Rocks in your shoes...

You're walking or hiking -- a pebble lodges itself between your shoe and your foot. It can be outright annoying and irritating. Eventually, the more rocks you get in your shoes -- the more likely it'll cause you to stop and turn around.

And that's the strategy for the McCain campaign....

We'll all find out on November 4th whether the attack ads worked for McCain or not. But when you consider exactly how incredibly sad it is that the long-term senator couldn't debate the issues and try to give Americans the type of discussion that we need to change the course out of the mess created by the Republican party. While I could rant all day long about every botched administration mishap (and the McCain rank-and-file approach to supporting 90% of this administration's mishaps) -- I want to talk about pebbles today.

No - not Pebbles from the Flintstones -- I'm talking about those annoying little rocks in your shoes -- or in this context, the little pebbles that the McCain/Palin ticket hope you get in your $2,000.00 Manolo Blahnik's that we all know Joe the Plumber wears from his closet.....

But whenever I've asked McCain supporters why they're supporting him -- it almost *never* has to do with his policies. In fact, most of the reasons why folks are voting for McCain have NOTHING to do with policy and has everything to do with why they think Obama shouldn't be President. Okay - as I play along with these misguided folks, I keep asking them for real reasons. It's in this exchange that you find the pebbles that stopped our faithful voter from seeing the light of day:

He lacks any governing experience. Well then so does McCain. So when we get the pageant veep candidate touting her governing experience as being relevant -- let's not forget this is the person who -- after four tries -- STILL can't figure out what the Vice President does. This is the same person who is currently under investigation for mis-conduct WHILE "governing" -- not to mention some of the other incredibly strange oddities like: a.) the whole wasteful $150k clothing spree, b.) denying having anything to do with the "bridge to nowhere" when she clearly did, c.) Trooper-gate which she actually called "Taser-gate" which may actually be problematic for her in the long-run, d.) claiming per-diem charges when she was living at home and e.) potentially being in a scandal about showing preferential treatment for a contractor who built an arena and just happened to give Sarah and her husband Todd a home for free..... Yeah - some governing experience.

He can't be trusted. This argument is clearly in the abstract because on what basis has Obama LIED about anything? Let's not forget the fact that McCain OVERTLY lied about his campaign manager not working with Freddie Mac for 2 years when he and his company were getting paid handsomely as recent as when the Macs went belly up. Let's not forget the fact that McCain still lies about Obama's tax plan because unless you make over $250,000 a year you will not see a tax increase. God -- what part of that statement doesn't McCain or his faithful understand? When McCain has made such outrageous accusations like how he claims Obama wants to teach kindergartners about sex education -- with such lies and distortions. When it comes down to being truthful, in the scheme of things -- McCain seems to have proven to be a bigger liar than even most Republicans are even comfortable with.

He's a terrorist -or- he "pals around" with terrorists. This ridiculous notion comes from the fact that Barack's middle name happens to be Hussein. Yeah, gosh - anyone who happens to have a same last name, same first name, same middle name -- yikes.... It's outright stupid to keep this pebble buried in your shoe because even McCain came out and said: "no, Obama is an American, we just disagree on things." Kudos to McCain for having the balls to do that -- even though he still doesn't repudiate the words of his running mate who spewed her unfounded statements ... merely trying to keep the pebble firmly lodged between your big toe your shoe because maybe this is all you need to be convinced that Obama simply can't be trusted. Despite the fact that Obama has been forthcoming with this stuff -- constantly refuting it -- constantly establishing the record to the contrary.

