The Struggle in our Home

By Matt:

My wife is really struggling this political season. Like me, she is very passionate about politics. She pays attention. She educates herself. She listens well to other points of view. Like me, she is a registered Republican, but she doesn’t vote a straight ticket and I’d say she is quite a bit more moderate than I am.

But, this year, she is still very torn on how to vote for President. Here is why. My wife is incredibly passionate about reproductive rights for women and families here in South Dakota and across the country. At the same time, she doesn’t like to vote strictly on one issue.

Obviously she is voting NO on Initiated Measure 11 – the South Dakota abortion ban. She knows this is a personal matter that needs to be left up to women and their families. Government can’t know all the unique circumstances that would bring a woman to consider terminiating a pregnancy, and that’s why my wife (and I) believe that this procedure cannot be banned.

Bless my wife’s heart, she had such high hopes for who McCain would select as a VP. In her mind, it would even things out if McCain selected someone like Tom Ridge or Joe Liberman. Not that a VP really has that much pull in things such as these, but she saw it as a safe way to vote Republican. Needless to say, she’s incredibly disappointed in the choice of Palin. As a woman, my wife is excited to have another woman on the ticket, but to have such an anti-abortion rights candidate is not making it any easier on her.

I, on the other hand, am having no problems choosing how I will vote. While I am a supporter of reproductive justice, there are other issues much more important to me.

It’ll be interesting to see how this all unfolds for both my wife and the nation.

Who for VP?

By Mark:

Well it’s always nice to pull further ahead in an election without doing anything and that’s exactly the situation Barack Obama is in today after John McCain chose Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate. I hope I spelled her name right, I’ve never heard of her before.

Okay now if I’m not mistaken, McCain is on record many times picking on Obama’s experience or, in McCain’s opinion, his lack there of. Well Senator, you just picked a running mate whose resume highlight is being the governor of ALASKA!

So Senator McCain, in response to your repeated question on the campaign trail, I believe it goes something like ‘Who do you want answering the phone in the White House at 3 a.m.?’ Well to be honest sir, I would prefer Obama or Joe Biden, not you or Sarah Palin.

Oops, I think the McCain campaign can’t dwell on experience anymore.

Oh and to set the record straight, Joe Biden is one of the least wealthy senators in office.

Et tu McCain?

By Matt:

Throughout the DNC this week, commentators have been speculating on whom McCain’s V.P. will be and when will he announce it. Kudos to McCain for not disrupting Obama’s acceptance spectacle last night-instead he let the pyrotechnics, and the sobbing fans at the Parthenon show a key contrast to a demographic that Obama has struggled to get to bow down to him. And with today’s V.P. announcement by McCain, I’m fairly certain this demographic never will.

This demographic of which I speak is not women, although McCain’s choice certainly can’t hurt in that department. This demographic is the blue collar outdoorsmen. You know, the same demographic that Obama so effectively isolated and insulted last spring in San Francisco when he was secretly recorded saying: “these people just cling to their guns.” Governor Palin could not be more perfect to appeal to this group. She and her husband are not millionaires like Obama, Biden or even McCain. They are an upper-middle class family that enjoys hunting, fishing, and snowmobiling. Now, these hobbies alone certainly do not qualify her to be the Vice President but they sure put Obama and his continued elitist demeanor in the crosshairs of this demographic.

More from the DNC!

By Mark:

Once again it was a great night to be an Obama/Biden supporter and a not so good night to be a McCain/Overmatched supporter Wednesday. In case you can’t tell, I’m a huge Joe Biden fan. When the Democratic Primaries began, Biden was who I wanted to get the nomination.

Bill Clinton followed up Hillary’s speech the previous night with another Clinton home run Wednesday night. It’s fair to say the Clinton’s owned the Pepsi Center – now we’ll see if Barack Obama can rock Invesco Field the way he said Hillary rocked the crowd inside the Pepsi Center.

President Clinton was asked to speak and warm up the crowd for Biden Wednesday, however Biden’s son, Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, didn’t need any help setting the tone for his dad as he delivered an incredible introduction.

