One Word Tells the Story

With one magic word John McCain ensure himself of not getting my vote. Even if he was running against Hilary Clinton... or even David Duke. I would not vote for him.

This goes far beyond me being grossly bored with his quadrennial runs for the White House. It goes beyond the fact that he is what President Bush would call a 'flip-flopper'. But with just one persistently used word, I know he does not have what it takes to be the president.

Pre-condition.

Cue former Indianapolis Colts head coach Jim Mora: "Pre-condition??? Pre-condition??? I'm not... Pre-condition???" (...and that should cover my sports reference in this entry... ...or not -- I think I've got one more.)

How about Allen Iverson: "We're talking about pre-conditions. We're not talking about conversations, we're talking about pre-conditions. The fate of the entire world could be at stake and we're talking about pre-conditions. This is about nuclear war, and we're talking about pre-conditions. Not diplomacy, pre-conditions..."

Really, Senator McCain. What the hell are you thinking?

For those of you who missed the Presidential Debate last night, the gentleman from Arizona attacked the gentleman from Illinois over Obama's willingness to meet with Mahmoud Amaddini... Ammahdin... er, um... the president of Iran (that would be, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad) about his possible nuclear arsenal, without pre-condition.

Um... I'm not a legislator, not a representative of this government. But even I know you can't invite someone to dinner, then tell them there are rules about coming to dinner. The point is to open the lines of conversation.

Comedian Eddie Izzard jokes that Britain's foreign policy used to consist of closing its eyes and not wanting to hear what was really going on. Thanks to President Bush -- we're pretty close to that. We're more tunnel vision on terror -- and I still maintain you can't declare war on an inanimate object -- than ignoring. But it is still dangerous.

It leads me to believe that McCain, like Bush, would prefer to not talk to Iran (or North Korea, for that matter) because we don't agree with their views. I say tough shit. Nobody can tell anybody else what to believe, or what to do.

Besides, there is a common believe that in North Korea's case, they are developing nuclear arms in an attempt to get out attention. You know that movie/TV line "I've got you attention now" while holding a gun to someone's head? Yeah, this would be it.

As the most powerful nation in the world, we need to be diplomats first. That means, not trying to force anyone into something they don't want to do. It also means we need to lead by example. To do that, we need to open up to EVERYONE... not just our allies.

Think about it. The policy of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" as really gotten us into this mess. We armed Hussein in Iraq to piss off Iran. We armed bin Laden, and we installed Castro because we hated Bautista. Maybe we should stop messing with other governments internally, and just deal with what exists.

Talk to Iran. Talk to North Korea. Maybe all they want is to be seen with the cool kids. Diplomacy goes a long way when it is pure. The answer is not war, it's not arming up for nuclear holocaust. The answer is in talking through your problems.

Obama seems willing to explore that PEACEFUL possibility, while not excluding the option that if such diplomacy does not work, that then (and ONLY THEN) do you need to escalate to sanctions or possible military action.

Political Party: Let's Play 'Presidents and Ass******'.

Happy day off work, today, America (and Canada). While the rest of you are out on a long weekend -- travelling, barbecuing, or celebrating in your own way -- I'm here, with nothing better to do.

OK, I have better things to do.

But, last week the two sides in the Presidential Election made their selections of running mates to help head the tickets. As always, I have an opinion.

Ironically, the title of this blog might be a bit deceiving.

Republicans: I can't tell you how much they make me hate politics, right now. It's never been a secret that I oppose the political party system. Last week, and this week, just remind me why.

Now, the Democrats seem to be getting on my good side, nothing really controversial there. The Republicans are really starting to piss me off. (Actually, they've had me pissed off for a while... but it's getting worse.) I don't mind the normal politics that go on -- those can be ignored... or at least I can claim I've become accustomed to them.

But, two things are really bothering me. First of all, the selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as John McCain's running mate. I have no problems with her. I'm sure she is very qualified for the position. In fact, I think mayors and governors are more qualified to handle the Executive Branch offices, than Senators and Representatives cough*laywers*cough, because they have to deal with ALL the facets of the world in their decisions.

