Sunday, February 10, 2008

The Real McCain

Seems like John McCain has wrapped up the Republican nomination and I am starting to feel very uncomfortable with the number of people telling me that he's "better than Romney, Huckerbee* or Guiliani". That's like being the world's most sophisticated Telly-Tubby - there isn't a prize!! McCain, let us not forget, wants to take America to war with Iran, Pakistan and very probably any number of other countries. Brave News Films have some coverage. Here are a few reasons to be very afraid of him:

Foreign Policy:
  • "Naive to exclude nukes; naive to exclude attacking Pakistan." (Aug 2007)
Abortion:
  • Supports repealing Roe v. Wade. (May 2007)
  • Voted YES on barring HHS grants to organizations that perform abortions. (Oct 2007)
  • Voted YES on notifying parents of minors who get out-of-state abortions. (Jul 2006)
  • Voted NO on $100M to reduce teen pregnancy by education & contraceptives. (Mar 2005)
  • Voted YES on criminal penalty for harming unborn fetus during other crime. (Mar 2004)
  • Voted YES on banning partial birth abortions except for maternal life. (Mar 2003)
  • Voted YES on maintaining ban on Military Base Abortions. (Jun 2000)
  • Voted YES on banning partial birth abortions. (Oct 1999)
  • Voted YES on banning human cloning. (Feb 1998)
Civil rights:
  • Voted NO on adding sexual orientation to definition of hate crimes. (Jun 2002)
  • Voted NO on expanding hate crimes to include sexual orientation. (Jun 2000)
  • Voted YES on prohibiting same-sex marriage. (Sep 1996)
  • Voted NO on prohibiting job discrimination by sexual orientation. (Sep 1996)
  • Voted YES on banning affirmative action hiring with federal funds. (Jul 1995)
Death Penalty
  • More death penalty; stricter sentencing. (Jan 2000)
  • Pro-death penalty; more prisons; increased penalties. (Jul 1998)
  • Voted YES on limiting death penalty appeals. (Apr 1996)
  • Voted YES on mandatory prison terms for crimes involving firearms. (May 1994)
  • Voted YES on rejecting racial statistics in death penalty appeals. (May 1994)
Education:
  • Voted NO on $52M for "21st century community learning centers". (Oct 2005)
  • Voted NO on $5B for grants to local educational agencies. (Oct 2005)
  • Voted NO on shifting $11B from corporate tax loopholes to education. (Mar 2005)
  • Voted NO on spending $448B of tax cut on education & debt reduction. (Apr 2001)
  • Voted YES on declaring memorial prayers and religious symbols OK at schools. (May 1999)
  • Voted YES on $75M for abstinence education. (Jul 1996)
  • Voted YES on requiring schools to allow voluntary prayer. (Jul 1994)
For a fuller version see On The Issues here. Also Johann Hari has a great piece about him.

*When I try to write Huckerbee on my computer my spell-checker tries to "correct" it to Bloodsucker.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Voted YES on criminal penalty for harming unborn fetus during other crime.

What does that mean?

Unknown said...

What really scares me about my country and makes me wish I could get out of here is that the lens through which politics is viewed in this country has been moved so far to the right that "conservatives" hate McCain because they don't think he's conservative enough and "independents" see him as a moderate.

I'm thinking brown shirts are going to become a fashion craze any day now.

Cruella said...

Paul - what they were trying to do was to pass a law that - for instance - if you assaulted a pregnant woman and resulted in her miscarrying - you would be charged with assault and harming an unborn fetus. And murder of a pregnant woman would count as double murder.

Now obviously it's not that I think it's ok to attack or murder pregnant women. The point is that it's a step down the road to giving fetuses a right to life. It's a policy the pro-life movement are seriously keen on.

It would also complicate abortion laws because if it's a crime to harm an unborn fetus, how on earth can abortion still be legal?

And Susan - yes, I know. It's the Hannity and Colmes problem - the public are presented with two "choices" right or left. But actually even the "left" choice is what a few decades back we would at best have called centrist, and the "right" choice is so extreme it's frightening. So when people are asked about politics they are asked which of these two positions do you support. People naturally assume that the "average" or "normal" view is somewhere between the two. But the halfway point is actually, by objective standards, corporatist fascism... Shudder.

JM said...

Kate, you got there first! I've had a post on how hideous McCain is in my drafts folder since Super Tuesday :)

Good stuff though!