Picking a President - My New Blog

Hello! How are you? Well, I hope. I’m doing okay, myself. The kids are growing, work is keeping me busy, and we’re getting along as well as we can right now.

I’m posting this message about an important topic: the Presidential Election.

My goal here is not to offend or antagonize anyone and I apologize up front if you do not share my views and you are offended. The last thing I would want to do tick anyone off. I care too much about people to do that intentionally. That is not my goal. I don’t want to strain any of my relationships with anyone who I know may read this blog but at the same time I feel like I need to try to do something here. My goal is to try to make people aware of what is going on with the Presidential Election. I want to get out the truth about the election and get that truth out to as many people as possible. I’m hoping you’ll take the time to read this post (it is a bit long) and will help me out with what I’m trying to do. What is it I’m trying to do? Well, please read on and you’ll see. I need your help to try to accomplish something. What is it? When you get to the bottom of the post you will see. Please read on.

I’m writing about something that has really been bothering me for a few weeks and I feel like I need to try to do something about it.

For quite some time I’ve been paying attention to what’s going on with the Presidential election process. I’ve been doing my best to educate myself on what the issues are and where the candidates stand so I can make a good, informed decision when choosing someone to be our next President on November 4th. I still have a lot of research to do but I feel pretty good about what I know right now. And as I watch what is going on, I’m getting increasingly frustrated by the campaign being put on by John McCain and the Republicans. I’ve seen his attack ads that are just FULL of FLAT OUT LIES and disinformation about Barack Obama and his positions and plans. They are portraying in their ads exaggerations, false outrage, inaccuracies, and untruths about Barack Obama. I have a great fear right now that people are going to be duped by these ads and I want to do my best to prevent that from happening. I need to get the message out that the Republicans are trying to trick you into voting for John McCain by lying to you about Barack Obama. You need to be informed of what the truth is before you believe what these people are telling you.

But who am I to tell you any of this?

• Hi, my name is Andy.
• I’m a 35 year old white male.
• I live in the suburbs outside of Philadelphia, PA.
• I’m married and a father of three children, all under the age of 6.
• I have a full time job as a staff member in a technical field. I’m not a manager or an executive. Just standard workforce.
• I make decent money, enough to provide for my family, just enough to pay our bills and put food on the table, although usually that food is hot dogs, macaroni & cheese, and peanut butter and jelly. We’re not fancy and cannot afford to be.
• We don’t have a lot of extravagances. We shop a lot at Walmart and Target because we that’s what we can afford (as opposed to Macy’s or Nordstrom) but only buy things we need, not what we want.
• We couldn’t afford an extended family vacation this year.
• My car is an 8 year old station wagon. We own it and can’t afford a new one. We’re hoping it lasts for a while. We also have a used minivan that we are currently paying off and had to buy when we were expecting our 3rd child. It’s not much but it’s what we could (barely) afford. If we hadn’t been blessed with our third child, we’d probably still have my old SUV, which was paid for, but we needed something bigger.
• My wife and I rarely buy new things for ourselves as we really cannot afford them.
• I worry about the future of my children and the future of my country.
• Basically I’m an average, middle-class American. We’re getting by, but barely. (Have I made that clear enough?)

I hope that gives you a general idea of who I am. Nobody special. Just an average Joe trying to get by.


I don’t think of myself as a Republican or a Democrat… I think of myself as an American. I am a registered Independent. But if I had to say, I’d say my tendencies do tend to lean more towards the liberal, but not completely. However, if I thought a Republican candidate more matched my opinions, I’d have no problem with voting for a Republican. As a matter of fact, I have in the past.

In 1992, I voted for George Bush against Bill Clinton. He lost.

In 1996, I voted for Bob Dole against Bill Clinton. He lost.

In 2000, I voted for George W. Bush against Al Gore. He won… and I wish I could take that back. We all know how that has gone.

So in 2004, I voted for John Kerry. Again, he lost, and I was devastated. I really couldn’t understand how this country could possibly have wanted to keep George Bush in office with the job he had done and his general bumbling in office. His first term was a disaster and his second term has been even worse. It’s been a disaster. An unmitigated disaster.

