Debate Preview: John McCain Will Focus on Barack Obama's Past

Get Over It

America just isn't as white as it used to be. You can come up with all the allegations in the world but you must admit that a lot of this information being shoved in our faces from people who back fear and not change are the drive for such negativity. For all the people that have a million reasons to discredit Obama please take a hard look at yourself first. We made mistakes we talked to people we probably wouldn't want to associate with. the truth is once you take on a form of public service that is an open book for all to see you are automatically put in a glass box. If Obama had chosen to stay a Senator he would probably be extremely liked by most people who now bash him. Because he didn't "stay in his place" now the gloves are off... come on. I know we can do better than that. What's even crazier is he becomes one of the greatest Presidents we have ever had he will still get some flack because people love their tradition and this just does not sit well with those who view power as something that is entitled to only one group. Obama is a uniter of all and I believe that it is his ability to unify and not divide that will be the legacy he leaves behind.

The Lost Obama

Obama was adopted by the wrong family. They saw his potential and warped it. You cannot say that Obama was adopted by a social terrorist, thugs and high profile criminals and you cannot blame Obama for his past. His intentions are genuine and he believes what he is doing is right. Don't shoot the messenger.

Stop soft-selling Obama, would you? His association with Ayres was much more than occasional or accidental. He cultivated Ayres and others like him who were anti-American hate-peddlers. He used his position at CAC to funnel millions of dollars to Ayres' programs to radicalize youth and to funnel money to Rev. Wright - another hate monger. These are documented facts. And the latest - he had a long and prosperous relationship with the Chicago DSA, an affiliate of the Democratic Socialists of America, and with the Chicago New Party, participating in membership meetings and DSA-sponsored events and repeatedly seeking their endorsement. It is not "okay" with me to have a socialist president, nor a president who consorts with the likes of Ayres and Wright, nor a president who gives hearty farewells to the likes of Rashid Khalidi...the list just goes on and on, except there are very few "regular" people on it, only Chicago crooks and terrorist sympathizers.

Sarah Palin Attacking Obama

Gov. Palin has been warning us of the danger of electing a President who "Pals around with terrorists..."

I would ask Gov. Palin how she feels about the military recruiting policies which John McCain has actively supported since 2003, and who her son may be forced to pal around with as a consequence. She might want to consider the experience of another Mom with a son in our military, Stephanie Cockrell, as reported by CBS News:

(CBS) U.S. Army Sgt. Juwan Johnson got a hero's welcome while home on leave in June of 2004.

"Not only did I love my son - but my god - I liked the man he was becoming," his mother, Stephanie Cockrell, remembers.

But that trip home was the last time his family saw him alive. When Johnson died, he wasn't in a war zone, he was in Germany.

"He had finished his term in Iraq," his mother said. "I talked to him the day before his death. He said, 'Mom, I'm in the process of discharging out. I'll be out in two weeks'."

On July 3, 2005, Sgt. Johnson went to a park not far from his base in Germany to be initiated into the 'Gangster Disciples,' a notorious Chicago-based street gang. He was beaten by eight other soldiers in a "jump-in" - an initiation rite common to many gangs.

"My son never spoke of joining a gang," Cockrell told CBS News correspondent Thalia Assuras.

Johnson died that night from his injuries. His son, Juwan Jr., was born five months later.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/07/28/eveningnews/main3107316.shtml?source=RSSattr=HOME_3107316

Since 2003, the military has granted 'moral waivers' to over 125,000 enlistees. Those waivers have been, in most cases, for serious criminal activity, including significant numbers of convicted felons, many of them gang members. The FBI conducted an investigation into this subject, and here are highlights from it's report:

-- Gang-related activity in the US military is increasing and poses a threat to law enforcement officials and national security. Members of nearly every major street gang have been identified on both domestic and international military installations. Although most prevalent in the Army, the Army Reserves, and the National Guard, gang activity is pervasive throughout all branches of the military and across most ranks, but is most common among the junior enlisted ranks. The extent of gang presence in the armed services is often difficult to determine since many enlisted gang members conceal their gang affiliation and military authorities may not recognize gang affiliation or may be inclined not to report such incidences. The military enlistment of gang members could ultimately lead to the worldwide expansion of US-based gangs.

-- Gang members may enlist in the military to escape their current environment or gang lifestyle. Some gang members may also enlist to receive weapons, combat, and convoy support training; to obtain access to weapons and explosives; or as an alternative to incarceration. Upon discharge, they may employ their military training against law enforcement officials and rival gang members. Such military training could ultimately result in more organized, sophisticated, and deadly gangs, as well as an increase in deadly assaults on law enforcement officers.

-- Gang membership in the armed forces can disrupt good order and discipline, increase criminal activity on and off military installations, and compromise installation security and force protection. Gang incidents involving active-duty personnel on or near US military bases nationwide include drive-by shootings, assaults, robberies, drug distribution, weapons violations, domestic disturbances, vandalism, extortion, and money laundering. Gangs have also been known to use active-duty service members to distribute their drugs.

-- Military-trained gang members also present an emerging threat to law enforcement officers patrolling the streets of US cities. Both current and former gang-affiliated soldiers transfer their acquired military training and knowledge back to the community and employ them against law enforcement officers, who are typically not trained to engage gangsters with military expertise.

-- Gang members have been known to enlist in the military by failing to report past criminal convictions or by using fraudulent documents. Some applicants enter the criminal justice system as juveniles and their criminal records are sealed and unavailable to recruiters performing criminal background investigations. Many military recruiters are not properly trained to recognize gang affiliation and unknowingly recruit gang members, particularly if the applicant has no criminal record or visible tattoos.

