This presidential election is sadly overshadowing everything else happening in my life right now.  While I plan to go out and enjoy the fall foliage while it is still at its peak, I wonder if these last few days before the election will mark the last time I’ll ever be able to enjoy an autumn season in a relatively free country again.

It’s often hard to take the predictions of doomsday and the end of the world seriously, regardless of who’s making it, and I’m sure Obama supporters think those of us who oppose him are overreacting with our dire warnings of utter catastrophe and disaster, should he be elected.

I just saw a movie though called Empire of the Sun (starring an adolescent Christian Bale), and what struck me about the movie was just how quickly everything had changed for one little boy.  One day he was living the good life in a peaceful and affluent town, and then quite literally the next day everything changed, as the Japanese invaded and turned his world upside down.  Now all the rights he had previously enjoyed as a British National disappeared into thin air, and he ultimately ended up in an internment camp, where he would reside for the entire duration of World War 2.

It can happen that quickly, without warning.  And yet, even while it’s happening, we still can’t believe it.  But it’s that lack of belief that will ultimately doom us, the overconfidence in thinking our rights just can’t be taken away from us that easily, the idea that even if we make a bad choice for a President, it won’t be so bad that our nation as we know it would come to an end.

And that’s the problem.  What I cannot stand more than anything is having to deal with people’s utter refusal to listen to reason.  It brings out the absolute worst in me.  They are so blind in their hatred and so unforgivably ignorant that they are willing to back a horse that they in truth know very, very little about.  A horse that may in fact be a trojan horse.

Just how is it that a guy with a resume as thin as air beats someone like Hillary, who despite her turbulent past is a seasoned politician and has a record for being a centrist and appealing to a broader base of voters?

How does a guy who breaks his campaign promise to use public financing and instead collects over half a billion dollars in campaign funds (refusing to disclose who’s been donating to him) not raise any red flags with his supporters or the media?

How is it that a politician from Chicago who has associated with and befriended some of the most extreme radical figures in America (denouncing their past acts only during an election season, and never before) not cause some of his supporters to be just a little bit uneasy?

How is it that Obama can talk about a “civilian national security force” without voters seeing visions of the Gestapo marching the streets?

How is it that he can evoke adoration and idolization amongst his followers, even while they would all be hard pressed to name any significant accomplishment he’s made prior to running for President?

How does the prospect of a one party system with a possibly filibuster-proof senate and a White House placed in the hands of a man with a mysterious past and an alarmingly extreme voting record not at least give voters pause?

Why do his supporters continue to believe he will cut taxes despite him having no record of cutting taxes before, and especially now that he’s already reneged on several key campaign promises and changed some of his platform positions?  How can he still be considered trustworthy?

We have gone seven years without a terrorist attack, and it wasn’t by sheer luck.  Do Obama’s supporters really believe we’ll continue to be safe as long as Obama doesn’t antagonize the terrorists and play favorites with Israel so much?  Have we so soon forgotten what Iran did with Jimmy Carter?  Will his supporters turn a blind eye to Russia’s own enthusiastic hope in his election, even while they set their murderous eyes on satellite states like Georgia and Poland, or to Iran licking its chops at the prospect of overrunning Iraq should our troops leave prematurely?  Can we really be expected to believe Iran will suddenly cease its nuclear ambitions and calls for Israel’s destruction so long as Obama treats them nicely, or worse, pursues a policy of appeasement?

How can Obama, who hides his belief in reparations for black Americans by using phrases such as “economic justice,” and who has enthusiastically thrown his support behind the machinery of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae be trusted to handle the financial crisis effectively and without bias?

How can we turn a blind eye to what happened to Joe the Plumber, who saw his privacy and rights as a citizen violated because he asked a question?  How can we not believe that this wouldn’t happen on a much larger scale should Obama become President?

I know there is a lot to dislike about McCain, but there is one thing that should never be in doubt: he truly loves his country.  Whether his ideas are wrong or not, there can be no mistake that they are borne out of his sense of patriotism and his desire for America to continue growing and thriving as the greatest nation on Earth.

As for Obama, just the opposite could be said of him.  I do not believe at all that he loves America.  Instead, what he loves is the idea of what he thinks America should BE.  He sees this nation now as being inherently evil, and believes himself to be the man who can mold and shape it into an image more befitting his own political ideology and belief system, one that is steeped deeply in the anti-American sentiments expressed by so many his mentors (including Reverend Wright), no matter how much he might deny it.  While McCain wants America to continue being America, Barack Obama instead wants it to become Europe, complete with a nanny state that coddles its citizenship, yet at the price of eroding some of our most basic and cherished individual rights.  What we might gain in free health care, we will most assuredly lose in freedom.  As government increases, liberty decreases.  This has been the lesson of history, and behooves us to always remember it.

