Submitted by Bonnie M. on Fri, 10/10/2008 - 12:07I found this and had to submit it here, it is a long read but eyeopening so please have patience and get through it.....This letter was written before the debates and McCain mud - more relevant than ever for the Keating scandal King:A Voter's Analysis of McCain CampaignI once admired your bravery and courage in captivity, your integrity, and your independent voice. As an avid Clinton supporter, baby boomer white female, I was ready to listen to both candidates and their proposals. I had no preference after Hillary's departure. Sadly, you have promulgated no new proposals, only slurs of the lowest caliber that I have ever witnessed (Is that the new McCain that you discuss? – OUCH!!!). After listening to all sides, I felt compelled to delineate my observations and disseminate these thoughts to my friends of all ilks, politically and socioeconomic status. As well as e-mailing friends in Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maryland, D.C., North Carolina, Florida, Nevada, Arizona, and California, I will be sending this to all major broadcast and print media. In a period of such multi layered severe issues, it was disheartening to see politics worse than ever before!!! Some Maverick!!!!!MAJOR ISSUES:ENERGY:• McCain's energy construct includes "drill Baby drill" and what else for this complex issue? Oh yes a few recent brief references to nuclear and clean coal sources ( nothing in detail on safety or where you plan to safely store this expanded nuclear waste - Northern Illinois still hasn't found a solution to its plant waste).Though leading industrialists ( Pickens, Gates, Buffett, Bransen, etc.) have begun to bang the drum for renewable sources, you still have not addressed solar, wind, natural gas, geothermal, or other avenues with any intelligence and, in fact have voted repeatedly against federal dollars for research or consumer tax breaks to install new technologies).• You deceive the public in three ways about drilling: solution time, devastation of ecosystems, and current availability.a) Solution Time: You NEVER mention that, if we started tomorrow, we would have no production for 10 years by all experts' accounts. That does nothing to solve today's needs. I have never heard you state that some of those exorbitant profits from oil company revenues should be redirected to alternative energy research, even if it allows your friends to pocket the gains and provide new decent jobs.b) Devastation of Ecosystems: Human error and recent storms have proven that much care must be taken before placement of new wells. Your environment of fear only obfuscates all that is needed in planning and placing new wells. (Remember oil toxic waste into the Great Lakes which threatened drinking water for a large Midwest population – much more dense than the Alaskan frontier? Also remember that development of offshore oil rigs and refineries in the Gulf of Mexico done under the guise of urgency caused the destruction of Louisiana wetlands which previously protected the coastline? And how does he plan to protect from the ecological devastation of another Exxon Valdez or more recent spills?) Even your party colleague, Schwarzenegger, does not want these wells off his fragile California shores!c) Current Availability: This loud cry for new wells was never stated when current leases for many offshore acres lay dormant. McCain only took up the new hue and cry late in the primaries when he needed a cause to deflect from his ignorance of economics (with no mention yet of developing current carefully researched leases).• Though McCain's platform is to rid the capitol of corruption and lack of transparency, I did not hear McCain condemn Cheney when the Vice President held closed door hearings about energy years before. Cheney refused to divulge either the names of the participants or the contents of the discussions. Where was the cry for transparency and absence of conflict of interests then? Where was the cry for a commission to investigate recent exposure of scandal in an agency conducting energy oversight? Some Maverick!!!!!As experts aver, the best predictor of future action is past behavior!HEALTH CARE:• McClain has lately been stating that every American should have access to health care, a new revelation, but gives no details as to how he plans to achieve that goal! His plans to tax employee health care benefits and give credits may help some employees in the long run but may sink those close to the edge before the balance is reached. Nothing in his plan addresses those 50 million plus uninsured or underinsured. Nothing in his plan addresses how he is going to execute this while lowering taxes and voting for tax breaks for the drug and health insurance companies. All developed and many underdeveloped nations do better than that, some with our resources and financial assistance.• Where was McCain's successful oversight and outrage, during these years of deregulation, when countless waves of dangerous drugs, food, supplements, pet food and toys were imported from many foreign countries, primarily China? Was he successful, with bipartisan support, in greatly increasing funding for inspectors, now greatly understaffed? Some Maverick!!!