his way to the top of the GOP ticket, there's no getting around the fact. Now Republicans need to decide whether they'll support a man of bad character -- and many terrible policy positions -- as their candidate for President. John Hawkins has decided he just can't do it. The only good news for Republicans is that Barack Obama is a far more dishonest man than even John McCain -- with far worse policy positions.
At this point I still don't know who I'll vote for, or whether or not I'll vote. But I do have an endorsement for President: anyone but Obama.
Barack Obama is the most radical, most dishonest man to run for President in my lifetime. But with Obama there is something more, something very disturbing. When I think about Obama, when I read his memoir, what comes to mind is leftist "idealism" metastasizing into dishonesty, ambition and corruption of the sort portrayed by Robert Penn Warren in his All The King's Men, only with deep, ugly undertones of 60s radicalism, 60's Black Nationalism, and 60s anti-Americanism -- all served up in a really creepy "Manchurian Candidate" dishonesty at Obama's very core, a dishonesty about his fundamental beliefs, a dishonesty, indeed, about his very identity. There are other books which have portrayed leftist "idealism" metastasizing into rot, and these are what I think of when I think of Obama.
So if someone is making a simple choice between Obama and McCain, as Thomas Sowell has said, the choice is an easy one.
But for me as with John Hawkins, the decision to pull the lever for McCain is more than a choice between Obama and McCain, it's a decision to pull the lever for someone who has called my home and lied to me, and has had his wife call my home and lie to me, and has had Pete Wilson call my home and lie to me. You can be an a-hole politician who would damage the country, but don't be an a-hole politician and repeatedly call me home, lie to me and then ask me to vote for you.
UPDATE: Lots of feedback on all this here.
At this point I still don't know who I'll vote for, or whether or not I'll vote. But I do have an endorsement for President: anyone but Obama.
Barack Obama is the most radical, most dishonest man to run for President in my lifetime. But with Obama there is something more, something very disturbing. When I think about Obama, when I read his memoir, what comes to mind is leftist "idealism" metastasizing into dishonesty, ambition and corruption of the sort portrayed by Robert Penn Warren in his All The King's Men, only with deep, ugly undertones of 60s radicalism, 60's Black Nationalism, and 60s anti-Americanism -- all served up in a really creepy "Manchurian Candidate" dishonesty at Obama's very core, a dishonesty about his fundamental beliefs, a dishonesty, indeed, about his very identity. There are other books which have portrayed leftist "idealism" metastasizing into rot, and these are what I think of when I think of Obama.
So if someone is making a simple choice between Obama and McCain, as Thomas Sowell has said, the choice is an easy one.
But for me as with John Hawkins, the decision to pull the lever for McCain is more than a choice between Obama and McCain, it's a decision to pull the lever for someone who has called my home and lied to me, and has had his wife call my home and lie to me, and has had Pete Wilson call my home and lie to me. You can be an a-hole politician who would damage the country, but don't be an a-hole politician and repeatedly call me home, lie to me and then ask me to vote for you.
UPDATE: Lots of feedback on all this here.