My vote for President.

Love me, love my dog or in this case, my vote.
If you have been following the comments on this site, you might have noticed the debate I had with an old friend regarding my decision at that time to write in Hillary Clinton's name. He tried very hard but couldn't make me budge.
I started thinking about what he could have said to make me choose one of the two mainstream candidates. What I came up with was, if you held a gun to the head of a loved one and told me to pick a candidate or else, then I most definitely would choose one.
That is when it hit me. The Republicans have been holding that gun to our heads for eight years; four more years of the party which gave us FISA, the Patriot Act, the Iraq war, $4.00 gasoline, the Military Commissions Act and the overall destabilization of the Constitution might well lead to irreparable damage, and since I would hardly consider voting for a Republican even without those conditions before this year, now is not the time to change. Obama is a seriously flawed candidate with many unanswered questions and seems to possess a cavalier attitude about civil liberties as well. But there remains a wealth of good Democrats in Congress, including Obama surrogates, who will insure a Democratic president will not stray too far from the path which led them there. I am aware of the risks. The other choice is not a risk; it is a proven disaster.
Therefore, I, will willingly step into that booth and grudgingly cast a dimpled chad for Barack Obama; go outside, scream and then go home and drink.
After that I will work very hard to unseat the current weak-kneed leadership in the party.
All comers have a month to change my mind. Forget about McCain/Palin. That ain't going to happen.

Mrs. Moneypenny or Stepford Wife? UPDATED

Naturally I am talking about Governor Palin here. I have heard her referred to as Mrs. Moneypenny, a Stepford wife and the "hot" teacher of Van Halen's fantasy. All of that is about image and is only sexist BS. What she is, in reality, is a bright attractive woman with some genuine talent and a whole bunch of good fortune. What she is not is a qualified person for the second highest office in the nation. Who is kidding who? Along with the cultish devotion to Obama, this is one of the best examples of mass projection I have witnessed in my lifetime.

What do we have here?

1. Less than 2 years experience as governor of a state isolated from the nation with less than 700,000 population.
2. Ongoing investigation into abuse of power charges and her subsequent suppression of evidence. Update: Found guilty of abuse of power by independent commission in Alaska.
3. A 17 year old daughter forced into a shotgun wedding for political expediency.
4. No foreign policy experience other than living near Russia according to her own words.
5. Virulently anti-choice.
6. Supports the deliberate gunning down of wildlife. I am not talking about hunting either.
7. Supports drilling for oil whenever and wherever it may be available. Not one word about oilco's using up their current leases.
8. Repeated lies about the so-called "bridge to nowhere". Spun and spun but still a lie. Do we dare ask about the $26,000,000 road to nowhere?
9. Out of the mainstream religious beliefs. Her church supports gay conversion therapy and speaking in tongues.
10. No recent press conferences. What is she afraid of? The truth may slip out?
Update: Well, we sure found out the reason for this one, didn't we?

One or two of these might be something I could deal with. The last one multiplies the others by 10 fold. It is very Nixonian and Bush tactic wise.

Those came right off the top of my head and one might note they are not gender specific. There are other things which can't be articulated so easily, such as her vapid beauty pageant demeanor during her speeches which is probably sexist on my part, but it doesn't imbue confidence in me. Honestly,the thought of Sarah Palin anywhere near the Oval Office other than as a visitor freaks me out.

Has half the nation lost it's mind? Seriously. When did people stop thinking for themselves? I.E.; We all saw John McCain shoot his own principles in the back when he embraced George Bush after that man smeared him during the SC primary in 2000. This man has spent the last 6 months compromising every position he has ever stood for, except two. He is anti-gay and wants to repeal Roe v. Wade. Maverick? More like a Pinto. You know, the car that would catch on fire sitting in your driveway.

As for those who supported Hillary and immediately jumped on the Palin bandwagon when her candidacy was announced. What principles guided them to Ms. Palin? Please. How do you turn around and support someone who is the polar opposite in all categories but one? By doing this, they are perpetuating the media image of them as bitter, old lonely women, while making a mockery of their support for Hillary Clinton. How sad.
They dumped all over Senator Obama when he called a reporter "sweetie", yet they now turn a blind eye and make excuses for Senator McCain's repeated worse than sweetie sexist remarks. Again I ask; who is kidding who?

Yes, Governor Palin, you can smear lipstick all over that pit bull, and you may have a "hockey mom", but you don't have a qualified Vice Presidential candidate.

Personality versus candidate; emotion versus reality..

The "conventions" are done. We now have official candidates to represent each of the two major parties. But do we?
Do we have candidates or do we have personalities? Obama has been marketed and presented like a rock star offering lots of sparkling rhetoric while mocked as being famous for being famous. Joe Biden is being pushed as the grounded mature father simultaneously being called a drunk by the other side. John McCain is the "rebel", no one's patsy and being portrayed as a Johnny One Note and a befuddled old fool. Governor Palin is Joan of Arc and a terrible mother at the same time. When do McCain and Palin talk about issues and not attack the Democrats for policies implemented by the Republican party? How are Obama and Biden going to convince us they are the change candidates when they are the ones who turned their backs on public money and are seeking the big money donors?
Do we not vote for people who stand for anything anymore? Are we so easily swayed by speeches and hairdos and wardrobes and wrinkles and wives and husbands and their kids? What about substance?
Who is going to give us universal health care? Who is going to stop the bleeding dry of the Social Security fund to pay for wars? What about NAFTA? SCHIP? Stem cell research? Are the civil liberties our ancestors fought so hard to give us going to be restored? By whom? When? Are we going to give more drilling rights to Big Oil before they even drill into the ones they already have? Is it time to integrate the Church into the Federal government? Who will stop that? Who is going to keep a check on the private militia re: Blackwater permeating our land? Do we care? Is it even possible to fix this mess?
Or is Governor Palin's pregnant daughter more important? What would happen if we threw out the rumors and conjecture about Obama? Biden? McCain? Can we even do that? That is a legitimate question as exemplified by the results of the last Presidential election. As that British newspaper headline said "How could 59,000,000 Americans be so stupid?".
Are we going to vote selfish or vote smart? Principles, core values or hurt feelings? Or are we going to do what we have done all along? Vote for the packaging, ignoring and condoning the negatives or doing just the opposite for the person who we like the most this week? Are we going to fix this mess or are we going to choose to dig the hole deeper?
There are people out there right now who were 100% behind one candidate last week and this week are 110% behind a candidate who is the polar opposite? We saw another candidate get cheered for sneezing. Personality or candidate? Style or substance? Principles or packaging?