• His declarations have three flaws: cost containments, lobby control of Congress, and drug company monopoly and lack of transparency.a) Cost Containment: McCain continually talks about his record (public knowledge). He has repeatedly voted against regulations or oversight for drug companies or health insurers. He, as an elder statesman, has not cajoled these corporations about the impact on these patriotic citizens with any success. He has railed recently about corporate greed but has never discussed these revolting balloon exit contracts that corporate leaders receive, with no regard to their record or its impact on the little man (ripple effect). He has not successfully confronted the powerful lobbies in Washington or led successful bipartisan colleagues in this effort. Research his record. I did during my decision making process!!!b) Lobby Control of Congress: McCain has repeatedly railed about the culture in Washington but has not vociferously rebuffed entrenched drug and health insurance lobbies. His ethic reforms have not produced any REAL results in 26 years (through Congresses of both parties). How have the drug companies been quelled, a major campaign claim? Some Maverick!!! Now these lobbyists he insists he'll ban have contributed to his campaign, more now than ever. His staff is replete with lobbyists and "Rovian" filthy campaign staff. His convention was rampant with lavish lobbyist parties right at his front door. Forget smearing the other candidate until this campaign is clean. Two great adages, his forte: "Those in glass houses should not throw stones" and the favorite this season "That's like putting the fox in the chicken coop".c) Lack of Transparency: Where in this 26 year record is there proof of efforts to make research and development results public (a common company and lobbyist refrain for the rationale again for outrageous profits at patriotic, hard working patients' expense? Where was the outrage at the greed and incompetence of the HMO machine, causing many patients death or permanent disability, including friends of mine? He voted against holding HMOs liable or monitoring their practices! Some Maverick!As experts aver, the best predictor of future action is past behavior!ECONOMICS:Where do I begin?• How does a man with so many years in Congress profess an ignorance on the economics front just months ago and argue expertise now (giving one word "energy" as the only answer to this complex issue – and no comprehensive answer there).• McCain espouses trickle down economics, which brought us to this nefarious place today! How is giving the average citizen a very small amount and the "fat cats" even more going to change this morass of lack of health insurance, job loss, home foreclosures, etc. for the hard working average citizens? Explain this plan in detail to us. The time for empty slurs, fear tactics and rhetoric is gone!!! The time for detailed plans and transparent deep thought is NOW!!!• Let's have no more commissions, which are too time consuming. McCain has never been enthusiastic about commissions in his 26 year in Congress. He has not had bipartisan success in bringing their results to fruition. Most recently he did not fervently work to implement the thoughtful results of bipartisan experts on national security post 2001. Some Maverick!!• Women have been clamoring for years for equal pay for equal work!! Even Rosie the Riveter in the 40s did better than we do today. McCain touts the abilities of women but has repeatedly voted against equal pay and the ERA Amendment in his 26 years in Congress. Are we viewing revisionist history in this category also?• McCain extols the small businessman, as he should. However, he posits no solutions to expand the business, prevent employee layoffs, assist the employer in affording health care and other benefits that enhance productivity. My father, who was a small businessman, does not grasp. how your plan would have elevated his position at all. His laissez faire economic philosophy has deepened employers' worsening debts in these times. This philosophy has also strengthened the resolve of companies, large and small, to utilize loopholes to take those precious jobs and tax dollars oversees. Where, in those 26 years, did he get bipartisan support to assure this country that free trade is actually fair and conducted on a completely equal playing field, with no export quotas allowed on our products, as is the case with China and others? Some Maverick!!• McCain assails now that corruption and greed must be abated. Isn't that tantamount to closing the barn door after the horse escaped? Where in his 26 years was McCain interested or successful in obtaining bipartisan support in halting previous scandals?• His past public Congressional record shows no successful record of cleaning up corruption or greed. Where was his outrage and subsequent success in routing out corruption in his own party, let alone spearheading bipartisan change! Remember the savings and loan scandal, exemplified by Keating in his home state? Remember Enron, Tyco, Anderson and many others more recently? His party was in power and many employees and consumers suffered greatly during these collapses and still loopholes abound. Where were his skill and resolve then? What makes us believe that this overnight conversion of thought is sincere? McCain now insists that he warned years ago about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac years ago! If he was ineffective in change then what in particular is different now? How can a man who just days ago admitted that the economy was "fundamentally strong" be entrusted with righting the ship that he does not even see? How can a man who did not foresee the current extreme mortgage crisis be trusted to understand or foretell the upcoming crises in this increasingly fragile and complex, global economy? McCain has implored us to consider his experience as a predictor of his future success. I have endeavored to do just that in making my decision.As experts aver, the best predictor of future action is past behavior!EDUCATION:• Though McCain avows his passion for school excellence, he has voted against Head Start and school lunch funds, necessary for lower and lower middle class students to stay strong, healthy and competitive (an important part of the puzzle to ensure individual success and a continuing job force). Isn't his current "dedication" a bit disingenuous in light of his 26 year record?