James Dobson Comes Out Against McCain

Why I am not Voting for John McCain

With John McCain’s recent rise in the polls and primary victory in New Hampshire, I have been forced to take a closer look at his candidacy for President. I have never been a supporter of him, but do not hate him either. Let me get the obligatory “He is an honorable man and served his country well both in the military and the government” out of the way. All of this is true, but is not nearly a good enough reason for me to support him for President. The following are the reasons that I have chosen not to support John McCain in the Republican Presidential primary.

The first reason that I am not supporting him for President is the most obvious, his age. Few political pundits are willing to admit it, but this is a major disadvantage in a general election for him. In American politics, we are always looking to elect the “next generation” of leadership. Senator McCain, would be a step towards electing the previous generation. President George W. Bush was born in 1946. Senator McCain was born in 1936. This means that Senator McCain will be 10 years older than the current president on the day that he would take office. Even more striking is that he is 25 years older than Barak Obama, 17 years older than John Edwards and 11 years older than Hillary Clinton.

The second reason that I am not supporting John McCain for president is his position on immigration. McCain has not been a strong supporter of securing our borders. Although the recent immigration bill he tried to pass did include a component of securing the borders, that was not what it came to be know for. It became known for being an “Amnesty Bill”. Whether or not you believe it was amnesty does not matter. McCain was not able to argue effectively to the American people that this bill was the right course of action. What makes us think that as President he will have any more success?

The third reason I am not supporting John McCain is that he has never been a strong proponent of tax cuts and fiscal discipline. McCain did not vote for President Bush’s tax cuts and still says that he would not vote for them. McCain does get some credit for his being against “pork barrel” spending, but this issue also shows McCain’s lack of being able to influence Washington as earmarking is still prevalent in government budgets.

A forth reason I am not supporting John McCain is that he has never been strong pro-life advocate. McCain will argue that he has a pro-life voting record and that may be true, but he has never conveyed that it is an important part of his political life.

The fifth reason that I am not supporting John McCain is his work on campaign finance reform. I believe that if it was up to John McCain we would have total public financing of elections. He has worked to limit the money that individuals and groups can spend in support of an issue or candidate. His famed McCain-Feingold bill is opposed by just about every important voice in the conservative movement as an attack on free speech.

The 6th and final reason that I will give in this article is perhaps the least purely logical reason, but still it is important. I believe that John McCain will “surprise” conservatives with something major that he does if he is elected president. McCain has been too willing to compromise conservative principles in the name of showing bipartisanship or progress for a specific issue. The McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill and the failed immigration bill and are both examples of this trait. Neither bill is based on American conservative philosophies.

I have not made my final decision yet on who I will vote for in the primary, although I am leaning toward a certain candidate. Connecticut votes on February 5th, so I will need to wait and see which candidates make it to that date before making my final decision.

Football Legends

Ted Stevens Alaskan Royalty

Neal Boortz had up a link to a good article by an Alaskan on how Senator Ted Stevens is viewed in Alaska. I thought it contained good background information for anyone looking at the current investigation of him to read.

Nomad and an interesting score

Nomad was playing a game on the boardwalk in Wildwood, New Jersey and got an interesting score.

Vote Democrat if you want to pay for Abortions

The 2 of the 3 major Democratic candidates have released some more details of their "Universal Health Care" plans and the include insurance that will pay for abortions for low income women. Senator Barack Obama and former Senator John Edwards both said that their plans include "contraceptive service" which include pregnancy termination. Hilary Clinton has not yet released her newest health care plan, but it is safe to assume that it will also include the same services. I could vote for someone who is pro choice, but probably couldn't vote for someone who thinks we should all pay for others to have abortions.

Yankee Stadium YMCA

We went to Yankee Stadium on Saturday and I took a short video of the grounds crew doing the YMCA song.

Fire Video

Here is a video I took of the smoke rising from the fire near my office.

