Study: Media Portrays McCain in ‘Substantially Negative’ Light Compared to Obama

Is this any surprise? McCain has run a substantially more negative campaign (according to numerous polls), when he said he wouldn’t. He’s said his opponent “pals around with terrorists,” that he’s a “socialist,” that we don’t “really know who he is.”
In short, McCain has behaved irresponsibly and in an un-Presidential fashion (see: suspending your campaign and threatening to withdraw from the debate). The media used to have a love affair with the guy, but he’s been incredibly angry and nasty in his campaign, leaving many people who respected the guy to ask, “What happened to the old John McCain?”
If he had chosen to run an uplifting campaign, and not a divisive “us against them” kind of campaign, pitting Americans against Americans, his coverage might have been different. But as of now, frankly, McCain deserves every bit of the negative coverage he’s gotten.

McShame is his own worst Negative Enemy!!!
Obama\Biden08

I would not call that excellence in journalism, would you?
What is going on in the world of journalism?
The worst journalism I have ever experienced.

If you are reporting on a more negative campaign, then of course the reporting will be more negative. Senator Obama has run one of the most positive campaigns in American general election history. Senator McCain has run a kitchen sink attack campaign. If you report on the campaigns neutrally, of course you will document more negativity on the McCain side. It’s called objectivity.

Obama has repeated the same old rhetoric for the last few months, over and over and over. Where in all that he says can anyone find any positives?
Obama is nothing about real change and everything about false policies and politics.

For months we were subjected to 24/7 hate media towards Obama. Please don’t start trying to play positive with McCain/Palin’s racist exclusive pro-America campaign just to *appear* fair/unbiased.
Makes me wanna cry foul without basis just to get in the limelight (like McCain/Palin appear to be doing now that they are out of money). Didn’t we outlaw crying fake foul from the court system because too many people brought bogus claims/frivilous lawsuits? Why should the media be exempted from false claims by the McCain camp?
Journalists need to trust their instrincts in order to get back to being the eyes and ears of the public! The hell with the stats. Trust your heart as a human being (with inside privileges) relating to other human beings.
Obama/Biden 08!

At 72yrs of age McCain knows this his last chance to be POTUS.So,yeah he is a very angry person.McCain…like Hillary feel entitlement.It’s their turn!! How dare you challenge eighter one of them!

Track the date back to when Tucker Eskew was hired. They coincide almost exactly. Tucker Eskew is the political operative who slimed John McCain in SC in 2000, with robocalls saying McCain had fathered a black baby. The day McCain hired Tucker who had slimed his own baby was the day his campaign turned negative and sometimes vicious. I know the late-night “kill him” crowd will come out with attacks against me – but I could care less. I don’t think it’s media bias. Remember when McCain said the media was his “base?” The negativity is not the press – it is the McCain campaign. Since they hired Eskew and let him coach and script Palin, the McCain campaign has been the filthiest campaign I have seen in my life. The press did not create it. They simply reported on it. It is a sad commentary on a man who was once loved for his integrity – but gave that up to win at any cost.

I’m sorry, but I just don’t believe that John McCain is associated with AQ. He is, however, associated with the slimest political operative in recent history. What kind of a man would hire someone who had slandered and slimed his own child – and do it for political gain? What could possibly be worth that?

The media hasn’t reported that Joe Biden said the people who test Obama will find he has ‘steel in his spine.’ Because it’s too hard to report the truth I guess.

Well, McCain is more negative. He attacks constantly, as does his less than competent running mate, but he provides little information about what he plans to do if he becomes president that will help dig this country out of the hole it is in.
He has a snarly and condescending manner much of the time, so it’s not surprising that the coverage is more negative for him.

Finally the truth. Media has been kissing Obama’s behind for months. Americans are you ready for the truth?

that’s because Palin has only had negative things to say.
Her positive points are very confusing and hard to understand

Truth is that the media wants Obama to win, and has slanted the coverage to make sure it happens. When will the media just acknowledge they’re completely biased? There’s nothing fair about the coverage of McCain and especially Palin.