• McCain endorsed Bush's "No child left behind program" but did not vote for funding to launch this ambitious plan. He gave billions to no bid secret contracts to Bush cronies in Iraq while none for our own children. He also did not demand oversight to avoid the extremely uneven standards from school to school and state to state in order to leverage fallacious results. Where was his leadership then or now? How does that assist our children, now far behind most of the developed world? To remain world leaders and to give our children and country a bright future we need much better than that!!!• McCain supports vouchers but has not requested a commission where it would be appropriate – to bring foundations such as the Gates Foundation and numerous small, highly successful and innovative programs extant to a summit to brainstorm new 21st century solutions and the avenue to encourage our very capable youth, while producing new sources of funding (maybe siphoning from the lobbyists' lavish parties at his convention in order to catapult our youth in a bright new direction).As experts aver, the best predictor of future action is past behavior.NATIONAL SECURITY:• McCain's courage and sacrifice has never been questioned by any of us. In these times of danger and crisis, however, that is not enough!!! Even more significant is judgment and diplomacy at critical points. Our world stature and respect for us is at a shocking new low. McCain has done nothing to work with world leaders to repair the breach. Instead, he has continued to rattle the saber at the world.• Why was McCain so obsessed with Iraq that he lost focus, funding and troops on the REAL ground zero of terrorism – Afghanistan?• He has only recently given a tepid nod to our early mistakes in Iraq. He still denies the causal lies for the war or the magnitude of the mistakes. He has yet to define this elusive "victory" when asked. Is this the quality we desire in our Commander in Chief?• In his multiple trips to Iraq over the years, McCain was never able to develop the rapport necessary for positive change. It took the "inexperienced" Obama to develop an outline for withdrawal. As many experts have reiterated, political change would be as important as the surge, something McCain never discusses. Even Bush has been backed into grudgingly accepting some sort of timetable. Is this the qualities we can now afford in a Commander in Chief? We've already had 8 years of this myopic thought process. The world can afford no more!!!!• In regard to homeland security, where was McCain's oversight and outrage when the Bush administration tried to slip the sale of our major ports to Dubai, a Middle Eastern country through in secrecy ( a fait a'complit without an investigative exposure) ? Talk about the fox in the chicken coop!• With his influence, why did money doled out for the first responders cause such a scandal? Pork was not an issue then. Why did towns the size of Sarah Palin's hamlet get the same (or sometimes more) funds than the major cities or nuclear cites, the real targets? Why were nuclear sites so insecure post 2001 (with many broken fences, poor monitoring, inadequate security staff, etc). These scandals were not exposed by the national security expert McCain but by investigative reporters (his current topic for abuse). Many more examples could be given during the last 7 crisis years, let alone his last 26 in Congress. Peruse his lengthy public Congressional!• The world is closely observing these candidates, as it will directly affect relations and their future also. In these critical times, all that McCain and his party have done is whine about unfairness and deride the other party. Does this behavior engender unity and bipartisanship. Will this behavior assure the world that this is the man we require as Commander in Chief?• As McCain insists, a Commander in Chief with experience is paramount now. Then why did he select an inexperienced, uninformed woman to be a heartbeat away from this position?• Sarah Palin and McCain offer her view of Russia and Commander of the Alaska Nation Guard, repeatedly, as evidence of her readiness. GIVE ME A BREAK!!! When I lived in Detroit, I had a view of Canada; when I lived in Miami I had a view of Cuba. Am I now qualified to lead on those grounds?• When asked what decisions she made regarding the National Guard, she vaguely retorted that she had sent them to "other" places in her less than 2 years in office (though the party still claims 3 years). She never put forth that she just one year ago and has never met a world leader. Palin then lied about being in Iraq. The accompanying general revealed that they merely crossed the border and went back. Is that shading of truth what we want AGAIN in a Commander in Chief? These are relevant questions to ask a potential Commander in Chief!!!!As experts aver, the best predictor of future action is past behaviorSEXISM AND GENDER:• Since the declaration of Palin's candidacy, McCain, Palin, and the party have roared about sexism! Where were they when Hillary was the subject of sexism? More importantly, should the discussion focus on the emergent issues at this point in history, instead of this specious rhetoric?• If Palin is truly qualified, why was she sequestered for 2 weeks prior to her nomination speech, instead of introducing herself to the public? We all would love to honestly hear of her many necessary traits for her new role! As a stranger to the national scene, it is imperative to see a full picture! All this "sexism" posturing is merely another "Rovian" tactic to deflect the public from her flimsy credentials. For once, let's end this web of deceit!!!!