I am horrified

to admit that I am now officially a political junkie. The reason I am horrified is that I hate politics. Which, I suppose, is why I've become a political junkie. Politics seems to be particularly horrible right about now, thanks to the presidential campaign, and the fact that so much seems to be riding on it has just made me into an obsessed person.

So I am therefore admitting my problem in hopes that this is the first step towards recovery.

Still, I have a sinking feeling that I will be obsessed until, oh, November 4 or so. In the meantime, I will continue to search through news sites and blogs for proof that there are still sane people living in the US. You (hopefully) know the kinds of people I'm talking about: the ones who DO NOT support the McCain/Palin ticket. The ones who see that such a ticket is simply a ticket of four more years of the same failed policies, or even a worsening of them. The ones who care that the McCain camp regularly lies. The ones who won't vote simply because the vice-presidential candidate is a woman. You know - sane people!

It sickens me that McCain has been able to actually pull ahead in the polls. What are these people watching every day that they can't figure out that "their" candidate has not addressed issues, but instead rallies voters by ridiculing Obama's education (oh no, an educated president! What WILL we do?!), gets all self-righteous when Obama stretches the truth but outright lies themselves (unapologetically), plays the gender card on non-issues after mocking Hillary Clinton for doing the same, picks a running mate who's only foreign policy experience is that her state is next to Russia and who also shows a remarkable lack of curiosity to learn, instead choosing to repeat talking points over and over again.

Now I'm quite aware that Obama is not the perfect candidate. I'd like it if he had more experience and that he didn't occasionally take the easy way out in his votes. But you only have to look at his campaign to see that he knows how to surround himself with smart people (and to listen to them!), knows how to run a tight ship, and knows how to get people to follow him. You don't have to have previous executive experience to become a good leader.

Seriously, how can you even say McCain is better?

And to add a little fuel to my ire-filled fire, here are a couple of articles I saw today to prove my point:

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/washington/AP-Obama-Waffles.html (these people call themselves Christians?!)

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/us/politics/14palin.html?hp (she's a different kind of politician, huh?)

I rest my case. I've ranted. Now hopefully I can get on with my life.