The presidential campaign is bubble-gummingly, substance free. It’s fun to criticize McCain’s old liver and Obama’s plagiarism because it reminds us all of what we love best: Miley Cyrus. She’s fun.

But we forget that one of these people will determine whether you get a tax break, if your aunt from abroad can live with you forever, and if you can smoke doobies while driving. So let’s take a quick look at how these these dashers match up on the big ones:

IRAQ:

“I agreed with the President’s difficult decision to go to war in Iraq. I remain fully supportive of his determination not to leave Iraq until the freely elected government of that country and its armed forces are able to defend their country…” –Statement before Congress, Aug. 25, 2006

“I know that invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East and encourage the worst rather than best impulses in the Arab world… I am not opposed to all wars, I am opposed to dumb wars.” –Statement before Illinois legislature, Oct. 2002

TAXES:

Will raise the personal exemption for each dependent from $3,500 to $7,000. Will cut estate tax rate to 15 percent and exempt estates under $10 million. Will cut the federal corporate tax rate to 25 percent from 35 percent and allow corporations to immediately deduct the costs of new equipments and technology. Require three-fifths vote in Congress to increase taxes. Proposes an alternative tax system, while keeping the current one in place for those who want to use it, with “two tax rates and a generous standard deduction.” –McCain’s website

Will cut taxes by $80 billion a year for workers, homeowners and retirees. Give credits to working families; eliminate income taxes for elderly workers making $50,000 or less. Keep estate tax. Raise capital gains taxes to as much as 28 percent. –Foreign Affairs, August 2007 issue

WOMEN’S RIGHT IN ABORTION:

“I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned.”–South Carolina, February 18, 2007

“I’d love to see a point where it is irrelevant, and could be repealed because abortion is no longer necessary. But certainly in the short term, or even the long term, I would not support repeal of Roe v. Wade, which would then force X number of women in America to [undergo] illegal and dangerous operations.” –San Francisco Chronicle and CNN, August 1999

“I think that most Americans recognize that this is a profoundly difficult issue for the women and families who make these decisions. They don’t make them casually. And I trust women to make these decisions, in conjunction with their doctors and their families and their clergy, and I think that’s where most Americans are.” –Democratic Debate. April 2007

IRAN:

“The answer is not to enter into unconditional dialogues with these two dictatorships [Iran and Syria] from a position of weakness. The answer is for the international community to apply real pressure to Syria and Iran to change their behavior. The United States must also bolster its regional military posture to make clear to Iran our determination to protect our forces in Iraq and to deter Iranian intervention in that country.” –McCain campaign website

“I would [be willing to meet separately, without precondition, during the first year of my administration ... with the leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea]. And the reason is this, that the notion that somehow not talking to countries is punishment to them — which has been the guiding diplomatic principle of this administration — is ridiculous.” – Democratic debate, July 2007

GUANTANAMO:

McCain was one of the most prominent Republican voices who opposed the Bush administration’s detention policy in Guantanamo Bay. Yet when the Supreme Court recently ruled that Guantanamo detainees should have access to US courts, Mr McCain described it as “one of the worst decisions in the history of the country”– Pemberton, NJ, June 2008

“We need to bring to a close this sad chapter in American history, and begin a chapter that passes the might of our military to the freedom of our diplomacy and the power of our alliances. And while we are at it, we can close down Guantanamo and we can restore habeas corpus and we can lead with our ideas and our values.”– Speech, Richmond, VA, May 8, 2008

HOUSING CRISIS:

Says that eligible homeowners can apply to Federal Housing Administration to replace their existing “burdensome” mortgages for a F.H.A.-guaranteed “manageable loan that reflects their home’s market value. … Homeowners would end up with a 30-year mortgage and an equity stake in their home. The new lender would receive a federal guarantee of the mortgage. And the taxpayer gets a benefit if the sale value ever recovers.” –NYC, April 10, 2008

Will create a new Federal Housing Administration program to “provide meaningful incentives for lenders to buy or refinance existing mortgages and to convert them into stable 30-year fixed mortgages.” –Official statement, March 13, 2008

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Tags: patriotic eagle, the issues