Country First! (But first give me your vote)

John McCain has continuously defined himself as a "Maverick". Someone who is going to change this country for the better. This is proven through his relentless fight against corruption (even in the GOP) and his constant "marching to the beat of his own drum". Perhaps these aspects were true- eight years ago- but what of significance has he done since then?

To me it seems that lately McCain is willing to do and say anything to get our votes and this prospect puts some serious doubts in my mind regarding his concern for the bettering of our country. Instead, given his actions, I can't help but think his only and true concern is to be elected.

What I see and what those can see who look into his records is how much McCain has voted with George W. Bush each year since 2000. "According to Congressional Quarterly's Voting Studies, in 2007 McCain voted in line with the president's position 95 percent of the time – the highest percentage rate for McCain since Bush took office – and voted in line with his party 90 percent of the time. However, McCain's support of President Bush's position has been as low as 77 percent (in 2005), and his support for his party's position has been as low as 67 percent (2001)".

We've all heard this. You're probably thinking- why is this being brought up, AGAIN? Well think about it, because it's important. Just take a glance at the uncanny similarities between ideals when comparing Bush's 2000 speech and McCain's 2008 speech.

OK, that was meant to be funny. And also to scare you a little.

A few questions for you:
-Can we afford to put a man into office who can claim with a straight face that the economy today (after 8 years of Bush's policies) is "fundamentally sound" as it crashes before our eyes? One day McPal (McCain + Palin) are interventionists, the next they’re non interventionists- but this is all depending on that day’s economic business requirements. Not good enough for me.
-Can we seriously surrender our hope for a progressive and effective political system to a man who has agreed and still does with Bush regarding Iraq, tax policy, the economy, and foreign and domestic policies?
-And finally, what is your approval rating of Bush? From what I understand the disapproval rating is somewhere in the 70 percentile (maybe higher?) country-wide so I'm going to just go ahead and take a chance that it's low.

So then why vote for McSame?

The part that gets me above everything else is McCain's blatantly obvious political pick for his VP. I'm not going to get into this too much here because I believe the topic of Sarah Palin, her beliefs, and “her on the issues” deserve a whole other post; however, for McCain to choose a running mate like Palin- who miraculously answers questions without actually answering them, dodging inquiries unrelated to Alaska or her family as if they were the plague, and in the end never fails to demonstrate how utterly clueless she is - again makes me question McCain's sincerity about wanting a better country for the American people.

I would certainly respect McCain's candidacy and his campaign much more, and I would (maybe) have some trust in his presidential agenda, if he had chosen a sidekick who knew what he/she was doing rather than creating what seems like a marketing ploy. Or perhaps someone with whom he's worked before would have been a more solid choice rather than calling someone up to be his VP whom he met with once before with the sole purpose of riling up the public into a McCain-electing frenzy. Congrats McPal, you're celebrities! But Brangelina or TomKat would sooner get my vote.