humanities.philosophy.objectivism

On Mar 31, 5:04 am, Charles Bell wrote:
> On Mar 30, 3:19 pm, Ken Gardner wrote:
>
> > That's not to say that I agree with your analysis of which candidate
> > would do the least harm.  I don't.  I now regard Obama as (by far) the
> > worst of the three.  He is the second coming of Jimmy Carter, or
> > perhaps even more of a hardcore leftist.  
>
> Acording to "Agent Cooper", Obama would make a good President because:
>
> (1) He is under 50;
>
> (2) Nothing he can do or say will have any effect whatsoever on
> legislation or Executive policy;
>
> (3) He has the black magic, and a fortuitous middle name, that will
> turn our enemies into friends and our allies into lovers [see andrew
> sullivan].

Rhetorical exaggeration aside, that's close. May I try?

He's the *least* *bad* of the horrible three because:

(3) He will have more diplomatic maneuvering room to enlist allies in
supporting our efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, because they will not
feel the political need to "punish" him as the face of American
policies domestically unpopular in their own countries. (2) was a
rebuttal point: he would be the worst of the three if spending
proposals were a straightforward guide to actual spending, but any of
the three candidates will be constrained by fiscal reality when the
electoral dust settles. I don't think the under 50 thing was part of
the argument; I confessed to a personal bias for McCain and Obama, and
against Hillary, because of a lack of sympathy for the Boomer
Generation, but I don't think I would let that (or race or gender) be
a deal maker or deal breaker--I'd look at likely effects of election
of course.

By the way, how're you enjoying "Bush's War"? I mean the PBS
television special, not the three trillion dollar slow-motion imperial
suicide. I mention this here only to indicate that (as implied by
Frontline's presentation) much of the cost and most of the American
deaths are due to the high-handed diplomatic strategy that induced our
former allies to punish us by refusing to step in as predicted and
take over peace-keeping and nation-building responsibilities.
Political facts are a part of reality and are what they are; identity
is causality; to think otherwise is evasion. A is A.

But that little speech aside, I would urge upon you something I gather
you've been urging on me: stop *projecting* your values on McCain out
of a desire to not be completely alienated from the process. Listen to
Ken. Face facts. The man's a menace, an ill-tempered narcissist with
no principles at all. Unless of course you want to lay yourself down
on the sacrificial altar of his personal religion of collectivist
national greatness.