It's because of this SURGE that the Iraq War is turning around and we will *hopefully* be able to get out of there with honor, and not with our tails betwen our legs. Do you know how demoralizing it would have been to our military ... and our country ... if we had just cut 'n run last year (like the Dems and a lot of public opinion) wanted. So give the guy some credit, ok.

Instead of criticizing McCain for turning around a disastrous situation, why don't you investigate why Barack Obama is receiving political contributions from Palestinian "refugees": http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/08/05/obama-camp-routed-out-illegal-donations-from-palestinians/

I supported the war in Iraq when Barack Obama was warning that it would hurt not help the United States. I was wrong and Barack Obama was right.

Oh and by the way, I lied about Barack Obama not visiting the troops. He made trips to visit injured troops in Kuwait and Iraq and in the U.S. without cameras or the press.

And did I mention that all offshore oil production will yield only 1% of U.S. daily consumption?

A vote for McCain is a vote for 4 more catastrophic years of Bush. There is no way in hell that the republicans will pull it off this year. As we move closer to the election, ordinary Americans will begin to realize the clear choice that they have in this election. Do you want a chance to prosper economically or continue the McCain/Bush policies? Obam/Bayh 08

"It's because of this SURGE that the Iraq War is turning around..."

Turn around compared to what? Before Bush and McCain's blunderous invasion of Iraq, Iran's power in the region was balanced by Sadaam Hussein. Now Iran is more powerful and we are weaker in the region.

Thanks to McCain's magnificient error, we had 2 Trillion dollars more, which could have been employed in getting us off of our addition to oil.

T. Boone Pickens' ambitious plan to replace the electricity currently produced by natural gas with wind power and to use the saved natural gas to fuel our cars instead of oil could be implimented with that 2 Trillion dollars!

A vote for McCain is a Vote AGAINST Fraud/Obama & the DNC - that is the goal.
Obama is an Arrogant, Radical Fraud - he is not qualified to lead our country. I will NOT vote for him - and MILLIONS of Americans feel the same way.
McCain is a good 2nd Dhoice.

I think the idea that he is a one trick pony would be good. That is one more trick than I think he has got now. Its one more than Tucker Bounds has too. UI think it is Bush/Cheney/Rove who had only the one trick - fear.

If this socalled surge was working why are people still getting killed everyday and why are we still footing the bill over there when they are making billions from oil. MCBUSH better wake up and smell the roses because they sure smell like poop to me

"Before Bush and McCain's blunderous invasion of Iraq ..."
The United States Congres authorized the War on Iraq. The 2004 Presidential election was a referendum on that war, and George Bush won. In other words, it is not just Bush and McCain, but "we the people of the United States" that invaded Iraq.

McCain ..... just taking pride in his ignorance of the "blunder of the century"

To "Take Responsibility" who posted "In other words, it is not just Bush and McCain, but "we the people of the United States" that invaded Iraq." I disagree with your view. You are technically correct. You must remember though that it was all done on a false pretext. The falsehood was well known, documented and understood by the two supreme leaders of the country. It was propagated (yes, as in propaganda) by their lackeys at their behest on pain of character and career destruction and who really knows, perhaps even worse. It most definitely was not the judgment of the American people.

It wasn't the surge that quelled the violence. It was the fact that after everybody who could get out did (and became refugees) and after the neighborhoods became "ethnically cleansed" (there was no one left to kill) and the country was suffciently balkanized like in Kosovo, the only thing left was to lie in a stalemate, where we are now. Now we have emboldened Iran to the point that al Sadr rules the largest segment of Iraqi's, with al Maliki becoming the Mayor of Baghdad, just like Karzai is the mayor of Kabul. All of the rest of the security lies as long as we keep paying both sides not to fight. But one day, we will run out of money, and the civil war will reignite and the power struggle will continue. We can't afford to occupy Iraq, Pakistan, and Afghanistan indefinitely. Afghanistan alone broke Russia in the '80's. (Barack just ask Brezinzski, he started al-Quaeda and ran the Afghan war) We are now following the same strategy today. Our empire can not stand while our country is irrevocably broken militarily and financially. We are bankrupt, our defenses are overseas, our borders are insecure and our country produces nothing but debt and IOU's. We are beginning to see the end of the promise of America, and we are kneeling with our palms out asking Communist China to finance our economy buy buying up our debt. When they decide to call in their loans, we are DONE... And it's not like we will have an Army to stop them from doing it either.

