On Thu, Oct 9, 2008 at 11:29 AM, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > But to speak from personal experience, I have a large circle of > extremely politically-active friends, from both rabid ends of the > liberal/conservative spectrum. Most of us are supporting the candidate > from our usual party, but we do have a few "undecideds" in the mix. I > know a woman who's almost violently anti-abortion, yet at the same time > wants us out of Iraq/Afghanistan due to close relatives serving in the > military. She'd be historically considered moderate-Republican, but > votes against the party occasionally. I think wants to vote Republican, > but is being turned off by McCain's choice of VP, and his refusal to > give any satisfactory explanation of what his plans are for resolving > the foreign wars, so she's waiting to see what happens and is currently, > honestly, declaring herself undecided. > > Is she not allowed to do that? I should look at her condescendingly, > just because she refuses to declare for either McCain or Obama, and > satisfy those of us who want to categorize everybody as eiher "Us" or > "Them"?
Of course she is allowed to do whatever she wants. I do understand that for some people every presidential campaign is something of a unique choice point, and they may vote differently from their party, and this may take them more time than it does for someone (like me) who has never, and is unlikely ever, to vote differently from their party. I knew the day after the election in 2004 that I would be voting for whoever won the democratic nomination in 2008, and I knew last June that I would be voting for Obama in the CA Primary. That is not because I am an unthinking party hack, it is because I know my values, I know them to align most closely with the democratic party most of the time, so that for the most part what makes the democratic party stronger furthers the causes that I think are right. But I guess I still don't understand your friend - and I guess your phase "so she's waiting to see what happens" gets to the heart of what I see as a mystery. What could possibly happen in the next 27 days to clarify any more McCain's position on Iraq? He has explained it over and over again, for 5 years now. I don't agree with him but I give him credit for being clear and consistent. If her two big issues are abortion and Iraq, and she is closer to McCain on the first and Obama on the second, then while I do see why she has a problem in choosing who to vote for, I don't see how there is anything that either one of them could do or say that would help her make up her mind. Her problem is not that the candidates don't answer questions directly, or are not specific enough. Her problem is with herself - she does not know enough about her own values to figure our whether abortion or Iraq is more important in her choice for President. I can try to put myself in her shoes - what if, for example, Obama was against Roe vs Wade, but in favor of a short timeline for bringing troops home from Iraq, while McCain had come out strongly in favor of Roe, but still wanted to keep troops in Iraq for 100 years (ish). What would I do? Yes, that would be a problem. I guess I would try to find out if Obama was saying that he would work to get a constitutional amendment out of Congress to outlaw abortion, and then sign it. As much as I am against the war in Iraq, I don't think I could vote for a president whose stated intention was to make abortion illegal. But if he was just saying that he personally thought abortion should be illegal, but that as President he would supporting existing law and constitutional interpretation, then I would go ahead and vote for him. And I think I would know about this conflict for many months or even years before the election, and I think I would make a decision more than 27 days before the election. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Like TV only smarter. You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
