<p>This article is from The New York Times:</p>
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<p>Just thought some of y’all might find it interesting.</p>
<p>Cheers!</p>
<p>I am beginning to think we Americans are getting too cynical and expecting too little from our politicians. Why should we settle for Clinton versus Giuliani?</p>
<p>A couple of weeks ago I answered an “Eyewitness News” telephone survey, in which I was asked, among other questions, my prediction for the Republican and the Democratic nominees. Well, I didn’t want to say what everyone has been saying, so I found myself telling the interviewer that the contest would be between Barack Obama and John McCain.</p>
<p>After I hung up I realized how good I would feel about having those choices. To me, Obama and McCain seem like the most honest, authentic candidates (I realize that my perceptions are filtered through the media, and my lens, like everyone else’s, is cloudy.) </p>
<p>I enjoyed David Brooks’ essay on John McCain, and I would direct CCers to this month’s issue of The Atlantic Monthly, for an eloquent article about Obama’s candidacy.</p>
<p>We Americans are electing the most powerful person in the world: let’s think hard and do it right!</p>
<p>Oh sorry about the long quote. I didn’t think it exceeded the limit.</p>
<p>Here is a link:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/13/opinion/13brooks.html?n=Top/Opinion/Editorials%20and%20Op-Ed/Op-Ed/Columnists/David%20Brooks[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/13/opinion/13brooks.html?n=Top/Opinion/Editorials%20and%20Op-Ed/Op-Ed/Columnists/David%20Brooks</a></p>
<p>Hope that works!</p>
<p>So…</p>
<p>Are there no other candidates with character??</p>
<p>Oh yes, Obama was mentioned!
I thought for sure this would spark a whole slew of comments by people wanting to vouch for their candidates.</p>
<p><chirp></chirp></p>
<p>BZ, I don’t think folks on the left or right are too thrilled with the choices.</p>
<p>Ron Paul would certainly qualify as a Candidate of Character. You’d be hard-pressed to find a man who has a more consistent and principled career in Washington than Dr. Paul.</p>
<p>[YouTube</a> - Ron Paul: A New Hope](<a href=“http://youtube.com/watch?v=FG2PUZoukfA]YouTube”>http://youtube.com/watch?v=FG2PUZoukfA)</p>
<p>LOL! We should be thankful McCain is running!</p>
<p>yongrel1: While I’m not convinced I could vote for Paul, I definitely agree with you - I think he has the most character of all the candidates, at least if we define character as being open, honest, straightforward and willing to vote conscience and not politic around.</p>
<p>I used to think that McCain had a lot more integrity than other politicians, and that the Straight Talk Express wasn’t just marketing BS. Then came the 2006 elections. I saw him on the Daily Show that October (Jon Stewart was a big McCain fan), and I can’t think of a PG-rated way to explain how McCain was debasing himself to make W look good. Knowing what W did to McCain in South Carolina in 2000, it was sickening to watch the better man get down on his knees for W. Afterwards, all I could say was, I guess this guy really, REALLY wants to be president.</p>
<p>I still admire him very much as a veteran and an American. But as a candidate? Same old, same old. He really had me going there for a while, too.</p>
<p>Interesting you say that Hanna, as I had the exact same experience. I was a big McCain supporter, proud of a great republican candidate, but it was an appearance on the Daily Show that made me feel he was willing to pander for votes. Turned me off on him as a candidate.</p>
<p>Well, I’ll have to see if that appearance is on youtube.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t count him out because of one talk show appearance tho’.</p>
<p>And at least he’ll appear w/ Jon Stewart - that can be a bit of a “hot seat”. Which of the other candidates have been on that show??</p>
<p>After the despicable tactics leading to his defeat in the South Carolina Republican primary in 2000, McCain eventually did everything but give Bush oral sex in exchange for his support and the presumptive heir-to-the-throne inside-track position for 2008. Character is not an issue that bodes well for McCain in my eyes…Rudy Giuliani is at least a more straight-forward hypocritical authoritarian thug and Mike Huckabee is probably a genuinely good guy who favors some appalling policies. (And Mitt Romney makes John Kerry look as steady as the Rock of Gibraltar.)</p>
<p>I want somebody competent (the Bush bar on that one is easy to clear) and who can ruthlessly drive the country forward while repairing the damage of the Bush so-called administration.</p>
<p>I don’t know, I think a candidate should care more about people than corporations, but that;s just me I guess</p>
<p>Paul is a liberation, well, sorta</p>
<p>I think, when it comes to making a good President, character is highly overrated.</p>
<p>McCain himself once referred to Ron Paul as “the most honest man in congress”</p>