Looking for change *I* can believe in.

[hymnia]

So last time I posted, I was in the 60% range for McCain and still in love with Sarah Palin. I still like Palin (and *really* don't want to hear any more criticism of her, esp. since she's not the real issue), but I'm having doubts about the ticket. This week all my political quiz results are coming out 50-50 again.

BTW, my hypothesis on the quiz

Comments

[prettyveela]

You know I was a Hillary supporter and was thrilled about the Palin pick but not anymore. I'm for Obama but I think McCain is a decent guy.

*sigh* I guess it just depends on how important you think the VP position is. I think the VP position is WAY more important now than it's ever been thanks to Gore and Cheney and both Palin and Biden have a chance of being president for totally different reasons(I don't want to go into it so I'll keep my mouth shut on that one) but if the VP position really isn't an issue for you then yeah.

[major_dallas]

Well, the debate tomorrow night ought to be entertaining I think, you know what's disappointed me is this attempt to take Palin and make her a Washington Insider by the McCain Campaign. Governor Palin is not a DC Politician and she should go back to that, this does mean a lack of experience with Foreign Policy, true, but probably a more in line idea of Foreign Policy as many Americans who aren't in DC as well.

[blpurdom]

Critical Issues

[blpurdom]

And the rest of the issues

[warrioreowyn]

Gah! Formatting got erased on the earlier post. Here it is in more readable form:

My general impression is that on everything but school choice and abortion restrictions, your positions are very, very close to Obama's, more so than McCain (particularly on poverty, health care and the environment).

1.) Abortion. This is probably your biggest problem with Obama; one of mine as well, but I can't disregard everything else I believe in in favour of a single issue, no matter how prominent. He does support expanding access to contraceptives and sex education (as well as abstinence education); he's also been a big promoter of men taking responsibility for their children and - if they won't marry the mother - legal methods to ensure child support payments are made. That alone, I think, would make single motherhood seem somewhat less economically crippling than it is, and it's a good thing in principle as well. I also think he's probably the only political leader that could address low-income black youth on this subject and have them

[prettyannamoon]

This has nothing to do with anything, but...

I've heard that in the US just going to a hospital to give birth can be very expensive

I cost $4,627.50, and that was back in 1982!

[warrioreowyn]

I agree with you on a lot of your priorities, so I'll discuss why I like Obama in the context of those. My general impression: on everything but school choice and abortion restrictions, your positions are very, very close to Obama's, more so than McCain (particularly on poverty, health care and the environment).

1.) Abortion. This is probably your biggest problem with Obama; one of mine as well, but I can't disregard everything else I believe in in favour of a single issue, no matter how prominent. He does support expanding access to contraceptives and sex education (as well as abstinence education); he's also been a big promoter of men taking responsibility for their children and - if they won't marry the mother - legal methods to ensure child support payments are made. That alone, I think, would make single motherhood seem somewhat less economically crippling than it is, and it's a good thing in principle as well. I also think he's probably the only political leader that could address low-income black youth on this subject and

[warrioreowyn]

6.) Environment. I prefer Obama's focus on renewable energy to McCain's on drilling and 'clean coal' - but I'm also comfortable with the idea of nuclear energy. (Obama also supports clean coal and, once they've found a way to deal with the waste, nuclear energy - but they're not the cornerstones of his plan.) He has targets of 10% of energy coming from renewable sources by 2012, and 25% by 2015 - and ultimately reducing emissions by 80% of 1990 levels by 2050, the same target that is in the Kyoto Accords. (Wish my government would do the same!) Rather than a carbon tax, he (as well as McCain) has got a "cap and trade" system, which (I've heard from several environment sources) is considered more effective; I don't understand either plan well myself and wish they were better explained, but you can check his website and try to figure it out. General principle is you cap the total amount of emissions that can be produced, and industries that can reduce their emissions can sell their "rights" to pollute to more carbon-intensive

[major_dallas]

Well I am not going to do the scorecard grading system, sorry; if you want to know Senator McCain's stated positions, go here, I know its wikipedia but there are sources cited all over the place. Sorry Joie, this is as easy as I will make it for you, I loathe actually trying to sell people on who to vote for, rather, I like doing this, pointing to information that should be helpful in making up your own mind on the subject.

to be Fair and Balanced ;)

[major_dallas]

and here is the page on Senator Obama's Political Positions...

Re: to be Fair and Balanced ;)

[queenriley]

Or to make it even easier on you, and to know you're getting info straight from the candidates on the issues as opposed to user-created wiki pages (sorry, I just think the candidate websites provide more comprehensive explanation than Wiki)...

Here is McCain's issues page from his website.

Here is Obama's issues page from his website.

Reading over what's important to you, I do think you fall slightly more towards Obama than McCain, but I also think you could be just as happy with a McCain presidency. You're in a tough spot. Have you thought about voting independent or are you set on going for one of the main two parties?