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He's put the case as straightforwardly and eloquently as I've heard from anyone:

I'm sad McCain's campaign soured me on him a little bit. This is the charming, good natured man that I really admire.

He writes : A year ago, when everyone, including the man I’m about to endorse, was caterwauling to get out of Iraq on the next available flight, John McCain, practically alone, said no, no—bad move. Surge. It seemed a suicidal position to take, an act of political bravery of the kind you don’t see a whole lot of anymore. But that was—sigh—then. John McCain has changed. He said, famously, apropos the Republican debacle post-1994, “We came to Washington to change it, and Washington changed us.” This campaign has changed John McCain. It has made him inauthentic. A once-first class temperament has become irascible and snarly; his positions change, and lack coherence; he makes unrealistic promises, such as balancing the federal budget “by the end of my first term.” Who, really, believes that? Then there was the self-dramatizing and feckless suspension of his campaign over the financial crisis. His ninth-inning attack ads are mean-spirited and pointless. And finally, not to belabor it, there...

Factchecking, otherwise known as due-diligence, is very important in evaluating the credibility of the candidates. Are one or both of the candidates willing to state straight-out falsehoods in order to win some cheap votes? For example, McCain has consistently misrepresented Obama as someone who wants to raise taxes across the board, esp. on the middle class. The fantasitic site FactCheck.org has this to say about such a claim: It's a pretty standard Republican theme: "Democrat X favors higher taxes and wasteful spending." But the McCain-Palin campaign has repeatedly pushed this line far beyond what the facts will support. Among the whoppers: that Sen. Barack Obama has voted to raise taxes on families earning as little as $32,000 per year, that Obama wants to tax your electricity and your heating oil, that he has voted for "higher" taxes 94 times, and that he will raise taxes for 23 million small-business owners. Each of these claims is false. ... As for Obama...

Two sites you should check out for extensive coverage on the truths, half-truths, and outright lies that are circulating about the presidential candidates are Politifact and FactCheck . A list of the most egregious lies can be found here . These include:

This makes me somewhat sad. Its obvious that Letterman has great respect for John McCain, so its a shame that McCain ditched Letterman for a different interview. In response Letterman gives him a proper lashing. And Letterman's makes a great point as well: McCain should not suspend his campaign - he should have let Palin take the reigns of the campaign in his stead. (I mean, if she can't do that, how can we expect her to be ready to lead the country. The answer is obvious - she can't.) Sad. I still respect McCain, but I'm having a hard time trusting his judgment as of late. David Letterman Reacts to John McCain Suspending Campaign

This ad is a new low for the McCain campaign - it is pure slime. Unforgivably so. This is Rovean politics at its worst. Remember your out-of-wedlock black baby, McCain? Yeah, this shit is in the same league. It's been thoroughly debunked here . I hope Carville is right (the second video) and that McCain didn't really know about it. I still believe that McCain is an honorable, decent person. I hope he repudiates it and fires those who put his name on this despicable ad. Education Carville: McCain Too Honorable to Have Approved Sleazy Ad

Overall, I was extremely annoyed by the crowd, but the speech was not that bad. The fact that Obama and McCain are the two presidential candidates attests to the fact that the conservative movement is languishing. 10:57 - His war story. Its worth hearing. 10:55 - He is trying to be post-partisian. It is falling flat on the crowd, but his record here is solid. This is a slap on the face of partisan hacks. This is why I've always liked McCain. 10:53 - A lot of what he says is an implicit criticism of the Bush administration. Good. 10:50 - Foreign policy segment. Nothing concrete, but his emphasis on working with other countries is a breath of fresh air. And his blunt claim that war is evil is very much needed. Reminds me of Obama's claim in Saddleback that sometimes much evil is done in the name of good. 10:47 - Constantly misrepresenting Obama's views, esp. on energy. Besides the Republican base's short-sighted emphasis on "drill here, drill now" I don't th...

I'm not voting for him, I really do like McCain. Although I don't know much about Palin (besides a cursory overview), I like the spirit behind the choice. She's fiscally conservative, but apparently doesn't always toe the line of the GOP base. She can give us a better perspective about our energy resources in Alaska, and she is a new face that challenges the Democratic Party's characterization of McCain as the same-old,same-old. Regardless of who wins, this is going to be a historic election. One other thing: if you haven't seen this ad by McCain, its worth seeing: Pure class: "Convention Night" (McCain congratulates Obama on Obama's historic receiving of the Democratic nomination)

I understand why they are trying to tightly link McCain to Bush - Bush is unpopular now and the closer you can tie the two the more likely voters will feel uncomfortable with McCain. The only problem is - of all Republican senators - McCain has been one of the most visible and staunch critics of Bush during his presidency. While most other Republicans either fell in line or else criticized Bush for not being conservative enough, McCain was constantly in the news for opposing Bush policies. Boortz (who's very amusing, though I very rarely agree with his opinions) has a good list of issues where Bush and McCain did not agree: McCain fought for campaign finance reform — McCain-Feingold — that Bush resisted and ultimately signed because he had no choice. McCain led the battle to restrict interrogation techniques of terror suspects and to ban torture. McCain went with Joe Lieberman on a tough measure to curb climate change, something Bush denies is going on. McCain opposed the Bush tax...

