So I figure since it's about a week before the biggest, most influential and historical election of most people's lives, I'll give my 6 cents and a button(that's all that's on my desk right now).
Gentlemen, let's be frank. I am a left leaning Independent and that's where my vote's going. But I've always respected John McCain. He's my absolute favorite Republican (behind Bill Clinton, of course). Had he won the primaries in 2000, and then proceeded to win the general election, I believe we'd be in a hell of a better position. But at the time, he had difficulty winning over the staunch extremely conservative Republican base, and his racial remark about the Vietnamese diminished his support among the few (if any) minority Republicans (McCain's response in 2000 to a question about how he feels about his captors during the war: "I hate the gooks.")
Most elected government officials claim to "reach across the aisle" or "work along party lines" or some other cliche that implies they'll work with a rival party. But McCain actually did that. Over the past 8 years since I first heard his name as a possible Republican candidate as a somewhat uninformed 14 year old, McCain truly deserved his self-entitled maverick image. What most people would view as "switching sides" was really just a man voting on his fundamentals and not necessarily blindly following his base. He has sided many times with his party (on the war), but answered that with voting for and even spearheading many bills involving traditionally liberal policies on Alaskan oil drilling, generic drugs, emission rules and other issues.
Many people don't remember, or failed to notice, that in 2004, Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry first offered the position of vice presidential running mate to John McCain. A New York Times article on June 13, 2004 refers to John McCain as the 'independent-minded' Republican who was offered the rare chance to be on a bipartisan presidential ticket. The article also later mentions that a possible Kerry-McCain ticket would be unstoppable, with polls giving the dream ticket a 14 point advantage over the W campaign of 04. Imagine that.
However, McCain refused, stating to Kerry on "Meet the Press" that as independent minded as he comes off, he's a Republican loyalist, and can't turn against his own party. However, many believed that he only turned down the prospect of that ticket simply because he didn't want to be the Number 2 guy. He's quoted:
'As recently as last week Mr. McCain made clear his lack of enthusiasm for the vice president's job. On a late-night television show he said, ''I spent several years in a North Vietnamese prison camp, in the dark, fed with scraps. Do you think I want to do that all over again as vice president of the United States?''
Same article I referenced earlier.
But that was all then, far off from any of McCain's prospects to run yet again for the most powerful job on the planet. Learning from his roadblocks in 2000, McCain started early in beginning the courtship of the Republican far right in 2006.
And that brings us to today. Rewind a little back to when McCain first clinched the Republican nomination and Hillary Clinton was still on the news. While the Dems continued their back and forth mudslings and attacks and primary recounts that was slightly reminescent of the 2000 Gore re-counts, McCain seemed to be in a terrific position. Hell, he even had my vote back then.
But the lack of support from his own party's base was truly a problem, and unfortunately and even reluctantly, he would sell his soul to court the conservatives who would be key in securing a victory. It all started with the his choice of Sarah Palin as VP. From that moment on, I feared the worst was just beginning (or had it just occurred?) He will deny it until the end, but early reports proved he wasn't even considering Sarah Palin as a serious candidate for a running mate. In fact, he wanted former Democrat and 2000 Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Lieberman as his future partner. Imagine that. A bipartisan ticket, two independently minded candidates, unafraid to break from their home party on key issues willing to work with each other to lead this nation.
That would've had my vote.
But instead, McCain went the "safe" route, and chose a candidate he knew would fire up his conservative base. Some would call the choice of Palin as a gimmick, others still claim it was a genuine pick, but we all know now that McCain was too independently minded for his own party. And as such, his values were compromised and his soul sold in the name of winning the election. You can even see it now in his interactions he's reluctant to allow the hate-mongering his campaign has rode on to continue. I'm sure you've all seen this:
He probably realizes the monsters he's created in the past month of relentless negative advertising are finally rearing their ugly heads, and it makes him uncomfortable.
There has never been such a resurgence of hate and racism in this country since the Civil Rights Movement, and the possibility of an Obama presidency are scaring the hell out of everyone. For example:
I kid you not. But thankfully, the search no longer brings you to that result anymore.
His campaign's attacks have begun to focus on the economy as opposed to the "danger" of an Obama presidency, but the damage has been done. Now, if only his running mate would have as much of a heart:
And a brain, too.
As of this moment, the polls are predicting an Obama landslide, yet I have always been wary of the accuracy of polls. As of right now, anything can happen, so ultimately it's up to us to determine what happens next (though since we're in California, we're leaning left no matter what). So, vote or die.
In conclusion, I'd like to argue the case that we shouldn't hate John McCain, like many uninformed voters do nowadays. He's not your typical evil Republican and he has the record to prove it. He was simply weak in character and buckled under the pressure of his own political party in the hopes to win the election. My only hope is that if McCain and Palin do take the presidency that McCain rids himself of his demons and turns back into the real independently minded maverick he was before.
But let's not get our hopes up.
I guess my next move should be to write a whole post on Mr. Obama as well, but I'll be honest. I don't know shit about him. (the 4 mile 4 foot thing, ya know).
And in my further asssertions that all politicians are bullshit, I give you 'Synchronized Debating':
open for debate. feel free to start in the comments...
"wow, the moment you said that, I imagined you about 30 years older."
-CP