McCain gets credit for advocating for the surge. It's why he made a big comeback to get the GOP nomination. Too bad for him he's embraced so much of the BushGOP agenda and lost his real maverick stripe. 4 more years of Bush policies on war, tax cuts and energy would be disastrous. It's time to start rebuilding America.

ok so if mccain is a one-trick pony then what is obama a 3 ring circus?

so it is ok for obama to trademark 'change' but not for mccain to do the same with the word 'surge'. give me a break.

personally i have not made a decision about which candidate if any i will support, but i'am totally disgusted by the pro-obama bias.

when this campaign started i totally intended to support either candidate, although my candidate of choice was hillary. however after the media and washington insider fat cat bias, and the way we were treated by the dnc and especially by obama supporters i really cannot bring myself to supporting obama.

It is a good thing we never had the defeatist attitude that the drilling nay Sayers have During WWII or we would all be speaking Japanese or German and would have had the war on our soil. If these people "Wanted" to get oil on the market in a yr. it would be done. It would not take that long to build a refinery either. With the people out of work there are plenty of pipe and steam fitters and welders around that could get that job done.
There is enough oil on land to get a big jump start until any off shore or AK oil can be developed.
There are to many cry babies and pieces of fluff, in this country and in our govt. to stand up for America and our safety and economy. this politically correct crap has been way over done. Someone won't get their way to save this country. So bite the bullet you people and lets take our country back to being the real America with some backbone. No one seems to want to understand that oil Independence is part of our National Security. Along with secure borders to fight drug dealings and more work visas and shorter waiting periods to come in to this country to work. Some people don't understand the word illegal.
This is all called common sence and get off your lazy rears and get busy with your nose to the grind stone and push your elected officials to get busy and earn their keep, before we loose our America. And if Obama gets in we will loose it.
This old great grand ma hasn't seen anything this crazy in any election in my voting yrs. And there have been some real strange times. Not wanting to live in the past But if anyone had listened to even some of what Ross Perot warned us about we would be in a lot better shape. But then Bush would have figured out how to get rid of any progress for this country.
Enough from this old lady.

Senator Obama could not vote because he was not a senator yet. I could not vote because I was not a senator either. What we thought at the time made no difference for either of us or the start of the war.
Tonight Show-- "Congress closed for 5 weeks vacation. The price of oil went down $30 a barrel".
CNN- "Senator Obama's tax policies are bad for business for the long term".

Take Responsibility,
McCain ENDORSED Bush. He said, this idiot who got us into a war with no known purpose other than to make Bush a bigger man than his father, WAS QUALIFIED TO BE PRESIDENT.
To be blunt, he told us that Bush knew what he was doing as commander in chief. Now he says that America is not better off after 8 years of Bush. Which is it John?

You put your credibility on the line when you endorsed Bush and the pointless war in Iraq, the one that has cost America the lives of its men and women in uniform, put us in tremendous debt, left Al Qaeda free to restore themselves in Afghanistan, and cost us the resources WE NEED TO PUT INTO THE EDUCATION, INFRASTRUCTURE, AND FUTURE OF THIS COUNTRY.

As I said, you put your credibility on Bush. Now it is gone!

Shouldn't McCain be told he has to take responsibility for putting his credibility behind George "Mission Accomplished" Bush?