Beau Biden is an interesting story. As he mentioned last night, he won’t be able to see his dad become Vice President in November because he will be fighting in Iraq as he is a Captain with the Delaware Army National Guard. Though he won’t be in the U.S. for the election, I say Beau did a fine job helping his dad’s election efforts last night. It’s not easy to upstage Bill Clinton, but I thought Beau Biden did.

Matt I think you may agree with me on this one but one thing that constantly annoys the heck out of me watching the convention is the overabundance of media “experts” drawing their own conclusions about the night playing towards their own agenda.

People should watch the conventions, and in the coming months the debates, and draw their own conclusions, not adopt the conclusions the media “experts” come up with for you. After all, this is a Presidential Election, not American Idol, so I don’t think we need judges weighing in after the performances to sway the votes. No record contract at stake here, no this is for being the leader of the free world, so please make your own judgments rather than accepting Wolf Blitzer’s as your own.

18 Million Cracks

By Matt:

Anyone who has a wife, mother, daughter, niece, aunt etc…should be thanking Hillary Clinton. Thanking her for almost breaking through that glass ceiling that is American politics and the run for the White House.

And, anyone who is anti-Obama should also be thanking Hillary. Thanking her for the 18 million cracks that she put in that glass ceiling and for those countless cracks she so effectively exposed in Obama’s armor. Those cracks have led to McCain ads that show Hillary saying: "McCain has a lifetime of experience and Senator Obama has a speech that he gave in 2002.” Quotes like that have even led one of her delegates to appear in commercial in support of McCain!!! THANK YOU-the G.O.P. could not have said it nor done it any better.

Most of all, I would like to thank Hillary for Bill. Even tremendous actors like Baldwin and Streisand cannot coach him to take the disgusted look off his face when he speaks about Obama! Priceless!!!! It leads me to believe that last night when she said she and Obama "are on the same team” that she was actually talking about 2012 when I’m sure she will be pushing for him to be her V.P. And if that is the case let me show my gratitude by offering some advice. In 2012 hire different acting coaches - maybe Steven Spielberg or Julia Roberts - because it’s going to take a lot of coaching to make Michelle Obama actually look happy!

Thoughts on the DNC

By Mark:

Well the Democratic Convention is underway in Denver and I’m happy with what we’ve seen the first two days. First, let me start by criticizing CNN’s coverage of day one of the convention.
The Democrats decided to play on emotion to kick things off and, contrary to what many CNN “experts” thought, I believe it was a great tactic. Between Teddy Kennedy taking the stage with his current condition and Michelle Obama finally opening up and talking about the Barack Obama she knows I thought it was an incredible night. You can’t beat that kind of emotion, especially Kennedy’s speech, wow, what a man.

In honor of the U.S. Open beginning this week in New York, I would like to summarize day two on Tuesday as game, set, and match. Hillary Clinton showed the most class I’ve ever seen from her in her speech that will surely put Obama/Biden back on top in the polls.

Why you may ask? Though polls this week showed a deadlock between Obama and McCain at 47%, Obama’s biggest battle seemed to be Clinton supporters that had remained loyal to their candidate rather than their party and were not yet supporting Obama. Well guess what McCain fans (I think I’m talking to you here Matt), Hillary gave Obama a giant boost in the polls last night, closing the unity gap, and I can assure you Obama has regained his lead. And the beautiful thing about it all is that the Republicans don’t have a heavy hitter like Hillary for their convention in Minneapolis next week. And you haven’t even been smacked around by Bill Clinton yet, that’s on the ticket Wednesday night.

We all know that politics during election time can be a dishonest game. But there is one key point the Democrats are playing on that is not a lie, it’s a cold hard fact. That fact is that in eight years, McCain has voted with President Bush more than 90% of the time. Ouch! In a country that is desperate for change, McCain’s stances seem to be very much the same. That’s why my favorite Hillary quote from Tuesday night was ‘No way. Now How. No McCain.’

Don’t miss Bill Clinton and Joe Biden at the convention Wednesday night!