I have a few days before I drop the thing in the mail (the one thing that the military ensures will 1) actually get to the US and 2) get there on time) and I'm actually somewhat conflicted.
Clearly I'm going to vote Mark Warner for the Senate. Who in Virginia is not? Seriously...if Warner pulled 70%+ of the vote I would not bat an eye. It would not surprise me if he received more than half of the Republican vote (given the alternative of that idiot Gilmore).
However, when it comes to voting for the bubba that gets all the marbles...I'm finding myself conflicted.
I really dislike Obama. I find him to lack substance and I really get annoyed when people start running for President the minute that their ass hits the seat in the Capitol. Joe Biden is enough to queer me from the entire thing...Biden puts Obama's narcissism in a box. The fact that the rest of the world is so in the tank for The One is almost reason enough to pull the lever for McCain just to tell everyone else to go pound sand, thank you very much.
I've got a McCain sticker on my car (unless my parents have removed it) though it probably is pretty lonely up there in the People's Republic of Massachusetts. If I vote for McCain I'm really going to have to hold my nose. The McCain of 2000 is gone and has been replaced by someone that I really don't recognize...the solution to everything is not to lower taxes. McCain has been correct on his assessment of what needs to be done here in Iraq - and was correct when it was unpopular and when Obama was flat wrong. While it clearly was a principled decision - and even somewhat maverick (bottoms up, people) - I'm not sure that McCain should be given the benefit of the doubt on every decision (*koff* Palin *koff*) simply because he made a good one in the past. Granted, it was the biggest decision on one of the biggest issues of our day. Plus, the crazy Christian right scares the bejeezus out of me.
I can't believe I'm going wobbly. I wish Guliani were still around.
Decisions, decisions...
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When McCain was nominated I was glad there were two good candidates running (even though I obviously knew who I was voting for). I've been surprised and disappointed by McCain's campaign. This isn't the guy I supported in 2000. I don't know if the erratic behavior is simply how he campaigns or if he'd govern this way, but it bothers me.
So, you don't like or trust either candidate personally. You can decide this on issues, on judgment, on appointments, on executive-legislative balance or on punishing the GOP.
You get issues (taxes, budget, education, healthcare, etc.).
By judgment, I mean put yourself a year in the future and imagine how you think each candidate would handle Iran, Afghanistan, the next 9/11 or that long awaited for Congressional review of US priorities and budget process that we've talked about. You know both of these guys after watching two years of campaigning, use your best guess.
On appointments, you probably know who McCain and Obama will place in key positions from DOD to Treasury to the Supreme Court. Whose mob of advisors do you trust more.
You know we're going to have a very Democratic Congress. With that in mind, the choice is gridlock vs. massive change. If you get McCain, you get another four or eight years like the last two. Some people like that (in fact, a lot of people would rather have a gridlocked than an activist government). If you choose Obama, if he takes the initiative, he gets at least two years to implement rather sweeping initiatives, many of which are probably more liberal than you. (that reason probably leans towards you voting for McCain).
Finally, one reason to vote Obama is to send the GOP out into the cold for two years and make them rethink their priorities. Of course, the risk of doing this is that they come back crazier than before and then you have no real opposition party to vote for.
Just my thoughts.
When it comes to resumés, Matt, we look to what applicants have acheived in their previous jobs as an indicator of what they will want to and be able to accomplish. But in Senator Obama's case, looking at both these previous jobs as an elected official, the track record of actual legislative accomplishments is too thin to provide a reliable indicator of what he will be inclined, or able, to accomplish. Indeed, there is even, in parts of his background, a whiff of a deliberate effort to avoid leaving behind the record of commitments, in word or deed, that might one day come home to roost, and sway voters. But Obama's rating as the most liberal member of the Senate — or one of the most liberal, depending on who's doing the rankings — coupled with his vote tally in the Illinois Senate, and his policy statements, make it clear that this is a man who believes that we need an interventionist government that knows what is best for us, and will dip into our wallets to achieve its ambitious aims, whether they have to do with fixing the nation's uneven access to health care or rescuing failing corporations.
His fundamental political beliefs are better suited to a more statist European nation such as France than America's energetic capitalist culture, which demands individual responsibility as the price for maximizing our potential as humans.
Some people believe in socialism and perhaps you do as well, my friend.
Having said that, Sen. Obama's candidacy is a proud moment for America because of what it says about our ability to put our most grievous racial polarization behind us.
Just my thoughts.
Regardless, this election is one for the Democrats (and you will get your $ for the bet) but I think it's a good thing for the Republicans as with the Democrats controlling everything, the country will again see that a divided government works better than a one-party takes all approach. I'm as afraid of the radical left as I am the radical right.
