Reply #8: Well, since you asked... [View All]

[PurityOfEssence]

He's lied about Edwards' and Kerry's votes on the Bush tax cuts, knowing full well what he did. That alone is a character issue of Deanlike proportions for which I would not vote for him.

He's represented himself as unequivocally against the IWR, when he said many conflicting things about it at the time.

We have nothing to go on about him except for his word, and that's now proven to be worth very little.

He ducked the Peter Jennings sandbagging terribly, which displays lack of sense, lack of presence and a presumption of privilege. To explain all that, let's start here: he's a novice, and the last thing he can use as an excuse is that he's a novice. He has to point out how knowledgeable and skilled he is at every turn. He can't consider him above answering for the actions of his prominent supporters. Above all else, his answer needs to be direct, as if he takes it seriously, instead of making light of it and then using the answer time to go off on a tangent. He's supposed to be the big decisive no-nonsense leader; that's completely wrong.

The Republicans can slag Democrats with the harangue that we hate ourselves so much and are so pathetic that we had to go out of the party to even find anyone we could rally behind. Ouch.

He rode in on a high horse of privilege, presuming that he was the only one who could trounce Junior on what would be the only issue. I hate that kind of approach.

He's absolutely awful at times in debates. Yes, he did very well in the last SC debate, but he was TERRIBLE in New Hampshire. I can easily see him being befuddled in a debate with Junior or making missteps along the campaign trail. It's 9 months 'til the general election; hell, look what happened in the last three weeks!

Some lefties may not buy the rap, and he will lose fringe elements and others who just aren't so energized to vote. He could even spark a third party mess if Junior starts falling in the polls. It could be a disaster.

He entered with the Emperor's new Uniform, and stumbled and cooled from then. That dynamic is hard to shake in politics. Even with that huge outcry coming in, and powerful and monied support, he's given a truly ho-hum performance.

He lied. He lied. He lied.

To a great degree, success in the Presidential process is determined by two things: identifying the right issues/presentation, and making the least mistakes. He's made many, many missteps, and even though it's nowhere near Dean proportions, that's scary as all hell.

I'd like to hear anyone explain how the lying issue isn't just a deal-breaker by definition.

On edit: I would support him in the general election, and suck up my problems about him. I was coming around on him as having his heart in the right place, and perhaps he does, but, well, whatever.