Friday, October 27, 2006

Bottom line voting

There's a lot of noise out there. We have a major election coming up, yet the main stories are about whether Harold Ford's dad said 'cracker or tracker', whether Michael J. Fox was off his meds or not, whether Bob Corker's radio ad was using jungle drums in the background or whether Webb is a closet pedophile.

Politics as usual? Yep, but the issues are not usual. How will these people actually vote?

Pass another cookie to the Ford campaign, they've jumped all over this construct. These guys are good. Thing is, yes, Iraq is in the balance, but Ford's 'new direction' doesn't seem to lead anywhere. Matter of fact, the party as a whole is all over the place on where that new direction might lead. If the dems win power they'll perhaps have enough votes to influence war funding, Bush's anti-terror measures, or even the future of the Bush presidency itself. What will they do?

The left doesn't mind bringing up social issues like embryonic stem cell research (which they mischaracterize) but are fairly mum about fixing Social Security or gay marriage. Gun control, anyone? How about food control? The space program.

And what of the tax cuts? Can the middle class expect a backdoor tax increase? Have the dems campaigned on Robin-Hooding the rich? I've not heard much.

Perhaps they are talking, but just like a conversation at a Metallica concert, we just can't hear them amidst the white noise blasting from the 24/7 sensationalism press. Or maybe the candidates themselves are creating the white noise to keep from talking about anything real.

Whatever it is, one thing's clear. When the dust settles on November 7 we'll be left with the people we chose. The mud-slinging and posturing will be over. Personally speaking, while none of the candidates on our local ballot are very impressive I plan to hold my nose and vote anyway. The only thing I can think to do is to research their voting records, if they have one, and weigh that against their intangibles, then let 'er rip.

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