Sansui said:
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.
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).
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.
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.
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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Tax Breaks
Where did you see those numbers? I'm looking at the numbers directly from their sources. As for John McCain look at his legislature he actually has the legislation to back that up.
Suggesting a 3/5ths majority needed for tax raises is a bit more extreme then false promises.
Enviroment
How is the gas tax... a generally useless propositon as dumb as something the UN says is killing people? (The global food crisis is a bigger problem then the Iraq war.)
Both plan to create Green jobs.. the difference so far is that McCains has a chance of working. He has a short term plan to get tehre.
Solar Panels and Wind turbines are a real crap shoot the technology isn't remotely there to work. It will take at least 10 years before those are actually workable. Obama has nothing outside of coal to hold us off until we get there.
War in Iraq
He doesn't support a pull-out regardless of vicotry. Go over his position again. He's stated numerous times that if things got worse after the pullout he would put troops back it.
Both have the same Iraq policy despite McCain trying to spin it. That policy "Stay until Iraq is stable." The only difference is that Obama thinks they can handle it now and is willing to risk it rather then a safer, slower withrrawl.
Foriegn Policy
Removing russia from G8 is about the only leverage the West has. Nuclear proliferation can happen without Russia in the G8.
Abortion
Yeah that's my worry. If abortion goes it will take a long time to get it back. However the Democrats should have a major senate majority so i don't see anything going in that direction. Hence why it was on my "Negatives" issue. To me both candidates have unacceptable positions.
Now for your aditional issues.
1) That's fine. Though I will say Bill Clinton's disloyalty didn't make him a bad president.
2) Big problem with this one. Obama plans to greatly expand the Bush faith based funding initative. Something that combines church in state... and has been a giant waste of tax payer dollars.
His practive doesn't meet his preaching here. Obama has been the one bending over backwords to court the religious right. This issue you have with McCain should be a problem you have against Obama. Not McCain. McCain may be more diplomatic, but he still thinks the RR are the same wackos he thought they were 8 years ago.
3) Once agin, go over Obama's plans. He won't leave until the job is done either. He's just positioning it so it looks like he supports a full pull out. He even plans to have perment troops there but give them a different name to hide the fact that there will be trops in iraq.
He laid it all out during the MSNBC primary debate.
Regardless there will be a timetable for withdrawl in place before the next president is sworn in.
4) It didn't scare me no... he replaced one word with another. I do it all the time myself. The only thing that worries me about his age is that he could die, and he might hack a dick as a vice president like Mitt Romney.
5) He doesn't know how to use a computer. That doesn't mean he doesn't know computer economics. Actually you should like his plan for the internet.
He wants a permanent ban on internet taxes.
