2008. THE YEAR OF VOTING DANGEROUSLY.

This post is a little different, veering into partisan politics. But with the Iowa Caucuses today, and the Presidential Primary season to be soon upon us, it is worth talking about the election and the possible nominees.

When we examine the current crop of presidential candidates, one word is most salient. ELECTABILITY. Can the Republican or Democratic Candidate win a General Election?

Among the current Democratic candidates, concerns arise about frontrunners Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton. Hilary Clinton engenders a visceral disgust among the many on the right, similar to the emotions that George Bush engenders among the left.

But high negatives among the opposition can only raise your own party’s candidate so high. Republican voters cannot cast extra votes because of their distaste for Hillary Clinton. If she polls well among her party faithful and likely-voting independents, she wins.

Barrack Obama is the first African-American candidate with a legitimate shot at the Democratic nomination. There is a substantial core of racist voters in America, concentrated among southern Republicans, that would not vote for a black candidate. But would these racist southerners vote for any Democrat, even a southern Democrat like John Edwards. Likely not. So these voters, unavailable to any Democrat, will not have much impact on Obama’s candidacy.

So with the Democratic frontrunners, excite the base, get a good amount of independents, rely on general dislike of the current administration, and they can likely win.

CHENEY IS UNLOVED. EVEN BY HIS OWN MINIONS.

Successful administrations, and even some not so successful administrations, often promote their Vice President as the next presidential candidate. That won’t happen this term. Dick Cheney is even lower in the polls than George Bush. And health questions would dog him.

So a crop of generally lesser known Republican candidates are in the race. John McCain, long-time senator from Arizona, has been around the longest. But he has been shopped before and was smeared and trounced by the current president and his operatives in 2000. He must be considered among the Republican leaders, however. And he is, in the Author’s opinion, the most electable Republican candidate. His baggage is only conventionally political. His record is generally conservative and there are no “big buts” (to be discussed later) in his background.

THE gOD OF LOVE IS SURE CHOOSY ABOUT WHO HE LOVES.

Mitt Romney. The Author believes that Mitt Romney will likely be the Republican nominee. However, the recent gaffe and misstatement about his father George’s stroll with Martin Luther King are very damaging. And Romney has reversed himself on nearly all his moderate positions to appease the Christian Fundamentalist apparatchiks.

And there is the “big but”. Romney is a Mormon. Mormons, in the eyes of many Christian Fundamentalists, are not even “Christians”. One’s religious beliefs, or lack there off, should not be an important issue in examining a candidate. However, religious beliefs are a litmus test in American politics in this Christianist era. Sow the wind and reap the whirlwind, eh.

RUDY KICKS “BUTS” AND TAKES NAMES (WRITTEN ON CONTRIBUTION CHECKS AND SHAKEDOWN ENVELOPES).

Rudy Giuliani. Like Romney, Giuliani must make the switch from East Coast moderate Republican to Christianist firebrand in one campaign season. Rudy has corruption, cronyism, gangsterism and infidelity in his bindle. But he also has photo ops, sound clips, and video with a bullhorn from the rubble of 9-11. As John McCain has said, with Rudy every sentence he speaks has a noun, a verb and 9-11. Lots of “big buts”.

And in the Author’s opinion, Rudy is dripping with sociopathic tendencies. Brown-shirted raw ambition. He would skin Panda Bear cubs alive and use their fur for beverage coasters if it would advance his career.

AND HERE IS WHERE IT GETS WEIRD.

The Author has already discussed Mike Huckabee. Huckabee has everything the Republican Christianists want, and many things that would cause a recoil in mainstream America. He believes in biblical creationism and said in 1992 that HIV-AIDS individuals should be quarantined. He claims that angels helped him shoot an elk.

He wants to replace the modestly progressive income tax with a brutally regressive [Un]-Fair Tax. But even this isn’t enough for the fiscally irresponsible “Club for Growth (of Rich Americans Income Tax Cuts)”. They oppose him because he raised taxes as the governor of Arkansas.

Huckabee has got more “big buts” than a Texas buffet restaurant. Unelectable, but possibly able to get the Republican nomination.

Of all the Republican candidates, Ron Paul is the most “interesting”.

Ron Paul is a “Libertarian”. The Author does not believe that “Libertarians” exist. Instead, “Libertarians” are extreme conservatives that like to smoke dope and engage in deviant sex.

They do not often wish to extend the liberties they demand to others, however. Ron Paul opposes abortion and believes that 95% of black District of Columbia residents are criminals. Arrest ‘em all and let the courts sort them out.

Libertarians do not wish for people to live free from abject poverty caused by disability or illness. Nor wish to provide healthcare to such individuals. And they do not wish for people to live free from unregulated pollution emanating from the strip mine next door.

Some Liberty.

WHAT AWAITS THE WINNER?

The current president will leave a scorched earth to his successor. A quagmire in Iraq. A military position in Afghanistan that is eroding. And who knows what in Pakistan. A militant Islamic state with nuclear weapons? If Bush bombs Iran we may have the Straits of Hormuz blocked and $200 per barrel oil

Add to that an economy slipping into recession, hemorrhaging budget debt, and a weakening dollar.

Some “movement conservatives” have reportedly written off this election cycle. Bush is extremely unpopular and will be a drag on any Republican candidate. And it is likely that Republicans will suffer further losses in Congress. Rather, these “movement conservatives” believe, the challenges the next Democratic president faces will be overwhelming and that Republicans can regroup and retake the presidency in 2012.

Possible? Yeah. Probable? Who knows.

VOTING IS ALWAYS DANGEROUS. BUT THE PROSPECT OF NOT VOTING IS MORE DANGEROUS IN THE DESERT OF THE REAL!