does this put that "obambi" crap to bed yet?

I agree Noam. The object is winning and if he has to park in the middle of the road, so be it, because if McCain is elected it will be a 7-2 Conservative majority that will drive the country into a ditch.

what if we're not worried about the electability of Barack, but sincerely worried he is becoming a typical pol? I've put a lot of trust in Obama and I felt like he shared my values, but I'm worried (and the people he's surrounding himself with is what's worrying me) that I was naive to think he was gonna be any different than Clinton. I thought that's what he was against!

Obama's statements on the FISA bill, child rape and handgun decisions, campaign finance pragmatism, and not falling for the "joint forums" trap are exactly the kinds of things that I anticipated when I decided to support him. And, of course, I expect him to pursue about the same course in Iraq that McCain would.

The last thing we need is another ideologue.

From a very smart guy who just in the real world in his day job decided to keep Conrad Black in the hoosegow--not me natch--and one of the most incisive accounts of Machiavelli I ever read:

...People (he's talking about scholars and academics) who live this way have difficulty grasping the distinctive and essential constituents of politicall morality, comprising the necessary qualities in a statesman or other leader. Those qualities are strategic and interpersonal (manipulative, coercive,

psychological) in character. They constitute the morality, misunderstood as cynicism, expounded by Machiavelli, the morality that Weber contrasted with the "ethic of ultimate ends" that one finds, for example, in the Sermon on the Mount. The ethics of personal responsibility implies a willingness to compromise, to dirty one's hands, to flatter and lie, to make package deals, to forgo the prideful self-satisfaction that comes fro self-conscious purity and devotion to principle. It requires a sense of reality, of proportion, rather than self righteousness and academic smarts. The politician must have an "ability to let realities work upon him with inner concentration and calmness"...

He goes on to set up a typology between the Platonic and the Aristotelian with academics solidly encamped within the former and politicians within the latter.

As much as the nation needs to be pointed in a largey Democratic Party direction, I don't think the Supreme Court is the reason.  With the not-insignificant exception of civil rights wrt the war on terror, what would an extremist court do that couldn't or wouldn't be undone by the legislature?  The worst nightmare for the GOP is that the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade.  What this term was such a momentous change one way or the other: if kid rapists got the death penalty or if never-proved-effective handgun regulations were completely wiped out?  The Supreme Court is a political creature and it stays pretty cognizant of its boundaries.  

Well, they've got red-baiting and race-baiting.

Seriously, if someone on the other side can make an anti-Obama argument, or even better, a pro-McCain argument, w/o red baiting or fear mongering and with some sort of positive McCain agenda that's more coherent than platitudes ('we love america and free markets!' or whatever), I'd love to hear it.

I don't like him all that much and it's web sitey but:

John McCain on Health

• Supports a Patient's Bill of Rights, including appeal mechanisms when claims are denied, and the right to sue when claims are denied.

• Supports expanded eligibility for tax-free medical savings accounts.

• In favor of limits on the amount of punitive damages awarded in medical malpractice lawsuits.

• Supports expanded prescription drug coverage under Medicare.

• Supports tax credits to individuals and small businesses to offset the cost of insurance coverage.

• Supports stem cell research on existing lines of stem cells.

John McCain on Immigration

• Supports an increase in the number of visas issued for agricultural workers.

• Would relax restrictions barring legal immigrants from using social programs (e.g. public housing, food stamps).

• Supports immigration reform allowing willing employers & employees to connect, while protecting American jobs & securing our borders.

John McCain on International Aid

•  Believes that aid should be granted to countries when extraordinary circumstances cause disaster and threaten civilian lives, and/or when it is in the security interests of the United States.

•  The United States should continue to provide leadership in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

•  The United States should support the creation of a Palestinian state.

•  The United States should not withdraw its troops from Iraq. The funds that have already been authorized and appropriated should be dispensed. We must financially support the reconstruction effort. We need to be prepared to spend what it takes to assure success.

•  The United States should use diplomatic and economic pressure to encourage North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program; all opportunities should be exhausted before military force is used.

•  The United States should increase financial and military support to Afghanistan.

•  The United States should maintain its financial support of the United Nations and commit troops to United Nations peacekeeping missions, when defense of our national interests and values calls for such action, provided the U.S. maintains operational control of our forces.

•  The United States should not lift the travel ban to Cuba.

•  The United States should increase its financial support to Colombia to combat "the war on drugs."

•  Supports aid to African nations for AIDS prevention programs fund distribution of contraceptives and abstinence education.

•  Supports the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

•  Supports the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).

•  Supports U.S. membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO).

•  Does not agree that a nation's human rights record should affect its normal trade relations (most favored nation) status with the United States.

•  Supports the trade embargo against Cuba.

•  Trade agreements should not include provisions to address environmental concerns and to protect workers' rights.

John McCain on National Security

• Supports using military tribunals to try suspected terrorists when ordinary civilian courts are deemed inappropriate or impractical.

• The United States should adopt stricter rules for student visa applications from nations known to sponsor terrorism.

• The United States should not grant law enforcement agencies greater discretion to read mail and email, tap phones, and conduct random searches to prevent future terrorist attacks.

• The United States should hold foreign states accountable for terrorists who operate in their country.

• The federal government should increase funding to states and cities for homeland security.

• Supports a policy of pre-emptive strikes against countries deemed to be a threat to national security, evaluated on a case by case basis depending on the severity of the threat.

John McCain on Social Security

•  Workers should be allowed to invest a portion of their payroll tax in private accounts which they manage themselves.

John McCain on Technology and Communication

• Supports the moratorium on Internet taxation.

• Supports strict penalties for Internet crimes (e.g. hacking, identity theft, worms/viruses).

• Supports legislation to detail how personal information can be collected and used on the Internet.

• Supports enactment of reasonable regulations to protect individual privacy on & off line, including pornography, fraudulent activity, etc.

John McCain on Welfare and Poverty

• Welfare recipients should be required to spend at least 40 hours a week in a combination of work and training programs.

• Supports increased funding for child care programs.

• Supports housing assistance for low-income families.

Yep, that's exactly what I was getting ready to explain, itzik.