If there is one thing these last 2 weeks has cemented in my mind, it is that I am fairly liberal-minded.  I have known that already, but if there was any doubt.  Whatever doubt Obama hadn’t extinguished, Palin finished off (Jon Stewart helped a bit, too).  But I guess because I spent more time talking about the negatives and the issues that I took with what I heard of late, the code that tries to figure out what keywords to base advertising on saw a saturation of GOP-related information.  I guess if I was eagerly committed to shifing this tide, I could just write a whole paragraph or 2 of Barrack Obama over and over again (or I could actually write something positive about him … worth considering).  But I’m not that petty – after all, the advertisers are paying me, not vice versa.  So if a couple of pennies from McCain’s warchest end up trickling into this liberal’s bank account, so be it.  I mean, if by some chance he manages to get elected, I’m a long way from that $5 million middle-class mark so I’ve better start working on getting there.

I tried to watch W. the other night and couldn’t get through more than a minute of it before changing the channel.  There is a reason that his approval rating is so low and I’m reminded of it every time he opens his mouth.  But last night I DID manage to watch all of Sarah Palin’s introductory/acceptance speech.  I listened, I kept an open mind, and in the end I still found myself annoyed and rolling my eyes.  It was a good speech and she said the right things to convince the conservative base that she is the right person for the job.  But she didn’t say anything that would woo me in their direction.  While I’m glad that she said “no thanks” to the ‘Bridge to Nowhere’, there is no amount of rhetoric that will convince me that drilling for more oil anywhere is a good idea (much like I could not be convinced that hunting for terrorists and WMDs in Iraq was a good idea).  I also am not convinced that there is such a thing as clean coal technology.

I can see that the experience card is going to get played a lot on both sides from now until November.  But I think from an objective standpoint, you have to agree that Obama’s experience is more extensive than Palin’s.  While yes, mayor and governor jobs are more similar to the presidency than legislative positions, Obama has probably had to handle and be aware of more president-related issues in his 4 years in the senate than Palin may have been exposed to in the remote state of Alaska.  Also, the comparison is generally moot since Palin is only the VP – for that job, legislative experience is actually more valuable than executive experience which makes Biden the better VP candidate in this election.  And while McCain inarguably has way more experience than Obama in his Senate tenure, that doesn’t change the fact that Obama echos the sentiments I care about and is gunning for changes I want to see on more levels than McCain.

So in the end, Palin can convey well what is written for her (she should be able to being a former beauty queen and sportscaster), but she doesn’t convey any of the ideals with which I agree and there is nothing in her experience or character to which I’m drawn (though some might say she at least has the MILF-factor – not sure that is enough for a vote).  It seems to me that the GOP is opting to use her to say the harsher things that McCain shouldn’t say himself.  But I’d imagine we will see the same tactic from the Democrats in the weeks to come, and I think it will have more weight coming from someone who is actually in the trenches and knows a thing or two about DC.  People may argue about whether Palin was properly vetted, at this point, I’m not going to complain.  Based on what I’ve seen, McCain and Co. are doing what they need to do to secure this election … for Obama.

I’ve been watching coverage of the DNC spottily (word?).  Last night I happened to catch some of Larry King Live afterward and had the misfortune of watching a certain Ms. Elizabeth Joyce talk about her “Just Say No Deal” stance in regard to Obama.  From what I could gather from the garbled responses to King’s questions, it seems that she feels (as a prior Hillary supporter) she has been shafted by the DNC and not given adequate reason to give her vote to Barrack.

Visiting her website, I understand her stance better now, but I will get to that shortly.  The muddled statements that came out of her mouth last night was quasi-scrutable and unfortunately prime SNL fodder (possibly their next cold open).  She kept making analogies about ‘not voting on the first date’ and ‘being a good, Catholic democrat from Boston’, etc.  She also eluded to how Obama supporters and DNC representatives have not made an adequate effort to ask for her vote, have not reached out to her or her fellow Clinton supports (citing the fact that when in the lobby of the convention center wearing her Clinton pin, no one made an effort to include her).  All of which left me wondering what she thought might happen: does she expect Obama to apologize for how his staffer might have acted towards the other side during the primary race?  Does she expect Obama to specifically address former Clinton supporters and ask them to switch to his side?  These questions were not clearly answered during the interview.

Upon reading some of the more coherent ramblings on her website, it seems that her concerns about Obama are more legitimate than she expressed during her appearance on Larry King Live (which I’ve since seen appear on YouTube and read pans about on various sites).  She is concerned about his lack of experience or his lack of a long or strong voting record as signs that he is fit and ready to be president.  I can appreciate those concerns, I see those points, but I guess I’ve also come to accept our voting process as, in general, a choice between the lesser of 2 evils.  And given the choice between a green-horn who seems to parrot my ideals and a septuagenarian POW who might not survive a whole term, I’m currently leaning towards the one who might at least TRY to make the changes I’d like to see in the world (hint:  his name rhymes with “Yo’ Mama”).

While I believe that everyone is entitled to their opinions and the right to have a say in these elections through voting, and I also believe that everyone is entitled to pick a candidate by whatever method suits them (I had a theory about tie-color for a while, but it seems they caught on to that one), I don’t know that this girl’s mind is straight on this issue.  If one has issues with a candidate, fine – don’t vote for that candidate.  But I don’t agree with the practice of voting AGAINST a candidate.  I don’t think that one should vote for someone simply because they don’t like the other guy (in the least, you should like the guy you vote for more than the guy you vote against).

So if she truly IS a staunch Democrat, voting Republican out of spite towards the Democratic candidate doesn’t really make sense.  It is like switching from Oreo’s to Chips Ahoy because you are mad that they started putting less cream in Oreo’s (this didn’t actually happen to my knowledge – this is just an analogy … I could go for some cookies) – sure you might be making a statement against Oreo’s, but you are now completely depriving yourself of cream.  And for all you know, if Chips Ahoy surpasses Oreo’s in sales, they could enact policies that reduce cream availablility even further and even cause all cookie prices to double to fund misguided efforts to build new cookie factories in areas that are currently on fire. (too far?  maybe)

Anyway, I worry that there are enough misguided individuals like Ms. Joyce out there in the heartland that yet a 3rd election could go in a direction that I personally feel defies logic.  I hope that this time, I’m wrong.  But I’ve been unpleasantly disappointed more than once already.