(Link below). Last night I was accused on a political message board -- Tigerboard.com's Politics Board -- of never taking a stand on anything. For anyone who takes a look at this space from time to time, of course, such an accusation is patently absurd. For example, did I coin the phrases "Black Christmas" and "Sunday Bloody Sunday" because I was some mushed-mouthed "moderate" unable to make up his mind on Obama & The Dems' health care monstrosity?But do I take a stand on every single issue that's out there in the political realm? Hell no, I don't. There are some issues that I consider to be close calls and with which I continue to grapple in my own mind (or want to become more informed), and there also are plenty of other issues (e.g., gay marriage, whether to close GITMO, etc.) that (1) I view to be issues that are of huge concern to the far right and far left (I call them Right vs. Left Pissing Match issues) but not really to most folks in Middle America and (2) I really couldn't give a rat's ass about either way! I largely leave those types of issues alone in this space, and there's nothing liberals or conservatives can do about it, frankly, since this is my space. If you don't like it, get your own damn blog and rant about those issues there.
Which brings me to the subject of McCain. Unlike me, McCain is a politician! In my view, once you throw your hat into that arena, you have an obligation to take a stand on just about any issue with which you are confronted or asked about (even if it is one that you really don't care too much about). You need either to state a position or say that you're not yet informed enough on the issue (and then within a week become informed and release your position). This weekend, when asked for his position on the controversial immigration bill that's about to become law in Arizona (and which would allow police to charge illegal immigrants with criminal trespassing for being within the boundaries of Arizona and which is being called by some the toughest immigration enforcement bill in the country), McCain refused to take any position, using the tremendously weak excuse that "it's a state issue."
It's obvious what's going on here: (1) McCain faces a tough republican senate primary challenge this year from another republican who is more conservative than McCain; (2) McCain likely has issues with the new Arizona law (since he was an advocate of the failed national immigration reform legislation that conservatives hated so much in recent years); and (3) McCain doesn't want to take a position in opposition to the new law since Arizona conservatives would not like that. I'm sorry, but I cannot accept the justification that McCain is simply playing "good politics." He's an elected politician, and he needs to take a position, for better or for worse.
Much like Obama, McCain utterly failed to impress me in the 2008 campaign -- Both just struck me, among many other things, as just typical politicians (albeit I was impressed, from a purely political perspective, with Obama's ability during that campaign to never commit any political miscues). So I followed my typical practice of voting third party and against these two parties whom I do not trust nor like. Unfortunately, neither Obama nor McCain has done much of anything since to disprove (in my mind) precisely what I thought of them in 2008.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/arizona-state-law-promises-toughest-illegal-immigration/story?id=10212698
Postscript: Nice legs, Sarah (she's campaigning for McCain in Arizona this weekend).
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