The media gave McCain a free pass during the first part of the campaign. McCain’s lies became so blatant, the media could no longer ignore what he was doing. Then McCain stopped talking to the media and whined about them picking on him.
Pews Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism
Obama Rumors Get More Press
http://www.journalism.org/node/11964
MEDIA BASH BARACK (NOT A TYPO)
Study Finds Obama Faring Worse On TV News Than McCain
Since the primaries ended, on-air evaluations of Barack Obama have been 72% negative (vs. 28% positive). That’s worse than John McCain’s coverage, which has been 57% negative (vs. 43% positive) during the same time period.
The Center for Media and Public Affairs (CMPA) 2008 Election News Watch Project. Based on a scientific content analysis of 249 election news stories (7 hours 38 minutes of airtime) that aired on ABC World News Tonight, CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, and Fox Special Report (first half hour) from June 8, 2008 to July 21, 2008. Previously we analyzed 2144 stories (43 hrs 30 min airtime) during the primary campaign from December 16, 2007 through June 7, 2008. We report on all on-air evaluations of the candidates by sources and reporters, after excluding comments by the campaigns about each other.
The Media Spotlight Shines Brighter on Michelle Obama than Cindy McCain

If the media could catch mccain and palin saying something positive
they would report it.
the media people are not making up negative things to write about mccain and palin, they are just reporting what they see.
I watched palin tonight when she was interview with mccain at her side.
she kept saying what mccain had in him to do for the country, and that he was the man. but palin nor mccain have ever really said what they are going to do.
they just keep telling us what obama says he will do, is not right and will not work, and you should be suspicious of obama.
if john mccain has told sarah palin what he is going to do for the country as she keeps asserting, i wish she would tell us.

Whoa! DID THEY ACTUALLY NEED TO CONDUCT A STUDY TO TELL US THE OBVIOUS?

Regarding AQ apparently supporting McCain – it is a classic head fake by AQ. Guess who’s helped by this – that’s the person they really support!!

Yes Jake but the study also says that McCain’s negative news stories coincide with his negative campaigning.
Tell me is there anything positive to say about McCain and his campaign? He talks Negative about Obama continuously, what is the press supposeed to report? McCain attacks Obama, that all he does and that is all there is to report.

Obama has not been that positive…he tricks people by saying “the american people don’t want negativity, they want solutions…same old Washington games, tsk tsk” then he says something like:
“How can John McCain fix the economy. When he doesn’t think it’s broken?” – twists actual quote…
Or this false smear (see Factcheck if you are bold):
“Eight hundred and eighty-two billion from Medicare alone”
Or the ad against Clinton in which “Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, is likened to an Orwellian Big Brother”
Or, the ad in which the complaint was that “It’s extraordinary that someone who wants to be our president and our commander in chief doesn’t know how to send an e-mail” despite Mr. McCain’s war injuries…and the fact that he uses email…
Or, how about the fact that according to an independent study 77% of the Obama campaigns’ ads were deemed “negative,” compared to 56% for McCain the week of Sep 17. Course, Obama ignored that little fact during the debate…so clever. If you dig for other weeks, you will find that even when McCain’s were 100% negative for one week, Obama bought more negative ads…it deserves a look…read, people, read…don’t let everything go down the memory hole echoing with Obama’s wonderful message of “change”…
How about the well checked lie regarding McCain’s 100 years comment…
How about the lie about McCain “causing” the current financial crisis. WOW! One senator who actually signed on to legislation designed to help, single-handedly caused the situation!
Anyway, campaigns are negative on both sides. Can we stop this little fantasy that Obama has run one of the most “positive” campaigns in history?
I can’t believe people are defending this obvious imbalance in coverage.

Here is another bit of stats for you on BOTH candidates’ negative ads.
Dated Oct 16 2008
Wisconsin Advertising Project
“For the record, says Goldstein, since June 4, 47% of McCain ads have been pure attack ads and another 27% have been mix of positive messages about McCain and negative messages about Obama. That means roughly three-quarters of the McCain ads have contained negative information about Obama.
As for Obama, 35% of his ads have been pure attack ads, while 25% have been a mix of positive and negative, meaning 60% of Obama’s ads have contained negative information about McCain.”
So, McCain is just a bit more negative…but you can’t pry the halo off of Obama, for some. He is always SO positive!

