Time to ramble on...
There comes a point when you have to call off an affair and go back to your spouse. I suppose that’s where I am this morning. Ron Paul’s complicity in this newsletter business is troubling, but not all that surprising. If we removed every candidate who’d been involved in something like this (associations, accidental or otherwise, with extremist propaganda) we’d have hardly anyone left. His statement of disavowal left much to be desired, and his failure to come higher than fifth in New Hampshire sealed it. It was fun, I had a good time, but I’m going home.
Home might well mean John McCain at this stage. I don’t agree with him on the war, but I’ve always admired his honesty and his refusal to adopt popular positions for the sake of votes. Of all the candidates remaining in the Republican field, McCain is the only one I could support. I find Romney’s transparent flip-flopping loathsome, and his attempts to curry favor with Michigan disgusting. Mittens, your father was a hell of a governor, but he’s dead and we haven’t seen much of you in the last few decades. I also remember the negative campaign your sister-in-law ran against Carl Levin in the late ’90s. Get out and don’t come back. Huckabee seems a nice enough fellow, but we’re coming off eight years of a nice Christian fellow who believes in big government, and I haven’t enjoyed it much. Rudy’s out there banging the terrordrum for all its worth; this might resonate with the East Coast but out here in the provinces the primary threat to our home is a bank. Thompson’s campaign remains a confused trainwreck; it’s still unclear what he stands for or why he’s running.
The Democrat outcome is disappointing. I don’t like Hillary. I don’t like what she stands for, nor what she represents. All politicians are opportunistic but there’s a fine line between opportunism and snatching for office. This is the latter. Edwards remains cheerfully inoffensive VP material, but there’s apparently some adultery scandal rumbling away in the background. If Romney picks up steam he’ll probably try to smear Edwards over the latter’s career as a tort lawyer.
Obama.
Obama is something else. I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop. I don’t agree with his prescriptions, but I’m compelled by his honesty and forthrightness. I read a write-up somewhere about his work in the Illinois state legislature, where he worked with both parties to pass needed legislation. That’s something I could get behind. The Democratic Party still scares me a little. Their conduct the last six years is a tad short of morally treasonable-bending over backward to support the President, when they knew better; selling out to the media conglomerates. Despite my leanings I never voted Republican until 2004, when I voted against Debbie Stabenow, who cravenly supported the attempt to intervene in the Schiavo case. I couldn’t forgive that, especially after voting for her in 2000, when she narrowly beat “Big” Spence Abraham. I expect moral hypocrisy from the religious right. It’s their stock in trade. It’s disconcerting when the left panders like that.
Funny. Back in the 90s I rolled my eyes whenever the right railed against Clinton and pontificated about “character.” I was very interested in “issues” back then. Something I’ve come to realize is that a candidate’s stance on a given issue is not especially important. The president’s ability to direct legislation is limited; events often intervene which make previous issues irrelevant; the presence of a hostile Congress forces compromise. At some point the character and ability of a candidate matters more than the packaged sound-bite. This is perhaps a different definition of character-not so much morality and religiosity as competency, fidelity, and integrity.