President John McCain

[kengs333]

What goes around..comes around.

Those who dish it out should be prepared to receive plenty in return.

Actually, it's pretty gay and childish... There happen to be other boards here where you're more than free to start threads about your favourite peeves about PM's wives and such.

[BubberMiley]

I would be happy to discuss Margaret Trudeau till the cows come home in a discussion of how Cindy McCain recently (i.e. this decade) stole prescription drugs from charities to feed her own addiction, and that John McCain used his influence as a senator to spare her a federal sentence. People can then determine for themselves what facts are still relevant.

[bush_cheney2004]

Actually, it's pretty gay and childish... There happen to be other boards here where you're more than free to start threads about your favourite peeves about PM's wives and such.

Then take your own advice and post there instead. I shall be remain here like Barnacle Bill until banned. Deal with it (perhaps the ignore option would be to your liking?)

Was Margaret gay too? OK by me!

[Rue]

Then take your own advice and post there instead. I shall be remain here like Barnacle Bill until banned. Deal with it (perhaps the ignore option would be to your liking?)

Was Margaret gay too? OK by me!

Lol Bushdude. You have now made it to the big leagues. Keng does not like you. Welcome. Listen on a more serious note. I do think McCain can beat Clinton but would have a harder time with Obama. Let me try argue why keeping in mind you know its just personal opinion. I think McCain will appeal to many democrats who do not like Clinton because of her image of being thin skinned and too closely tied to Clinton politics and the past real estate scandal which makes them nervous. I think the democrats that liked Billy Boy get put off by her severity and lack of compassion.

You know we can talk all we want about McCain being a soldier, an old white guy Bush clone, etc., but he is a genuine war hero and his bad temper is his passion and that passion often is expressed genuinely when he talks about the poor or immigrants or blue collar people. You can't fake what he is. He does acknowledge the parts of America Romney and Huckabee will never.

What McCain may not be liekd for in his conservative wing will win him democrat votes if Clinton goes up against him.

Now if its Obama what happens is optics. No offence to McCain but it comes down not to a race issue at all, but an old man v.s. young man battle and I think America has this love affair with youth and sees being younger as fresher, more vital, and I really think he would have a hard time countering Obama's charisma. Clinton has none. She is another Maggie Thatcher. Maggie Thatcher won by being a bull dog not by capturing people's imaginations. It was all about power politics and intimidation.

McCain can counter the Clinton intimidation with his natural dignity and soldier manners. But up against a younger Obama with the little boy head and skinny girl's body, its a different set of optics. He will always look like a bully next to Obama. He will never look like the under-dog and America loves underdogs.

With Clinton, he could easily make himself look more compassionate then her. With Obama I do not think so.

Now you want to cause a huge explosion if you are McCain, why not convince Colin Powell to run as V.P. That would neutralize Obama asap. I doubt Powell would ever agree to it though.

If I am McCain I am stuck trying to get a seasoned Republican Senator who can bring back the conservatives.

Obama is going to go for a seasoned veteran conservative demo Senator as his Veep. If its Clinton she will simply pick a Clinton loyalist further isolating herself.

I think Obama is gonna take Hawaii and Wisconsin but Clinton will take Texas and Ohio is gonna be close.

I do not think Hilary is out of it at all. If she takes Ohio and Texas she wins. If Hilary can't get the majority of the elected delegates I still think she will try use superdelegates to muscle her way in. She will argue she didn't really lose the popular vote because of the states she won but weren't allowed to vote. She will not go quietly.

I do think though that the superdelegates if push comes to shove will be heavily influenced by Al Gore, Kennedy and Kerry. I think before this is over Kennedy will have a lot of behind the scenes power to neutralize the Clinton machine. He still has a lot of superdelegate clout.

[oreodontist]

Don't bet on it.....the USA has been in Korea, Germany, and Japan for over 50 years. Iraq is just another Yankee franchise for America's interests.

Obama supporters will have to kill all the OLD PEOPLE (who actually vote).

All the MORE reason Obama will win. McCain has dug himself in a hole over the Iraq issue. Another potential 100 years becaue US forces have been stuck elsewhere for decades. Wow quite the vote getter. ...not. all he does is hold on to hard core support with such a policy and attracts zero new support from it.

McCain has no base to draw upon to pick up more than 45%. Everytime he appeals to a fundy whacko he loses a moderate. If he appeals to moderates, he loses the energy from the fundy whackos. In contrast, Obama can appeal to moderates and independents and still keep everyone happy on the whacky left.

[August1991]

Now if its Obama what happens is optics. No offence to McCain but it comes down not to a race issue at all, but an old man v.s. young man battle and I think America has this love affair with youth and sees being younger as fresher, more vital, and I really think he would have a hard time countering Obama's charisma.

Your entire post concerns "optics" which is just another way of saying "identity politics". This is how the American Left views politics and it explains why it has been largely unsuccessful for the past 30 years or so.

As long as you only consider "optics" or "image", you're going to misread mainstream American voters.

But look. Let me take your idea of young vs. old. It's not even true that Americans prefer young in their choice of President. (JFK and TR were exceptions. Bush Jnr is in his 60s.)

About 75 members of the Republican National Committee were shown a PowerPoint presentation at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel outlining the main attacks that should be used against Mr Obama. They included his inexperience and lack of qualification to be commander-in-chief, according to the printed version of the presentation, first obtained by the political website Politico.com.

The third point stated that against Mr Obama, Republicans can be confident when it comes to “issues” — a clear reference to religious and values voters, and signalling that Mr Obama’s past drug use will inevitably be used against him.

Times

[oreodontist]

.

Obama is going to go for a seasoned veteran conservative demo Senator as his Veep. If its Clinton she will simply pick a Clinton loyalist further isolating herself.

Clinton adds nothing to an Obama ticket. Plus she won't accept second banana. He goes with someone who can help win Ohio, Pennsylania, etc.

Clinton, in contrast, will want and needs Obama on the ticket. It's in his interest to help her win and he is then the heir apparent in 2016.

McCain is in a tougher spot. Picking a social conservative will help cede the middle to Obama or Clinton. He makes the whackos happy but loses the election.

[August1991]

A League of Democracies?

''We cannot build an enduring peace, based on freedom by ourselves, and we do not want to. We have to strengthen our global alliances as the core of a new global compact - a league of democracies - that can harness the vast influence of the more than one hundred democratic nations around the world to advance our values and defend our shared interests,'' McCain said, naming India, Japan, Australia, Brazil, South Korea, South Africa, Turkey and Israel, among democratic countries that should wield greater influence on events.

...

''Rather than tolerate Russia's nuclear blackmail or cyber attacks, Western nations should make clear that the solidarity of Nato, from the Baltic to the Black Sea, is indivisible and that the organization's doors remain open to all democracies committed to the defense of freedom,'' McCain said.

...

''We have enemies for whom no attack is too cruel, and no innocent life safe, and who would, if they could, strike us with the world's most terrible weapons.

"There are states that support them, and which might help them acquire those weapons because they share with terrorists the same animating hatred for the West, and will not be placated by fresh appeals to the better angels of their nature.

"This is the central threat of our time, and we must understand the implications of our decisions on all manner of regional and global challenges could have for our success in defeating it,'' McCain said, continuing to blur the line between Iraq and the more toxic regimes that drew the US into the so-called war on terror.

Times of India

There's always a touch of lofty naivety in the ideas of an incoming president. Getting from A to B often requires deals that are less than ideal. Nevertheless, McCain isn't talking about the UN (pretty much dead now). And McCain is making it plain that he wants to work in concertation with allies.