<p>I’ve always been kind of hot-and-cold about John McCain. An incident at a New Hampshire high school might make me a fan. At least he has a sense of humor:</p>
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<p>The quote is from The New York Times: <a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/05/us/politics/05mccain.html?ref=us[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/05/us/politics/05mccain.html?ref=us</a>.</p>
<p>I too love/hate McCain. I would have voted for him in 2000 and 2004. The problem I had was watching him kiss up with those whom did him dirty. I don’t want someone willing to do anything to get elected and for awhile, JMC seemed to be willing to kiss up to anyone for votes. All the respect built up over the previous runs went out the window. </p>
<p>Now in listening to him again, he’s starting to sound like the old mccain again. I don’t agree with everything he’s about, but I used to appreicate the consistency. We’ll see how it plays out.</p>
<p>How about the bi-sexual high school kid there who told McCain, “I came here to see a leader, and you aren’t one.” Ouch.</p>
<p>Yeah, some angry teenager definitely tooled a guy who was brave enough to survive years of torture by the commies in Vietnam. LOL </p>
<p>McCain has more guts than anyone who could ever respond to this thread, so don’t try to tool him. If you hate him you hate him, but you can’t argue that the guy is tough.</p>
<p>Opie–If you really mean this:
“I don’t want someone willing to do anything to get elected”…</p>
<p>then, I don’t think you’ll be able to vote for ANYONE who runs for President! :)</p>
<p>I don’t hate McCain. Pragmatically, he’s toast. There’s not a snowball’s chance in hell that his campaign can recover. I’d book a berth on the Titanic first, thinking that the odds are good that this time it would make it. </p>
<p>Beyond that, when you cut away his personal demeanor, his politics on most issues are a lot more conservative than most people think if you judge by voting records. He’s still pretty much a true believer about Iraq and that’s pretty much the end of the discussion for me.</p>
<p>He definitely stands no chance, but he deserves a lot more respect than he gets from the public. It seems like half of America would be willing to sacrifice one of their children to Obama when he is nothing but a fresh intelligent face who writes a lot of books and finds a way to side-step major issues.</p>
<p>However McCain a navy vet who was put through a ton of torture gets nothing but disrespect from Americans. We are truly becoming a society that does not value hard work and perserverance. This is the beginning of the end of American success.</p>
<p>I have nothing but respect for McCain’s service, above and beyond the call of duty, to my country. His sacrifice makes the accomplishments of most Americans pale.</p>
<p>Politically, I consider him to be a RINO and could not vote for him to be C-in-C, but I thank and salute him for his devotion and service to others. I feel he is sincere in his positions, smart, and a man who articulates his ideas with aplomb.</p>
<p>I agree with fencersmother - up to the point of not being able to vote for him for C-in-C. If nominated, he stands head and shoulders above any of the Dem candidates. There was only one Dem who potentially came close to McCain in terms of strength of character and who exhibits a potential for a Profiles in Courage award. That would be Joe Lieberman - and he got drummed out of the Democratic party.</p>
<p>I admire Senator McCain greatly his service and would have voted for him in 2000, but he is no longer a viable candidate and his position on immigration disqualifies him from ever receiving my vote. I also believe that he is sincere and articulate, but I will not vote for him.</p>
<p>Lieberman wasn’t drummed from the Democratic party. The s.o.b. lost a Democratic primary while at the same time collecting signatures to run as an independent in case he lost, which he did, thereby giving himself two shots at winning the seat, which he did only by dint of overwhelming Republican support in the general election, when they ditched the winner of their primary, holding him to less than 10 percent of the vote.</p>
<p>Of course, to win the general and sucker in the approximately 25 percent of his Democratic constituents who voted for him, he made soothing noises about Iraq and reverted to the sanctimonious hard-right Senator-for-Israel Bushevik upon re-election. </p>
<p>One of the more delights of November 2008 will be the Democrats securing enough additional seats to make Lieberman mostly irrelevant. Every passing day makes him less relevant as it is…he has more power by threatening to bolt than he does by actually bolting. And he can probably read the writing on the wall and figures that the rest of his career in the minority side of the Senate wouldn’t be that enjoyable. Lieberman started going downhill for me when he played footsie with Dick Cheney in the 2004 V.P. debate.</p>
