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ORIGINAL: lightshineon

I liked McCains straight forward style, he kicked Obamas buns, just my opinion which counts for nothing, but, it is what I think about it. Though neither of the two, are who I want.

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ORIGINAL: GregandJenny

Where is McCain's fruit?

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One may dislike Obama's position - I do myself - but at least he is consistent and one knows where he stands.

mcCain keeps moving his own goalposts, pandering to the right-to-life crowd because that is what they want to hear and he needs their votes to stand a chance - but follow his words closely and you find that he's double-talking his own positions.

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ORIGINAL: WesP

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One may dislike Obama's position - I do myself - but at least he is consistent and one knows where he stands.

mcCain keeps moving his own goalposts, pandering to the right-to-life crowd because that is what they want to hear and he needs their votes to stand a chance - but follow his words closely and you find that he's double-talking his own positions.

You cannot be watching closely if you have not noticed the shift in Obama's stances. He has shifted easily as much as McCain. They both are pandering.

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mcCain keeps moving his own goalposts, pandering to the right-to-life crowd because that is what they want to hear and he needs their votes to stand a chance - but follow his words closely and you find that he's double-talking his own positions.

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On THIS subject? Or in general?

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I agree, which makes me wonder why some here who are staunchly pro-life aren't more alarmed by McCain's support of stem cell research.

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mcCain keeps moving his own goalposts, pandering to the right-to-life crowd because that is what they want to hear and he needs their votes to stand a chance - but follow his words closely and you find that he's double-talking his own positions.

And THAT - untrustworthiness - is enough for me to reject McCain. I don;t know where he stands on anything, because he keeps changing his message depending on who he's trying to pander to today.

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Evangel70
I agree with you that a politicians faith shouldn't even be an issue because politicians will always tell you what you want to hear. That being said, Obama had to go out of his way to confirm his Christian faith because there are still people out there who have checked out their brains and think that despite the fact that Obama spent over 20 years in a Christian church (even one with questionable theology) and baptised his children in the church that he is somehow a Muslim (go figure).

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McCain perhaps assumed that voters consider him a Christian simply because he's pro-choice and has recently shifted his policies to cater to the far right in order to get elected, but many have no questioned the fact that despite his claim to Christianity, he has never been baptised. Also not questioned is why McCain is so hesitant to talk openly about his faith.

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SovereignIsHe
He's not a Muslim no more than he's a Christian... Anyone that thinks the agenda supported by Mr. Obama is compatible with the walk with Christ need to rethink the idea that sitting in a church for even 50 years doesn't mean anything if your life is governed by the flesh... In fact it would be better for Mr. Obama to deny God than to invoke his name and do what he does...

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Here's a McCain comment that disturbed me during the forum; specifically, when he repeated his claim that he'd chase Bin Laden to "the gates of Hell" to bring him to justice.

That's all fine and good (albeit overdramatic), but considering that Bin Laden is hiding in Pakistan (when American troops are not allowed to enter), is McCain suggesting the US invade a third country to go get him?

If so, would he be willing to fight both Al Qaeda militia, and the Pakistani army itself if it wanted American forces out of its borders?

I'm not saying that Obama's head shouldn't be on a plate here, just that I feel McCain is oversimplifying what it would take to grab him.

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That's all fine and good (albeit overdramatic), but considering that Bin Laden is hiding in Pakistan (when American troops are not allowed to enter), is McCain suggesting the US invade a third country to go get him?

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ORIGINAL: Jhud

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mcCain keeps moving his own goalposts, pandering to the right-to-life crowd because that is what they want to hear and he needs their votes to stand a chance - but follow his words closely and you find that he's double-talking his own positions.

And THAT - untrustworthiness - is enough for me to reject McCain. I don;t know where he stands on anything, because he keeps changing his message depending on who he's trying to pander to today.

I am not sure how this response:

AT THE MOMENT OF CONCEPTION. I HAVE A 25-YEAR PRO LIFE RECORD IN THE CONGRESS, IN THE SENATE. AND AS PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, I WILL BE A PRO LIFE PRESIDENT AND THIS PRESIDENCY WILL HAVE PRO LIFE POLICIES. THAT'S MY COMMITMENT, THAT'S MY COMMITMENT TO YOU.

