Ben’s Blog

Several days ago I mentioned that McCain’s campaign was trying to arrange an endorsement from Ron Paul, the candidate I really wanted to vote for. It’s fair to say those efforts failed, as last week Dr. Paul endorsed Cynthia McKinney (Green) (really???), Bob Barr (Libertarian), Ralph Nader (Independent), and Chuck Baldwin (Constitution). Apparently all four agreed to a policy statement “balancing budgets, bring troops home, personal liberties and investigating the Federal Reserve” (full statement). He also expressed his frustration with the current two-party system.

For the record, I agree with Dr. Paul completely on three of the four issues in the statement. We differ somewhat on the war in Iraq. I agree the we shouldn’t have gone there in the first place, but now that we’ve messed things up, I think we have an obligation to fix them the best we can.

I also completely agree with Dr. Paul that our current two-party system is broken beyond repair. We need a better system. The current system doesn’t give “third-party candidates” a fair shot. As the election gets closer, I’ll have to decide whether to vote for McCain, the better of the two choices we’ve been given, or one of the third-party candidates as a “protest vote.” Mississippi will almost certainly go Republican without my vote, so I better start investigating Bob Barr and Chuck Baldwin.

I watched Palin’s and McCain’s speeches last week, just as I watched Biden’s and Obama’s the week before. I thought they did a good job. Yes, she might have been a little too sarcastic in places, but that’s how political races go these days, and the public doesn’t seem to mind. McCain has never been accused of being eloquent, but I was impressed with his speech.

This week several polls show McCain either tied with or ahead of Obama. However, this is likely a post-convention bump and will level out in the next couple of weeks. However, it’s likely once they do, McCain will still be ahead of where he was pre-convention.

The public seems to like Palin. I was beginning to question the pick after a few days of bad news on the Palin front, but she seems to have been the right pick, at least for now.

If you look at state-by-state polls and consider electoral votes (that is how we elect presidents) Obama still has a lead. CNN shows the count at 243-189 in Obama’s favor. You need 270 to win. They show Nevada, Colorado, Missouri, Michigan, Ohio, Florida, Virginia, and New Hampshire still up in the air. McCain would need most of those to win.

So, it’s not looking great for McCain, but a lot can happen in two months.

I’m voting for John McCain in November, but I wish I could vote for Ron Paul. He’s the first presidential candidate that’s ever really gotten me excited. I don’t agree with him on every issue, but I agree with his overall theme of limited government. He seems to be in public office for the good of the people, not for himself. He’s an interesting guy. If you don’t know much about him, check out his Wikipedia article (link above).

Obviously he didn’t win the Republican primary, but this week he has been hosting the “Rally for the Republic” in Minneapolis at the same time the Republicans are having their convention across the river in St. Paul. Some of the media are calling it a “counter convention.” CNN has a good article about what’s been going on.

Apparently McCain’s people are talking to Dr. Paul about backing him. So far it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen. I can’t blame Dr. Paul for not wanting to endorse McCain. There are definitely some wide gaps in where they stand on the issues.

However, in my mind there is no doubt which candidate is closer to Ron Paul on the issues, and it’s John McCain. I don’t see how a Ron Paul supporter could even consider voting for Obama.

Over the past week or so both Presidential candidates have chosen their running mate. I think both made good choices for their particular situation.

Obama needed someone with experience, particularly in foreign policy. Joe Biden gives him that, and he seems to play well with the crowds too.

McCain chose Sarah Palin, the virtually unknown governor of Alaska. She’s a good choice in my opinion, though riskier than Biden. I think McCain had to take a risk though. Some say that if McCain wanted a woman he should have chosen Kay Bailey Hutchison. Palin is relatively inexperienced, though she is a conservative “maverick,” which fits with McCain’s campaign. A lot of the pundits don’t like the pick, but so far the public at large seems to be positive about the pick. Her stance on the issues and her reputation as a reformer more than makes up for her lack of experience in my opinion.

In addition to her inexperience, she is risky is because of an investigation into her firing of Alaska’s Public Safety Commissioner. She allegedly fired him because he wouldn’t fire her ex-brother-in-law. The investigation is supposed to wrap up in October, a month before the election. Presumably McCain believes her side of the story.

I’ll be voting for McCain in November. That will come as no surprise to those that know where I stand on some issues. McCain is certainly not perfect, but I can’t even consider Obama given some of his views. In the next couple of weeks I’ll explain in some detail why I’m voting for McCain.