A Rerun Worth Rereading

I got into a discussion on Facebook the other day about the recent GOP debates, and whether the GOP candidates would be preferable to the current president. An old friend of mine argued that our current president is the most intelligent president we've ever had (and for the record, I feel he's not the most intelligent president we've had in the last ten years). I was trying to articulate my feelings on Mr. Obama, but I think it's pretty-well summed up by the blog I wrote on election day 2008. I'm reposting it, it's very long so don't say I didn't warn you, but definately take some time and read it if you want to know where my head is; feel free to leave intelligent and constructive commentary, but I will delete any personal or insulting attacks.

Why I Voted How I Voted (Originally published Nov 4, 2008)

I haven't written a political commentary in a long time, so I figured what better time to write one than on election day. I just got home from voting, and I'm sure it won't surprise anyone that I voted for John McCain. Not that anyone gives a flying rat's a**, but I have a LONG list of reasons why. There are three key areas, those being Security, Economy and Philosophy/Personal.
On the issue of security, there are two reasons I support McCain, those being threats/appeasement, and Iraq. Obama's judgement on threats concerns me...when Russia invaded Georgia a couple months ago, his response was to say that both sides should exercise restraint. That's somewhat troubling...so you're arguing that a tiny little country that just got overrun by its big thug of a neighbor should take it slowly and not get all pissed off? Yea THAT makes sense. Then there's the situation with Iran...Mr. Obama said that Iran is a tiny country that doesn't pose much of a threat. Um...excuse me, Senator...a country that has held Americans hostage before, and is currently funding and training the Iraqi resistance which is killing American troops, has threatened to blow the US' key middle-eastern ally off the map, and is actively pursuing nuclear weapons technology is not a threat?? And did I hear you say that you want to sit down with the president of Iran without precondition? Don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with reaching out to our enemies to try to solve the issues betwen us. BUT, before I'd be willing to do that, there'd have to be some terms...give up the nukes, stop funding the Iraqi insurgancy IMMEDIATELY, and if you mess with Israel, you will be flattened. Agree to that, and we can talk. Don't agree, and all you're going to get from me is sanctions.
That brings us to Iraq...Senator Obama has had a major plank of his campaign on the fact that the war in Iraq was a mistake, that we went in based on lies, and that he was opposed to it all along. First off, you weren't even in the Senate yet when the decision to go into Iraq was made, so how you felt at the time really isn't all that relevant. Secondly, and listen to me closely...based on the information we had available at the time, the decision to go into Iraq was correct. I conceed that we royally screwed up once we got in there, but had I been president in 2003, I would have made the same decision to invade that the current administration made, and here's why: The decision to invade was based on a few key points; primarily being the concern that Saddam possessed weapons of mass destruction and the concerns that he'd use them himself or supply them to terrorists. I acknowledge that, once we got into Iraq we learned that Saddam did not in fact possess WMD. BUT, we did not know that at the time, for two key reasons.
As you may recall, Colin Powell made a presentation to the United Nations before the invasion that made the US case for attack. In this speech, he referred to information provided by a defector from Saddam's inner circle, who testified that Saddam did have WMD. Opponants have argued that this presentation constitued a Bush administration lie designed to mislead the world into supporting an attack. The fact of the matter is that there was a lie involved in that presentation, but it was not a lie on the part of Sec. Powell or the administration. According to a story that aired on the show "60 Minutes" (a show that has been no friend to the Bush administration and has no reason to lie in their favor), this defector, codenamed "Curveball", did indeed testify and provide documentation of Saddam's WMD stockpiles. This evidence convinced not only the US and UK, but also France and Germany, who acknowledged the threat but did not endorse an attack, that these weapons existed. What we did not know at the time was that that evidence submitted by Curveball was a fabrication. He has since admitted that he fabricated the evidence he presented, in order to benefit himself. Thus...even though we now know the evidence was bogus, we did not at the time, and in the presense of a threat, the decision to go was correct.
Secondly, another report on another episode of "60 Minutes" covered an interview with the FBI agent who interrogated Saddam after his capture. According to this agent, Saddam himself admited that he specifically WANTED the US to think he had WMD when he did not. He was afraid he'd be invaded, and thought the threat of using WMD against American troops would scare us away from attacking. Given the combination of the bad intelligence and Saddam's own desire to intimidate us, the decision was correct based upon the information that was available. Knowing what we know now, we should have maybe done things differently, and we definately should have handled it differently once we got in, but the fact of the matter is we ARE there, and we need to finish it correctly. With Senator McCain's military background, I believe he is the better choice to do that.
