Hi Amy.  Obama is the only Democrat that I actually felt excited about in nearly 2 decades.  I'm not sure "excited" is really the word here but he is definitely someome that deserves a chance.  I haven't voted for a Democrat since 1984 (and I wasn't thrilled about Walter Mondale either...but I was really against Reagan in those days---mainly because of the whole Central American thing) and since then I either voted third party or for independent candidates.  1988: a third party candidate; 1992 & 1996: Ross Perot, 2000 & 2004: Ralph Nader.  This year I am returning to the Democrats.  I don't think Obama is the perfect candidate, nor do I view him as a "savior" as many others seem to do but I like where he is coming from and listening to his speech the other night at the convention, I have to say that I feel he is on the right track.  As to whether or not he will achieve it is another thing altogether but I have a good feeling about him.

I don't hate John McCain but I think a McCain administration...forgive the cliche...would be more of the same.  It's time for this country to take a new direction, not just politically but culturally as well, and I think there is potential there for Obama to help bring this about.  But ultimately, it's really up to us.  We can either remain cynical and keep the status quo or we can take a chance and try to move things towards a new direction.  I'd rather take the risk because something...anything, has to be better than what we have now, in all aspects of our culture. 

I think there is that potential with Obama.  But again, it's really up to US as Americans.  One man will not change anything on his own.  But maybe...just MAYBE...he can inspire many young Americans to re-examine themselves and this culture and help bring about changes it so desperately needs.  I got my fingers crossed, hoping....

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I have to admit I stopped reading your article after the first paragraph because I already knew everything it was going to say. 

Luckily you don’t have to wait for the Republican Convention to see how they might top the dog and pony show you witnessed last week.  They ALREADY topped it, only a few hours after the Messiah concluded his Apollo’s Temple speech. 

McCain’s surprise choice of V.P. not only trumped anything that occurred in Denver all week, but the timing of the announcement flushed Obama’s speech out of the Friday news-cycle (note how professional people who actually know what they're doing operate a campaign). Even The Obama Network, MSNBC, was forced to devote most of its time Friday to McCain and Palin. 

As to the Repubublicans using “negative tactics and fear-mongering,” did you actually listen to anything you heard at the convention or were you too busy Obasaming?  Every Democrat who spoke explained to the American people what an awful place America has become.  Babies are dying in the streets, old ladies can’t get health care, the cost of gas is destroying families, and on and on and on and on and on.  After Biden got through with his speech, I thought I was living in Calcutta or Belarus.

The “excitement and inspiration” you felt watching the convention was apparently not shared by the voting public, as Obama got the same post-convention bump in the polls   as he did after the Biden announcement: none.  Both of these are signs that the campaign is sputtering.  Now that the Obasm is wearing off, people are beginning to realize the guy is just an empty suit, and Obama himself is actually begining to consider the possibility he may not win (imagine that!).

Obama does a fine job of scaring people himself without any help from Republicans.  The fact he can’t speak when he’s not reading a teleprompter is fine when he’s stumbling, trying to respond to a 7-year-old girl who asked him why he wants to be president (I believe the response was something along the lines of, “errrrr, uhhhh, mmmm, uhhhhh, uhhh, uhhhh, errrrr, hope, uhhhhhhhhh, change, uhhhhhh, how old are you?, errrrrrrrrrrr, you're cute, uhhhhhhhh”), but it’s not fine when he’s sitting across a table from Vladimir Putin.  I doubt the “hope, change, I don’t look like the president on the money, you're cute” spiel will work on him.

There's plenty about McCain's politics I don't like, but I'll still vote for him.  Given the choice between a qualified candidate and an affirmative action candidate, I'll go with the former.

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I find it interesting that you would say McCain's surprise choice dominated the news cycle on Friday. Were you actually listening to what most people thought about his choice? How can you call him a qualified candidate when he picked a self described "Hockey Mom" as his running mate? But I guess the Republican motto has always been there is no such thing as bad publicity. Unfortunately, the rest of the world has turned its backs on us BECAUSE of all the bad publicity the Bush administration has provided. I guess you don't support people actually being inspired by politics for the first time in a long time. That is too bad. You can think I am star struck or "obamasing" because I support Obama's candidacy, but I would rather vote for him and watch our country fix the mess that its currently in than be ignorant and vote for McCain. 

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Keepping the Momentum going...

McCain’s rhetoric vs. reality is again way out there.  In mid-May ’08, while addressing a Portland, Oregon wind-turbine manufacture, McCain said that global warming is undeniable and that the United States must take steps to bring it under control. The League of Conservation Voters Scoreboard, www.lcv.org, www.votesmart.org, www.ontheissues.org, has that Senator McCain’s scoring record for his voting is zero out of a 100.  “Out of the 535 member sof Congress, John McCain is the only one who chose to miss every single key environmental vote scored by the League of Conservation Voters,” said Carl Pope, Sierra Club executive director.  

Hillary Clinton scored 74 percent and Barack Obama scored 67 percent.

Same for McCain’s votes against children.  Then there’s Make-Believe Maverick A closer look at the life and career of John McCain reveals a disturbing record of recklessness and dishonesty .

Same for McCain’s votes against veterans, Mc Cain's Public Record: Votes Against Troops & Veterans.

From Rolling Stone: Like many American POWs, McCain broke down under torture and offered a "confession" to his North Vietnamese captors. Dramesi, in contrast, attempted two daring escapes. For the second he was brutalized for a month with daily torture sessions that nearly killed him. His partner in the escape, Lt. Col. Ed Atterberry, didn't survive the mistreatment. But Dramesi never said a disloyal word, and for his heroism was awarded two Air Force Crosses, one of the service's highest distinctions. McCain would later hail him as "one of the toughest guys I've ever met."

On the grounds between the two brick colleges, the chitchat between the scion of four-star admirals and the son of a prizefighter turns to their academic travels; both colleges sponsor a trip abroad for young officers to network with military and political leaders in a distant corner of the globe.

"I'm going to the Middle East," Dramesi says. "Turkey, Kuwait, Lebanon, Iran."

"Why are you going to the Middle East?" McCain asks, dismissively.

"It's a place we're probably going to have some problems," Dramesi says.

"Why? Where are you going to, John?"

"Oh, I'm going to Rio."

"What the hell are you going to Rio for?"

McCain, a married father of three, shrugs.

"I got a better chance of getting laid."

Dramesi, who went on to serve as chief war planner for U.S. Air Forces in Europe and commander of a wing of the Strategic Air Command, was not surprised. "McCain says his life changed while he was in Vietnam, and he is now a different man," Dramesi says today. "But he's still the undisciplined, spoiled brat that he was when he went in."

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