Six of one, half dozen of the other...

“In due time…” Back in the year 2000, after a lifetime of thinking of m’self as a southern fried Democrat, I made a decision ’n renamed m’self as a (gasp) Republican… I tho’t about it a long time ‘fore I done it… My views hadn’t undergone any serious change, I considered m’self t’be relatively liberal in both tho’t ’n action… I wuz in complete agreement with the Civil Rights Act ’n even tho’t the much vaunted ‘War on Poverty’ wuz a good idea… Well, Hell, ‘course I ‘d think it wuz a good idea, having grown up ’n gone to school in Appalachia, the son of a coal miners daughter…I’d wandered my share of the hi-ways ’n by-ways of eastern Kentucky, sat in on various ’n sundry camp meetings ’n listened to the barbershop chats in more’n one ‘wide spot in the road’ designation that seem, even in this 21st Century, to characterize so many of the little towns ’n hamlets of the Kentucky mountains…. ANYHOW in the year, 2000, I’d had my fill of the progressive nonsense spouted by the Democrat politicians here in California that seemed t’be spreading throuhout the country, including D.C. Enough is enough, I tho’t ’n I changed my registration so’s I could vote for John McCain in the California primary… There is an awful lot in McCain’s life to respect…he wuz a little rowdy but he stood up well during his stay in The Hanoi Hilton ’n his refusal to ‘jump the line’ to get out because of the status of his daddy impressed me… I wuz less impressed with his actual campaigning…I understood that he didn’t want to get down in the dirt ’n grovel, didn’t want t’be known as just another mud-slinger…I understood that but, by God, I’ve had more’n my number of fights ’n win, lose, or draw, if you’re gonna be in a fight, you’re gonna get dirty… As a first-time Republican, I lost my vote as George W. turned out t’be pretty darn tenacious as a campaigner…That wuz alright, I didn’t mind George Bush, voted for him twice (in different elections, of course, no Democrat double voting for a born-again Republican)... The second time around for McCain , I took up the banner again, but while no one in the world would doubt that he could take a punch, why in hell didn’t he throw one occasionally…just damned embarrassing…. And I liked Romney…I liked the thought that he wuz more of a businessman than a politician…yeah, I knew he wuz Governor of Massawhatever but he didn’t have the sheen of the professional politician…But then, he wouldn’t fight either…turning the other cheek may be alright in a church but it’s a poor tactic in a fight... Thing is, I grew up a Democrat…’n not just a Democrat but a southern Democrat ’n one of the lessons I learned is that if you gotta fight, hit first, hit hard, ’n keep hitting until someone pulls you off….or, as wuz far too often in my youth, someone pulled the big SOB off me before he really hurt me….