I agree. I would tend to think that most Americans would be a lot more to the right of 'bleeding heart' and a lot more to the left of 'Bible thumper'. I have said this numerous times in numerous threads, for me it has always been about which ideals I felt I could live without for 4 (or 8) years as no candidate has ever held (or will ever hold) the same beliefs I do on all issues that are important to me. This year is no exception.
I have also said that I think this is the first presidential election I can remember where I thought both candidates were capable of running the country (which makes it even harder for me to choose). On Fri, Oct 31, 2008 at 8:24 PM, Judah McAuley <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > There is a major flaw in your thinking here. I'd be willing to agree > that McCain is to the left of many (most even? I don't know) > conservatives. But it is wrong to define the bulk of the political > landscape in terms of the very fringes. By that same argument you > could say that Obama is far to the right of lot of liberals. He's not > going to abolish the military, he's not going to stop all logging in > the US, he's not going to legalize drugs (sadly). But I'm not going to > say that Obama is a right-winger because he doesn't toe the far left > line. > > The fringes of the left and the right are small in numbers. I'd > venture to guess that there are about as many people that want to > abolish the military as want to implement a flat tax. But what if 60% > of people in America want Universal Healthcare? What if 70% wanted > full college tuition deduction from taxes? Wouldn't that make those > "centrist" positions? Yeah, they are far to the left of what Dick > Cheney would say. So? Who says that Dick Cheney gets to define what > the middle of the political spectrum is? > > There are certainly positions that are "centrist" that I am to the > left of, like Gay Marriage. I'm entirely for Gay Marriage, but I > understand that the majority of the country isn't quite there yet with > me. > > I think that Obama will win the election for the precise reason that > people should win elections: he speaks to a larger share of the > country than his opponent and they share his values and approve of his > policies more than his opponent. > > That would seem to go a long way to defining what the true "center" is. > > Judah > > On Fri, Oct 31, 2008 at 3:03 PM, Sam <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Based on that I'm going to guess I know what the middle is better than > you. > > > > But that wasn't my point. McCain is more to the left than most > > conservatives are comfortable with and Obama more so. So thinking > > that the middle is between Obama and McCain is off a bit. Which brings > > us back to Obama's claim about the kidnapping. I'm thinking it covers > > more than 10% of the GOP. > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:277857 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
