Tuesday, January 22, 2008

 

Mind Made Up -- Fred for President -- But is it Too Late?

Well, it seems that I've finally seen the light. The only thing is that after so much thought and careful consideration, I have chosen a candidate who conventional wisdom says will be dropping out of the race any day now. In the weeks that have passed I've started to distrust FOX News, which I never thought I would. How could I not realize that I was taking cues left and right from what the "experts" had to say?

I started out with great enthusiasm for Fred Thompson. But then the news said that he was lazy, unmotivated, dead in the water. Then the focus was on Huckabee and how he was the underdog, great at winning debates, inspiring the masses, etc. Then Bhutto was assassinated and every hour, several times an hour, every "expert" said that McCain was now going to get a boost. And he did. I didn't realize right away how much I was being manipulated. Until now.

The more I look into McCain and Huckabee's actual records, which everyone seems to push to the way-side, the more disenchanted I become. Why are FOX news and their contributors devoting so much energy touting McCain as the front-runner and the candidate most likely to beat Hillary? Have Republicans become so hell-bent on defeating Hillary that they are willing to endorse someone so much like her just to beat her? Where is the sense in that?

Then there is Huckabee. Another man who says one thing and does another. He raised taxes in Arkansas but we're supposed to believe he will lower them for the whole country. When he talks, he sounds more like a liberal sympathizer than a candidate truly ready to take on the problem of illegal immigration. And that is only the beginning.

The turning point in the race for me was the last Republican debate I watched in which Fred Thompson finally found his voice and told America exactly what Mike Huckabee was all about. My jaw dropped to the floor. I give FOX credit in at least allowing Luntz to interview his focus group which decided hands down that Fred won the night. But it was not before long that the lineup of McCain supporters started getting more air time and one program after another discounted Thompson's chances. It led me to wonder who is really pulling the strings and whether the American people are really willing to let themselves be duped into nominating an aisle-crosser who is more concerned with "making everyone happy" than standing up for the conservative movement. Yes, John McCain is a war hero but he is not running for General. He is running for President. No one seems to realize that those are very different jobs. Yes, the war in Iraq is important but it's not the only issue our country is facing.

So here I am. I've finally made up my mind. But will it matter? That is to be seen.
But with every political analysis segment I watch, the more I'm led to believe it's a lost cause.

Hopefully Thompson will continue to run on his merits as the only true conservative in the race and ignore all the pundits. I'm about to.

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