So I am making one final plea to those intending to vote for Obama; one final appeal to your sense of reason.  Do not vote for this man.  I speak as one who is a dyed in the wool conservative, yet one who could have lived with Hillary Clinton being President.  The most powerful elements of the Democratic Party subverted the will of its voters and nominated someone whom they could project their own hidden agenda onto, a man whose past we still know very little about.  You must see this.

And as much as you might loathe McCain, he is the devil we know, and I would prefer the devil we know over the devil we don’t know any day of the week.

But alas, I suspect I’m writing all this in vain, knowing you will not be persuaded, and indeed I count myself an absolute failure here, in that I have never been able to convince anyone of anything, no matter how hard I try.  But the wool has been pulled over your eyes, and you will not see.  You will pull the lever with your mind clouded with hatred for Bush and all things Republican, or perhaps because you believed the campaign slogan of “hope and change” and your heart always skips a beat at the sound of Obama’s baritone voice.  Having tossed in your lot with the great unknown, you will go about your life’s routines, blissfully unaware of the “Japanese” that may even now be lying in wait in the trenches, biding their time.

God help us all.

Note: I wonder when they’ll realize I actually DID vote, only I voted for the other guy.

Tonight’s debate was in a word, boooooooooooooooooooring!

Both men did much better than last time, but I was hoping against hope that McCain would come out and basically slice Obama’s balls off, cram them down his throat and then pull it out his ass.

Didn’t quite happen that way.  The biggest disappointment was McCain’s refusal to smack Obama around over his association with Bill Ayers, an unrepentant Marxist radical who had participated in several bombing acts during the 60s and 70s.  That very association alone should have disqualified Obama from even seeking political office, much less the Presidency.

Other than that though, McCain performed exceedingly well regarding questions about the economy and the financial crisis.  He got specific and outlined his policy in a very clear manner that definitively helped distinguish how his approach would differ from Obama’s were he elected.  Looking at this debate from an objective perspective, I can understand why McCain didn’t attack Obama with the Ayers connection, because ultimately it would have been a distraction for undecided voters, who likely would have seen this as an indication that McCain didn’t really have a plan and thus could only resort to attacking Obama personally (an argument the Obama camp has been using by the way to discredit McCain.)  But tonight McCain was able to dispel that notion quite effectively, and far from abandoning the Ayers issue, that task has instead been delegated to the Pitbull Wearing Lipstick.    In a way this could actually be a solid strategy, allowing McCain to present himself as a personable leader willing to be bipartisan for the good of the country, while at the same time ripping into Obama over his ties to 60s radicalism and Marxism.

Though I consider the debate to be a draw, there are two things that hurt Obama which may ultimately have a significant impact on the race.  As stated before, his campaign had been feeding the media circuits the notion that McCain’s platform had no substance and could only resort to attacking Obama on a personal level.  That lowered the bar for McCain and provided a much needed boon to help attract undecided voters that McCain was easily able to take advantage of.  The second thing was Obama’s attempt to circumvent the rules so he could respond to some of McCain’s arguments against him.  Tom Brokaw shut him down, but he proceeded to rebut McCain’s arguments anyway in a future question.  It made him look petty and arrogant, as if the rules didn’t apply to him, and it’s the very sort of thing that tends to stick in people’s minds.  People will largely forget this debate and what was said, but that confrontation between Brokaw and Obama will almost certainly be remembered, and in a way that will reflect badly on Obama.

So what’s the End Game Scenario?  The race will tighten up into a nail biting nightmare that will bring unwelcome memories of 2000, but… Obama will ultimately come out the victor by a razor thin margin.

Maybe. 

7-11 has this thing going where you can vote for your candidate by either picking a coffee cup for Satan’s Mini-Me (Obama) or for Sarah Palin’s running mate.

I went in this morning and noticed a shriveled up looking hag picking a cup for Obama.  I picked up a McCain cup and cheerfully poured my coffee.  When she glanced my way I held the cup up, smiled and gave her a wink.

The icy cold glare I got in return made me think we probably weren’t going to be Bingo buddies anytime soon. 

