Share What You Don't Like About the Candidate You are Supporting

[Gawain 0]

It would be cool to see if we can be honest about what we dislike about the candidates we're backing.

For those that have been under a rock or without a computer, I'm supporting Sen. McCain.

There are two items that are at the top of my list that I do not like about some of his decisions:

1) McCain/Feingold Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 -- While I applaud the effort, and idea, I don't agree with the result. I believe it infringes on First Amendment rights, though the Supreme Court has upheld most of the law, it's one we must live with until we find the courage to change it. I don't get the sense that Sen. McCain or anyone wants to rise to that challenge.

2) McCain/Kennedy Fair Immigration Plan -- It was simply wrong - my list is too long.

So, how about you? If you're supporting Sen. Obama, what don't you like about him? Any Libertarians out there supporting Mr. Barr but have issues with shortcomings? et al...

So I try and I scream and I beg and I sigh
Just to prove I'm alive, and it's alright
'Cause tonight there's a way I'll make light of my treacherous life
Make light!

[klingeme 1]

He's old and doesn't support national healthcare.

[PhreeZone 20]

At this point I'm leaning towards Obama. Short comings that I have with his platform:

1) Windfall profit tax - stupid idea to start with, even stupider to put on the platform.
2) Heathcare plans - I don't like the current system but government sponsored is even worse off.
3) Social Security - not even being talked about but it is a major issue that both parties are ignoring.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[kallend 2,106]

1. I don't think he has a workable plan for reducing deficits (both federal and trade - the economy cannot sustain current levels of either).

2. Ditto for dealing with social security.

Hmmm... could describe both candidates.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[rushmc 23]

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1. I don't think he has a workable plan for reducing deficits (both federal and trade - the economy cannot sustain current levels of either).

2. Ditto for dealing with social security.

Hmmm... could describe both candidates.

Dam, this is going to hurt

Got to agree with you here.

"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

[rushmc 23]

After reading the few posts on this thread I have to wonder why any of us would vote for either of them

"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

[AWL71 0]

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After reading the few posts on this thread I have to wonder why any of us would vote for either of them

Exactly. I am not voting for McCain, rather I am voting against Obama.

The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help.

[livendive 8]

I'm definitely not a fan of Obama's stance on gun control. Like all major politicians, he wants entirely too much welfare for my taste. I don't really like the way he panders to urbanites, despite the fact I realize that's where most of the votes are, and I'm not sure how committed he is to balancing the budget.

Blues,
Dave

"I AM A PROFESSIONAL EXTREME ATHLETE!"
(drink Mountain Dew)

[NewGuy2005 53]

1) He's a philandering opportunist.

2) He's a liberal

[jcd11235 0]

Obama's healthcare plan is inadequate (although better than McCain's).

Math tutoring available. Only $6! per hour! First lesson: Factorials!

[Muenkel 0]

McCain is not pounding home the areas in which he does differ from GWB. He needs to do this as an offensive strategy, not defensive.

As O'Reilly pointed out, his using the phrase 'My friends' 87 times per paragraph drives me simply nuts.

There are others, but I'm pretty busy at the moment.

_________________________________________
Chris

[TheAnvil 0]

I'm voting against Sen. Obama.

Here are a few things I dislike about Sen. McCain:

- his McCain/Feingold legislation. I disagree with it on 1st amendment principles. Still, it's an accomplishment of his. I disagree with it nonetheless.
- He's not aggressively addressing education, discretionary spending, and entitlement spending. At least not enough for me.
- I don't like his immigration stance. I don't like Sen. Obama's either.
- His statements on Georgia are right on in some regards - completely off in others
- I don't agree with his tax plan at all. I detest Sen. Obama's utterly.

Now - a few things I LIKE about the man I'm voting AGAINST. With regards to Senator Obama:

- he's a superb speaker
- he has run an outstanding political campaign to date
- he made something of himself
- he has NOT been a race pimp and made use of his race like a racially prejudiced bigot such as Jack$on, $harpton, or FahraKKKhan would have wnted him to do. Kudos to him for that.

I can think of many other things for both.

Vinny the Anvil
Post Traumatic Didn't Make The Lakers Syndrome is REAL
JACKASS POWER!!!!!!

[Lucky... 0]

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After reading the few posts on this thread I have to wonder why any of us would vote for either of them

Exactly. I am not voting for McCain, rather I am voting against Obama.

Nooooooooooo, you are voting for McCain, you could abstain as a 3rd choice.

[Lucky... 0]

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McCain is not pounding home the areas in which he does differ from GWB. He needs to do this as an offensive strategy, not defensive.

As O'Reilly pointed out, his using the phrase 'My friends' 87 times per paragraph drives me simply nuts.

There are others, but I'm pretty busy at the moment.

I like his annunciation of, "troops." It's, "troopsh."

I'm waiting for him to break out with, "pork chops and applesauce."

[Lucky... 0]

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I'm voting against Sen. Obama.

Here are a few things I dislike about Sen. McCain:

- his McCain/Feingold legislation. I disagree with it on 1st amendment principles. Still, it's an accomplishment of his. I disagree with it nonetheless.
- He's not aggressively addressing education, discretionary spending, and entitlement spending. At least not enough for me.
- I don't like his immigration stance. I don't like Sen. Obama's either.
- His statements on Georgia are right on in some regards - completely off in others
- I don't agree with his tax plan at all. I detest Sen. Obama's utterly.

Now - a few things I LIKE about the man I'm voting AGAINST. With regards to Senator Obama:

- he's a superb speaker
- he has run an outstanding political campaign to date
- he made something of himself
- he has NOT been a race pimp and made use of his race like a racially prejudiced bigot such as Jack$on, $harpton, or FahraKKKhan would have wnted him to do. Kudos to him for that.

