Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Worst Case

By the time this is up, Stupid Tuesday, er, ahh, umm, Super Tuesday, that
is, will be history, and we'll probably know that John McCain has locked up
the Republican nomination, and Hillary will have taken most of the popular
vote, while Barack Hussein Obama (hey... that's the man's name, okay?) gets
most of the delegates. Well, it's a pretty damn stupid process, and really,
the only thing positive to be said about it all is that so far, nobody has
gotten killed. Yet. Part of what makes it stupid and futile and pretty
frustrating (to me anyway) is people with hom I tend to agree on most issues
shouting that we need to vote our principles instead of playing games, but
then allowing some admirable principles to risk losing the country. I'm not
a conservative talk show host, but I am a thinker. And I know that if I
support or berate someone based on race gender or religion, I am part of the
problem. I also know that if I am faced with the reality of either voting
for someone I don't like or someone for someone I don't like sharing the
planet with, I better rethink my principles. I'll be honest. I'm a
conservative. I'd be pretty happy if Mike Huckabee wins. But the fact is,
lots of people aren't. He did too good too early, scared the liberals, and
they put out a hit on him. The press took the job and assassinated him. I
thought the same about Romney, but apparently Republicans aren't allowed to
be religious. Especially Mormon. So really, the only Republican who'll be
allowed to even run is McCain. And he is a huge moderate. He works both
sides of the aisle. And really, someone so far to the right as to get
unqualified support from Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck (both whom I respect
and agree with quite often) is not not not going to get elected. Not because
the people won't support him(given fair and full information), but because
the mainsteam drive by media will do anything to avoid giving that fair and
full information. The game is fixed, friends. They hated Bush going in the
first time. They went nuts when he went in again. If you think they are
going to sit still for a third absolute, uncompromising right wing
republican to go in, you are sadly mistaken. You really need to think beyond
the self-righteous chair and think about what is going to happen in
November. I really dislike each and every one of the clowns running for
president. If I had my choice, I'd be voting to dig Reagan out of the
ground, shoot some electricity into him, and put him back in office. But I'm
not going to get that. So I have to decide two things. Who, among the two
clowns I hate the least, has the best chance of beating the two clowns I
hate the most? Not my first choice, but I'd rather vote for someone who has
even one principle I believe in than someone who either shows no love or
respect for the flag, or someone who doesn't trust me write what I want on
the internet or to spend the money I earn. Principles are great and
important, but when your opponent is thinking two moves ahead, you'd better
be prepared to do the same. The other side is thinking not only about
winning the primary, but about winning the general election. And if you
don't start to think like that, you'll lose. Vote for who you like the most
in the primary, but take a shot of reality when it comes to the general
election. Because at that point its put up or shut up. That's when
compromise becomes something you need to think about.

Really, one of the things that has really poisoned politics in this country,
amongst republocrats, talk show hosts, and even thinkers, is a 'my party
right or wrong' way of thinking. Sort of like the "Are you still beating
your wife?" gag of old. You're damned if you do and damned if you don't.
Logic or reason has no place because it might show another point of view.
Conservative talk show hosts like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh are doing
things like that, refusing to consider working with the other side while
continually evoking the Reagan name. But Reagan didn't care about party. He
cared about his ideas. And he worked with whoever agreed, and sometimes even
compromised for the greater good.

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