McCain/Palin

I used to have some respect for John McCain.  In some ways, I still do.  I respect him as a veteran.  I can even give him credit for long service in the senate.  But the man I considered possibly worthy in 2004 is no longer with is.  The Maverick is dead, killed by the Republican machine.  John McCain sounds like every Republican to run for office since 1994.  Fear, Divisiveness, and political chicanery are his tools.

I think the man that was John McCain was murdered in 2004 by G.W. Bush's re-election campaign.  in 2004 McCain ran on change and military experience.  The Bushies actually managed to turn McCain's military record into a liability.  In the course of doing so, they taught McCain a valuable lesson:  Only losers run their campaigns with honor and integrity.  Slander, slaughter, lie, deceive, mislead and create issues out of nothing all avoiding any substantive discussion of policy.  Feel the news machine crap until it leaks from the very seams.

The latest example of this is Sarah Palin.  She was poorly vetted and given the concerns about McCain's age, a damn poor choice overall.  There were women with better qualifications as well as a number of other governors who happen to lack a vagina.   Lets make this clear:  McCain picked Palin because he thought that middle-aged women across the country, particularly stay-at-home moms were stupid.  The logic seemed to be "Well, if they liked Hilary, damn, they are gonna LOVE Sarah."  This is political douchbaggery at its height.  In my estimation, this sad little political trick fooled no one.  It is astounding in its audacity.  Those of you that think that there was some greater logic or secret strategy here are just kidding yourselves.  There isn't anything like that.  McCain's pick of Palin was a cheap trick.  Vaginal VP for Vaginal Votes, as it were.  And its not working.  Women are not stupid, regardless of what Republicans think.

I know some of you are pointing to her speech in Minnesota last night.  Don't believe the hype, kids.  I know that the press are saying that Palin resonates with small-town America.  Small-town America might be a bit thick in the head, but even they are nervous that a Palin presidency hangs on John McCain's weakest breath.  McCain is heading for a drubbing in November.  He's trying to divide and fool us again, with the same old fear and lie formula.  If we elect another Republican after eight years of Bush, agreeably the worst president ever, then we are truly the sheeple that the Republicans believe we are.



Obama/Biden

Barak Hussein Obama scares the hell out of me.  There.  I said it.

Does he scare me because he's black?  No, I don't think that's a big deal.

Does he scare me because of worries and rumors about his religious background?  Again, no.  I wouldn't care if he was Muslim or a Baptist or whatever the hell religion he is.

Does he scare me because he might be a radical liberal?  No, I don't think he's a radical liberal.


Why does he scare me then?  Well he scares me because he gives me hope.  That's it.  Hope.  Hope that we can have an intelligent, articulate, reasonable man in the White House.  If or when he proves to just be another political jackass, it's gonna break my heart.  He speaks the words I remember hearing as a child, about how things can get better, and about how we can move forward.  He makes me think that we can make things better.  He makes me believe in the promise of the future, that humanity can eventually break all of its dark and self-destructive habits.  Oh, I know, not in my lifetime, but some day.

Obama makes me think that maybe America can regain a little respect around the world.  That we can be civilized leaders, rather than brash, cowboy hat wearing warmongers.

In America we are passing our adolescence as a country.  As children, we fought the British and then later ourselves.  Then the awkward pre-pubescent years before World War I where we practiced bullying and imperialism on the Spanish and others.  Then the two World Wars.  At the end of these wars our chests had begun to sprout hair, we got a cheezy thin mustache.  The world was in awe of the young America, brash, bold, and many times unthinking in its stances.  Oh, but the promise.  The promise of the adult that America would become.  Today, the cowboy and brash adolescent tactics are getting old.  America is meant to be an adult now.  Yet we act rashly, go back on our promises and strike out in fear like a frightened child.  Instead of proving that a free society can survive an attack and menaces from abroad, we are retreat into the very civil liberty restrictions we have so long castigated others for.

I think Obama is the beginning of what could be American adulthood.  But I still fear that I have been fooled again.  I fear that the wretched hive of scum and villainy that is Washington D.C. will defeat and corrupt him, if he isn't already corrupted.  I fear that the last eight years of will full mismanagement and poll-based policy decisions have left behind a wreck that no mere President can fix.

I want to believe.  I want to have hope.  I will vote for Obama, because he is the only hope I have seen in years.  I voted for Kerry, but I didn't believe in him.  Strike that, I voted against G.W. Bush in 04, not for Kerry.  But I want to vote for Obama.