Monday, June 16, 2008

Wow. Just wow.

As you all know, I've been feeling rather ambivalent about this presidential election. John McCain definitely doesn't stand up well against my checklist of desirable political convictions for a presidential candidates. I've toyed with the idea of voting for a third party candidate, but, whether we like it or not, all that will do is help Obama.

I cannot help Obama.

Sometimes choices are clarified by just a few words out of a long political season, and this is one of those times. This American Spectator piece in the Wall Street Journal puts the lie to Obama's campaign words about the "difficulty" and "wrenching" character of the abortion issue. Here are a couple of the high--or low--points:

As an Illinois state senator, Barack Obama twice opposed legislation to define as "persons" babies who survive late-term abortions. Babies like Gianna. Mr. Obama said in a speech on the Illinois Senate floor that he could not accept that babies wholly emerged from their mother's wombs are "persons," and thus deserving of equal protection under the Constitution's 14th Amendment.
Or how 'bout this:
To Mr. Obama, abortion, or "reproductive justice," is "one of the most fundamental rights we possess." And he promises, "the first thing I'd do as president is sign the Freedom of Choice Act," which would overturn hundreds of federal and state laws limiting abortion, including the federal ban on partial-birth abortion and bans on public funding of abortion.
Go read the whole thing. Especially if you are considering voting for Obama or for a third party candidate.

HT: Mere Comments

9 comments:

AmusedMomma said...

Wow is right. Gosh, I'm speechless at the article and your specific quotes from it.

I pray this clarifies things for those who were lukewarm about McCain.

Thanks for bringing it to the attention of the blogosphere.

Meg_L said...

And other people think voting for a third party candidate is helping McCain win.

LOL - everyone has different opinions.

I'm not sold on Obama, but I like him a whole lot better than McCain.

Jane said...

I guess it depends on who's voting for the third party candidate. :) Most of my friends--although certainly not all--are more likely to vote Republican, so their third party votes would help Obama.

I don't *like* McCain either. And I disagree with a lot of his policies. Part of the problem for me this year is that there is no one that I want to vote for, but not voting isn't an option. So unless something changes dramatically I'll be voting with my nose firmly plugged.

(On a personal basis, I do find Obama the most likeable. Of the candidates he is the only one who passes the beer test: I think it would be interesting to go out for a beer with him. :) )

Meg_L said...

btw,

You should link this to the Thinking Parents wiki - it was the writing assignment for June 15.

http://www.odonnellweb.com/wiki/pmwiki.php?n=Main.WriteA30SecondElevatorPitchForYourPresidentialCandidateOfChoice

RPW said...

I cannot trust the judgement of a man in anything who can look at a situation like that described above and would say that it would be okay to continue killing that baby who is born, who is breathing, and who just underwent a terrible experience.

I can't trust the judgement in any situation who cannot see that as evil, or who doesn't see abortion as evil.

This is evil. Truly evil.

Maybe I am expecting too much...but I would also think that an educated African American doesn't see that the arguments used to justify murdering babies are the same EXACT ones used to keep men and women as slaves because of the color of their skin.

Evil. Just evil.

God help us if he wins.

Kim said...

As much as I dislike Obama as a candidate I have to disagree with the notion that voting for a third party candidate will help him. Frankly, I cannot in good conscience vote for either McCain or Obama. If I didn't have the option of a third party candidate then I probably wouldn't vote at all. If people would actually vote for the candidate that most represented their views then we would have a much different government.

Jane said...

The problem with third parties is that there are too many, and they need to be doing the hard work at the state and local level to build a constituency. If you don't go *looking* for them, they are nearly invisible. You can't just start a party to run at the national level and hope for any success.

I don't see anyone doing this except the Libertarians and in some cases the Greens.

Very few third party candidates are even on the ballots of all of the states. (And I know this is not their fault much of the time, because ballot access is limited in many cases.)

I tend to be pretty idealistic in living my every day life. I don't compromise much because I can control the kind of life my family lives, what we eat, where we go to church. etc. But when it comes to politics there's a certain amount of pragmatism that I think is unfortunately necessary and although I've never had to be a one-issue voter before, I will this election because I cannot vote for a pro-abortion candidate.

I am a Libertarian, but at the national level that is a thrown away vote under the present circumstances. So I will cast my vote for the lesser of two evils and hope that Obama doesn't win.

Jane said...

BTW--not that I probably have to say this, but a thoughtful decision to vote for a third party candidate is certainly understandable. I just don't think I could do it this election. :)

RPW said...

Sometimes it is the only choice. If the Republican nominee had been Giuliani or Romney, I would've had to go third party or not vote.

I would've had absolutely no choice.

I understand some of the issues regarding McCain, but I really do think that he might be who we need right now. There are a few things I am not fond of, but there are many things that I like, the more that I actually hear from him.