Having said all that I've said (and I apologize for filling your blog entries today), I am saddened that there are people engaging in this inexcusable behavior in my home state (per this RTD story today). As a Republican, I condone such action and I hope notable Republicans will speak out as well. This is wrong.
Obama sign replaced with rebel flag
Chesterfield probes theft of political sign from minister's yard
Tuesday, Oct 21, 2008 - 12:09 AM
By OLYMPIA MEOLA
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Leroy C. McLaughlin finished his workday on Friday and was cooking dinner when a family member phoned.
The 4-foot-by-8-foot Barack Obama campaign sign that McLaughlin had posted in the front yard of his Chesterfield County home was gone.
A Confederate flag hung in its place.
Surveying the scene that night, McLaughlin, 78, a Baptist minister and an Army veteran who lived to see the first black person nominated to a major-party ticket, had a message for whoever left the flag, viewed by many as a symbol of racial oppression: "I love you, and God does, too."
That same night, someone drove by honking and shouting, according to McLaughlin's family.
Yesterday morning, in the 15 minutes that a reporter and photographer were inspecting a new sign with McLaughlin, a small car sped back and forth past his house three times. Occupants rapidly beeped the horn and appeared to shout "No change," apparently a reference to McLaughlin's new sign. Like the one it replaced, it says: "Vote for Change, November 4th."
McLaughlin seemed unshaken.
"I've been praying for them, because we're all going to be charged with what we do," he said. "It's sad that we've grown and we want to keep fighting with something and can't be peaceful and thankful."
Sometime Friday between 7:30 and 9 p.m., someone ripped the sign from its wooden posts just a few feet off Bailey Bridge Road near Manchester High School.
A family member returning from Manchester's homecoming football game saw the Confederate flag and alerted McLaughlin. He was fixing dinner near a tapestry montage that features the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., between the Statue of Liberty and a waving American flag.
McLaughlin went outside to find an outraged neighbor on his front lawn tugging the flag down. He told him to leave it, and they called police.
Chesterfield police spokeswoman Ann Reid confirmed that police are investigating the sign's disappearance as a larceny. She said the sign was taken Friday night and replaced with a 3-foot-by-5-foot Confederate flag. Chesterfield police are holding the flag as evidence.
Kevin Griffis, a spokesman for Democrat Obama's campaign in Virginia, said there have been other incidents in Virginia and across the country "that have had racial overtones."
"I think on both sides we see overzealous supporters," he said. "We urge both our supporters as well as those of Senator [John] McCain to disagree in a respectful way."
Gail Gitcho, a spokeswoman for Republican McCain's Virginia campaign, said: "We have had reports of vandalism and theft of both McCain and Obama campaign signs on personal property throughout Virginia. It is sad and disappointing that this has happened across the state, and the McCain campaign strongly condemns these actions."
McLaughlin's 4 acres along Bailey Bridge Road are a wooded holdout among sprouting subdivisions. Since 1964, he has lived in the house he partially built by hand, and he still grows vegetables in rows alongside his home. He has trimmed hair in the same Richmond barbershop for 50 years and served as pastor of New Hope Baptist Church in Cumberland County for two decades.
He said yesterday on a break from making pear preserves that he isn't pushing for a particularly severe punishment for the perpetrator. He didn't raise his voice when discussing it; now that he has replaced the yard sign, he'll be watchful.
He says he wants whoever took the sign to get a talking-to about trespassing and taking property that doesn't belong to them -- and about the significance of the symbol they left behind.
"I feel like this is somebody with a lot of hatred in their heart," he said. "It's our job to help the guy try to do better in life."
It's a tough one. I am not a huge fan of either candidate, so it's the lesser of two evils.
James had some great points to think about though.
Matt,
I'd be curious to get your thoughts on how you see that Sen. McCain has changed per your words below? I don't believe that Sen. McCain has proposed any new tax cuts only to make the current ones permanent. Also, McCain has broken with this Administration on torture, judges (Gang of 14), spending (earmarks), and the list goes on. So, I'd be really curious as to how you see that he's changed. Have you studied his voting record?
"The McCain of 2000 is gone and has been replaced by someone that I really don't recognize"
I'm the one who gave you that McCain sticker. Why did you put it on your car to begin with if you felt you were "wobbly"? As for your comments on Gov. Palin, you were the one who stated shortly after her selection that "anybody who rides a motorcycle I'm a fan of" or something like that. In other words, you had nothing but good things to say about her personally and professionally not only to me but others. What changed your mind there?
As for the crazy Christian right, they scare me as well but are you just as fearful of the extreme left?
As for Iraq, Matt, I was in the SASC hearings on a near daily basis for two and a half years when McCain kept pounding sand to get Rumsfeld and company to change course. It fell on deaf ears. He was forceful in wanting change. The American people didn't see all of those hearings.
Thanks for your blog. Good to keep up.
I'll be holding my nose tomorrow as well...
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