Donna in ID,
Do you think that an economy based on oil is the future of this country? then you should vote for McCain. He is the "more of the same" candidate.
If you think we have the brains and the will to lead the world and change our economy to renewable sources, then you should vote for Obama.
Obama wants to spend $10 billion of tax dollars (largely by taking a little of the frosting off Big Oil's cake) in changing the economy to use renewable energy sources.
McCain wants to spend $3 Trillion (that is 3 Million Million dollars!) on his pet war in Iraq, then another $3 Trillion on the war with Iran and who knows how much on the war with China.
You choose!

Obama is a security threat to America.

If the surgerd work why are we still there why is it they have a 79 billon dollar surplus and our tax dollars are still going there??

0bama will follow McCain's lead, and voice his agreement, and then, take credits as his own - as he has repeatedly done during the primaries, and after.

0bama will follow McCain's lead, and voice his agreement, and then, take credits as his own - as he has repeatedly done during the primaries, and after.

McCain is the man with the cojones to lead this country in the right direction. Obama is a candyass. There will undoubtedly be lots of misery and sacrifice to make USA viable once again. We better get it done ... or we'll be eating with chopsticks and teaching the koran in kindergarten. Please vote McCain 2008, is the best candidate.

Obama wants to spend $10 billion of tax dollars (largely by taking a little of the frosting off Big Oil's cake) in changing the economy to use renewable energy sources.

Posted by: John McCain''s conscience | Aug 7, 2008
=======
First of all, it is not a Communist state, yet, such that 0bama could just rob from a private or public company, and spread the money.

Second, he promises you to give you $1000 if he is elected, i.e., to vote for him. That's bribery, and the last time checked, it is against the Law, Mr. Constitution Law prof.

age based discrimination is no different than racism or all the other (ism's). discrimination based on a person's race, age, or sex are all lumped together for a reason. although i do not support obama i would never, use racism to make my case against him. that is such a turn off, and it hurts and has hurt your candidate tremendously.

Here is a cure-all for both parties..........Repubs give the nomination to Rudy......Dems give the nomination to Hillary..Then perhaps we all might sleep better at night for which either one gets in office...Geez how in the world have we managed to get to this point I will never know..............

"You go into neighborhoods, you clamp down, you provide a secure environment for the people that live there, and you make sure that the known criminals are kept under control," he said. "And you provide them with a stable environment and then they cooperate with law enforcement."....Has McCain gone out of
the FREAKING MIND?
It sounds like he wants to turn the United
States into Iraq....What he said sounds
Like something OUT of Hitlers Germany..
He has turned into a Bigger Nut Job than
Bush.... and that takes a lot!

Anita Yova,

For your consumption, it's Rudy Giuliani's strategy to clean up NYC.

p.s. Not that you have to agree, but nobody was able to remove the porns out of 42nd street, until Giuliani used this tactic.

You are probably too young to know what the old NYC was like.

Mcain is very dangerous he sounds like he wants us to be like iraq or maybe he sounds a little like hitler vote for this maniac hope you can sleep at night!!!!

For Donna in ID.
Not all wars are equal, so don't compare wars as if they are all the same political and moral issues.

But more on the oil issue that most people don't seem to understand about this falsehood being voiced. Remember the oil companies here in America are multi-national corporations and not a nationalized industry like in Mexico, Saudi Arabia, or Venezuela and have no attachment to the American people other than for Americans to help out their bottom line and what the shareholders expect from these companies as far as a return on their investment is concerned. The oil that will be drilled/pumped from these new leases in the future will not be given away or sold at discount, it will be sold at the prevailing rate. Which means if the price of oil gets to low (overproduction) then the reason to sell/explore will be diminished. The interest of the oil companies is to make money not sate America's thirst for cheap fuel. Secondly, there are no oil exploration platforms, ships or other methods available at the moment. Because of the increase in oil use/demand worldwide all are exploring in other areas and are committed for the next few years. On going ship building, etc. has booked the available/knowledgeable shipyards also for the next few years and these ships are also committed to previous exploration sites. This means there is no fast way to get to those offshore leases that are desired to be opened to exploration by Mr McCain and Pres. Bush.

