[Little Bill]

We are getting stilted, if we can't talk what are we coming to, Life Long Registered Republican.

This is starting to remind me of the old Prodigy Current Events BBS.

[diotima]

Well, I myself would not vote for a democrat, I'd probably just not vote if the Republican candidate is "McCain-esque."

I am not sure if I understand how the mere act of participating in an online discussion about certain candidates and elected officials committment to constitutional ideals will effect the outcome of actual elections.

I have been highly critical of Bush in certain regards, but that doesn't mean I won't vote for him. At the very least, there is some value to letting the politicians, who work for you, know you aren't happy with their representation. The more "bought and paid for" we come off, the more irrelevent we become because we are...well...bought and paid for.

[Congressman Billybob]

I do not see FR as a cabal of "lifelong registered Republicans." I'm a regular here, since almost the beginning. I have been a registered "independent" since I worked as Gene McCarthy's General Counsel in his 1976 run for President as an independent.

No one has ever made me feel uncomfortable because I am an independent. I will say, though, if I ever decide to run for public office again (first time was in 1971), it will be as a Republican. Independents seldom win any partisan offices, though I'll be pleased if Tim Penny pulls it off and is elected Governor in Minnesota this year.

I have no objection if anyone is SO disgusted with the choices in a particular race that they refuse to vote for either (or any) of them. Not voting is a valid choice.

But as long as one is going to be involved, it must be by supporting whichever candidate offers the greater commitment to the basic ideas of America -- and that begins with the Constitution. (The Constitution is my particular hot button, and that's why I so much appreciate FR.)

Well, that's my rant, and I'm stickiing to it.

Congressman Billybob