A Few Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Vote

Election day is just about 24 hours away. Have you made your choice for president yet? No? Well, Allow me to help. I won’t give you any information, what I’m gonna do is ask you to answer a few questions about what you think is important. I’ll keep the questions as broad as possible, and explain the reasoning behind asking them in a few spots.

If you’ve made your choice, just tag along and see what happens!

1 ) How do you feel about the candidates foreign policy stances? I ask this because John McCain will be more or less a mirror image of our current president in regard to national security, while Barack Obama seeks a more diplomatic tone in dealing with the world. If you think this is THE main issue of this election, and you feel a strong national security stance is more important than diplomacy, then John McCain is your man. If you think America has been doing it wrong of late and want a more civil tone to our world discussions, Then Barack Obama is your candidate on this Issue.

2 ) When should we leave Iraq? 16 Months? When were done? When the Iraqis tell us to?

3 ) How do you feel about both candidates reactions to the economic meltdown?

4 ) Is prior experience, or lack thereof, a reason to not vote for a candidate?

5 ) Is the Second Amendment Important to you? Do you think any candidate will try to take your guns away from you? Has any other President tried to? And if So, were they successful? Those last two questions here in part 4 were just something to chew on while you answer the second one.

6 ) How much Power should the President have? Could you picture any of these candidates lessening the power of the Presidency? And whom do you trust with the immense power over the people and the world at large? Anyone? If so why, and if not why not?

7 ) Should Social Security be Privatized? Kept as it is? What about other entitlement programs? Are entitlement programs a solution to problems or a cause? Why?

8 ) How much have you thought about the House races in your state? How about Senate races, if you have any? Your vote there will swing the election and all the legislation that will pass through both houses of congress for at least the next two years! Do you know your candidates? If Not, Brush Up!

9 ) How important are the Vice Presidential candidates here anyway? In all likelihood the next President will live out his term, barring a calamity, so knowing that, how important are the #2’s here, really?

10 ) Has either sides campaigning left you wondering why they did what they did? Did the rhetoric of the campaign make more of an impression on you than the issues? Did you let that have an impact on you? If not why not, and if so why?

I personally think it is more important to get a grasp on policy issues and stances than rhetoric and campaign posturing, but that’s just me….Which means i let about 90% of it, from all sides, go in one ear and out the other. I had my bullshit detector turned up to maximum sensitivity all election cycle, and I am hoping that you did as well.

I could ask 100 other question, or have asked these questions in 100 other ways. I wanted to, with these questions, get away from the campaign rhetoric and get back to the meat of the issues, so that when you walk into that voting booth on election day, you are doing so not with thoughts of how much money was spent on clothes or who called who a socialist or any other nonsense like that.

A few more quick things. Get plenty of rest today. The lines tomorrow may be long at your polling place, and you’ll want to be well rested for what may be an hours long wait on line. For those who are interested, I will be on twitter for most of the day tomorrow, I am guessing from about noon, after I vote. Click the top of the page on twitter where it says “Hot Political Topics” and Look for MikeTheRhino. And click here to take a political quiz.

I’ll Talk to you Tomorrow.

Uncle Mkey

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This is a rather lengthy continuation of yesterday’s analysis of the last friday’s debate, this post focusing on questions 4 through 6 of Friday’s debate.

Question Four: Much has been said of the lessons of Vietnam. What are the Lessons Of Iraq?

John McCain speaks first. He says the lessons are very clear. Those lessons are that you cannot have a failed strategy that very nearly causes you to lose a conflict. He spoke of early success followed by things being “badly mishandled”. He said in 2003 he went to Iraq, saw the issues and said something has to be done, we need more troops, and he fought to get them, and finally he got them and a great general, and that led to success. He called Iraq a stable ally. he spoke of the consequences of defeat

Barack Obama then spoke. He spoke of opposing the war when it was politically risky to do so. He said that it was bad because Osama Bin Laden was still out there and Afghanistan wasn’t done, Al-Qaeda hadn’t been put to rest, and that Iraq would be a distraction in the war on terror. He said we took our eye off of the ball, that we’ve spent over $600,000,000,000 and that number was well on the way to being one trillion dollars, and the cost both in money and men was too high, and has given Al-Qaeda strength.

It was here that John McCain made perhaps his strongest point of the night, making the case that the past is gone and that the next President will have to: decide when we leave how we leave and what we leave behind

A clear and simple statement of objective, well worded, well spoken.