What is grinding my gears, is that it is dirty politics by the Republican party as a whole. I would love to think that Palin was the first choice for the job. Let's face it, she wasn't. Nobody had even mentioned her. It is clear that McCain and the Elephants are using Palin because of her gender. It is a clear attack on Barack Obama for not choosing Hillary Clinton as his running mate. That should not be the point being made.

We will revisit Hillary in just a few moments.

The major issue I have with the selection of Palin, is that she is out of play for attacks. Really, I love the idea that you can't make a personal attack on someone in a campaign. It should be law. But it's not, and Palin will be the only one of the four ticket-headers who will be off limits. That makes it an unfair advantage for the Republicans, and thus cheating.

Nothing against Palin and her family. But really, what the Republicans have done is make an issue of a non-issue, while unintentionally making an issue of what should be a non-issue turned issue by the limelight, yet decreeing it a non-issue. (Everybody got that?)

OK, in slow-mo...

The Republicans are going to play up Palin's son's deployment to Iraq, wrongly proclaiming: "He's a soldier, serving his country, and which makes him and his parents patriots!"

His decision to serve, has nothing to do with Palin. Her son made the decision on his own, and did so AFTER Palin started her political career.

The Reds (LOL... I think that's what I should call them from now on.) Will also push the son's service as the end result of good parenting.

But there is a major problem... two, actually. What about the un-wed pregnant teenage daughter? Somebody was too busy with work to pay attention to the kids -- and that works as a strike against both men and women. Beyond that, the Reds will declare her parenting skills out of bounds, because her youngest child -- an infant -- has Down's Syndrome.

You can't be selective here. This is not poker. It's all in, or all out. Either there can be mention of the children at all, or everything is fair game -- like the fact that she hid her most recent pregnancy for eight months.

In summary, while we are currently living out the final 8 years of Michael Moore's "Canadian Bacon" (where America declares war because war boosts the President's approval ratings), we are not potentially looking at 4 more years of life based on a movie. Should McCain win, we will be living in Aaron Sorkin's "The American Preisdent" (where Richard Dreyfus claims to have lost an election because he could run a personal attack campaign because Michael Douglas was a widower).



Democrats: I love the choice of Joe Biden as Obama's running mate. I am sorry that Hillary was denied a shot at history, but in the end it SHOULD not come down to who will bring you more votes... it SHOULD come down to who will bring you more votes, because they are the right person for the job.

Now, this blog could turn very biased, very quick. Let's just say that about a year ago, before the primaries, I visited a website where I put in my personal opinions on the issues and how much they matter to me. The website matched me with my ideal Presidential Candidate.

It was Joe Biden.

Ironically, about a week before I took that online survey, I had the opportunity to meet Senator Biden here in Omaha, when he made a speech on campus. I also met his neice -- who was a very lovely young woman. I really enjoyed the extended conversation I had with her, and wish I could continue to talk to her -- but, let's face it... not going to happen. That is, unless she stumbles across this blog and remembers who I am.

Back on topic, Joe Biden's stance on many issues are in line with mine. Therefore, to keep this blog from becoming overwhelmingly one-sided, I will end the conversation over Biden, here.

Bet we can look at why I didn't think Clinton was a good choice as a Vice President. I'm sure Senator Obama would agree that Clinton was worthy of the nomination, both for President and Vice President. I am also certain that, should he win, he will have a place for her.

I'm thinking Secretary of State.

Despite the fact that a family friend of mine frequently refers to Clinton's husband as "that sleazeball Razorback", and despite Bill's lapses in moral judgement, the Clintons were able to do something I still have not seen President Bush (II) do. When it came to foreign dignitaries, the Clintons were true diplomats -- and did nothing to embarrass themselves.

There is no doubt in my mind that the Clintons' diplomacy, not to mention their experience in the White House would best serve the country on the international stage.



So there you have it. My opinions on the choices for Vice President in this year's election.

Now, I'm off to figure out how Major League Baseball allowed half the league to have Labor Day off. It used to be that everybody played on Labor Day, and ESPN used to show three or four games.

Humbug.