John McCain for President

[JerseyBoy]

I watched a show on C-SPAN this evening that was featuring John McCain and (like everyone else) was shocked at how much he had aged over the years. Poor guy looked like someone stuck him out in that Arizona sun for too many years.

[kayman]

"John McCain has repeatedly defended Bush's handling of the War on Terror, which leads me to believe he would have done more or less the same thing."

McCain has repeatedly spoke of what GW Bush did wrong with the Iraq war. What he and others don't want to see is Iraq turn into a blood bath.

[Charlotteman]

I watched a show on C-SPAN this evening that was featuring John McCain and (like everyone else) was shocked at how much he had aged over the years. Poor guy looked like someone stuck him out in that Arizona sun for too many years.

[JerseyBoy]

I guess politics does that to you. I saw something recently on the internet that compared photos of Bush from 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, and 2007 and how he has aged tremendously. Though ironically McCain's wife doesn't look a day over 30.

[Charlotteman]

The McCain campaign lost three more key players today. McCain claims that if the campaign indeed goes broke, that he won't continue it by dipping into his own savings.

Looks like he's seeing the writing on the wall.

[monsoon]

I guess politics does that to you. I saw something recently on the internet that compared photos of Bush from 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, and 2007 and how he has aged tremendously. Though ironically McCain's wife doesn't look a day over 30.

[Captain Worley]

I guess politics does that to you. I saw something recently on the internet that compared photos of Bush from 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, and 2007 and how he has aged tremendously.

[Charlotteman]

Wow--starting at Hilton Head a week or so ago, John McCain is claiming to be a Baptist! And this from a man who was an iconic nemesis of Jerry Falwell.

[Charlotteman]

CROW EATING ALERT:

When I'm wrong, man am I wrong!

McCain has won the New Hampshire and S.C. primaries. Now he is being declared the winner of Florida's primary. This must be the biggest turn around in recent American political history. From dead in the water to front runner in the relative blink of an eye.

Okay I guess I have no choice. When one of my UP friends serves up the black fowl, I guess I'll reach for the ketchup bottle. Time to eat crow.

[erdogs]

I can't tell you how excited I

[Gusterfell]

McCain is a fiscal conservative, but without the religious ideology. This is a man who can work with both sides of the aisle.

[erdogs]

Not to be contentious, but I don't see how a candidate who supports expanding the war in Iraq into "hundred-year" occupation, has hinted at additional wars, and wants to renew Bush's tax cuts can be called fiscally conservative.

[atlrvr]

I too have to eat Crow....I never thought he'd recover. I just don't trust McCain...never have...something about him just seems "off", just like Hillary.....that said, between McCain and Romney, I'll take McCain all week long, though I still would likely vote for Bloomberg were he to enter the race.

Why is it every 4 years I'm so let down. I know its a rhetorical question, but are these really the best candidates the country has to offer?

I was guininely excited about the prospects of Guiliani or Richardson.....I just have a hard time believing the country is composed mostly of non-moderates...

[Gusterfell]

McCain will use the power of veto, unlike Bush. With McCain there will be a new sheriff in town who can't be bought.

[Raintree21]

Giulani has announced his endorsement for McCain.

[monsoon]

So McCain has said our jobs are not coming back, the illegals are here to stay, and we are going to have more war. What a choice in that one. Even Tricky Dicky wasn't that bad.

[Raintree21]

Arnold Schwarzenegger will announce his endorsement of McCain tomorrow afternoon in a joint news conference after they tour a solar energy company. I guess the good thing is that perhaps that means McCain is embracing alternative power production.

[Justadude]

So many people attack Hillary for telling audiences what she thinks they want to hear, but doesn't McCain do exactly the same thing? He is a right-win hawk in front of conservative audiences, and a moderate in front of mixed audiences. He opposes torture, yet supports what Bush is doing in Guantanamo. He voted against Bush's tax cuts, now he wants to make them permanent. He has flip-flopped more in this campaign season than many politicians do in a career.

[Gusterfell]

^Look at his record of action as a Senator. Sure, he has the admirable ability to work with the other side of the aisle, but he has the second most conservative voting record in the Senate. IMO he is a steadfast neocon trying to pass as a moderate, not the other way around.

[Justadude]

I disagree with characterizing McCain as a neocon. The McCain-Feingold Act flew in the face of the Republican big-money political machine and made him a LOT of enemies in the corporate world. Similarly, his actions against Big Tobacco were very heavily criticized by his own party, and he was almost alone among Republicans to vote against Bush's tax cuts back in '01 and '03. He heavily criticized Rumsfeld's handling of the Iraq war before it was popular to do so, and attacked Bush for failing to correct the flawed strategy. And of course he has flown in the face of the Republican establishment on immigration reform, torture, and gun control.

Generally speaking, I agree that he's appeared more conservative in the past few years... but that's a reflection of his growing seriousness as a presidential candidate. He still has a long track record of independent thought and has never been part of the neocon inner circles that have operated the Republican Party for the past 30 years.

[erdogs]

McCain has always had a conservative voting record; it's his Republican enemies who have tried to paint him a liberal. What they really don't like about him is he does not always follow the party line. He has shown time and time again that he will stray from the party when he has a differing view. He has shown time and time again that he can work with Democrats when he has to. McCain is not a Neo-con. If he would have been president instead of Bush, I'm confident we never would have gone to war in the first place. This is a man who knows what war is about more than most. Just because he doesn't think it's wise to pull out of Iraq now doesn't change that. If Bush had listened to him earlier about troop levels, we wouldn't have had the major insurgency problems. Iraq is still salvageable and I believe McCain is the right person to do it.

[Gusterfell]

I disagree with characterizing McCain as a neocon. The McCain-Feingold Act flew in the face of the Republican big-money political machine and made him a LOT of enemies in the corporate world. Similarly, his actions against Big Tobacco were very heavily criticized by his own party, and he was almost alone among Republicans to vote against Bush's tax cuts back in '01 and '03. He heavily criticized Rumsfeld's handling of the Iraq war before it was popular to do so, and attacked Bush for failing to correct the flawed strategy. And of course he has flown in the face of the Republican establishment on immigration reform, torture, and gun control.

[Justadude]

McCain's biggest "mistake" regarding the war was his refusal to politicize our military strategy. He said what needed to be said -- that more, not fewer, troops were necessary to stabilize both Iraq and Afghanistan, and that a quick exit is neither likely nor strategically desirable. It's a very unpopular point of view, but from a military perspective it is the correct one. He was one of the primary proponents of the "surge", which has been one of the few effective elements of our strategy since arriving in Iraq. Had Rumsfeld agreed to a similar surge in Afghanistan when McCain recommended it several years ago, we might have had considerably more success there as well.

Compare all of this to Bush and his cronies, who have consistently demonstrated a lack of strategic competence. Their primary goal was to grandstand for the world and show off the power of our military, while keeping voters happy by using low troop and funding levels. That kind of incompetence is what you get when you put a draft-dodger in the Oval Office.

[Gusterfell]

He said what needed to be said -- that more, not fewer, troops were necessary to stabilize both Iraq and Afghanistan, and that a quick exit is neither likely nor strategically desirable. It's a very unpopular point of view, but from a military perspective it is the correct one.

[monsoon]

... and that a quick exit is neither likely nor strategically desirable. It's a very unpopular point of view, but from a military perspective it is the correct one. ....