<p>Otoh, with respect to McCain, there are some cards being palmed some here. I don’t know of anyone who doesn’t respect McCain’s service and sacrifice. And I know a lot of people who think he’s still basically a decent man. Where McCain has lost respect is politically: his campaign financing and immigration stances have killed him with many Republicans while his loyal support of Bush and the Busheviks on Iraq have earned him nothing but contempt for pandering from the Democrats and independents who might have at one time supported him. There’s a reason that he’s falling towards single digits in the polls but it has nothing to do with a lack of John McCain the man. </p>
<p>If I were political provost general for the country, I’d give McCain a safe-conduct pass, stamp his papers, and tell him to go home and enjoy his Arizona ranch. Whereas for Bush’s departure from the White House, I’d arrange for a long line of American citizens to kick his ass every step of the way from the gates of the White House to Crawford, Texas and I’d wonder at myself for being so lenient.</p>
<p>“If I were political provost general for the country, I’d give McCain a safe-conduct pass, stamp his papers, and tell him to go home and enjoy his Arizona ranch. Whereas for Bush’s departure from the White House, I’d arrange for a long line of American citizens to kick his ass every step of the way from the gates of the White House to Crawford, Texas and I’d wonder at myself for being so lenient.”</p>
<p>Can’t say I disagree here. Did you hear me screaming and howling over the Mexican trucks?</p>
<p>“his campaign financing and immigration stances have killed him with many Republicans while his loyal support of Bush and the Busheviks on Iraq have earned him nothing but contempt for pandering from the Democrats”</p>
<p>Only a truly blind partisan would accuse McCain’s Iraq position as pandering to the “Bushevicks”. It’s not that common for a panderer to call the Sec Defense the “worst Sec. Defense in history”. No, if you want pandering on Iraq, go look at the Democrat stable of spineless political hacks.</p>
<p>Being tortured doesn’t necessarily qualify you for being president. I have plenty of admiration for McCain’s Vietnam War experiences. I like him more than most Republicans, but it will be years before I’ll vote for a Republican. I wouldn’t vote for the dogcatcher at this point.</p>
<p>“then, I don’t think you’ll be able to vote for ANYONE who runs for President”</p>
<p>That’s a strong possibility. </p>
<p>I can’t look at any canidate and say they are “my guy or gal”. It going to be who comes closest to creating the policies I agree with and who will not mess with other aspects of America, even if they disagree with that apsect. </p>
<p>MCCain at one time seemed the least likely to come into office and make a whole bunch of reforms about individuals. He was a money guy, not a what you do in your bedroom guy. I want my government managing the money we “give” it to it’s maximum ability while staying out of my bedroom (choice issues). My president doesn’t need to be my moral conscience, but he does have to manage a budget. Current guy failing miserably at that.</p>
<p>gotta go.</p>
<p>mathmom i’m not saying it does. i was pointing to the post where </p>
<p>someone said
“oooh some sixteen year old said mccain isn’t a leader” burnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn</p>
<p>And here I was just impressed that McCain had the presence of mind and the chutzpah to call a teenager a “jerk” in front of the national press. Good for him.</p>
<p>financeguy “However McCain a navy vet who was put through a ton of torture gets nothing but disrespect from Americans. We are truly becoming a society that does not value hard work and perserverance. This is the beginning of the end of American success.”</p>
<p>Hmmm. I wonder how you felt about Kerry’s Vietnam service. </p>
<p>Anyway, I don’t see where McCain receives “nothing but disrespect from Americans.” He has been voted into offices for 24 years. I think a high school kid just said what he thought (by the way, McCain prompted the comment). Prior to his comment he had asked a very lucid (and important to him) question about where McCain stood on civil unions and gay marriage. </p>
<p>Maybe if more voters just said what they thought the candidates might have to start listening. Anyway, McCain took it well. He later described the exchange as “what America is supposed to be about.”</p>
<p>Kerry’s service is great, he was beat down by the American people because they realized he is nothing but a Democrat talking head, willing to say anything to get you to vote for him. </p>
<p>If there is one thing McCain isn’t, it’s a flip-flopper.</p>
<p>I think the 2002 and 2004 election campaigns have forfeited the moral rights of any Busheviks, Bush-enablers, and Republicans in general to complain about partisanship. Instead of uniting the country, our dipwad of a president chose to use 9/11 and a voodoo doll approach to terrorism to divide the country. What goes around comes around and if the verdict in the court of retribution has any justice, that whole sorry lot won’t come within figurative light years of political power for decades. Hard work but I think it’s doable. I’d rather argue with Mini for 30 years than to give the Republicans anything anywhere.</p>
<p>The GOP is imploding among women, younger voters, and Hispanics. I love it. It really is going to be the party of angry Christian white men and not much else. With any luck, they’ll self-destruct so profoundly that the two parties will effectively be the Moderate Democrats and the Progressive Democrats.</p>