Kevin and I spent much of last night watching the BBC. They were a bit condescending at times, but overall I think they did a decent job. And they didn’t have ad breaks.
One thing I did note was that they proved conclusively what a horrible liberal bias the media has. If you want to make the Republicans look bad, all you have to do is put John Bolton on camera and let him talk. In the interests of political fairness, that man ought to be put back in the padded cell where he belongs.
But of course he wasn’t, and listening to him talk it sounded like the Republicans felt that they had to have the likes of Sarah Palin around because otherwise their own people would not have voted for McCain. That is very reminiscent of the “back to our core values” nonsense that almost destroyed the Conservatives in the UK during the Blair years. The Republicans are fast becoming the party of old, white men, and there’s no way you can win an election relying on just those votes.
In contrast it was a pleasure to have the real John McCain back for his final speech.
I was so grateful for Senator McCain’s speech: it showed that I wasn’t a total fool all the years that I was a Republican (perhaps a fool simply in how long I hung on, not realizing that the party had moved far right of where I was comfortable being). Although I am now comfortable in the Democratic party, I think that Republicans for Obama really shows that the Republican party has been hijacked by religious fanatics and psychos (eg Sarah Palin) and those of us who would simply prefer , actually, anything else, have to enter the Democratic tent.
Contrary to what you might see on other blogs, not everyone who has voted Republican is a crazed, froth-at-the-mouth monster. Heck, we have a Republican gubernator here in California, and he was against Prop. 8 (albeit rather quietly). But for now the pendulum has swung and those in charge of the GOP have chosen to react by entrenching themselves in stupidity. They will learn, the hard way.
To be fair, there are a lot of Republicans in Arizona(and other states) who felt more comfortable voting for McCain with Palin as his VP. Of course, the “conservatives” in Arizona are mostly people who think that conservative=evangelical christian and who were very comfortable with Bush because he’s so faith-based. So you hear lots of local Republicans bashing on Goldwater for softening his stance on things like abortion and gay marriage because he genuinely thought it wasn’t the government’s business.
I was a Republican for years, but I cannot stomach the Republican party in this state as it’s become more and more filled with religious nuts.
Cheryl, I guess that is why, after more than 25 years, I am no longer a Republican. And I wasn’t kiding when I said that I was grateful to Senator McCain: I was. That was the man I supported 8 years ago.