(Also, nothing list members are or aren't doing has any impact on the outcome so we can't 'let' anything happen).
If however, you treat the question like a thought experiment (instead of as a chance to denounce Peter), it's possible to have a bit of scenario building fun. Like playing "The Sims" without the graphics.
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Personally, despite seeing Sen. Obama as a centrist Dem who's just as likely as his predecessors to do some USAF assisted damage (though in a less unapologetically belligerent way than the Bush team) I think a McCain Palin administration would be so very much worse because of the even grander delusion and bag of hammers stupidity factors.
McCain not only talks Cold War rhetoric, he seems to live it. Why antagonize Moscow with faux tough guy talk about 'defending' Georgia? Why go out of your way to slow down progress towards reduced dependence on hydrocarbons by promising to 'drill baby drill!'. Why choose as your running mate a person so spectacularly unqualified she can't handle the softest of soft ball interviews without looking at her notes (and even then...)?
Why, in other words, be such a total fuckwit when partial fuckwitedness is an option?
I'm not the sort to predict The End of Everything Good if McCain wins.
I do however, live here and so do most of my friends and family. So, I have an interest in maximizing our chances to pursue something resembling a decent life. A McCain/Palin administration would, I'm convinced, make that much more difficult.
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Oh and Peter, Doug doesn't think that Putin is the 'new Stalin'. He was referring to the CNN et. al. talking points re: Russia you rightly ridicule. I know you don't follow the list much but you should know that your insights are praised and generally accepted as a far more accurate portrayal of the state of things in Russia than anything we get via the US/UK media.
.d.