I remember one such day in 2008. Warm enough to be in short sleeves I wore my
t-shirt.
In Washington, DC. In Logan Circle. Short of the roundabout in Dupont or San Francisco, I'm not sure I can name a more liberal location on the planet. The wait staff at the restaurant didn't want to serve Kimberly and me. People threw nasty stares in my general direction. And one girl thought she was funny: "Are you serious?" she asked, as she walked by.
"Yes, I am. I suppose you're voting for the other guy."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because he's not George Bush."
I asked for another reason. She couldn't give me one. Like most of the electorate in the US, this clueless liberal had no idea why she was really voting for the guy for whom she planned to vote.
I don't know why I thought about this today. Maybe it's because a few too many of my liberal friends would vote for Chris Coons merely because he's not Christine O'Donnell. The media has given him a pass for his inability to recite the five freedoms afforded us by the First Amendment, yet they've jumped all over O'Donnell for her refusal to accept that "the separation of church and state," while not actually mentioned by name in the Constitution, is pretty much what the founders had in mind with the "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion..."
Or maybe it's because of Harry Reid and his bumbling answer regarding pink, uh...uh...football helmets, or Gwen Ifill's inability to remember other important dates in US political history.
Whatever the reason, I decided I'd tell y'all why I'm voting for Patrick Murray on 2 November. It's not just because he's "not Jim Moran." Here are four reasons why I'm voting for Colonel Murray.
1) He served 24 years in the US Army and retired last November. I only served my country for 9 1/2 years. And it wasn't nearly enough. Colonel Murray sacrificed his life for 24 years for the freedom to vote "for the other guy." That Jim Moran doesn't consider that service is appalling. Now Colonel Murray wants to continue his service as a United States Congressman. Because for him, 24 years of service to the USA wasn't enough. I respect that.
2) I agree with his stance on taxes (leave ALL taxes at the 2003 rate for at least another six years AND drop the corporate tax rate). The top 5% of this country already pays 58.7% of the country's income tax, and Obama and Moran want them to pay more? "But what about the $700 billion we could use to pay down the deficit if we taxed them more?" you ask. What about the $3 trillion you don't mind paying to make sure the other guy gets his "fair" shake? That, and as my friend Timothy Lee is wont to note, those tax rates resulted in the largest increase to the federal coffers in history. To be sure, much of that is because of the booming economy during the middle four years of the Bush presidency, but it was a record revenue, nevertheless.
Murray's main point here - that raising taxes during a recession (or "jobless" recovery), on anyone, is a mistake. And re: the corporate tax. Check out the article in yesterday's WSJ. There's a way to get increased revenue, increased investment, and with it, increased jobs. That's good politics.
3) He's not afraid to call a spade a spade. We are at war with Islamic extremists. We're not at war with Islam. But nor are we merely at war with Eric Holder's "there are a number of reasons for..." extremists. 24 years in the Army contribute to his strong national security credentials, and he's got the right attitude on Iran (Obama has been entirely too passive in addressing this issue) and he supports our strongest and longest-lasting ally in the Middle East (Israel).
4) He's not Jim Moran. Sorry...couldn't resist. I'm no fan of term limits as I think that we, as an electorate, should hold the power to hire and fire whomever we choose. If there's someone doing a splendid job, that person shouldn't be canned just because he or she has served ... insert term limit here ... years.
However, I find it absolutely amazing that with approval ratings in the 20s that anyone, anywhere, actually believes his or her congressman is doing a good job. Especially Jim Moran. He's obviously playing the "pay to play" game, he thinks it's OK to redistribute...er...blatantly steal...from one person's pocket to give to another, and he spent $175k of my tax dollars on a fancy shmancy flyer to brag about what he'd done for VA House District 8. But he couldn't even find a Virginia business in VA House District 8 to print his obvious campaign propaganda?
So, I'm voting for Patrick Murray on 2 November. I've volunteered for his campaign, made a few calls, and have a Veterans for Murray sign in my front window. Because, yes, I'm serious...
