( Recent photo of the author taken in an unguarded moment of political reflection!)
The Comment section of almost every Blog is a scream- the soapbox of America removed from Bug-House Square to the CyberWorld!
On Anklebiting Pundits - by far my favorite(click my post title for link there) - there is a cast of characters - sock-puppets mostly - who are a nice American political cross section. Two chums ( BLAKEMUSN - Good Angel v. RITEAIDBOB - Bad Angel) spit over the rail at one another yesterday:
blakemusn Says:
January 14th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
I guess I’m curious how people define conservative. Tax cuts in themselves are not necessarily the conservative mantra. Tax cuts accompanied by spending cuts are more in line with conservative thought. To say that George Bush or anyone that voted for his tax cuts is conservative without at the same time at least trying to reign in spending is, I think, missing the point. George Bush led the party during the largest expansion
John McCain has one of the most consistently conservative voting records in the Senate with the exception of the McCain-Feingold (although, the courts took all the teeth away from the law so we’ll never really know if it was an effective law to begin with). Furthermore Conservative champion Fred Thompson was a co-sponsor of this bill even though now he takes to criticizing it.
As a medical student and a brother of the pharmaceutical salesman, I’ve seen first hand the corruption of the pharmaceutical industry. They don’t need to be bribing physicians with trips, free text books, food etc to prescribe their drugs if they are in fact the best drug available. I’m not a big fan of government regulation and I realize there is a huge sunk cost in pharm R&D, but a little regulation in an industry where most people would agree that the end product (good health) is more than just a commodity. McCain did votes for allowing importation of drugs from Canada which I think would be a conservative position by the way (and I believe he voted against the Medicare Part D or whatever it is called as well).
McCain has one of the most conservative records on defense and pro-life issues (with the exception of maybe stem cells although a lot of conservatives are divided on this issue). I know a lot of people criticize his stance on water-boarding but I give a little more credence to someone who has probably been waterboarded (and to his buddy, Sen Graham, an AF JAG lawyer), than I do to people who’ve never put their life on the line for their country. I don’t think its too much to ask your government to actually obey the Geneva Conventions, which are, according to the constitution, the law of the land (I’m also in the military and have had to study this stuff extensively, so try me on this one)
And as for climate change, many economists (if they believe in anthropocentric climate change) support the cap and trade system because it effectively creates a market for reducing CO2 emission. While I am not a believer in the idea that there is a climate crisis or that humans are the primary cause of the recent slight elevations in temperature, reducing emissions of any kind is responsible stewardship of the God’s creation.
While he is not perfect, and certainly none of the candidates are, his long term record is consistently conservative and much more so than any of the other serious candidates (in which I no longer include Senator Thompson).
Riteaidbob Says:
January 14th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
blakemusn what drugs are you smoking? McCain is NOT a conservative in any respect.
Jesus wake up and smell the manure your spreading.
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