Posted by Maria Gavrilovic CBS News
Barack Obama wrapped up a full day of campaigning in Virginia today – where his surrogates repeatedly warned the crowds of thousands that Obama is still an underdog despite leading in most major polls. At a rally in Ida Park tonight, Gov. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said, “It’s looking good now, but we have not done this for 44 years. We’ve gotta assume that we are the underdog in this race until we break the string and claim the victory.”
On this crisp, autumn evening, over 30,000 people flooded the park and the downtown area of the city. Just moments after taking the stage, Obama told the crowd that it felt good to be in “real” Virginia. “This looks like authentic Virginia and y’all look like a bunch of Virginians,” he said to cheers.
Last week, McCain senior adviser Nancy Pfotenhauer suggested that the Republican nominee would win the state because he is doing better in the southern part of the state or, as she called it, “real Virginia.”
Tonight, Obama dismissed the notion that the state is divided into liberal or conservative parts.
”I’ve been traveling across this great state of Virginia for months. I’ve met folks everywhere I go. I haven’t seen a real Virginia and a fake Virginia, I’ve just seen Virginia,” Obama said. “ I’ve met folks down in Martinsville and folks up here in Leesburg who are worried about their jobs, their schools, their health care.”

Do we really need polling…If your are so fortunate to have some common sense, a little knowledge of American politics, a little knowledge of the office of the presidency, as well as, the office of the vice-president then the common man/woman should be able to make well informed decision on Nov. 4. Even as much as television is served in small portions anyone can get enough information on any and all candidates over a period of 24 months…if not, I’m sorry you live in a cave. All media delivered is not well balanced, but there is enough of it to make your own decision…I could take the time to go into specifics negative and positive on both sides…we do this everyday…it doesn’t take much to see who is qualified and who isn’t…if your wrong then your just voting base…down the party line…your judgment is wrong…its just logic. one last thing, spewing a bunch of hate doesn’t make you any more right than the day before.

Anyone who dares denounce the liberal media becomes a target of the liberal media.
But not everyone falls for that type of sad journalism.
McCain and Palin will make gains and win, despite a ferocious media attack.

The Sleuth has learned that Palin’s high-paid traveling make-up artist is Amy Strozzi, who was nominated for an Emmy Award for her work as head of makeup on “So You Think You Can Dance.” Strozzi was paid $13,200 by the McCain-Palin campaign last month alone, according to the campaign’s latest financial disclosure report filed this week.

There is a big difference between ‘portraying’and stating the truth. Even more, the media hasn’t really gotten into the ‘real’ Iran-Contra connections that McCain has and Palin’s separatist group’s ones..so…

There is a big difference between ‘portraying’and stating the truth. Even more, the media hasn’t really gotten into the ‘real’ Iran-Contra connections that McCain has and Palin’s separatist group’s ones..so…
================================
..Gov. Palin’s seperatist movement seems pale-when considering democracy..I think more is being accepted than is reality..the Iran-Contra Affair was settled in a court(my memory)..it was more about money than law breaking..it does seem that Richard Nixon was also that way..if you wonder about TRAFFIC in and out of the Oval Office..and less about a single sitting president–I think you’ll let some things SLIDE..as if/to say/move on/..but what about::moving ON..??..I don’t think that So. America really has that political action–they do seem reckless and un-caring..I personally have seen a HATRED-angle to their nurturing..America does attempt to FIT/SIZE the shoe sale of this world..maybe its a waste-of-time..when watching Basil Wrathbone(hope I sp. that correctly)..as a kid-I would latch onto his “HELLO” technique towards investigastion(as he played Sherlock Holmes)..it does seem to excist in that manner..but the Alaskian sepratist movement..really seems small apples.[end]

If the McCain/Palin finds themselves in a negative light the should stop walking into it. I don’t feel sorry for either one of them. You reap what you sow.

McCain has more negative press because he is the more negative candidate. It’s that simple. There’s nothing honorable about resorting to lies to create division in America, just as there’s anything honorable about hiring a demagogue as VP. McCain comes across as very insincere in anything he pretends to care about, the middle-class, his “friends” apparently.. the disabled – perhaps we should ask his ex-wife if he cares..the one who nursed him after he came back from Vietnam even though severly disabled herself, and then once he was better, the one he dumped to run off with the rich, healthy Cindy. For some reason he never seems to mention his ex-wife, why’s that? Like Bush, he just a man from a very privilidged background with a sense of entitlement to a role he has no business going for.
ps: Why isn’t the media talking about the Palin’s involvement in AIP seccessionist group. It’s laughable that the Palin’s claims to be pro-America and Patriotic when they actually want seperation from America – and the ignorant buy it, why? Because they’re white? Why isn’t this addressed by the media?