There was a fair bit of back and forth after that point. McCain making the point that Obama said the surge wouldn’t work and then had succeeded beyond all expectations. McCain making the point that Barack has never had a meeting on Afghanistan. Barack Countering with that is done as “committee of the whole” and isn’t handled by his subcommittee, something McCain well knew. Barack then tossing out there the simple fact that John McCain acts like the war started in 2007. Then Obama hit Sen. McCain with perhaps his strongest counter of the night. Calling McCain wrong about the Iraq war being easy, that He was wrong about Americans being greeted as liberators, and about there being no history of violence between Shi’ite and Sunni, questioning his basic, fundamental judgment on foreign affairs.

That may have been the strongest shot of the night.

There was talk of Sen. McCain talking to troops who had just re-upped for another tour asking him to “let them win”. There was a question of troop funding brought up by senator McCain that was a question of a bill with and without a timetable. Each one voting against it once. There was the charge that Obama refuses to acknowledge that we are winning in Iraq, a Charge that Sen. Obama vehemently denied. There was the charge that Sen McCain toss out that Admiral Mullen said that Barack Obama’s Iraq plan was dangerous, a charge he again denied, filling in the blanks on the admirals statement.

Question five: Do we need more troops In Afghanistan?

Barack Obama answers first. Yes, and he’s been saying it for awhile. The situation in Afghanistan is getting worse and Al-Qaeda is becoming emboldened and are on the offensive, attacking from within Pakistan. He quotes Secretary of Defense Gates, that Pakistan and Afghanistan is the central front in the war on terror. Continues with the point that Iraq is a strategic mistake in the war on terror. He has a three point plan for Afghanistan. Make sure that President Karzai is working for his people. Stop the Drug trade that is funneling money to Al-Qaeda. Deal with Pakistan.

John McCain counters with it was America that started the entire ball rolling here, by giving arms to the Afghans in the 70’s to defeat soviet Russia, and then walking away. All the terrorist problems we face, we face because of that mistake. Chided Barack for being naive about saying bombing Pakistan. Not about the actual bombing, but saying in public that he would. Mentioned that he had been to the nation several times, implying it gives him special knowledge of the situation.

At this point Barack made clear his point about Bombing Pakistan, saying that if Pakistan is unwilling or unable to help and there is knowledge that Bin Laden or one of his Top guys is there, you hit’em. That’s the right strategy. McCain does not counter this point. The truth can’t be countered here. Obama chided McCain for threatening North Korea with extinction and his signing of “Bomb Iran” to the Beach boys song “Barbara Ann”, which in turn led to McCain stating his long experience in foreign affairs, without actually saying anything about what Barack Obama had just said.

For all of his lengthy experience, this answer came off as inadequate, because it did not answer the main point, that McCain is a loose cannon, an accident waiting to happen. There was an exchange of “Bracelet for a dead soldier” stories, and that concluded question 5.

Question Six. What is your reading on the Threat Iran poses the United States?

McCain answers first. A nuclear Iran is a threat to Israel. He spoke of a second holocaust. He spoke of a “league of democracies”, mentioned the Russian are blocking significant actions in the U.N. Security counsel, and then again mentioned the league that would impose “painful” sanctions on Iran. Said the Iranians had a lousy government, and their economy was lousy as a result. (ahem) He is convinced that America, along with Germany, France and Great Britain, can “afect Iranian behavior”, and reiterated Iran was a serious threat. Also mentioned that Barack Obama thought it was “provocative” to declare the Iranian Republican Guard as a terrorist threat.

Sen. Obama started by saying he does think The Rep. Guard is a terrorists organization, but says what Sen. McCain talked about was a mandate inside Iraq, which would have inflamed tensions between the two nations. Mentioned that the one thing that has strengthened Iran was the loss of Iraq as an enemy. When we invaded Iraq, we made Iran stronger by taking away their mortal enemy. He spoke not tolerating a nuclear Iran, and using sanctions, but getting the cooperation of Iran’s allies, China and Russia to assist us in this. Mentioned that “this notion, by not talking to people, we are punishing them” hasn’t worked.

This was perhaps the sharpest exchange of the night on this question. It had two main points. One Sen. McCain saying that Sen. Obama is naive to think that meeting our enemies without preconditions is dangerous. Obama countering that without Preconditions does not mean without preparations. This went back and forth several times. Barack Pointed out that because of this administrations policy of not meeting without preconditions had made North Korea Immeasurably stronger. John Chided him and asked him incredulously if Ahmedinejad says we’ll wipe Israel off of the map, what’re you gonna do, just say No we aren’t? It was pretty funny.

