We decided that the American public wanted to stop genocide even if it didn't directly affect us, and did so. Without, if I recall correctly, losing one American life in combat.

I guarantee that interventions like that make the world respect the USA more, and therefore help our diplomatic efforts in things that DO affect us. And that's ignoring potential indirect effects of such conflicts on the world at large and therefore the US.

Anyway, by "smart" I meant "effective".

Agreed.

I thought Lehrer screwed up the format. Why ask stump speech questions and get the reg old mantra of I'll do x,y, and z? McCain is used to people asking him the questions unscripted with no one picking the questions beforehand in his town hall debates.

If what we wanted to stop was genocide, then our goals were wrong from the beginning. There was no genocide in Kosovo. There may have been a brutal civil war with atrocities committed by both sides, but it was not a genocide. I find it odd that the KLA was originally considered a terrorist group, or a group that committed terrorist attacks (as certain nations deemed them), but was later trained by the US. We chose to support a group that systematically killed ethnic Serbs and Roma. It is unfortunate that the US once again interjected itself into a civil war that it had no interest in.

I also think you overestimate how much the world respected us for that intervention. There were nations other than Russia and China opposed to our actions. I believe the Italians and Greeks were also staunchly opposed to it. It was not America the beneficent coming to save the day. No, it was America the meddlesome interjecting its will on those who did not seek it.

The debate definitely felt too rushed, they should have just had fewer questions and Brokaw should have been able to drill them for answers.

I decided to let you guys see some info on McCain's "American Homeowner Resurgence Plan." This is a forwarded email from my HQ but it is meant to help people understand McCain's proposal better:

From: Tucker Bounds
Sent: Tuesday, October 07, 2008 9:46 PM
Subject: (Mortgages) Homeownership Resurgence Plan
Importance: High



All: Here’s background on the new plan John McCain announced tonight to keep families in their homes, avoid foreclosures, save failing neighborhoods, stabilize the housing market and attack the roots of our financial crisis.



AMERICAN HOMEOWNERSHIP RESURGENCE PLAN



John McCain will direct his Treasury Secretary to implement an American Homeownership Resurgence Plan (McCain Resurgence Plan) to keep families in their homes, avoid foreclosures, save failing neighborhoods, stabilize the housing market and attack the roots of our financial crisis. America’s families are bearing a heavy burden from falling housing prices, mortgage delinquencies, foreclosures, and a weak economy. It is important that those families who have worked hard enough to finance homeownership not have that dream crushed under the weight of the wrong mortgage. The existing debts are too large compared to the value of housing. For those that cannot make payments, mortgages must be re-structured to put losses on the books and put homeowners in manageable mortgages. Lenders in these cases must recognize the loss that they’ve already suffered.



The McCain Resurgence Plan would purchase mortgages directly from homeowners and mortgage servicers, and replace them with manageable, fixed-rate mortgages that will keep families in their homes. By purchasing the existing, failing mortgages the McCain resurgence plan will eliminate uncertainty over defaults, support the value of mortgage-backed derivatives and alleviate risks that are freezing financial markets.



The McCain resurgence plan would be available to mortgage holders that:



· Live in the home (primary residence only)

· Can prove their creditworthiness at the time of the original loan (no falsifications and provided a down payment).



The new mortgage would be an FHA-guaranteed fixed-rate mortgage at terms manageable for the homeowner. The direct cost of this plan would be roughly $300 billion because the purchase of mortgages would relieve homeowners of “negative equity” in some homes. Funds provided by Congress in recent financial market stabilization bill can be used for this purpose; indeed by stabilizing mortgages it will likely be possible to avoid some purposes previously assumed needed in that bill.



The plan could be implemented quickly as a result of the authorities provided in the stabilization bill, the recent housing bill, and the U.S. government's conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It may be necessary for Congress to raise the overall borrowing limit.



Thoughts on this?

Seriously, the Republican candidate is proposing this? There are no words to describe my feelings for that proposal. Here is a response from Barr regarding the "Resurgence Plan."

Jackson: I was thinking the same thing. However, from what I gather if we do nothing the homeless population will make the Bay area look pathetic.

