Back                                                                        flip flops again?

During the last election we were duped into believing that John Kerry was a flip flopper. Now they are starting up again with the smear campaign. Read what I wrote last time and you'll see what I'm talking about. I was right then and I'm right now.  Al

I'm going to be following this campaign and watching for misstatements by both the candidates and the media. I'll be posting them here.

Obama:

l.  Public Financing: Barack Obama made a statement that if he won the primary he would sit down and talk to the McCain campaign about taking public financing. The talks never took place. Barack decided to forgo public financing. People he is getting public financing. (All his donations are in small amounts from small donors.) but I guess it's still a small flip flop.

2. FISA: Barack Voted against the "Protect America Act." now he voted for the new FISA compromise. The news media (especially Fox) has been calling this a flip flop. People He hasn't changed his basic disagreement to the bill. You can read his reasoning Here. I have to vote this as not a flip flop, just good reasoning.

3. NAFTA:  During the primary Barack said that he thought we should take another look at NAFTA. He never said we should do away with it. Later on it was revealed that a senior member of his staff told a Canadian official not to worry it was only political rhetoric. This would be even worse then a flip flop if it came from the top. I'm for free trade but I'm also for fair trade. Canada has good if not great labor and environmental laws, however Mexico is another story. It's possible that Barracks team understanding that Mexico is a problem just wanted to reassure the Canadian government that they weren't talking about them.  This one I can't say wasn't a flip flop.

4. Gun Control: Barack has always been for gun control but never has he said we should take guns away from law abiding people. Common sense dictates that we have to control who has the right to bare arms. I've been a hunter for most of my life and have seen my share of people who I wouldn't let carry a gun. Anyone who wants the right to carry a firearm should be required to pass a gun safety test. We don't let anyone drive and guns are even more dangerous then cars in the wrong hands.  NO Flip flop here.

5. Death Penalty: Nowhere have I found any statement by Barack against the death penalty, in fact he has always come out in favor of it but for making sure that it was only used on the right people. So his statement that the supreme was wrong in saying that states couldn't give the death sentence for child rape wasn't a flip flop. I disagree with Barrack on this. I think the court made the right decision but for different reasons then they used. I worry that if child rape was a death penalty crime it would give the rapist more incentive to "Get rid of the witness." Let's face facts. If your going to die anyway why take the chance of letting the one person who could testify against you live. That plus making a child testify against a person who would then receive the death penalty would make them carry that persons death with them for the rest of their lives, especially if that person were a family member.

6.The War in Iraq: His statements have been the same. He said he would remove our troops in 16 months and that he would consult with the generals on the ground on how fast they could safely pull out. (How many troops per month.) No Flip Flop here.

More coming.

McCain:

1.  Public Financing: John McCain took public financing during his primary campaign, took out a loan on that financing then Dropped out of the financing.  I call this a big flip flop.

While we're on the subject, how come there are so many lobbyist on the "Straight Talk Express"?

2.  Now supports off-shore drilling after being against it.

3.  Was against the Bush tax cuts and now wants to make them permanent.

4.  The McCain-Kennedy bill. He helped write it not wouldn't vote for it.

5.  In 2002 he criticized Jerry Falwell as "an agent of intolerance" Now he accepts his support and endorsement.

6.  Took a firm stance against torture, but has since caved in to the White House.

7.  He was anti-ethanol and is now for it.

8.  Was pro-life but would not try to overturn Roe V Wade. Now he's in favor of overturning it.

9.   Was against privatizing Social Security now says "Without Privatization, I don't see how you can possibly, over time, make sure that young Americans are able to receive Social Security benefits."

10. Said he was against special interest backing political campaigns, now accepts the same monies. Read This

11. 7/20/08: I just heard John McCain at a Town Hall Meeting say that we have to form a strong energy policy, one that includes "Tidal, wind, solar and nuclear energy". People look at his voting record on green energy. This is a huge FLIP FLOP.

More coming