Why is this shocking, Jake?!
Doesn’t the McCain campaign give Americans and therefore the MSM lots of reasons to see it as a very negative campaign that’s all about personal attacks, desperate issue hopping, all tactics but no strategy etc?
Come on. You KNOW McCain ran a horrible campaign. The GOP knows. The MSM knows. The majority of Americans know.
And bad and negative media coverage is the result of that -
just as bad movies get negative reviews, Jake.

I’m a Republican and I totally agree with trent:
BAD MOVIES GET NEGATIVE REVIEWS!
Here in Ohio I’ve ONLY seen negative attack ads and flyers from the McCain camp, and they have made me sick. I’ll vote for Obama.
McCain has gone negative all the way, you reap what you sow, so the media has been confronting that negativity for what it is.
How could that surprise or shock anyone?
Again:
BAD MOVIES GET NEGATIVE REVIEWS!

“The study found that 35% of the stories about Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., were positive, 35% were neutral or mixed, and 29% were negative.”
So, not a lot a prejudice there I’d say.
What’s the problem? These numbers seem to represent the American attitude towards Obama quite well, although the positive number should be higher when compared to the national polls.
What is the ‘shocker’ then? The fact that journalists apparently don’t like and trust McCain that much and they hardly accept Palin as a VP candidate?
No, be serious, Jake: is that amazing? Even many lifelong Republicans refuse to accept the idea of Sarah Palin being “in charge of the Senate”, and they find the idea of Palin “in charge of the USA” too abject for words. All for good reasons.

This shouldn’t surprise anyone. Propaganda, especially in the internet age, is a very effective tool and the comments here are evidence that it is working.
BO has spent more on negative ads than McCain has on ads. Further, when it comes to the tone of the campaign, BO has the liberal press to handle the negative campaigning (and its free too). He can thus appear to be running a “positive” campaign.
As an added bonus, the free advertising frees up more of his $600M war chest to outspend McCain every way possible. All of this is a direct result of BO lying about accepting public financing. Remarkably, he’s paid no political price for this bald faced lie.
Finally, anytime anything harmful surfaces about BO (Wright, Ayers, Rezko, Khalidi, ACORN, limited resume, socialist tendencies, etc, etc, etc) the race card is promptly played (by both BO’s campaign and its media arm) and any reasonable discussion is squashed.
This guy is about to pull off the biggest theft in US history and all of the drones love it.
Thanks ABC – your propaganda has been some of the strongest (special shout out to Chief Washington Propagandist George Stephanopolous). Jake you have actually shown some sense of journalistic integrity recently.

Great points Dave – but who cares about silly things like someone’s record? He’s such a great orator!
Biden says he’ll invite an international crisis – no problem, just a rhetorical flourish. He’s limited resume is filled with relationships with America haters and anti-semites – who cares? Most liberal voting record in the entire US Senate – he’s a uniter!
Questionable campaign contributions – that’s racist. Sharing an office with an unrepentant domestic terrorist – he was just a guy in the neighborhood. Undermine our President, war effort and troops – we need change!
And on and on and on…….

Please could you explain to me how McCain’s policy of giving tax breaks to companies with off-shore offices, will not continue to kill jobs in the US? It is McCain who is killing jobs for the American lower/middle-class, not Obama. By making “Joe the Plumber” the focul point of his campaign, his reliance on gimmickry goes on. Does anyone seriously believe that McCain cares about “joe the plumber”…or people like him…Seriously?
By the way, race is a big issue, to pretend it’s not, is just kidding yourself.

