Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Bipartisan redux

Well, I knew I was outnumbered on my own blog, but I didn’t realize how badly until this last post. But I’m going to plow ahead regardless, and comment on your responses to just how much baggage the Republican party adds to Sen. McCain’s load.

A frequent argument made was that, “the McCain of 2000 wouldn’t vote for the McCain of 2008.” As McCain, himself has said many times in response to this argument, “Yeah, but I lost in 2000.” The fact is that in America in 2008, a moderate Republican can’t get elected without the support of the conservative wing of the party. That leaves the nominee with two choices: Either alienate the right, as McCain did in 2000, or throw them some rhetorical bones as he is doing now. I wish it weren’t necessary but it is.

It is also argued that a McCain Presidency means a right-wing Supreme Court. This will come as a big surprise to Chief Justice Robert Bork. Oh, wait a minute, he’s not on the court, is he? That’s right, the Democratic Senate rejected his nomination in 1987, and the 65-or-so Democratic Senators we’re likely to have in 2009 should be formidable enough to keep us all safe from the fascists and religious fanatics many of you seem to expect McCain to nominate.

The President may be the most important person in the U.S., but he is not a King an Emperor or a magician. He needs the consent of Congress and/or the support of the people to do anything. The fact that the Congress is likely to be overwhelmingly Democratic come January is another reason I favor McCain. I think it is dangerous to have two branches controlled by the same party. GWB did the most harm when he had a GOP Congress behind him.

Many of you just don’t believe McCain is independent of the Republican party. I sited a number of examples in the 9/6 post, but let me add two more, including this McCain quote: "I think that Donald Rumsfeld will go down in history as one of the worst secretaries of defense in history." Can anyone name any example of any politician in the last hundred years who spoke so harshly of a senior official in his own party?

Or can you name one who has had a former Vice Presidential nominee of the opposition party site him, on national television, as a rare example of a national politician who puts country ahead of party?

Is he too partisan? Well, I still question these figures, but the same sources that say McCain voted with the GOP line 90% of the time say Obama voted the Democratic line 97% of the time. McCain has a history of bipartisanship, and he has promised to do more of it as President:

“Again and again, I've worked with members of both parties to fix problems that need to be fixed. That's how I will govern as President. I will reach out my hand to anyone to help me get this country moving again. I have that record and the scars to prove it. …I will ask Democrats and Independents to serve with me. And my administration will set a new standard for transparency and accountability.”

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is there not a substantial chance a President McCain woldn't survive four intense years? If so we would be left with a completely inexperienced axe-wielding, gun-toting, hockey-cheering, lipstick-wearing commander-in-chief, supreme-court choosing, agenda-setting president you idiots! This from ONE of the non-existent women who respond to this blog!

Anonymous said...

Fenway raised the issue of McCain dying in office. Using the National Vital Stats (Vol 54,No 14), McCain's life expectancy is 85 (13 more years). His melanoma was removed at a very early stage (determined by depth of invasion) and is unlikely to affect his survival. Mr Obama is 47 and his life expectancy is 75 (same stats as above). However, he is a cigarette smoker which places him at risk for cardiovascular disease and tobacco-related malignancies. Cigarette smokers, on average, lose 14 years of life (CDC stats). Doing the math, Obama has about 14 more years (75-14=61). McCain- 13 years, Obama- 14 years, not much difference.

Anonymous said...

Lo and Behold, my mother of all people has pushed me over to a vote for McCain. Growing up, we spent several years on welfare and food stamps. Last week, I asked my mom "how can you be so right wing when the government bailed us out of real trouble when I was growing up?" Her response "the damn government made it such a disincentive for me to work at that time b/c the jobs I "believed" I could get would not have paid enough to make up for rent subsidies, free food and medical care. It's not like I didn't have the capacity to work and if those options weren't available I would have gotten off my ass and started on a real career much quicker." She is now celebrating her 10th year as the top sales person for Massachusett's top furniture store, Jordan's, a Berkshire Hathaway company. She then went on to site that I made it through the "projects" to private college, to NY and a successful career in advertising.

This conversation happened Monday and on Tuesday in the old gray and irrelevant lady, Bob Herbert listed many, many initiatives that liberals should be proud of includiing: social security, medicaid, food stamps, civil rights and women's rights. I'm not so sure this country is better off with many of these programs at all. We have an entire subculture of people who survive from these programs and turn to crime instead of real work b/c real work would mean giving up these freebies. Liberals help set up this country to be largely on the dole with massive incentive to stay there.

Anonymous said...

Because this is disgusting, but maybe this is the new bipartisanship, the way he will be the new change:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVLQhRiEXZs

Back story here

Anonymous said...

I think this video says a lot. Be sure to watch the kid walk away.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG4fe9GlWS8

Anonymous said...

Bork did not get through a democratic Congress but Scalia and Thomas did. McCain will put somebody who has vowed to overturn Roe who is exteme. That person goes down and he puts someone else up who has never had a conversation in his entire life about Roe, and the person sails through.

You are probably correct on the dems controlling Congress, although not a chance they will have 65 Senators...the party thinks 58.

I follow this closely and I still don't know what McCain/Palin intend to change policy wise. Our hope in electing McCain is that like playing backjack in Vegas. When you get a new dealer the cards don't change, we just hope the new face changes our luck.

Anonymous said...

Just Say No doesn't even seem to work in Alaska

rsb said...

I kept reading about “lifers” on welfare wasting taxpayer money.

