A Good McCain Video, But Maybe Not Enough
By Greg L | 6 September 2008 | National Politics | 36 Comments
I am still deeply upset with the behavior of John McCain during his tenure in the Senate, especially the outrageous bill to provide amnesty for illegal aliens that he introduced, and his continued “hispandering”. I have little use for someone devoted to being a “maverick”, which to me seems like an excuse for abandoning conservative principles at shockingly inappropriate times, making him a rather difficult politician to reward with any degree of trust. The selection of Sarah Palin hardly resolves these longstanding concerns, and in some ways only serves to reinforce them.
The one issue where McCain has behaved well however is in his foreign policy positions. Had he been as principled and courageous in his stands on other issues as he has been regarding the war on terror, folks like me wouldn’t still be wondering whether voting for a third-party candidate, or simply not casting a vote for President is what we will do. Videos like these make a good case that if this is your biggest issue, you’re going to feel comfortable voting for McCain. Unfortunately, whether we win the war on terror overseas, we can still lose this nation right here at home by allowing our nation to be overrun by illegal aliens.
I wish it would have been possible for a video like this to have been made featuring an American who lost their job, their health, their identity, or a family member to an illegal alien. They could have explained to Obama why encouraging illegal aliens to unlawfully reside here is bad for America. But in order to have a video like that be possible, McCain would have to credibly be interested in protecting Americans here at home, and that’s pretty clearly not what he is interested in.
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OK Greg, vote principle…or don’t vote at all. Do you think your “sitting out” or voting for a “who’s he” third party candidate will help? I hope you’re prepared to live with and enjoy the end result. So sad.
A nonvote or a third-party vote will be just another vote for Obama. Then where will we be? And how much more liberal do you want the Supreme Court to become?
“Unfortunately, whether we win the war on terror overseas, we can still lose this nation right here at home by allowing our nation to be overrun by illegal aliens.”
AND/OR by adding to the fear and frustration that we should give up OUR freedom and rights in the process by handing it over voluntary.
No way Im voting for McCain… I just can’t do it with his plans for amnesty. I don’t plan on voting for Obama, so I’m looking 3rd party as well.
Who would be the 3rd party? I have some choices but let’s take a poll on who and why.
And what are the odds your third-party choice will win? Come on, you might as well just vote for Obama if you’re going to just throw your vote away. How many third-party candidates have won the Presidency? Aren’t there any other important issues at stake here?
Colonial83 ,
I guess you just blew that argument of voting for the lesser of 2 evils right out the winder, I mean window
Sad but TRUE!
GREAT commercial!
I watched Obama talking to Bill O’Reilly the other night … O’Reilly was on about whether it was a mistake not to vote for the surge … when Obama finally got a word in he said something that reflects what I believe … that even though the surge decreased violence, there is still a real issue which the surge did not address.
That problem is that the Iraqi people STILL won’t accept control of policing their own country. It’s the real issue here.
That is where Bush’s policies have abjectly failed. He went into this war on the cheap, thinking we’d be out in a year or so. 5 years down the line, and we have candidates for office saying 100 is not too long.
A more responsible leader would have forced the Iraqis to assume control of their destiny, OR not given them their oil and so much of what we’ve given WITH THE AMERICAN PEOPLE GETTING NOTHING in return. Nothing. They’re free to sell their oil to France. Bush is not exactly a master at strategery. At the time that he first started giving Iraq everything we could give them with no preconditions, weeks after the war ended, I was saying this, I was aghast that this war was undertaken for nothing and that we gave away so much - not just the oil rights, but even the idea of building permanent bases. To me, this was a lot dumber and more dramatic than the Panama Canal giveaway that people were upset about 30 years or so ago. We were fighting and dying there, and simultaneously making it a point to tell these spoiled fundamentalists that their hate-filled tribalistic way of life would be able to continue on as desired, and they would be well-funded with oil to continue to act as they have acted.
Bush sacrificed our troops’ lives for a nebulous and frequently changing rationale. At what point did doing good works for the superstitious, somewhat barbaric, spoiled-on-oil populace of Iraq become a good reason to risk Americans’ life and limbs?
This commercial is about semantic games, not what’s real. It’s real in that young man’s heart, probably. But I believe he’s been betrayed in the grand scheme of things. This war and occupation is and was about the need to keep China, India et. al from competing with us for oil.
This is no endorsement of Obama. I think his suggestion that we need to go sacrifice more blood in Afghanistan to fight over the rocks and mountains there, or to sacrifice our lives to get bin Laden’s half-dead body is cynical bulls***.
They’re all full of ****, they’re all liars, they’re all doing their darned best to bamboozle you and bamboozle me. If you don’t fall for one side’s baloney you are all too often falling for the other side’s. Some of us end up in neighborhoods full of flophouses, some young men and women end up in coffins or with limbs blown off because they believed the bulls***.
I’m voting on the issue of illegal immigration, myself. I’m not distracted by the rather false concept that there’s much difference between McCain and Obama on Iraq or on anything else.
