Kasz216 said:
Yet you totally ignored my very valid points in this thread to argue with someone else over something pointless. If you vote on the issues why do you ignore them? If you really followed the issues and listened to what each candidate has said about their own plans you'd see how things were. McCain is nowhere near a second Bush and both candidates are shockingly similar outside of a few issues. Most of the ones i listed. Both candidates have strong points and weak points. |
I don't really have a problem with letting reasoned points stand unless the position of reason is so far biased it cannot be considered a valid and reasonable opinion. That said, there are some things I disagree on with you, and some I agree on, but my priorities are on other issues which I will detail at the end.
Tax breaks. Here are the numbers I've seen regarding tax breaks. So, I still have to go with Obama on these.
| MCCAIN | OBAMA | |
|---|---|---|
| Income | Avg. tax bill | Avg. tax bill |
| Over $2.9M | -$269,364 | +$701,885 |
| $603K and up | -$45,361 | +$115,974 |
| $227K-$603K | -$7,871 | +$12 |
| $161K-$227K | -$4,380 | -$2,789 |
| $112K-$161K | -$2,614 | -$2,204 |
| $66K-$112K | -$1,009 | -$1,290 |
| $38K-$66K | -$319 | -$1,042 |
| $19K-$38K | -$113 | -$892 |
| Under $19K | -$19 | -$567 |
Economics
Yes, John McCain vows to stop needless spending. Just like every other republican that comes into office and then starts spending needlessly. Bush Senior? No new taxes! What did he do? New taxes. George Bush has gotten some controversial tax cuts through, which seemed to be the centerpiece of his failed economic plan for both terms. I do believe in conservative fiscal spending, but we have a LOT of programs that need to be shored up before we can get back to more responsible spending. And as I've said over and over again in this thread, it's hard for any president to have a major impact on our economy (outside of pouring all our resources into a foreign war).
The enviroment.
Ok. Yes. Obama supports corn based ethanol, which I oppose. However, John McCain offers stronger support for offshore and anwr drilling than Obama, as well as more exploration for natural gas and nuclear power... one of which is a crapshoot like offshore drilling, and the other which I have a neutral position on.
Here's one for you. John McCain mocks Obama for telling us to properly inflate our tires and keep our vehicles tuned (wait a minute... isn't it the Republican party's job to tell us to pick ourselves up and handle issues ourselves? Irony), and then he comes out with this unbelievably lame offer of 300mil for the development of a battery technology that would cost easily twice as much to develop? It simply proves that McCain and his advisor's don't know what they're talking about at all in this area.
McCain also supports the gas tax holiday. This is as dumb as Obama's support of corn based ethanol (provided he doesn't eventually switch his support of alcohol based fuels to a crop that can share rotation with corn or at least not compete with food crops).
Obama supports a ten year plan with the creation of millions of jobs for the development, support, and maintenance of solar panels and wind turbines for our respective wind corridors and sun belts. I take this plan over hopeful 'exploration for additional natural gas and oil' any day. Sure, additional natural gas and oil would be great, but we shouldn't be basing our independence on foreign energy on the hope of finding more domestic fossil fuels.
Both seem to support a growing fleet of hybrid and electric vehicles in the US, although at this point it is difficult to figure out who supports a better plan in growing that fleet.
War in Iraq.
I support a pullout in Iraq regardless of victory. We shouldn't have been there in the first place, and it's our fucking fault that it's as messed up as it is now. Obama supporting a pullout in Iraq regardless of victory is a ++++++ to me.
Foreign policy
John McCain wants to throw Russia out of the G8 summit. He supports baseless rhetoric against Russia and Iran that only serves to escalate tensions, rather than the tough kind of diplomacy that Obama has said he favors from Kennedy and Reagan. John McCain, to me, in all his attitude, actions, and words, represents a warmonger. Not a peaceful person. This is why I support Obama for foreign policy.
Abortion
McCain is Pro Life, while Barak Obama is "Semi-choice" believes in abortion but still believes abortion rights should be curtailed a bit. <--- yeah. This is another reason for me to not vote for McCain, because he is now 100% anti-choice. Even more than that, he is now 100% pro-life on the eve of this election year, and I see it solely as pandering to values voters on the religious right.
To me, this means Obama is better for the middle class, and has a much better alternative energy plan.
Additional Issues:
1.) John McCain abandoned his first wife, mother of his children, and cheated on her while they were married. I rarely let such values affect me, but infidelity and disloyalty like that do piss me off. And before you go pointing to me being pro-choice, I do not believe a clump of cells constitutes a life. Completely different issue of values.
2.) Separation of Church and State - the religious right continues to demand intrusion of their values into our government, whether it be anti-abortion laws or the teaching of creationism. Politicians that capitulate to the religious right chip away at the foundation of our government. Even though I consider Obama to be more deeply religious than McCain, Obama has stated repeatedly that he believes firmly in this separation and will protect it.
3.) The War. My biggest issue, and 70% of my reason for voting for Obama. There is no possibility of a long term victory that will 'stick' in that region. Pull out ASAP.
4.) McCain's old. This is a serious issue, I'm not being facetious. Being president is stressful, especially in this day and age, and we've already seen McCain have quite a few senior moments during his townhall meetings or talking to the press. When he confused the shi'ites and sunnis? I mean holy shit, did that not scare you, especially since he's campaigning on the strength of his foreign policy? I was horrified when I saw that.
5.) He's computer illiterate. We live in a digital age. More and more of our economy is dependent on the internet. I make my living from working with the Web. It is clear to me that John McCain is completely out of touch with the digital world, and considering I make my living here, it concerns me.
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