I can think of many other things for both.

There is no prompt on a ballaot for voting against a candidate, so get out of the closet and proclaim your love of McCain. 3rd choice - abstain.

[TheAnvil 0]

Voting against someone equates to voting for their opponent with the greatest probability of victory.

Deal with it.

Vinny the Anvil
Post Traumatic Didn't Make The Lakers Syndrome is REAL
JACKASS POWER!!!!!!

[DrewEckhardt 0]

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It would be cool to see if we can be honest about what we dislike about the candidates we're backing.

I'll vote for Obama because he's least likely to create a military situation where my step kids get sent to the middle east. I'm especially excited about his plan to exempt capital gains on startup and small company stock - that could be worth millions. Being likely to create less debt that I'll have to pay for when I'm old, retired, and living on a fixed income is a bonus.

His positions on gun rights disgust me (not as much as Fine Swine; I'll be voting for an electable candidate in the Republican primary and their candidate in the general election if I'm still in California as 2012 approaches).

I'd prefer drastic military spending cuts (while outspending #2 might be a good idea, we don't have to outspend the rest of the world) over thousands of dollars in increased taxes (with Biden being worse) as he allows cuts to expire.

The pandering (like the "windfall profits tax") is only mildly anoying.

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So, how about you? If you're supporting Sen. Obama, what don't you like about him? Any Libertarians out there supporting Mr. Barr but have issues with shortcomings? et al...

As a left-libertarian (while I agree that land doesn't become property until combined with labor, it seems a little unfair that I come out ahead because my father's mother's ancestors were here in time for the revolution while new immigrants didn't show up until yesterday. While I accept natural rights (any one should be able to build a lean-to from spare parts like they learned for their Wilderness Survival merit badge) there are better ways for that to collide with modern society than people homesteading Central Park) I wouldn't vote for Barr who wasn't a libertarian until recently. Third party presidental votes are a signal to the Democrats and Republicans that you don't like their platforms and that they should throw you a bone in the next contest because less than 1% of the people who vote prefer one over the other. Although Bob changing is not out of the question (education is a wonderful thing) I can see the Republican party taking into account Bob's voting record when tailoring their social policies to get just a bit more of the vote.

Although in 2008 Bob is a lobyist for marijuanna legalization, in 1998 he
wrote the Barr Amendment against medical marijuanna.

I don't like creating an environment where people have good reasons to shoot each other (huge profits from the drug black market), where we're spending $40K/year (CA prison system) to take care of people who haven't done anything to people who didn't want to buy drugs, and where we've made contraband which can be used as an excuse for civil forfeiture (Ya borrowed your friends car and left a roach in it... oops!) to increase law enforcement budgets or planted on innocent people by corrupt police officers who "know" the victim is guilty of something.

If I were into protecting people from themselves, I'd ban alcohol (which causes los of deaths) and high-calorie convenience foods like Big Macs (obesity is worse than alcohol) before drug use among people who aren't operating motor vehicles, caring for children, etc. Looks like we're already headed down that path, with the California ban on restaurant trans-fats and the rest of the country following within a decade on similar health issues like public smoking and motor vehicle emissions...

[DrewEckhardt 0]

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Voting against someone equates to voting for their opponent with the greatest probability of victory.

In this election. Where presidential elections are decided by less than a percent of people who chose to vote, the parties court small minorities like the Republicans with evangelical Christians. A small turnout for a third party is likely to net platform concessions in subsequent elections.

When there isn't a meaningful difference between what the viable contenders will actually accomplish (Democrats lose their congressional majorities when they pass "reasonable" gun laws, and Republicans would suffer at least as much if they were stupid enough to pass significant anti-abortion legislation instead of just talking about it when they can't pass laws) those concsessions are more important than who holds office for 4 years.

[Ron 10]

McCain/Feingold...Like others have said good idea, bad result IMO.

I don't like how he wants to stay in Iraq. They want us out, we should split.

He is not talking enough about how he is going to cut spending....A very much needed move. He has mentioned it....Now say where and how.

"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

[Gawain 0]

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It would be cool to see if we can be honest about what we dislike about the candidates we're backing.

I'll vote for Obama because he's least likely to create a military situation where my step kids get sent to the middle east.

You realize that US military units deploy all over the world even when we are not at "war". That includes the middle-east.

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I'm especially excited about his plan to exempt capital gains on startup and small company stock - that could be worth millions. Being likely to create less debt that I'll have to pay for when I'm old, retired, and living on a fixed income is a bonus.

To me, this seem like a recipe for another "dot.com" type bubble. Wealth on paper, from nothing.

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His positions on gun rights disgust me (not as much as Fine Swine; I'll be voting for an electable candidate in the Republican primary and their candidate in the general election if I'm still in California as 2012 approaches).

Finally, something you don't like about him.

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I'd prefer drastic military spending cuts (while outspending #2 might be a good idea, we don't have to outspend the rest of the world) over thousands of dollars in increased taxes (with Biden being worse) as he allows cuts to expire.

Comparing dollars-to-dollars/yen/pound/euro et al spending is not wholly congruent, as countries like China do not really pay their standing army. Cuts will affect infrastructure first, and will affect the ability to resupply your step-son when he deploys.

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The pandering (like the "windfall profits tax") is only mildly anoying.

It will become slightly more so when those companies slash jobs and move their HQ ops overseas in response. Net job loss should end up some where in the low-eight-figures.

As a share holder of some of those companies, I will encourage them to protect their bottom line, and my investment.

So I try and I scream and I beg and I sigh
Just to prove I'm alive, and it's alright
'Cause tonight there's a way I'll make light of my treacherous life
Make light!