Political Thoughts
I am happy to see that Mike Huckabee has finally dropped out of the race this past Tuesday, which is something he should have done several weeks ago when he had no chance of winning the nomination. Instead he insisted on wasting millions of dollars, because McCain hadn’t officially locked up the nomination. I guess Mike never took math because it was pointed out that if he had won every primary including the four this past Tuesday he would still have been about 200 delegates short. I wasn’t impressed with Mike before and I am even less impressed now. He should have ended his campaign when it was impossible for him to win and given the money to a charity or something.
Seriously, he wasted millions of dollars campaigning for nothing and even appeared on Saturday Night Live, which was mocking the fact that he could not possibly get the nomination and that he still was in the race. I just don’t understand his logic and I figured that a man who used to be a pastor would think about the waste of money and how it could be used for something so much better, like bringing clean water and basic sanitation to third world countries, or to help end hunger somewhere, etc. But instead he campaigned right through Tuesday and quit after McCain secured the nomination.
I first registered to vote in 1991 and my first Presidential election was in 1992 between George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton and I voted for then President Bush. That was the first of several Republican Presidential candidates that I would vote for, I even registered as a Republican when I registered to vote.
With John McCain obtaining the nomination for the Republican party in the Presidential election I will for the first time in my voting history not be voting for a Republican candidate. I do not feel that John McCain has what it takes to be President of the United States, so I can not in good conscience vote for him. Plus, when I reflect on my list of the things I am looking for in the person to whom I want to be the next President I don’t see John McCain fulfilling enough of them to my satisfaction. In Michigan’s Primary I voted for Ron Paul, because I felt he was the best candidate that I could vote for.
So in this year’s election I will be looking for someone to vote for and cast a Presidential ballot for someone that is not a Republican. I will end up doing lots of research into third party candidates and if Barack Obama gets the Democrat’s nomination I will be looking into him as my possible choice.
Did you enjoy this post? Why not leave a comment below and continue the conversation, or subscribe to my feed and get articles like this delivered automatically to your feed reader.
Comments
I really liked Mike Huckabee too. Especially when compared to John McCain. I am stuck because I don’t like McCain yet I don’t want to vote Democrat because there are too many things I don’t agree with. I know we’ve talked about this, but voting for a 3rd party just seems, to me, to be a waste of a vote. Until a 3rd party can rise up enough to create a reason for a place in the primary and so on, I think we need to put our vote to a candidate who stands a chance to win. I know it means sacrificing some of my “list” but I’d rather see a candidate win whom I agree with 80% than one who I disagree 80%.
Chris, I doubt that they can pocket the money, but what happens to all that money that was donated that went unspent? I guess they could just give it back, but that would seem like a logistical nightmare. I don’t know what happens to it, but if it could be donated that would have been the best use of the money than to just (in my opinion) needlessly waste it on a failed campaign. I love ya, too, but Mike was not the best option by far. And that is my opinion, of course.
Oh and, GO BLUE! 
Kimmy, I think a wasted vote is a vote that is more voting against someone than for someone. And as you said, we have discussed that. That is another thing that I love about you and us, we can disagree but we still love each other no matter what.
How do you know it is not donated to other charities and such? I don;t think Huck wasted his time. he fought the good fight. I find it funny how we support one candidate and then can so easily write them off and say they wasted time and money the minute they step down. McCain is certainly better than Hillary or Obama, but if I was to flip flop and vote outside of my party I’d probably go with obabma. Clinton is a two face dliar and she’s already been president. but if you read my blog you already know hw I feel about her.
I’ll be voting for McCain. Dems and other R’s who don;t like Mc Cain can choose to vote for the baby killers. if they want to
I said that I did not know what they did with the money in my most recent comment in reply to Chris’. I was just assuming that they money could be given to a charity or something.
I have read your blog and I agree with your viewpoints on Hillary. I would not and could not vote for her. Pretty much for the same reason I will not and could not vote for John McCain, because I believe they are both wolves in sheeps clothing.
I personally do not think that McCain is better than Obama in so many ways. But again these are all personal decisions and thoughts, and obviously we disagree. One thing I am not going to do in this election is look at one single issue and vote solely on that.
