Bi-Polar Bear wrote:engineer wrote:Bi-Polar Bear wrote:there's not as much discussion of McCain perhaps because he's a much more known quantity than Obama.
At this point, I find the opposite is true. I've heard a lot about Obama's voting record, his history in both the Senate and in the Ill. Senate, his college background, his organizing activities after college, etc. I thought I knew a lot about McCain, but as news starts to trickle out about him, I found I assumed a lot about him that wasn't true. Poor acedemic record, undistinguished military career, votes against Katrina investigations, etc. I for one did not know as much as I thought I did.
you're cherry picking. And I don't support McCain.... at all. A notice you say you've HEARD a lot about Obama... just as over the years you've HEARD a lot about John McCain. Why as more HEAR more negative things about McCain do you give them any more weight than what may come out about Obama that is negative and contradicts what you've originally HEARD?
My point is that I had an impression of McCain as this maverick, tell it as it is, war hero, middle of the road senator. That impression was wrong (though anyone who was tortured while serving his country certainly counts as a war hero to me). It's not that I'm cherry picking, only that my not fully informed impression was wrong. In fact, little about my initial impression was accurate. I give those points weight because they contradict my earlier impression.
When I say I've "heard" a lot about Obama (about whom I knew nothing several months ago), I mean to say that I have read several dozen articles, many of which I got links to here, that discuss his history in detail. Loose grammer on my part. I've read about his childhood history, his college days, his associates from that time, his first jobs, his organizing activities, his conversion to Christianity, his church, his wife, his family life, his election to the IL senate, the bills he sponsored there, his election to the Senate, the bills he sponsored, co-sponsored, failed to sponsor there, the make-up of his campaign team, all of his proposed policies, the backgrounds of his political advisors, his relationships with many other senators, his wife's background, the jewelry he wears on the campaign trail, the way he stands for the national anthem, the financing arrangement on his home, etc. At this point, I know more FACTS about Obama than for any other candidate I've ever followed. None of those facts contradict my previously held beliefs since I didn't have any. I haven't been won over by his oration skills because I've never seen more than five seconds of any speech he's ever given.
At this point, Obama is as close to a known quantity as you will ever get in a Presidential candidate. If you don't like what you see, fine, but at least you can see it. McCain is a complete enigma to me. Will he be the maverick of eight years ago or the Bush clone of the last two years? That's what I mean when I say that McCain is an unknown quantity.
