House of Burgess

Hey, did you know that apparently there’s some sort of “election” happening on Tuesday?
Who knew, right?
Well, in order to find out more about this so-called “election” (whatever that is) I decided to compile a list of important policy statements by presidential hopefuls Democratic Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois and his running mate Sen. Joe Biden of Deleware, and Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona and his running mate Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska.
I hope this helps clear a few things up:

Patriotism
Barack Obama:
“Now even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us, the spin masters and negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes. Well, I say to them tonight, there's not a liberal America and a conservative America; there's the United States of America.”
(July 27, 2004, Democratic National Convention, Boston.)
Sarah Palin:
“We believe that the best of America is in these small towns that we get to visit, and in these wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard working very patriotic, um, very, um, pro-America areas of this great nation.”
(Oct. 16, rally, Greensboro, N.C.)

Association with terrorists
Sarah Palin:
“Our opponent, though, is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect, imperfect enough that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country.”
(Discussing Obama’s connection to domestic terrorist, professor, educational theorist and 1997 Chicago Citizen of the Year William Ayers on Oct. 4 at a rally in Englewood, Colo.)
John McCain:
“I'm proud of you, I'm proud of your family. It’s always a pleasure for me to come on your program, Gordon, and congratulations on your continued success and adherence to the principles and philosophies that keep our nation great.”
(To G. Gordon Liddy while appearing on the convicted felon, Watergate conspirator, domestic terrorist and McCain campaign contributor’s radio program in Nov. 2007.)

Cross-border attacks into Pakistan
John McCain:
“I'm not prepared at this time to cut off aid to Pakistan. So I'm not prepared to threaten it, as Sen. Obama apparently wants to do, as he has said that he would announce military strikes into Pakistan.
We've got to get the support of the people of--of Pakistan. He said that he would launch military strikes into Pakistan.
Now, you don't do that. You don't say that out loud. If you have to do things, you have to do things, and you work with the Pakistani government.”
(Sept. 26, Presidential debate, University of Mississippi.)
Sarah Palin:
Michael Rovito, Temple University graduate student: “So we do cross border, like from Afghanistan to Pakistan you think?”
Palin: “If that's what we have to do stop the terrorists from coming any further in, absolutely, we should.”
(Sept. 27, Tony Luke’s sandwich shop, Philadelphia.)

The $700 billion bailout bill
Joe Biden:
“It's evidence that the policies of the last eight years have been the worst policies we’ve had. Obama laid out criteria for a rescue plan. He, first of all, said there has to be oversight. Second, he said you have to focus on folks on Main Street. Third, he said that you have to treat the taxpayers like investors. And, last, you have to make sure CEOs don't benefit from this. We're going to focus on the middle class, because when the middle class is growing, the economy grows and everybody does well.”
(Oct. 2, Vice-presidential debate, Washington University at St. Louis.)
Sarah Palin:
“That’s why I say, I like every American I’m speaking with were ill about this position that we have been put in where it is the tax payers looking to bailout.
But ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health care reform that is needed to help shore up the economy– Helping the — Oh, it’s got to be about job creation too. Shoring up our economy and putting it back on the right track. So health care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions and tax relief for Americas.
And trade we’ve got to see trade as opportunity, not as a competitive scary thing. But 1 in 5 jobs being created in the trade sector today. We’ve got to look at that as more opportunity. All those things under the umbrella of job creation.
This bailout is a part of that.”
(Sept. 24, interview with CBS’s Katie Couric.)

Socialism
(Author's note: So-cial-ism, noun: A theory or system of social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc., in the community as a whole.)
Sarah Palin:
“Sen. Obama said he wants to quote ‘spread the wealth.’ What that means is he wants government to take your money and dole it out however a politician sees fit...Friends, now is no time to experiment with socialism. To me, our opponent plans sounds more like big government, which is the problem. Bigger government is not the solution.”
(Oct. 19, rally, Roswell, N.M.)
Sarah Palin:
“And Alaska - we’re set up, unlike other states in the union, where it’s collectively Alaskans own the resources. So we share in the wealth when the development of these resources occurs.”
(Interview with Philip Gourevitch of the “New Yorker” published Sept. 22.)

Iraq
Barack Obama:
“If people tell you that we cannot afford to invest in education or health care or fighting poverty, you just remind them that we are spending $10 billion a month in Iraq. And if we can spend that much money in Iraq, we can spend some of that money right here in Cincinnati, Ohio, and in big cities and small towns in every corner of this country.”
(July 12, speech at the 99th NAACP Convention, Cincinnati.)
John McCain:
Audience member: President Bush has talked about our staying in Iraq for 50 years --
McCain: Maybe 100. We’ve been in Japan for 60 years. We’ve been in South Korea for 50 years or so. That’d be fine with me.
(Jan. 3, town hall, Derry, N.H.)

Iran
Barack Obama:
“We cannot allow Iran to get a nuclear weapon. It would be a game-changer in the region. Not only would it threaten Israel, our strongest ally in the region and one of our strongest allies in the world, but it would also create a possibility of nuclear weapons falling into the hands of terrorists. And so it’s unacceptable. And I will do everything that's required to prevent it. And we will never take military options off the table. And it is important that we don't provide veto power to the UN or anyone else in acting in our interests. It is important, though, for us to use all the tools at our disposal to prevent the scenario where we've got to make those kinds of choices.”
(Oct. 7, Second presidential debate, Nashville, Tenn.)
John McCain:
“That old Beach Boys song “Bomb Iran”: “Bomb, bomb...” (to the tune of “Barbara Ann”)
(April, 2007, Murrells Inlet VFW Hall, Murrells Inlet, S.C.)

(Author's note: Don't forget to vote Tuesday!)