Why John McCain Should NOT Be US President:
This post is actually a bit difficult for me to write. As a person, I like John McCain. He is a war hero and a genuinely decent person. In 2000 he ran a principled campaign in the primaries but was brought down by Karl Rove style attack tactics.
Unfortunately, the John McCain of 2008 is not the John McCain of 2000. He has sold out on almost everything he stood for eight years ago, including the very Karl Rove attacks he once denounced. So here are a few reasons why I believe that John McCain should NOT be elected President of the United States:
1. His Erratic Response to the Wall Street Collapse: First, John McCain made the Herbert Hooveresque statement that, "the fundamentals of the economy are sound" only to retract that statement. He then said he would not show up for the first Presidential debate claiming he needed to help work out a bailout deal on Capitol Hill (even though evidence shows that his presence there was counter-productive). Then, even while there was no deal, and after much drama, he did show up to the debate.
John McCain's erratic behaviour, and inconsistent statements, show a poor temperment for a potential Commander in Chief.
2. Poor Judgment: Picking Sarah Palin as VP: Sarah Palin is clearly unqualified to be Vice President, she has only been Governor of Alaska for twenty months, before that being mayor of a town of 7,000 people. In interviews, she has not been able to display even basic knowledge of national and international affairs. Her views on issues such as abortion are extreme -- she opposes abortion even in cases of incest and rape. Why did McCain pick someone so clearly unqualified for the post, so clearly clueless about national and international affairs? Why did he pick someone with such extremist and fundamentalist views? If something happened to McCain and she became President, it would be a truly horrific affair.
Furthermore, she was not even properly vetted. McCain had only met her once face to face, and he seemed oblivious to the Troopergate scandal where she abused her power as Governor.
John McCain's hasty and ill-considered VP pick clearly displays poor judgment which further makes him unsuitable for the Presidency of the United States.
3. Out of Touch: Republicans accuse Obama of being an "elitist", John McCain tries to play the common-man with his constant repetition of "Joe the Plumber", but McCain owns seven houses and is clearly out of touch with the needs of ordinary Americans. John McCain is trying to promote his plan for tax cuts to the wealthy who don't need them, while denouncing Barack Obama's plan to give greater tax cuts to the middle class with erratic calls of "socialism" and "Marxism."
John McCain is clearly out of touch with the needs of ordinary Americans as he's focussed more on tax cuts for the rich, and on a $150,000 wardrobe for his VP, rather than on helping Americans up in painful economic times.
4. One Hundred Years in Iraq: John McCain is a foreign policy hawk, he supports a militaristic foreign policy that would include alienating Russia and China and setting off another Cold War. Furthermore, John McCain wants to keep troops in Iraq even though the Iraqi government wants out, even despite the fact that the Bush administration is now negotiating a withdrawal (in this respect McCain is not just a continuation of destructive Bush policies, he would go further than even Bush and Cheney's wildest dreams).
For McCain, the destructiveness of war is a joke, as seen with his refrain of "Bomb Bomb Bomb Iran."
John McCain will be a clear danger to the World, even worse than Bush, if he is allowed to enact his hawkish foreign policy agenda.
5. McBush: On a militaristic and unilateralist foreign policy, on a domestic policy of unaffordable tax cuts for the rich which have driven America into deep deficits, John McCain has effectively endorsed George W. Bush's failed policies which have dragged America down the tubes (and in some cases, such as on foreign policy, would go even further than Bush). Furthermore, as a Senator, McCain voted with Bush over 90% of the time. All McCain's cries of "reformer" and "maverick" cannot hide this fundamental fact, that McCain is closely allied to the clearly disasterous foreign and domestic policies of George W. Bush and the hard-right of the Republican Party.
I hope my American friends make the right choice, and not allow this man to take office. It is true that the polls are trending clearly in Obama's favour, but the poll that truly matters is the one on election day and I won't feel assured until after November 4th. So please, to all those in the United States, get out and vote, vote out the Republicans, and vote to take your country back.
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