Saturday, June 28, 2008

You almost had me, Bob.

I try to look at what candidates are doing, not what they're saying. So, I was disappointed to find my friend Mr. Hanna seemingly ready to drink the McCain Kool-Aid after he listened to Senator Palpatine talk.

I hear McCain saying all the right things, but then I look at what he's doing as a Senator to advance these issues. And I don't find much of anything.

But I shouldn't be surprised. I myself, after listening to a Bob Barr interview, was almost ready to drink the Barr-Aid. Barr's no longer in a position where he COULD do much of anything to advance his new-found libertarian ideology, even if he wanted to, so all we have to judge him on IS his words. He might sincerely regret his authoritarian past, and the only thing he can do about it is say he was wrong.

So I was ALMOST ready to give him the benefit of the doubt.

That is, until 5:02 - 5:22.



What's so hard to understand about the concept that the government should not be in the business of dictating the genders of the participants in a private contract?

1 comment:

Tom Hanna said...

I don't drink anyone's Kool-Aid; I mix my own Kool-Aid Plus. Hopefully the topic and opening line didn't mislead you. I was commenting more on McCain's recent conversion, albeit under pressure, to the need for more energy production, preferably closer to our shores.

This isn't even a "lesser of two evils" election. McCain's great sin was committed 7 years ago, signed by Bush and unfortunately upheld by a Supreme Court that can find the balls to defend foreign mass murderers but not our own right to free speech. The issue today is a choice between higher payroll taxes, a windfall profits tax, continued ban on offshore drilling, socialized medicine, higher capital gains taxes, hostility to markets, and, if these things go as they usually do, habeas free re-education camps for US citizens versus lower taxes, lower federal spending, reintroducing free markets into health care, drilling here, a generally market friendly approach (including cap-and-trade - a Heritage/Cato idea from the 80s) and shutting down Camp Delta. I set aside personal distaste over one issue because the stakes on so many other issues are so high.

When it comes to Kool-Aid, though, my willingness to drink McCain's is in direct proportion to the outrageous Kool-Aid drinking of the Ron Paul Truthers who, having lost the election stunningly insist it's still their right to control the outcome.