No need to embellish what I said when it wasn’t even hinted at in the remarks.

But until the party publicly disavows the crazy fanatics, it will be difficult for a lot of people to vote for them.

Voting for the more moderate elements in the party is a good strategy, assuming there are moderates to vote for. There are few left in the party. Specter left the party and many others are marginalized by the ultra-conservative elements.

Both parties are burdened by crazies of the left and the right. The problem is that these fanatics seem to forget that in order to win office in an election which covers a wider are than a congressional district, you’ve got to be more middle of the road on many issues. You’ve got to take a stand in general, have your principles, but not seem like a crazy or like a person who encourages/relies upon fanatics.

And yes, McCain did vote against the federal amendment. For which he gained a lot of credit and respect. But there’s more to the whole issue than that amendment which had little real chance of going anywhere.

Hillary was on the front lines for gay rights, marching in Gay Pride parades, having Bill and Chelsea campaign in gay bars across the country. Hillary has made more efforts for gays/lesbians in her position as SOS than any of the other administration members. Hillary continues to issue Gay Pride statements, continues to prove her friendship and loyalty to the gay community. When McCain does some of that, maybe I’ll think he’s worth a second look — and that goes for any candidate.

She’s fearless on the issue. Time for others to step up.

I was please that Sarah picked a pro choice NOW person for attorney general (I believe) and pondered if HILLARY would have ever done the same.

Now putting an ANTI choice person in charge of Woman’s HEALTH is not only WRONG but wreaks of intent. If it was an accident, it was a really IGNORANT mistake, but even worse if it was intentional.

PUNKBAMBI

Letterman’s response to Palin calling him “pathetic” for making jokes about his daughters: “I haven’t been called pathetic once since [my] honeymoon. This very well could be my last show.” Later adds: “Oh, great. I pissed off a hunter.”

Letterman’s response to Palin saying he was making a joke about “raping” one of her daughters by saying Bristol was “knocked up” by Alex Rodriguez: Says he knew they were “cheap laughs” he was going for. Adding: “I mean, look at me. I would never, never make jokes about raping.”

In response to his joke about Palin’s “slutty-flight-attendant look”: “I kinda like that joke.”

Take a look back at the VP debate. Gwen Ifil went out of her way to let religious conservatives know Governor Palin vetoed an anti-gay bill. “Senator Biden, do you support, as they do in Alaska, equal benefits for same sex couples?”

‘Yes, Gwen, I do.’ Biden gets to suck up to gays for doing nothing but running his mouth. Palin gets no credit for exercising her veto power and takes a hit with the far right.

Palin turned the question around to gay marriage. Ifil came to Biden’s defense: “Let’s avoid nuance [code for John Kerry], Senator Biden. Do you support gay marriage?" "No. There's no difference between us on this issue."

Avoid nuance? You can't get more nuanced than Biden on Prop 8: 'I believe marriage is between a man and a woman but I won't do anything when the courts grant gay marriage. I don't support Prop 8 but I won't do anything to block it. I'm useless to both sides on this issue. I just want to suck up to gays without firing up religious conservatives.' But Ifil did not ask about red-hot Prop 8 because that would put Biden on the spot on traditional marriage.

Pro-Obama Gwen Ifil used gay rights to put Palin on the spot with her base for vetoing an anti-gay bill. Ifil then tag-teamed with Biden, helping him suck up to gays and religious conservatives at the same time. That's what gays get from the Democrats.

In other words, McCain = Bush.

McCain was one of 3 Republican Senators to vote against the Federal Marriage Amendment that would have banned gay marriage in the U.S. Constitution. The FMA of course was Bush’s baby. So I took deep offense at Obama’s ‘Bush=McCain’ slogan. When Obama says McCain=Bush, he’s saying McCain’s vote against Bush’s Federal Marriage Ban is irrelevant, which means gay rights are irrelevant.

I voted for McCain to change the political math for the Republican Party. How else can you loosen the crazies’ grip on a major political party?

I hope the Republicans win both the New Jersey and Virginia governorships. If the Democrats lose New Jersey, its bad news for Obama!

In addition, McCain’s campaign was one fumble after another and that didn’t play well. His position on gay issues was not good and that is a main concern for me. (Though not the only one.) Being a second class citizen kinda makes you focus on what is needed to become equal with the rest of the people in the country.

So, I voted for “that one” against my better judgment but out of respect for my candidate who asked me to do so.

Next time, however, I’ll have to find a candidate I can believe in.

If Republicans would drop the whole social issues mess they’ve gotten themselves into and stick to their core principles such as fiscal responsibility, it might make them more appealing. They need to be a gentler party that shows they care about people and not just the crazies and their issues. They need to stop catering to the haters in their ranks and show they can be a party that’s inclusive and that cares about people’s well being.

But as it stands, they are too beholden to a bunch of crazy religious fanatics and other hater types. And I can’t vote for that. Just recently Pat Robertson opined that if same sex marriage and hate crimes directives were to be the law of the land, why, what would be next? People who wanted to sleep with ducks being able to marry ducks or ducks being protected by hate crimes legislation. Former senator Santorum compared gays with people who sleep with dogs. Representative Foxx said recently that the whole Matthew Shepherd incident was a hoax. The list is long and ugly.

How can anyone in their right mind vote for a party that adopts the positions of these loons?

So, voting for McCain was not an option.

Here’s the thing – they have “relaxed” their standards for enlistment (previous criminal records, etc.) because they need people, yet they fire these highly trained personnel simply because of who they love. Wow…

The sacking of the LGBT people from the militarys language school was a real eye opener for me. I mean here we are as a nation in dire need of foreign languages but not by those hands.

Records suggest U.S. military places
anti-gay position over national security

Jan. 13, 2005
SAN FRANCISCO – The number of Arabic linguists discharged from the military for violating its “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy is higher than previously reported, according to records obtained by a research group.

The group contends the records show that the military — at a time when it and U.S. intelligence agencies don’t have enough Arabic speakers — is putting its anti-gay stance ahead of national security.

.

And I understand there’s another recent appointment Obama made to be the director of the HHS Faith Based Initiatives – a woman who founded Catholics In Alliance For the Common Good, Alexia Kelley, who is opposed to abortion AND birth control. How abt THEM apples, MARAL??? And NOW??? (H/t to SFIndie for that info.)