Should U.S. Senator Susan Collins Attend the Republican National Convention?

[BobTex]

Originally Posted by Acadianlion

Well, yes and no. Lessee: staying home will be "giving a vote to the other side"? Ummmm, what "side" is that? Unless you've really been paying attention, you don't know who the "other" candidates are, and therefore the other "side" is only one other person most likely, who is mostly like the side that you don't want to vote for. I don't want to turn this site into a political lecture because there is another place for it, but let's look at some of the options.

There's McCain. Now, I was in the same war he was, and I feel very strongly that he is a very great, and heroic patriot who reached the high point of leadership in his career while he was being brutalized by the North Vietnamese. But I see him as very little different than the flawed politicos that we have, and who have led this country into the serious financial and political mess that it is in right now. Nope. Not gonna vote for HIM.

Then there is Obama. He put up a good show for a while, but when the chips are down, he waffles better than a breakfast cook in a pancake house. In the end, he will do what is the most EXPEDIENT thing to secure his power base, which is basically to rock the boat as little as possible, with the exception of increasing taxes which will hurt everyone...and make no mistake: increases in taxes hurt EVERYONE right in the pocketbook. Nope. Not gonna vote for him. Besides, HIS kids aren't wearing flak jackets while walking down a dusty street in some mud hut village on the other side of the world, so we will continue to muck around in places that we don't understand and our children will bleed slowly into the sand. Nope.

So, who is on the "OTHER" side? And more to the point, if it is raining on voting day, will it be worth the effort to go outside, get wet to vote for him/her? Probably not.

I guess since either a Repub or Dem will get elected one of these 2 would constitue the "other side". The side one would normally not vote for.

I was not wanting to pick sides here.

I am a Reagan conservative. I feel I haven't a good choice as the Rockfellers have taken over the Repubs. Not a whole hill of beans difference between the 2 candidates other than McCain is bad and Obama is worse for me. I will vote because men (and now women) put their butts on the line for my privelege to have a free United States. I don't want to waste the blood of patriots ... rain or shine! Thank you for your service!!!!

[MainelyJersey]

Well, my vote for the Maine Senate will be a write in, for Hoffman. Who?? Yes, the Independant who has no chance of winning. I'll write his name purely as a statement to the Democratic party who felt the need to go through incredible gyrations to have his name removed from the ballot, in an effort to protect their very marginal candidate. Including taking it to the Maine Supreme Court who unbelievably ruled in their favor. Politics at its worst.

[moughie]

Originally Posted by BobTex

. I feel I haven't a good choice as the Rockfellers have taken over the Repubs.

I disagree- I wish the Rockefeller mentality had taken over the Republican party. I used to proudly be a New York Rockefeller Republican!! By that I mean very fiscally conservative and very socially liberal.

Well - what we now have is a Republican party hijacked by both the religious right and the neo-conservative gang of lethal idiots. The party is fiscally not conservative and socially way too conservative, imho.

[Maineah]

Everyone has their point or passion they feel needs to be represented in our President.
Whether it is something they are fanatic for or fanatically against it really matters to them. Politics has always been about compromise. In the past several election cycles though it seems there has been very little room for compromise and differing opinions.
Even the words of President Bush to our allies leave little room for compromise when he tells them "you're either with us or you're against us."
Extremists will never be happy unless everything is their way. Extreme envrionmentalists have been successfully convincing government officials that our existence itself threatens the planet. We all have a right to exist and thrive.
Corporations are extreme in the way they use people for gain without regard for their contributions or ability to retire with dignity. They are only concerned with the bottom line for "the investors".
Pro choicers and anti abortion rights radicals have been at each other's throats for generations with no end in sight. I'm a "right winger" on most issues but believe those choices are personal and are no one else's business.
No one seems to know how to stem the flow of illegal aliens into the USA or what to do with the millions we already have.
The war served it's purpose and perhaps it's time to let Iraq fend for itself.
We need to develop some sound energy policies. Filling our tires and installing windmills is not going to do squat.
The next President will face tough challenges who ever he is. Neither one of the candidates impresses me. I don't think they can do much of anything about these issues nor will they try after the speeches fade away. If we really wanter to have a tribute to our war heroes perhaps we should not insult their efforts by running the terrible candidates BOTH major parties have thrust upon us this year. Dumb and Dumber. Thanks for nothing Democrats and Republicans.
Somehow the reasonable people in this country must find a path through the middle of all of these problems and ignore the far left and far right without identifying with them.
I am not an ultra conservative because I think the second ammendment needs to be left alone any more than someone who may want equal rights for gays is a far left whacko.
These things are not unreasonable nor necessarily mutually exclusive.

[Cornerguy1]

Seeing as we've left Susan Collins in the dust several posts ago, let's close up shop on this one, remind everyone about the Politics forum, and apply the trusty old padlock.