Comments on: The Withdrawal Game Conceded http://www.poligazette.com/2008/07/26/the-withdrawal-game-conceded/ Because Common Sense Transcends Distance Sat, 13 Mar 2010 13:02:04 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: utsu http://www.poligazette.com/2008/07/26/the-withdrawal-game-conceded/comment-page-1/#comment-62499 utsu Sat, 26 Jul 2008 21:56:13 +0000 http://poligazette.com/2008/07/26/the-withdrawal-game-conceded/#comment-62499 "but he’s definitely not really done anything with religion.  At all." I unnecessarily used the term christianists in lieu of "far-right social conservatives". It is the latter McCain has moved towards. Anyway, McCain wanted to stop the GOP from ever challenging the right to abortion in case of rape or incest again, but that was before he wanted to become president and started catering to the hard social conservatives. He was for diplomacy with Hamas and Syria - not anymore. He wanted to stop indefinite detention of terrorist suspects but when SCOTUS actually agreed with this he was suddenly extremely upset. He said W's wiretaps were against US legislation but not anymore. He was for Gay Marriage before his bid for president. He wanted mandatory emission cap-and-trade and now he wants it to be voluntary. He was for windfall taxes on oil company profits and three weeks later he was against it. He supported legislation for combatting global warming and then reneged. In 2005 he dislike tax cuts angled for the wealthiest portion of the US. In 2007 he said he only disliked the cuts because the spending was going up simultaneously. He was against ID in schools, then he was for it and now he's sort of gray. He was for giving legal status to kids of illegal immigrants if they graduate from high school and now he is against it. I would say that is a move from the center to the right-wing in the GOP scope of things but perhaps even the GOP base is so hostile to illegal immigrants even that is to be expected from a GOP presidential candidate. He moved from not pledging to repeal Roe v. Wade to pledging to repeal it. He first kept his distance from Jerry 9/11-was-caused-by-America-not-ostracizing-satan-loving-homos Falwell and then moved closer to him. He was against anyone campaigning at racist Bob Jones uni and then he was OK with a candidate doing so. He was against working with Kissinger and now Kissinger is working for his campaign. Same Story with Grover Norquist. Be they social conservatives or just hard-righters, McCain has catered to all of them of late. It can be argued that in some instances he has just gone from being a somewhat liberal maverick towards the GOP mainstream, but in some cases he has undeniably gone for the extreme right-wing at the drop of a hat. There are actually even more flrip-flops from McCain but these are the ones I think constitute a very suspicious turn towards the loyal but demanding far-right wings. A sacrifice of both straight-talk and centrism in favor of those that always vote provided you promise sufficiently extreme legislation. "but he’s definitely not really done anything with religion.  At all."

I unnecessarily used the term christianists in lieu of "far-right social conservatives". It is the latter McCain has moved towards.

Anyway, McCain wanted to stop the GOP from ever challenging the right to abortion in case of rape or incest again, but that was before he wanted to become president and started catering to the hard social conservatives.

He was for diplomacy with Hamas and Syria – not anymore.

He wanted to stop indefinite detention of terrorist suspects but when SCOTUS actually agreed with this he was suddenly extremely upset.

He said W’s wiretaps were against US legislation but not anymore.

He was for Gay Marriage before his bid for president.

He wanted mandatory emission cap-and-trade and now he wants it to be voluntary.

He was for windfall taxes on oil company profits and three weeks later he was against it.

He supported legislation for combatting global warming and then reneged.

In 2005 he dislike tax cuts angled for the wealthiest portion of the US. In 2007 he said he only disliked the cuts because the spending was going up simultaneously.

He was against ID in schools, then he was for it and now he’s sort of gray.

He was for giving legal status to kids of illegal immigrants if they graduate from high school and now he is against it. I would say that is a move from the center to the right-wing in the GOP scope of things but perhaps even the GOP base is so hostile to illegal immigrants even that is to be expected from a GOP presidential candidate.

He moved from not pledging to repeal Roe v. Wade to pledging to repeal it.

