Quote from Max E. Pad:
No, you arent sorry, atleast you arent a fiscal conservative. Anyone who says they would vote for Obama, the biggest spender in history over Ron Paul the most fiscally conservative candidate in history, is not a fiscal conservative, sorry man. You would rather see massive spending and deficits, so long as money is going to Israel, then see a true fiscal conservative come into office and fix americas spending problem.
Quote from 377OHMS:
You're mixing and embellishing so much that it is difficult to respond but I'll give it a try.
First, I voted for McCain/Palin, with extreme reluctance I might add. I disliked McCain intensely and felt Palin was not qualified or appropriate.
Second, I do not like Obama's conduct of the war(s) or his troop ROE but note that he assigned a commander in Afghanistan that overturned the non-defensive ROE and put some good ROE in place (Gen. Petraeus). Some in congress evidently felt the need to interfere by legislating ROE. During the vote on that ROE-interfering legislation I noted that Ron Paul voted against it along with most of the democrats.
Third, my opposition to Ron Paul is not based soley on that ROE vote. It is a composite of all of his policies and a perception of that I developed during the debate and some reading up on him.
Fourth, I've never supported Barrack Obama but note that he is killing Islamists at a respectable rate despite his bad war policies and micro-management.
Finally, what I said was that I would vote for anyone instead of Ron Paul including Obama in the general election if necessary. I don't feel that he is a stable personality, don't like his war policies, don't like his isolationist policies and frankly think he is a nut, that is, crazy or demented and dangerous. Not someone I think should have access to nuclear weapons. I don't think he is a conservative by any measure and is likely just a divider of republicans like Ross Perot was.
Yes, I said I would vote for Obama in the General against Ron Paul if he was nominated. Obama is screwing up almost everything he touches but he isn't going to turn his back on the entire world and hide behind our borders, put us on the gold standard or abandon our allies. The captured bad-guys are still sitting in Guantanamo and we are still killing AQ anywhere we find them. Its just that I don't want to see Ron Paul in the Whitehouse and feel strongly about that. None of the current republican candidates are suitable except, in my opinion, Perry perhaps running with Rubio or maybe Christie who doesn't seem interested in running.
The clincher was the debate. Ron Paul was shrill, yelling and vocalizing extreme position after extreme position. We don't need extreme radical change, we need common sense budget reform (reducing government spending), common sense tax reform (reducing and leveling tax rates) and war policies that have an objective (and an end-game).
I know most on ET won't read more than the first two sentences of any post so I'm likely wasting my time explaining myself but you asked politely so I've tried to answer fully and politely.
Quote from 377OHMS:
we need common sense budget reform (reducing government spending), common sense tax reform (reducing and leveling tax rates) and war policies that have an objective (and an end-game).
Quote from 377OHMS:
I don't feel that he is a stable personality, don't like his war policies, don't like his isolationist policies and frankly think he is a nut, that is, crazy or demented and dangerous. Not someone I think should have access to nuclear weapons.
Quote from Eight:
I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for anything like that coming out of our two-party system...
Quote from 377OHMS:
Yeah, no kidding.
Boehner is as bad as Obama with a less than 1% reduction in federal spending achieved during the debt limit fight.
But I don't think that means we must embrace some unstable figure like Ron Paul. I've noticed that Christie has dramatically cut state spending in New Jersey but managed to preserve most of the assistance for the poor, the elderly and children. He has pissed off a lot of teachers though but they seem hopelessly addicted to the union wages and benefits they receive.
Clearly the days of fat pensions and non-means-tested entitlements is coming to an end. One huge step forward might be to means test for medicaid and social security and I'll bet those are the first two major reforms to entitlements that we see.
My thinking there is, if I've become wealthy by retirement age why should the goverment pay for my medical care using other people's tax money? If I've become wealthy by retirement age why should I receive social security? It makes sense to require some income qualification for those two programs and I've read that simply implementing that change would render both of those programs viable for our children and grandchildren if not in perpetuity.
Quote from Max E. Pad:
Actually its much simpler than that, Maverick had him, and his type pegged in this thread yesterday.
http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=3279206#post3279206
Quote from 377OHMS:
Florida Republican Congressman John Mica offered the following morally clear Amendment (5/25/2011-H.AMDT.318 (A018) Amends H.R.1540):
"Amendment requires that the rules of engagement [ROE] allow any military service personnel assigned to duty in a designated hostile fire area to have rules of engagement that fully protect their right to proactively defend themselves from hostile actions."
The results?
143 out of 185 Democrats present -- 77% -- voted against this amendment; 217 out of 235 Republicans present -- 92% -- voted for it.
As for the two Republicans in Congress running who are Presidential candidates, Michele Bachmann voted for the amendment; Ron Paul voted *against* it.
Ron Paul hates our troops. It is undeniable.
Combined with his extreme isolationist policy he appears to most of us to be unqualified to lead our country. Even the lamestream media knows Paul is a nut and is ignoring him.
Everyone has one policy or two that Ron Paul states that they like but one or two policies is not what we elect. We elect a human being and *all* of their policies must be considered. This man is a hater and I would vote against him in the General Election if it comes to it.