In defense of the republicans:

[vicarz]

I'm not going to defend Palin; however, I am going to point out that the lead member in the executive ticket is McCain and he doesn't suck. He is old, but he's fully functional and should be for years. He has tons of bipartisan experience, much of it respected for decades. He has flaws, but so do the other players.

You know what? His military experience DOES COUNT. Seriously. I just spent time with someone I hadn't really seen in ten years, and found they were different but their core as a person was pretty much the same. Why wouldn't McCain be the same? He was a prisoner of war - and by all accounts was not only dignified but far more resistant than many of his peers. He provoked the guards and got so abused...he only signed his fake confession when his captors re-broke his arm and left him in a pool of his own blood and fluids. They say after that "loss," he got even more provocative with his jailors - as though he was serving a personal penance. That was over 30 years ago, but it shows a strength of spirit and character that is unlikely to go away. Now, as a pilot perhaps his perspective on that war was, and remains, skewed compared to those who saw the issues on the ground - but I do believe that that type of behavior in his "youth" tells volumes about his core as a person (thank you long interview on NPR). This same type of analysis is why I respect Kerry, same war but on the ground (I don't buy that republican attack on his character or service) and why Bush is a fucking douche, who used the pseudo military experience and bolted from it to campaign as that was more important.

Why say this, rise to the "defense" of McCain. Palin is a twit and shames the entire platform, but I think the focus has moved too far away from Obama (oh, and for the love of cheese don't forget the other hundreds of races in November other than the superman allegory prez). I fall into the trap, as many do, of wanting to trash the entire republican party for Palin. That's lazy and too easy to do. When we descend into name calling and pointing out the weakest link's flaws as a standard debate tactic, we degrade the entire process and waste our abilities to engage in spirited debate on relevant issues. Our debates should be about broad patterns of behavior of multiple leaders, individual voting records, character shown over years of consistent (or in-) behavior, and most of all - policy arguments as supported by data and analysis.

Unless we're watching the daily show because that was just fucking hilarious.

Comments

[calibraxis-x.livejournal.com]

I have a lot of mixed feelings about McCain. In fact, when he first ran against Bush, I donated money to his campaign. But I have really come to be disturbed by the foreign policy of, really, the US in general since the end of WWII...I just don't see McCain changing our course at all in that regard. Now, Obama is certainly not going to alter fundamentals of post-WWII US foreign policy, but at least he will tweak it in a more sensible direction.

The other issue is domestic policy---this health-care situation is getting out of control. There aren't a lot of perfect solutions being proposed out there, but at this point, the only ones proposing anything at all are the Dems. If Republicans are in control, absolutely nothing will happen with health-care.

I don't care if they do institute socialized medicine, just something has got to give---there are too many people getting sick who can't afford to get care (and who then stiff hospitals for their bills--or just suffer miserable illnesses and early deaths), and too many repetitively/chronically sick people (my Grandfather and Grandmother included--who are soaking up hundreds of thousands of dollars of medical care, preserving their lives into their 90's by extraordinary means...) who are just sink-holes for infinite extreme care with astronomical costs. That's just an untenable situation!

At least if we let the Dems reform health-care, it will be in the direction of providing some coverage to a greater number of people...the Republicans seem to want to reform it by providing less...

that's a long way of saying that while personally I think McCain is a great man, and about the best Republican there is, his policy positions are the reason I cannot support him.

[vicar.livejournal.com]

Very well thought out and put, not that different than my own views. The nice thing in this election is that Obama has some good character and qualifications - the right wing might fear a smart man, a man who genuinely takes his beliefs and applies them to practice (remember Carter the actualy Christian that the right wing hated?). There are things to criticize about Obama, but I don't feel like I'm just picking a less-bad candidate with him.

I'm so happy not to just be seeking the lesser evil!