In Rick Warren's excellent interview with Obama there was only one part I found disturbing: Obama's response to the abortion question. His response reflected a lack of thoughtfullness, which struck me as odd - because I definitely think Obama is generally more thoughtful than McCain. In response to Warren's question: "At what point does a baby get human rights, in your view?", Obama answered: Whether you are looking at it from a theological perspective or a scientific perspective, answering that question with specificity is, you know, above my pay grade. Given the context, this was not a good answer. It was very bad. It was somewhat flippant, elusive, and inappropriately incorporating humor at a moment requiring upmost seriousness. What he says afterwords I can whole-heartedly agree with, but it does not answer the question: But let me speak more generally about the issue of abortion. Because this is something, obviously, the country wrestles with. One thing that...

A good, short article appeared on this not too long ago in the Wall Street Journal. Its worth a read. According to this article the main differences come down to this: Obama: Bigger role for the government in promoting alternatives to oil (though in what way - through incentives or through subsidizing?) and regulating emissions. Promises to invest 150 billion dollars in alternative fuels. Supports nuclear if we come up with "a safe, long-term solution for disposing of nuclear waste". McCain: More of a market based approach. His record shows a resistance to supporting mandates and tax credits. I suppose, ultimately, this just means that the federal standards on emissions would be more lax, and he would be less willing to spend tax dollars on less promising alternative fuels. It is not clear to me, though, exactly what role he things the government should have. Is it just to get out of the way? On a different note: I'm not sure what I think about drilling. I know Obama opp...

The teaser of Harris's article is this: "To his fans he's a lovable patriot with a maverick streak. But to his critics he's an anti-abortion Creationist who surrounds himself with religious extremists. Paul Harris uncovers the dark side of John McCain" I'm an Obama supporter, but merely from the teaser I already want to run to McCain's defense. An "anti-abortion Creationist"? Really?? Bullshit. This is like the Obama "Terrorist fist jab" teaser on Fox - its utterly stupid. And provably so from a not-to-long ago debate: The rest of the article is blindingly obvious in its propagandistic machinery. Briefly mention a few reasons someone might think he's not such a bad guy (make sure to put it in the subjunctive). Claim this is all a facade to "propel him to the Oval Office". Expose the "dark side" that "lies behind his public mask". Pull out any dirt you can and start slinging. Precisely this formula is ...

McCain has had a number of really interesting ideas lately. At least they are not the standard tired Republican BS that you hear spouted from the likes of Hannity and his dippy followers. Here are the ones I'm referring to: Town Hall meetings with Obama - This is a great idea! It gets us away from the silly and uninformative debates where each candidate is supposed to boil down a solution to a complex problem into a 30 second sound-bite. Not only they get to deal with the public directly (which will probably lead to its own silliness though), but the newish format would suggest that both campaigns are really interested promoting a different type of politics. Unfortunately it looks like Obama won't take him up on it :( Here is a snipit from a recent Time article : After expressing interest in the idea initially, Obama has since backed away, saying he will meet McCain for only one joint town hall, on July 4, when few Americans will be huddled around a television set to watch pol...

The only two Republican Candidates for president that I could have ever seen myself voting for were John McCain and Ron Paul (I liked, and still like Huckabee, but definitely not as a leader of this country). But one thing I'm very surprised about is McCain's blatant undermining of habeas corpus. Here is a pretty good analysis of the issue (and those issues surrounding them) by Ron Paul. McCain, in contrast, called the court's ruling "one of the worst decisions in history. It opens up a whole new chapter and interpretation of our Constitution.'' Obama, on the other hand, is committed to restoring habeas corpus to detainees, further commenting that it is an important step toward "reestablishing our credibility as a nation committed to the rule of law, and rejecting a false choice between fighting terrorism and respecting habeas corpus" Technorati Tags: Ron Paul

"I'm deeply disappointed the Republican Party seems poised to select a nominee who did not support a Constitutional amendment to protect the institution of marriage, who voted for embryonic stem cell research to kill nascent human beings, who opposed tax cuts that ended the marriage penalty, and who has little regard for freedom of speech, who organized the Gang of 14 to preserve filibusters, and has a legendary temper and often uses foul and obscene language. "I am convinced Sen. McCain is not a conservative, and in fact, has gone out of his way to stick his thumb in the eyes of those who are. He has at times sounded more like a member of the other party. McCain actually considered leaving the GOP in 2001, and approached John Kerry about being Kerry's running mate in 2004. McCain also said publicly that Hillary Clinton would make a good president. Given these and many other concerns, a spoonful of sugar does not make the medicine go down. I cannot, and I will not vot...

After watching the two republican primary debates as well as the democratic primary debate ... Of all of the Republican candidates, the only two I like are John McCain and Ron Paul. I really wish Hagel would join the race. Rudy's recent shtick is that the Democrates are returning to a pre-911 mentality. ... Civil liberties do not seem to take a very place on his list of priorities I really, really like Obama. I think he would be great for this country in so many ways. The one thing I struggle over most, though, is the issue of abortion. I am so conflicted about this issue, and I don't have any good ideas about a stance I'd like to see. The absolute worst of the bunch fortunately don't have a chance anyway ....

His comments can be heard here: [ mp3 ]. No doubt, James Dobson's unwillingness to vote for McCain will have a negative impact on his candidacy - given Dobson's tremendous sway in the republican party. Here is an question I have: Why do many people dislike McCain so much?

Here is the way the wind is blowing right now: The independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll asked voters to rate leaders from 0 to 100 on a "feeling thermometer," with the highest numbers reflecting the warmest feelings. The top 10 mean scores are: (1)..Rudolph Giuliani.........................63.5 (2) Barack Obama.............................59.9 (3) John McCain..............................59.7 (4) Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice......57.1 (5) President Bill Clinton...................56.1 (6) Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards..50.8 (7) Former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner.........50.7 (8) New York Sen. Hillary Clinton............50.4 The details can be found here .