Funny McCain “Critical Issues Poll”

April 24th, 2008

I subscribe to a whole lot of political newsletters, both Republican and Democratic. Today I got an email from the McCain campaign asking me to take a survey on “Critical Issues”. I’ve heard of push-polling before, but this breaks a record, I think. Some of the funniest questions in the poll:

Do you feel the U.S. Tax code should be made simpler and fairer?
Should “pork-barrel” spending be completely eliminated?
Should America surrender in Iraq regardless of the consequences in the Middle East?
Do you believe we should set a public date for withdrawing from Iraq even if it undermines our troops in the field?
Should we appoint judges who will interpret the law instead of liberal activists who will make new laws from the bench?
Do you think we should work to give parents with children trapped in failing schools more choices to help their children have a better future?
Should the Victory 2008 program be focused on turning out the Republican vote and registering 2 million new Republican voters?

Full survey below the fold:

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Feel Good Politics

October 13th, 2002

With the recent decision by the US Nineth Circuit Court that the Pledge of Allegiance violates the seperation of church and state clause of the Bill of Rights, I think its time to reflect on what I think is the root cause of this, and so many other, problem(s): what I’ll call ‘feel good politics.’ Far too often, Congress (and other political bodies) create short-sighted policies that are, in the end, unenforcable and often unconstitutional. The goal of these policies are usually good, but instead of investing the time and effort to really fix the problems, whatever they may be, they merely try to patch them with vague, worthless words.

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