MSNBC Democratic Debate Thoughts

I enjoyed watching the Democratic debate last night. Even as a Republican, I thought it was entertaining and informative. It was a good event for introducing our country to the candidates. MSNBC did a nice job of keeping the discussion moving and asking relevant questions.

As to my reactions to specific candidates. I believe that the biggest loser last night was Bill Richardson. I had thought that he would be a good candidate for the Democrats who could bridge the party and country back to the Clinton years without having all the negative baggage that Hillary Clinton has. But Richardson looked tired and unmotivated last night. He did not look like someone who would be a legitimate presidential nominee. I’m not saying this ended his presidential run, but he needs to turn around his campaign after that poor performance last night. I thought the wisest answers came from Joe Biden and Dennis Kucinich. Biden did a good job of answering the questions that were asked of him, but didn’t feel like he had to fill his 1 minute of allotted time. If the answer to a question took him 45 seconds, he ended there. If it could be answered in a sentence, then he ended there. Dennis Kucinich’s answers were the most well thought out and consistent with what he professes and is know to believe. (Except his assertion that he is the known for being a healer. Has anyone ever heard of him being someone who can bring people of different points of view together for the common good?)
Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama each did fine, but neither were fantastic. The one thing I would have liked to have seen out of Obama is for him to have a moment where he was inspiring. That is his reported strength and last night, he was not able to come across as inspiring. Chris Dodd did a nice job and his best statement, which should become his theme, was “We don’t need another President who needs years of on the job training.” Mike Gravel played an important American political role. He was decidedly politically left of everyone else on stage, but he is a true believer who is consistent in his ideology. He is a good tool for the other Democratic presidential candidates to use to sharpen their own words and positions as they react to his. Gravel did come off as “not mainstream” enough to be a serious contender, but that is not his role. John Edwards did fine, but did nothing to distinguish himself from the other candidates.

Tune in to MSNBC next Thursday to see the Republican candidates for President.

Dumb Criminals

Are you one of those people who loves the dumb criminal books and TV shows? Well while looking at my local TV stations website I saw an article where a thief tried to trade in a car he stole at the same dealership that he had stolen it from a month earlier. You can't make this stuff up.

Funny

1986 Mets meet Nintendo

This is just too Cool. Someone created the bottom of the 10th inning of game six of the 1986 World Series using the original RBI baseball for the Nintendo.

Foxtrot Politics

Tower of Death

I took this picture while doing a service call at a local University. It was in a little accessed tower of an old building on campus.



Sometimes, found nature is the most interesting kind.

Speed Bump Addresses New Religions in Old Testiment Times

Looking for a Cool Baseball Game?

Looking for a cool game? I recently got Baseball Mogul 2007 for the PC. It is a baseball simulation that uses real players from 1900-present. You can start in any year and take that team of lovable Losers and turn them into perennial winners. I have become addicted to this game and when I sit down to play it I can't stop. The people who make it are offering a free download of their 2006 version until June 30th. So, if you have always dreamed of controlling the destiny of multimillionaire, then I suggest that you try this game.

iFruit+Windows=Zombies

I think this may be many Mom's reactions to the news that you can now load Windows XP on new Mac computers.

Kirk Comes Back

Ever wonder what happened to Kirk Franklin? Well he is back with a new album. He talks about some personal struggles and his vision for the future in this article.

Goodbye Super Mario

Mario Lemieux of the Pittsburgh Penguins is going to retire today. Lemieux is 2nd best hockey player I ever saw. (Behind Wayne Gretsky.) Although I am a Rangers fan, I have always enjoyed watching Lemieux play and will miss having that opportunity in the future. I hope he is able to enjoy his retirement and I wish him the best.

Kobe Scores 81

Whether you like him or hate him, we need to recognize the great performance that Kobe Bryant put on last night. He scored 81 points in a game against the Toronto Raptors. That is the second highest individual point total in NBA history. The first is still Wilt Chamberlain's 100 points. Kobe has had ups and downs in recent years, but this year he has had many 40 point games and now has done something that Michael Jordan has not done. We should congratulate Kobe for his great day.