My regular reader will notice that it has been some time since I last blogged regarding the various Dem candidates’ positions on issues of concern to me. The reason should come as no surprise: boredom. See, like most people who pay a bit of attention to politics, I pretty much had my mind made up before I began the project, and so the process of looking up facts made my brain sleepy. I will give it a modified nuther go, however.

Assuming all of the candidates now running stay in long enough for me to get the option of voting for them, here are the PRIMARY CANDIDATES WHO WON’T GET MY VOTE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES (alphalbatized by last name):

* Acting Ensign Wesley Clark
* John “Sinners in the hands of an Angry God” Edwards
* Richard “Dick” Gephardt
* John “Fuck” Kerry
* Vice President Joe Lieberman
* Carol “Placeholder for Hillary” Mosley-Braun

The short answer to “why not?” is that I won’t vote for anyone who supported the Iraq war in any way (Clark was critical, but that ain’t enough). I’m particularly disappointed by J”F”K on this one, and his “I was lied to” routine doesn’t make it better. The VPOTUS has, at least, had the stones to not be wishy washy about it. As for Carl: tsk tsk.

There are long answers for each candidate, the short version of which is Clark was a General, Edwards is too conservative, Gephardt is too old guard, Kerry is too wishy washy, Lieberman is too conservative, and Mosley-Braun is too wishy washy.

Here are the PRIMARY CANDIDATES WHO COULD POSSIBLY GET MY VOTE (alphalbatized by last name):

* Little Howard Dean
* Dennis (the Serb [or is it Croat?] brother who swings so easily in tight pants) Kucinich
* Al “Sharp” Sharpton

The short answer to “why?” is the war. Dean loses points for seeming only to be against *this* war, and not war in general (yes: I think it is high time a major politician in the US came out publicly and said that they were down on war in general). Kucinich and Sharpton are, across the board, closer to my personal politics than are any of the others (and FAR to the left of Dean, who is nothing but the less-sexy second coming of Clinton: do not be fooled).

It is entirely possible that K and S won’t make it through to Super Tuesday (when I’ll get to vote), so I’ll probably be stuck with Howie. If they hang on, though, I’m going to have a hard time picking between them.

And now, the WILD CARD: Hillary Clinton would never get my vote in a primary, unless Loverman were her only opponent.

In the general election, the only Dems who could conceivably get my vote (barring an interesting newcomer) are D, K, and S.

A word on NADER and a word on the GREENS:

For the first time in my life, Ralph “Party Crasher” Nader has hurt my feelings. I must now shun him as a presidential candidate, given that he has distanced himself from the Greens. I voted for him in 2000 (con gusto), mocked liberal Democrats for him, drove to DC for him, and convinced my parents to vote for him (!). I did all of this for two basic reasons 1) I like(d) him and 2) his fame could help kickstart a (much needed) Green Party. I knew he wouldn’t win, of course, but thought (correctly) that his candidacy would make Green a more vivid color. Now he’s thinking of running on his own, and that means voting for him would REALLY be throwing away a vote (as it would do absolutely no good for anyone). Sigh. This may mean that the Green Party will be unable to mount a real campaign this time, which will suck. However, if they (or the various [and there are many] socialists) can come up with a real candidate and a real campaign, I will do what I urged people to do last time and VOTE MY HOPES, NOT MY FEARS. As bad as Dubyah is, the solution is not Dubyahlite.

Having said that, I have to agree with all decent people that Dubyah is a nightmarishly awful president. I really don’t want him to get reelected. Having said THAT, I simply cannot vote for anyone with whom I disagree on most fundamental issues. If the Dems manage to put up a candidate who is measurably to the left of Bush (rhetoric doesn’t count: I mean action), I could vote for that person.

That means D, K, or S (obviously), and possibly G, the other K, or M-B. Of course, the days in Hell have been getting a tiny bit chillier, of late, so who knows.

Meanwhile, I hear "Rio" by Duran Duran.