tdaxp

Following a link from Half Sigma, I took Glassboth's Election 2008 comparison test. Top candidates for me were

John MccCain... 80%
Mike Huckabee... 71%
Ron Paul... 60%
Barack Obama... 50%
Hillary Clinton... 43%
Mike Gravel... 43%

Regarding John McCain, the tdaxp Candidate, my results by topic were:

Taxes and Budget... very similar
Iraq and Foreign Policy... very similar
Trade and Economics... very similar
Immigration... very similar
Health Care... similar
Abortion and Birth Control... similar
Medical Marijuna and Drug Policy... very different

Vote McCain!

Because Meghan McCain wants you to.



(Courtesy Blogette, Half Sigma and gnxp.)

There's been some chatter than John McCain is less conservative (but which I guess they mean less free trade, less national defense, etc) than Mitt Romney or other candidates in the race.

Is this true?

The most important moral issue of the 2008 campaign will be the murder of children -- that form of infanticide commonly called abortion. The most important national security issue will be federalism, our 5GW defense in depth against all enemies, observed and hidden. On both of these questions, institutional pressures will almost certainly make the Republican candidate the best choice, whatever his personal beliefs. But such between-group differences does not indicate which candidate from within each party is the best choice.

However, some thinking does. John McCain should be the next President of the United States.

Opposing McCain should be Barack Obama, the best choice for Democratic Party nominee for President in 2008.



America "needs" none of the candidates. We already have the people, the wealth, the rulesets to get by just fine until 2009. Likewise, few selections would be truly terrible. Indeed, of the major candidates only John Edwards would be an actual disaster.

Indeed, I don't agree with either Senator or McCain or Senator Clinton and many issues. And I may be closer on Hillary Clinton in foreign policy than I am to Barack Obama. But the fact remains: John McCain and Barack Obama are the best candidates for 2008, especially if they run against each other.

There are two reasonable approaches to our long war to shrink the Afro-Islamic Gap. One is to go on the offensive: roll back rogue states, building up the infrastructure needed to shrink the Gap. The other is to build a strong defense: move beyond the politics of fear and emphasize the things that make us strongest.

Over the years and decades to come, we will need both of these approaches. These perspectives will help us shrink the gap, building up what we do best while marginalizing the little American Right and the anti-American Left.

Other candidates will still help us when, but they will not be as good. Hillary Clinton's style is so bad that it will hurt the country. Mitt Romney does not have the stubbornness that is so valuable in negotiation. Joe Biden is a one-trick pony. Rudy Giuliani's place has been eclipsed by John McCain's rise.

In tone, seriousness, and importance, and wisdom, no Republican matches John McCain. And no Democrat matches Barack Obama.

Vote McCain. Vote Obama.

"Congress open to passing bill on immigration," by Charles Hurt, Washington Times, 4 December 2006, http://www.washtimes.com/national/20061204-122448-1240r.htm.

Though there are missteps, such as John Bolton losing his job, all in all I am glad that the Democrats have won control of the House. Their crazier ideas, such as giving Murtha or Hastings power, have come to naught, and all in all they have been a good influence. First it was the remasculinization of George Bush's Iraq rhetoric, and now:

Congress will approve an immigration bill that will grant citizenship rights to most of the 12 million to 20 million illegal aliens in the U.S. after Democrats take control next month, predict both sides on Capitol Hill.

While Republicans have been largely splintered on the issue of immigration reform, Democrats have been fairly unified behind the principle that the illegals currently in the country should get citizenship rights without having to first leave the country.

"Years of dawdling have worsened our border security and made it harder to fix this broken system," said Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who will lead the Judiciary Committee next year. "We should not let partisan politics and intolerance continue to delay and derail effective reform."

Democrats in both chambers say they will start with some form of legislation first drafted by Sens. John McCain, Arizona Republican, and Edward M. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat, which was the basis for the bill that was approved earlier this year by the Senate.

This is great news, and will help unify North America. Mexican labor will flow to the United States, becoming American labor, while remittances sent back to Mexico will help tie together our economies.



The alternative to a growing United States is joining dying Europe --- a land of low birth rates and low national hopes.

That is not America's destiny.

"More McCain Reality," by Scott Shields, MyDD, 4 December 2005, http://mydd.com/story/2005/12/4/123325/460.

Scott Shields, of the partian Democrat but genius blog MyDD, outlines reasons for me to love John McCain in 2008.

It's all right there. McCain is a Bush loyalist whose position on Iraq is 'stay the course.' Another issue York touches on in the article is one that I've heard Democrats give McCain credit for -- fiscal responsibility. To many, McCain's attacks on pork barrel spending are a nice change of pace from the profligate spending of the last few years of Republican leadership. But John McCain's definition of pork might be different from theirs. Sure, both sides may agree on the infamous Alaskan 'Bridge to Nowhere,' but I strongly doubt that many Democratic McCainiacs support the privatization of Social Security that McCain does.