==Please could you explain to me how McCain’s policy of giving tax breaks to companies with off-shore offices, will not continue to kill jobs in the US?
Sure – McCain wants to give tax breaks to US Companies to keep more of their money in their pockets so that they can grow their business, create more jobs here in the US, and keep their businesses in the US. The fact that they may have offshore offices is irrelevant if they are paying US taxes.
As opposed to BO who wants to increase what is already the highest corporate tax rates in the world forcing businesses to either make staffing cuts or leave the US completely for more tax friendly domiciles. He then wants to take the tax money that he confiscates from the “wealthy” and redistribute it to people who he thinks deserve it further deteriorating the incentive system that makes our country special.
Layer on BO’s anti-trade policies and watch our economy implode further hurting wall street, main street and BO’s “middle class”. Funny how he’s always invoking the middle class yet he never describes what the middle class is.

International companies are influenced by the tax rates of individual countries. Does anyone disagree with this idea?
The US has the second largest tax rate of any industrial country, thus providing incentives for companies to open up new factories overseas. Once again, a no-brainer.
Obama wants to increase taxes and obligations on US companies.
What effect do YOU think this will have?

Dave in lv, you forgot all those Hispanics and Asians and every other ethnic group that is overwhelmingly voting for Obama.
“The number of blacks voting for Obama who don’t have a clue what his positions are is staggering. ”
Posted by: Dave in lv | Oct 23, 2008 10:16:08 AM
Can you specify where those numbers came from? Did you do a study of the 45 million black people in this country and came to this conclusion?

If this ‘trickle down’ economics is the best policy, why hasn’t it worked?
Economics is cyclical. To say that because the economy is in trouble right now is an indictment of conservative tax policies is way oversimplfying the situation and frankly wrong.
In case you haven’t looked around the Global econcomy is in shambles (China, Russia, all across Europe, etc.) Those countries have varying tax structures.
The point is that the goal should be to keep US businesses here and growing. That is what will give us a competitive advantage in the Global marketplace. BO’s punitive taxes will drive business away from the US. If you want an example of effective tax policy see Ronald Reagan.
Also, keep in mind that the real estate bubble is largely attributable to the Democrat party and their meddling in the loan practices of Fannie and Freddie not Bush ‘failed’ policies as the propagandists would have you believe.

Steve, and with regards to the minimum wage policy I mentioned – what are your thoughts on McCain’s stance here?

==Steve, and with regards to the minimum wage policy I mentioned – what are your thoughts on McCain’s stance here?
Minimum wage is a tough problem for the same reasons I mentioned on tax policy. If you go too high you risk job cuts and decreased profitability. If you go too low you risk exploiting good workers.
But frankly, depending on how you define middle class, the minimum wage is not a middle class issue. Someone making minimum wage and working 40 hour weeks would be making 15-20K a year which is probably below most people’s standard of middle class.
I am not well versed in where the candidates stand on this issue. I would imagine that BO is making promises that can’t be kept in the marketplace to pander to these low income individuals.

The important issue for me is that people working full-time hours should not be living in poverty. No ifs and buts about it. We can talk about corporate America all we like, but Obama’s policies would ensure that full-time workers earn a sufficient salary allowing them to afford the basics the wealthier just take for granted. The wealthier may think tax breaks for working seniors who earn less than $50,000 is uncalled for, but I don’t think it is. It’s a more humanitarian way of doing things. Re-distribution of wealth may scare some but it says more about them. McCain may be against spreading the wealth now (does he ever stop jumping on bandwagons)but it was he who once said himself, to a response that his policies were socialist, that if people could afford to pay more than they should – and that he wouldn’t mind doing it. And now he’s decided it’s a dirty word..?

I only wonder if ABC News, CNN, MSNBC, NY Times etc are willfully disseminating propaganda or if their editors are letting their political views cloud their journalistic integrity and it looks like propaganda. Its bad either way but if they are doing this willfully it can probably be prosecuted.
Propaganda is a concerted set of messages aimed at influencing the opinions or behaviors of large numbers of people. As opposed to impartially providing information, propaganda in its most basic sense presents information in order to influence its audience. Propaganda often presents facts selectively (thus lying by omission) to encourage a particular synthesis, or gives loaded messages in order to produce an emotional rather than rational response to the information presented. The desired result is a change of the cognitive narrative of the subject in the target audience to further a political agenda.
Propaganda is the deliberate, systematic attempt to shape perceptions, manipulate cognitions, and direct behavior to achieve a response that furthers the desired intent of the propagandist.
—Garth S. Jowett and Victoria O’Donnell, Propaganda and Persuasion

The original article is about the disproportionate coverage in the news media with respect to the negative aspects of the campaign.
Do both candidates have negatives? Sure. Are one candidates negatives being blown out of proportion in the media while covering for the other – absolutely. This article proves it.