As I view it, it is designed for those who are on “hard times” . Who if they didn’t have welfare to fall back onto would turn to crime.

I am certain that some learn to work the system and do use it for a lifetime.

Those same people must have relatives that have worked in the large corporations that I’ve worked for over the years. They have learned how to work the system, don’t do a damn thing, and that is a crime.

My obvious point is, it’s not the system, it’s the individual.

Anonymous said...

RSB, you land on welfare, your apt is free, your medical is free, your food is free, but you don't really have any spending money or any real prospects for getting out of your situation. So, you go to work at McDonald's. You make $7.00 ($280 for a 40 hour week) minus taxes minus healthcare minus food. Now you're apt is $500/month. 95% of individuals have an easy choice in this one, but their desire for more means "I need to make money under the table or not reportable to the gov't. Ahh! Crime!). That's systemic.

Let's take medicare/medicaid/social security. An entire country knows when they retire they can land on the soft pillow that are these programs. Maybe it's not a 350 count silk thread pillow but it's still soft. Knowing they have no reason to save for retirement makes it a heck of a lot easier to run up credit cards buying brittany spear's cd's, the latest fashions and XBox's along the way. That's systemic.

Anonymous said...

The only candidate who deserved to ride the Straight Talk Express was Ron Paul, but we all know what the media didn't do for him.

To your points, Dennis, McCain didn't just throw some rhetorical bones to the right, he gave them a full-fledged, born again chunk of moose meat to gnaw on.

Bork, ancient history, Dems have since let Alito and Roberts squeak by without an ugly filibuster. The GOP senate is rabid about their judges and fight like dirty dogs over these appointments -- and McCain promised the right conservative judges and thinks Roe vs. Wade be overturned.

No guarantees that the Dems will control Congress, but even if they do, the Bush Administration has destroyed the inner workings of the White House to such a degree that it will take McCain a couple of years to get things back on track.

I agree with you on McCain's bi-partisanship and he is a stand-up guy, but his maverick behavior truly manifested itself after the 2000 destruction by Rove & Co. He's playing out a vendetta against the GOP. And, if he gets elected, he will owe the right (they will claim)a huge debt. Things will be the same -- they can't help but be.

But I will admit, Obama a lot of holes in his resume. Let's see if he can fill 'em up over the next 60days.

Anonymous said...

you people are too funny and too serious

Annom .."a chunk of moose meat to gnaw on." too funny

I think we can all agree that to make us better we dont need government to help us UNLESS it is needed.

We are both parties. Hell, I want policies that will put my mother at risk. That's what I want a politician to say!

I think not!

Say what you will about Sarah. Say what you will about Joe.

They are VP's. If I was VP I think I could fill in as Pres.

Woody hit a home run with his expected life expectancy..too funny

Anonymous said...

Dennis -
The Anonymous diatribe is actually mine.
Have no idea why it posted that way.
AY

Anonymous said...

Woody, I think McCain's life span will mirror his family's history. I know his mother is about 150 and still looking good but his father and grandfather dropped dead pretty early (his grandfather "Slew" died the day after he got home from WWII). Also, prisoners of war in VietNam have tended to die earlier than the tables would suggest.

The Democrats in the senate have shown themselves to be feckless cowards in the past 8 years so I don't trust them to hold up any republican appointments. Republicans have shown no talent or interest in running any part of the executive branch. Just today in the interior department, the IG discovered that the people that were supposed to oversee the oil contracts and revenues were receiving Thousands of $$ in gifts and trips from the oil industry. I can't name one department that doesn't carry the stink of republican management.

I can't in good conscience give these guys another time at the plate. If they ran government as well as they run campaigns we'd live in a utopia.

As for Joe Lieberman, my views about him are too incendiary to share here.

d'blank said...

so we can never vote for a republican again because the toothless wonders in a democratic Congress can't be trusted to carry out their Constitutional duties of advice and consent?
well it makes sense. they really came thru on their promise to end the iraq war if they regained power in '06. put up quite a struggle.

Anonymous said...

This election was ripe for an independent candidate.
Better than in '92 with Ross Perot, and what happened.
Ron Paul crashed and burned while the media fanned the flames!!

Oh, I'm another female -- just like Fenway!

Anonymous said...

Woody, you are talking out of the side of your mouth. Tell me, when you consider having a medical procedure, do you say, "gosh, it is 90% successful, when do we do it?" Or, do you say, "I don't want to risk being in the 10%, no thanks." Or, if I offered you a drive home and all went well but you found out later that I was drunk, how would you feel about me? That is how I feel about John McCain's choice for VP. I find the 10% failure rate unacceptable. And, I feel a sense of betrayal that he risks my future with it. Say what you will about all his good qualities, he will not be forgiven by me.

chema, you are off the charts. It is right out of the Rush Limbaugh playbook. Programs of Democrats breeds welfare momas just dying to pull the left lever. I suppose corporate entitlement doesn't exist. Air quality counts for nothing. Replacing qualified unaligned career personal with party hacks and doing a 2 step on "The War on Terror" are evils of Democrats.

Fenway and bridman hit the target. I dislike the Democrats only slightly less than Sarah Palin. Joe Lieberman's hand is not reaching across the aisle. jb, did you just read the Cliff Notes in school, or the synopses of them. That ad is an embarrassment. What did Michael Corleone say, "you insult my intelligence." Thank you Swiftboaters, wherever you are.

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