The Real Question

I knew I had crossed the insanity threshold a while ago. For the past two weeks, sleeping has become a near impossibility for me. I've been tense, tired and obsessed with up to the minute coverage of politics and news - as I'm sure it is no surprise to my five readers that glance at our pages from time to time.

But now that the third debate has wound down, I think I will be able to relax just a tad. People that still don't know who they're voting for are clearly not concerned with issues. As evidenced by the Daily Show clip below, they are looking for the candidates to "say something different". Which, as we know, happens in politics ALL. THE. TIME.


I have had a lot of problems with the McCain campaign and have been filled with some of the irrational hate I daresay inspires some of the loonies at your average Palin red-meat rally. But when I took a step back and looked at why I'm so upset, I am able to some it up in one sentence.

What happened to John McCain?

McCain, as much as I am pained to admit it now, actually had accomplished some items of merit prior to his 2000 bid. He was appealing to a moderate crowd and rejecting the crazy right-wingers that have personified the GOP as of late. He used to be a voice of reason on some extremely important issues and had a moral high ground that Bush could never equal. But McCain made a decision. He wanted to be president and was seeing the sand slip from that hour glass at warp speed. It slapped on that ring of potential power and the life has slowly been draining from him ever since.

Even in this campaign, when he's making his arguments and accusations against Obama that have been proven time and again to be untrue - you can see in his eyes that he is almost pained to say it. I view his cringe at the audience members screaming "Terrorist!" as the death rattle of his draining integrity.


McCain has sacrificed a great deal for our country and his heroism isn't anything to balk at. But he has decided that the presidency is more important than his ability to appeal to the wider American public. It started with accepting endorsements from the fundamentalists he once denounced. It grew has he recruited the same people that engineered the demise of his 2000 campaign. And, for me, the selection of Sarah Palin was the final severing of that chord to stand on the side of fear mongering and moral judgment. And my reaction is to wonder, what happened to that public servant who had so much potential? I don't see the John McCain I knew in his campaign anymore. I see an old man who feels the election slipping away and who feels impotent with so much at stake for American. I shudder for our country if this is the sacrifice we require from our politicians - particularly if this final bargan with fate miraculasly gets McCain into the White House.