> Jon Louis Mann <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > I wrote:
> > *McCain's concession speech was very much a class act;
> > I did not think he would be a particularly good president,
> > but he is a good man.
> He certainly was when he was a POW, but then, if he had
> come home early he would never have been able to live it
> down. He had a serious anger management problem, and
> discipline problems, but that could have been due to PTSD.
> He had a record of crashing seven planes and was fifth from
> the bottom of his graduating class. When Clinton cheated
> on his wife he was impeached. McCain had a long affair
> while he was still married, and only left his first wife
> after a severe disfiguring car accident? He also was a
> member of the Keating Five and ran an extremely negative
> campaign, using the same people Bush used against him in
> 2000...
> Any of those would have lost the election for Obama...
I'm fairly sure that his wife's accident was during his stay in Vietnam (not an
excuse, but the timing is not as bad as it otherwise sounds), and a large
number of vets, POWS or not, wind up divorcing. He was known to be a ladies'
man before Vietnam, and that did not change after he returned home (also not an
excuse!). He was a wise-ass in the Academy, and got a large number of
demerits, which certainly lowered his class ranking.
Where he failed, to me, was in losing sight of his maverick status and
pandering to the right (aka base): taking a more concilliatory stance on
'coercive interrogation,' choosing Palin, and using the Republican machine to
run this campaign -- he wanted the Presidency so badly that he compromised his
ideals to an unacceptable level (IMO). IOW, he screwed up. That does not mean
he isn't a good person, but poor judgement in those instances meant I would not
ever vote for him.
[I ought to point out that I have been watching Obama since reading his 2004
speech, and subsequently read his books; yesterday was the first time I voted
*for* a major candidate instead of voting independent 'cause I didn't like the
Parties, or, as in 2000 & 2004, held my nose and voted Democrat b/c I found GWB
terrifyingly ignorant, inadequate and - well - imbecilic.]
Debbi
who ought to add a "You bet!" sticker to her car's "Got Hope?/Obama"
bumpersticker :)
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