The United States Supreme Court ruled that prisoners at Guantanamo have constitutional rights to challenge their imprisonment in civilian courts. This is a huge deal. The fact that the Bush administration has been denying fundamental constitutional rights to prisoners is huge. (There is an amazing book on this subject). So what have political figures said about this decision?
Well. Obama applauded the decision, saying that we must protect core fundamental values [that everyone has the rights to a fair trial and to see the evidence and charges against them]. And what did McCain say?
Quote:
“It obviously concerns me. These are unlawful combatants, they are not American citizens, but — and I think that we should pay attention to justice Roberts’ opinion in this decision — but it is a decision the Supreme Court has made. Now we need to move forward. As you know, I always favored closing of Guantanamo Bay and I still think that we ought to do that.”
McCain also said:
“The Supreme Court yesterday rendered a decision which I think is one of the worst decisions in the history of this country.”
How does John McCain favor closing down Guantanamo (whose main purpose is to torture and harshly interrogate prisoners outside the law) while at the same time supporting the right to deny prisoners habeas corpus and the rights to see the evidence against them? It doesn’t matter whether the prisoners in Guantanamo are terrorists (most of them aren’t, are are being held without any evidence, being forced to sign confessions after torture), the founders of this country specifically set up a process that gives EVERYBODY being charged and held in prison the rights to see the evidence against them and the right to a fair trial. This was set up to protect EVERYBODY. (again) That the Bush administration is taking away basic civil liberties like this is terrifying, whats more terrifying is that the Republican candidate will carry on the same policies!
John McCain was held as a POW for five years, being treated much like the prisoners at Guantanamo. Why would he support legally allowing torture and arbitrary arrest and confinement? Has he forgotten? McCain is no national heroif he thinks that it is fine to ignore the Constitution and the fundamental principals of his country and take away prisoners rights. Torture is NOT an American value, and I think it’s absolutely disgusting that we’re actually having a public debate about whether or not prisoners have rights to even know why they’re being imprisoned!
I can’t do this anymore. I’ve come to the conclusion that it is impossible to follow John McCain’s campaign because it is so full of contridictions. And the most upsetting part of the whole thing is that for the most part, the media ignores it! I am so sick of hearing people say that the media has a “far left liberal bias”. Please. McCain is rarely attacked by the media. I’ve said it before, if Obama or Clinton had made such dramatic and major speaking errors and “flip-flops” as McCain has, it would have been front-page news on every network. McCain changes his positions so often, that it’s gotten to the point where we need to start asking serious questions about his credibility, experience and yes, age.
The examples from today:
Social security. In 2004 on C-SPAN, McCain said:
“…Without privatization, I don’t see how you can possibly, over time, make sure that young Americans are able to receive Social Security benefits”
Two days ago, John McCain said this:
“I am not for privatizing Social Security. I never have been. I never will be.”
Are you serious?
According to his website, John McCain is known for his “straight talk”. Obviously that’s a load of crap, and I called the campaign number listed on his website to talk to somebody about it. My question was “Is McCain using “straight talk” when he tells voters that Iran is training Al Qaeda – and then has to correct himself for misspeaking – three times?” I was hung up on.
Another issue that has gotten some mainstream attention… (but not much). McCain proudly admits that he doesn’t know how to use a computer. Now the computer is probably the most important piece of technology that is used in our civilization right now. It’s probably more crucial than telephones. Everything is done using computers. And the man who wants to be the leader of our country doesn’t know how to use one! That’s just great. He’s practically perfect in every way.
I should probably rename this blog to something like “anti-McCain” because he gives me so much material to run with!
What is wrong with this world! The news has given me so many points to rant about, but I will just pick two. First, what the hell is wrong with these voters who are switching from Hillary to McCain!! Just look at this video!
First of all, I find it very interesting that FOX news dedicated about seven minutes to this specific issue. Everytime I watch FOX they flip around to a lot of different issues (of course with a far-right spin), but anything that puts Obama in a negative light is “breaking news”. The woman they are interviewing is, in my humble oinion, an ignorant turn-coat, and she poorly represents Hillary Clinton and Independent voters.