Refineries are another issue because these things just don't sprout up in any old neighborhood overnight. Grandma I don't think you will want to live next door to one either so don't assume they can happen that quickly. There will be lots of law suits to block them from wherever they are proposed. Further, each part of a refinery is custom made so there is no going to the Home Depot store and buying 1500 6" elbows and 200 miles of 6" pipe and a host of other fittings. Doesn't happen.
This is why the Dept. of Energy says that it will be 2030 before this unknown oil will have any effect and at best only a few cents at the gas pump.

So what's the rush except to help a few old friends of Bush's get leases now. I say leave it in the ground, the day will be coming soon enough when we will be needing that oil for something more than driving our cars to the mall. Maybe we will need it to grease the axles in our electric cars.

fat cat,
We are not a Communist state. Technically, we are a debtor state:

Reagan: $200 Billion Deficit
Bush I: $300 Billion Deficit
Clinton: $200 Billion Surplus
Bush II: $482 BIllion Deficit

You know what else we are? We are a democracy. The People of the United States have the RIGHT to tax the Big Oil that has fed off of our misery as the price of crude has gone up.

And we have the RIGHT to invest that money in a T. Boone Pickens type plan that would strengthen the economy of the United States.

Or you could vote for John "More of the Same" McCain. I am sure that he will continue the Republican tradition of asking Big Oil look out for us!

"You go into neighborhoods, you clamp down, you provide a secure environment for the people that live there, and you make sure that the known criminals are kept under control," he said. "And you provide them with a stable environment and then they cooperate with law enforcement."
--------------------
What on earth is McCain suggesting? That we should all live in a state of occupation? Besides, he won't be able to afford a surge in anything with his economic policies. Afterall, he's going to need to borrow more money to pay the interest off of our national debt. The bigger his "tax cuts," the bigger the gap in revenue, the greater the debt. When he says that he doesn't get economics, he isn't kidding. We borrow money from China and other countries to pay off our debt. Maybe someone should sit down with McCain and try to explain this to him.

Less frequently, McCain has said that going to war was the right choice and he would do it all over again. However he is making this declaration before all the facts are in, an action his constantly rags Obama about. There are daily revelations about how Bush and Cheney lied and manipulated information in order to make a case for a foreign invasion by American armed forces. If the reasons that Bush, Cheney and now McCain cite for validating starting this war are false, then when will we hear the real reasons? And if the surge was so successful, then why is the status quo of the Iraqi war still the same in terms of troop commitment and cost? Is this success, or a temporary lull in hostilities that will end once the elections are over?

John Sydney McCain III is now the broken record:

Noun, Verb, Surge

Anyone that thinks the mccain policies would be any different from the bush policies is only kidding themselves. mccain would definitely be more of the same. This country can NOT afford another bush/cheney term. Obama 2008!!

But McCain voted for the BIGGEST BLUNDER ever which is vote for the Iraq War.

"Cure-All" McCain is all about old old old school politics nothing else.

China tell Bush to mind is own business a so call partner?

Here's how the surge came to be.

In the 2006 election, the voters DEMANDED something change. The day after the election Rumsfailure was gone.

Voters, stand up and take credit where credit is due.

The surge's success belongs to the voters, our soldiers ... not McCain, not Bush, not Obama.

Senator McCain, quit stealing something that does not belong to you.

isnt that obama did during primaries. his opposition to iraq war. one mantra?

McCain is empty.

I was not for the war from the start. I keep saying that we are going after the wrong person.

I am voting for Obama no matter what.

We now have Bush over in China sort of demanding freedom rights for those people from their government. uhmmm did we not just lose ours here???

Bush and the Repubs need to close their mouths tight and never let another word out.

What right do we have to go into another county and tell them how to run it.?? who do we think we are. If God wanted us all to be the same we would be. As for Iraq. If those people did not like their leader they are the ones who should have stopped him not us. As for Dartfur, that is where we should be. Those people actually need our help and what does our government do they turn their backs on those people. Why... they have no oil??

