Sorry for taking-over the "Democrats to Blame" thread... I'll drop my partisan-rant from continuing in THAT thread.

As you know by now, I am not good at clearly and concisely articulating my points. Not a strong suit of mine. But let me try.

The idea of someone blindly backing a political candidate based on their affiliation to a specific party seems counter-productive to me.

So If You were a fan of Hillary... or a fan of Mike Huckabee ... and either of you bought-into what a WRONG CHOICE it would be if you (as a Republican) voted for McCain... (or Democrat) voted for Obama... how do you rectify the idea that you must now stand-behind someone who just WEEKS AGO, you did not agree with...?

How is that logical...?

I look at the threads on JUST THIS MESSAGE BOARD ALONE... and the partisan lines really do block people from being objective. It's unreal.

It's even scarier on a national level. The Democrats believe everything negative about McCain... the Republicans believe everything negative about Obama...

Then there are folks like me who don't buy into the standard "BS" of Democrats ALWAYS do "this" and Republicans ALWAYS do "that"... always looking to place the blame across the border to the other party - and not seeing that in the bigger picture, this partisan bickering is NOT HELPING when sh*t hits the fan.

YES - it is helpful to know historically HOW something went wrong... but from a logical and factual viewpoint... not a skewed and distilled generalization that blames the other party.

Republicans AND Democrats are people... and PEOPLE make mistakes - and sometimes BECAUSE of their political affiliation.

Let's just pretend for a moment that the article about blaming the Democrats for our current financial mess was unbiased and factual. That would still make my point... that a WRONG decision were made JUST to keep partisan politics chugging-along as usual.

I am fed-up with holier-than-thou individuals thinking that because they "choose a side" and stick with it... that THAT is somehow BETTER than keeping an open mind and being able to be flexible.

NEVER... have I been "unable to decide"... it's not ABOUT being incapable... it's about being UNWILLING to blindly THROW MY VOTE AWAY because of political affiliation, when the OTHER candidate may actually be the BETTER choice.

If you're a die-hard Democrat or Republican... more power to ya... but from someone who does not follow those paths - you BOTH really look stupid when you sit there and blame each-other for everything and continue to elect people within those parties that you may not have backed weeks ago.

- - flame away - -

I know I'm an easy target.

Anyone remember Stockdale...?

He ran as the independent v.p. candidate for Perot...?

Do most of you remember what happened to that man during the race...? He was attacked by both parties (and media) for things that were irrelevant and out-of-context.

Stockdale was a VERY smart man - well-read, very philosophical, had a lot to offer... BUT... because his words were used against him, he was painted as some crazy, senile man.

He was not.

His words "Who am I? Why am I here?" were words he chose to introduce himself to the american people, as if to say... I've never seen this man before... who is he and why should I vote for him...? But no... it was taken out of context and made to look like he was a confused man who didn't know where he was.

And MANY more examples...

Now... granted... the following is the opinion of comedian Dennis Miller - of whom, I'm not a huge fan, but I found this quote attributed to Mr. Miller:

"Now I know (Stockdale's name has) become a buzzword in this culture for doddering old man, but let's look at the record, folks. The guy was the first guy in and the last guy out of Vietnam, a war that many Americans, including our present President, did not want to dirty their hands with. The reason he had to turn his hearing aid on at that debate is because those fucking animals knocked his eardrums out when he wouldn't spill his guts. He teaches philosophy at Stanford University, he's a brilliant, sensitive, courageous man. And yet he committed the one unpardonable sin in our culture: he was bad on television."

Stockdale is just ONE example of how a GOOD MAN who could potentially do GREAT THINGS for this country, gets knocked-down by "spin" and dirty politics.

Okay... Perot didn't HELP the situation either... Hehehe... but hopefully, you get my point.

Partisanship is good. Partisanship is necessary. Partisanship is nothing new.

Where threads go wrong is when a topic is stated, and the opposing view merely starts debating a different topic to redirect the conversation to an area his party is more "defend-able" on.

For the record, that's all I was speaking up against in that other thread.

All I mean to say is that if you disagree with something said in an initial post of a thread, debate it! Point out where it is wrong and have a conversation.

I disagree that real conversations between opposing viewpoints can't be had here.

As for the traditional "no one is going to convince anyone else so why bother" take that I hear so often here, the people that post here (or anywhere else) are a small minority of the people who read here (or anywhere else) and your argument, the way you express it, and the sources and/or information you use to back it up, really CAN influence a reader who is on the fence, or simply has never thought about the topic before.

Well then, Vote McCain, he's crossed the aisle more than anyone! ;-)

I've always enjoyed this site's quizzes and recommend them to most people.

govote.org