Our Endorsement

October 31, 2008, 12:00 am; posted by
Filed under Articles, Bwog, Featured  | 5 Comments

After an interminably long campaign season, the 2008 election is finally, blessedly, upon us. And as we vote, our nation faces immense challenges, from without and within: a gathering economic storm, two ongoing wars, and potential threats from Russia, China, and the Middle East. Our choice is not merely academic. We cannot afford a mistake. America must elect a leader with the experience to guide us safely through the next four years, the judgment to choose the best course through trouble, and the wisdom to make the difficult decisions.

Given the choices on the ballot, we have no trouble concluding: that leader is Senator John McCain.

Senator McCain has a long and storied record of serving this country with honor. He was shot down over Vietnam and tortured for over five years, enduring this suffering even after he was given the opportunity to be released before his fellow prisoners. He has been in the Senate for 22 years, where he is recognized by members of both parties as a pragmatic and independent leader, willing to hammer out a compromise when he believes it is in the best interest of the country, regardless of his party’s policies. He has long fought excessive spending and corruption in politics. His life tells a tale of accomplishments and action.

Contrast this record with his opponent’s. Senator Barack Obama has run an inspiring campaign that may well land him in the White House, but nothing in his history suggests that he is qualified for the job. From the Ivy League, he immediately entered the sleazy world of Chicago machine politics, where his ambition and gifts allowed him to quickly climb from local community organizer to U.S. Senator, with the help of several unseemly characters.

What has he done in that time? Precious little but run for higher office and vote “present” on controversial bills. What does he offer in support of his candidacy? Precious little but soaring rhetoric and vague promises of “hope” and “change” — welcome words in a time when so many believe the nation is on the wrong track, but ultimately, nothing more than hypnotic platitudes. He is simply a blank slate onto which his followers project their wildest political fantasies.

He has never — not once — taken a stance opposed to the wishes of his party.

He has never — not once — shown the courage to stand by an unpopular position.

On the issues, Sen. McCain outshines Sen. Obama, especially given the near-certainty of Democratic control in both the House and Senate. McCain’s tax plan focuses on relief for those who currently pay taxes; Obama would raise taxes on investors and confiscate money from some Americans to give to others. Obama has promised that one of his first actions in office would be to sign the Freedom of Choice Act, which purports to abolish all state restrictions on abortion. McCain is, and has always been, unapologetically pro-life. Obama’s responses to foreign crises, such as the Russian invasion of Georgia, have been unsurprisingly naive, while McCain speaks with the gravity of a man who has been deeply involved on the foreign stage for a generation.

While Obama has swayed with every gust of wind, McCain has been steadfast and right on Iraq and Afghanistan, promising that those countries will be secured and self-governing before we leave them. McCain would nominate Supreme Court judges who will free Congress and the states to make the law; Obama supports an unelected activist judiciary that would impose its policy preferences on the nation. McCain supports the continuation and expansion of free trade, which has been a tremendous boon to American industry. Obama would “renegotiate” the treaties, hamstringing our fragile economy even further.

John McCain is not a perfect man. He is anything but a perfect candidate. We disagree with him on several issues, and we need no help seeing his myriad flaws. But to choose a third-party candidate, as many have done, is no choice at all — not when the differences between the two major candidates are this stark, not when the stakes for our nation are so great. We have no time for foolish quibbles over irrelevant issues, the political equivalent of leaving a church over the color of the nursery carpet.

No, these are serious days for our nation and the world. We deserve, we need, more than a smooth-talking first-term senator who has never run anything larger than a law review office and a campaign. We deserve experienced leadership, a man who has been thoroughly tested and found worthy of the job and its tremendous responsibility. A man who respects the presidency, but does not lust for it.

Sen. Obama might inspire and uplift, but beneath the words, he is an unqualified man with one of the most extreme voting records in the Senate. Sen. McCain has a proven record of bipartisan accomplishment and consistent leadership.

One talks, and talks, and talks. The other has followed through.

Bweinh! proudly endorses Senator John S. McCain for President.


Comments

5 Comments to “Our Endorsement”

  1. janelle on November 3rd, 2008 2:38 pm

    Thanks for putting this together, Steve. Well done. i went to get a copy of it after the service yesterday, but they were all gone. so i came here hoping to find it.

    i’m voting for McCain!

    May God have mercy on our country once again.

  2. Connie Maxon on November 3rd, 2008 6:00 pm

    Yes, yes, I did copy it and put 10 copies on the back table as well as one on the bulletin board. Of course I had to put a standard disclaimer on it to say that it did not “necessarily” reflect the views and opinions of DFF, so as not to interfere with IRS laws. Because we’re nothing if not compliant.

    Great job, Steve: I wish you could take it on the NBC Nightly News.

  3. E. Z. Sjolander on November 6th, 2008 11:06 pm

    Well, I voted third party and I must say it was because I disagree strongly with your statement that the “differences between the two major candidates are this stark.” McCain is bi-partisan to the point of nearly being a democrat, and I will possibly never forgive him for the nasty little bit of legislation he introduced commonly called “campaign finance reform.” Even the NRA in their latest issue basically said well McCain isn’t great but he’s better than the other guy. With terrible choices like this, I think it imperative that MORE people vote 3rd party to send a message to those in power that Republicans AND Democrats are out of touch and they better shape up or risk handing power over to only the 4th major party in the history of the U.S.

  4. Steve on November 10th, 2008 9:55 pm

    In a colossal irony, McCain’s loss — due at least partially to his tremendous economic disadvantage — may prove the death knell for CFR. I think the law is unconstitutional. But there wasn’t a chance of it sending me to a third party.

    When it comes to the choice of who will lead the most important and most powerful nation in the world, I am perfectly happy to choose the “lesser of two evils.” Votes for unviable, anonymous third party candidates with doggedly extreme policy positions “send a message” all right. They say “ignore me.”

  5. Steve on December 13th, 2016 11:16 am

    Here’s a comment no one will see, just to memorialize that, eight years later, it was E.Z. Sjolander who supported the execrable Republican, and Steve who wrote in an unviable third-party candidate. How about that.

Leave a comment!