-- Gang members commonly target dependent children of military personnel for recruitment. Military children are considered potential candidates for gang membership because the transient nature of their families often makes them feel isolated, vulnerable, and in need of companionship. Dependents of service members may be involved in drug distribution and assaults both on and off of military bases. Lax security at open installations may facilitate recruitment by allowing civilian gang members to access the base and interact with military personnel and their children.

-- While allowing gang members to serve in the military may temporarily increase recruiting numbers, US communities may ultimately have to contend with disruption and violence resulting from military-trained gang members on the streets of US cities. Furthermore, most gang members have been pre-indoctrinated into the gang lifestyle and maintain an allegiance to their gang. This could ultimately jeopardize the safety of other military members and impede gang-affiliated soldiers’ ability to act in the best interest of their country.

http://www.militarytimes.com/static/projects/pages/ngic_gangs.pdf

As I read this body of facts, I wonder about the scope of the damage which has been done to this country since 9/11 by our own ill-considered initiative in Iraq. If the larger goal was to deter terrorism, why are we providing combat training to thousands of gang members, and providing them access to our most sophisticated weaponry? Even more insidious, for any ordinary American contemplating enlisting in the military, the prospect of serving with comrades in arms who are also Crips, Bloods, or members of the 'Gangster Disciples' would, in my opinion, be reason enough to opt out, regardless of any other incentives there might be.

If Gov. Palin insists on continuing to warn us away from Senator Obama because of his casual association with Mr. Ayers, I think she owes us an explanation as to why we should support a candidate who's policies over the last 5 years have materially increased the potency of domestic gangs to terrorize neighborhoods all over this country.

Shame on McCain!

In tonight's debate, McCain is still saying the same old lies that he has been corrected on before but I guess at his age he is losing his memory. His age is showing and also his temperment. His new objective is to smear Obama's character because he has nothing left and is losing!

McCAIN: Said one way out of the financial crisis is to "stop sending $700 billion a year to countries that don't like us."

THE FACTS: Although he didn't spell it out, he was referring — as he has in the past — to purchases of oil from countries hostile to the U.S. The figure is inflated and misleading. The U.S. is not spending nearly that much on oil imports and roughly one-third of what it does spend goes to friendly countries such as Canada, Mexico and Britain.

McCAIN: Said he would provide a $5,000 refundable tax credit for families to buy health insurance "rather than mandates or fines for small businesses as Senator Obama's plan calls for."

THE FACTS: Obama's health care plan does not impose mandates or fines on small business. He would provide small businesses with a refundable tax credit of up to 50 percent on health premiums paid on behalf of their employees. Also, large employers that do not offer meaningful coverage or contribute to the cost of coverage would be required to pay a percentage of payroll toward the costs of a public insurance plan. But small businesses would be exempt from that requirement.

McCAIN: Said Obama had voted for tax increases "94 times."

THE FACTS: This inflated count, heard before, includes repetitive votes as well as votes to cut taxes for the middle class while raising them on the rich. An analysis by factcheck.org found that 23 of the votes were for measures that would have produced no tax increase at all, seven were in favor of measures that would have lowered taxes for many, 11 would have increased taxes on only those making more than $1 million a year.

McCAIN: Said Obama supported a congressional earmark of "$3 million for an overhead projector at a planetarium in Chicago, Ill. My friends, do we need to spend that kind of money?"

THE FACTS: McCain's phrase suggests Obama spent $3 million on an old-fashioned piece of office equipment that projects charts and text on a wall screen. In fact, the money was for an overhaul of the theater system that projects images of stars and planets for educational shows at Chicago's Adler Planetarium. When he announced the $3 million earmark last year, Obama said the planetarium's 40-year-old projection system "has begun to fail, leaving the theater dark and groups of school students and other interested museum-goers without this very valuable and exciting learning experience."

Shame on McCain!

Joh Mc Cain

John Mc Cain is not conducting himself like a Presidential Candidate.Instead of attacking Obama spek of how you will help the economy and peopel who are experiencing foreclosure and the Stock Market. Where are your moral obligations Mr.McCain? Anyone can attack another but it takes a leader to think of solutions

small business loans

My husband has a small one man business. We take care of our bills. I have received 3 calls in the last week telling me that the government has free money to give to small business. From what I have been seeing on tv & newspapers our government has no money. Why do I keep getting these calls.

McCain and the coverup of POWs

For a dramatic and shocking view of John McCain's complex personality on display about an issue close to his heart, check out this story by former New York Times reporter Sydney Schanberg. You'll come away with a new sense of concern about McCain's candidacy.

http://tinyurl.com/McCain-POWs

Obama's birth certicate

His birth certificate is a matter of public record. The truth about it......that it is legitimate and accurate can be found at snoops.com among other places.

Please, people. Get real here.

Also, I'd like to add that Palin is an idiot who is a representative of McCain. and she is feeding a racially charged frenzy in American right-wing politics. How can we, as civilized people, overlook these tactics and attacks.

And what about the economy? McCain and Palin aren't going to help us go forward.

I simply can't stand any more of this right-wing idiocy.

Do you really know John McCain?

Would it surprise you to learn he was a member of a group that included rabid anti-Semite Nazi sympathizers? Look into the US Council on Freedom.

Would it surprise you to learn he wrote a letter on behalf of the man who admits to murdering an unarmed man during a peaceful civil rights protest? Look up Jimmie Lee Johnson and the man who murdered him, then see that McCain wrote a letter defending that man in 1991.

Would it surprise you to learn that a billionaire McCain fundraiser was fined for paying money to terrorists in Colombia? Look up Chiquita and Colombia. The CEO hosted a fundraiser for McCain this year.

Would it surprise you to learn that McCain's position of power kept his wife from federal drug charges? Look up the penalties for falsifying prescription for opiates, then google Cindy McCain drug use.

McCain may not be the honorable person we thought he was.