In a normal world the republican candidate should have about as much chance of winning the White House this year as George W. Bush getting up on his hind legs and saying, "I can not tell a lie."
If Bush and the republicans have done one thing to benefit America as a whole, versus the already greedy rich and large corporations, I’m at a loss to think of what that might be. Conversely, to name the things he and the GOP have screwed up would fill an ocean.
But this world is not normal and American politics has become crazier than a mule with fire ants up its ass. McCain has out flip-flopped Romney so many times they should change the name of the popular summer footware to "McCains." Why just this week, the anti-torture Senator from Arizona did his fish out of water thing and voted against the Senate bill to ban waterboarding. This from the same guy who for over 30 years has fought torture, and it should be noted had some authority on the issue having spent five and half years in the Hanoi Hilton during the Vietnam war. But as they say, politics makes strange bedfellows and McCain has totally collapsed his principles to chase votes of the religiously insane and wingnuts. Oh, and something the press always gets wrong, waterboarding is not simulated drowning, it is drowning. If you don’t have an expert performing the procedure it’s easy to actually drown the individual being tortured, an occurrence I’m sure that has happened more than anyone cares to admit.
We’ve all heard the stories that McCain can’t control his temper, not a particularly desirable trait for a guy who controls the red button. And what are his chances of changing this character flaw as he approches his 72nd birthday? He also admits that economics is not his strong suit in a year where Americans consider the economy the number 1 issue. And of course he’s stated he’ll keep the troops in Iraq for a hundred years if that’s what it takes, going completely against the number two issue on American minds. Without question you’d think he’s the dream opponent for the dems in the 2008 presidential race.
But not so fast. American politics has been dominated by big money, special interests, and the corporate controlled media for decades. Barak and Hillary are running so close that it’s possible the dem nominee might not be determined until the convention in late summer. That means they will have to spend huge sums of money competing with each other right to the end, money they won’t have for the general election against McCain. Meanwhile, McCain will have months to build a war chest, and you just know the repubs will hold their noses and fill McCain’s coffers.
Personally I prefer Hillary because I think she’s best qualified to fight off the repub slime machine. But if Barak gets the nod, I’ll support him 100%. What scares me is all this talk we’re hearing that the Clinton and Obama supporters won’t support the other camp. This sort of talk is the only thing that just might cause us to wake up November 5th with another dangerous loon in the White House.
If Barak or Hillary has any sort of a lead after the March 5 primaries, then that’s the time for one of them to concede and support the other for the sake of the country. If they decide to team up, even better. But let’s not blow this again, they only need even money to send McCain packing in all 50 states.