If you want me to support your candidate, don't call me early in the morning

No word on where last night's smoke was coming from. Must be residue from one of the existing ones. But I didn't know that at the time. I stayed up most of the night watching the news, and finally crashed in my clothes during the wee hours. Just a few hours later my telephone rings. The excerpt below is an almost direct transcription of what happened.

[Telephone Rings]

Me: "Mmmhello?"

Chirpy Woman: "Good morning, I'm doing a poll on the upcoming election. Can I ask you 5 quick questions?"

Me: [Rubbing eyes and trying to get them to focus...grateful it's not an evacuation order] "Um.....sure."

Chirpy Woman: "Thank you. Now do you support Candidate X for Mayor?"

Me: [Gut reaction without thinking] "Hell no."

Chirpy Woman who sounds disappointed: "May I ask why you don't support Candidate X?"

Me: "Because I have met Candidate X on numerous occasions and can't stand him."

Disappointed Woman: "Could you be more specific?"

Me: "Ma'am, you woke me up out of a dead sleep. I don't think I could be specific on much of anything, but I think he's a pompous jack-ass." [Even while half conscious, I get a certain amount of amusement out of hearing her have to write "pompous jack-ass"]

Disappointed (but undaunted) Woman: "Ok, well, do you support Proposition 8 - The Protection of Marriage Act?"

Me: "Oh boy, you had better have a lot of space on that paper....."


And that was how my Saturday began. I continued to give honest answers that just sent Chirpy Woman into a tizzy. I do polls for a living. This wasn't a poll, but a semi-veiled attempt to convince the non-believers that her opinions were right. We should all hang up on these people. Why I didn't, I'm not sure. I guess I was looking to defend myself against the evil-doers who chose to wake me up early on a Saturday morning.

In general, I'm a firm believer in answering legitimate polls because they help to influence policy. I know how discouraging is to make call after call and get told numerous times to put my survey where the sun doesn't shine. But pseudo-polls like the one above? Those are just idiotic.

So, if anyone else wishes to poll/convert me, here are my standard answers:

President:
In spite of what you may read or see, the country is not going to become socialist right after inauguration day, nor would we nuke Iran. Both candidates are good men with good ideas, some of which I happen to disagree strongly with. I can see merits to either one of them being elected. Heck, if we could have a "McCain/Obama" ticket, I would vote that way in a heart-beat. That's not an option though, and so I have to make a choice.

I am supporting Obama. (Mind you, I voted for GW twice) I think the tax cuts in the short term will be good to stimulate the economy. Yes, I do have concerns about the "spreading the wealth around" comments, and I don't consider paying taxes to be my patriotic duty. But we are in a situation right now where people are in serious financial trouble, and not all of them got there by living beyond their means. Some are concerned about his lack of world affairs experience, and his smooth style being greater than his substance. (these are usually the same people who praise Sarah Palin for having good looks as one of her stronger assets) Well, after our last 8 years of diplomacy, someone who shows that not all Americans are big-talking Texans who like to blow things up. As for the terrorism associations, I think those allegations are weak at best. Yes, Reverend Wright definitely concerns me. I am also a Catholic who has seen every single clergyman who had a positive impact on my religious faith over the last decade be tried and convicted for sexual improprieties. One impregnated and then financed the abortion for a 13 year old girl. Does that make me in favor of child molesters? After all, I still consider myself a Catholic and still go to mass from time to time.

Now before you start calling me a commie left-wing liberal crazy (as my conservative friends will), let me explain why I *didn't* support McCain. Prime reason? Sarah Palin, Sarah Palin, Sarah Palin. Yes, she's had gubernatorial experience and has a high approval rating in her state. It doesn't take much to be popular in a state with vast oil reserves and more money than she knows what to do with. It's easy to turn away federal dollars and appear fiscally responsible when you have a lot to work with in the first place. I would like to see her try to govern any other state in the union and see if she has the same approval rating.

I also question a woman with that many young children taking on one of the world's most important offices. Call me a raging conservative (as my liberal friends will), but to me, her primary job should be "parent." I'm a firm believer in actually raising the kids you give birth to. Now, if Dad's a stay-at-home dad 100% of the time, then fine, go for it. But that doesn't seem to be the case. They are going to have a tough road these next few years, and to not stay home and protect her kids seems woefully irresponsible to me.

Her stance on abortion also deeply worries me. Now, let me say at the outset that in general I find abortion abhorrent. Whether you are pro-choice or pro-life, there is no one on the planet who is hoping for more abortions. I thank my lucky stars that I never had to face that decision myself. But my opinion on abortion changes in the context. In the case of rape? Incest? I absolutely support it. If the baby is endangering the life of the mother? Most definitely. Let me also say that this is MY opinion, and not the opinion of others. I have a right to it, as do those who disagree with me. If you believe that all abortion is wrong, that's fine, no one would force you to have one. I just take issue with someone else making a deeply traumatic decision for me about my life and the life of a child.

And don't get me started on her interviews. She is ill-prepared, and lacks any sort of skill to gracefully move away from areas that are not her strongest points. "But she had just come on the campaign" her supporters say, "She hadn't had a chance to study, and the media is out to get her." That to me is the biggest knock against McCain. He was so concerned with finding someone who would counter-balance Obama's race issues and potentially scoop up disenfranchised Hillary voters that he picked the first pretty politician with a uterus. He chose her, he threw her out into the spotlight, and she did about as well as she could under the circumstances. He was not interested in the most qualified person for the job, he wanted someone who could win...and clearly that is backfiring.

But aside from that, my biggest beef with McCain is that he's spending a heck of a lot of money telling us how evil Obama is, and only small bits on what he sees for the future. Had he spent less time talking about his opponent, and selected someone like Joe Lieberman as his running mate, the decision might have gone the other way.

I'd like to get into those rabid "Defense of Marriege" crazies...but it's almost half past noon and I need to get moving on the day. I'll get to that later tonight or tomorrow.