Steve, I have not hurled any insults, and I’m sorry you saw it that way. I have presented the truth and the truth isn’t always pleasant. If you can name one mistruth in my posts I will gladly take it back. They are all valid questions.

==Sometimes drama works, sometimes it doesn’t. The McCain campaign has had plenty of it. It just hasn’t worked.
You may be right – we’ll see on Nov 4. The point though is that people should be reaching these conclusions on their own, not having the news media shove it down their throats.

A journalist, named William Tate got a call from an Obama campaign volunteer…and this was a line told to him, by the volunteer.
Sarah Palin belongs to a church whose pastor believes in witchcraft, and that she is anti-Semitic.
The vitriol is coming from both sides.
I would also suggest, if you want…to google some information. SOme old, some new.
The name Larry Grathwohl. He became an FBI informant, and was once a part of the weather underground. There is a video, from a documentary. He tells how if those who couldn’t be re-educated in re-education camps, by teaching us how to forgo capitalism….extermination was in order, and 25 million was a number given.
The Weather Underground Manifesto is out today as well, for down load.

A CNN reporter either didn’t do his homework, has difficulty, with reading comprehension, or all out lied, in an interview with Sarah Palin.
He completely distorted words used in an article written about the Press’s hatred for Palin, by calling her names. The CNN reporter worded it to Mrs. Palin in such a manner, to make one believe the writer thought this of Mrs. Palin, and put it to paper.
Compare what the CNN reporter said, to the story…and it’s an all out lie.

1. Inexperience – BO’s own running mate admits electing him is an ivitation to our enemies to test him, despite the rhetorical flourish whitewash. No military experience. No significant experience of any type that is applicable to the Presidency.
2. Questionable character – swimming in America hating friends and associates (Wright, Ayers, Rezko, ACORN). Campaign financing flip flop, etc.
3. Economics – wants to apply liberal tax and spend initiatives in a period of economic turmoil, abandon the capitalistic system that has made the US a superpower for a western european socialist model, which hasn’t worked; wage Marxist class warfare.
4. Biden – media assails Sarah Palin on a daily basis while giving the gaffe machine a complete pass. One heartbeat away….
5. Liberal Supermajority – imagine waking up on Nov 5 and knowing your government is controlled by BO/Pelosi/Reid unchecked. They of the 9% approval rating. Horror.
6. National security – has built a career around undermining our President, our war efforts and our troops. Opposition to the troop surge. Suggested that the UN Security Council that Russia has veto power on should resolve the Russia / Georgia conflict. Wants to legitimize rogue dictators by giving them a forum to sit down and negotiate with top levels of US government.

When I read some of these comments, I can see why Bush was elected. Twice. I can see why America is trillions of dollars in deficit, why America doesn’t have universal healthcare, why 4000 American soldiers died, needlessly, fighting a war that should never have happened, why 30,000 American soldiers are wounded, and why 100,000 civilans died. And people still haven’t learnt anything – instead choosing to focus on flimsy affiliations to people like Ayers like it matters. Really, is that what matters.

