You've probably noticed that I haven't been posting as often for the last couple of weeks - I've been busy...

When John McCain declared that it would be just fine with him if American troops were to remain in Iraq for 100 years, I decided that if he were to win the Republican nomination for President, I would somehow dedicate myself to helping ensure his defeat.

I didn't want to turn PurpleMinded into an anti-McCain site, so I chose to construct a new website as a means to publicize and expose the fear-mongering tactics employed by the McCain campaign.

I contacted a friend, Mike Dater, who is a talented political cartoonist and a regular contributor to PurpleMinded, and asked him to come up with something I could use on the website, and for t-shirts and bumper stickers and so on. He came up with the Scare Talk Express, as well as the What's in a Name? text that leads off the site. With that inspirational springboard, the rest was easy.

There's nothing fair and balanced about ScareTalkExpress.com. Its mission is to unabashedly present a sobering view of John McCain as a warmonger, who shamelessly preys on the public's fears in his say-whatever-it-takes battle to win the White House.

Sadly, I can remember kind of liking John McCain at one time. Back in 2000. Back then he was rightly called a maverick and a straight talker - both qualities I applaud in a politician. But over these last few years, in preparation for this campaign, he's bartered away his character and credibility a bit at a time. First to the Religious Right. More recently, in a stunning reversal of principle, he voted against a ban on waterboarding. Apparently now he's also just fine with torture. It's clear that McCain will do-whatever-it-takes to curry favor with the GOP base.

There was a time when Senator McCain would have stood by his convictions, even if it appeared to be detrimental to his own interests. Even as recently as last year's contentious immigration debate. But that time has passed.

If all he'd done was to turn himself into just another typical, self-serving politician, I'd simply mourn the fall of this once revered man. But when he went so far as to throw the 100 more years of war on the table, I had to take up arms and actively oppose him.

As a liberal, I would have been content to sit on the sidelines and support the Democratic nominee. I really don't care for the poisonous partisanship that has taken over the political process and precludes civil debate. But I'm afraid. I fear we could elect another "war president", and I feel like I've been drafted, and compelled to fight.


last edited: 8 months ago