Another bait and switch

Back in '99, I was only halfheartedly interested in the pending 2000 Presidential election. The candidate succeeding Bill Clinton was kind of a douchebag, and on the right there were a number of front-runners who were mostly bland players. I honestly didn't care who won--it was six of one, half a dozen of the other. The one candidate I did like a lot was Sen. John McCain--seemingly the last of the old-school Republicans, whose campaign was derailed almost entirely through the machinations of someone I now know as one of the most despicable Americans I can think of, Karl Rove. I was still somewhat intrigued by the end of the election debacle by the prospect of having someone who campaigned as a moderate Republican as President. One might even say I was hopeful that the change from a Democrat to Republican administration would be overall beneficial--much as a gene pool needs an infusion of new blood every so often--even though I knew there would be things I disagreed with, and I was (rightly, as it turns out) concerned about the prospect of both the Presidency and Congress being controlled by a single party.

Of course, mere months later my hopes were dashed. From September 11th, 2001 onward, this administration has proven itself to be one of the most avaricious and despicable displays of greed and incompetence in the history of the US. Even Jimmy Carter, though presiding over a highly troubled administration, has redeemed himself in the years since, proving to be a formidible statesman, peacemaker, and altruist--an accomplisment that George W. Bush will match only on the coldest day in hell.

Until recently I had high hopes that McCain would make a comeback and take the White House back for the American people, forging a government based on balance and unity rather than corporatism and theocracy. Though it troubled me greatly, I brushed aside his unflinching support for Bush in the 2004 election cycle as a necessary evil if he wanted to remain relevant in the coming years. But after this, I can do so no longer. He has dropped all pretenses of remaining a moderate Republican in the next presidential election and begun pandering to the far right in earnest, even lowering himself so far as to speak at Liberty University, the last bastion of the "oppressed Christian." Frankly, I no more trust McCain now than I would trust Dick Cheney to turn Halliburton into the worlds largest non-profit dedicated to eliminating world hunger.

Whoever pushed him to this political strategy ought to be hung by their toenails. You're not going to outdo people like Bill Frist in pandering to the theocon vote, Senator. All you're doing now is alienating the 80% of the country that doesn't believe that white Christian males have a divine mandate to take over the world.