Cynical Nation

what does being 'squishy' on the 2nd Amendment entail? Is it that one has to be either completely anti-guns or completely guns-a-go-go lest they be tagged as 'squishy' (i.e., registration, maybe not selling AK-47s, etc.)?

Really? You're a McCainiac? For some reason that completely surprises me.

Only politician I've ever given money to. Ever.

Fred: yes. ;-)

OK, one BIG problem I have with McCain is, albeit, one that I have with MOST politicians today - his & their inane stance on illegal immigration.

He made some insufferably dumb comments about "jobs Americans won't do" not long ago, even going so far as to say, "Even if you paid Americans $50/hour, they wouldn't stand in the hot sun and pick fruit all day...they just can't any more." I believe he even went so far as to dare Americans to take these jobs at something like $20/hour, adding, "You wouldn't last a week."

My response to anyone who'd say something like this is, [b]Hey STUPID!

There are NO jobs Americans WON'T do.

There ARE wages for which Americans won't/can't work. Agri-workers, like many restaurant workers are exempt from the Minimum Wage laws, so the Welfare benefits, that any American citizen can get, pay more than these jobs do right now.

Try dummying up and not insulting the very people (citizens of the U.S.) you want to have vote for you.

It might be a slightly more effective political strategy for you."[/b]

I know ALL politicians say dumb things, it seems a prerequisite for that profession, but his going a step further and actually insulting the work-ethic of Americans, was very nearly, as they say in Brooklyn, "half-a-retard" DUMB.

I sure hope he's a lot more coherant and informed when he talks about the gun/self-defense issue.

Seriously, after hearing his embarassing remarks on why we need a certain amount of illegal immigration, I was tempted to quote the judge in that Adam Sandler flick, [i]Billy Madison[/i], [b]"“Mr. (McCain), what you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I've ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response was there anything that could even be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.”[/b]

Yes, I think that's wholly appropriate and somewhat measured response to McCain's remarks supporting illegal immigration.

Perhaps he can tweak that position a bit as well.

It reminded me of why I like the guy. He's sharp, witty, and forthright,

Barry,
The McCain you describe is the McCain of 2000. The McCain of 2006 is NOT forthright or honest. It is an aged man who is so desperate to be president that has retracted what he had said about religious lunatics like Falwell in the past. In fact he has befriended them so he can get the wingnut votes. McCain is a man without principles that can not be trusted. He is essentially no different at this point than George W. Bush. Sorry.

(He) "has retracted what he had said about religious lunatics like Falwell in the past. In fact he has befriended them so he can get the wingnut votes." (BW)
(BW)



This from a shill for the Party that openly courts the votes of the likes of Debbie Frisch, Cindy Sheehan and the rest of the Moore/Soros/Franken radical-Left.

And he sucks up to a guy whose 2000 campaign called his wife a drug addict and his adopted Bangladeshi daughter the product of a liaison with a black prostitute. That's all I have to know. He's a whore...and not even an expensive one at that.

McCain is, and always was, a politician with an overweaning ego.

What made him the darling of the left was that he served as the anti-Bush.

What the left never seemed to grasp was that McCain never won a primary when crossover voting was not allowed - a small fact that he obviously has recognized given his recent swings in rhetoric.

I am not a fan of McCain because I saw through his act long befor the Blue Wind's and Jill's of the world did.

He wants to be president, folks, and will say and do whatever he thinks may achieve that goal.

In short, he's a political animal like all the rest of them on both sides.

Deal with it and stop believing in the political equivalent of the 72 virgins.

Jill wrote:
"He's a whore...and not even an expensive one at that."

Agree completely.

"In short, he's a political animal like all the rest of them on both sides.

Deal with it and stop believing in the political equivalent of the 72 virgins." (Mal)
IS no such thing as an "honest politician." I doubt there's ever been a single one.

The best you can hope for is "the lesser of two evils."

Most are going to do the sensible thing, which is also pretty much the bidding, PRIMARILY, of those who've PAID FOR their campaigns (mostly established businesses and assorted special interests).

I prefer the NRA, the CATO Institute, the Heritage Foundation and "Justice for All" (a crime victim's rights group) as opposed to Handgun Control, NOW, the ACLU and NAACP...for me, it's really almost as simple as that.

Isn't calling a politician a
"whore" redundant?

"Isn't calling a politician a
"whore" redundant?" (Barry)
"No Barry! At least not the Democratic ones. They're guided by principle and helping the "little guy."

Only the Republican politicians are whores.

Never mind that AlGore took in more corporate contributions than GW did back in 2000, or that the Gore family had ties to the hated "Big Oil" via its large stake in Occidental Petroleum, none of that really counts.

Gore and the rest of the far Left are really good guys and as far from whores as, well, as Madonna is."

There, now BW can rest his fingers.

I agree with the anti-McCain contingent. I'm surprised you like him so much, Barry. I thought you were more of a Giuliani guy.

