[quote=Professor Peabody;583649]
Of course Obama will take the cautious public approach, he realizes he has to play the center to get elected. Despite this, he has consistently held his position against the war. That is in direct opposition to McCain's position of consistently being a supporter of the war. Also if Ronnie Reagan had not undone Carter's program of weaning us off foreign oil, we would have had no need to start a war with Iraq in the first place.

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"We have to shoot and kill and destroy. We represent everything that's wholesome and good in the world." - Maxwell Smart

Greenspan said it bluntly in his book. The Iraq war was about oil, although $2 trillion + would be many times better spent on mandates and incentives for fuel efficiency, developing plug-in hybrids, electric cars, and developing a renewable energy infrastructure. Neocons can't seem to get past this futile supply-side thinking.

What's interesting about McCain's statement is the naive notion that war with oil-rich countries is inevitable - that we don't have a choice. I'm not so sure the statement is a gaffe. McCain could be trying to re-invent himself as a candidate that wants to do something to prevent another middle east war, through energy independence in this case. On one hand it's smart as it appeals to moderates and might get some people to forget his vehement support for the Iraq invasion and occupation from the beginning. On the other hand, he's all but admitting the debacle we're involved in was designed as an oil grab, and a massive miscalculation of one.

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See, free nations are peaceful nations. Free nations don't attack each other. Free nations don't develop weapons of mass destruction.

- G.W. Bush, 10/3/2003

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"We have to shoot and kill and destroy. We represent everything that's wholesome and good in the world." - Maxwell Smart

my point was that i'm still surprised that anyone can believe oil played no part in our decision to go to war; that anyone believes that we are there because we were ever scared of Iraq, or there to help the Iraqi people.

numerous conservatives (not running for office, of course) have fully admitted that we are in the middle east due to the presence of oil there. nothing more, nothing less.

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Your guilty conscience may force you to vote Democratic, but deep down inside you secretly long for a cold-hearted Republican to lower taxes, brutalize criminals, and rule you like a king.- Bob Terwilliger

Sorry for misunderstanding your point. I am in complete agreement with you!

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"We have to shoot and kill and destroy. We represent everything that's wholesome and good in the world." - Maxwell Smart