Mondo Times Political Poll Archive

This poll ran from September 1 to 7, 2008.

Mondo Stars Poll Results

"John McCain would be a mediocre president." True 995/49% False 1051/51%

Votes: 2046

Rex Nutting, Washington bureau chief of the MarketWatch web site, from the article "Why McCain would be a mediocre president," published online on August 7, 2008.

Arguing that Senator John McCain does not have the right stuff to be the next president, Nutting wrote: "Here are some reasons why McCain would be a mediocre president.

"Like the current occupant of the White House, McCain got his first career breaks from the connections and money of his family, not from hard work.

"The son and grandson of Navy admirals, he attended Annapolis where he did poorly. Nevertheless, he was commissioned as a pilot, where he performed poorly, crashing three planes before he failed to evade a North Vietnamese missile that destroyed his plane. McCain spent more than five years in a prison camp.

"After his release, McCain knew his weak military record meant he'd never make admiral, so he turned his sights to a career in politics. With the help of his new wife's wealth, his new father-in-law's business connections and some powerful friends had made as a lobbyist for the Navy, he was elected in 1982 to a Congress in a district that he didn\'t reside in until the day the seat opened up. A few years later, he succeeded Barry Goldwater as a senator.

"McCain hasn't accomplished much in the Senate. Even his own campaign doesn't trumpet his successes, probably because the few victories he's had still rankle Republicans.

"His campaign finance law failed to significantly reduce the role of money in politics. He failed to get a big tobacco bill through the Senate. He's failed to change the way Congress spends money; his bill to give the president a line-item veto was declared unconstitutional, and the system of pork and earmarks continues unabated. He failed to reform the immigration system.

"Every senator who runs for president misses votes back in Washington, so it's no surprise that McCain and all the others who ran in the primaries have missed a lot of votes in the past year. But between the beginning of 2005 and mid-2007, no senator missed more roll-call votes than McCain did, except Tim Johnson, who was recovering from a near-fatal brain aneurysm.

"McCain says he doesn't understand the economy. He\'s demonstrated that he doesn't understand the workings of Social Security, or the political history of the Middle East. He doesn't know who our enemies are. He says he wants to reduce global warming, but then proposes ideas that would stimulate -- not reduce -- demand for fossil fuels."

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