Sean Hannity and Cristi talk about how the media has a liberal bias for Obama. Sean Hannity has NO right to talk about any sort of bias in the media! I’m so confused as to what Cristi is talking about. According to her, the entire goal of her group (of Hillary-turned-McCain voters) is, and I quote: “We will not allow Hollywood and the left wing news nut media to determine our next president.” What the hell is she talking about! Here is the way I see it…
Nearly every day McCain makes some sort of speaking error. And I’m not talking about little mispronunciations, I’m talking about HUGE errors when he’s talking about fiscal and foreign policy. Three times I have heard him say that Iran is training Al Qaeda, which is NOT true, and it’s not something you say when the current administration is already trying to start a war with Iran. He’s been corrected by journalists and even another senator because he keeps making this same mistake over again! If Obama made even one mistake like that, it would be ALL over the news, you can guarantee it. Here’s a real life example.. Everyone knows the scandal about Obama’s former preacher, Reverend Wright. Every major news network and countless local networks and newspapers have endlessly talked about this. Well McCain’s CURRENT preacher has made radical remarks that are even worse than what Wright said! (look) Granted, this got some coverage, but not the major headlines that Wright got. How’s that for liberal bias!
So I have no idea what she’s talking about when she says that… And if that’s her biggest reason for not supporting Obama, then she’s a nutcase. Hannity and Cristi continue talking about liberal media bias, which is itself a valid issue, but like I said, Hannity has no right to talk about it. He is one of the most biased pundits out there, and he rarely gets his facts straight. (And what does Hollywood have to do with anything? So confused!)
Another Cristi quote: “If he [John McCain] wins, it will be a sigh of relief.”
“In order to address the issues, you have to first you need to address the character. And it is the character in question of Barack Obama, I do not trust him.” She goes on to say about how she looks at the characters of the candidates first, and then says that McCain is not far right and that he is aligned with most of Americans.
In this specific election especially, it is ESSENTIAL that we look at where the candidates stand on the issues. Regardless of your own opinion about the Bush administration, the past eight years have brought about dramatic change in the economy, foreign policy, etc. It is absolutely crucial that whoever we elect next is able to put things back together again. If you think that Bush is doing a fine job (although there aren’t that many people who think that; Bush’s approval ratings are in the toilet), then John McCain would be the logical choice! But for the millions of people who recognize that Bush has done terrible things both with the so-called War on Terror AND with our civil liberties, John McCain would probably be last on the list of political candidates.
I’m assuming that Cristi, and the “millions” of others like her were supporting Clinton because of her policies, and of course her character. Hillary Clinton was dubbed the “Candidate of Change” because of her policies.. Cristi argues that McCain’s policies aren’t that different from Clinton’s, which just goes to prove that she really doesn’t know what she’s talking about! President Bush has endorsed McCain, and his policies are almost totally aligned with Bush’s! He’s not going to change anything! (Well, he could make things worse..) Hillary Clinton’s policies are very very different from McCain’s. Sure, Obama is slightly more liberal than Clinton, but really, they aren’t that different. Although this Cristi-lady says different, the bridge from Clinton to Obama is much shorter than the bridge from Clinton to McCain.
I just don’t understand…
The second thing is this video clip:
McCain’s response to the man’s question about how soon troops will come home from Iraq is to shrug and say “that’s not too important”. Yeah, you try to tell that to the millions of Americans who have already lost friends and family members, who have been waiting for six years for them to come home! How can anyone vote for him!
Quote from McCain:
“We will be able to withdraw, General Petraeus is going to tell us in July when he thinks we are, but the key to it is that we don’t want any more Americans in harms way, and that way they will be safe, and serve our country and come home with honor and victory, not in defeat, which is what Senator Obama’s proposal would have done.. We are suceeding, and i think its fascinating that Senator Obama doesnt realize that.”
First of all, General Petraeus doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Petraeus is Bush’s puppet, and has been called a liar by the Senate majority leader! (look)
Are we succeeding? One could go on and on about the “War on Terror”, and how it’s un-winnable because there are no enemies.. Mr. McCain, there were no terrorists threats to the US before we invaded Iraq. The invasion is NOT liberating them, it’s throwing the whole country into even greater destruction and chaos. Personally, I think it’s fascinating that you don’t realize this. The vast majority of Americans are against the war. The Iraqi people want US troops to leave. How can you claim to be liberating a nation while at the same time trying to build permanent military bases on their land? It’s hypocrisy and imperialism! Aggressors have no rights, we have to leave now. We won’t be defeated – who are we even fighting anymore? In this war everyone loses.
