McCain chooses Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska

[Bill Glasheen]

Ultimately you have to be electable, and you have to be in a position to make change. If you can't ever make it to the executive office or you aren't capable of initiating legislation in the legislative branch, well then your views become irrelevant.

McCain is a "maverick" because he doesn't always go with his party. Quite recently he teamed with Kennedy on an immigration bill. And he went against his party on the subject of how to interrogate POWs.

McCain has kept pretty consistent views on the international as well as the domestic scene.

Palin is pretty close to being a classic Republican. She's both a fiscal and a social conservative. However she also shows herself to be a pragmatist as she gave up on her pro life agenda in order to get enough votes to get the new Alaskan pipeline pushed through. That's what you do in politics to get things done. You horse trade and you compromise. If you aren't willing to compromise, well fine. But you won't ever get anything accomplished.

Compromise by definition means nobody gets everything they want. But you get the most important things done.

Biden's been in Congress for ages, and is part of the important foreign relations committee. For the good of the country, he compromises on his liberal agenda from time to time.

Obama is a blank slate, which perhaps is his strength. It's difficult to hold a new person accountable for a very short record. He hasn't been in office long enough actually do anything substantive. We just know he's a smart guy, an eloquent speaker, and has a liberal voting record. For now it's difficult to know what he'll do once in office.

All politicians pander to some degree. If you go to a Christian coalition, you talk the Golden Rule. If you visit the NAACP, you talk about opportunities for minorities. If you visit the NRA, you talk about guns. If you aren't going to say something that a constituency wants to hear, then you'd probably best not go there.

Leadership is about inspiring confidence and getting positive things accomplished. Leadership occasionally is about doing nothing, or undoing bad things.

There isn't a politician out there who represents all my views, and I don't expect there ever to be one (other than yours truly). But depending upon what I view as the most pressing issues, I will vote the candidate most likely to accomplish something I view positive. And I'll do what I can either to thwart ideologies I don't share with said candidate, or hold my nose when the unfortunate happens.

If necessary, I vote for gridlock. If a Democrat is president, a Republican Congress IMO is a good thing. The opposite works OK as well. The dynamic tension often gives the best results for the country as a whole.

- Bill

[gmattson]

I just received an email stating that the Democrates were "soft" on the immigration issues. . . Is this kind of propoganda fair?
=========================

A picture of California accompanied this email. . .

THIS IS ONLY ONE STATE. Just One State!

This is only one State...............If this doesn't open your eyes nothing will!



From the L. A. Times:
1. 40% of all workers in L. A. County ( L. A. County has 10..2 million people) are working for cash and not paying taxes. This is because they are predominantly illegal immigrants working without a green card.
2. 95% of warrants for murder in Los Angeles are for illegal aliens.
3. 75% of people on the most wanted list in Los Angeles are illegal aliens.
4. Over 2/3 of all births in Los Angeles County are to illegal alien Mexicans on Medi-Cal , whose births were paid for by taxpayers.
5. Nearly 35% of all inmates in California detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally
6. Over 300,000 illegal aliens in Los Angeles County are living in garages.
7. The FBI reports half of all gang members in Los Angeles are most likely illegal aliens from south of the border.
8. Nearly 60% of all occupants of HUD properties are illegal.
9. 21 radio stations in L. A. are Spanish speaking.
10. In L. A. County 5.1 million people speak English, 3.9 million speak Spanish.
(There are 10.2 million people in L. A. County . )

(All 10 of the above are from the Los Angeles Times)

Less than 2% of illegal aliens are picking our crops, but 29% are on welfare. Over 70% of the United States ' annual population growth (and over 90% of California , Florida , and New York ) results from immigration. 29% of inmates in federal prisons are illegal aliens.

We are a bunch of fools for letting this continue.
And the Democrats want them to have amnesty and they want to give them our Social Security.
Obama wants to make them Citizens as soon as he is elected.

HOW CAN YOU HELP? Send copies of this letter to at least two other people. 100 would be even better.

[cxt]

Opinions are probably going to vary rather seriously here.....but my question would be if its accurate...then if the context is also accurate.