I went to the cash register and noticed a guy in front of me dressed in denim and looking like he just came from a construction site also holding a McCain cup.  He saw me, looked at my cup and nodded.  I nodded back and gave a thumbs up sign.  Great to see members of the resistance still lurking about in this dark blue communist state. 

Seriously, how can people dig up the level of vile spittle-spewing hatred that they have for Sarah Palin?  It’s one thing to disagree with her politics, but hating on her like she’s Satan makes me think you are all completely deranged out of your drug altered minds.  Really, get a life weenies.

Last night I thought she was absolutely magnificent.  I watched the VP debate with the expectation that she wasn’t going to beat Biden on specifics, but on everything else she herself had become the shining city on a hill of dirty politics.  Her invocation of Reagan’s famous “There you go again!” line gave me chills, and every time she winked at the camera… oh man, it was monitor licking time for me. 

I know, I need help. 

But really, she performed about as well as anyone who’s only had 5 weeks to get up to speed could possibly perform against a 35-year debating veteran.  I know some weenies are whining that she didn’t answer many of the questions, but it was obvious the questions were skewed towards Biden’s strengths, and Ifill (the moderator) kept giving him the last word on everything as well.  Not a single question on energy or anything that Lady Sarah clearly would have been very informed about, forcing Palin to inject her expertise on issues like energy policy into questions that were otherwise unrelated.  This was the only time she could speak directly to the people unedited, and she took advantage of this venue as much as she could.  With a twinkle in her eye and a smile that could melt all but the most darkened hearts of liberal scumsuckers, she exuded charisma and warmth such as we have not seen since, well, Ronald Reagan.

Which is not to say Biden didn’t perform well.  I thought he did very well in fact, but the problem was he was lying his ASS off.   Oh my God, seriously.  Almost everything he said was either a misstatement or a flat out whopper of a fibby wibby lie.  There was no way Palin could ever address it all, especially since it’d be impossible for her to know absolutely everything McCain had been doing in the Senate for the past 3 decades, thus being able to call Biden on the carpet whenever he misrepresented McCain’s record.

That more than anything though would explain her poor performance in the previous interviews she had with Couric and Gibson.  She wouldn’t have to work so hard to remember talking points if McCain wasn’t such a damned RINO to begin with.  And that was the problem, she couldn’t really speak for herself, she had to speak for McMaverick, and half the time figuring out where he stood on things was like trying to nail jello to the wall.  It’s the first time she’s ever had to do something like that, and it showed.  But she’s learning though, and she is learning at an incredibly fast rate.  Her star is still rising, but she already is, in many ways, a superstar. 

I think what I liked most about this debate is how her family easily mingled with Biden’s afterwards.  I’ve never seen that before, and it was heartwarming to see two otherwise opposing candidates warm up to each other like that.  There was genuine affability there, and it makes me wonder, “Why can’t Congress be more like this?”

Ultimately, I think Lady Sarah succeeded in finally pushing the issues about her being fit for national office off the table.  Now, the race is all about McCain versus Obama.  It’s the final stretch, and the fate of our country and whether it can avoid the horrors of an Obama Presidency now lies in the hands of a cantankerous old fartsie wart.

God help us all. 

It’s no secret that I’ve been raging against all things estrogen for the better part of the year now, having given up on the female race as being entirely irredeemable and utterly given over to the cause of evil.

And then someone like Sarah Palin comes along and helps me restore my faith somewhat.  Maybe, just maybe, all is not completely lost.

McCain’s astonishing VP pick (and current governor of Alaska) is gorgeous, articulate, smart, conservative, accomplished, and by all appearances a devout Christian too.  She’s also a member of the NRA.    Oh, and she’s gorgeous as well.  Did I mention she’s gorgeous? 

In short, she’s everything I could have ever wanted in a woman.  Someone who embraces her femininity, but is still a tomboy of sorts who would grind you to ashes if you ever did her dirty.  They don’t call her Barracuda for nothing after all.    More importantly, her attractive appeal is grounded in her intelligence and principled beliefs, demonstrated in one part by in her refusal to abort her child she knew would be born with Down’s syndrome.  Meanwhile others who profess to be Christians have no moral aversion to supporting a candidate like the Obamanation, who stops just short of endorsing mass infancitide. 

Being awash in a sea of underwhelming females who spend half their days with their noses buried in Vogue magazines and their heads up Obama’s goomie gumbos, Palin arrives like a breath of fresh air.

Thank you Sarah Palin.  Thank you for helping me believe once again for the impossible, that there may just be another one like you out there, and that maybe someday soon, God will finally bring us together.