Oddest moment of the night came here. For some as yet unexplained reason, John McCain blurts out that South Koreans are three inches taller than North Koreans, somehow attempting to link height with oppression. Truly weird. and….

There is one point of alleged profanity here, and you can barely make it out but it is audible. When Barack Obama chides McCain for not wanting to talk to the President of Spain, a NATO Ally, you can just make out McCain saying something that just might be “Horseshit” twice. But it could also be “Of Course not”. which brings a host of questions on it’s own. I’ll write about it and post the video in the “Philosophical Musings” section of this site, you be the judge.

Bad manners, Mister McCain, all’s fair in debates. You’d been tossing grenades at him all night, don’t whine when one comes your way. Shows a lack of respect for the venue and the event and the people you are speaking to, that being the American People.

That’s it for Part two of The Debate Analysis. Part three, the last one (I promise) tomorrow.

Uncle Mikey

It was a slug-fest ladies and gentlemen. It was a hard fought battle that, to this observer, came out as a tight Obama Victory. If you are a die hard fan of either man, though, you think your guy won. Each man made points that were both effective and intelligent. There were points were each man Brought the fight to his opponent and landed solid blows.

The one thing that really bothered me is that John McCain kept hammering away with the lies the Campaign has tried to tell, and Obama, for the First time had a chance to directly dispute him. The best part about this is that once Barack Obama pointed these flaws out to him, they stopped. The one that I remember most was the lie that McCain tried to pass off about Obama wanting to raise taxes on everyone who made over $42,000 dollars. Obama called him a liar to his face. John McCain didn’t respond.

John McCain was good as far as the economy was concerned, but not nearly as good as Barack Obama, but he was good. He was able to control the language of the debate, but Barack was still able to make a great many points. I thought both men lost points for not naming anything specific they would cut from their plans in response to the package to fix the economic crisis. Barack Obama was effectively able to lay blame for the current state of affairs at the feet of the President and John McCain. John McCain kept going back to earmarks, actually making a reference to Earmarks as being similar to a “Gateway drug” to greater spending and trying to pin the issue directly to Barack Obama by speaking of his earmarks. Barack made the point of saying that the $18 billion dollars in earmarks was effectively a drop in the bucket, and pointing out that Sen. McCain would, if he became President lower Corporate Taxes by $300 Billion dollars. McCain tried to counter with America’s high corporate tax rate, but Obama countered effectively with the point that Loopholes make the actual taxes paid by Corporations, effectively one of the lowest rates in the world.

All in all, Barack Obama was, as expected, far better on the economic front than John McCain.

As far as the Foreign Policy section of the talks went, I was surprised that both sides here were good, and that neither side showed a real weakness. Each point made was countered. McCain said ‘You were wrong about the surge, Senator” but Obama was able to counter it by saying that the war was in and of itself wrong. In general it was the same with Afghanistan and Russia.

Barack Obama may have lost points in the minds of some by agreeing with John McCain on a number of things. But I have to tell you that it would have seemed odd if he didn’t as well. In large part because these men do have some places where they do agree, from environmental policy as it relates to the cap and trade system, to the more obvious things, like the need to defeat the Taliban and kill Osama Bin Laden.

One or two very curious moments. McCain made a very odd observation about the North Koreans being three inches shorter than South Koreans. I thought that was a bit silly. The second was the moment where John McCain admitted that America had in fact tortured prisoners. He also said that Pakistan was a failed state prior to Musharraf came to power. I am sure the Pakistanis would disagree with that characterization. He also didn’t respond at all when it was brought to his attention that he said he would not even talk to Spain in a radio Interview. Spain is a NATO ally. Why no response here? It would be tough for him to admit that he doesn’t know who the leader of a NATO ally is.

Things that caught my eye. John McCain seemed Unwilling to look Barack Obama in the eye. Barack Obama didn’t have that Problem. John McCain has no respect for Barack Obama and his viewpoints, and kept calling him naive, and repeatedly said that Barack Obama doesn’t understand. Barack Obama almost always countered with a Link between George Bush and John McCain.

