Dig in Deep

This election is not over for John McCain. The media likes to spin this as essentially over, but Republicans tend to do better than the polls indicate, and there are a lot of undecided voters in just about every poll. Many of these are undecided about both candidates, but overall, Obama represents the more radical departure and is not as likely to get those voters as McCain is. McCain would be, without question, a phenomenal commander-in-chief, and has been a model of bipartisanship for years. He is a moderate, and as undecided moderates make up their minds they will likely vote McCain. The only question is, will they actually go and vote, and will it be enough?

The other factor is Sarah Palin. The media isn’t reporting very heavily, but she routinely attracts thousands to her rallies, while Biden attracts hundreds. I don’t think the polling data is taking into account the attraction she has to women who do not regularly vote. If Obama is going to be turning out the African-American vote this year – a rather reliable voting block for Democrats, anyway – Palin will be turning out the “stay-at-home-mom” vote this year, a mixed voting block that can turn this election.

To be clear, many things have to go right for McCain for him to win tomorrow. But it is not impossible, and I’d venture to say that it is not even unlikely that he can win, especially with the polls trending towards him currently.

But with the way Obama’s victory has been painted as a sure thing, be prepared for all hell to break loose if he loses. Riots, certainly. There are cities where riots happen when their sports team wins. But also the angry left will get a heck of a lot angrier, and they will (still) forget that the only Democrat to get elected President over the last 30 years campaigned as a conservative. The loss will be blamed on everything but the utter liberalness of their candidate.

An Obama win, however, could be even more devastating to the Democratic party. If Obama fulfills most of his promises – which will be likely given Democratic control of the house and senate – he will seriously erode the strength of the economy. The economy is weakening and on the brink for a full depression, and bad policies have a very likely tendency to just push it over the edge. They will still blame George W. Bush, of course, but after four years that will not resonate with voters.

Add any kind of serious foreign crisis – which Biden famously assured us will happen – and as Obama blunders it he will lose a lot of the luster he’s built up for himself.

On top of that, I guarantee you that the Democrats will try to re-enact the Fairness Doctrine, in a move to silence conservative talk radio. Obama has said that he doesn’t support doing this, but Pelosi and other congressional Democrats are big supporters of it, and will, at a minimum, try it. Doing so will ignite conservative opposition in a way the left has never seen, and will usher in huge changes in the election that follows (either 2010 or 2012).

In some ways, I’m interested to see how things would go with Obama as president. How nutty will the Democrats get, and how much will the media let them get away with? But in reality, I have to vote my conscience, and my conscience says this:

1) I will never vote for a candidate who supports partial-birth abortion, sucking babies brains out of their heads while they are halfway through the birth canal. Likewise I will not vote for a candidate who could not find it within themselves to take a stand and support the idea that healthcare must be provided to children born alive after a botched abortion. These issues speak volumes about the character of a person, even if they believe abortion should be legal.

2) I will vote for a candidate who has shown leadership in suggesting and supporting military strategies that result in more peace and stability, rather than the candidate who vowed to pull out troops, even if that meant chaos and instability in a country whose leaders we deposed after years of UN inaction. We do not need to prove Osama bin Laden right and act as a “paper tiger.”

3) I will never vote for a candidate who believes that it is a proper role of government to “spread the wealth around.”

4) I will not vote for a candidate who has a laundry list of radicals among his friends, mentors, and associates. Obama’s frequent lies about his relationship to Jeremiah Wright, his refusal to release records during his college years, his shady dealings with convicted felon Tony Rezko, and his associations with radicals such as Ayers and Khalidi, all are sufficient reason to vote against him.

5) I will not vote for a candidate who thinks that unions should be formed without a private ballot – Obama’s support for the (deceptively-named) Employee Free Choice Act is indefensible, and will encourage union organizer’s intimidation of workers.

6) I will vote for the candidate who has promised to nominate judges whose desire is to uphold the rule of law, and interpret the Constitution and the laws of the land as they have been written, rather than the candidate who believes that the most important qualification for a Supreme Court justice is a “sense of fairness.” If we continue to allow judges to rule as it seems fair to them, then none of our rights are safe.

As you can tell, most of my vote tomorrow will be against Barack Obama. I urge you to do the same.

Finally, there are many other races tomorrow that are worth watching out for, but there are two that I actually really, really hope for a Democratic defeat. First of all, if Al Franken is elected Senator that will represent, to me, the end of a sensible electorate. Second, John Murtha has still not been held accountable for his despicable verbal attacks on the Marines regarding the Haditha incident. Both of these races are close. If Obama wins and Franken and Murtha lose, I’ll consider election day a draw.