The second major area is the economy. Senator McCain's economic plan makes more sense to me than does Sen. Obama's. Obama wants to let the Bush tax cuts "expire"...well that would be a tax increase. Additionally, he wants to raise the capital gains and other taxes. We're in a recession...I've studied economics, and you don't raise taxes in a recession. The only way to get out of a recession is to jump-start the economy. You do that by putting money into the economy to generate sales, which generates manufacturing, etc. Look at it this way...say you make $100. If your tax rate is 15% that means they take $15 out of your pay, so you have $85 in your pocket. In a recession, there's inflation which means things cost more, so your $85 doesn't go as far as it did before the economy tanked. Now, say you get an economic stimulus rebate or a tax cut like most tax payers got under Bush. Now you might have $90 dollars to spend instead of $85. If you spend that $90, the person you buy stuff from makes money, and spends that money to buy more stuff from the manufacturer. The manufacturer makes money and uses it to buy supplies. The supplier buys raw materials from the company you work for, so therefore you make more money, and next time you have $110 to spend, so you buy more, and the pattern continues. If instead, Senator Obama lets the tax cuts expire and raises the capital gains tax, you might only have $78 to spend instead of $85. How is that going to get the economy going?
Also, there's the whole Joe-the-plumber, "spread the wealth around" bit. Obama's argument there is that, under the Bush plan, a lot of people didn't get a tax cut or a rebate, and that's true, but it's not the whole story. The tax that got cut, and that the rebates came from, is the Federal Income Tax. What Obama didn't tell you is that NOT EVERYONE PAYS THAT TAX!!! People that make under a certain amount (I don't remember it offhand) do not pay federal income tax, and it's kidna hard to cut zero. Now, Obama said that those folks do still pay into Social Security and Medicare, and they should get a rebate on that. But, what he didn't mention is that THEY ALREADY DO. There's someting called the Earned Income Tax Credit that people who make under a certain amount (I don't remember it offhand either but it's above the amount that pays zero income tax so even if you pay tax you can still get it) get, and that EITC is a direct rebate on your SS/Medicare taxes. So, if you didn't get a tax rebate check, it's because you don't pay that tax, and if you make little enough money that you don't pay federal tax, you already get your SS/Medicare tax money back. Therefore, if Obama were to "spread the wealth around" as he says, the only way to do that would be to take money from people who earned it and give it to people who did not earn it. That's welfare, and that's socialism. And that's not right. Definately take care of the poor, but don't take my hard-earned money and give it to someone else.
Then there's the personal/philosophical angle, and it's a big one in my mind. Not only does Obama have some very questionable views and opinions, there's a nausiating double standard being levied against the Republicans, and it's really pissing me off. Mr. Obama has some very shady associations...he spent 20 years in a church led by a pastor who is frankly disgusting. Everyone has a right to their opinion, and the right to support their minister, but if my parish priest ever stood up in church and said "God damn America", I'd stand up and say "God damn you, Father", and walk out. For Obama to argue that he didn't know Reverend Wright felt that way is pure bullshit. He had to know it, and he obvioulsy didnt have a problem with it. He has the right to his views, but I simply do not want my brother's commander in chief to be someone who willingly stood by and let his pastor talk like that for so long. Then there's William Ayers, the unrepentant terrorist who blew up the US Capitol, FBI Headquarters and the NYPD Headquarters, and said on 9/11/2001 he wished he'd done more, and in whose house Barack Obama started his political career. I was forced to read one of Dr. Ayers' books when I was in college, and the guy's a nutcase radical, pure and simple. I question the judgement of a man who willingly associated with him, regardless of when he committed his crimes. Also, the argument that Obama was in the second grade or whatever when Ayers was committing his bombings is pure bullshit. Let me ask you this...if it came out that Senator McCain was endorsed by and had served on a board with someone who burned crosses as a member of the KKK between 1968-73, would the fact that Senator McCain was in a POW camp at the time matter, or would the liberals be screaming that he was a racist for associating with him? I think we all know the answer to that one.
