Saturday, October 18, 2008

The Junior Senator from Illinois on the issues

was elected on 11/02/2004, and began service in 2005. He immediately began to run for President. I looked at Project Vote Smart I browsed through a few topics that interest me--abortion, agriculture, commerce, environmentalism, but you may want to check others.

Prohibiting the Funds in S 1200 from Being Used for Abortions--Senator Obama did not vote. I think he does this a lot--sort of his political footprint--tries to make it small. However,
    NARAL, Planned Parenthood, National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association give him a score of 100. National Right to Life Committee and Illinois Federation for Right to Life give him a zero.
Americans for Tax Reform which believes in a system in which taxes are simpler, fairer, flatter, more visible, and lower gave him a zero in 2005 and a 5-15 in 2007 as he was moving closer to his goal of being the party’s choice (they gave McCain a 70). Citizens for Tax Justice which wants higher taxes for the wealthy and the closing of corporate loop holes, gave him 100 (they gave McCain a 50). National Taxpayers Union, which "Seeks to reduce government spending, cut taxes, and protect the rights of taxpayers." gave him an F, or a 6 (gave McCain a 78).

National Association of Government Contractors gave him a score of 100 (McCain a zero) as did the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association (this endorsement begs for a comment about Chicago type justice, doesn’t it?) which gave McCain a 33. U.S. Chamber of Commerce which promotes human progress through an economic, political and social system based on individual freedom, incentive, initiative, opportunity, and responsibility gave him a 33 and McCain a 100.

The Arab and Iranian interest groups are very savvy; they gave both candidates almost identical scores--very high. The NAACP have Obama 100 and McCain a 5--they will just never forgive him for not voting for the day off for MLK day, no matter how much he grovels.

Club for Growth gives Obama a 33 and McCain a 100; Americans for Prosperity give Obama 42.9 and McCain 100; John Birch Index gives Obama 18, McCain a 38. American Wind Energy Association and League of Conservation Voters give Obama 100 and American Land Rights gives him an 11.

I realize McCain is older, more experienced and has been reelected often, however, when the two pages (bio/resume) are compared side by side, the differences are stunning. The item on BO's very short resume you need to notice is The Woods Fund of Chicago, which sort of bundles all the funding and scary friends together in a neat package.

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