Almost a month ago, on Sam Brownback Day, I took the plunge at outreach and posted a diary on MyDD. I hoped it would inspire a fruitful discussion between those on the left and those on the right about the coming 2008 Presidential election.
Actually it went better than I thought, at first. Before it was deleted (along with the banning of my account and the deletion of all of my comments at the site) it had garnered some 59 comments, most of which constituted a useful discussion between those MyDD folks on the left, and me.
I hope I will last longer than a day here at Daily Kos. Will I? Who knows? But it is my sincere wish that we will have a civil discussion on the upcoming election that faces us all.
My original MyDD post after the fold....
We Need the Best Candidates — Sam Brownback is One
Many of my liberal friends are struggling over who they support for the 2008 Presidential nomination. My conservative friends are facing the same conundrum.
The Democrats
Many progressives dislike Hillary Clinton for the same reasons as my conservative friends. She’s too poll driven. She sticks her finger to the wind and announces her stand based on her political windsock. The issue that my liberal friends cite the most, however, is her continuing support of the war in Iraq.
Of course my conservative friends don’t view this as a negative, but they have other reasons for disliking Senator Clinton. I’ll leave these reasons up to your imagination. I’m sure you are probably aware of most of them.
It seems the Democrats and their supporters are having the same problems they had back in 2004 when they unwisely ran Senator Kerry against a much maligned and weakened President Bush. Will the Democratic party nominate another Presidential candidate with high negatives? I don’t know. Actually, I wish them well and all the luck in the world.
I think it would be good for America if the two major parties would put up a genuine liberal and a true conservative candidate against each other for a healthy battle of our respective ideologies.
So far, this doesn’t seem to be the case. And we are all worse off for it.
I cannot really comment much about the other Democratic candidates that are in the running this early in the campaign season. The other one to beat, I suppose, is Barack Obama, who I give credit to for speaking up on issues of faith. John "two America" Edwards is done, in my humble opinion. He didn’t help John Kerry much in 2008 and will do even worse as he goes solo.
The Republicans
The Republican party is having similar problems. The top three in most of the most recent polls I affectionately (or not) refer to as "The Three RINOs" (aka Rudy McRomney).
John McCain is done. He will never become President. Ever. Buh-bye. See his most recent gaffe in McCain goes soft on HIV and morality over at Blogs 4 Brownback.
I suppose that liberals might secretly be rooting for RINO Rudy Giuliani, who in my opinion, is a pro-abortion, activist judge loving, gun grabbing authoritarian.
Or perhaps they see some hope in Flipper Romney (aka Flip-Floppin’ Mitt) whose position on issues that social conservatives actually care about seems to depend on the day and in which direction the political winds are blowing. He’s not my (or any informed conservative’s) choice by any means.
Sam Brownback
Who does that leave for me? Easy answer: Sam Brownback. He’s currently marginalized and dismissed by the MSM but he is the one true conservative in the race who deserves the nomination. True, he’s pro-life, which many on the left are worried about, but he is for "all life," not just life in the womb.
He cares about the suffering in Darfur, those languishing in prison, those who are exploited by human trafficking, those who are struggling in poverty, and more. In short, this is a bleeding-heart conservative who cherishes "all life."
The American Electorate
I think it does none of us, liberal or conservative, any good to have phoney candidates who only care about themselves and their own persuits of power.
I hope and pray that this time, in 2008, we can get genuine candidates on both sides of the political spectrum. I hope, if on nothing else, that we all can agree on this simple wish.
As to the 2008 election, may the best man win!
– Psycheout