Wednesday, September 10, 2008

A New Low for a Man and His Party

This post is written primarly for any conservative or undecided voters.

I don't feel the need to try to maintain a balanced or dispassionate perspective when I hear garbage like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVLQhRiEXZs

In the above 30 second ad, John McCain accuses Barack Obama of fighting to achieve "comprehensive sex education for kindergartners". McCain calls this Obama's "one accomplishment" in education.

The truth is, this piece of legislation was designed simply to teach these young kids just enough to know when they were being sexually abused. In other words, this was not a pro-sex education law, this was an anti-pedophilia law.

Anyone out there that still supports the McCain campaign needs to ask why they feel the need to resort to such blatant and disgusting lies.

We have a severe energy crisis in this country, a failing public education system, record budget deficits and two wars to fight. Instead of telling you where he would lead the United States, John McCain is spending time, money and energy trying to convince you that Barack Obama wants to teach your 5 year old all about sex.

Why would he and his party resort to such a tactic? If you are still considering voting for him, you need to ask yourself that question.

Here is my own personal answer: the once proud party of Lincoln, T. Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan and even Newt Gingrich - the one that most reasonable people at least minimally respected (and many proudly supported) - is gone.

This country needs an honorable conservative political party.

Today, we do not have one.

If you ever want to see one again, you first must show those that have stolen its mantle the door.

Even if I did not support Barack Obama, I would no longer be able to bring myself to vote for John McCain - and I say that as someone who, only eight or nine months ago, would have probably voted for him over Hillary Clinton.

4 comments:

James F Barry said...

Jared, you struck gold again. Lincoln, TR, and Reagan would be wondering where it all went. It is ironic that the three Presidents you mentioned as the Titans of the party were all great orators. Now, the GOP is up against an equally great orator and they'll do whatever they can to keep him out of office.

They dismiss Obama as "pie in the sky." These three Giants were equally idealistic in their eras: keeping the Union together when separation was all but imminent; making the US a global powerhouse when it had third tier clout; and bringing down the USSR when there was almost zero intelligence to support that the end was near.

Sounds like big ideas and big challenges is just what big Presidents need. It starts with a new vision. What is McCain's?

Unknown said...

Reagan welcomed with open arms the fundamentalist Christian insanity and backward-looking medievalist values that have destroyed the last vestiges of the Republican Party's respectability. I spit on his grave.

Jared said...

While I think Reagan is vastly overrated, I don't think he can be blamed for the current state of the party - probably not even for laying the groundwork for it. And if he did, I agree with James that he would not like what it looks like today.

I could be wrong, but to my knowledge, Reagan didn't rely on the wedge issues that Rove needed to elect W in 2000 and most especially in 2004. He rode the hell out of the lower taxes bit - but back then, he was dead right as marginal tax rates were 70% for every dollar above $200K. He might probably harped too much on the "welfare queen" bit too - but from a policy standpoint, he was right as Bill Clinton agreed in 1996.

He also maintained largely respectful and productive relationships with the Democratic controlled house and senate. And while he probably did welcome some negative elements into the party, to my knowledge, he did not let them rule him like Bush has done and McCain is now doing. In this respect, he was similar to Democrats that put up with the worst on Kos and MoveOn, he didnt let them sit down at the policy design tables to a great extent.

Am I wrong here? The point I want to make is that Reagan wasn't destructively ruthless as the Republicans have been in the last 8years. If they have to hurt the country to avoid losing power, so be it. I dont think Reagan was like that.

Flaws, yes. Bad intentions due to unabashed hubris and greed, no.

Unknown said...

I really dislike Ronald Reagan, but I'll concede that he was not as mean-spirited as the current inheritors of his party. I think the real architect of the modern Republican insanity is Newt Gingrich. He whipped the GOP into a frenzy in 1994, and they haven't looked back.