My view of the campaign lately

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:
And I'd like to add that I posted the link so people would read it. I hardly consider 5 months ago to be ancient history. When it comes to integrity and reputation, there's no statute of limitations.

What is the statute of limitations on inaccuracy? When the very first alleged misstatement is so easily refuted, wouldn't you begin to question your source?

Also, given that you work with military veterans, how do you feel about the fact that McCain was the only senator not to vote on the new GI Bill? He actually spoke in opposition to it, but couldn't manage to get to the Senate to vote.

[jsteele]

Okay, I'm going into full bash mode on McCain today. First, here is a nice commercial just out from the Obama campaign:

McCain puts Paris Hilton in a commercial? Well, Obama has found an even more notorious celebrity -- George Bush

Next, I see that McCain and his minions are making fun of Obama's recent suggestion that we keep our tires filled to the correct pressure in order to save gas. Perhaps these guys have been spending too much time in limos (or in McCain's case, his wife's private plane), and have forgotten about the importance of tire pressure. But, guess who knows about it? NASCAR. Here is what NASCAR has to say:

http://www.nascar.com/2006/auto/07/25/tires/

"With escalating fuel prices, the time is now for drivers to focus on simple things like proper tire pressure to maximize tire performance and increase fuel economy."

[Anonymous]

It's a presidential campaign for gosh sake. They're going to be mean and nitpicking and do their best to discredit each other. Let's face it, just the fact that someone wants to be president is probably a good reason not to elect them. But, it's what we have.

Can't someone ask some of the hard questions, like who are they going to bring into the cabinet with them? I don't want another fool like Rumsfeld and I also don't want another southern posse like Clinton and Carter brought on. I'd feel alot better about both of these candidates if I could get a good look at their handlers.

Do you think you could rise to that level of debate Jeff?

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:It's a presidential campaign for gosh sake. They're going to be mean and nitpicking and do their best to discredit each other. Let's face it, just the fact that someone wants to be president is probably a good reason not to elect them. But, it's what we have.

Can't someone ask some of the hard questions, like who are they going to bring into the cabinet with them? I don't want another fool like Rumsfeld and I also don't want another southern posse like Clinton and Carter brought on. I'd feel alot better about both of these candidates if I could get a good look at their handlers.

Do you think you could rise to that level of debate Jeff?

The question of who would be appointed to the cabinet is hard in the sense that it is difficult to answer because the candidates will not answer that question at this point. They haven't even said who they will choose for VP. Cabinet positions are subject to all sorts of political bargaining and used to appeal to various constituencies. One thing we can be sure of is that those chosen will not be picked because they are the best people for the job. Rather, the will be the ones best suited to assuaging a particular constituency.

So, the real issue is what constituencies does each candidate need to appease? For Obama, that is environmentalists, union members, feminists, multilateralists, those in favor of universal health care, and the "working class". For McCain, it is pro-lifers, Christian fundamentalists, big business, economic conservatives, neo-conservatives, anti-immigration fanatics, free traders, etc.

So, while we can't say, for instance, who will be Secretary of State, we can guess what type of person it will be. Obama will chose someone who believes in working in close cooperation with other countries, probably supports a strong UN, and is generally dovish when it comes to war. McCain will pick someone who favors a strong military posture, considers the UN to be near worthless, thinks that it is more important for the US to lead than to form coalitions, but who will also make improving US relations abroad important (because he will still have to clean up after Bush).

Either candidate is likely to go back to the well of officials from previous administrations, despite that one favors change and the other is a maverick. So you can expect to see a lot of familiar faces.

[Anonymous]

Recently McCain has:

1) confused Shia and Sunni Muslims;
2) identified General Petraeus at the Head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff;
3) mixed up the order of events in Iraq surrounding the surge;
4) talked about a non-existent Iraq - Pakistan border;
5) confused Somalia and Sudan;
6) and even mixed up the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers.

He (McCain) has also repeatedly refered to Czechoslovakia, which hasn't existed since 1993. I know this may seem like a niggly little point, but things like that matter when international diplomacy is already at an all-time low and the US is viewed as completely out-of-touch.

[Rich]

Anonymous wrote:It's a presidential campaign for gosh sake. They're going to be mean and nitpicking and do their best to discredit each other. Let's face it, just the fact that someone wants to be president is probably a good reason not to elect them. But, it's what we have.

Can't someone ask some of the hard questions, like who are they going to bring into the cabinet with them? I don't want another fool like Rumsfeld and I also don't want another southern posse like Clinton and Carter brought on. I'd feel alot better about both of these candidates if I could get a good look at their handlers.

Do you think you could rise to that level of debate Jeff?

You know how DC has set up an office to bargain with electricity suppliers as a consumer coop? How about the idea of voters joining in a coop and bargaining with the candidates to get real information, like cabinet choices, that would really give us reason to vote for one or the other. The MSM grabs onto dumb ads and often gives them much more free playtime than the campaigns actually pay for. If we can't count on the MSM to pressure candidates to get real, perhaps voters can do it ourselves.

An internet blog seems like the obvious venue for action of this sort; could we pull something like that off here? I don't think we have the visibility at this point, but I don't have a clear idea of a better place -- it ought to be someplace not associated with one side or the other.

Any suggestions?