Presidential Politics 2008 Style

I’ve resisted writing this, because I didn’t know what to say.  (After reading it you may think I still don’t know what to say.)

I don’t know who I’ll vote for in November yet, but I do know it won’t be Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama and it sure looks like it will be John McCain.  I’m not happy about that, but it could be worse.  I’ve vacillated toward McCain after my favorite Fred Thompson dropped out.  In fact, I wondered for a long time if Fred Thompson was ever really in.  (The term lackadaisical campaigner comes to mind.)

For the last year we haven’t known who was in and who was out.  Certainly last summer it looked like John McCain’s goose was cooked.  McCain-Feingold came back to bite him in the behind.  But he put that behind him (pardon the pun) and with the help of an unpredictable electorate and Mitt Romney’s

campaign suspension, he looks like the Republican frontrunner.  Of course, Mike Huckabee could fool everyone and with the conservative/religious vote coalesced around one person he could be the nominee.  The way things are going anything is possible.  Huckabee is unlikely to be the winner and McCain doesn’t thrill a lot of people, but he can beat whomever the Democrat’s nominate.

Or can he?  Is this a media/pundit driven potential outcome.  On any given election day who wins and who loses is determined by the electorate.  Once the conventions are over will McCain become the warmonger and old man or Huckabee the hick?   And, will the media portray Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama as the savior of our country?  Is all of this media driven?  What if the most easily beaten candidate on the other side is Barack Obama?  After all he wants to nuke Pakistan.  What if the most easily beaten Republican is the warmongering/aged John McCain?  We don’t know.

If the eventual democratic nominee is Hillary Clinton, McCain is more likely to be perceived like Rick Laszio.  Remember poor Rick Laszio.  He had the distinction of running against Hillary during her first bid for the US Senate from NY.  During a debate he walked across the stage and handed Hillary some papers to prove his point on something and immediately the media portrayed him as threatening her.  (Poor woman.) Who do we think is more likely to be threatening to Hillary, McCain or Huckabee?

There is so much we don’t know and won’t know until the fickle electorate votes on November 4, 2008.  There are too many variables.

There is one thing I know though, I’ll be voting in that election.  And, I’ll be voting for whoever the Republican nominee is.  I may have to hold my nose when I do it, but whomever we nominate will be better than either of the presumptive Democrat nominees.  Let’s do a study.  Remember Billy Dale?  He was the hapless head of the White House travel office when the Clintons came into power.  For whatever reason the Clintons accused him of stealing travel office funds, had the FBI investigate him and it cost poor Billy Dale all of his savings to prove he was innocent.  Billy Dale wasn’t the only victim of the Clintons quest for power.  There were others whose personal files were stolen and confiscated by the White House.  Would you really want to vote for her to be President and endure another four years of whom can we intimidate now?

Then there’s Barack Hussein Obama.  No he’s most likely not a Muslim, but the Pastor of his church is a racist and you have to wonder who would belong to a church with a pastor with clearly anti-white views.

We can also examine Obama’s voting record while in the Illinois State Senate.  Or wait!  What voting record?  Obama’s explanation is that it’s procedure in Illinois to vote present.  We should add only if your name is Barack Obama and you don’t want to leave a clear record on anything.  Such as a ”3 strikes and your out” if you’re a drug dealer.  Everyone else voted yes, but not Barack. 

John McCain has his faults, but there are no Billy Dale’s in his closet and he doesn’t vote present to hide what he believes.  He does have character and courage.  It takes courage to stick to your guns (another pun “>) about being pro Iraq War.  He’s less likely to bomb Iran (or Pakistan for that matter.)  I don’t like all his positions, but compared to Hillary or Barack, he’s got real potential and he’s less likely to raise taxes.