CHANGE is not a policy.
POW is?
Senator McCain has been a policymaker for more than 25 years in the House and Senate. Pray tell, what are the legislative accomplishments of Barry?
I don’t see Biden becoming any effective as an attack dog. Outside the DNC, he doesn’t have that much pull. It was a safe and solid choice, albeit underwhelming. It doesn’t create the excitement that Obama would have needed to reverse McCain’s rise and create a juggernaut of support now. As it is, he will be open to snipes and attacks from the Republicans with Biden proving little effective as a shield.
Had McCain not won the Georgia exchange, Obama wouldn’t have needed Biden. I don’t think the Republicans will relish a discussion of the merits of the Iraq war. But Obama floundered in that and in the Saddleback forum so Biden comes to the rescue - only he’s not much help anywhere else.
The hell it’s not. “Stay the same” is a policy too. Over the past eight years John McCain very visibly changed his positions to match those of the current administration so that he would be able to get the Republican nomination for the presidency. Unfortunately for him, the nation wised up before the election. But it’s policy, all right, albeit at a very high level - stick with what we have, or do things differently.
As for the legislative accomplishments of McCain, they are more numerous than Obama’s, fewer than Biden’s, more than W’s - what’s your point? Time does not necessarily wisdom grant, and more presidents in the twentieth century than not were not senators at all. So what? When I look at McCain, I see someone who never met a war he didn’t like, a man whose idea of how the economy is doing is to check the Dow Jones, who apparently has managed to convince himself that drilling offshore (which he opposed until June of this year) will solve our energy problems in the short run. I see a man with a great sense of humor, but also a quick temper and a real mean streak. I see a man who’s got one last chance to make it to the White House, and is willing to do just about anything to get there.
I look at Obama and I see idealism and pragmatism in equal measure. I see principles, and I see a man who is unflappable no matter what you throw at him. That’s the kind of guy I want to have in charge - good, smart and dispassionate. Not the second coming. Just a good politician for our time.
I’m not sure you can count the past year, considering how many votes McCain’s missed.
Presumably he didn’t like the Korean War much after he really got to know her.
Stop here for a second as I think that this must honestly be considered a bit more.
If the question is who “won the Georgia exchange” as a matter of political posturing in the election, then I would 100% agree with this statement, and called it so from the beginning of the exchange. America likes its leaders standing tall in the saddle declaring in no uncertain terms who is a bad guy and taking them on.
If the question is whose actions demonstrated a better posture for a President to actually take in this very complex highly dangerous circumstance of Real Politik, then Obama demonstrated the actual behavior needed. Give a situation a chance to defuse before getting into more bellicose rhetoric. Let the EU pull some of the weight and do not too far ahead of them or they may not follow.
McCain and his simplistic black and white good guys (with Judeao-Christian values) vs Bad guys (other values) is not the person to be in charge of the multipolar world in which we now exist.
But cowboys and indians does play better, granted. He won that aspect of it. Simple answers to complex circumstances. God help us, even Bush knew better than to play it so hawkish so quickly though.
Vietnam, actually. McCain isn’t THAT old…
If you mean Viet Nam, just ask him. He still thinks we should have stayed and won.
POW and change are comparable, actually, in the ways that they are being used by the respective candidates- they are both slogans, bite-sized samples of what is presumably the candidate’s larger message. Unsurprisingly, I think it belittles the experience endured by McCain- and significantly, his compatriots- to use it in this way.
And it is in danger of becoming threadbare if they continue to bring it out- it blunts its effect. Those 5.5 years have been, understandably, a nearly unstoppable credential for McCain- proof of his love of his country,his grit, his constitution. If I may engage in a bit of concern trolling of my own, they risk diluting it via overuse.
The problem is that McCain, to a near-comical degree- is trotting out POW as a magical shield that allows him to avoid answering questions about anything. If Obama had somehow also been a POW, we would really be in trouble, because we could have no debate at all.
I’m sure McCain’s people see no downside in constant reminders of McCain’s POW experience- even in the context of some of his less-appealing qualities- and it is their campaign to run, not mine. It just seems unusual.
McCain’s POW status is not in question. It truly does show American courage and grit. I’m certainly not questioning McCain’s patriotism, what I question highly is his ability to lead this country, and keep us safe. Guns of the Navarone doesn’t work anymore.
That’s about on the same level with “I know you are but what am I.”
Ok, so 24 years then. What has Barry accomplished again?
Of course, Biden has been in the Senate even longer than McCain.
Eh. People in glass houses should refrain from certain behaviors.
Especially when they can’t remember how many glass houses they own…
:dubious: 
…
Dunno. What’s Grumpy Geezer accomplished, besides a mostly-gutted campaign finance reform law, and helping keep S&Ls from being properly regulated?