He first kept his distance from Jerry 9/11-was-caused-by-America-not-ostracizing-satan-loving-homos Falwell and then moved closer to him.

He was against anyone campaigning at racist Bob Jones uni and then he was OK with a candidate doing so.

He was against working with Kissinger and now Kissinger is working for his campaign.

Same Story with Grover Norquist.

Be they social conservatives or just hard-righters, McCain has catered to all of them of late. It can be argued that in some instances he has just gone from being a somewhat liberal maverick towards the GOP mainstream, but in some cases he has undeniably gone for the extreme right-wing at the drop of a hat. There are actually even more flrip-flops from McCain but these are the ones I think constitute a very suspicious turn towards the loyal but demanding far-right wings. A sacrifice of both straight-talk and centrism in favor of those that always vote provided you promise sufficiently extreme legislation.

]]> By: Michael Merritt http://www.poligazette.com/2008/07/26/the-withdrawal-game-conceded/comment-page-1/#comment-62496 Michael Merritt Sat, 26 Jul 2008 20:58:19 +0000 http://poligazette.com/2008/07/26/the-withdrawal-game-conceded/#comment-62496 Utsu, what turn toward Christianists on the right?  Turn to the base, perhaps (though the alignment with Obama's timetable could be interpreted as a turn back toward the center), but he's definitely not really done anything with religion.  At all. Maybe it's because he does mostly town hall stuff, but I haven't heard much from McCain on religion.  Obama's been saying a lot about it, though.  Or at least, getting the press about it. Utsu, what turn toward Christianists on the right?  Turn to the base, perhaps (though the alignment with Obama’s timetable could be interpreted as a turn back toward the center), but he’s definitely not really done anything with religion.  At all.

Maybe it’s because he does mostly town hall stuff, but I haven’t heard much from McCain on religion.  Obama’s been saying a lot about it, though.  Or at least, getting the press about it.

]]> By: Tully http://www.poligazette.com/2008/07/26/the-withdrawal-game-conceded/comment-page-1/#comment-62492 Tully Sat, 26 Jul 2008 20:25:50 +0000 http://poligazette.com/2008/07/26/the-withdrawal-game-conceded/#comment-62492 Hey, Jim, let's do a little math and figure out exactly how significant 17,000 barrels of spillage (the total caused by TWO major Category 5 hurricanes, Katrina AND Rita combined) is in the context of the Gulf of Mexico. <a href="http://walrus.wr.usgs.gov/reports/reprints/Kvenvolden_GML_23.pdf" rel="nofollow">Natural seepage</a> from the Gulf oil pools is <em>at least</em> 150,000 METRIC TONS a year. A metric ton of oil is about 7.34 barrels of oil, so natural seepage in the Gulf is over 1.1 million barrels a year, or over 3000 barrels a day, <em>each and every single day of the year</em>. So 17,000-some barrels of oil spilled from the combined damages of <em>both</em> Katrina and Rita was the equivalent of <em>less than six days worth</em> of what Mother Nature does in the Gulf <em>all by herself</em> each and every single day of the year. Thanks to radically better drilling and platform technology, the biggest danger of oil spills in the last thirty or forty years comes from the oil tankers used to transport Mideast crude around the world. Move the production closer to home where it can be transferred by pipeline, and the risk of spillage declines dramatically. The more oil you produce at home, the fewer tankers coming into your waters. Kinda puts it in perspective, doesn't it? Hey, Jim, let’s do a little math and figure out exactly how significant 17,000 barrels of spillage (the total caused by TWO major Category 5 hurricanes, Katrina AND Rita combined) is in the context of the Gulf of Mexico.

Natural seepage from the Gulf oil pools is at least 150,000 METRIC TONS a year. A metric ton of oil is about 7.34 barrels of oil, so natural seepage in the Gulf is over 1.1 million barrels a year, or over 3000 barrels a day, each and every single day of the year.

