Screaming at the Television

It's official. I can no longer watch the presidential debates. Last night, while watching the presidential debate I literally screamed at the television four or five times.

Not that my thoughts or feelings on any given subject amount to a hill of beans, but I've decided that John McCain has pretty much written this election off. I'm sure that if, by some miracle, he was declared the winner he'd be quite happy to move into the White House. However, I think it's more likely that he's given up the fight and is now working for the Republican party to regroup. 2008 is essentially over for the Republican party and now it's on to 2012.

That's the only way I can understand the bizarre behavior by the Republican nominee. Everything he's doing is pandering to the ultra-conservative wing of the Republican party. Based on his comments about cutting social security, it's clear that he's given up on the swing voter, and his plan to buy bad mortgages at face value then adjust them to current market prices had to send moderate Republicans into orbit. Even I gasped at that idea. The only explanation possible is that he's trying to stir the social ultra conservative and motivate them to the polls. That's the only thing that makes a Palin vice presidency logical. That's the only reason to suggest cutting social security, an issue that is death to any candidate who has ever tried to discuss reform. It's the only explanation for the outrageous smears against Barak Obama.

But, this erratic behavior does have a silver lining. It is the clearest indication yet that the social conservatives in this country are scared and desperate. Social trends operate as a pendulum, and the time has come to swing back to a more liberal national view. The neo-cons, who have pushed that pendulum past it's natural swing to the right have got to know they can do nothing to stop or slow the reaction to the left. Pay back is a bitch, and that has got to scare them.

But that is no excuse for the racist, xenophobic slander that the McCain campaign is spewing. Obama is not a terrorist. He is as American as I am, and frankly probably loves this country more because I'm not sure I'd be able to put myself or my family through the torture they're having to endure. And it's making me furious.

Today I had a discussion with a young man who is basing his entire voting decision on last night's debate and his father's political ideology. He's voting for McCain, even though he believes that Sarah Palin is an idiot and would be a disastrous president. He believes the war in Iraq and the coming war in Iran are necessary and he buys the concept that Barak Obama is politically immature. I tried to engage in a discussion of the facts, and quickly realized it was pointless. I was never going to be able to use reason to combat Daddy's ideology.

I'm learning in my old age that not everyone sees things the way I do, and more importantly that I am not capable of converting some people to my way of thinking. It used to be that it wasn't enough for me to be right. I needed someone else to tell me that, not only was I right, that they were wrong. And when that didn't happen (as it never has) my frustration would be compounded exponentially. I would rail and fume and continue to fight the good fight, wasting incalculable amounts of energy.

I no longer have that energy to waste. I no longer argue my superior positions. In fact, I rarely offer them, although if asked I still have trouble not becoming boring and pedantic on certain topics, but even there I'm learning the cues and end the conversation without necessarily having expressed in great detail the nuances of my views.

But I still haven't learned how to control my anger with my television. I'm abusive to it and scream the most horrible obscenities to it whenever I have to listen to the idiocy of McCain or Palin. I'm twitching. I can't get to the poll fast enough. I want to send the whole lot of them back to a rock in Crawford, Texas. And I'm sure my neighbors will welcome the peace and quiet.