And now John McCain wants to basically continue the Bush administration policies. He wants to keep the Bush tax cuts that give relief to the rich and businesses. He wants to keep fighting in Iraq with no end target, meaning we’ll continue to spend billions in Iraq instead of here in the US and continue to sacrifice American lives unnecessarily. He has said he thinks the economy is fine and is completely out of touch with what the average American is going through. He owns seven homes. Seven! He doesn’t use a computer or email. Don’t you think a modern President in the 21st century should know how to send an email?

Then he selects Sarah Palin as his VP choice. Is there anyone that truly thinks that this woman is qualified to be Vice President of the United States? I’ve heard so many say people they like her. Why? I’m sure she’s a nice person. Congrats, she’s a working mom of five. Let me just say here that Barack Obama is a working parent, too, and Joe Biden had to be a single working parent to two young boys after his wife was tragically killed in the 1970s. I don’t think she should get any special credence here just because she’s a mother instead of a father. There are lots of working parents in this country. Should they be VP too?

I’m sure as Governor of Alaska and mayor of a small town she has some political experience. But did anyone watch that interview with Charlie Gibson on ABC?

• She said she felt like she was prepared to deal with international issues because Russia is next to Alaska. What?
• She didn’t have any answers that weren’t rhetoric or prepared statements. Is it any wonder the Republicans have been keeping her away from interviewers? She doesn’t appear capable of thinking on her own. She was obviously prepared by the campaign for this interview.
• She’s only been out of North America once and has never met with another country’s heads of state. I’ve been to Canada and Mexico, too. Apparently I’m as qualified on foreign affairs as she is! Maybe more so! I’ve also been to the Caribbean. I’ve been to more places out of the country than she has! I can see Vladimir Putin and Hugo Chavez licking their chops right now waiting to deal with her.
• She knows nothing about foreign policy or anything about politics outside of Alaska. Well, other than about collecting earmarks for Alaska from Washington. Did you know that Alaska has the highest amount of earmark money per person of any state in the country? The state that she’s governor of? Basically that means more of the money you pay in taxes has been sent to Alaska per person than any other state. I think I heard somewhere (and I could be wrong on this) that it’s ten times the national average. And this is the running mate of a man who is running on a platform of being AGAINST earmarks. This is change? This is reform?
• She’s been saying she told Congress that she didn’t want the money for the Bridge to Nowhere. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravina_Island_Bridge) Of course, one of her platforms when she ran for governor was that she supported the bridge. Then when she realized Congress turned her down, she decided they wouldn’t build the bridge. Isn’t that convenient? She decided to change her mind only when it looked like the project was going to fail and then look made herself look like a hero for reformers by making people think she said “no”. And she keeps saying that! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzaIEgLYDgY
  

And, no offense to John McCain, but he’s not getting any younger. He’s 72 right now and does not have the greatest history of health (he had melanoma in 2000). I don’t mean to be ageist here as I really don’t want to be as my overall opinions of McCain, his campaign, and his overall abilities have nothing to do with his age, but when you pick someone so unqualified to be your VP, it’s something you have to consider. Does anyone really want Sarah Palin to be a heartbeat away from being President of the United States? From having to make decisions for our military, international policy, our economy, etc.? That’s a VERY scary thought for me.

And worst of all? There are people who back Hillary Clinton who are now saying they’ll vote for John McCain because of Sarah Palin. Then why were you backing Hillary to begin with? Just because she’s a woman? Are there really people out there who will vote for someone JUST because she is a woman? Regardless of their positions on the issues? Their policies are COMPLETE OPPOSITES of each other. Clinton and Palin have as much in common as heaven and hell. They couldn’t be further apart. And now Hillary backers want to vote for John McCain because of Sarah Palin? It boggles my mind!

This VP selection of Palin was complete pandering at the worst levels. And it seems like it is working, which is what scares me the most. Can anyone explain this to me? Barack Obama is closer to Hillary Clinton’s positions. And she’s backing Obama now! Why wouldn’t people who backed Hillary listen to her now and support Obama? I don’t get that.

