http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/buckley_resigns/2008/10/14/140366.html The son of the late conservative icon William F. Buckley Jr. was taken up on his resignation offer from the magazine his father founded Tuesday after mounting reader outrage over his endorsement of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. Christopher Buckley revealed his ouster from National Review during an interview with the Austin-American Statesman in which he discussed, among other things, his new comic novel about the U.S. Supreme Court. Last week, Buckley wrote a piece entitled, “Sorry, Dad, I’m Voting for Obama,” for the DailyBeast.com. In it, he lists a number of reasons for abandoning support of Republican John McCain, including McCain’s erratic policy reversals and his selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate. Buckley insists he is still a conservative, and he concedes that Obama is a dye-in-the-wool liberal. But quoting Oliver Wendell Holmes, Buckley writes Obama has a “first-class temperament” that will allow him to embrace positions that might not suit his ideology. The resulting outrage from conservatives writing in to National Review couldn’t be ignored, Buckley told the newspaper. He offered to resign his column — and it was accepted. “It upset a great number of people — a huge number of canceled subscriptions, apostasy, the whole thing,” he said from Washington. When he offered his resignation to the magazine’s editors, “I was sort of hoping for, ‘Well, let’s think about it,' but, to paraphrase Ronald Reagan, 'I didn’t leave the Republican Party, the Republican Party left me.'” Buckley is one of a small group of conservative writers who have abandoned McCain over the last two weeks. Others include David Brooks, the house conservative at The New York Times, and Kathleen Parker, who also writes for the National Review Online as well as newspapers. On Monday, they were joined by Heather Mac Donald, a columnist with the conservative City Journal, a leading urban affairs think tank and magazine. Like the others, Mac Donald was especially critical of McCain’s selection of Palin, who she described as inexperienced and inarticulate. “I know, it’s elitist to expect a candidate for president or vice president to speak like an adult,” Mac Donald wrote in a column Monday entitled “Gettin’ All Mavericky.” "There was a time, however, when conservatives upheld adult standards — such as clarity of speech and thought — without apology, even in the face of the relentless downward pull of adolescent culture. But now, when a vice-presidential candidate talks like a teenager, mugs like an American Idol contestant, and traffics in syntactical dead-ends and non sequiturs, we are supposed to find her charming and authentic.”
Exactly. My nonsensical approach to posting in the last 20 minutes is exactly the type of nonsense I deal with on a daily basis from the "other side." I can't even find worthwhile threads anymore due to the amount of garbage that's posted on here. Here is something that is worthwhile, though. For all those individuals who have criticized Obama for his voting record, particularly in the Illinois Senate, there are important points to remember: "He helped write one of the rare ethics laws in a state known for government corruption and worked on welfare reform with Republicans." "He always wants to understand an issue and think it through," said Roberta Lynch, deputy director for Council 31 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. "You have to make your case no matter who you are." "Obama was known in the Illinois Capitol as a consistently liberal senator who reflected the views of voters in his Chicago district." http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/17/politics/main2369157.shtml Obama’s state senate votes on some key issues: BUDGET & TAXES= Voted to raise the minimum wage in Illinois from $5.15 an hour to $6.50 an hour over two years. (2003) Helped pass a 5 percent earned-income tax credit for low-income working families in 2000; made the credit permanent in 2003. Voted to end $300 million worth of tax breaks for businesses. (2004) Voted against making permanent the repeal of the state's 5 percent sales tax on gasoline. (2000) HEALTH CARE= Voted for having Illinois endorse embryonic stem cell research. (2004) Successfully sponsored the Health Care Justice Act, a study of ways to implement a universal health care system statewide. (2004) Voted against restrictions on public funding of abortion. (2000) Successfully co-sponsored a prescription drug discount buying club program for seniors and the disabled. (2003) CRIME & GUN CONTROL Voted against letting people argue self-defense in court if charged with violating local weapons bans by using a gun in their home. (2004) Voted to let retired police and military police carry concealed weapons. (2004) Successfully sponsored requirement that law enforcement videotape interrogations of suspects in some serious crimes. (2003) Successfully sponsored law enforcement study of the race of people pulled over for traffic tickets. (2003) Helped pass an overhaul of the state's troubled death penalty system. (2003) Unsuccessfully sponsored measure to expunge some criminal records and create an employment grant program for ex-criminals. (2002) Unsuccessfully sponsored limit of one handgun purchase per month. (2000) Voted against making gang members eligible for the death penalty if they kill someone to help their gang. (2001) MISCELLANEOUS Unsuccessfully co-sponsored ban on discrimination based on sexual orientation. The measure became law after Obama was elected to the U.S. Senate. (2003) Successfully sponsored move to shield Illinois workers from federal rules that threatened overtime pay for some employees. Successfully co-sponsored major ethics reform called the Gift Ban Act. (1998) Voted against giving tax credits to parents who send their children to private school. (1999) Definitely some things I agree with and some I don't. But I really feel an important point to consider is that his votes were consistent with the citizens he represented. I think he's a smart enough person to realize that he probably needs to move a little more towards the center on some issues. You see, I am confident in his ability to adapt. I'm not so sure about McCain.
