WHY I'M VOTING FOR JOHN MCCAIN AND SARAH PALIN

By Bennet Kelley

This may come as a surprise to my readers, but I am voting for John McCain and Sarah Palin to be our 44th and 45th president. As recent events demonstrate, these are dire times which require boldness and leadership. Our system of government is breaking down and we need a maverick to come in to shake things up and end business as usual.

Who better to shake things up than John McCain, since he's been there for 26 years and should know where the shaking is needed most. I bet you he has built up quite a long "to do" list over those years and now he can actually start checking some of them off. McCain also can be a uniter since he can bring together both Republicans (whom he almost always voted with) and Democrats since he's friends with Joe Lieberman.

We can be sure that McCain won't be led astray by Washington lobbyists since under a McCain administration they won't be working for Exxon-Mobil or AT&T. Instead they'll be working for the USA as part of a McCain administration. That's putting country first.

These are very dangerous times and we need a seasoned commander at the helm. The press has made a big deal about the Senator's reference to "President Putin of Germany," thinking Spain was in Latin America, that Czechoslovakia still existed, confusing African countries and getting all those folks in the Middle East mixed up, but that's not really an issue. Since the senator has already said that he won't meet with half the world leaders, he will have plenty of time to prepare for the few he actually talks with. More importantly, electing John McCain will send a signal to the evil doers that America means business, since they have seen him sing "bomb Iran" or may have heard about how he roughed up one of the Nicaraguan commies during negotiations in the heat of the cold war. Go ahead axis of evil, make our day!

John McCain is also for fewer taxes. Sure, the deficit will balloon, interest rates will rise, the economy may tank, roads and bridges may collapse, but I at least would get $600 in my wallet. Everyone makes such a big deal about the deficit and how we will become a second rate power since China will own all our debt, but what's wrong with second rate? Look at Great Britain; they seem to be doing just fine not having to be the world's policeman and you don't see them invading Grenada or other dinky countries.

It is true that John McCain may be as old as Moses, but he has picked a spunky vice president in Sarah Palin. The press makes a big deal about how she's lying when she says she said "no" to the "Bridge to Nowhere" or that she sold the state jet on eBay, but they ignore the fact that she sounds presidential in doing so. She's also more educated than the Democratic ticket since she went to four different colleges (Hawaii Pacific, North Idaho College, University of Idaho and Matanuska-Susitna College) whereas Biden just went to two and Obama only three.

In addition, everyone makes a big fuss about her lack of foreign policy credentials, but they forget the fact that in the 19th Century a number of our presidents were country bumpkins who didn't know the difference between Moscow, PA and the Russian capitol. Granted we were an agrarian society and certainly no superpower during that era, but the principle remains the same. Just look at the mess the current administration's foreign policy experts got us into; maybe we should replace the Bush Doctrine with the Bumpkin Doctrine.

I'm voting for McCain because he's a straight talker and I often agree with his view on things, and when I don't, usually if I wait a few days he comes around. The Democrats make a big deal of their McCain lie counter and flip-tracker -- each of which are over 60, but I want a president to be a man of character and John McCain showed that as a POW in Vietnam. I think that is a better reflection of the Senator's character than how he has conducted himself in his 26 years in Congress.

Some of you may think I am not sincere and that this is an exercise in sarcasm (which Gov. Palin told her daughter was forbidden until she was married), but I assure you that I am as sincere in my beliefs as Sen. McCain is in his (whatever they may be that day).

Originally Published in the Santa Monica Daily Press.