As an example the figures most often cited for people the US that have no insurance generally include illegals, people that can easily afford insurance and choose not to buy it etc.......so yes there are that many "uninsured" but the context is serously more complex than the soundbite.

[Jason Rees]

Can anyone name the last 3rd-party candidate to actually win the presidential election?

Abraham Lincoln. The Republicans at the time WERE the third (fourth or fifth, actually) party.

[Jason Rees]

Most of that information appears accurate to me, George.

[AAAhmed46]

My family had to go through the system to immigrate, so why should other people have to get shortcuts? I mean we pay all sorts of taxes.

[Gene DeMambro]

I'd be very wary of these types of messages. Looks an aweful lot like truth stretching to me. Need to see some verifiable facts on this one.

[AAAhmed46]

[

[Gene DeMambro]

I disagree with you on gridlock, Bill. I'd like my government doing its job, not fighting with each other.

Gene

[TSDguy]

Jason, I find your view that everything Paul has accomplished "doesn't matter" to be very depressing. I think we can ALL agree that "republicans" and "democrats" are a shitty, shitty system.

Paul may very well have planted the seeds for a 3rd party. We all know what a little media exposure can do to the uneducated idiots that make up the bulk of the voting population, and setting the all time record for fund raising and bringing in more supporters than the entire damn RNC is a pretty good start- nay a mind blowing start. You strike me as someone libertarian leaning; I'd think you'd be very excited about the possibility of a libertarian president. Or are you afraid of guns, love taxes, and want wars?

[Jason Rees]

Jason, I find your view that everything Paul has accomplished "doesn't matter" to be very depressing. I think we can ALL agree that "republicans" and "democrats" are a shitty, shitty system.

Allow me to simplify: politics is an excremental system.

You strike me as someone libertarian leaning; I'd think you'd be very excited about the possibility of a libertarian president. Or are you afraid of guns, love taxes, and want wars?

I love my second amendment, thank you:) Keep your taxes low... and always walk the yard with the lightest tread and the biggest stick in sight

Let me put it to you this way: Currently we have a Rep President and a Dem Congress, and not a damned thing gets done. Just imagine how little would get done with a Libertarian Pres, and a Rep-Dem Congress. Forget Social Security being fixed, or energy independence, or being able to respond to Russia invading Poland. We'd be paralyzed.

And that, my friend, would be bad.

[TSDguy]

I have fantastic news for you: a lot of "Paulians" were elected to non-presidential offices this last election. This so called "Ron Paul Revolution" is not so narrow-minded. It's very exciting to watch (and I'll admit I voted for the man. I don't know if I'll vote for a libertarian in the November elections, but it's on the plate.)

[Bill Glasheen]

I disagree with you on gridlock, Bill. I'd like my government doing its job, not fighting with each other.

Gene

Your prerogative.

If you like less government, then one way of getting that is through gridlock. "Doing its job" may be from a libertarian perspective not spending money and not imposing itself on our lives.

Gridlock worked real well for me in the Clinton administration. The Republicans wouldn't legislate spending bills and the Democratic president could pass what he didn't get. Perhaps one could claim that balancing the budget was an act of commission. Or perhaps it was a series of acts of omission.

Gridlock is the pejorative term. Perhaps "dynamic tension" has better connotation.

Virginians in particular tend to be contrary. Whatever party is in the White House, the opposite party eventually finds itself in the governor's mansion.

Bill

[mhosea]

Paul may very well have planted the seeds for a 3rd party.

I've got libertarian leanings myself. The issue is not what I want but what is realistic. It all reminds me just a bit much of Ross Perot in 1992, except that Ross Perot was much more popular than Ron Paul in polls. If he hadn't dropped out temporarily (long story that), he might even have gotten a larger percentage of the vote.

I notice that somebody has written a book about third-party dynamics:

http://www.amazon.com/Threes-Crowd-Dyna ... 30&sr=11-1

I haven't read it, but I gather that, according to the book's theory, if Ron Paul actually does "succeed", he will get Obama elected instead of McCain, and in the aftermath the Republican party will be altered to better absorb the "Paulian" constituency.

[TSDguy]

Paul has said repeatedly he thinks Obama and McCain are the same person. I think McCain is WAY more dangerous, but I see what he's saying.