Moving on…

Then there are the political ads I keep seeing, which is what really has my ire up and why I felt like I had to send this message and try to do something. To try to get some truth out there after all of McCain’s ads that are full of lies. There are a few things I have seen in these ads I want to point out:

• Taxes. I’ve seen a McCain ad trying to scare everyone by saying that Obama wants to raise taxes. The ad makes it seem like he wants to raise everyone’s taxes. This is a FLAT OUT LIE! It’s been very well documented that Obama wants to raise taxes on people making more than $250,000 a year and companies that send jobs overseas. For people making less than that (which is more than 90% of the country) he actually wants to lower taxes. Wouldn’t that be a good thing for the majority of Americans? The rich are taxed at a lower rate than the average American anyway. Why should the middle-class have to pay a higher tax rate than someone who can afford it? I couldn’t find the commercial about this, but I did find this video that explains both candidates tax plans: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23GSvv5v2yI. So unless you are rich (which most of us are not) voting for Obama is going to help you in the pocket. McCain will only help the wealthy.
• Lipstick on a pig. I saw another ad just this week about Obama’s lipstick on a pig comment. Did you see this “event” that the McCain campaign is referring to? Obama made a comment about John McCain’s policy plans. Obama called the plan “putting lipstick on a pig”. It is a common saying that he was basically using to say that McCain’s plan is the same as the mess of a plan that the Bush Administration currently has in place but they are presenting it differently. But it’s still the same bad thing. Here’s the comment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPd4yk0x-eg The Republicans took this completely innocuous comment and twisted to say that Obama was calling Sarah Palin a pig, saying he was being disrespectful of her! He did not say that! It’s another FLAT OUT LIE by the Republicans. Here’s the ad: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LK4oWay1VbE.
• Energy. I saw another ad accusing Barack Obama of being personally to blame for the gas prices in this country. Huh? This was out months ago. Here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hOS9AMGWck (This link also includes a discussion of the ad. Here’s just the ad, if that’s all you want to watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiTpS4MK3D8 ) How can Barack Obama be personally responsible for gas prices? Simple: he’s not. He has nothing to do with gas prices. ANOTHER LIE by the Republicans trying to dupe impressionable people into believing it is true. They also say he’s against offshore drilling as a solution to our energy problems. Well, there’s a problem with this. Offshore drilling will not solve our energy problems now. It would take years for us to feel any effect from additional offshore drilling. What Obama wants to do is invest in alternative fuel sources, which should be the way to go and should have gone to a long time ago but the Bush administration has prevented it. The days of oil as our primary fuel source are as dead as the dinosaurs that created it and it’s a direction we need to move in. While additional oil drilling might help eventually, it will take a LONG time to setup and will do nothing now. We really need to invest in new fuel sources to reduce our dependency on foreign oil and the whims of hostile regimes in the Middle East. This is Barack Obama’s goal.
• Celebrity. I’ve seen an ad mocking Obama’s celebrity status. It compares him to Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. It was saying he’s basically nothing more than a celebrity. C’mon. Really? This was after he did a speech in Germany a few months back and tens of thousands of people showed up. Let me ask: After how unpopular George Bush has been around the world and how he’s turned so many countries against America with his actions, would it be a bad thing to have a President who was actually liked outside of the US and maybe could actually garner good relationships with other countries? I think that’s a good thing. I found the ad in this video from The View. The ad is right at the beginning and then you can watch the ladies from The View go at it for a while, if you would like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Jl9zSQtNCM I suddenly really like Joy Behar.
• Sex education. The final ad I want to mention is one that says Obama wants to teach sex education to kindergarteners. This is again false. He wanted kindergartners to be taught about sexual predators and what is right and wrong from a young child’s level. Not the birds and the bees! Here’s the only ad I could find showing that one… it is a little heavy handed on McCain (which I don’t mind, but I feel I should warn you): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBemJ3H9rAM .

These are just a few examples.

I could say a lot more, but I want to wrap this up with my final thoughts and let you know what I’d like to do.

So why am I sending this to you? Well, I’m hoping you either agree with me or that, if you are on the fence about whom to choose, that maybe I can help you move in the direction of voting for Barack Obama. Maybe if you decided to go with McCain based on the ads you have seen, reading what I have to said will change your mind. If you are an unapologetic conservative or Republican then you probably have already made up your mind about who you are voting for and anything I say probably won’t change your opinion. But for the rest of us, there are things to think about.

