A Republican Changing His Tune...

I have been a die-hard Republican since 1984. In most elections, I have voted a straight Republican ticket. Some of the platforms I still agree with...strong defense, less federal government control, stronger States rights, fewer social welfare programs, lower taxes, etc. About the only thing I ever disagreed with was the abortion stance. I have always been pro-choice. Imagine that...a pro-choice Republican.

Anyway...I had voted for George W. Bush twice. Yes, twice. I never did really appreciate the attitudes I saw in Al Gore in 2000 or John Kerry in 2004. Both seemed born rich and stuck with a silver spoon in their mouths. In fairness, George probably was too.

Initially, I was for the war. I believed that kicking Saddam Hussein in the a** was a good thing. He had created torture chambers, he killed thousands of Kurds with gas, and was clearly a bastard. Human rights was not in his ideology. Torture and fear were his weapons. While I suspected their were no weapons of mass destruction, the fact that Saddam kept defying UN requests and booting out inspectors all the time only fueled his own demise. When push came to shove, he never really believed that the U.S. would invade Iraq. When the ultimatum came...'let the inspectors in or we'll destroy the weapons of mass destruction (WMD)'...You knew it was going to be ugly and it was.

Pretty soon after, we confirmed that their were no WMD's at all. He had bluffed. We called it and went in. Again, not that Saddam did not deserve it. He did. We should have dropped a grenade down his fox hole and called it a day. It was just a little uneasy for me that we just never found any WMD's. I mean nothing. Then it seemed that we had pushed the WMD argument just to go in. Sure, he deserved it but at what price? After the invasion, it became evident that the President's cabinet, specifically Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld were pushing it. Only Colin Powell said 'no'. Was it to cover up the fact we needed to protect foreign oil? That our economy would falter without it? That disagreement ended up with his resignation. A shame too. I liked him and he was pretty trustworthy.

What about Afghanistan? Why were we in Iraq when Osama Bin Laded was in another country? How do you argue that the terrorist capital is in Iraq when the attacks were planned from Afghanistan? It smells foul if you ask me.

When this election came upon us...I thought...'No...I am not voting for a Republican this time. It's time for a party change. We should vote ourselves out of office for the issues surrounding the Iraq war mess. Let someone else have a shot'. While I respect John McCain...I really do. The issue here is that it would be four more years of the Bush regime. He has voted with the Republican party over 90% of the time. He is not going to change anything in Washington. It's more of the same old guard. Washington insiders. Even the age issue is fair. He has had health issues in the past and at 72 would be the oldest to ever take office as President. I believe Ronald Reagan was 69 when he first started his first term. Then we add in the financial crisis. No offense but anyone related to the Keating Five scandal and the failing of the Savings & Loan institutions is not someone I want in the middle of Wall Street trying to fix this.

Based on this information, I will be voting for Barack Obama come November 4th.