They have the advantage of not having to live with his disastrous policies, and indeed get some benefit from them as his "stimulus" benefited European banks more than American ones.

I love Merkel, but then I do not have to live under her rules.

Yeah, I wasn't trying to run the guy out of here, I just find his beliefs difficult to gauge sometimes. I don't know why it was viewed as personal when I don't even dislike him. There's a few people here that I do dislike and I doubt I would even take the time to read the stuff they write anymore.

Just a little sidebar on John McCain, since his "standing" came up earlier in this thread.  Having been an Arizona resident during his entire political career, I feel qualified to have some opinions about him.

I have voted for him in every election in which I've voted since 1982 (I missed a couple of primaries).  For most of his career, I've had great respect for him.  For his military career & sacrifices and for his conservative principles.  After he'd been in the Senate long enough, however, he seemed to me to contract the usual Washington "importance" virus, fell in love with Ted Kennedy & began to act like he knew what was best for us as opposed to representing us.  McCain-Feingold and his attempts at enacting amnesty, among other things, convinced me he had lost touch with both conservative principles and his constituents.

Since then, I've held my nose each time I've voted for him, the Democrat alternative having never been a better option, though I've wondered what difference it would have made.  I voted for him for President purely as the lesser of evils.

His completely cynical and naked wind-sampling & adoption of tough anti-illegal-immigration campaign posturing during the recent primary campaign, when everyone & his brother knows his true feelings, was the final straw.  I now consider him to be an empty shell, a pure politician with no governing principle other than governing.

There is no longer anything to admire about him, Leauki.  How I wish there was a viable alternative here to vote for.

Many things about JD I like, but he was very damaged goods & could never effectively counter McCain's attack ads, especially after McCain adopted his faux border cop posturing & got endorsed by Babeu, et al.  McCain simply denied having positions we know from his own words & writings that he's had forever & local media just let it pass.  And JD spent 2 or 3 years badgering the local newspaper & political establishment on his radio show.  The newspaper did everything it could to return the favor & extracted its revenge.

It probably affected some voters, but it would not have affected me.  And while JD had no chance, I would have at least NOT voted for McCain.  That is pretty much what I did here.  The fellow i voted for probably has no chance.  But I did not vote for Cantor.