I started off as a Hillary supporter.  Ahhh... a yearning for the good ole' days. When she did not get the nomination I was angry. So angry in fact, that I considered voting for McCain. He was always a bit more moderate than the average republican, and he did have some very public "spats" with the Bush Regime.

That said, I listened closely to what they both had to say, right up until they picked their VP running mates. I was, again, angry with the Obama camp for choosing someone other than Hillary as his running mate, and I was, again, more inclined to go towards McCain. 

Then something extraordinary happened. McCain choose a female running mate. I initially thought, that's it! He has made the most brilliant career move of his life! He cares about getting the female vote, he cares about those of us who felt jilted by Hillary's exit from the race. Then we got to know Palin.

Wow. What a let down. My anger swung 180 degrees to come full face with the McCain camp. "Are you kidding me?!" was on full repeat in my brain as I watched Palin sink interview after interview after interview. Her inability to answer some of the simplest questions stumped me. Why on earth would McCain have EVER thought that the savvy, Democratic Hillary supporters would ever back a woman who does not support abortion in the case of rape or incest? Why would McCain ever think that a beauty pageant contestant with very limited political experience would ever survive in Washington?  Why would McCain think that simply switching out women would work? Obviously we listen to what the candidates have to say.  Obviously we care about who we vote for. Instead of bringing in a moderate Republican we could identify with, he chose Palin: an extremely right wing opponent of abortion and evolution education in the classroom.  Someone who received a blessing against "witches" in her church. 

One of my favorite political cartoons right now depicts Palin at a podium touting the benefits of abstinence only education with her pregnant 17 year old daughter standing behind her.  Does McCain think that we are stupid enough to just vote for someone who is a female, not taking her beliefs into account? Shame on you. Shame shame.

No, I am sorry. I am very moderate in my views. I believe in capital punishment. I believe in the right to bear arms. I believe in a woman's right to choose. I believe that there needs to be affordable health care for everyone. I believe that we need to get out of Iraq. I believe that we need to fix the energy situation before we fix anything else.

I believe that no one out there agrees with me 100%, and that I will not be able to agree with anyone else 100% of the time. That said, I believe I am going to vote for Obama, because while he does not believe in everything I do, I believe that he respects our intelligence as voters, I believe that he will follow through, and I believe that he is sincere.  How can I trust McCain when he does not respect our intelligence enough to see the difference?