Political Ramblings

I haven't done a political post this election cycle yet but two events I saw on Friday had me thinking a lot about the upcoming presidential election. I saw an anti-war protest encompassing two city street corners. The protesters were wearing orange jumpsuits, some were kneeling , blindfolded in a position of subordination, mimicking the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, holding & posting signs reading, "Close Guantanamo Bay", "Impeach Bush", "Stop Torture", etc. A police vehicle was nearby, hopefully, for the safety of pedestrians trying to weave their way through the protest to cross the streets. The other event was a gathering of Ron Paul supporters, nearer to our home. One of the supporters was wearing military fatigues. They were holding campaign signs and passing out literature to cars stopped at a red light. I took one because I'm intrigued by Paul & his grassroots campaign. It reminds me of Nader.
This is the first presidential election in 50 years that doesn't have an incumbent running, or a VP running. I guess that means the field should be wide open. Matt & I watched the caucus election results this week. The thing that intrigued me the most was people's abilities to vote based on their emotions & not facts. Oprah comes out campaigning for Obama & his numbers double. I personally don't care what Oprah thinks. She's way too know-it-all for me but apparently there are thousands of people in this country that worship the ground she walks on & depend on her to help them pick the next president. Obama has charisma, as Matt & I like to call it, but does anyone really know what his platform is, beside bringing the troops home now. We all know just how realistic that is. Obama promises to give us hope and change. Sounds good to me. Or to anyone for that matter.
The media doesn't care for Romney because he's boring. There's nothing to talk about. No skeletons in the closet. Except his religion, of course. Mitt Romney comes in second in two states & the media is wiping their feet on his campaign mat. You would think that coming in second in two states would be better than coming in first in one & 4th in another. He's being consistent. I was listening to a conservative talk show and the host said that he goes to republican events and people tell him they won't vote for Romney because he's a Mormon. . They think he's a mental case because he believes in a celestial afterlife. Pathetic. Even more pathetic is the fact that they won't or can't admit that they are bigots. Huckabee has been endorsed by Chuck Norris who just happens to be Dubya's favorite actor. I'm sorry, but does Huckabee really think anyone is going to vote for him because he has Walker, Texas Ranger out stumping for him. Please.
The other thing I find quite revealing is the media's influence on the voters. An interview with Hillary Clinton crying (!) is played relentlessly over tv & she pulls a win put in New Hampshire where a few days before she was trailing badly. So much for feminism but should we be surprised. Bill Clinton seemed to cry a lot when he was in trouble. Hillary's being deserted by all of her old pals. The unions have all but forgotten her. Ironically (?), Sidney Blumenthal, one of her aides whose been around since Bill was in office, was arrested for DWI in New Hampshire & hmmm, it didn't become public until days later. Edwards is as fake as ever. I honestly think he is the most artificial and politician I have ever seen. That's all I have to say about him.
I had gotten off the political bandwagon for awhile. I used the excuse of family responsibility but the truth is I started to abhor the negativity, pandering, and fakeness of politicians. They always seem to say just what they think we want to hear. There's so much vile out there. Who would ever want to run for political office? I've become bitter, I guess. Hopefully, this election cycle can buck me up. Make me start to be more positive. I'm anxious about my children's future and although we can't control much we can do our small parts. Pay attention to this race. It will be a pinnacle election.