All I can add to what has been said is that I forgive McCain his chasing after the presidency. I think he has that illness that Hunter Thompson described in Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail: 1972, where he wrote that some guys, once they run for the presidency, they just can't stop running for it. It's like adrenaline junkies; they just have to jump out of that plane one more time, even when they are no longer up to the demands of a hard opening and the plane is being held together with duct tape and prayer. It's the Nixon Itch and it's incurable.

McCain has been running in 2008 since that Faith of My Fathers movie last year. That was a campaign film which was probably in the works before he lost the 2000 primary. He can't help himself now, the poor old bugger. He'll run for president until he dies. He's become the right-wing Biden (who is as left as any "moderate" shill with his nose buried so deeply in the corporate backside that he has to breathe through a hole cut four buttons below his collar).

No, I won't get started on Biden.

I agree with the anti-McCain contingent. I'm surprised you like him so much, Barry. I thought you were more of a Giuliani guy.

All I can add to what has been said is that I forgive McCain his chasing after the presidency. I think he has that illness that Hunter Thompson described in Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail: 1972, where he wrote that some guys, once they run for the presidency, they just can't stop running for it. It's like adrenaline junkies; they just have to jump out of that plane one more time, even when they are no longer up to the demands of a hard opening and the plane is being held together with duct tape and prayer. It's the Nixon Itch and it's incurable.

McCain has been running in 2008 since that Faith of My Fathers movie last year. That was a campaign film which was probably in the works before he lost the 2000 primary. He can't help himself now, the poor old bugger. He'll run for president until he dies. He's become the right-wing Biden (who is as left as any "moderate" shill with his nose buried so deeply in the corporate backside that he has to breathe through a hole cut four buttons below his collar).

No, I won't get started on Biden.

All I can add to what has been said is that I forgive McCain his chasing after the presidency. I think he has that illness that Hunter Thompson described in Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail: 1972, where he wrote that some guys, once they run for the presidency, they just can't stop running for it. It's like adrenaline junkies; they just have to jump out of that plane one more time, even when they are no longer up to the demands of a hard opening and the plane is being held together with duct tape and prayer. It's the Nixon Itch and it's incurable.

Well said, DBK.

We are seeing it still in John Kerry as well. The man's pandering has become a joke.

At least Kerry has a plan, though.

"There, now BW can rest his fingers."

JMK,
That was kind of you. I will consider appointing you as my spokeperson if you move a little towards the center :)

By the way, I have news for you. Gore is NOT far left. He is in the center (yes in the center!!!) The reason you think he is far left is because you are far right and from your location the center looks like far left. Cheers.

Oh and JMK,
I forgot to mention. I really like Madonna a lot. So please be kind to her. Cheers.

JMK,
That was kind of you. I will consider appointing you as my spokeperson if you move a little towards the center :) (BW)
Thanks for the offer, but I couldn't resist that opening, since you've had a penchant for consistently defending politicians from the Left.

Mal is 100% right, there are NO "honest," even ethical politicians.

The closest I can think of is Ron Paul and even he has disppointed me greatly lately, though to be fair to him, it's on principle.
"By the way, I have news for you. Gore is NOT far left. He is in the center (yes in the center!!!) The reason you think he is far left is because you are far right and from your location the center looks like far left. Cheers." (BW)
This just shows how your own bias controls your own perceptions.

Most people (myself included) have their own innate biases control their viewpoints and opinions, but NOT their perceptions.

AlGore is faaaar Left.

He is much further left than even John Kerry was. Bill Clinton was a true "Centrist."

I think the reason you think AlGore is "centrist" is because you agree with his viewpoint and mistakenly think you're own views are centrist.

I've shown you that they ARE NOT. That there are far fewer Liberals/"progressives" in the country than Conservatives.

Hell, I recognize that Pat Buchanan is certainly to the Right of most Americans, not quite as far Right as Gore is Left, but still to the Right. Even Libertarians, like Ron Paul, are out of step with most Americans, whose political views generally revolve around benign self-interest.

Union workers used to like Democrats because they were "loose with the purse strings," and opposed any trade laws that didn't protect American workers, treaties like GATT (expanded in 1990 by a Democrat Congress) and NAFTA (passed in 1/94 by a Democratic Congress and signed into law by a Democratic President).

Those same workers tend to dislike Democrats for their high tax policies, since the income tax does NOT tax wealth, but instead punishes/taxes productivity or earned income.

Republicans have succesfully used lower taxes, opposition to race/gender quotas and set-asides, pro-gun (pro-violent self-defense) and "tough on crime" stances to woo most of the working class Democrats away from that Party.

The Democrats, for the most part, are either still wondering what ahppened, or expressing consternation over "why these people vote against their own interests."

The last group is just hopelessly DUMB.

Those folks ain't "voting against their own interests - lower taxes, a tough stance on crime (punishment not therapy) and supporting the natural right of self-defense and opposing race/gender preferences are ALL in the best interests of working Americans, and since BOTH Parties have sold out American workers by supporting an expanded GATT & NAFTA, there's really nothing the Democrats offer that's in working people's "best interests."