Linda Nagata: the blog at Hahví.net


Ethics Matter

September 12th, 2008

“In a democracy, we get the government we deserve.” Something to keep in mind.

Way back, shortly after Senator McCain won the Republican primary, I remarked to my son that at least (at last!) we would have two decent candidates running for the office of president. I was so very, very wrong.

Update:
From Andrew Sullivan

“We cannot control these despicable liars in the McCain campaign. We can only tell the truth as fearlessly and as relentlessly and as continuously as we can until November 4. We must do our duty. And if the American people want to re-elect the machine that has helped destroy this country’s national security, global reputation and economic health, then that is their choice. But I am not so depressed to think that they will.

We must give them the truth. And that will feel like hell. And we must tell it like Truman told it: cheerfully, passionately and relentlessly.”

Posted on: Friday, September 12th, 2008 at 11:15 pm
Categories: Uncategorized.

8 Responses to “Ethics Matter”

  1. Max Kaehn Says:

    I really wish we could restore McCain from a 2003 backup. I still disagreed with that version of him on many things, but I still respected him then.

  2. Thom Says:

    The bottomline here is McCain is the man for the job. Mr Obama has not done anything for the country to deserve to be President. He has walked up to the mic and talked a good game. But what has he done in the past to enforce his philosophy? It would be different if he had an impressive track record to go with his rhetoric. I live in Illinois, he has not done anything for this State of magnitude to deserve a vote for President. Even as a State Senator, his accomplishments are meager. He has associated himself with the wrong crowd (Rev Wright and the underground anarchist–William Ayes and others). People have such hate for the Republican Administration that they would even vote for Peter Pan if he was a democrate running. McCain is not my favorite person to run but there is no doubt that he has put the country first. I believe that will not change when he is in the White House. He will continue to protect this country, as well as, cause a change in the way the country will operate. I hope that individuals on the fence decide to give their vote to John McCain. I’m sorry the democrats did not come up with a more worthy nomination.

  3. Linda Says:

    Selecting Sarah Palin for vice-president is the opposite of putting country first. I have seen nothing that can begin to explain why this is good for the country. I confess to being in a state of shock when I heard. McCain might well cause a change in the way the country operates, but would it be a change for the better? I can’t see it. What counts here is the supreme court, the environment, a rational foreign policy, the economy…

    So instead we get the culture wars.

    I hope individuals on the fence decide to give their vote to Barack Obama. There may be people who are more deserving of being president, but they are not in this race.

  4. Thom Says:

    I admit I was a bit miffed when I heard Palin was his pick. But the way I feel about it is if the democrats can nominate an inexperienced man like Mr Obama with no real executive experience, then why not Sarah Palin. She frankly has more quality experience since she has been in charge and responsible for a town as mayor and a State as Governor. She also has shown reformist qualities while being Governor of Alaska.

  5. Linda Says:

    I actually think the “no real executive experience” argument is a bit of a red herring. Yes, Obama has not run a city or country, but he has done a rather good job of running a complicated campaign. And the argument does tend to count out even long-time senators like McCain.

    I don’t think Sarah Palin has quality experience in this regard. In fact, the more that is learned about her, the worse her record appears. There are many, many reports coming out about her governing style that should be looked at.
    Here is the latest from the NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/us/politics/14palin.html?em

    Frankly, everything I learn about her frightens me, while Obama continues to respond for the most part with graciousness, maturity, intelligence and steely-resolve.

    BTW, sorry about the weird timestamps on these posts. I switched from UTC to Hawaii time thinking it would modify the recorded time… but it didn’t work, so I changed the times manually to get comments in right order.

  6. Thom Says:

    Linda, that’s an interesting article from NYTimes. On first glance, to me its not all that surprising. She becomes mayor of her town and hires people she knows and feels comfortable with. I come from a small town in Indiana that more or less the same thing happens. As the article said, she has many supporters and did get things done for the town. She more than likely had to do unpleasant things to get business accomplished–politics is a messy business and when change is in the cards it gets really messy. Has she broken the law?? I don’t think so. Check out how Mr Obama gained his seat in the Senate. There was really some mean games played with the incumbent Ms Alice Palmer (I believe was her name). Ms Palin is no angel no doubt, but I think she is fighting the good fight and I think a good VP candidate for John McCain. I’ll be anxiously awaiting what comes out in the days ahead regarding this article. Thanks for alerting me.

  7. Linda Says:

    She’s currently being investigated for abuse of power – an investigation the McCain campaign is trying to stop. She’s raised budgets, taxes and debt and has proved very skilled at collecting earmarks. Check out Andrew Sullivan at the Atlantic for lots more on both Republican candidates.

  8. Phil Massebeau Says:

    I don’t know how anyone can vote for anybody in the republican party. It’s true that even the democrats are crooks too, but they steal from the rich and give to the poor. The republicans just steal and steal and steal, and they just keep all the money. They are the party that ruined America, that is crystal clear. Nixon, Reagan, all of the Bushes were the sleaziest people to ever emerge.
    Reagan didn’t tear down any wall, Afghanistan did. Reagan ran drugs, sold rockets to the Iranians, ran up massive debts. He deregulated the banking industry so that Neil Bush could make millions of dollars and McCain could be involved in the Keating 5. He was one of the 5. We all know what Nixon did.
    I think we have to stop attacking the candidates and start attacking the idiot republicans. They are all worried about their stupid taxes and don’t see that whatever they saved was all eaten up at the gas pump, or their portfolios going belly up, or their banks failing and all their precious money gone, gone gone.
    It’s hard to confront people, face to face when you see them, but somehow we have to find the courage. You people on this blog have computers, why can’t you find the truth. I understand why my father in South Carolina doesn”t see it, his new comes through Pat Robinson. Yours doesn”t.
    Sorry for the rant Linda, but it is nice to see you get political.