A Barrier Too Great

Well, anyone who was considering McCain should look at who he has chosen for VP - Palin supports"teaching the controversy".

The volatile issue of teaching creation science in public schools popped up in the Alaska governor's race this week when Republican Sarah Palin said she thinks creationism should be taught alongside evolution in the state's public classrooms.

Palin was answering a question from the moderator near the conclusion of Wednesday night's televised debate on KAKM Channel 7 when she said, 'Teach both. You know, don't be afraid of information. Healthy debate is so important, and it's so valuable in our schools. I am a proponent of teaching both.'

Jim Downey

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Like Science Fiction? Read *or listen to* my novel, Communion of Dreams, for free.

neither party wants my vote

I liked the discussion about McCain and heroism. My father was a career Army officer, West Point graduate (1934), who parachuted into Normandy as signal officer and later staff officer (G-4) for the 82d Airborne Division. He would refuse the label of hero, in part because he felt he was doing his job and in part because he would not have felt that he exceeded what was expected of any soldier in combat.

Nor would he have felt that his military experience, which later included command and diplomatic responsibilities, would have in any way qualified him to be president. He also once told me that there was a time in the Army when being wounded or captured was considered a mistake and that there was some disagreement at the time about awarding a Purple Heart for making a mistake.

In any event, he had a higher standard for heroism than our common public discussion seems to hold.

I watched odds and ends of the speeches last night and noticed that the "god bless" statements became so prevalent that it was more interesting to note who did not say it, particularly when it was John Kerry, who is a practicing Catholic, perhaps wary of overusing the statement for fear of trivializing it.

As far as I'm concerned, the god thing is just part of the background we live in. I have little expectation of avoiding it, and I will vote for Obama because, to my mind, he does offer more promise than the alternative. I think, in many ways, we're screwed beyond anybody's power to fix it, and I would just rather go down with better company if it is possible.

Frank Moorman, skeptic

I'm with you, Jim, on the wright in option. Except that I was thinking of writing in my own name.

Seriously, I cannot bear to listen to Obama or McCain or anyone who claims to speak for them. Their focus is irrelevant.

The issues that challenge us are not about who is offended and who is offensive. We learned on the goddammed playground that their are nice kids and rotten kids. There is no evidence that the nature of children who have lived for a quarter century of more are any different. To insist that some candidate is superior is moot when the focus of the campaigns are trite, misdirected and calculated to appeal not to intellect and civic commitment but to raw, bitten-to-the-quick emotion.

This shit makes me seriously weary. So maybe I shall, unabashed and in the full flower of my citizenship, vote for my own sorry ass.

Where have all the patriots gone? Even so, E Pluribus Unum.

http://mckinney2008.com/PRESIDENT/

For my part, I have no problem with McCain's war record, or whatever; I have a problem with how he treats women. He never met an abortion restriction he didn't vote for. Since I have no desire to be enslaved to produce unwanted babies, that makes my choice an easy one.

Of course, it helps that Obama is a scholar of Constitutional Law and a sensible person with good judgment, who can bring two sides of a touchy issue together in an inspiring synthesis.

And it helps that McCain has nothing to offer on the economy except the same "tax cut" snake oil that has been generously applied and vigorously rubbed in for the last eight years, and done nothing.

But really, in my opinion, that's just gravy.

If you're rich (i.e. own more than seven houses, and income above $5M), vote McCain because he will keep you in clover.

Otherwise, Obama.

As far as religious crap is concerned, they're both annoying, so that fails to be a deciding factor.

Wow, interesting opinions here.

At best he is a survivor. His survivor stories can be an education. His hero stories are bullshit. Hero prisoners escape, hero prisoners confuse and bewilder their guards not make small talk with them, hero prisoners kill the enemy, etc. He did none of that. All he did was survive and allow that to be called heroism.

McCain got shot down 5 times and then got captured. Why does that make him a war hero? I think it makes him a crappy pilot. That is, of course, my opinion, but I think we all need to re-evaluate what it means to be a war hero. Simply serving in combat should not make a war hero, and certainly does not qualify anybody for politics. I fear the day when politicians not only use words as weapons, but use guns, bombs and artillery. Additionally, someone who has been through the horrors of war should be all the more reluctant to put anybody else through the experience.

I think this election is about the economy. We have to rebuild the middle-class before it disappears entirely. Clearly Republicans have no regard for anyone who isn't rich, and that goes for the poor conservative christians that vote for them.

I am no longer a Democrat. I know when I am not welcome. I'm still voting for Obama, though. The alternative is too horrifying to even envision.

As far as experience goes, I don't know if there's any such thing as someone with "enough" experience to be President. It's a unique job. I'd say Obama has as much relevant experience as most other political figures, certainly more than Bush had as the no-power Texas Governor. Not that that's saying all that much.

The major problem with voting for McCain (well, one of the major problems) from a general perspective is that his solution to every international crisis -- and they're all crises to John McCain -- is to bomb someone. Anyone. Every incident is the Most Important Existential Crisis For Our Great Country EVAR!! I'm very uncomfortable with someone like that in charge; if it were up to him we'd have invaded Iran and Jordan already, and would be actively at war with Russia over Georgia. Lovely.

From my atheist perspective, at least as a Constitutional scholar Obama understands the importance of the separation of church and state. McCain, meanwhile, represents the party that has done more harm to that concept than anything I can recall in the last fifty years, pandering (with money, laws, and words) to the religious right with everything they have. I don't want another President beholden to those guys for his job.

Your mileage may vary, of course, but if the last eight years hasn't convinced you that the Republicans need to be handed the harshest of rebukes at the ballot box, I don't think anything will. Obama might be a very religious person, and he's not as old -- sorry, experienced -- as McCain, but he's shown good judgment, a sober and calm approach to governing, and a respect for the Constitution that is wholly lacking in the Republican Party. This election matters.

. . . sent me this last night.

Jim Downey

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Like Science Fiction? Read *or listen to* my novel, Communion of Dreams, for free.