Ameritocracy's Last Look

below is Ameritocracy.com's compare/contrast of the candidate's statements on various issues. Hopefully the links will work and connect you to ameritocracy.com's collective judgment on the accuracy/relevance of each quote if you wish to check it out. Because now the clock is really ticking...and you have until the polls close in your area to make up your mind and vote.


TAXES

BARACK OBAMA	JOHN McCAIN
"I will cut taxes - cut taxes - for 95% of all working families. Because in an economy like this, the last thing we should do is raise taxes on the middle-class."	"[European leaders] use real numbers and honest language. And we should demand equal candor from Sen. Obama. Raising taxes on some in order to give checks to others is not a tax cut; it's just another government giveaway"
"Senator McCain is proposing -- and this is a fundamental difference between us -- $300 billion in tax cuts to some of the wealthiest corporations and individuals in the country, $300 billion."	"[Sen. Obama] has voted in the United States Senate to increase taxes on people who make as low as $42,000 a year."

HEALTH CARE

BARACK OBAMA	JOHN McCAIN
"I exempt small businesses from the requirement for large businesses that can afford to provide healthcare to the employees but are not doing it."	"[With my proposed refundable tax credit], do the math. 95% of the American people will have increased funds to go out and buy the insurance of their choice."
"With McCain's health plan "families will have to go out into the marketplace with that $5,000 tax credit and buy insurance on your own. But what Senator McCain doesn't tell you is that the average cost of a family health care plan is...$12,680."	"I want to give every American a $5,000 refundable tax credit that they can take anywhere, across state lines."

IRAQ

BARACK OBAMA	JOHN McCAIN
"We are currently spending $10 billion a month in Iraq when they have a $79 billion surplus. It seems to me that if we're going to be strong at home as well as strong abroad, that we have to look at bringing that war to a close."	"Senator Obama, who after promising not to vote to cut off funds for the troops, did the incredible thing of voting to cut off the funds for the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan."
"Look, over the last eight years this administration, including John McCain, have been solely focused on Iraq. That has been our priority. That has been where all our resources have gone. In the meantime, bin Laden is still out there."	"If we had done what Senator Obama wanted done in Iraq, and that was set a date for withdrawal...then we would have had a wider war, we would have been back, Iranian influence would have increased, al-Quaeda would have reestablished the base."

REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS

BARACK OBAMA	JOHN McCAIN
"We may not agree on abortion, but surely we can agree on reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies in this country."	"[Senator Obama] voted against a ban on partial birth abortion, one of the late term abortion, a really one of the bad procedures, a terrible one."
"I am completely supportive of a ban on late-term abortions, partial birth or otherwise, as long as there's an exception for the mother's health and life."	"[Senator Obama]'s talking about the health for the mother. That's been stretched by the pro abortion movement in America to mean almost anything. That's the extreme pro abortion position, "health"."

THE RUNNING MATES' PITCH

JOE BIDEN	SARAH PALIN
"Reinstating the middle class, making sure that they get a fair break, making sure that they have access to affordable health insurance, making sure they get serious tax breaks, making sure... we can help their children to get to college."	"Voters on November 4th are going to have that choice to either support a [that] supports policies that create jobs.... Or you support a ticket that policies that will kill jobs by increasing taxes... and saying no to energy independence."

TERRORISM

BARACK OBAMA	JOHN McCAIN
"The war against terrorism began in [Afghanistan] and that's where it will end." (view details)	"The central front in the war on terrorism is in Iraq."(view details)
"We've spent over $600 billion... soon to be $1 trillion. We have lost over 4,000 lives... seen 30,000 wounded, and most importantly, from a strategic national security perspective, al Qaeda is resurgent, stronger now than at any time since 2001."(view details)	"The consequences of defeat would have been increased Iranian influence. It would have been increase in sectarian violence. It would have been a wider war, which the United States of America might have had to come back." (view details)

THE BUSH LEGACY

BARACK OBAMA	JOHN McCAIN
"But the record's clear: John McCain has voted with George Bush 90 percent of the time."(view details)	"Senator Obama, I am not President Bush. If you wanted to run against President Bush, you should have run four years ago." (view details)
"Senator McCain and President Bush suggested that it wasn't that important to catch bin Laden right now and that we could muddle through, and that has cost us."(view details)	"Do we share a common philosophy of the Republican Party? Of course. But I've stood up against my party, not just President Bush but others, and I've got the scars to prove it." (view details)

DIPLOMACY

BARACK OBAMA	JOHN McCAIN
"But we are also going to have to, I believe, engage in tough direct diplomacy with Iran and this is a major difference I have with Senator McCain." (view details)	"Let me say that we obviously would not wait for the United Nations Security Council. I think ... both Russia and China would probably pose significant obstacles."(view details)
"We're not going to defeat terrorist networks that operate in 80 countries through occupation of Iraq. We're not going to deny the ambitions of Iran by refusing to pursue direct diplomacy along side our allies."(view details)	"I have proposed a league of democracies...a group of countries that share common interests, common values, common ideals, [and] control a lot of the world's economic power. We could impose significant meaningful, painful sanctions on [Iran]..." (view details)

SECURITY

BARACK OBAMA	JOHN McCAIN
"Partnership and cooperation among nations is not a choice; it is the one way, the only way, to protect our common security and advance our common humanity." (view details)	"There are some areas where the statutes don’t apply, such as in the surveillance of overseas communications. Where they do apply, however, I think that presidents have the obligation to obey and enforce laws that are passed by Congress and signed into law by the president, no matter what the situation is."(view details)
"For the sake of our economy, our security, and the future of our planet, I will set a clear goal as President: in ten years, we will finally end our dependence on oil from the Middle East." (view details)	"Senator Obama was wrong about Iraq and the surge, he was wrong about Russia when they committed aggression against Georgia, and in his short career he does not understand our national security challenges." (view details)

THE RUNNING MATES' ON THEIR OPPONENTS

JOE BIDEN	SARAH PALIN
"When John McCain proposes $200 billion in new tax breaks for corporate America, $1 billion alone for just eight of the largest companies, but no relief for 100 million American families, that's not change; that's more of the same." (view details)	"[Obama] is someone who sees American as imperfect enough to pal around with terrorists who targeted their own country." (view more)