Who woulda thunk it?

If asked over the last 20 years if I am a Democrat or Republican, I'm quick to respond that I'm neither, but that if someone put a gun to my head and made me choose, I'd probably call myself a Republican. I generally vote Republican, even though doing so in New York in a national election is a moot point. I disagree on a great many aspects of what the GOP stands for - especially the conservative right wing of the party. I disagree even more with the Democrat notions that government has a role to play in driving the economy or that government exists to take care of people who should be able to take care of themselves if they had any grasp whatsoever of the concept of personal responsibility.

So, here I am in 2008 about to vote for a Democrat for President.

Why? Because the Republican party put a 72 year-old Bush clone and a woman who is infinitely unqualified to be President on the ticket. Why in the world did McCain choose Sarah Palin? What was he thinking? Was this some kind of play toward his desire to be seen as the "super maverick" of Capitol Hill? Was he trying to prove that he can go against the conventional wisdom, no matter how bad the idea might be? Was he drunk? Did he accidentally fill in the wrong bubble with his number 2 pencil? We'll probably never know.

I can't imagine in any way that he chose Sarah Palin as his running mate because he was convinced she was the best person for the job. If he really thinks that, we need to not only send him to defeat on November 4th, we need to send him to the nearest nursing home on November 5th. I can only conclude that John McCain was more concerned with some kind of image building exercise than he was about having the best possible Vice President at his side.

Guess what, Mr. McCain? You lost one here. You took a fiscally conservative advocate for free markets and small government and turned him in to a vote for a Democrat. Its true. When we go to the polls on November 4 I have no choice. The thought of Sarah Palin being one 72 year-old heartbeat away from the Presidency is just too chilling to do anything but ... gulp ... vote for Obama/Biden.