With the first round of debates under their belts both John McCain and Barack Obama faired well. Initial post debate polls showed Obama with a slight edge (in winning the debate) but certainly not enough to say he had an outright victory. A couple key points/statements needed some fact checking…
Question: Does McCain almost always agree with Bush? (As stated by Obama)
Answer: According to Congressional Quarterly, Mccain has voted for Bush favored bills 90% of the time. He is among only six others with similar track records. (Obama voted with Bush 40% of the time and Joe Biden 54%)
Question: Is Obama the most liberal U.S. Senator? (as stated by McCain)
Answer: Although a fairly subjective statement it is fair to say he is more liberal than some other Democrats. The ADA gave Obama a 75 percent score in 2007, 95 in 2006, and 100 in 2005. The ACU gave him a lifetime score of 7.67 (far from being the “most liberal”). Consensus; Obama certainly is one of the most liberal.
Question: Did McCain vote against deploying troops to Lebanon? (As stated by McCain).
Answer: Not exactly. The Marines went into Lebanon in 1982. McCain went into Congress in 1983 – he was not part of the vote. What McCain did note for (in relation to Lebanon) was the War Powers Act.
Question: McCain stated that Dwight Eisenhower wrote two letters on the eve of D-Day (one in the event of victory and the second being his resignation in the event of failure). Did he?
Answer: There was no second letter and Eisenhower did not offer his resignation. The letter actually says, “The troops, the air and the navy did all that bravery and devotion to duty could do. If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt, it is mine alone.”
Question: McCain said Obama would cut off money for troops in Iraq. (As stated by McCain).
Answer: Historically Obama’s record shows that he would not cut off money for troops. Obama has voted for troop financing with only one exception. In 2007 he voted against it since it did not contain any language for eventual troop withdrawal. Another bill had such language and Obama voted for it.
All in all, neither candidate went “off the reservation” when it came to factual information – just some slight bending or not giving all the details.
Keep the Godfather Caffeinated! Donate to the Diet Pepsi Fund.
I suppose this is where you look for some witty insights to my mind. A "bio" of sorts. Here is the deal... I ride motorcycles, smoke cigars, golf, kayak, fly, race my car through the mountains, write (a lot), and travel extensively. I am almost old enough not to care what other people think about me...almost. ~ Godfather
I love how the liberal mainstream media and so many loony left-wingers harp on McCain’s “90%” statistic while they make absolutely no mention of the fact that Obama voted with his party 97% of the time!
It’s intellectually dishonest and simply nothing more that blatant bias and banal banter.
Godfather Added: “Loony Left-Wingers?” Did someone get a Thesaurus for their birthday or just watch the cartoon marathon on Nick last night? In any case…
I think party bias happens in either case. Although I can only come up with Obama voting party line 96% of the time versus your 97% (I only count the times he voted) it is fair to say that most people vote with their party. There is of course a difference between party voting and voting for the Presidents agenda (McCain voted party line 88.3%, not 90%).
Obviously there have been fundamental differences on both sides – especially since the war – which increases party line voting. As for Obama mentioning McCain in agreement with Bush, why would he not?- things are not exactly going well in the country right now.
Why would McCain not mention Obama’s 96%? Simply put, it would not have helped in the debate.
Thanks for the comments
Bolsonon. I am confused. Are you saying it is good or bad McCain voted with Bush or just that you don’t want it out there?
Are you saying we have a 90% chance we will stay on the current path with McCain? That he won’t go outside his party?
I think you will find most of the people on this site fairly conservative but still interested in the facts. Facts are facts no matter which side of the isle you are on.
Heads up…Talk about intellectually dishonest and blatant bias!
Bolsonon is simply trolling. He is leaving posts on a ton of blogs slamming Obama. I am going to guess he works for the McCain campaign but who knows.
So much for an intellectual conversation.
Thanks Mitchell. I saw that as well. No worries, I welcome comments from anyone. Besides, who doesn’t have an agenda or an opinion around here?!
The first sign of intelligence? An open mind. Never be afraid of the facts. Then make up your own mind. We get to do that in America (and at the Slow Bleed blog).
Great posts this weekend Godfather………but were you drinking or just so bummed out by all the bad news? The typos were many which is unusual for you from what I’ve seen……LOL
LOL – Couldn’t have been drinking – I think both were written early in the morning (too early to drink, but not too early to “think” about drinking). Other than that, the secret is out – I have horrible grammar skills (although I am working on it). You ever had to misspell a word several times until spellchecker finally has a clue what you are going for?! That is me.
Probably moving a little to fast this weekend (especially true when I am upset by the content). Need to slow down and at least attempt to proof. Good reminder (until I have a staff of people that proof read for me!)
HAHAHAHAHAHA Godfather! Not to worry, I have my fair share of typos, especially since my mind tends to go faster than my fingers can keep up with…..LOL
In fact just this morning on another site I had a major mental breakdown and had to admit to leaving my brain at home this morning……………THAT was painful! LOL