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<DIV>Hi Matthew,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Good to hear from you. I don't remember what your political persuasion, if
any, might be, and as mine is "None of the Above," I won't ask about yours,
especially after the fiasco of insulting Jeanene by insinuating that she is a
Republican.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Your last question is the easiest to answer. My opinion (it's ultimately
John's call, but he puts up with ALMOST anything we want to talk about) is, no
the discussion group does not need to be a political discussion board, and I
just posted an apolitical remark about a recent joke posting. But, I find
discussion here, including political discussion, more interesting, amusing and
stimulating than most political discussion boards. (I also have fun at
thinkchristian.net, where I offend some and draw agreeing comments from others,
which is about how it should be.) In an election year, some of the humor will
undoubtedly be political anyway. Having kicked this line of discussion off, I
will at this point continue it only when someone else has a response or question
to which I can respond in some reasonable way. So if everyone is bored, it will
die out rather quickly.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>But you asked, how do I even know what Obama stands for. The honest answer
to that question is, when I see his campaign's TV commercials, I am generally
disappointed, because they are the same kind of fluff I see from every
candidate. But, when I read his two published books, I remember, oh, that is the
man whose judgment I trust to be in the White House. I don't set much stock in
promises, or in "positions on the issues." Whoever is elected will mostly be
dealing with crises none of us have even imagined yet. I don't want to hear what
anyone promises, I want to know the quality of his thoughts over the past ten
years or more. I don't hold a candidate accountable for every stupid thing they
did as a teenager (Barack Obama, John McCain, George Bush, Clarence Thomas, all
have that kind of little skeleton in their closet), but I do want a picture of
how they have matured over the years. I won't retype the content of his book
here. You may or may not want to read it for yourself.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I don't believe he is a master of sounding like he will do what everyone
wants. I believe he is a master of finding genuine common ground, not perfect
agreement, but common ground, so we can at least debate each other civilly and
get some progress accomplished. For example, he writes eloquently about a man
who emailed him when he was running for senate, and essentially said, I might
well vote for you, even though we disagree on abortion, except I object to your
web site's language about "right wing ideologues denying a woman's right to
choose. Just because I see it differently doesn't make me a woman-hating
right-wing ideologue." Obama observed that the language was boilerplate for
Democratic campaigns, but the criticism was well taken, and he had it replaced
with more balanced and respectful language.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The last time I saw him accused of flip-flopping (by a McCain aide), he had
announced he would support a well balanced energy bill which might include some
new oil drilling. What he was talking about was a bill that was being hammered
out across the aisle so that something could move, rather than total gridlock
from everyone demanding "My program and nothing else." At this time, the man is
still a United States senator, and responsible to help get some business done in
the senate. His first responsibility is not to vote NO on anything that contains
some compromise that might be less than 100% pure to what he has advocated in
the past. I understood him to mean, OK, if we have to allow some new drilling,
to get any bill passed at all, and if the drilling has some responsible limits
and safeguards, and some serious promise of increasing domestic oil supply in
the short term, that is acceptable as a price for getting some development of
new energy sources going, sources that we won't have to drain our hard-earned
dollars to the middle east for. I consider that a responsible position, not a
flip-flop. Likewise, some left wing ideologues criticized him for talking to T.