Is it worth winning if we lose the direction of our party? A loss might be necessary to focus our party on what matters and that is securing our border and protecting our culture.
Ah, yes, securing the border. I believe McCain’s comment on that during his speech was … um … he didn’t actually even mention it I believe.
Rick,
America sounds like a co-dependent and just like Alanon,AA or NA,
it starts with admitting the problem.
I got hit by a pollster today on the phone. One of their three questions was, do you feel we have an obligation to the people of Iraq to stay until their nation is more secure. I said NO. No No No. I’m sure 80%+ of the respondents will say yes … we’ve almost all become preconditioned to say so … but the correct answer is
NO
We can’t police a nation where we don’t even speak the same language.
There’s nothing in it for us
It’s become completely absurd
I’m not saying pull out overnight ala Vietnam. I am saying set a freaking tiome table and stick to it and stop coddling there people even while they grow richer every day off our oil consumption. Remember that our interests are in fact very seperate from theirs.
THIS inquiring mind wants to know WHY you say this?
“we’ve almost all become preconditioned to say so … but the correct answer is
NO”
And at the risk of (further) alienating some of you rightward-leaning people here … I’ve got to say … if a Democrat such as Bill Clinton had entangled us in a 5-year military effort with so many casualties taken for such nebulous (phony?) reasons, and at this point justified its continuence because it was good for the people of Iraq, you would look at the coffins flying home and the amputee soldiers and you would want to
Cut his throat
Set him on fire
Possibly behead him
“I’m voting on the issue of illegal immigration, myself. I’m not distracted by the rather false concept that there’s much difference between McCain and Obama on Irag or on anything else.”
And what position on illegal immigration do these candidates hold?
The Republican Party Platform has vast improvements coming over 2004. The 2008 document opposes any immigration plan that would provide amnesty for illegal aliens. “The rule of law suffers if government policies encourage or reward illegal activity” it says.
The Conservative Agenda for America’s Future were distributed to RNC members before they began their deliberations. The Agenda is available at http://conservative.org/pressroom/2008/Platform_Final080826.pdf.
Red Dawn, because doing the same thing over and over hoping for a different result is the definitiopn of insanity.
If we don’t leave, we at least need to credibly threaten that we might. We are dealing with a culture of bargaining. They know we intend to stay, and therefore feel no urgency about growing balls and taking responsibility for their own destiny.
wanna bet, do I even have to say it out loud?
The GOP put up JUAN MCAMNESTY as a Presidential candidate. This guy fought tooth and nail to bamboozle the American people into Amnesty. This is not the year to try to convince anyone that the GOP collectively gives a flying freak about immigration.
Perhaps I’m wrong. Perhaps McCain will disseminate that Agenda on his Spanish web site. I’m sure he has a team translating it as we speak.
Does anyone have an English translation of the Spanish material McCain’s people post?
“They know we intend to stay, and therefore feel no urgency about growing balls and taking responsibility for their own destiny.”
SURE they do! I asked -you answered. America IS Co-Dependant.
Now, Rick, think of all of the jobs that have been created because of this war, the reorganized agencies and new bureaucracies that sprang up like mushrooms in the aftermath of 9/11. If we leave the Iraqis to actually run their own country, whatever will happen to the giant industrial war machine? The only jobs left will be the ones Americans don’t want to do
Emma,
Such as Homeland Security for starters ?
Focusing solely on the Presidency without taking Congress into consideration is tunnel vision.
Without a cooperative Congress, whomever is elected to the highest office in the land, we can expect another 4 years of the same “dysfunctional marriage” of the past 8 years, with no option for divorce.
It doesn’t really matter whether we vote for McCain or Obama or Mickey Mouse. Congress introduces bills, ties them up in committees, kills them on the floor or passes them on to the President to sign into law or be vetoed.
I’m not so certain it really matters that much who we vote for in the Presidential election. After all, its not OUR votes that put a President into office …. that is decided by the Electoral College. We already know there is no requirement that Delegates’ votes mirror the voting perference of American voters.
American voters however do have total and final say as to who will represent us in Congress - who will enact and slide through legislation for Presidential approval. Legislation that best represents the needs and will of their constituents.
I do not plan to vote for Obama or McCain. Writing in Rob Paul, imho, is not throwing away my vote, because I already know that my Presidential vote is only worth anything if it coincides with the votes of the delegates.
The past 8 years have been a disappointment to say the least. For this reason, I will focus my vote and support at the Congressional level and hope it will in some small way help our country break this dysfunctional cycle.
I also predict that historians will not be kind to Bush.
Here are a couple more McCain videos. Rather disturbing I think.
http://libertypost.org/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=236961
Neither of these jokers, Obama or McCain will address illegal immigration.
I think the country is in big trouble due to their denial.
“We can’t police a nation where we don’t even speak the same language.”.
What do you believe happened in Germany during the aftermath of World War II?
