Cynthia Ruccia, Ohio Democratic activist and McCain Supporter. Cynthia Ruccia's column today on Clintons4McCain is a good one and worth reading. As you might imagine, I quarrel with Cynthia (and her friends, ALL of whom seem to be Democrats) about the relative merits of the two parties.
In her column, Cynthia says the following about the implications of her deciding to support McCain: "My decision to protest the treatment of Hillary Clinton was going to be the maximum protest -- I was going to vote for John McCain. Period. My Democratic friends and family reacted with horror, “You’re NOT going to vote for MCCAIN?!!!” as if I had decided to endorse a vicious disease. I understood where they were coming from, and although my mind was made up, it was hard to deal with their incredulity towards my decision. I guess I still had a Democratic hangover."
To every Democrat in America, I'd like to offer the following comment: "Relax, in no way is voting for John McCain equivalent to an immoral act. In fact, it might be the most morally sound decision you've ever made."
With all due respect, my response when I read Cynthia's words above was as follows: Have these friends sought professional help? Sometimes the Democratic candidate is far superior to the Democratic. AND SOMETIMES THE REVERSE IS TRUE. I don't regard that statement as profound, but instead obvious.
In a Pennsylvania House race in 2006 (in my district), there was a contest for between powerful Democratic House whip Mike Veon and unknown Republican, Jim Marshall. The Veon ads (he raised a whole lot of money) were simple.
They featured a seriously overweight guy with a vacacant look who said the following: "It's really simple. Mike Veon, dimmiecrat [his pronunciation]. Jim Marshall, Republican." (Our district is heavily Democratic).
My response to the ads was this: "Mike Veon, crook. Jim Marshall, honest man."
To the amazement of everybody in Pennsylvania, Jim Marshall won handily. I fear many of Cynthia's friends, the Beaver County version, would have voted for Mike Veon, because he was in fact a Democrat.
Late last week, Mike Veon, along with many of his Democratic associates in the PA House, was indicted. There were 59 counts (and could have been many more) of bribery, misuse of taxpayer funds, violation of campaign laws, and on and on. He faces possible fines of $860,000 and (theoretical) jail terms of 381 years, which would mean he'd have to live a very long time.
The correct person to vote for in the 2006 election was Jim Marshall, Republican. Sometimes Republicans are criminals and no one should vote for them -- I certainly wouldn't. Some Democrats are cynics and inferior people -- go read CREW's (Committee on Responsibility and Ethics in Washington) analysis of the 20 most corrupt congressmen -- and no one should vote for them.
For me, this has been one of the most startling discoveries I've made in my lifetime: that some people assume a Party membership confers some sort of righteousness/worthiness on a candidate. Obviously, it does not.
I also strongly disagree with Cynthia on where the right political home is for feminists. If she assumes the treatment of HRC, feminist, is some sort of strange aberration that will be ended by vigorous demonstrations in Denver, she's dead wrong. The kind of "feminism" the Party is encouraging is exemplified by Nancy Pelosi, Donna Brazille, Kathleen Sibelius, Claire McCaskill, Rachel Madow, and Michelle Obama.
I'm glad Cynthia is going to vote for John McCain -- almost overjoyed -- but I hope that wise vote is accompanied by some fundamental re-thinking about her Party.
Frankly, why did so many luminaries in that Party (Dean, Kerry, Kennedy, Rockefeller, Daschle, Gore, Casey, and others) stab Hillary in the back? And why did they believe -- and still believe -- that they can get away with it?
I fear they're assuming that Cynthia's friends -- and tens of millions like them -- will come around in the end and vote for the pathetic Obama. Are their assumptions correct? We shall see.
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