And in politics, with the candidates you’ve got.
I wish Obama really were the firebreathing radical leftist so many Repubs hold up as a bogeyman. He’s not even close, but he’s still better than Romney on women’s rights, gay rights, civil rights. And despite his stated willingness to strike a “grand bargain” on Social Security, he doesn’t have the bloodlust for shredding the safety net that Romney and Ryan do.
I don’t support a lot of what he does, but there will never be a dream candidate who agrees with me on everything, so I’ll pick the best available. Which this year is Obama.
As far as the idea of voting for a third party out of protest goes, here are counter-arguments and discussions of how to move the Dems to the left from Mighty God King, Erik Loomis and Scott Lemieux.
If it’s any comfort, I know people on the right who don’t like Romney’s views on women or various other issues (and not because he’s too left-wing for them). They’re going to hold their nose and vote for him anyway. There are many times it’s wrong to compromise, but the voting booth is probably the place compromise is always inevitable unless you completely identify with the party, regardless of the person.
•Rolling Stone looks at Bain’s record.
•Obama has respected his no-torture pledge (and isn’t it sad someone in the White House has to actually pledge not to use torture?) regarding American prisoners. Romney’s OK with it.
•LGM shows that even with a Congressional majority, Dems couldn’t tie up Romney and neuter him.
•More on the apocalyptic if-Obama-wins-we’re-doomed rhetoric of the right. Including the account of a mentally ill man who took it so seriously that he shot himself and his family.
If you like my blog …
Obama has not kept his non-torture pledge. Google Bagram Airbase and torture, and you’ll find that torture continues unabated. In fact, also American citizens have been tortured. Theresa Cusimano was arrested stripped naked, put alone in a dark cell (sensory deprivation, a highly effective form of torture), forced to crawl on her legs and beg for food, shot in the a** with a syringe. All for peacefully protesting at the School of the Americas.
Obama also outsources the torture to friendly dictatorships. That’s as admirable as hiring a hitman instead of killing the victim yourself.
PS: I am Heksefatter from the MGK discussion.
Heksefatter, welcome. Unabated is probably stronger than I’d use but yeah, you’re quite right that we’re still outsourcing and running black-ops prison sites. My bad for not being more precise.
And there’s also the decision not to prosecute anyone for torture, which I’ve blogged about previously.
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