Hi~

If parents learn anything in raising children, it is that when they say that a certain consequence will follow bad behavior they have to follow through. It doesn't take a child long to figure out that the parent is blowing smoke.

Right after voting for the bailout package a few days ago, McCain was decrying the earmarks in the bill and said,

“It’s insanity, and it’s obscenity because it’s a waste of taxpayers’ dollars, and it goes on,” McCain said on MSNBC.

“And until we stop it, until we get, frankly, a president who will say I’m going to veto those bills, I’m going to make the people famous that put them on there, famous — and by the way, Joe (Scarborough, I think), you know that this problem has grown and grown and grown,” McCain added. “There’s a sharp difference, a total difference between myself and President Bush on the issue of pork barrel and earmarks and out-of-control spending and the growth of government without paying for it. Don’t forget that part.” <link>

Who is going to believe Senator McCain when he doesn't even have the courage to vote 'no' on a bill that he will veto that bill as president? This is a perfect example of the Obama campaign suggesting that the good Senator McCain is erratic.

We already know the examples of the McCain saying that the fundamentals of the economy are strong and then saying soon after that it isn't. By the way, it is a canard to suggest that using that standard language about the economy was an attempt to talk about how good American workers are: sometimes the economy's fundamentals are not sound, but working people are always outstanding workers (credit for that observation goes to Chris Matthews).

The senator also said that he was halting his campaign until the bailout bill was passed, DID NOT HALT HIS CAMPAIGN, and then 'resumed' his after his flying stunt back into DC.

A head of state has to be consistent and do more than 'talk the talk'. I will probably vote for Ralph Nader, but it is obvious that Obama has been much cooler in this crisis and has shown much more character.

God Speed,

David