Then, finally there's Obama's personal views. One particular law Obama voted against burns my blood...there was a situation in Illinois where a woman had an abortion, but it was botched, and the baby was born alive. The baby was literally thrown in a garbage can and left to die; thank God someone found him and comforted him until he died 45 minutes later. The Illinois legislature proposed a law that would require that full medical care be given to any child born as the result of a botched abortion. There was one "No" vote...State Senator Barack Obama. His reasoning for voting no was that the bill would "put an unfair burden on a woman's right to choose." I know a lot of people will not agree with what I'm about to say, but I respectfully submit that a woman does not have a right to choose abortion...I see no way that anyone can logically argue that human life does not begin at the moment of conception, and therefore, performing an abortion is a violation of THAT person's right to control his or her own body. Respectfully, Roe v. Wade was an ill-advised decision, and abortion should be illegal because it deprives a human being of his or her right to life. BUT, I'm not even taking offense w/Obama because of that...NOBODY argues that a baby is not a human being after it is born, but Obama put a woman's "right to choose" ahead of a living, breathing, human being's right to stay alive. In my mind, with all due respect, that is a pathetic and disgusting order of priorities, and while it's not my place to judge, probably disqualifies Mr. Obama from eternal salvation unless he repents his view. I'm sure I'm pissing some people off, but I have as much right to my opinion as anyone else, right?
At the very end of my diatribe comes a remark Mr. Obama made to a group in San Francisco (I have some readers in the SF area...nothing personal!). He made a remark that people in rural Pennsylvania are "frustrated Americans clinging to their guns and bibles" because they were opposed to San Franscisco values. Well, I don't live in rural Pennsylvania, I live in a medium-sized town in Ohio. Guess what? I am a frustrated American...I'm frustrated that we have judges in liberal states ignoring the Constitution and imposing liberal views on things such as abortion and gay marriage on people without a vote. I'm frustrated that I've literally had liberal people tell me "there is no room in diversity (just for the record i HATE that word) for conservative viewpoints". I'm frustrated that people automatically dismiss the views of people who disagree with them. I'm frustrated that Sarah Palin's clothes and her 17 year old daughter's sex life are legitimate issues, but Barack Obama's racist, anti-American minister and cop-killing, building-bombing friends "don't really matter" because Obama wasn't there at the time. I'm not a hunter, but I believe in the right of a law-abiding citizen to own a firearm for sport and personal protection, so yea I cling to my gun. And guess what? I'm pretty religious...I'm not a "Bible-thumping Jesus preacher" type and I don't try to impose my beliefs on anyone else, but don't you dare insult my beliefs or try to minimalize me because of them.
I always say "There's a difference between being a patriot and being a nationalist, and I'm a nationalist." I believe we live in the greatest country that ever has or ever will exist on this Earth. I care about my country, I believe in democracy, and I reserve the right to bomb the living hell out of anyone who wants to mess with it. I support my troops, especially my brother who's currently deployed again. I recognize and respect your right to disagree with me and to vote for "the other guy" if you so choose, and I only ask that you recognize and respect my right to do the same. If there are any survivors who read this far, thanks for letting me preach for a while, and I hope you didn't take TOO much offense at what I've had to say, but I'm pretty passionate about what I believe in. Regardless of what happens in the next few hours, this will still be the greatest country in the world, and I will stand behind my president, even if I have to start work tomorrow to defeat him in 2012. I think it's fantastic that we have a war hero and a bi-racial man who grew up on the wrong side of the tracks in a broken home as our choices for president...I happen to side with the one a lot moreso than the other, but just because I think the other's gonna burn in hell doesn't mean I wouldn't shoot a game of hoops or have a beer with him. At the end of the day, it comes down to this: Why did I vote the way I voted? I voted the way I voted because I belive in the message presented by the candidate I support. I voted the way I voted because I disagree with his worthy opponant's message. I voted the way I voted because millions of Americans who were braver than me fought and died to earn me the right and responsibility to take part in my government and make my voice heard. I voted the way I voted because thousands of Americans like my brother are currently fighting to make sure I don't lose that right and responsibility. I voted the way I voted because I live in the greatest country in the world and that's how we roll. Why did I vote the way I voted? Because I can!!!