All right I am going to come right out and admit it, I hear all of this talk about you are a liberal or you are a conservative, or they are left wing or they are right wing ect.  And to be honest I have never fully understood what that means.  I hear how republicans are conservative, and democrats are liberal and so on and so forth.   However I can honestly say I kind of understand it but not really.  And now I too am being called a liberal because I am a Christian who supports Obama, and happens to disagree with the way Bush has ran us into the ground, and because I do not think Mccain will do much better.  I would like some explanation on what you all mean when you label this one a conservative and that one liberal.   I guess I have never understood all of this and would like some explanation here.  I do not consider myself left or right but more middle.  But now I have people on this site saying how liberal I must be and about how liberal Obama is so please clarify this for me and help me to learn more about this.

Well my mind is made up and while I must say I am still uncertain about the lack of expericence Obama has, I will not be voting for MCCain this year. The reasons are pretty simple and clear to me.  First and foremost I think Bush has been a total disaster as a president.   I was against him from the get go, but that is a topic for another blog.  The reason I bring this up is that John Mccain has voted with Mr Bush 90 percent of the time.  So no matter what he might say, the record speaks for itself and for what he will stand for, and it is very clear that it is very similar similar to Mr Bush.  I feel that the last 8 years have been a disaster and I am very certain that if Mccain is elected it will be basically more of the same.   Yeah there will be a few minor changes but basically if you like the way things have gone and you are happy with the Job Mr Bush has done these past 8 years then by all means vote for Mccain.   Before the republicans took office we had a budget surplus and we now have a record deficit.  We still have not eradicated those responsible for the worst attack on American soil to have ever taken place.  I do not hear alot about how Mccain will change things, just alot of talk about how they are mavericks for change, but I say they are more of the same.  I also hear alot of talk about how he will be tough on terrorism.  And I say to that, if he was going to be so tough on terrorism, where was he when we went into Iraq?  Oh thats right busy voting for that war.   Iraq has taken our focus completely off of the real terrorrists, whom by the way still exist and are busy beefing up and reorganizing for their next attack while we spend trillions of dollars in Iraq.  But instead of standing up and saying hold on Mr Bush, before we go after Iraq we need to focus on those responsible for 911.  But no Mccain did not do that did he?   And while I admit he is a POW and I respect him for that, it does not qualify him for the whitehouse and have heard just about enough of that and about what a hero he is.  To be honest even most of the republican base is not fond of Mccain, but in the end they will stick to their party and vote republican.  Now about Palin,that too is a blog in itself, but here she is back to the retoric that somehow Iraq was responsible for the attacks on 911.  My biggest problem with Mccain is that he will say and do whatever it takes to get elected.  If he has to right out lie, which he has, then so be it.  First he was against the tax cuts, that was before he ran for president that is, now suddenly he is for them.  He picked Palin, purely for political leverage and for no other reason what so ever.  Charlie Gibson gave her a more thorough interview than he did before picking her.  I love how down right nasty and how low they will go when you are opposing them but if it is someone on their team, then oh boo hooo how dare you say that.  I am not against all republicans, but I do feel after 8 years of running our country into the ground it is time for a change.  And for those who say there will be no change, rest assured there will be a change, by putting a democrat back in the oval office there will be a big change.  So again I say if you are happy with the economy, happy with the fact we have still not gotten the terrorists, happy with the way things have gone the past 8 years then by all means vote Mccain because I guarentte you will get more of the same.   I love how Bush and the republican party pounds their fists and say We are tougher on Terrorism.  But I ask you, have we truly done anything to stop or wipe out terrorism?  We did not get Al Queda did we? And for those who would argue, well we have not been attacked again, yes that is true, but they are still out there still beefing up, and its not a matter of if but when.  Bush cannot say he is tough on terrorism when all we have really done is over throw Saddam.  We have not gotten bin laden nor have we truly eradicated, or disabled their network.    I may come across as a Democrat and in this election for president I may be.  But rest assured I do not just blindly follow party loyalty, and there are a few republicans I may vote for this year.  Like Dino Rossi for example.  I was appaled at how in my state, last election, they recounted until the democrat won and then stopped counting and as a result of that among other things I will be voting republican for Govenor this year.  I do have very strong views on Mr Bush.  I hope that in the next 4 years the republicans can produce a candidate that is truly looking to change things.  Because Mccain is not your agent for change, with Mccain it will be more of the same with just a few minor changes maybe.  

I am baffled.  Call it my upbringing, or maybe the fact that I did not become a Christian until I was in my early 20's, but I do not get why most Christians seem to be far right conservative republicans.  I am a devout follower of Jesus Christ and a born again Christian.  I am actively involved in a local church and am striving to grow in my faith.  I tend to not be too far to the right or too far the left and never have been.  I have tended to vote Democrat and feel that they have done a better job running the country in my short 33 years, but I am not a democrat or a republican and I vote for who I feel the best candidate is.  It seems like most evangelical Christians are automatically conservative republicans but I do not understand why.  It seems like most will blindly vote republican no matter what.   I see the right wing religious figures like James Dobson fully supporting the republican party and encouraging all Christians to do the same, almost going as far as to say it is our Christian duty to do so.  He was a strong Bush supporter, and I have been against Bush from the beginning.   Why and how is the Republican party the Christian party?  I mean lets face it, the bible is clear that we are to love our neighbor as our selves, and we are to help the poor.  Yet the Republican platform seems to be all about big business and the rich getting richer and the poor, well you are on your own.  We are the richest nation in the world but yet the republican party is all about protecting that wealth.   I do not get it at all.  I see so much hypocracy in the republican party, if you are on their team and are a republican then you are entitled to make mistakes. Such as cheating on your wife or getting pregnant as a teen, if you are repulican and do those things then oh they just made a mistake.  But if you are not a republican and you do those things you get lambasted and attacked and ridiculed.  Like I said I must not have gotten the memo that when I became a Christian I also needed to become a member of the Right wing conservative republican party.  I see even in this election the blind patriotism and blindly voting for the republican party as if it is your duty as a Christian to do so.  As far as patrtotism goes, I have news for you.  Blind faith in bad leadership is not PATRIOTISM!!!!!  I am interested in hearing from all veiwpoints on this and would really like some clarification on why so many Christians are Republicans.  I know abortion is a main reason and will save that discussion for another day.  Now don't get me wrong here, I am not trying to emply that the democratic party is the right party either, both parties have serious problems and that is why I am not a member of either party and will consider all issues and candidates fully before I make my decisions.   

I am looking forward to hearing what others think, so please feel free to thoughtfully discuss and agree or disagree.