McCain hopes fall into crater
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The News Virginian
Published: October 14, 2008
Echoes of a fabled Civil War strategist ring in the cavernous hollows of John McCain’s flagging presidential campaign, to which Republicans might respond in the fashion of Union soldiers in James Hewitt Ledlie’s Third New York Artillery. Recognizing what their fellows later would learn most acutely in Petersburg’s Battle of the Crater – that Ledlie’s ineptitude was worth 10 rebel cannons – a band of Third New Yorkers mutinied, retreating upon arrest to the safety of the stockade rather than risk death under a bungler’s command.
His hopes made of onionskin with disquieted desperation showing through, McCain tonight treks to New York’s Hofstra University in wearying pursuit of challenges thus far beyond him: How to slow the roll of voter sentiment in the direction of Barack Obama, and how to set himself apart, both from the Democratic senator and the Republican president whose failings are a cancer. Toward these ends McCain has stumbled, fallen and now can’t seem to get up.
Does Obama threaten America as now she is known, given the guilt of his associations and the leftist bent of his policies, or is he merely a family man of differing hue, both in party and skin? Attempting to make out McCain’s answer is like trying to discern the tips of the Blue Ridge amid the fog. In the thickening mist, McCain’s campaign appears headed for a crash. Republicans see as much and brace for the end of party dominance in the White House, which the GOP has held for more than two-thirds of the last 28 years.
Referring to McCain while stumping over the weekend in Fishersville, former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich said, “You can’t be 10 points behind and say he’s done an effective job. I mean, they have not focused on the economy, they have not given a clear message. They haven’t focused on what the American people want.”
That, presumably, would include an economic plan, which McCain produced Tuesday. Like McCain the candidate, the plan appeals relative to the alternatives, either inaction or regression under Obama. McCain would cut in half to 7.5 percent the long-term capital gains tax. He also plans to federally guarantee all savings accounts, lower to 10 percent the tax rate for people 60 or older withdrawing money from IRAs and 401(k) retirement plans and increase tax-deductible stock losses from $3,000 to $15,000.
Well, fine. What of suspending Sarbanes-Oxley and the mark-to-market accounting rule that has exacerbated the financial crisis? What of plans to stimulate growth, which in turn would ease the suffering? How about eliminating the capital gains tax altogether in hopes of prodding investors to spend rather than hoard?
Needing bold strokes, McCain scribbles with a fine-point. His chances of winning the presidency are streaming into a crater formed by campaign missteps. An observant senator might defy an analogy and yell, “Halt!” Otherwise, McCain’s fate as a faux warrior combating socialism’s creep will be that of Ledlie, a misplaced officer who acted rarely and blundered famously, to the bodily demise of many and the fatal wounding of himself in history’s memory.
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Posted by ( johntheman7 ) on October 22, 2008 at 1:01 pm
Our beautiful soon to be Vice President Sarah Palin is the best future leader for this nation, not Senator Barak Obama. Our beautiful soon to be Vice President Sarah Palin is also would be better at leading our nation in the future after a McCain Presidency than Senator Barak Obama would be in leading our nation in the future starting in January 2009. There are great reasons our soon to be Vice President Sarah Palin would be a better future leader than Senator Barak Obama. The greatest reason for our soon to be Vice President Sarah Palin’s is ideology. Our soon to be Vice President Sarah Palin is conservative in that she is pro life, marriage, guns, low taxes, low government spending, small government, unintrosive government, traditional and judeo Christian values, Bible reading and prayer in our public schools, and military spending. Senator Barak Obama is a liberal who is anti every thing that I have described that our soon to be Vice President Sarah Palin is pro about or for. A second reason that our soon to be Vice President Sarah Palin is superior is because of experience. As a governor she has two years of executive administrative governing experience that Senator Barak Obama does not have. A final reason that our soon to be Vice President Sarah Palin is superior is because of political accomplishments. When our soon to be Vice President Sarah Palin came to office she accomplished 3 major things which are as follows: she showed great leadership in the 3 following areas: government reform, the state budget and the economy, and wise use of natural resources. She reformed government by standing up to the big oil companies by breaking up the monopoly on power and resources. She insisted on competition and basic fairness which ended the control that the oil companies had on the state, and thereby returning control of the state back to the people. She also stood up to the special interest and lobbyist, and produced major ethics reform. She lead well in the state budget by generating a surplus which came about by vetoing a half billion dollars of wasteful spending, ending the abuses of earmark spending by congress, and by getting rid of the private jet, the chef, and the chuffer. Economically under her leadership she brought about the largest private-sector infrastructure project in North American history. She also suspended the state fuel tax, and when oil and gas prices went up dramatically, and filled up the state treasury, she sent a large share of that revenue back where it belonged - directly to the people of Alaska . On natural resources she has shown great leadership by beginning a nearly forty billion dollar natural gas pipeline to help lead America to energy independence. When the last section of the pipeline is laid and its valves are opened, will lead America one step farther away from dependence on dangerous foreign powers that do not have our interests at heart. Senator Barak Obama has done nothing, so please vote John McCain for President and give to our beautiful soon to be Vice President Sarah Palin the opportunity that she deserves leading the nation into the future after a John McCain presidency. When our soon to be Vice President does lead the nation as President after a John McCain presidency,she will be the greatest President that we have ever had. Finally she is smarter than Senator Barak Obama
Thank You
John Warren
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