[tryfuhl]

I actually ended up reading this in the newspaper. There were some good points, but all it did was point out how the liberals had said the Republicans (not conservatives) were wrong at times. It did little to argue anything positive for the Republicans, not sure that was the point of the piece, but those who live in glass houses, etc.

The points made in the paragraphs around the one mentioning that Republican voters are usually seen as clinging to "guns, God, etc" is very true at times, not all-encompassing but I've seen people use those as their main points for who they're voting for. If you have guns as a main reason to vote one way or another I think that you're a nut personally; I understand protecting your rights (which many of these people didn't mind giving up with the Patriot Act and others) and wanting the right to defend yourself and your family, but those aren't really the guns being targeted, and there should be much more pressing issues in your mind as far as your country goes. The religion thing, I don't want my leaders putting in borderline moral laws past the obvious ones such as murder, theft, etc. For example, I'm personally against abortion however I don't think that my belief should govern everyone else. I'm neutral to pro on homosexual marriage, it does not bother me one bit and I don't think that we need government defining "love" for us. To not give the option in states is one thing, to actually pass laws to ban it without even having it currently present is preposterous.

It seems nearly impossible to listen to a Republican answer a question without changing the subject drastically or saying "Well the Democrats blah blah" and a great example of this would be Palin pre-election. The neo-con movement putting such a strong emphasis on these things (guns, abortion, anti-gay marriage, etc) it honestly does make them look like second rate citizens in my opinion. I don't want to hear "OMG THE DEMS PLAN WON'T WORK" I want to hear "If this is going to work, this is what we believe needs to happen" and that's not what I'm hearing. I'd love for a great conservative candidate come out, but honestly, there isn't one on the big screen right now, maybe come next pres election time, but the Republican party needs to wash themselves of some of these wackjobs and put their focus on more important issues. America is clearly concerned with healthcare, the economy, etc. I'm not saying that the Democrats are doing it correctly (that could be a whole different rant for me) but they're the ones talking about it more. I don't see the Democrats making their main campaign points getting rid of guns, abolishing religion.. really the only mainstream thing has been the gay marriage/rights issue. The Republicans make it seem like they're there to protect things that really aren't at great jeopardy. Your handguns aren't going anywhere, gay marriage isn't going to make heterosexual marriage less important or valid (unless you have a horrible marriage to begin with.. and a ton of insecurities to boot), and whatnot, those are backburner issues to most people with their priorities in order.

The biggest issue is just the voting to shut down the other party's proposals out of principle, regardless of what it is. Such as recently when the Republicans who supported a bill had several members end up "changing their minds" and voting against it, all because it would appear to be a success under the current administration.

I'm just going off in all directions now so I'll pass it off to the big boys.