It's October of an election year, and I've been quiet.

I know; I'm a little surprised too. Besides some of the videos I posted last month, I haven't really said anything about the upcoming election because there are plenty, plenty of other places for you to get information. (I recommend factcheck.org the most.) But, as you know, the fact that you can get info elsewhere has never really stopped me from yacking before.

I guess I haven't really felt like blogging about it. This is not because I don't care, because I do, a lot - I'm slightly obsessed with the election actually. I love election years. Now that I've had plenty of time to digest the current situation, I will, as succinctly as possible, share my feelings about who you I think you should vote for.

McCain and Palin realize that Republican policies aren't the most popular right now (because they are bad). They've been trying really hard to show how they are different from their fellow Republicans (which they aren't). They've gone so far as to steal the slogan of "change" from the Democrats (because they have nothing original to offer). They spend a lot of time talking about how un-Republican they are (except about gays, guns, zygotes, and dinosaurs). So, we should vote for the un-Republican Republican instead of the Democrat. We should vote for the Democrat-like Republican instead of the straight Democrat. Dumb. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck . . . And I can't believe anyone (who is not rich and out of touch as well) believes John McCain actually cares about them.

According to a recent ABC News/Washington Post poll, Bush's approval rating is now at 26 percent. His disapproval rating? 70 percent. His approval rating specific to the economy is only 22 percent. To put this in perspective, only Harry Truman and Richard Nixon got lower approval ratings. No president has had a lower disapproval rating. With this the case, I can't remotely fathom why anyone is thinking of voting Republican (besides the people who vote only to make sure that gays can't get married and women can't make choices about their own bodies).
Besides failed and embarassing Republican foreign policies, the economy is clearly the most important issue in the election. Bush's economic policies are not just Bush's, they are Republican policies. Seven of the last eight recessions have occurred under Republican leadership (sorry Jimmy). In January I'm sure this will change to eight of the last nine.

Republican policy is to cut taxes for big business with the idea that what is good for business and the rich is good for the country. The big businesses are then supposed to create jobs with their extra cash, make a bunch of new investments, and thus stimulate the economy. The magic formula is cut taxes = new jobs. McCain and Palin have been saying this over and over, as if all that needs to happen is for taxes to be cut and new jobs will magically appear. Uh, taxes were cut under the last administration and look what happened. Yes, I know there is a little more to it than that, but this is a huge part of it. You can't force rich people to invest in the country. Well, unless you tax them.

I'm not even going to go into "values" voting, except to say that I too vote the way I do because of my faith, and my soul screams against McCain. I'm not only voting against McCain, I'm voting for Obama.