Perhaps the most terse exchanges came in regards to, oddly enough, Henry Kissinger and, more predictably meeting foreign leaders without preconditions. Barack Obama said that Henry Kissinger had said that he would meet with the Leaders of Iran without Preconditions. McCain disagreed, and said as much, but Barack stuck to his guns. The Preconditions thing was a fight. McCain continually acting bewildered that Barack would meet with leaders without preconditions, and Barack countered with the fact that without preconditions doesn’t mean “inviting them to tea”.

Like I said, from this seat, overall, it was an Obama victory. He could have hit a Home run here by agreeing less with Senator McCain, and being a bit more combative early on, but that really isn’t his style. McCain could have hit a home run and done much better had he not gone to old lines from his stump speeches so much, and trying early to get a laugh when there was nothing funny going on. I was especially distressed when he went to the Bear DNA joke line. That joke sucked the first time he tried to tell it, and it was worse now.

That’s my analysis, what do you think? Think Obama got his ass handed to him? Think it was a draw? Drop me a line and let me Know!

Uncle Mikey

I watched The Saddleback “Civil Forum on the Presidency” hosted by Pastor Rick Warren on Saturday, and I have to tell you, I was riveted. It was truly a well put together affair. There were no REALLY difficult questions, but there really weren’t any easy ones either.

I’m not going to go over every word Mister Obama said, and i’m not going to go in any particular order. I am going to give a quote or two and then an Impression of what I thought of the man and how i feel about his answers. His answers were Long and thoughtful, the antithesis of Senator McCain’s responses. Here are a few.

He was asked who were the three wisest people in his life. His Answer: He could not keep it just 3 people. He said on a personal level it would be his wife and grandmother, and drew a chuckle when he said his wife was the type to get in your face when he makes a mistake, to which Pastor Warren said, You too? Funny. He said he thought the best Foreign policy people he could rely on would be Sam Nunn and Dick Lugar, and also mentioned Tom Coburn and Ted Kennedy as others he thought fit that standard.

When he was asked what the greatest moral failure in his life was, he spoke of his experimenting with drugs and alcohol when he was a teenager.

He waffled on the Abortion question, when asked at what point does a baby get human rights, he said he could not answer with specificity, that it was “Beyond his pay scale” He did defend admirably I think his belief in Roe V. Wade, and said that he wanted to work to lower the amount of unwanted pregnancies in this country, a number which has not gone down despite a Pro-life President in the White House the last 8 years.

He handled the Tax/Wealth question with comparative ease. After joking with the Pastor about how rich he was, he said that any over $250,000, while not on easy street, you are in the top 3 or 4% and are doing well. He added that anyone who makes $150,000 or less will get a tax decrease, and anyone over $250,000 will get a modest tax increase.

He made points with the crowd during this segment by mentioning that it was irresponsible to have a war that costs $10,000,000,000 a month and have no way to pay for it.

He answered less questions than John McCain, because his answers were more in-depth than Sen. McCain’s answers were. But the answers he gave, in fact gave the impression that he cared a great deal about the plight of those he spoke about, whether it was the plight of orphans worldwide, or teachers not getting enough pay for their work.

I dislike the waffling on the Abortion Issue, but other then that I am fairly well pleased with the man’s performance tonight. He reached out to the crowd, which at times seemed unwilling to reach back to him, particularly on the abortion issue, but in the end, won them over with a flair for speaking to people, and speaking directly to their needs and making it known that he’ll work for them and with them.

A video of the event for your viewing pleasure:

Do you think Barack Obama has what it takes to be the next President of the United States of America? What do like most about him? What is least appealing to you about him? Drop me a line and let me Know!

Uncle Mikey

Former Democratic Candidate for President and Representative Dennis Kucinich has once again decided to offer up an article of Impeachment for President Bush, this time on the Terrace of the Cannon Building, and then later bringing said impeachment resolution to the house floor.

This would have been much better happening five years ago, or three or even two years ago. Now it’s a little too late to make a real difference.

Do I believe this President should have been Impeached? Well, yeah, but with only 6 months to go before he’s gone anyway, it’s just a bit silly to do it now. It is a distraction when the democrats can ill afford one. It’s a side show during what should be a one man show. The democrats should be talking about being behind Obama and not about Kucinich and his one man crusade to stop a man who is done.

I admit, the points he made on the floor of the house last Thursday were both varied and potent, and mostly from where I stand at least, true. All of it is well known. Mobile Facilities that the Bush administration claimed were chemical weapons factories were in fact nothing of the sort. Niger was not in the process of providing Saddam Hussein with Nuclear material. Iraq was not involved in 9/11. Al-Qaeda was no where in Iraq at the time.

