| Agree | Would invading Iraq result in a quagmire? |
Even a successful war against Iraq will require a US occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences.
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| Disagree | Should the United States invade Iraq? |
I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a US occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences. I know that an 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 of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of Al Qaeda. I am not opposed to all wars. I’m opposed to dumb wars.
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| Agree | Should marijuana be decriminalized? |
In terms of legalization of drugs I think that the war on drugs have been an utter failure and I think we need to rethink and decriminalize our marijuana laws but I'm not someone who believes in legalization of marijuana.
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| Disagree | Should marijuana be legal? |
In terms of legalization of drugs I think that the war on drugs have been an utter failure and I think we need to rethink and decriminalize our marijuana laws but I'm not someone who believes in legalization of marijuana.
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| Agree | Is hope good? |
Hope in the face of difficulty, hope in the face of uncertainty, the audacity of hope. In the end, that is God's greatest gift to us, the bedrock of this nation; a belief in things not seen; a belief that there are better days ahead.
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| Agree | Is free trade generally beneficial for a country? |
Globalization is not someone's political agenda. It is a technological revolution that is fundamentally changing the world's economy, producing winners and losers along the way. The question is not whether we can stop it, but how we respond to it. It's not whether we should protect our workers from competition, but what we can do to fully enable them to compete against workers all over the world.
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| Agree | Is global warming primarily caused by humans? |
There may still be disputes about exactly how much we're contributing to the warming of the earth's atmosphere and how much is naturally occurring, but what we can be scientifically certain of is that our continued use of fossil fuels is pushing us to a point of no return.
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| Agree | Do hotter global climates have more extreme weather patterns? |
All across the world, in every kind of environment and region known to man, increasingly dangerous weather patterns and devastating storms are abruptly putting an end to the long-running debate over whether or not climate change is real. Not only is it real, it's here, and its effects are giving rise to a frighteningly new global phenomenon: the man-made natural disaster.
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| Disagree | Should the federal government ban gay marriage? |
Most of us do believe that gay couples should be able to visit each other in the hospital and share health care benefits; most of us do believe that they should be treated with dignity and have their privacy respected by the federal government. And we all know that if this amendment [constitutionally banning gay marriage] were to pass, it would close the door on much of this.
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| Agree | Should the US separate church and state? |
I think it would be helpful to remember the critical role that the separation of church and state has played in preserving not only our democracy but also our religious practice.
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| Disagree | Should research on stem cells from human embryos be banned? |
...there are over 400,000 embryos being stored in over 400 facilities throughout the United States. The majority of these are reserved for infertile couples. However, many of these embryos will go unused, destined for permanent storage in a freezer or disposal. We should expand and accelerate research using these embryos...
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| Agree | Should the US close Guantanamo Bay? |
There has been only one conviction at Guantanamo. It was for a guilty plea on a -- on material support for terrorism. The sentence was nine months long. There has not been one conviction of a terrorist act. I have faith in America's courts, and I have faith in our JAGs. As President, I will close Guantanamo, reject the Military Commissions Act, and adhere to the Geneva Conventions. Our Constitution and our Uniform Code of Military Justice provide a framework for dealing with the terrorists.
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| Mostly Disagree | Is the death penalty acceptable? |
While the evidence tells me that the death penalty does little to deter crime, I believe there are some crimes--mass murder, the rape and murder of a child--so heinous that the community is justified in expressing the full measure of its outrage by meting out the ultimate punishment. On the other hand, the way capital cases were tried in Illinois at the time was so rife with error, questionable police tactics, racial bias, and shoddy lawyering, that 13 death row inmates had been exonerated.
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| Agree | Does God exist? |
[My baptism] came about as a choice and not an epiphany; the questions I had did not magically disappear. But kneeling beneath that cross on the South Side of Chicago, I felt God's spirit beckoning me. I submitted myself to His will, and dedicated myself to discovering His truth.
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| Mostly Disagree | Can the US military presence in Iraq help create democracy? |
We should be more modest in our belief that we can impose democracy on a country through military force. In the past, it has been movements for freedom from within tyrannical regimes that have led to flourishing democracies; movements that continue today.
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| Disagree | Is abstinence-only sex education effective? |
If condoms and potentially microbicides can prevent millions of deaths, they should be made more widely available. I know that there are those who, out of sincere religious conviction, oppose such measures. And with these folks, I must respectfully but unequivocally disagree. I do not accept the notion that those who make mistakes in their lives should be given an effective death sentence...
