I'm Insulted & Angry Over All the McCain Talk (VP & Sec. of Defense)

[BabsSong]

I was angry when Clinton appointed republican Cohen as Sec. of Defense because we Democrats had been working so very hard to convince people that Dems were not "soft on defense" and did not hate people in uniform, etc. A Dem president appointing a Dem Sec. of Defense would have gone a long way to furthering that work. When Clinton appointed a republican it was like saying that the critics were right and that, when it came down to it, you really couldn't depend on a lilly-livered, wussy Dem to protect this nation.

Now 12 years later when it is ultra-critical in the wake of 9/11 that we convince the voters that it is safe to elect Democrats (to Congress and the Presidency), we throw out the name of two republicans (McCain and Warner) and two Dems for the Sec. of Defense position. The message is so self-defeating because it says that we are still not entirely sure you can trust a Dem to be man enough or woman enough for that job but have to go the repuke party to find those qualities. The VP suggestion is even more disgusting.

To suggest McCain as a VP is to insult every Dem who ran for the nomination, every Dem officeholder who has devoted their life to the party and every registered Democrat. It's like saying that in the whole party there isn't one honorable man or woman worthy or trusted to be a VP; and that, again, we must go to the party of "trust and worthy people". Trust me, if this were ever to happen, every repuke running for any office would point to the Dem and say, "don't vote for him/her because even Kerry didn't want one of these liberal scum to be by his side". This type of "suggestion" that several of our Dem politicians are throwing around is betraying every person out there running for office as a Democrat.

I know some brilliant campaign person thinks that we must do this to entice moderate republicans. Didn't they get the memo??---this election is about getting out the base. Bush got the memo. Bush is shoring up his base. We excited the base in the primaries when Democrats stood up as real Democrats and lead the Dem Party. If all this "McCain/and or some republican" talk continues, I will guarantee you that a certain small percentage of Dems will either not vote or vote Nader and that's all it takes to lose this election.

We must decide right now if we go with the bird in the hand or cast it aside to try to get two in the bush. If we don't wake up, we are going to end up with three dead birds and "the bush" will win. (sometimes I feel that Democrats have an inbred gene that causes them to take a gun, aim it at their foot and pull the trigger when ever a real possibility of victory looms)..........