Boone Pickens about wind development, because Pickens funded the Swift Vote
Beterans campaign. Well, Pickens was wrong about that, but he has a good idea on
wind power, and has the capital to back it up. So its right to talk to
him.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>That's a little bit of how I see it. I believe the candidates' worst
enemies are their campaign staffs. They always want to play it safe for their
guy, and nit pick the other guy.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Siarlys</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>On Tue, 2 Sep 2008 19:05:52 -0500 "Discussion of the Good, Clean Funnies
List" <<A href="mailto:gcfl-discuss@gcfl.net">gcfl-discuss@gcfl.net</A>>
writes:</DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 10px; PADDING-LEFT: 10px">
<DIV dir=ltr>Siarlys,<BR><BR>How do you even know what Obama actually stands
for? Are you just taking his word for it, or looking at his voting
record? On anything controversial, it seems that he simply votes
'present', rather than actually take a position.<BR><BR>IMHO, Obama has one
strong characteristic: He is a master politician. That is to
say that he is a master of sounding like he will do exactly what everyone
wants. Wherever the political wind starts to blow, that is what he
supports. Never mind that it is exactly 180 degrees from what he
was supporting just last week.<BR><BR><BR><A
href="http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/07/15/mccain-camp-mocks-obama-for-refining-iraq-position-on-web-site/">http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/07/15/mccain-camp-mocks-obama-for-refining-iraq-position-on-web-site/</A><BR><BR><BR>I
know the list has been quiet, but does it *really* need to be a political
discussion board?<BR><BR>Just a thought,<BR><BR clear=all>Matthew<BR><A
href="http://www.schlegelhome.info">http://www.schlegelhome.info</A><BR>Use
secure email: <A
href="http://www.getfiregpg.org">http://www.getfiregpg.org</A><BR><BR><BR>
<DIV class=gmail_quote>On Tue, Sep 2, 2008 at 18:36, Discussion of the Good,
Clean Funnies List <SPAN dir=ltr><<A
href="mailto:gcfl-discuss@gcfl.net">gcfl-discuss@gcfl.net</A>></SPAN>
wrote:<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=gmail_quote
style="BORDER-LEFT: rgb(204,204,204) 1px solid; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; PADDING-LEFT: 1ex">
<DIV>Siarlys... here's an interesting article on the Republicans: <<A
href="http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/01/cafferty.republicans/index.html?eref=rss_topstories"
target=_blank>http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/01/cafferty.republicans/index.html?eref=rss_topstories</A>#>
Mind offering a defense and rebuttle to this?</DIV>
<DIV>~Lance<BR> </DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV class=Wj3C7c>
<DIV><SPAN class=gmail_quote>On 9/1/08, <B class=gmail_sendername>Lance
Kirkman</B> <<A href="mailto:romans832@gmail.com"
target=_blank>romans832@gmail.com</A>> wrote:</SPAN>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=gmail_quote
style="BORDER-LEFT: rgb(204,204,204) 1px solid; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; PADDING-LEFT: 1ex">
<DIV dir=ltr>Is Obama as financially savvy as Clinton? Will the Democrats
support such a thing?<BR>Will they raise the taxes on Corporations and
remove tax credits so we can return to Corporations paying the bulk of
taxes instead of the lower and middle
class?<BR><SPAN>~Lance</SPAN><SPAN><BR><BR>
<DIV class=gmail_quote>On Mon, Sep 1, 2008 at 9:52 PM, Discussion of the
Good, Clean Funnies List <SPAN dir=ltr><<A
href="mailto:gcfl-discuss@gcfl.net"
target=_blank>gcfl-discuss@gcfl.net</A>></SPAN> wrote:<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE class=gmail_quote
style="BORDER-LEFT: rgb(204,204,204) 1px solid; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; PADDING-LEFT: 1ex">What
makes you think I am a Republican?<BR>My husband and I have no debt
other than our single mortgage. We have been<BR>very blessed with
a good family business (my husband's family) and a lack of<BR>desire to
amass. I have been referred to as the Queen of
Over-Doing<BR>Everything, and it is true with money too: I am
guilty of being too<BR>generous. Always have been, always will
be.<BR>I HATE taxes, I hate personal debt AND national debt. But I
don't know how<BR>to make a difference there. I don't think I am
part of the problem, but I<BR>fear being ignorant makes me somehow
guilty.<BR>Jeanene<BR><BR>Every once in a while, it's a good idea to
call out<BR>"Computer, end program," just to check. - D. Noelle<BR>
<DIV><BR>----- Original Message -----<BR>> (OK, I don't expect this
to change your mind. I'm really waiting to see<BR>> how it grabs
Lance. And whether Jeanene will be able to come up with<BR>> anything
in reply, except for "Oh, so what, I max out my credit card all<BR>>
the time, and somehow life goes on." That's the modern
Republican<BR>> philosophy after all.)<BR>><BR>>
Siarlys</DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV></SPAN></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><BR><BR
clear=all><BR></DIV></DIV><FONT color=#888888>-- <BR>No animals were harmed
in the sending of this message.<BR>However, a few million electrons were
extremely inconvenienced...
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