I don't like McCain's stand on the war, but I don't revile him the way the partisan Dems here do. The partisan Dems here revile McCain today, but in 2004 and 2000 especially, were well disposed towards him.

What has changed? They know he can beat their Dem candidate.

I actually trust McCain for more than Obama or Clinton, because he is pretty much WYSIWYG. Both Obama and Clinton strike me as slick, slippery, slimey types, bought and paid for--what was it Obama raked in last month? Over 30 fucking million dollars?

You think that was all $50 donations on the Internet? I don't.

Both of their health care plans suck. Obama WILL stay in Iraq if elected, because he won't be able to figure out how to get the fuck out. Why do I believe this? Because he has no connections/network among the policy wonks who know how to get us the hell out of there.

McCain, when compared to Clinton and Obama, isn't very far apart from them on immigration, health care, taxes, "economic reform" (hah! as if) to deal with corruption and the worsening recession (caused largely by the corruption).

So when I, as an independent, look at McCain, then look at Clinton/Obama, I see pretty much the same stands on the vast majority of issues.

So then, it comes down to judging the character of the person, as some here have pointed out, because no one goes in on "day one" and knows how to make the right decisions.

And when I look at character--out of the four front runners going in to Super Tuesday, I'd pick McCain over the other three, hands down.

And I'm about as anti-military as they come. But like many others, I feel like there wouldn't be any character surprises with him. He is very much the old dog we know, and I think he puts the good of the nation before his own ambition more often & in a way none of the other three does.

Finally, McCain would win in the character column because he has been so independent of his party's ideologues over the years ESPECIALLY the Bush/Cheney ideologists. He ain't no chicken hawk. This dude is the biggest hawk since Robert McNamara.