According to Republicans (and John McCain), the US invaded Iraq in order to liberate the Iraqi people. We invaded another country to give them freedom. So someone please explain to me why the Bush administration is planning to build permanent US military bases in Iraq. These bases will not be bound by Iraqi law, and will cement the US occupation. Obviously this idea is not being well received by Iraqis, already tens of thousands of people have gathered in cities all over Iraq to protest, but since when does the government listen to the people these days?
Maybe it’s time other nations started putting sanctions on the United States.
Until the US. invasion in 2003, Iraq had never had a suicide terrorist attack in its entire history.
[Editors Note: there was not any al Qaeda in Iraq before the invasion]
Between 1982 and 1986, there were 41 suicide terrorist attacks in Lebanon. Once the US, France and Israel withdrew their forces from Lebanon there were no more attacks. The reason the attacks stop, according to Pape, is that the Osama bin Ladens of the world can no longer inspire poential sucide terrorists, regardless of their religious beliefs… Predictably enough, al Qaeda recruitment has exploded since the invasion of Iraq…
I’ve remarked before how the Republican nominee John McCain has made several serious mistakes and error-of-facts when talking about foreign policy (which is something he claims he is an expert at). Usually, he is corrected by a journalist or an aid when he makes factual mistakes in his speeches, but his latest mistake is something he isn’t even acknowledging is wrong! Just over about 48 hours ago he gave a speech in Wisconsin, and remarked how the number of US troops in Iraq is down to pre-surge levels, in an attempt to reassure voters that violence in Iraq has been quelled by the surge. However, he is very very wrong. There are currently about 155,000 troops in Iraq, and pre-surge troop levels would be at 130,000. You would think that once corrected and confronted with his mistake, he would apologize and correct himself. But no! McCain just restated and reworded himself, all the while insisting that he was correct! Wtf! This man… How can anyone think that he’s fit to get anything done, or fit to lead anyone anywhere?
Also… I’ve come to the personal conclusion that if Obama does get elected and then assassinated, as I’ve heard some people foresee, it won’t be by racists. It will be by multi-billionaire businessmen who are pissed because Obama cares more about people than the market.
It seems like not a day goes by without presidential candidate John McCain making some blunder about something. He doesn’t get economics, as he’s admitted several times, but he just hates Iran! So far he’s tried to link Al Qaeda to Iran a few times, but just recently he berated a journalist who tried to point out that Ahmadinejad isn’t the right person to talk to when discussing Iran’s foreign policy! Besides the fact that he’s one of the most cocky men in politics, he is just wrong when it comes to his facts! Watch the video below from the press conference.
One of the biggest things that turned me off was at the end when McCain said that “I think if you ask any average American who the leader of Iran is, I think they’d know.” Obviously not! The “average” American doesn’t know shit about Iran, and neither do you! The average American doesn’t seem to care about Iran either. But it only makes things ten times worse when people like you try to link Iran with Al Qaeda (and every American knows what Al Qaeda is)! You would think that after 8 years of bloodthirsty Bush that Americans would not want another war mongering idiot as president, but I guess some people never learn…
I’ve heard a lot of people say that they support Hillary because Obama doesn’t have enough cross-over appeal. WHAT? My mother is an evangelical conservative who voted for Bush twice, and she is considering voting for Obama over McCain. Hillary is a very polarizing figure. Many conservatives might not like Obama, but they hate Hillary Clinton. Read this, the latest article I’ve read about evangelical Republicans supporting Obama over McCain. I can almost guarantee that you will never see evangelical conservative Christians lining up and organizing to vote for Hillary.
This post is a little dated, but I think that the issue is still important.
Laura Bush, the wife of President George Bush, was on Larry King Live with her daughter to promote their new book. They get around to talking about politics, and Larry asks the First Lady what she thinks about her husbands approval ratings. The following transcript was taken from the Huffington Post.
KING: Laura, has it been difficult putting up with all the flack that your husband has taken? And, you know, low polls, is it tough for you emotionally?
L. BUSH: Well, in some ways, of course, because I want George to be popular. But on the other hand, I know that he does what he thinks is right for our country and that he doesn’t think he should try to be popular, that that’s the easy way out.