The McCain campaign has shown that they are going to continue to lie and misinform the uninformed about Barack Obama and his plans by running untruthful ads. They are trying to distract the American public from the issues because they know that they are too close to the Bush Administration and that, if people realized that, it will not be good for them. I haven’t seen an ad yet where John McCain says what he is for. They are all about what Obama is against. The Republicans are going to exaggerate, lie, and try to convince the American public that what their attack ads are saying is the truth, which it is not. They are running a disgusting, dishonorable campaign and we need to do what we can to prevent this tactic from succeeding and get Barack Obama elected to the White House this fall.

So what can you do? What I’m asking you to do is simple: please send this blog to everyone you know. Maybe by getting the word out about what the Republicans are doing, we can make a difference. Maybe those that have not made up their mind yet will. Maybe those who have been with McCain for the wrong reasons will realize what the Republicans are doing and change their mind. Together, by spreading the word, we might have a chance to make a difference.

What else will I be doing? I have created this blog. I’ve called it “Picking a President” on blogger.com (http://pickingapresident.blogspot.com/). I have posted this message here and will be posting my other thoughts on the election. I’ll be doing research and finding out more about the candidates and their policies. I’ll be posting my thoughts and findings on the blog. I’ll be happy to share anything you’d like my opinions on. And I’ll be fair. If I like or do not like something about either candidate, I’ll be up front about it. I’ll post my honest feelings on both candidates and their running mates as I find out more. I want to be educated. Maybe I’ll find out something that will change my mind. I invite you all to visit the blog and read what I post and post your own thoughts, as well. I invite you to send me your comments and anything you’d like me to read or know about either candidate. I want to be fair here, although right now I can tell you I trust Barack Obama to be much more honest than I do John McCain because of the ads he’s been putting out there. (Did you see him on The View the other day? Joy Behar called him out on the ads being untrue and John McCain continued to state they were true. Does that make you feel like you can trust him to be honest?) If you have something you want me to know about either candidate, please just send me the link to where you found it, as long as it’s from an independent site. I’ll be glad to review it and share it with others with my honest thoughts. I’ll also leave open the option to post on anything I get, so just know that. I’ll post on here as often as I can, but of course I have a job and a family and that may keep me from doing as much as I want to, but I’ll do my best. I’m not a trained writer or any kind of political expert. I only know what I think and feel and that’s what I’ll write about, in the best possible prose that I can type.

I just ask for one thing: I am putting myself out there a bit. I would ask that you please refrain from any personal attacks. If you disagree with me, that’s fine and I don’t mind you telling me so and why. I am completely open to discussion about the candidates and issues but I would not level personal attacks on anyone and I would ask you to please exhibit the same restraint. As I said at the beginning of this message my intention is not to offend anyone or disregard your beliefs. I would ask you to do the same for me. I just want to explore and share the issues. Thank you for being respectful.

In the meantime, I hope you’ll take the time yourself to educate yourself about the candidates. I hope you’ll watch the debates that will happen over the next month or so and read up on the issues and candidates’ policies. I hope that once you learn about the candidates and where they stand, you’ll make an educated decision on who you want to vote for in the general election. I would hope that your decision would be made based on the issues and your feelings and thoughts on them, not on the basis of race, gender, age, or any other trait of the candidates that does not decide whether the candidates would be able to perform their job as President of the United States in a manner that is best for our country.

I have nothing personally to gain from starting this blog and trying to organize this effort. The only thing I might gain is some peace of mind if Barack Obama gets elected. I’m just an average American who wants what is best for our country. I hope you do, too. I believe in what’s best for the majority, not the few. I don’t think a man running a dishonest campaign with the basic policies of the current administration is the best way to go. John McCain getting elected gives me fears that things will not get better in this country. Barack Obama gives me hope for the future and I truly hope he gets elected to be our next President.

If you have taken the time to read this entire post, I thank you. It was a lot to read but I believe this election to be the most important in our country’s history. I’m hoping you’ll forward this message to the people you know and join me in trying to get Barack Obama elected. And start spreading the word. It starts here.

Let me leave you with these final videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioy90nF2anI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEtZlR3zp4c

Thanks.

Andy Taylor