Could be construed as 'double-talking'. (Sorry for the all caps, that is how it was in the transcript)

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That's all fine and good (albeit overdramatic), but considering that Bin Laden is hiding in Pakistan (when American troops are not allowed to enter), is McCain suggesting the US invade a third country to go get him?

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Which brings us back to that 'trust' question - if his positions change that fast, that illogically, and without a trace of shame that he's doubletalking, can he be trusted to try to do the right thing for America as President, on ANY issue?

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Obama shares a similiar view. Even if you accept his clarification on his statement regarding going into Pakistan, they both share the view that one way or another that's were we are heading.

I firmly believe that next year we are going to see the next president, whoever he is, tested on their foreign policy and the US military will be stretched beyond it's current capabilities.

We will still be in Afghanistan and possibly Iraq, at least for the duration of 2009 maybe longer.

It looks as though Israel will do something about Iran especially since now they have successfully launched a rocket "to carry a research satellite into orbit". My bet is that it will be soon after the election, probably early next year.

Then we have the mess with Russia and Georgia. There is a supposed cease fire agreement but Russia has yet to pull out and have recently made a statement their troops will not leave as quickly as they came in.

That whole area is a powder keg just waiting to blow. So the question becomes who do you want at the helm when it does?

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McCain is double-talking because he is also on record with these statements:

http://www.ontheissues.org/2008/John_McCain_Abortion.htm

and also STILL publicly maintains his 'exceptions' on the supposedly hard-and-fast pro-life utterance you posted above.

His STATED PUBLIC POSITIONS on both abortion AND Roe v Wade directly contradict the position he staked out in this most recent appearance.

So the question is, was he lying earlier, is he lying now, or is he just spouting contradictory positions to please the listeners, not really caring that he is contradicting himself?

Which brings us back to that 'trust' question - if his positions change that fast, that illogically, and without a trace of shame that he's doubletalking, can he be trusted to try to do the right thing for America as President, on ANY issue?

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ORIGINAL: Evangel70

Well after watching both Obama and McCain being interviewed here are my impressions:

1. Obama is definitely a Christian and comfortable talking about his faith.

2. McCain is not comfortable talking about his faith -- I was left not knowing whether or not he was a Christian.

3. Obama thought about the questions and answered Rick Warren directlly.

4. McCain rarely looked at Rick and used his hour to regurgitate his town hall speeches. You could tell he had very canned and rehearsed answer which was a shame because he didn't give people an opportunity to learn about him.

5. Obama came across very humble admitting his faults and his dependence on God.

6. McCain often didn't let Rick finish asking the question before jumping in with a pre-rehearsed answer. McCain main purpose seemed to be to focus on saying what he had to in order to appease the far right. IMO he came across as very phoney.

Did anyone else watch? What were your thoughts?

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I think the problem is that once you say candidate X is 'lying' then pretty much the conversation stops - because every time that candidate makes a very clear public statement of his/her position one simply has to counter with 'He's lying'. And there is a tendency to say the candidate with whom one disagrees is lying about any particular issue.

Now there are obviously times where a candidate is lying when they state as fact something we know not to be true - but their particular position is matter of choice, so we either take them at face value for the sake of having a discussion, or we simply reduce all our responses to 'He's lying'.

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So to answer your question as to whom I would want at the "helm", I believe Obama would be someone who is cool headed enough to try diplomacy and sanctions before military action, but would not hesitate to do what is necessary to protect our country.

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ORIGINAL: Evangel70
McCain seems to follow Bush's lead of "bomb first and justify your actions later" and IMO that will only lead the U.S closer to the possibility of a nuclear war -- especially if we take on Russia and Pakistan (both have Nuclear capabilities). So to answer your question as to whom I would want at the "helm", I believe Obama would be someone who is cool headed enough to try diplomacy and sanctions before military action, but would not hesitate to do what is necessary to protect our country.

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I still want to know why it is "troubling" for McCain to say he'll go into Pakistan but not for Obama.