“I know that he does what he thinks is right for our country and that he doesn’t think he should try to be popular, that that’s the easy way out.” HELLO! He was elected to represent the people, it is his JOB to please the people. Sure, as a leader, sometimes he will have to make difficult decisions that will force him to be at odds with some people, but overall, he is supposed to be serving the public. He was (supposedly) elected by the people, and therefore he should be acting in their interests based on what the American people who put him into office want. When you’re approval ratings are in the low thirties, you have to know that you’re doing something wrong. Laura Bush is out of touch – her husband is supposed to be in office to serve the people, to serve public interest. I guess the Bush family has been serving private interests for too long, that the opinions of the citizens of America no longer matter to them.
On Primary day in Pennsylvania, presidential candidate Hillary Clinton told Good Morning America that she would “totally obliterate” Iran if they attacked Israel.
“”I want the Iranians to know that if I’m the president, we will attack Iran (if it attacks Israel),” Clinton said in an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”" (@)
I, for one, am appalled at a statement like this, especially from somebody who wants to solve some of the problems in the US initiated during the Bush administration. What the Hell is she thinking? We already had a bunch of talk and “rhetoric” about having a huge conflict with Iran (I believe the words “World War 3″ were used) when Bush-Cheney were trying to get the country hyped up about Iran’s supposed nuclear arms race. Ok, so the intelligence reports are in, and our own governments intelligence agencies have stated that Iran is not building nuclear weapons (nor will they be able to within the near future). Score one for the people. So why is Clinton using very aggressive words against Iran, especially in defense of Israel? Sure, the US and Israel are chummy, but is Iran really going to nuke Israel? Especially since Israel actually HAS nuclear weapons, when Iran doesn’t. Is this war mongering? Probably. But that seems to be a norm in our country these days…
So what I don’t understand.
From an American standpoint, Iran isn’t the best country in the world to be friends with. The Iranian government is rather oppressive and yes – there is some radical Islam. But there are also massive movements for secular democracy in Iran. Let’s not take out the people for the sins of the regime. And once again, Iran doesn’t have nuclear weapons. And Iran, for all of it’s problems, is a pretty stable country. A large stable country. If we attempt to “totally obliterate” them, what kind of repercussions will that have? We need a leader who will take action, but who wont rush into war-mode. How is that bringing change to America?
And what prompted Hillary to even make a comment like that? Well, it seems to me that she is responding to a remarks made by Iranian officials who have said that they will take military action against Israel if they initiate an attack against them. Does that seem justified? This could be the end of the world. Israel attacks Iran (and really, I’m more worried about Israel setting off their nukes than I am about Iran nuking anyone else. Hell – we should be talking about Pakistan for God’s sake!) and Iran attacks Israel back. In response to this, the United States, led by President Clinton, nuke Iran. Wow. Happy ending world.
When faced with the same question, Obama told reporters that in response to an attack against Israel (or any other US ally) by Iran, he would act “forcefully and swiftly”. Well, that’s a bit vague, but it’s certainly better than immediately saying “we will obliterate them!” We need a leader who will be forceful and swift, but we also need to know that Obama won’t immediately rush into military attacks or outright war like President Bush did.
Laura Bush on CNN
May 5, 2008 in Bush | Tags: approval, Bush, CNN, commentary, Larry King, Larry King Live, Laura Bush, politics, ratings, USA | 1 comment
This post is a little dated, but I think that the issue is still important.
Laura Bush, the wife of President George Bush, was on Larry King Live with her daughter to promote their new book. They get around to talking about politics, and Larry asks the First Lady what she thinks about her husbands approval ratings. The following transcript was taken from the Huffington Post.
“I know that he does what he thinks is right for our country and that he doesn’t think he should try to be popular, that that’s the easy way out.” HELLO! He was elected to represent the people, it is his JOB to please the people. Sure, as a leader, sometimes he will have to make difficult decisions that will force him to be at odds with some people, but overall, he is supposed to be serving the public. He was (supposedly) elected by the people, and therefore he should be acting in their interests based on what the American people who put him into office want. When you’re approval ratings are in the low thirties, you have to know that you’re doing something wrong. Laura Bush is out of touch – her husband is supposed to be in office to serve the people, to serve public interest. I guess the Bush family has been serving private interests for too long, that the opinions of the citizens of America no longer matter to them.