A Look at the Field...

Because of my Politics Fatigue, my knowledge of the candidates that the Republicans were running with was, at best, cursory. What a bunch of depressing field that turned out to be. Facing almost insurmountable odds in the next election cycle after being a total disappointment to the people who voted them in office (like me), the Republicans come up with, perhaps, one of the shittiest groups of candidates in the history of the Republican party….or so I thought.

Let’s look at the field:

Mitt Romney was the Republican Governor of the most liberal state in the country. PJ O’Rourke put it best when he said, “Mitt Romney is supposed to be my own type of candidate, a true conservative. But Mitt was governor of Massachusetts. This is like applying to be pope and listing your prior job experience as "Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem.". By Massachusetts standards he has always been pretty conservative. When he realized, however, that Massachusetts defined conservatism a little differently than the rest of the country, he flip-flopped on abortion, gun control, taxation, etc.

Hmmm…a northern Republican whose conservative beliefs were born when the opportunity for higher office arose. I’ll pass.

Ron Paul may have some brilliant Constitutionalist/Federalist positions but I really don’t know for sure. The reason I don’t know for sure is that I opted not to study his positions. The reason I opted not to study his positions is that his supporters are batshit crazy. The reason his supporters are batshit crazy is that he HIMSELF is batshit crazy.

Crazy + Older than McCain + Psychotic Supporters = UNELECTABLE. I’m not wasting my time.

Mike Huckabee just scares the shit out of me. He’s a Bible-thumping John Edwards who had no desire to be “Commander in Chief” but “Pastor-In_Chief”. What MOST scares me about him can be summed up in a single quote from the man himself:

“I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution... But I believe it's a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living god. And that's what we need to do -- to amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards rather than try to change God's standards so it lines up with some contemporary view of how we treat each other and how we treat the family.”

This leaves us with John McCain, the presumptive nominee:

Unfortunately, he was really, REALLY wrong on campaign finance reform,. He’s taken pride in selling out his fellow Republicans (thereby breaking the Reagan rule) His cap-and-trade environmental policy is evidence that he’s been drinking the Al Gore kool-aid a little too long.

He’s right on more things than he’s wrong on. He’s right on spending, he’s mostly right on foreign policy, he’s right on the Federal Marriage Amendment, he’s right on Free Trade, he’s right on Social Security, Medicare and Health Care. And maybe I’m not seeing the forest through the trees on the cap and trade thing. Maybe McCain is simply using this as a ploy to get the moderate, enrviroment-loving Democrats to pull the lever for him. One can only hope.

DAMN! McCain really isn’t that bad

Over the past few months, I’ve said that I’m going to hold my nose and cast my ballot for the lesser of the evils. But if I agree with the candidate more often than not, why do I feel like I’m selling out?

I think I’ve finally figured it out. Much like Joe and Jane America, I’M stupid.

When I threw my hands up in the air and gave up, I started letting the pundits, the journalists and talking heads.influence my opinions. If these dyed-in-the-wool conservatives are having such a problem with McCain, there’s got to be a problem, right?

There is. It’s with the conservatives.

Since I started this blog almost 3 years ago, I’ve tried to distance myself from the label “conservative”, generally calling myself a right-leaning Federalist. Over the past couple years, I’m finding an even greater need to remove myself from the conservative fold. I have no desire to be perceived as one of those silly bastards.

So begins a series. I’m taking McCain’s lead in breaking the Reagan Rule (Thou shalt not speak ill of other Republicans) and intend to use this little forum as my platform to talk about how badly Republicans suck and the level of contempt I have for those who call themselves “conservative”. I’ve had it.

So begins “Heretical Conservatism”…