As the election approaches it appears as if the President or his major party opponent may have a more difficult road to (re-)election than he or his partisans initially anticipated. So we see some bloggers, political leaders or media personalities scurrying forth to invoke fear and hurl insults against independent minded people who are not going to vote for either major party candidate. They congratulate themselves on their supposed wisdom in their voting choice and demand that others do likewise. They trot out their favorite policy hobby horse to convince you that you MUST vote for their candidate. If that doesn't work then they insult your intelligence or question your membership in whatever involuntary racial/gender group to which you happen to belong. Finally if all this fails to persuade you they'll trot out the spectre of the OTHER GUY getting to make appointments to the Supreme Court and talk ominously about the 2000 election. If their guy wins they will be back to mock you as a loser. And if their guy loses they will rush back to spew putrid vitriol in your general direction. Nader and Perot loom large as betes noires for them.
Ho-hum. My conscience and vote belong to me. Nobody else. Anyone who lectures me that I am somehow "wasting" my vote by not voting for their favored candidate can kindly go attempt an aeronautical anatomical impossibility with a rapidly revolving tasty pastry. One man with courage makes a majority. To thine own self be true. Whether you want to vote for either major party candidate, any small party candidate, write in a candidate, or refrain from voting altogether, it is your sacred right to express your political preference. That's right, your political preference, not anyone else's. You have the right to dissent. Your vote is not owed to anyone except yourself. Remember that regardless who you support next week. Vote or do not vote as you like. Someone who tries to convince you that your vote won't count unless you vote as THEY see fit is really nothing more than a bully. Don't let their fear determine your vote. Your issues and beliefs are just as important as anyone else's. Stand up for what you believe. Let your conscience be your guide. Let justice be done though the heavens fall.
You know you have a substance abuse problem when Robert Downey Jr. says he's worried about your drug intake.
You know you have a weight issue when Oprah says you could stand to drop a few pounds.
You know you have an extremist issue when Pat FREAKING Robertson says you've gone too far to the Right.
That's right. Pat FREAKING Robertson, the hateful religious fraud last heard claiming that the Haitian earthquake was punishment for a slave revolt inspired by the devil and that divorcing a spouse with Alzheimers is the right thing to do thinks that the current GOP candidates are slipping too far to the right, and that this will hurt the GOP in the general election.
I believe it was Lyndon Johnson that said, ‘Don’t these people realize if they push me over to an extreme position I’ll lose the election?’” he said. “Those people in the Republican primary have got to lay off of this stuff. They’re forcing their leaders, the frontrunners, into positions that will mean they lose the general election…They’ve got to stop this! It’s just so counterproductive!
I mean think about this. Pat FREAKING Robertson thinks the GOP candidates are too far to the Right.
This is the man who
Had lucrative diamond mining business with former Liberian President and accused war criminal Charles Taylor and former Zairean dictator Mobutu Sese Seko.
Agreed with Jerry Falwell that liberals, atheists and feminists had brought on 9-11 as God's Punishment. Robertson explicitly also made his own statement that his God had lifted his protection from the US as a result of engaging in or allowing non-Pat Robertson approved activities.
Thinks that Ariel Sharon suffered a stroke as God's Punishment for being willing to cede land to the Palestinians.
Thinks that "gay days" at Disneyworld will bring about God's Punishment
Said that Hurricane Katrina was likely God's Punishment for US abortion policies.
Predicted terrorist mass killings in 2007 in the US as, you guessed it, God's Punishment.
However the sun shines on a dog's butt every now and again. And even a nutty loon (or is it a loony nut) like Pat FREAKING Robertsonmay have a point. Perhaps the Republicans would be well advised to listen to the crazy "religious" man in this instance. Because if anyone knows crazy ugly extremism, it's Pat FREAKING Robertson. If you're guzzling down shots at the Crazy Bar and Robertson pulls your coat to whisper, "Hey, you've had enough to drink-let's go", maybe you should step away from the counter and not call for another round.
QUESTIONS
Do you think Robertson is correct and Republicans are tilting too far to the Right?
Were you aware of Robertson's previous loony statements? Does this mean the evangelicals may not turn out in force for the eventual Republican nominee?
