Then I heard his speech at the RNC. I had heard that he wasn't a great speaker. I wasn't wowed by his speaking ability, but I was certainly struck by his story and his earnestness (at least what I interpreted as such).
A few days ago, I remembered that my sister-in-law told me that McCain's daughter, Meghan, has been on the campaign trail with him and has been blogging about her experience. I think you can tell a lot about a man by what his daughter thinks of him. She seems to think highly of him. You can check out her "musings" at mccainblogette.com. Oh, and she wrote a children's book about her dad. I think I'll be getting this for Jackson.
Clarice
6 comments:
Yes, though I'm still an undecided voter, I have gained a lot of respect towards McCain as a man of character from his RNC speech. Character certainly is important in a position of leadership, but is that what should propel me to vote for him? Since you and Ian appear to be people who are well read, can you tell me what in his voting record would give me reassurance that the state of our economy would improve under his policies? And what facts about Iraq would convince me that we should not withdraw our troops responsibly as Obama suggests, besides what some soldier in Iraq says on a video to Mr. Obama? Because you could easily find another video from another soldier in Iraq with the opposite view. Inspite of the Bush doctrine, Sarah Palin still feels that the Iraq war is tied to
9/11. There is a lot of mistrust towards the present administration regarding the reasons we went to war in the first place. Isn't this why Colin Powell resigned? Do you see the state of our economy as the direct result of the Bush policies, and how has government de-regulation and the free market helped our economy? Inspite of Bill Clinton's personal moral failures, how do you view the economic posperity under his administration? Do you think the majority of Americans are tired of the state of affairs and want some changes and would vote the Democratic ticket because of that? How would you tell them that McCain would indeed bring about the change in our economy and the war in Iraq? What do you say about the charges that evangelicals are single issues voters? (pro-life, anti-gay, etc.)
may I join in this discourse? Have to do it a little bit at a time though.
"Do you see the state of our economy as the direct result of the Bush policies, and how has government de-regulation and the free market helped our economy?"
There is no doubt that something went wrong in this administration. Paulson and many others have attributed the cause of the current mess largely on the subprime and irresponsible loans which dried up the credit market on top of defaults and forclosures. Ari Fleisher shed some light on the matter of deregulation. Deregulation was signed by Bill Clinton and passed by a republican congress. The major proponents are democrats who want to make it affordable for low income families to have homeownership. thus the run away loan problems. I think the Fannie and Freddie model had become an unmangeable animal fed by political design and greed from both sides of the aisles. I cannot believe nobody is up there to oversee the operation. There is failure and incompetence on the part of administration. but congress is incompetent too. Barnie Frank is the chairman of the banking committe, a democrat.
Bill Clinton worked with a congress led by Newt Gingrich who was successful with the contract for America in cutting taxes and delivering services. Bill was moderate rather than far left. We were fortunate then. But to elect Obama in the name of bringing changes in light of the current ills is not a solution. He may be dedicated, but because he is young and lacking experience, I fear that he will be manipulated by the big democrat machine. He alone cannot work miracle. In the end, it will be politics as usual. Look who are the real meaty supporters. Long time politicians like Teddy Kennedy, Move-on.org, Fannie Mae and Freddie. Besides, he is the number 1 liberal in the senate. He will have run away spending. He has talked about many entitlement programs, from healthcare to college opportunity to every young person, etc, etc.
McCain alone cannot bring changes either, but he has the determination to make things better (he has track recod as a reformer ) and I hope he will find ethical knowledgeable and competent advisors and cabinets to help him.
Good comments. I will return to more of this later.
It is my understanding that every president naturally claims responsibility for an economy that is going well and every opponent blames the president when the economy is floundering, but in reality the economy is complicated and often a result of choices made a decade prior, by a previous president and Congress.
It's okay to want change, and we should want change, but what kind of change do we want and who do we trust to bring it? (To me this is similar to the question of faith; faith in Who? A person can sincerely believe something is true but be sincerely wrong!) There are all sorts of "changes" possible based on a person's worldview, learning from history, experience, influence, character, family and social upbringing. I must vote from my conscience, even if I am a minority voice where the final vote doesn't represent me but does represent the people, at least the people that vote.
I am an evangelical Christ-follower, but I don't vote one issue. I vote a multitude of single issues that add up to a conservative whole. I am complicated, educated, sometimes naive, sometimes overly positive.
My thoughts on the housing collapse is that the blame should start on those decision makers who pushed for equal house-purchasing opportunity for credit-risky people. Who says the low-income should be allowed to get a loan for a house if the risk of accepting their loan is too high? I'm not low-income, but I hesitate to buy a house right now because my budget choice to pay for two children in daycare plus a mortgage would make my life extra stressful. Why should a lender have to take an extra risk on a person because of some socialist doctrine that everybody should be equal?
Bill Clinton was a moderate and I agree with a few of his initiatives, especially his current Global Initiative to encourage classrooms to adopt a cause and figure out a way to make personal differences in the world. Obama scares me because he is as far left from moderate as can be. I especially dislike the grand promises made by a hopeful executive when the the costs associated are unrealistic and the checks-and-balances of a deadlocked, partisan Congress make the promises unlikely.
I'd rather go with two proven maverick reformers who care less about their own popularity than what's good for the country, and I believe will make things better for the America (and presidential claims) of a future decade.
That last comment from Clarice was actually from me.
Ian
Well said, Clarice.
Excellent comments from all blogging parties. Thought provoking too. Let's keep this going.
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