Are people angling to vote for McCain/Palin better or worse than anyone else? No. Are “small town values” better than bog town values? I would have a hard time agreeing. Is it beneficial to the national dialogue to make people out to be good vs bad, American vs Un-American? Of course not.

I think the transformational aspect that Obama has tried to present to the people of this country is that we should not tolerate the Rove-style political agenda. McCain certainly didn’t tolerate it (or the far right agenda for most of his career), but has basically sold his soul to the devil to run for this office.

We should talk about the issues and make our plans available for those who really want to dig into the details. People are not as dumb as we may think (although the political manipulation of public fear certainly cast doubts 4 years ago). For all the talk of “elites” and “regular Joe six-packs”, people in this economy look down the street and see that we are all in the same dire straights, regardless of rural vs urban, north vs south, etc.

I think honest political debate, checks and balances, real concern over the gap in our country’s investment in ourselves vs the rest of the developed world, etc has been absent for a long time and while I am not certain it will return should Obama be elected, I know it will not be if McCain is.

Nobody is stupid because you’re a republican or democrat or because our views differ (plenty of morons on both sides).

I am guessing I am preaching to the choir, for the most part, but I felt like I had to get that off my chest.

Again, good blog post, Alex.

Some local color:

Palin shakes up Bud Center

Dedicated crowd makes its way to hear Palin speak

Palin gives second speech

Crowd size creates confusion at Palin rally