Politics and GM-dude

Thursday morning, the mutts are mostly sleeping; I'm really wanting to write a blog about "the true face of evil" and the little ones I'm babysitting this weekend, but my heart really just isn't in it. I've been scouring the politics & economy forums, and coming up largely disgusted.

The more I read, the more I discover that this really isn't as partisan as either side wants to make it out to be, although the Republicans probably *do* carry the lions share of the blame for the current mess we are in. The Democrats are certainly not without blame; both sides had a bit of a stake in things for completely different reasons, and the sooner both parties can admit to that, the sooner we can start getting out of the mess we're in.

Democrats. You were the ones wanting the lower income families to have the means to get into a home, and were willing to look the other way at a lot of the practices going on in order to see that end met. I can think of worse reasons to do the wrong thing, but don't EVEN pretend that there wasn't more than a bit of complicity here.

Republicans. Shit ...I don't see how you guys have a leg to stand on here with all the drum-beating about deregulation for the last how many years?! On scouring the message boards, I only saw one person who tried to throw out the argument that too much regulation caused this crisis in the first place. I get a kick out of people like that ...they throw it out there, and not one single person would even TOUCH it. Might as well have been saying the Martians that infiltrated the Fed caused it.

Fact is, both sides had a stake in it. Any denying that is just partisan blinders and finger-pointing, none of which actually helps the problem.

I guess one of my largest regrets was staying away from politics for so long. I lean heavily to the Democratic side of the equation, but I only got that way after becoming disabled. I supported Bush right up until the Downing Street Memo came out, and then I lost all faith in him. Everything that came after only cemented it, but I don't think he's the evil monster just trying to line the fat cats wallets. C'mon folks! ...he's the President, not Snidely Whiplash. Do I think there were a lot of hidden agenda's going on? well DUH ...but that doesn't mean they are evil creatures. Odds are pretty good they THOUGHT they were doing the right thing. Of course that doesn't make it right, but it doesn't make it an act of malevolence either.

One of my favorite free-market bloggers just came out last week saying that he was having to revise his entire philosophy over this crisis. He stood by and cheered the free-market stuff, and TRULY is an educated guy on the matter, and I just gotta respect a person willing to stand back and take a hard look.

I've always said that every person needs to be able to look at their life and their beliefs and ask themselves the serious question: what would it take to convince me that I was wrong? I've been down that road ...twice. It isn't easy to do, and it generally means a core change in everything about you and how you view the world around you. Sometimes it comes easily, sometimes not.

Earlier in the year during the primaries, I had voiced a lot of concern about Hillary for president. Personally, I thought that she would have been a great president ...but kinda bad for the country as a whole due to her polarizing nature. I may have voted for her, but would have been a tough choice. Contrary to partisan belief, I don't think McCain would spell doom for the country even now. I just don't see how any Republican can talk bad about Kerry 4 years later about flipping on issues after listening to McCain though.

OMG ...and don't even start me about Palin. Gods ...I watched her very short interview with Couric last night and was MORTIFIED at the thought of her actually having even the possibility of becoming commander in chief! Fuck ...and I keep hearing the supporters talking about how Couric was too hard on her, yet I know fucking well that Hillary was on O'Reilley Factor. HOW FUCKING FAIR DO THEY HAVE TO BE?!?! ...Christ, if they can't spit out an answer that looks even remotely valid or coherent even from a hostile interviewer, do we really want to give them access to the button?! This isn't partisan at all, this is just GOOD FUCKING SENSE.

So yeah ...I'm Obama all the way, and at this point I just can't see how he can lose.