Just two McCain quotes from the recent Ari Berman article in The Nation, "The Real McCain," says quite a bit about how far McCain is willing to go to solidify his support from the GOP extremes. He refers to campaigning for Bush in 2004 as "one of the proudest moments of my life." On Larry King's show on CNN, he said, "I admire the religious right for the dedication and zeal they put into the political process." That second quote might be defensible as relatively objective if it weren't coming from someone who is going to rely on "the dedication and zeal" of the extremists to win in 2008. Personally speaking, there's nothing I find admirable about the religious right's attacks on anyone who doesn't endorse their bigotry.

Returning to the New Republic article, York quotes McCain saying some surprisingly incendiary things about Democrats that he's already backpedalling from. This morning on 'Meet the Press,' McCain seemed to imply that the quotes were taken out of context. If that's true, they were taken out of context by someone who seems to support him. But I don't buy the out of context idea anyway, as these are pretty simple statements without much room for misinterpretation. Much more likely is the explanation that notoriously loose-lipped McCain said some things he now regrets.

With his war hero credibility, McCain is able to dismiss the calls of some of his fellow lawmakers--and fellow veterans--who want to get out of Iraq. John Kerry, McCain says, doesn't have "the strength to see it through." And John Murtha is "a lovable guy," but "he's never been a big thinker; he's an appropriator." Using language that Bush never could, McCain tells me that Murtha has become too emotional about the human cost of the war. "As we get older, we get more sentimental," McCain says. "And [Murtha] has been very, very affected by the funerals and the families. But you cannot let that affect the way you decide policy."

tdaxp guest blogger Aaron, a liberal Democrat, has said that he prefers John McCain to Hillary Clinton in 2008. Your thoughts Aaron?

"Washington Whispers: Is Anybody Not Running?," U.S. News and World Report, 11 April 2005, http://www.usnews.com/usnews/politics/whispers/articles/050411/11whisplead_2.htm (from South Dakota Politics).

If for no other reasons that to redeem South Dakota (for giving the world George McGovern) and annoy the South Dakota Left (for saying that only Daschle could have clout), this would be great news

We've got more names to add to the growing list of 2008 presidential hopefuls. On the Democratic side, pen in Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin. Allies say his trip south last week was the first of many to red states where he hopes to push his progressive agenda. On the GOP side, add rookie South Dakota Sen. John Thune, who took down former Democratic leader Tom Daschle . Senior Republicans say he's being groomed for a veep or even presidential run. Include Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty . Insiders love his record of balancing the budget, boosting education, and protecting the environment. Finally: ousted Environmental Protection Agency chief Christie Whitman , the former moderate New Jersey guv.

John Thune is a social conservative -- Democrat Senator Tim Johnson once called Thune's supporters "The Taliban Wing of the Republican Party." Thune would be useful if the party nominates someone not from the religious wing, like Senator McCain or Secretary Rice.

(I've said that I don't want McCain as President, but McCain / Thune would assure me. A Thune pick would show that McCain has sympathy for the Right. Additionally, John is a good guy and immune to charges of hypocrisy.).

Of course, if a movement conservative like Governor Bush wins the '08 primaries, then Thune would become redundant.

Bush/Rice or McCain/Thune in '08
Either ticket would be great

"McCain, Clinton Nominate Presidents of Georgia And Ukraine for Nobel Peace Prize," by Hillary Clinton and John McCain, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton Online Office and U.S. Senator John McCain, http://clinton.senate.gov/~clinton/news/2005/2005126715.html and http://mccain.senate.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=NewsCenter.ViewPressRelease&Content_id=1509, 26 January 2005 (from South Dakota Politics).

Two politicians, neither of whom I want to be President, are both clear strategic thinkers. Either of them would be a good leader in the Global War on Terrorism

Both presidents have displayed a commitment to peace and the rule of law in removing authoritarian governments. Their leadership has allowed millions in Georgia and Ukraine to reclaim their democratic system and to build a society based on law and individual rights.

We believe that the actions of Presidents Saakashvili and Yushchenko testify to the power of peace and human rights in their battle against oppression. Recognizing these men with the Peace Prize would honor not only their historic roles in Georgia and Ukraine, but would also offer hope and inspiration to those seeking freedom in lands still denied it.

The peaceful revolutions in Georgia and the Ukraine are heartening. It shows the continual yearning of eastern Europeans for democracy. From 1989 to 1991 they threw off the bonds of Communism. And now they are liberating themselves from goonish Russian influence. Perhaps soon the peaceful revolutions will spread to Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Muscovy itself.

Good for them. For the Clinton and McCain for coming together to reward them. And good for the world.