Enough said.

This is a blog post from my cousin in response to a message he received. I had to post it, read it you'll understand why.

The ugly side of American politics is obvious. Candidates spend so much time smearing one another that there really is no time to present real ideas an agendas. So, people are left voting with their hearts and voting with celebrity. I had hoped that we could follow Michelle Obama's example and just shrug these issues off as normal political banter. However, since my sister has chosen to lash out against the GOP attacks, I have to stand up and call BS. I will not condone physical threats to Obama. That is reprehensible. But, blaming the entire GOP for the comments of some idiot is like blaming every Muslim for Al Qeda. Blaming all pro-life individuals for a bomber is like blaming every Christian for Jim Jones. It is like blaming every American for Lee Harvey Oswald. I will not address the smear campaigns that Democrats are running. Why bother? It is politics. Its is normal. However, your message makes it sounds like only one party is involved. This is not true. It is partisan and misleading. Both campaigns are wasting our time. Both sides are skirting the real issues and blinding us with double talk and half truth.

Let's look at one of your examples, the issue of Todd Palin and his membership in the Alaskan Independence party. I was in college during this time and was not really paying attention. But, I do not remember Alaska attacking the mainland. I don't remember any bombings. For the sake of argument, let's pretend like secession is the same thing as domestic terrorism. This defense is admittedly stupid and shallow, but it holds about as much weight as your Bill Ayers defense. Saying that Palin is disqualified for membership in Eskimoqueda holds about as much weight as my saying my sister cannot write pro-Obama blogs because she was a Reagan Republican from 1975-2005. Bill Ayers's reaction to Vietnam was atrocious, obviously. John McCain went back to Vietnam, after years as a POW, to normalize relations between our countries. He had a chance to leave his torment early because of his powerful family, but declined. Let's call that a draw and ignore any and all extremist bomber connections. We could debate the definition of terrorist. Going by your logic, we would have to add John Hancock (treason) and George Washington (guerilla rebel leader). For the record, I could give a crap about Bill Ayers and it has no bearing on my vote.

Is your argument that I, as a Christian, must stop being proud of the GOP because some idiotic hate speech during a rally...from the crowd? I have plenty of other reasons to not be proud of the GOP, thank you. Since you pulled the Jesus card, let's discuss one issue that we CAN clearly define the point of view Christ would take. It will be my one political issue that I address. Obama voted against a ban on partial birth abortion. Jesus would say that each of these lost lives is as valuable to Him as yours or mine. Let's take a quick overview of this process, for those that are not health teachers. The baby is drowned, more or less, with salt water. The remains are extracted from the "mother." However, many of these babies survive, which I don't think people realize. Those that survive are simply left to die, because killing them would be murder. Sometimes, a nurse with a heart will give them a blanket, so they will be a little warmer as they die. Christian or not, let's agree this is horrible. I was pro-choice until the day I heard Jadyn's (my daughters) heartbeat. Jen was about 6 weeks pregnant. This is the time where most, "safe, harmless," abortions are performed. Think about that for a second. Think of my little girl with her big beautiful eyes and bouncing curly hair. Then you think about the no less than 1.3 Americans that are aborted in a year. I don't think you need to ask Jesus how he feels about that. We hold rallies and make movies about genocide in foreign lands, but the killing of 1.3m inconvenient people a year in our own land is status quo. Do we still hold it as self evident that all men are created equal? Notice that it is not born equal. This is the ultimate glass house from which we throw stones, to borrow your metaphor.

I raised one of many issues where my beliefs overlap into my politics, but one issue does not decide my vote. The implication you made there, on behalf of Senator Obama, is a dangerous one. It is suggesting that one should vote a certain way, or they are not "christian." Republicans do this all the time and it is dangerous. Jesus only discussed Roman rule when He was directly asked about it. Let's just not go there.

I think everyone knows the racial makeup of your family, our family. This is also a dangerous, slippery slope. It sounds as if you are implying that Senator Obama is only enduring dirty campaign tactics because he is black. I can turn this right around and say that the only reason he attacked Senator Clinton during the primary is because she is a woman. Politicians attack one another, deal with it. Obama is doing an amazing job with this, follow his lead. Race is a huge problem in this country. Thousands, if not millions, of Americans will vote against him because he is black. This is undeniable and dispicable. Millions of Americans will also vote for him because he is black and because he is cool, without being able to name a single point on his platform. I believe this is also despicable.