So 17,000-some barrels of oil spilled from the combined damages of both Katrina and Rita was the equivalent of less than six days worth of what Mother Nature does in the Gulf all by herself each and every single day of the year.

Thanks to radically better drilling and platform technology, the biggest danger of oil spills in the last thirty or forty years comes from the oil tankers used to transport Mideast crude around the world. Move the production closer to home where it can be transferred by pipeline, and the risk of spillage declines dramatically. The more oil you produce at home, the fewer tankers coming into your waters.

Kinda puts it in perspective, doesn’t it?

]]> By: utsu http://www.poligazette.com/2008/07/26/the-withdrawal-game-conceded/comment-page-1/#comment-62490 utsu Sat, 26 Jul 2008 20:02:37 +0000 http://poligazette.com/2008/07/26/the-withdrawal-game-conceded/#comment-62490 Obama has a better tax policy, because it is left-wing while not unrealistically so. McCain's will be ideological to the point of being extremely costly. People have seen their tax breaks eaten up and then some by a ruptured economy. Not to mention that seeing as he can't attract independents by depicting Obama as extreme on foreign policy, he won't have much to outweigh his turn towards the christianists on the right. Independents aren't only concerned about guns or energy, they also care about a GOP that is in line with mainstream America. Obama has a better tax policy, because it is left-wing while not unrealistically so. McCain’s will be ideological to the point of being extremely costly. People have seen their tax breaks eaten up and then some by a ruptured economy.

Not to mention that seeing as he can’t attract independents by depicting Obama as extreme on foreign policy, he won’t have much to outweigh his turn towards the christianists on the right. Independents aren’t only concerned about guns or energy, they also care about a GOP that is in line with mainstream America.

]]> By: Jim http://www.poligazette.com/2008/07/26/the-withdrawal-game-conceded/comment-page-1/#comment-62485 Jim Sat, 26 Jul 2008 18:05:07 +0000 http://poligazette.com/2008/07/26/the-withdrawal-game-conceded/#comment-62485 They could debate the ethics of Katie Couric (CBS) for editing John McCain's interview to remove false statements and add information from a previous interview to make McCain look good. McCain complains about Obama getting more media coverage; however, McCain does not complain about the media ignoring his false statements and barely covering his association with former Senator Phil Gramm.  Everyone in Congress during the Enron fraud should have known Gramm and his wife took money from Enron to deregulate the banking and futures trading. They could debate McCain's false statements about the safety of offshore oil drilling. “Not One Drop Of Oil Spilled”? Not Quite <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/07/19/opinion/main4275167.shtml" rel="nofollow"><em>http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/07/19/opinion/main4275167.shtml</em></a> Menendez: Spill, Not Weather, Caused McCain To Cancel <a href="http://www.wibw.com/weather/headlines/25904454.html" rel="nofollow"><em>http://www.wibw.com/weather/headlines/25904454.html</em></a> “Look up ‘irony’ in the dictionary and you will find a description of this turn of events. Having to cancel your big oil drilling photo op because of a <strong>massive oil spill </strong>is like canceling a crime safety photo op because the house next door just got robbed," said Menendez." They could debate the ethics of Katie Couric (CBS) for editing John McCain’s interview to remove false statements and add information from a previous interview to make McCain look good.

McCain complains about Obama getting more media coverage; however, McCain does not complain about the media ignoring his false statements and barely covering his association with former Senator Phil Gramm. 

Everyone in Congress during the Enron fraud should have known Gramm and his wife took money from Enron to deregulate the banking and futures trading.

They could debate McCain’s false statements about the safety of offshore oil drilling.

“Not One Drop Of Oil Spilled”? Not Quite http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/07/19/opinion/main4275167.shtml

Menendez: Spill, Not Weather, Caused McCain To Cancel
http://www.wibw.com/weather/headlines/25904454.html

“Look up ‘irony’ in the dictionary and you will find a description of this turn of events. Having to cancel your big oil drilling photo op because of a massive oil spill is like canceling a crime safety photo op because the house next door just got robbed," said Menendez."

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