When I read some of these comments, I can see why Bush was elected. Twice. I can see why America is trillions of dollars in deficit, why America doesn’t have universal healthcare, why 4000 American soldiers died, needlessly, fighting a war that should never have happened, why 30,000 American soldiers are wounded, and why 100,000 civilans died. And people still haven’t learnt anything – instead choosing to focus on flimsy affiliations to people like Ayers like it matters. Really, is that what matters.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In my opinion, yes. It matters. It alludes to Obama’s judgement, and honesty. 3 or more versions have come from Obama as to his association with William Ayres. Ayres was obviously close enough with Obama, to have Obama right a glowing review for his book. He spent time running the CAC with Ayres. Ayres wrote up the proposal, and Obama dictated where the money would go. Very little went to academics and the kids in the classroom, but rather to radical groups.
Ayres wants communism, and as recent as 2 years ago, he still attests to not being repentant. He wrote a manifesto for over throwing the government. This is someone whom Obama spent a great deal of time with, and announced his run for State Senate, in this mans house. These are not the actions of someone, who’s just an acquaintance.
Obama has surrounded himself with many people that show antipathy toward Israel…and aren’t exactly fond of America. I’m not saying Obama doesn’t love America…but I think he loves the visual of America that he sees in his mind, and it’s not the same America I grew up on.
He told Philly he was for their team, then went to Florida and told them he was for their team. Tell em anything to get elected. So was he telling us that only in America , would his story be allowed to happen? Or was that just words….just speeches? Say anything to get elected?
He’s painted a pretty picture of a utopian world for us…but in reality, the funding to make this happen, just isn’t there…and what can be done, will be to the detriment of this country.
He wants to deplete our military…and sitdown with a leader of a nation that supports terrorism, while the Jewish community is very uneasy about this, and after telling them, that Israel is an ally, and always will be. Meanwhile, Iran, has said outright, they have intentions on destroying Israel.
Without national security, and trust, there won’t be an economy to worry about…so yes. It all falls back to judgements, and ideologies for me. I do not trust him.

Jeannie, ok, so in your opinion the points you have mentioned are more important than the thousands of needless deaths caused by the mistaken policies of Bush/Cheney, which will continue with McCain. I don’t really know where to begin, but let me go through your points one by one without comparing to McCain/Palin because frankly it’s tiring to try and make people see sense when their minds are closed to it.
1) Ayers was an anti-war activist strongly opposed to the needless deaths caused by the Vietnam War. The methods deployed by the group were wrong, there’s no question about that, but it is wrong to say he is unrepentant. What he has said is: “I said I had a thousand regrets, but no regrets for opposing the war with every ounce of my strength”. Also as a highly respected and acclaimed professor, his work in Education Reform means that both parties have links with him – this isn’t a negative. He has been doing much to benefit society for many years now and should not be tarnished forever. People need to get over this.
2) There’s nothing to say about the Philly/Florida team thing and I cannot believe this issue has been raised.
3) There is no evidence that Obama will not be a friend to Israel, despite what McCain/Palin would have you believe. Obama’s policies are actually better for Israel and the US than McCain’s hawish policies which will only lead to more strife in the Middle-East.
4) Talking to leaders you don’t like is not an intelligent policy and does not make the US (or Israel) more secure. In order to make any real progress these talks have to go ahead, and it is something that even the Republicans have realised. It’s not about sitting down and “having tea” with them as McCain childishly said. It’s about putting tough diplomacy/talks before pre-emptive wars.
If it comes down to good judgement, like you say, and for the candidate with the better vision for America, then the only credible option for President has to be Obama. He has the right temperament and intellect for the role and he is surrounding himself with equally credible people. It’s an Obama administration who will keep America safe, not McCain’s.

It’s a sad time for American that so many Americans don’t understand what protects their liberty and freedom and what destroys it and want change to more government intrusion in their lives, more taxes, more religious restrictions, less free speech, and fewer freedoms. Obama offers all of these wrapped in the magic candy wrapper of change and so many eat it up like manna from heaven. When we lose more of our freedom we will see our economy stagnate even more, our living standards decline, and have less power to reverse the process. A sad time for a great nation.

Choice one: Eliminate taxes for corporations and small businesses and you will get an economic boom with more jobs and higher pay.
Choice two: Take the US second highest tax rate in the world and increase it for both corporations as well as small businesses. Throw in a $3k one time bonus for hiring a new employee.
No longer allow union votes to be confidential but allow the union to identify all those who vote against it.
Require all business to provide health care or face a fine, even if they are barely profitable, even if it would force them to lose money.
Scrap trade deals that are favorable to the US and would add substantial jobs if union bosses say so, ie the Dems killing the Columbia trade pact.
If jobs were important to Dems why did they kill the deal?

Straight talkers who claim the last two elections were stolen:
1. Is contrary to the truth given all investigations proved it wasn’t so,
2. Are the same ones who created a federal law forbidding registrants to vote proving they are citizens
3. Want to allow people to vote without any ID
4. Go to illegal immigration rallies, encourage non-citizens to vote and promise to reduce enforcement of immigration laws.
It’s for the children. It’s only fair to look the other way…