Duane, If you want the US to prosper economically it won't happen without more energy. Energy Obama and the Democrats are blocking the Energy companies from getting to. The truth is that drilling for oil in the existing leased land where there is no oil or the oil is difficult to obtain, conservation or alternative energy sources is not the answer to our current energy problems and everyone knows it. Drilling for oil in areas where there is proven oil reserves such as off shore and in Anwar and using more coal, natural gas and building new refineries and new nuclear power plants is the answer. In addition, according to the Rand Corporation there is 400 years of oil in the oil shale in Colorado, Wyoming and North Dakota that is available for the taking if only Obama and the Democrats controlling Congress would take action now.

If the Obama and the Democrats really care about the welfare of the people they would stand behind going after all the energy from all the sources available to us including, offshore drilling, Anwar, oil shale, nuclear, coal, natural gas and alternative energy. That is what every other Nation with any common sense is doing as they know that there is no viable alternative available for oil in the near or long term, maybe never.

By doing everything that it takes to bring energy costs down and thus rev up the economy the value of the dollar would start to go up and there would be plenty of money available to bring the large deficits the US down. The Democrats need to come back from vacation now and do everything they can help the average American get the energy they need at lower prices. The only thing standing in the way of this are Obama and the Democrats who were elected to represent the best interests of the people. Start drilling now in Anwar and off shore, go after the oil shale, coal and natural gas, build new refineries and nuclear power plants and pursue alternative energy. If Obama and the Democrats were really interested in helping the people they would be doing everything now that it takes to provide the energy to the people that they need to run their cars, heat their homes and provide an economic future of growth and new jobs for the people.

I want to see Cindy dance the Buffalo Chip dance. My tire gauge is ready.

McCain also continues to insist going to Iraq in the first place was the right thing to do. It is the biggest foreign policy mistake this country has ever made. He also believes it is perfectly acceptable to keep troops in this mistake for the next 100 years. So, I don't want to hear he was right on the surge because he has no clue. He is like Bush wanting to declare victory early. I believe we will not know the true results from this fiasco until decades down the road...The story is not over...

John McCain brags about being "right" about the surge? Assuming the surge accomplishes anything useful, he'll only proves that even a blind bird catches a worm now and then!

The big spiel by Mary about energy shows a lack of understanding about the topic of Economics. Boiled down, she and other low information folks, are promoting the idea that we need cheap energy quickly in order to "fix" the economy. In fact the cost of energy, or any other commodity is always relative in business calculations. Of course entrepreneurs want to buy things cheap and sell them for as much as they can get. But if one commodity is "cheap" such as energy, that just means that energy producers are not making money, just energy users. Same thing with labor, plant facilities, and any inventory.

Before recommending the best course of action, it would make sense to first set goals, so action can be properly directed. Looking at past paradigms is usually a plan for failure. That's why T Boone Picken's seems to have a good idea. Instead of fighting for the good old days of cheap oil, he's investing in wind power and natural gas transportation. He didn't need to "wait" for congress to do anything. If anything, congress could have helped by imposing a $2 a gallon tax 5 years ago. Then all the money that's now in Arab banks would have been in our hands instead, and our alternative energy efforts would have been much better publicly funded and much further along.

"conservation or alternative energy sources is not the answer to our current energy problems and everyone knows it." I'm going to have to disagree with that one. Conservation is the quickest and cheapest way to reduce energy costs. It quickly lowers the cost for those that conserve. It reduces overall demand, lowering the cost for those that did not conserve.

Alternatives are mostly 100% domestic and have some separation from world events. Even if the U.S. doubled it's oil production, a war between Iraq and Iran (just picking two oil producing nations) would skyrocket the cost of oil here.

Conserve and diversify.

The president deals in strategy, not tactic. McCain only understands tactic - yes singular - and fails to comprehend the big picture. 'Surge, surge, surge,' he says. With what. Resources are limited you nincompoop. We can't surge with troops we don't have, money we don't have, and energy we don't have.