He's elitist, he's a celebrity Like this is a problem? Considering that McCain has 11 houses over a dozen cars -- the whole "elitist" argument just falls completely flat. When you have the "commoner" in Sarah Palin spending $150,000.00 on clothing in the last couple of months -- guess what? You've lost your elitist bragging rights.... (but nice try) As far as his celebrity "status" -- well -- he's been in the news quite a bit since fighting it out with Hillary for the last 20 months. In fact, McCain's rather easy time cutting through the Republican primary process made him a little less of a celebrity -- not really under the microscope as Obama and Hillary had gone under. But leave it to the McCain/Palin ticket to cry like a spoiled brat when the press doesn't enamor over every thing they utter. They merely pouted like insolent children and turned their back on the media..... *laughs* ("Note the McCain/Palin campaign: if you want to be a celebrity -- you need to do that thing with the press so that your mugs can get on the ol' 13 inch black and white telly.") How woefully pathetic....

He's a Socialist This is the most hysterical of all of the boneheaded reasons why folks keep their pebbles in their shoes. For one - those who claim that Obama is a socialist doesn't really know what a socialist is or what socialism is about. Two, McCain supported the exact same tax proposal or "redistribution of wealth" that got him in trouble in 2000 when he ran for President and was called out for it. Third, McCain pushed to "socialize" government ownership of our banking institutions. For someone who keeps chanting: "redistribution of wealth" in his speeches, he clearly suffers from some attention deficit disorder or else he'd see that his antics during the bailout are clearly "socialistic" in nature as well.

People seem to also forget the "Patriot Act" and how it's supposed to make us "safer" -- while promises were made that "we won't spy on Americans" only to find out that we are spying on Americans. The "Big Brother" approach to governing was particularly big with the socialists of the former Soviet Union -- as it is today in China. Oh, but we won't hear Palin or McCain come out against these little ditties because they want to have the ability to spy on Americans for the sake of protecting us from the "evil-doers" of the world.....

The entire "socialist" threat chant is nothing more than a conjuring up an "oldie but a goody" ruse dating back to the 70's and 80's -- during the Cold War. Putin's actions into Georgia have helped born out this "socialist" fear again -- but folks who keep this pebble in their shoe clearly don't understand what socialism is or even how much socialism they already have in their lives right now.

He doesn't have foreign policy experience. This is the one I just love. Not only does his running mate have really good foreign policy credentials, most of the policies that Obama has gone on record are either: a.) now becoming the "new" Bush doctrine, b.) recommended by heads of state around the world, c.) heralded by generals, former secretaries of state and those in the know about foreign policy.

But not having foreign policy - or rather, not following the same flawed foreign policy that got us into much of this mess to begin with doesn't distinguish you apart of the failed policies of the last 8 years. So merely being a former prisoner of war, having served your country militarily, all of that doesn't pile on one ounce of credible gets thrown out the window. Just because you were an all-pro quarterback doesn't mean you're going to be a great coach.....

McCain has done nothing to separate his foreign policy path than that of George W. Bush's. In fact, it's Bush's policies of a timeline and a gradual pullout of Iraq that sounds a lot like what a certain Illinois Senator said awhile back -- doesn't it.... And what did McCain say about this ....? It would be surrender ... it would be quitting ... Dare I even say that "Bush gets it???"

*sighs* This is supposed to be John's strong suit -- and yet it flounders more than fish out of water.

.........................

So if you want to keep the pebble lodged in your shoe and keep buying into the theatrics of the McCain campaign -- then you're simply not being honest with the reason why you don't want Obama in the White House in the first place. What policy decision do you disagree with? Tell me, because so far -- every McCain supporter who even pretends to have a valid reason why they don't support Obama -- has fallen for the pebbles in the shoe problem.

You're ignoring the reality of fact and you're simply trying to find a reason, ANY reason why you don't want Barack Obama to become the 44th President of the United States. Having such an opaque reason that defies the physics of nature clearly shows the Karl Rove, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity divide and conquer governing approach is the staple you live by. There's nothing UNITED about the Republicans skewed view of America -- and the Republicans are so desperate to invoke every single anger, fear-filled mantra to win the election by completely ignoring the issues of the land -- then it speaks volumes about the ineptness that the right brings to the table.