Ramblings of a Political Junkie

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same."
~~ Ronald Reagan ~~

There are many aspects of this election that I find compelling beyond my control. As a political junkie since my teen years, I need a new fix at four year intervals, but this time it began slowly and with less than the usual enthusiasm.

I've always believed that our political process works best when neither party serves more than two consecutive terms. It has to do with checks and balances -- the proverbial pendulum that swings too far in one direction, and in an effort to redeem itself, it reverses and attempts to correct any damages while on its way to swinging too far the other way. Such is the nature of politics. While I confess to never having followed that logic while casting my ballot, I do believe the idea has merit.

We've had a Republican administration for the last eight years and they behaved badly. The first six years saw the Reps in control of the House and Senate, and we've had the Dems during the last two. Need I say more than Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid? They all behaved like spoiled brats. But Bush is in the Oval Office and that's where the buck stops and the blame drops.

There's little doubt we're heading into another Dem controlled House and Senate and that's all the more reason to put John McCain in the White House. In a word -- gridlock. Gridlock slows government and gets it out of our faces. Gridlock can be good. Now would be an especially good time to implement gridlock in order to hold at bay the Gruesome Gang of Three – Obama, Pelosi and Reid. The damage they can to do our country will have our Founding Fathers spinning. The lesser of the evils, the Tantrum Two of Pelosi and Reid, will be more than most conservatives can stand, but with McCain in the White House, the ship of state will stand a better chance of surviving intact. Yes, gridlock would be good here.

To place all of the ills of the last eight years at Bush's feet is grossly unfair and I rather imagine history will judge him with more kindness than his contemporaries are willing to bestow. He's endured the MSM spinning any good news badly: "Unemployment is down to 4.2% and the economy grew by 3% this quarter, but the experts caution… ." And this from last year: "Experts surprised at good economic numbers…"

For far too long good news from Iraq was embargoed. If the MSM could not report the death of American troops or fierce battles lost, they preferred not to cover it at all. Our American men and women in uniform performed valiantly and with honor, and there are many stories of real heroism from both wars that have been ignored. What dishonor and shame for the MSM. These soldiers are heroes and should be celebrated throughout our land. But the MSM doesn't want America to feel good about a war they've worked so hard to convince us is both wrong and unpopular.

And who do we thank for keeping our country safe from terrorist attacks during the last seven years? History will sort it out and books will be written about it, but I sent my personal thanks to President George W. Bush. It was his watch and we were safe.

Conservatives like me have been suffering from eight years of political exasperation. The choice of John McCain was, for me, another frustration. While I believe he's fully capable of being a strong president, he was not my candidate of choice. McCain is an extremely honorable and good man, and I certainly appreciate and honor his service in uniform to our country, but I felt I had no horse in this race.

I was in the mood for None Of The Above. And then along came, Sarah Palin. What a breath of fresh air! I felt an instant kinship with her. She's like me. I can relate. I get it. Enthusiasm for the political process had returned.

Oh, did I mention the final debate took place tonight, just a few hours ago? While it wasn't a prize fight, it was far and away the better of the three debates. It was still too structured, too practiced, but nowhere near being the yawner we endured last week.

McCain answered the questions clearly and in as much detail as the time allowed. He exhibited great strength of character on several occasions. It was his best debate by far and he was able to get a lot of solid info before the public. But no knock-out -- McCain is not telegenic, a flaw that can be fatal in our celebrity-obsessed culture. He seemed stiff and somewhat uncomfortable, but he's always like that on television and that makes his message hard to sell, no matter how strong. And McCain's message was strong but the public thrives on the shallowness of image.

Obama seemed to be pulling answers out of thin air. He had more than one occasion to show his character and he did -- or sadly, the lack thereof. The vision of an empty suit kept floating through my head. But he's telegenic, polished,charismatic, and he is an image. He could recite the Philadelphia phone book and his followers would proclaim his brilliance in sound bites throughout the land.

The differences between the two candidates were obvious. The strong old soldier turned statesman who loves his country and will give his all for her if necessary versus the polished young lawyer who is little more than an American Idol candidate.

Obama has no real qualifications of substance, only a maze of extremely questionable background associations that can't stand beneath the light of full disclosure. And Obama has a record of disloyalty to his friends, even to his pastor of twenty years, who, when it was politically feasible, Obama threw him under the bus. No one is allowed to tarnish the image of The One.

The choice could not be more clear.

The patriotism and love of country from McCain was obvious.

The Socialism from Obama was chilling. "Spread the wealth" is more than Robin Hood -- it's Stalin, it's Marxism, and it will be fatal to the American economy.

Voters, beware!

The winner was Joe the plumber. He'll be on the Huckaby Show on the Fox News channel this week-end. Can a reality show be far behind?

Nikki

Edited to add: In response to a reader's question, the term, MSM, is blog-speak for the Main Stream Media; otherwise known as NBC, CBS, ABC, PBS, CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times, Time Magazine, Newsweek, and all of the liberal media, both broadcast and print.