• McCain cannot talk out of both sides of his currently devious mouth!!! Where is his revulsion at the racist nuances? He did not join the discussion of sexism towards Hillary but rails about the subject now. This obvious ploy is degrading on several points: timing and sincerity, lack of debate, congressional record, and cynical choice itself.a) Timing and Sincerity: If sexism were a true issue for McCain, he would have not colored it merely in his candidate's disingenuous cloth. He would have championed causes that would have made this a moot issue by now!!! He also would not insist on equal treatment while constantly inserting her family instead of her stances(What about McCain's and Biden's tour in Iraq>). Be sincere about the cynical, desperate move to entice Clinton on supporters an immature, superficial level!!! Palin would be engaging in debate, on issues instead of fear tactics and ignorance!!!b) Lack of Debate: McCain loves the concept of Town Hall meetings, a noble notion. Why was this never proposed as a viable construct to solve this issue long before now? Many women would have loved his input! Here again we a sheep in wolf's clothing!c) Congressional Record: McCain has consistently voted against all women's issues. McCain's sexism cry flies in the face of his record. Study his record. Res Ipsa Loquitor.• Cynical VP Choice Itself: If sexism and gender were a real issue (and not McCain's desperate labyrinth of deceit), he would NEVER have chosen the least qualified women available. There is a treasure trove of very qualified women in his party. Even certain conservatives, such as David Brooks, have acknowledged that she is unqualified! This choice was a rapid temper tantrum response to the party's refusal of Senator Lieberman. The women in the party should be outraged, not thrilled!• Are we now interchangeable parts? McCain and Palin extol Clinton's virtues now but say nothing about her philosophies. Palin recently called Hillary a "whiner" on record but is now far more the "whiner" than Hillary ever was. Palin believes that women will automatically flock to her because, as a women, she understands us. Obvious, she allows no credit for our brains or ability to grasp issues. Palin has not one scintilla of commonality with Clinton. In the words of the venerable Lloyd Bentsen, "Palin, you are no Hillary Clinton on any level!!!" This is not a game of Operation, where you can change parts with a political tweezer!!!• Palun recently stated in an interview response that many past Vice Presidents, had not met world leaders prior to office, demonstrating her total lack of knowledge. Not only were the modern VPs all experts on the world stage but so were the VPs among the founding fathers! Again, aren't qualifications, not sexism, what we should discuss?As experts aver, the best predictor of future action is past behaviorMEDIA:"If you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen!", a very appropriate adverb now!• For 26 years, McCain reveled in abundant positive media broadcast attention. As a presidential candidate, media scope and direction always changes to impart more scrutiny to those seeking the highest positions in the land. Only an immature or devious person does not understand that basic principle.• In 2000 and since, McCain has reviled negative statements or publicity. Yet in this campaign McCain and his surrogates incessantly beat the drums about sexism and unfairness. To date, I have heard no outrage regarding some amazingly vile machinations directed at Obama and his family (the latest being the waffle box disseminated at the Focus on Family values convention – where was their outrage then?)• "Rovian" tactics no longer hide the severe issues today. McCain has despised negative advertising but now is far worse Than Obama. He should clean his own house and focus on the issues before he points fingers and whines once more. If McCain stood up to lobbyists and drug companies, why can he not stand up to Rove and his gang of thugs?• "Rovian" uproar about the liberal media is laughable now. Someone should inform McCain that the internet and multitudinous neo con outlets that many views implode our world. Focus on your agenda, if you have one, or no progress in unity will ever occur!• The softball questions McCain and Palin have been dealt so far do not even remotely approach the questions of our veteran journalists Morrow, Jennings, Huntley, Brinkley, and Wallace would have delved much deeper. They would have demanded focus on issues, not the subterfuge and whining that this alleged experienced politician has persisted in employing. The smile with no substance will no longer work. Let's get back to what's really important: this country's direction and detailed solutions to the problems!!!!!• The only reason McCain whines when reporters review Palin's record is that there is something to hide. Exposing her record, rampant lies, flip flops on positions, and investigations are imperative in order to make an informed choice.There is no time to debate the plethora of issues extant, such as temperament and judgment, ethics and character (Tom Delay's prominence at McCain's convention and utilizing Rove's playbook), infrastructure, racist nuances, etc. I want to thank John McCain for his insistence on reviewing his experience and Congressional record. This endless insistence was the impetus for my research. The resulting observations depicted above propelled me from complacency to a fervent Obama fan. His lengthy record and current statements of late reflect the apex of flip flops. Which is the genuine McCain, if there is one? McCain was once an honorable man – no longer! It's obviously win at the expense of all honor and dignity now!!! He has answered none of my questions and his and Palin's "Rovian" tactics have lost them my vote and my respect!! McCain; s vitriol belies his assurance that can unify the country in a bipartisan way. NOT AFTER THIS CAMPAIGN!!!!Where in the world is Sarah Palin, the 2nd in Command?Not in neutral or intervuew rerriry - no wonder for ignorance would betray her!