As a general rule, I try - admittedly with varying degrees of success - to be politically neutral in my postings in this space. That is actually fairly easy for me to do, because these days I find myself to be pretty ambivalent politically.
It wasn't always that way. I have voted Republican in every Presidential election since 1980. For that matter, I have voted for Republicans for everything down to local dog catcher except for the occasional ballot cast for conservative Democrats like Zell Miller. I am a political, fiscal, and theological conservative, and the Republican party has, over the years, for the most part espoused those values.
"Espoused" being the operative word there, in contrast to "embodied." Over the years, Republican administrations that I voted for have been responsible for government growing larger and larger and the free market economy being ignored in policy considerations.
I have not pulled the lever, punched the chad, or checked the box with great pride for a Republican presidential candidate since the last time I did so for Reagan in 1984. The presidential candidates I have voted for since that time have earned my vote by the dubious distinction of being the lesser of two evils. George H.W. Bush. Bob Dole. George W. Bush. I was far from enthused about the prospect of any of these men leading our nation, but given the alternative - Michael Dukakis, Bill Clinton, Ross Perot, Al Gore, or John Kerry - I held my nose and cast my vote.
In the years since The Great Communicator left office, the United States of America has been anything but United. We have become for all practical purposes two nations - the Red States and the Blue States. It has gotten to the place now where to be elected President, you have to pander to the extreme left or right of your base and thereby alienate roughly 50% of the country. Our last two elections have been bitter, divisive, ugly, and destructive. In between those two elections, the events of September 11, 2001 united Americans in a way we haven't been since World War II. But somehow, we squandered that unity and good will and by 2004 we were right back where we were in 2000.
Now comes John McCain. When he ran in 2000, a friend of mine gave me a copy of "Faith of Our Fathers." I read it and came away with admiration for his integrity and his service and sacrifice for his country. But as a candidate, I found him lacking. Lacking in excitement, lacking in leadership skills, and lacking in the ability to make us feel good about ourselves as Reagan did so well. In 2000, I didn't appreciate McCain's characterization of Christian leaders as "agents of intolerance."
By most if not all accounts, it is a very different John McCain that ran for president this year and went on to become the surprise nominee. Like many of my friends, I have not been able to support McCain for a myriad of reasons relating to policies, leadership, and his past.
As mentioned in a previous post, many of these friends have found their rationale to support John McCain because of his selection of Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate, but that VP pick has made it even more difficult for me to support the Arizona Senator.
My first impression of the Palin pick was the fact that that her razor thin resume would instantly rob McCain of one of his strongest arguments - experience. But just days later when we all saw how carefully Palin was being handled, many of us started to suspect there was a bigger problem. Why would the McCain campaign go to such pains to keep their new VP pick far away from the press? I began to suspect it was because they knew something we didn't about Gov. Palin, and that they wanted the Palin phenomenon to blossom as much as possible before reality hit.
When Palin began sitting down for carefully handpicked interviews, we saw for ourselves why they have been keeping her on a very short leash. Take her answer to a Katie Couric question about the $700 Billion Wall Street bailout:
Ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health care reform that is needed to help shore up the economy– Oh, it’s got to be about job creation too. So health care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions.
Good grief. That reply, and for that matter her entire encounter with Couric was worthy of Miss South Carolina's bumbling answer about maps. (In case you didn't see that classic bit of video, watch it here.)
I'm not alone in being a conservative who is appalled by the prospect of Sarah Palin being a 72 year old cancer survivor's heartbeat away from being leader of the free world. Writing in this week's National Review (the NATIONAL REVIEW, for crying out loud!) columnist Kathleen Parker actually calls for Palin to step aside for the good of the country:
When Palin first emerged as John McCain’s running mate, I confess I was delighted... It was fun while it lasted. Palin’s recent interviews with Charles Gibson, Sean Hannity, and now Katie Couric have all revealed an attractive, earnest, confident candidate. Who Is Clearly Out Of Her League. No one hates saying that more than I do.
Palin filibusters. She repeats words, filling space with deadwood. Cut the verbiage and there’s not much content there. Here’s but one example of many from her interview with Hannity: “Well, there is a danger in allowing some obsessive partisanship to get into the issue that we’re talking about today. And that’s something that John McCain, too, his track record, proving that he can work both sides of the aisle, he can surpass the partisanship that must be surpassed to deal with an issue like this.”
If Palin were a man, we’d all be guffawing, just as we do every time Joe Biden tickles the back of his throat with his toes. But because she’s a woman — and the first ever on a Republican presidential ticket — we are reluctant to say what is painfully true.
Only Palin can save McCain, her party, and the country she loves. She can bow out for personal reasons, perhaps because she wants to spend more time with her newborn. No one would criticize a mother who puts her family first. Do it for your country.
Even conservative icon George Will has expressed serious doubts about McCain's selection of Palin, saying, "Many cultural conservatives, who are much of the GOP's base, consider McCain's adherence to their persuasion perfunctory. By his selection of Palin, he got the enthusiasm of the base. But what has he got in Palin? In coming days, he and we will learn from a stern teacher, experience."
There's a little more than six weeks left until the election. The initial burst of celebrity has faded quickly thanks to the economic crisis. They can't keep her under wraps any longer, and the VP debates are coming up soon. (That should be interesting. Joe Biden, for all his experience is also famous for his gaffes.)
I fear John McCain will soon sorely regret his choice of the Alaska Governor as his running mate.
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