I make it no secret that I like Obama. But things can change in the course of a few months.
This will also be the first time I might vote for a Democrat. I did vote for Perot back in 92. What a waste of a vote…
Mykel, the thing is that if you voted your conscience for Perot then I do not believe you wasted your vote, because you voted for the person you wanted to be President. I, however, voted for then President George H. W. Bush in that election instead of Perot because I was voting against Bill Clinton and I feel that I wasted my vote. To me voting against someone and not for someone is a waste of a vote.
Governor Huckabee dug into his own personal finances for his campaign.
Governor Huckabee stayed in the campaign because while he still had some chance, he did not want to take votes out of the hands of the voters, and he still wanted them to have their say.
Governor Huckabee did not run a “failed campaign.” He ran a campaign that wasn’t given much of a chance to begin with barely a year ago and still managed to win several key primaries.
Governor Huckabee campaigned and lost with grace, something that seems to have eluded both Senator Obama’s and Senator Clinton’s campaigns.
Single-issue voting isn’t a sign of narrow-mindedness. You may not be saying that, but unfortunately, that’s a common criticism of people who do in fact have litmus-test issues.
Oh, and by the way, not sure if you watch SNL, but Senators Obama and Clinton have both made appearances this year.
As for looking “Presidential” so far during the past couple of months, I guess it’s easy to overlook Senator McCain’s quiet campaigning while his counterparts on the Democratic side mock each other in debates and rallies.
At least Senator Clinton’s got one thing right: the media sure have fallen head over heels for Senator Obama.
When I said “failed campaign” I was referring to the last week or so of the Republican primaries. And if he dug into his own personal finances for his campaign then he is a bigger fool for wasting money that could have been used for much better things than a losing effort at the end.
Senator Obama has shown a lot of grace in his campaign and has done an exceptional job of staying above the fray. Hillary on the other hand has not.
I never said anything about anyone “looking Presidential”, I did say that I do not think that John McCain has what it takes to be President.
I know that Senators Obama and Clinton have both been on SNL. Not sure what that has to do with anything, but thanks for telling me.
’tis a fine line between believing so strongly in what you’re running on and being “the fool,” isn’t it? Wonder how many people say that about Christians in general.
Senator Obama may not be as cheap as Senator Clinton, but he’s held his own within (not above) the fray as well:
Clinton and Obama intensify attacks
Obama takes a swipe at ‘old’ Clinton to boost his chances in Mississippi
Obama camp questions Clinton’s readiness to lead
Oh well–at least he’s campaigning using his own words now, or at least hopefully giving credit where it’s due to others.
As for the SNL reference, you’re welcome. How much does it have to do with anything? About as much as your referencing Governor Huckabee’s appearance in the first place, which I gather was trying to reinforce the point about “wasting” his/the country’s time.
If you read my reference to Huckabee being on SNL you would see that I was making reference to the fact that they were mocking him and the fact that he had no chance to win. Sure it showed good humor on his part, but seriously he should have taken that as a wake up call and bowed out.
I read the three article you linked and I don’t see where Senator Obama was playing dirty politics like many of the other candidates have. In fact, I would compare the way he has run his campaign with the way Huckabee ran his for the most part. But of course, I probably have “fallen head over heals for him” like the media has.
Todd, Todd, Todd, sometimes I just dont understand. First off, I doubt any candidate gets to pocket that left over campaign money, or spend it or donate it to whatever they want. If they did, running for president would be a very profitable endeavor. Obama made 44 million in Feb. alone, if he got to keep that or spend it as he saw fit, I think he would just walk away. As for Mike, I disagree with you on two different points. First, while it was not possible for him to acquire enough delegates, it was very possible to keep McCain from doing it because of the delegates the others took with them. If he could have made that happen he could have caused a brokered convention. Second, I believe the quote of the evening belonged to Brit Hume of Fox News. ” There is Mike Huckabee, he did what he said he would do” Now I know you have a list of things that are important to you, and I agree with most of them, but number one on most people list was just quoted by Brit. A rare thing in today’s politics. He did what he said he would do. He ran a clean campaign based only on issues and beliefs on 1/10th the budget of the others. Love ya brother, but Mike was the best option.