Re: The virtues and vices of McCain [split: Obama survives…]
You offer a false choice. Do you feel the same way if the foreign soil was Pakistan?
You dont have to fight a war in either place, Iraq was completely a war of choice, as will be Iran, as will be Pakistan (God forbid)
He criticized Bush’s handling of the war, not the war itself. He actually said that he would’ve started the Iraq war, regardless of wmd. transcript/video
Too bad McCain has the same stance on immigration as the more leftist of democrats. As for socialized medicine, true that is one problem with the democrats, but it is unconscionable to prefer killing lots of Muslims versus possibly paying higher taxes.
Unfortunately for you McCain is not a small-government conservative. He is all for pushing a certain worldview on the world and on america. The only thing that will change is what those views are.
He has actually been involved in pushing for federal legislation overriding local laws (see legislation by him concerning Indian reservations)
The election will effect me to the extent that it will effect every Muslim. It will influence whether or not torture is okay, whether or not the war is expanded, whether or not Pakistan is further destabilised by a more jingoistic president rather than one that atleast doesnt proclaim his desire to bomb people in song. All I strongly care about is the foreign policy positions, which is why the liberal baggage doesnt matter as much to me.
That said I do believe in small government, and as a casual observer tend to prefer it when libertarian ideas win over. Sadly small-government doesnt have a horse in this race :). Its either socialist big-government, or national-greatness neo-imperialistic big government.