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| Agree | Should the United States have Universal health care? |
Universal health care for every single American must not be a question of whether, it must be a question of how. We have the ideas, we have the resources, and we will have universal health care in this country by the end of the next president's first term.
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| Agree | Should Israel exist as a separate state from Palestine? |
We can and we should help Israelis and Palestinians both fulfill their national goals: two states living side by side in peace and security.
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| Agree | Does Iran intend to create nuclear weapons? |
The world must work to stop Iran’s uranium enrichment program and prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. It is far too dangerous to have nuclear weapons in the hands of a radical theocracy. And while we should take no option, including military action, off the table, sustained and aggressive diplomacy combined with tough sanctions should be our primary means to prevent Iran from building nuclear weapons.
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| Agree | Should abortion be legal? |
I trust women to make these decisions in conjunction with their doctors and their families and their clergy.
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| Agree | Is affirmative action fair? |
...my daughters should probably be treated by any admissions officer as folks who are pretty advantaged... [and] we should take into account white kids who have been disadvantaged.... [but] I think what we can say is that in our society race and class still intersect... I would like to think that ...affirmative action becomes a diminishing tool for us to achieve racial equality in this society.
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| Disagree | Are gun control laws a serious breach of civil liberties? |
A couple weeks ago, cops found an AK-47 near a West Side school... ...That type of weapon belongs on a battlefield, not on the streets of Chicago.
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| Neutral | Will genocide occur if the US pulls its combat troops out of Iraq? |
[maybe, but] if that's the criteria by which we are making decisions on the deployment of U.S. forces, then by that argument you would have 300,000 troops in the Congo right now - where millions have been slaughtered as a consequence of ethnic strife - which we haven't done. ... We would be deploying unilaterally and occupying the Sudan, which we haven't done. Those of us who care about Darfur don't think it would be a good idea.
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| Agree | Should gay and straight couples have the same legal benefits? |
When it comes to federal rights, the over 1,100 rights that right now are not being given to same sex couples, I think that's unacceptable, and as president of the United States, I am going to fight hard to make sure that those rights are available.
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| Disagree | Is Barack Obama more likely to be assassinated than other US presidents? |
Now, I have a Secret Service detail at this point. So it's hard to pretend that you don't have big guys who are packing around you at all times. [...] it's not something that I that I am thinking about on an ongoing basis. I think that every presidential candidate, certainly every president these days is a potential target. And that comes with the job. And you take the precautions that are necessary and then you go about your business.
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| Disagree | Is Yucca mountain the best place to store nuclear waste? |
I will end the notion of Yucca Mountain because it has not been based on the sort of sound science that can assure people that they're going to be safe. ... I've been clear from the start that Yucca was a misconceived project.
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| Disagree | Should marijuana be decriminalized? |
[Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor] Senator Obama does not believe in legalization of marijuana, but agrees with President Bush that long minimum sentences for first-time drug users may not be the best way to occupy jail space or heal people from their disease.
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| Agree | Did complex life evolve through the process of natural selection? |
I believe in evolution, and I believe there's a difference between science and faith. That doesn't make faith any less important than science. It just means they're two different things. And I think it's a mistake to try to cloud the teaching of science with theories that frankly don't hold up to scientific inquiry.
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| Disagree | Should Intelligent Design be taught in science class? |
I believe in evolution, and I believe there's a difference between science and faith. That doesn't make faith any less important than science. It just means they're two different things. And I think it's a mistake to try to cloud the teaching of science with theories that frankly don't hold up to scientific inquiry.
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| Agree | Should the US president talk face to face with Iran's president? |
...if we show ourselves willing to talk and to offer carrots and sticks in order to deal with these pressing problems [then] if Iran then rejects any overtures of that sort, it puts us in a stronger position to mobilize the international community to ratchet up the pressure on Iran. Our unwillingness to talk or the perception that we are trying to bully our way through negotiations, that's eliminated as an excuse for them not dealing with these issues in an appropriate way.
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| Disagree | Is Russia's invasion of Georgia justified? |
Russia must back up its commitment to stop its violence and violation of Georgia's sovereignty.
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| Agree | Are politicians' children "off-limits" to media scrutiny? |
Let me be as clear as possible... I think people's families are off-limits, and people's children are especially off-limits. This shouldn't be part of our politics. It has no relevance to Gov. Palin's performance as governor or her potential performance as a vice president. ... How a family deals with issues and teenage children, that shouldn't be the topic of our politics...
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