I don't understand this. It seems your largest issue is gay marriage and Obama has flat out stated that he believes marriage to be between one man and one woman and he bases this on his religious beliefs.
Yet Palin is the thumper?
Why does Obama get a pass on this issue?
Because the MSM keeps repeating her comments, laying the perception that she's the thumper, while ignoring Obama's perhaps?
FM is fairly knowledgeable. I am curious what his viewpoint might be since the issue directly affects him.
I'm not sure what you're asking BT. In about 6 hours when I take an early lunch to hit the ballot box, I'll be casting my vote for McCain. I don't know if I would consider gay marriage my biggest issue, I have a lot of others competing for my attention too, mostly issues that most voters don't consider, i.e. resource management on Federal lands. But I post a lot on gay marriage issues and gay rights issues in here because that's what I'm comfortable in sharing my knowledge in, as you mentioned it's something that affects me directly, whereas whenever I've posted on issues regarding the Forest Service or fisheries it doesn't get much response.
By no means am I giving Obama a pass, if I were, I'd probably vote for him. As you mentioned, he opposes gay marriage and Biden voted for DOMA, which McCain did also. I've posted in here before about how a lot of Dems/liberals play lip service to gay rights, but when they have the chance to affect change we end up with nothing, or worse yet, a compromise that in many ways is worse than the original policy, such as Don't Ask, Don't Tell. I tend to think that McCain will be a one term Pres if elected, and that would allow him to break with some of the wishes on the far right. I trust him to break with the far right more than I trust Obama to break with the far left. I don't like either choice, but after reviewing the various other candidates, that's my decision. There are liberal Republicans, and I've always considered myself more or less belonging to that philosophy.
As for Palin, you're right, I don't generally like her. There are some things that I do like about her, but her negatives (in my opinion) outweigh the positives. She gives me the same creepy feeling that I used to get about Huckabee, I don't have a problem with religious people per se, but I do have a problem when they are in a position to use those views to influence public policy, especially on gay rights. Time will tell if my perceptions are valid or flawed.
I don't post about Obama/Bidens positions on gay rights, because generally they're crap. Until I see a party actually become pro-active on those issues, I will hold to that opinion. But just because I post on Republican positions and not the Democratic ones doesn't mean that I'm blind to their position or that I'm giving a pass, but I do like to highlight the hypocrisy of a party/ideology that advocates the removal of government influence in our lives using legislation and constitutional amendments to limit or deny me and others like me a basic human right. I guess I'm a cynic in that sense.
One of these days I'll post my thoughts on how Goldwater conservatism morphed into this conservatism that we have today, which is less of a governmental conservatism than a social one.
