Quote Originally Posted by KG's Supra24 View Post
So I suppose I ask the same of you ... If you voted for Romney, can you defend why without mentioning Obama? If you voted for third party then awesome of you; it is a step in the right direction.
I did actually vote for Romney, holding my nose. And no, I cannot justify why without mentioning Obama, because my vote was an anti-Obama vote. Four years ago I wrote in Ron Paul as a protest vote, but this year I wanted to be counted in the popular vote (I vote in TN which was going for Romney anyway) in the opposite column from Obama. So I freely admit that I did the pragmatic thing instead of the principled thing, ashamedly.


As far as the drones and defense of Obama ... From what I know, I don't see any reason we wouldn't use unmanned aircrafts, that is one more american life not out there on the battlefield.
Of course this is correct. The reason that it makes me very queasy is that 1) it lowers the barrier to ordering a targeted killing, because there is less risk involved, so our fearless leaders will be much more likely to use it, and 2) it is only a matter of time before drones are going to be used on us (maybe not to kill us, but for surveillance), unless we *all raise a fuss now*. What I see is that conservatives are mostly unconcerned, and liberals would be very concerned if it was a Republican president doing it.

As for the individual that was killed by the drone attack, I'm honestly unfamiliar with it. What happened? I can't imagine it going "sir, we can fire the missle but only one problem, there is an american there" "ahh screw it, gotta kill em I guess".
Here is what I'm referring to:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/19/wo...-in-yemen.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/01/wo...=anwaralawlaki

Sure the bad guys got it here. But these people were American citizens, and thus have the right under our U.S. constitution to stand trial for the things they have done. Judicial process, not just a missile up their arse.