Saddam Hussein … let’s review -
1. Tried to build nuclear capability that was thwarted by an Israeli air raid.
2. Gassed (i.e. used weapons of mass destruction against) the Kurds in his own country.
3. Attacked Iran and ignited a war that left over a million people dead.
4. Invaded Kuwait.
5. Plotted the assasination of a former US president.
6. Provided compensation to the families of suicide bombers who killed innocent civilians in Israel.
And his sons were going to be the next leaders and they were worse than he was.
He had billions of dollars to spend from his oil.
He had to go.
Maybe the whole thing could have been handled differently or better but he had to go.
No?
junes-reston, I understand what you are saying, but I also fear for the future of the Supreme Court. I will at least pretend that my presidential vote counts for the sake of not having more liberal judges setting social policy for us.
“Had to”? Aren’t there other dictators in the world that “have to” go?
Even if he “had to” go - and even if we then had to hep rebuild and stabilize - I submit that the degree of hand-holding and (supposedly unwanted) support we provide is inappropriate, given that the people of Iraq say they don’t want us there and collude to kill us. Bush played this so badly it makes me want to cry.
And we went in there without a clear understanding of their culture. They are not us, they do not think like we do. We can barely find enough people who speak their language(s). The idea that they will become just another happy Western democracy is a joke. Look what happened when we left (abandoned) Afghanistan in the ’80s after interfering there just to stick it to the Soviets. The religious fanatics took over to try to destroy their own country. It is nearly impossible to maintain anything close to democracy in these tribal countries. Our experience should have taught us by now that we need to stay the hell away from them and protect our own interests.
Emma, Associate Justices are NOMINATED by the President and confirmed with the “advice and consent” of the Senate.
Those of us who have been around a while know that the President’s choices of nominees have challenged and discarded.
I will take my chances with Congress.
My worry about not voting for President is that there will be attempts to influence the vote, if not outright voter fraud, in this election cycle, given how close the race is at this point. So at least I can get my one legitimate vote in, even if the electoral college gets the final say. I already know my vote for Congress will count, but I can’t abdicate the presidential vote in any good conscience.
The popular vote is what the new president will base his “mandate” on, and I won’t be part of contributing to Obama’s perceived mandate.
Colonial83 said on 7 Sep 2008 at 10:48 am:
The popular vote is what the new president will base his “mandate” on ……..
The new president’s “mandate” will be based on his platform - or as much of his platform as he is serious about.
The popular vote will have nothing to do with it.
McCain needs to come forward and confirm his commitment to the GOP platform, and indicate his sense of urgency on the following parts of it.
By announcing his commitment to this issue and indicating its posistion on his “first things to do list”, he could solidify more support.
http://www.gopplatform2008.com/2008Platform.pdf
The rule of law means guaranteeing to law
enforcement the tools and coordination to deport
criminal aliens without delay — and correcting court
decisions that have made deportation so difficult.
It means
requiring cooperation among
federal, state and local law
enforcement and real consequences,
including the denial
of federal funds, for selfdescribed
sanctuary cities,
which stand in open defiance of the federal and state
statutes that expressly prohibit such sanctuary policies,
and which endanger the lives of U.S. citizens.
We oppose amnesty. The rule of law suffers if
government policies encourage or reward illegal
activity. The American people’s rejection of en masse
legalizations is especially appropriate given the federal
government’s past failures to enforce the law
Like many here, I at first stated I would not vote for McCain under any circumstances. I am now out door knocking for McCain and trying to educate people about Obama.
However, it is clear that one of the two is going to win.
I sincerely fear for the safety of our nation if Obama wins. His ties to terrorists, and his admiration of communists like Saul Alinsky is truly frightening. He clearly is not a student of history, because he fails to understand that the only way to ensure national security and peace is through strength, not capitulation and appeasement.
I still have many things to quibble with “President McCain” about, but intend to continue working at the state and local level on issues that are important to me — stemming illegal immigration, right to life, etc. Unless we secure majorities in both houses, those kitchen table issues are under assault.
We also can not afford to have the Demcrats continue to make appointments along the lines of Breyer and Ginsburg to the SCOTUS.
Virginia is a swing state this election, and every vote is going to count. We can no longer afford ourselves the luxury of “protest” votes. The contrast between McCain and Obama could not be more marked.
My husband is particularly concerned about our safety and security if Obama should win. Our foes will see weakness and vulnerability. He has worked as an advisor, teacher and mentor to foreign militaries including the Iraqi Army.
He lives and “gets” foreign policy and national security issues, even teaching other military professionals.
He is very worried that Obama will win because enough people want to write in a name or otherwise register their displeasure with many of McCain’s policies as a way of “punishing” the Republicans.
We really are being tested and are at a crossroads this election. Please see the “big” picture while continuing to advocate on the local level.
Every vote counts in Virginia this election. Please remember that, and what is at stake. From the bottom of my heart, I beg you to put your anger and frustration aside.
I’m not voting for the next president in November. I’m voting for the next 2-3 Supreme Court Justices.
USMC Wife….you said it all very, very well!! Couldn’t agree with you more and no need to say more.
USMC Wife -
Ditto what Freedom said.
Great post.