“November 1st, 2008 at 12:47 am
We who think that George W. Bush has been a great president object to the way that the so-called Republican John McCain has treated George W. Bush, a great president, a true conservative, and a great man.
…

Why vote for McCain?”

Perhaps one reason is that, while he is not your lobster choice–as Dr. Turner above puts it, he is at least a cheeseburger, and cheeseburgers are far more appetizing than socialist liver.

-MC

Take a look at how all this started, and how my post begins. Obama came up with the “votes like a duck, must be…” line in describing how much like McCain, as well as the “He voted with the President 90% of the time, so he must be…” hurdle. If you notice, all I do is apply the same reasoning to Obama in voting like an avowed socialist. The same lobster/cheeseburger story can be told about McCain and Bush. All I am saying is that if McCain is like another Bush, then Obama, by the same yardstick that Obama put forward, must be a socialist.

Of course, what makes Obama really a socialist is that his “pragmatic, non-ideological policies” are rather socialist–very ideological. Getting rid of the secret ballot for union votes to give unions the ability to intimidate workers is rather socialist. Federal control of health care (with limited suppliers of health care services, increasing demand while keeping prices down will only lead to governmental rationing) is certainly socialist. Obama’s $11 minimum wage, which is then indexed to the CPI, will give us French size minority youth unemployment, an “army of the unemployed” bigger than any army of unemployed that Marx discussed, ready to take their place in the new Civilian Security Force that Obama claims will be as big as our current military–that sounds socialist as well.

By the way, I do not know how often McCane voted with Sanders, but for the ADA’s (Americans for Democratic Action) 20 key votes in the Senate, Sanders had a 95% ADA score in 2007 while McCain’s was 10. Sanders lost 5 points because he voted against a bill by Sen. Kennedy and supported by Bush to overhaul immigration. McCain voted with Kennedy and the President on that vote. McCain voted with Sanders only once of those 20 votes. But, like Obama and Clinton, he missed a lot of votes as he was out campaigning.

-MC

Suppose I go to the Nicholls cafeteria. I really like lobster and everyone knows I like lobster. I am “lobsterian”. But there is no lobster from me to choose from at the cafeteria. So I eat cheeseburgers, the second best alternative to lobster.

Another person also eats cheeseburgers, because they really like cheeseburgers, at least better than lasagna. Who knows if a cheeseburger is their absolute first choice, but say its close.

Then someone comes along and notes that our eating selections are perfectly correlated. Would it be correct to suggest that 2nd person is a lobster lover? Is that not the argument that is being made here?

Is it correct to say that Sanders voting record is one that represents socialism? Or would a better interpretation that both constrained socialists and (unconstrained?) liberals vote the same way?

Presumably, a single socialist would not get to vote on a socialist agenda (no lobster). Sanders does not control what items he gets to vote on (picks between cheeseburgers or lasagna). It seems to me than it is a second best situation for Sanders.

For giggles, I went to the 2007 Congress ADA scores, a cheaper alternative to the more thorough roll call voting analysis. Only 20 votes.

I counted up everyone that voted “with” the ADA for at least 95% of the time (as did Sanders). By that definition, there would be “socialist” senators in at least 16 states, including 2 in WI, VT, RI, MI, and one in a bunch of other states. And I didn’t even count Obama and Clinton, who would have been there if they had voted more often.

Maybe a bit over the top – but I’m not sure I really buy the argument you make.

Also – do you know how often Sanders voted with McCain?

–CT

In this interview with the Washington Times, a conservative newspaper, McCain treats Bush worse than Obama has. See http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/oct/23/mccain-lambastes-bush-years/

Why vote for McCain?