Here is another HQ chain in re 2 health care:

TO: Interested Parties

FROM: Doug Holtz-Eakin, McCain-Palin Senior Policy Adviser

RE: McCain Health Care Plan Analysis

DATE: October 8, 2008



Today, Roger Feldman and his team at HSI Network, LLC released an independent assessment of John McCain's Health Reform Proposal similar to the one done on the Obama Health Reform Plan. Both studies are available to the public at www.hsinetwork.com. Please find highlights below:



· Greater Reduction In The Uninsured: The McCain Plan would provide health insurance coverage to 27.5 million uninsured Americans, more than half of the 47 million uninsured. McCain's plan covers TWO million more uninsured Americans than the Obama plan.



· Lower Health Insurance Costs For Americans: The analysis found that Americans in every major income bracket will have, on average, "a reduction in their health insurance costs resulting from the tax credit proposal." In contrast, a corresponding analysis found that Barack Obama's plan would force people to pay more for their health care by increasing mandates on existing insurance. While the McCain plan would lower costs, the Obama plan would increase make health care costs go up even more.



· Lower And Middle-Class Americans See The Greatest Benefit: In terms of income, the most dramatic increase in the percentage of Americans with health insurance would be for those with income below the 50th percentile of wage income. More than 25 million additional workers in this income range, more than a three-fold increase, would now receive health care under the McCain plan.



· Dramatic Increase In Coverage For Vulnerable Americans: According to the report, the combination of the new tax credit for health care and the Guaranteed Access Plan (GAP) would help vulnerable populations (defined as those below the 25th percentile of wage income and having a chronic illness) see a five-fold increase in health insurance coverage.



· Preserving And Improving Private Health Insurance: The analysis found that John McCain's plan will "preserve the private health insurance system." McCain's plan will also change the current incentives in the health care system that "lock people into jobs that provide health insurance" and "provide the greatest rewards for wealthy taxpayers." Millions of American families with employer sponsored coverage in all tax brackets with the same coverage as a "Members of Congress" will now come out ahead with additional funds going into a portable health savings account. Importantly, younger and healthier employees with the McCain health care tax credit will have a bigger incentive to stay with the employers. For example, a 25-year-old employee in the 25 percent tax bracket with a $2,500 tax credit could either purchase a policy in the individual market for the same amount or stay with his employer plan and receive a $5,000 policy with an additional $1,250 to invest in a portable health savings account. Why would people choose worse insurance and less money? In contrast, Barack Obama's plan will shift tens of millions of Americans into a new government-run national public plan, increases taxes on businesses and drive down wages for workers, and exacerbate the current flaws in the system rather than improve them.



The HIGHLIGHTS about the Obama Health Care Plan:



· Barack Obama's Plan Covers Less Americans Than McCain Plan: Despite the enormous price tag and burdensome mandates, the Obama plan will cover 2 million less uninsured Americans than the McCain plan which allows American families – not government bureaucrats or insurance companies – to choose coverage that best meets their unique needs.



· Barack Obama's Plan Continues The Push Toward Government-Run Healthcare: The Obama plan will create a brand new government-run health plan at the cost of $243 billion a year – a financial burden of more than $3,000 a year on American families.



· Barack Obama's Plan Will Increase Premiums For Millions of Americans: The Obama plan will move more than 82 million Americans into plans that would cost more than they currently have as "[h]igh option PPOs as well as the national public plan would become dominant health plan offerings." So premiums will increase.



· Barack Obama's Plan Will Harm Employer Coverage: The Obama plan includes a $179 billion a year employer mandate. The mandate requires employers to either provide "meaningful" coverage or pay a tax towards the government plan.[1] Faced with tough economic conditions and rising health costs this creates a clear incentive for employers to drop coverage and move families into the new government plan. A Lewin Group study which examined a similar employer mandate combined with a national plan, like the Obama plan, concluded that almost 52 million individuals would lose their private employer coverage.[2] To maintain their competitive edge, others employers will follow - spelling the demise of the employer coverage system.



· Barack Obama's Plan Will Damage Private Coverage: The government-run plan will have a clear advantage over private insurance since it will be subsidized by American taxpayers. A recent analysis of both plans by the nonpartisan CATO Institute concluded that the Obama government-run plan will be able to "keep its premiums artificially low…since it can turn to the U.S. Treasury to cover any shortfalls" resulting in "undercutting the private market."[3] According to Wall Street Journal, the goal of the Obama plan "…like HillaryCare in the 1990s, is to displace current private coverage and switch people to the default government option."[4]



###

Apparently someone disagrees with you:

Aside from whether any of the allegations about McCain's and Obama's plans are actually true, THEY ACTUALLY CONTRADICT ONE ANOTHER.  Therefore I will not even bother to dignify this with factchecking until the McCain campaign can actually keep its story straight.