Here's what I question about McCain, Hellfire. You say "Iraq? Senator McCain wants to Win that War." But isn't it obvious that we can't win it as it's being fought? We had total chaos last year, which came under some control this year only when the military cobbled together five extra brigades for the Surge, but the Surge is now ending because the military feels that it cannot extend tours any more and THERE AREN'T ANY MORE TROOPS TO SEND. So here we are, fighting what Bush/Cheney have called "a war for civilization" without enough troops. Why?

Because to increase the number of active troops to the point needed would require probably a draft, but even without one will require so much more money that it would force the end of the Bush tax cuts. It would force the 90-95% of Americans who are suffering NOTHING in this war to feel a pinch, with the rich people who got most of the tax cuts feeling most of the pinch. Bush has refused to even consider this, and McCain hasn't said a word about it, either. And now he wants to extend those tax cuts indefinitely -- in the very years he says he plans to win the war. How?

Obama's view is the war is a mistake which is best rectified by getting the fuck out and letting the Iraqis settle it among themselves. You may disagree with that position, but it's a lot more honest than to say that we have to win, but we're not going to do what is obviously necessary to secure that win. Instead, we're going to pretend that we're fighting to win when in fact all we're doing is acting as if the war wasn't a huge mistake in the first place. And until I hear McCain say he's ready to do WHATEVER is necessary to win, I'm going to say he's not serious about winning.

When we took on Hitler, we raised taxes. When we fought in 'Nam, we raised taxes. Now we've CUT taxes, and McCain is trying to get them cut even further. What's wrong with this picture? And where does it leave the poor bastards who are actually fighting the war -- undermanned from day one wtih no prospect in sight of any improvement?

Both McCain and Obama have called for an enlarged army, which makes sense, since the present one seems unable to secure a victory against a fourth-rate power. But Obama calls for tax increases to PAY for that army; McCain doesn't. Who's being more honest here?

The President SURELY has huge influence over taxes. We call them the Reagan tax cuts and the Bush tax cuts (and the Clinton tax increases) because Presidents set the budget and Congress is almost never so completely skewed against the President that it can ignore his wishes. Compromises are worked out on the President's terms, and if they aren't, he vetoes the bill. The fact that almost every penny spent in Iraq has been borrowed (by being declared "off-budget") is not Congress's decision, it's Bush's, and he made it because he feels his tax cuts are more important than the war. I see no indication that McCain is prepared to break with that thinking.

You know, as I read your exchanges with artandsoul, I felt very glad that I made the effort to try to continue to communicate with you, because your compassion for your fellow soldiers is so clear. I happen to think, however, that although McCain has walked the walk, and is deservedly honored for it, he is turning his back on the very people you love so much when he casts his lot with the tax cut wing of the Republican Party, and that is what he has decided to do, as I see it. No, he's not like Bush at all. But he's in the process of making his bed with those who ARE like Bush, and we cannot afford another four years of them.