I can't agree with Triton that McCain and Joe Farah that McCain is bad for this country because he may forestall a day of reckoning for this country. If anything, the fact that his positions do closely mirror Obama's positions in some areas suggest that we won't be that far off with McCain, and McCain's penchant for military aggression could certainly cause a day of reckoning in its own right. However, I think McCain is preferable on the grounds that Obama has gone off the deep end into acting like he is a modern day messiah, and has built up the foundation for a cult of personality about him.
Maybe it's just my overactive imagination from having read the chapters in Liberal Fascism about Woodrow Wilson and FDR's administration, but I could easily see an Obama administration returning us to the hard fascism of Wilson with the cult of personality that FDR had about him. McCain, even if he want to do that, wouldn't be able to get us there, and I think Obama has already showed that in his personality, not necessarily his platform, but in his personality, he has all of the makings of a god complex-addled despot.
It may surprise some of you to know that I was actually thinking about voting for Obama in the general election until he started act like Fruitcake Socialist Black Jesus. Back in the primaries he seemed clearly preferrable to Clinton, and at least no worse than McCain. I wanted to punish the Republicans as much as the next Ron Paul supporter for giving us McCain, but you know what? The last thing this country needs is another president with a cult of personality around him because that is one serious change for the worse that I think won't bring about the changes anyone wants because we no longer have the sort of strong cultural opposition to resist it.
Maybe it's just my overactive imagination from having read the chapters in Liberal Fascism about Woodrow Wilson and FDR's administration, but I could easily see an Obama administration returning us to the hard fascism of Wilson with the cult of personality that FDR had about him. McCain, even if he want to do that, wouldn't be able to get us there, and I think Obama has already showed that in his personality, not necessarily his platform, but in his personality, he has all of the makings of a god complex-addled despot.
It may surprise some of you to know that I was actually thinking about voting for Obama in the general election until he started act like Fruitcake Socialist Black Jesus. Back in the primaries he seemed clearly preferrable to Clinton, and at least no worse than McCain. I wanted to punish the Republicans as much as the next Ron Paul supporter for giving us McCain, but you know what? The last thing this country needs is another president with a cult of personality around him because that is one serious change for the worse that I think won't bring about the changes anyone wants because we no longer have the sort of strong cultural opposition to resist it.
I agree with you. I am not a fan of McCain, but Obama does have this following that concerns me.
I'm kind of the opposite. Obama has shown a propensity to make the kind of stupid mistakes and surround himself with the kind of amateurs that will ensure that as soon as his novelty wears off, he will find himself in a Carteresque funk. While college kids may find him messianic, it's pretty certain that his Senate colleagues do not, and they are the ones who will matter. I suspect they have far more respect for (and will show more deference to) McCain.
That said, I don't think either of them is better, they are simply worse in marginally different ways.
That may be true, but then the teeming masses who buy into the cult of personality are the ones you have to worry about, not the peers of the despot who see him as just another normal guy.
"It may surprise some of you to know that I was actually thinking about voting for Obama"
Actually I am surprised in you. but that's more a reflection of me than anything. I had a dislike for Obama from the start...his later foibles just cemented my poor opinion of him. I never really understood how people can be so excited about another standard-cut democrat who possesses more than average skin pigmentation.
I think your cult of personality point is a good one. That's the danger with Obama...his policies are standard left-lib progressive...but the fact that he is such a smooth orator makes him quite dangerous with the mob.
And I disagree with ElB--Obama's capturing of the mob-media combine will be more important than the Democrat Senate. They'll follow their constituency, rather than the other way around.
Reminds me of the Athenian-style democracy that I've read about in Thucydides, where the person with the best-sounding argument carries the day. Sounds just like how we elect chief executives. That we haven't come too terribly far with our decision-making systems in 3000 years of western civ is kinda depressing.
I can't agree with Triton that McCain and Joe Farah that McCain is bad for this country because he may forestall a day of reckoning for this country.
I don't think that.
My point was that Joe Farah is not on the McCain bandwagon. That's the "good for Joe" part. That doesn't mean I agree with Joe's reasons.
It's probably not exactly the classiest thing to wear to your wedding either. Especially considering the fact that there is always a chance that the bride will get caught wearing it because wedding photographers frequently take pictures of the preparation of the bride's dress.