given to me.

America is waiting for the Republicans to start slinging mud.
5
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Start?

And why be sneaky about talking about McCain's age? So we can win by tricking old people? I mean, who would the " sneakiness " be meant to get by, unnoticed?

I say keep it all above board. If you are gonna go for it, then GO for it. His age is a perfectly legitimate issue. And in case anyone thinks it's not, let me ask you; At what age WOULD it be an issue if not 75?

Age aside, McCain remains uninspiring, unmotivating and lacking in things that matter to me. That's plenty for me.

I understand the apprehension in Obama - heck, I have it too. But not the the degree that McCain exhibits. Why would I vote for the guy who has actually said he's going to keep SO many things the same?

I'll vote for the guy who at least says he wants to change us from within and appreciate what efforts I can possibly bring to the table for success. McCain just thinks it's his turn - everyone else will just have to choke on it.

Pass.

By sneaky I mean bringing it up in a way that's not in bad taste. Indirect. It's a touchy subject, but one that should concern every voter.