Old News.

The Real issue here is timing. Most, if not all, of the things he speaks of here have been known for years. Why wait until now, when Bush is a Lame duck with only a few months to go before leaving office? Too Little too late here, Mister Kucinich.

It’s nuts what Bush did to get us into the war in Iraq, But it’s nuts to try to kick him out when you’ve tried before and failed, last month with a 35 piece article of Impeachment that hasn’t gone anywhere, and he’s almost out of office anyway. Yes, it is always right to hold the president accountable for his actions, but now? What do you do here beside political grandstanding? It’s nice that he at least tightened up his delivery a bit here, and it is a single article of impeachment, instead of the 35 article lungbuster from last month.

Six of one, half a dozen of the other, Mister Kucinich. Let the Dem’s concentrate on Getting Obama into the White House, The Current Occupant is leaving on his own soon enough. You can The President for the crimes you say He committed after he leaves office.

It’s silliness, Mister Kucinich! But for those who are Interested, here is a portion of the speech the man gave last thursday:

Any interesting stories you want looked at? Anything out there that you think should be covered here? Drop Me a line!

Uncle Mikey

It is time once again to compare John McCain and Barack Obama head to head on a specific topic. This week: Iraq. I am going to use the first paragraph or two from each candidates site. First Up: A quote from John McCain’s Website:

John McCain believes it is strategically and morally essential for the United States to support the Government of Iraq to become capable of governing itself and safeguarding its people. He strongly disagrees with those who advocate withdrawing American troops before that has occurred.

It would be a grave mistake to leave before Al Qaeda in Iraq is defeated and before a competent, trained, and capable Iraqi security force is in place and operating effectively. We must help the Government of Iraq battle those who provoke sectarian tensions and promote a civil war that could destabilize the Middle East. Iraq must not become a failed state, a haven for terrorists, or a pawn of Iran. These likely consequences of America’s failure in Iraq almost certainly would either require us to return or draw us into a wider and far costlier war.

And now for Barack Obama’s Website:

But conventional thinking in Washington lined up for war. The pundits judged the political winds to be blowing in the direction of the President. Despite - or perhaps because of how much experience they had in Washington, too many politicians feared looking weak and failed to ask hard questions. Too many took the President at his word instead of reading the intelligence for themselves. Congress gave the President the authority to go to war. Our only opportunity to stop the war was lost.

I made a different judgment. I thought our priority had to be finishing the fight in Afghanistan. I spoke out against what I called ‘a rash war’ in Iraq. I worried about, ‘an occupation of undetermined length, with undetermined costs, and undetermined consequences.’ The full accounting of those costs and consequences will only be known to history. But the picture is beginning to come into focus

This struggle in Iraq has been difficult on America. It was based on the simple premise that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction, Including a nuclear program that was ramping up efforts and getting assistance from Niger. This was wrong. There were other reasons, and besides them mistakes made both in thought and deed, but those aside for the moment, the fact of the matter is that we are there now and we need to figure out what the best plan going forward is.

John McCain says that both civilian and Coalition deaths have decreased 70%, making possible a return to something that approaches normal political and economic life for the average Iraqi.

Barack Obama says that the military is being severely strained by repeated and lengthy deployments.

Both men want to get rid Of Al-qaeda in Iraq. McCain through staying to finish the mission, and Obama by keeping only what forces are necessary to finishing the job in the region while using targeted strikes against them.

My Viewpoint: Bring the Troops Home. Their sacrifices are not In vain. They fought for America. That cause is NEVER in vain, and it never will be. And It is not out of self indulgent pacifist greed that I want them home.

I want them home because there are other enemies to fight. Bin Laden is still out there and he wants to play hide and seek. Iran looks like they want to start a fight. Things are heating up between them and Israel. Afghanistan has more than it’s share of Unrest. Our brave men and women are needed elsewhere.

I do not worry about Iraq destabilizing a region that already has the aforementioned issues, along with problems with Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the Israeli/Palestinian issue. Any stabilization in this area would be temporary, as the people who live there create enough instability themselves, without us. The Cia “stabilized” Iran in the 50’s, placing the Shah in power. Look how stable an ally we have in Iran now.

Stabilization. Please.

What are your feelings on Iraq? Fight til the Job is done? Bring’em Home? Drop one on me, let me Know!

Uncle Mikey