McCain is not fit to be president.

My statement is as follows: Senator John McCain is not fit to be President of the United States of America. My opponent is against this statement, and in the next and final round will provide evidence of his own, along with rebuking my own arguments. My first argument: VOTING FOR MCCAIN IS ASKING FOR ANOTHER FOUR YEARS OF BUSH First, I will provide my evidence, and then explain: ". .. when George W. Bush announced the deployment of five more combat brigades to Iraq. This escalation of an unpopular war ran counter to the advice of Bush's senior military leadership, ignored the recommendations made by the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, and sidestepped the objections of the Iraqi government it was ostensibly intended to assist. But the plan was nearly identical to what the Republican senior senator from Arizona, nearly alone among his Capitol Hill colleagues, had been advocating for months: boost troop levels by at least 20,000, give coalition forces the authority to impose security in every corner of Baghdad, and increase the size of America's overburdened standing military by around 100,000 during the next five years. " "By enthusiastically endorsing McCain's approach, the lame duck president all but finished the job of anointing the senator his political successor. .. The sheer unpopularity of Bush's move did knock the previously front-running McCain a notch or two behind Rudy Giuliani in the polls. " Nearly all of Senator McCain's ideas, plans, and morals are identical to those of President Bush. Bush and McCain both agree we should 'stay the course', correct? Well, remember what happened last time? "29,395: Number of U. S. service members that have been wounded in hostile action since the start of U. S. military operations in Iraq. [AP, 3/11/08]" "3,990: American troops who have died in Iraq since the start of the war. [icasualties. org, 3/17/08]" "60,000: Number of troops that have been subjected to controversial stop-loss measures--meaning those who have completed service commitments but are forbidden to leave the military until their units return from war. [US News and World Report, 2/25/08]" "2,100: Number of troops who tried to commit suicide or injure themselves increased from 350 in 2002 to 2,100 last year. [US News and World Report, 2/25/08]" "11.9: Percent of noncommissioned Army officers who reported mental health problems during their first Iraq tour [Los Angeles Times, 3/7/08]" "27.2: Percent of noncommissioned Army officers who reported mental health problems during their third or fourth Iraq tour [Los Angeles Times, 3/7/08]" "94: Percent of Army recruits who had high school diplomas in Fiscal Year 2003 [Larry Korb, The Guardian, 10/12/07]" "1,188: Number of global terrorist incidents from January - September 11th, 2001. [American Security Project, "Are We Winning? ," September 2007]" "5,188: Number of global terrorist incidents in from January- September 11th, 2006. [American Security Project, "Are We Winning? ," September 2007]: "30: Percent increase in violence in Afghanistan from 2006 to 2007. [Reuters, 10/15/07]" "21: Number of suicide bombings in Afghanistan in 2001. [Center for American Progress, "The Forgotten Front," 11/07]" "139: Number of suicide bombings in Afghanistan in 2006, with an additional increase of 69 percent as of November 2007. [Center for American Progress, "The Forgotten Front," 11/07]" "30: Percent of Afghanistan controlled by the Afghan Government according to DNI Mike McConnell. [Associated Press, 2/27/08]" "2,380: Days since September 11th, 2001 that Osama Bin Laden has been at-large. " Hmmm. .. and this is just what it has cost us metaphorically speaking. As for the actual cost: "$50-60 Billion: Bush Administration's pre-war estimates of the cost of the war. [New York Times, 12/31/02] $12 Billion: Direct cost per month of the Iraq War. [Washington Post, Bilmes and Stiglitz Op-Ed, 3/9/08] $526 Billion: Amount of money already appropriated by Congress for the War in Iraq. [CRS, 2/22/08] $3 Trillion: Total estimated cost of the Iraq War. [Washington Post, Bilmes and Stiglitz Op-Ed, 3/9/08] $5 Trillion - $7 Trillion: Total cost of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan accounting for continued military operations, growing debt and interest payments and continuing health care and counseling costs for veterans. [McClatchy, 2/27/08] 160: Percent that the cost of the Iraq War has increased from 2004 to 2008. [CRS Report, 2/22/08]" My guess is this does not help the economy. You think McCain would learn from his friend's mistakes, but apparently not. Let's not go there again. The people of our country need help now more than ever. "(The future senator graduated 894th out of a Naval Academy class of 899, but that was only marginally worse than his father, who was 423rd out of 441. ) One reason for the poor academic performance was that each McCain was a five-star binge drinker and carouser. Grandpa "smoked, swore, drank, and gambled at every opportunity he had. .. John spent his teens and 20s constantly flirting with disciplinary disaster by breaking every drinking and curfew rule on the books, concentrating more on Brazilian heiresses and Florida strippers than on his aviating skills. " Graduated next to last in his class, and spent his school years partying. Hmm. .. Good role model for America? Maybe not. Reminiscent of a certain someone I know. . http://www.huffingtonpost.com... . . http://img.metro.co.uk... . . http://www.hogwild.net... . . http://www.remote-dba.net... . . http://blogs.guardian.co.uk... . Additional info from: . http://www.reason.com... . http://www.huffingtonpost.com...