Greetings from the battleground state of Virginia. I was 4 years old the last time Virginia was up for grabs. Back then you could only vote once and you had to use your real name. My how things have changed.
I have lived in Virginia my whole life and grew up in a very conservative/Republican area that considered Ronald Reagan a liberal. For the past 10 years I have lived in the very liberal/Democratic town of Charlottesville. I guess you could say I’ve seen both sides of aisle. Amazingly, neither of these distorted perspectives (or perhaps both) have rubbed off on me.
I’ve always said that no matter what, 30% of the people will vote Republican, 30% will vote Democratic, and the reaming 40% will generally vote for the lesser of the two evils. I generally agree with Sean’s recent post about voters often voting against a candidate or a party, but I see something different in this election. Perhaps it is just the battleground state status that has brought energy to the local campaigns, but I sense something else – a genuine excitement about the candidates.
Locally, all the excitement has been about Senator Obama, but that is to be expected. Around the state, according to my family and friends, there is just as much excitement for Senator McCain and especially Governor Palin. Sorry, Joe the Politician, but no one seems to care much about Senator Biden.
Until this year, I’ve always fallen into the 40% that votes for the lessor of evils. This year, I have things I like about both candidates that outweigh the things I dislike about both candidates. In fact, if I had a magic wand that could combine the two, I’d have my guy. He’d be an articulate speaker, a war hero, and have a long history of bucking both his party and Washington politics. He’d be the guy with great international experience and fresh ideas that gives this nation hope once again. He’d be capable of rallying the youth of America and of leading our troops to victory.
If he existed, I’d vote for Senator O’Cain for President.
For those of you who fall within the 30% who will vote for your candidate no matter what, you probably can’t understand how I could be so stupid. Here is the fallacy in your logic: 70% of us think YOU are the one who is misguided.
Teri Lussier says:
Knock me over with a feather, I agree with Dave. And on politics of all things! 😀
>For those of you who fall within the 30% who will vote for your candidate no matter what, you probably can’t understand how I could be so stupid. Here is the fallacy in your logic: 70% of us think YOU are the one who is misguided.
Very nicely said.
October 31, 2008 — 5:34 am
Thomas Hall says:
Completely with you Dave – but I must admit, I prefer McBama. 🙂
October 31, 2008 — 8:24 am
David Shafer says:
Nice!!! Love that 70%!
October 31, 2008 — 8:26 am
Thomas Johnson says:
And 100% of us are destined to disappointment.
October 31, 2008 — 9:17 am
Kam Hubbard says:
For you undecided voters out there: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6HH3UVk0IY
Seriously Senator Obama has been very clear in his intentions: End the war in Iraq, increase the size of government, increase taxes on people who make over $300,000 or over $250,000 or over $200,000 or over $150,000, bring in the fairness doctrine(http://www.businessandmedia.org/printer/2008/20080812160747.aspx), a few liberal Supreme Court justices, etc.
If you like the above vote for Obama/Biden. If not vote for McCain/Palin to best defeat Obama.
October 31, 2008 — 9:39 am
Sean Purcell says:
Dave,
Nice post. Just one thought though:
No matter how great the percentage of people that believe you to be misguided, being right is not a fallacy in logic. 🙂
October 31, 2008 — 9:55 am
Dave Phillips says:
My apologies to Gov. Palin for spelling her name wrong. I’d fix it, but there seems to be some conflict with my computer and the edit function.
Terri, I feel like we are finally bonding, but I’m surprised it is over politics.
Sean, I 100% agree with you 🙂
October 31, 2008 — 12:57 pm
Dan Nappi says:
Sort of like real estate if you could only combine the features of all your favorite homes to make the perfect home, unfortunately it can’t be done.
November 3, 2008 — 1:45 pm