Recently I’ve had a person I consider a friend
point out that I am wound kinda tight on the issue about McCain
possibly nominating a Democrat, or a Pro-Choice candidate for VP…Well…I
am pretty wound up on the subject because I've been slapped around for
three days on three different blogs. I’ve been called childish, stupid,
an extreme right winger…and GOD knows how many other foul names favored
by the Nutroots and the KOSacks by people who should be my allies!
What makes this so infuriating is that McCain turned me around at the Saddle Back debate. For the very first time, not only could I see myself voting
for McCain without simultaneously soiling my pants and puking on my shoes...but I could actually see myself voting for him with a
certain level of comfort...and even a little enthusiasm...He won me
over with his conviction and ready answers that were clearly not
rehearsed and obviously came from principled positions that he holds
for real and not because some handler made him say them. I've got a
blog floating around in my head that I should have written Monday about
how McCain had so mopped the floor with the Golden Child that he
deserved a second look.
My idea was to point out how the policies I disagreed with McCain on
were held by W and I’d still vote for W over His Eminence: Lord Obama,
Wouldn’t I?…I mean…My biggest problem with McCain is his championing
McCain Fiengold…but W signed it didn’t he?…Despite that, I voted for W
in 2004 after he’d signed it didn’t I?
His maniacal support for
Amnesty ran a close second to that in the opposition sweepstakes…But W
had tried to foist that on us! I’d still vote for W over
Obama…wouldn’t I?
I disagreed with McCain's Gang of 14 betrayal…but he
couldn’t pull that on us again as President could he?...In fact, It
would be fun to have that little trick pulled on him by Little Lord
Fauntleroy, (Lidsey Graham) while he tried to work something through the Senate…It would
certainly be entertaining to see him get a taste of his own medicine.
Finally, I can’t stand his AGW positions and his Cap & Trade
Tax…but we could work to stop that….couldn’t we?
In short, I had a cathartic moment of realization that my main
objection to McCain had been his arrogance and condescension in the way
he’d poked me in the eyes all these years…Saturday broke through all
that…I saw the man behind the arrogance and know it all attitude…I know
those traits are still there…but I could see past it all. In short…I
could see myself actually working to see him elected.
But a funny thing happened on the way to my blog post! Someone
decided it would be a good idea to float the idea that McCain is about
to appoint a Pro-Choice VP…and might even appoint a Democrat.
I blew it
off when I first heard it as a crackpot idea that’s been thrown out
there every time a Republican is running the first time as the Republican
nominee, i.e. that he should appoint a liberal vice president to attract independents.
I don’t know if it was a trial balloon floated by the McCain Campaign
to see if they could get away with it? If it was…We’re in real trouble
because if they’re really so incompetent over there to think it a good
idea to throw this out there a few short days after he’d scored such a
slam dunk, someone needs their head examined.
Was it the
Nutroots and the MSM trying to tamp down the momentum McCain gained
after Saddleback? I mean…He not only lead in the polls after
Saddleback…he lead by 5 points…maybe that was it...the Nutroots and the
MSM...it's certainly diabolical enough to have been from them...and it
certainly played to their schemes!
Then came the blog posts, some from people I consider friends with
the theme that McCain should nominate Lieberman, or Ridge, or whoever
he well pleases because those pro lifers on the “Far Right” will
vote for McCain anyway because they don’t want to see Obama elected.
(Wanna Bet?)
Of course when someone steps out with the simple warning that
nominating someone of the Pro-Choice crowd, much less a Democrat, (no matter how pro war he might be) would lose the election
for McCain, the old Shut up and get in line crowd steps out and starts
name calling and telling us all how stupid we are for “threatening” to withhold our vote if McCain makes such a foolish move!
So, instead of being allowed to bask in my catharsis and whistle
along happily with the thoughts of President McCain bouncing around in
my head…I’m right back to all the conflict and turmoil that’s nagged at
me about McCain since he clinched the nomination.
I’ve said all that to say this…Thanks to Rick Warren who I’d trashed
pretty thoroughly prior to the Saddleback debate, I’m solidly in the
vote McCain camp and I’m ready to not only vote for him…but give money
and proactively work to see him elected. The only thing now that would
change that is probably a Pro Choice VP and Definitely a Democrat as
VP.
And for those of you accusing me and others of tantrums and
threats…let me make this clear…I’m not throwing a tantrum…I have my
reasons for drawing the line here….one being that Ford’s loss in 76
gave us Reagan, and GHW Bush’s loss in 1992 got us the first Republican
congress in 40 years…the second is that if the Republican Main Street Project types are able to
push us past having a pro-choice nominee for Vice President…they’ll be back in 2012 or
2016 demanding that we elect that Pro-Choice VP as the
nominee for President…finally…If such a nominee is put in place and McCain dies in
office…we’d at least end up with a Pro Choicer as President…or a
Democrat Administration if Lieberman is the VP. I have my reasons and
rationales for my decisions. You might not like them...but they're mine
so you can take your name calling and accusations of whining and
tantrums and stick them where they belong!
Finally I don't advise playing chicken with me or Republicans like me....I’m not making threats…This as a warning and a statement of
fact….I’m stating categorically and without equivocation that I and
millions of pro life voters like me will stay home or will leave the top of the
ticket blank if McCain nominates Lieberman as VP…I’ve come a long way
to get where I am in my support for McCain but this is as
far as I go…If I leave my ballot blank, it won’t be because I picked
this fight…and no amount of accusations and recrimination that I’m
responsible for electing Obama will sway me! I’m not the one
that crossed the line and dared me to honor my word.
That having been said, I don’t think it
will come to that because I think this is a tempest in a tea pot…and I
don’t think McCain is THAT arrogant.
Now…the only question to be answered is who instigated this kerfuffle? The McCain Camp…or was it the Nutroots and the MSM?