Issues are mostly irrelevent. I don't care what Obama's tax plan is or McCain's tax plan is. Maybe one voter in 100,000 has the expertise to actually analyze them thoroughly - and such an analysis would necessarily be fraught with all the uncertainties of economics. Even then, the tax plans will be unrecognizeable once filtered through the legislature.

What I do know is that a vote for Obama is a vote to steal the hard-earned dollars of middle class American and a vote for McCain is a vote to make corporate fat cats even richer. How do I know this? Because everyone else does. That's what the other 99,999 people think about the tax plans, and that's how they're going to vote. The election itself is just a very large sample-size poll on which way Americans want to go on this - and many other issues.

So while issues do matter, they only matter in the most superficial sense.

What does matter is character.

But not character as you might understand it.

It doesn't matter if Obama did cocaine or McCain dumped his first wife. What does matter is whether or not they've managed to already acquire the sense of responsibility for others necessary for the office of the Presidency.

Anyone seeking the highest office in the land obviously has a rather over-inflated sense of their own importance. And anyone who succeeds in landing the job will ultimately be beaten down by the sheer importance of what they're doing.

So what 'character' really means in this case is how long the nation has to endure a self-aggrandizing fool before that fool recognizes that the job is more important than they are.

If this election were in 1992 and we were standing at the 'end of history', I'd say go with the Bill Clinton of the bunch. Mogadishu was a cheap price to pay to educate a President on the true nature of his task.

But it's 2008 and the challenges are much greater. I have absolute confidence that when Russian tanks started rolling through Poland, President Obama would step up to the plate and do his absolute best for his nation. But I have more confidence that President McCain wouldn't end up facing the problem in the first place.

"But I have more confidence that President McCain wouldn't end up facing the problem in the first place."

Why? Because he'd be dead? Because he'd send in Sarah? Or because he is the brilliant military genius of our age?

C'mon.

Set up a fake scenario (called a "Hypothetical") and use it to define "character."

What nonsense. What a bunch of GOP crap.

Xando says, "I have absolute confidence that when Russian tanks started rolling through Poland, President Obama would step up to the plate and do his absolute best for his nation. But I have more confidence that President McCain wouldn't end up facing the problem in the first place."

Obama the warhawk and McCain the diplomat..hm...interesting take.

Or are you suggesting the Russians would be too afraid of McCain to ever invade a neighboring nation (hint- see Bush-Cheney circa Olympics)

Actually, I have more confidence that President Obama wouldn't end up facing the problem than I do in "bomb, bomb Iran" McCain. McCain means well, but he shoots from the hip and asks questions later. Come to think of it, that's what Bush did too, and you can see where that got us.

"But I have more confidence that President McCain wouldn't end up facing the problem in the first place."

Really? Why? Because his chief foriegn policy adviser, Randy Scheuenman(sp?) was on the Georgian payroll until May, when the O'l Straight-shooter supposedly banished lobbiests from his campaign, and Randy got off the account? (his firm reaped over $800k advising Georgia).

Maybe a guy on the Georgian payroll was capable of giving unfarnished, independent advice. Regardless, I for one prefer our foriegn policy be crafted by and in support of American's.

McCain said he and his people work for us. He apparently forgot to mention of few other of their paymasters.

The issues that matter are: (1) Honesty, (2) Integrity

Obama has proven he has neither....

I take exception to that.

I believe he has been honest, and that he has exhibited a tremendous amount of integrity throughout his entire campaign.

Honesty - he dealt with the HUGE amounts of scrutiny over his church, his education, his family life, his history, his community work, his legislative career, his financial disclosure forms, his plans and visions for what he would do as President. He has put out volumes of information on all of these things, stood under hour after hour of media microscope. There is NOTHING that has emerged to suggest that he is dishonest.

You may not like his positions. You may not like his pastor. You may not like his skin color. But it is not his honesty that is in question.

As to integrity - he has shown enormous restraint in a political arena by never once attacking Hillary during the primary about any personal issues, never stooping to re-ignite the issues around her husband's fidelity, and in fact led the bulk of his supporters to quit calling for her withdrawal from a primary that ended up damaging his Party base. No criticism ever from him. THAT is integrity.

He has drawn a bright line around a candidates family calling them off-limits even though the McCain campaign has NOT abided by that as to the Obamas and continues to use the Palin children in ways that are exploitative and very public.

He has chosen a Vice Presidential candidate who commands respect because of his years of service, his intelligence and his commitment to our WHOLE country.

He has spent a year and a half under rigorous and often inflammatory circumstances and yet continues to be able to raise money from individual donors, he excites people who feel they may finally have a voice after 8 years of terror-based politics.

Your pithy little sound bytes may end up succeeding in this political race, but that does not make them true.

Here is a link that clearly shows McCain and Palin lack both Honesty and Integrity:

It's just one of many

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Archarito:

The issues that matter are: (1) Honesty, (2) Integrity

Obama has proven he has neither....

Interesting...and can you explain why you feel someone who has reversed his position on almost every major issue (abortion, tax cuts, the ease of invading Iraq) has integrity?