The Real Pat Blair

It’s the most wonderful time of the year - after today, my television will be free from ridiculous political ads for at least 6 months. Then the 2008 Presidential campaign starts. (Actually, you could argue it started this year with Barak Obama’s “book tour,” but let’s not nitpick).
So, Pat, you might be asking, how should I vote? Well, let me tell you. If you live in Ames and are wondering about reliable judges, let me quote from a reliable source (who will remain anonymous unless he chooses otherwise):

On the Court of Appeals, vote yes for Anuradha Vaitheswaran
On the District Court Judge District 2B, vote yes for Joel Swanson, Carl Baker, and a definite yes for Dale Ruigh

Now for the fun stuff. The first time I voted, I looked at the ‘party line’ option and scoffed. How intellectually lazy! I am a deep thinker, a person who is politically active and who pays attention to the news. Why would I place a simple vote for a single party? Then I went through the ballot and selected each and every Republican candidate.
At first glimpse, it may seem intellectually lazy to be a single-party voter, but I disagree. I do research and am informed. I have spent the last decade or so of my life learning about the political process and parties, and forming my views. Because of this, I can make an informed decision to place a party-line vote, with no qualms. Under our current, two-party system, you don’t so much vote for a candidate as you do a platform - the candidate will do the will of the party almost all of the time (unless they are a nationally recognized tool (Chuck Hagel) that cares more about their own name in the headlines (John McCain) than they do about the American people). Leadership and committee membership is based on how many seats a party has. It’s not intellectually lazy to vote party-line - it’s freakin’ ridiculous not to.
Why Republican? It’s pretty simple. Over two years ago, I wrote an intro and four part blog series (that I never managed to conclude, unfortuately) about abortion.  Rereading these, the logic still stands, and I still stand behind the posts.  I highly recommend reading them, but since many won’t take the time, I’ll just post the knee-jerk controversial summary here: abortion is murder.  As the Republican party opposes abortion, and the Democratic party does not.  I hate to be a single-issue guy, but when that issue is killing innocent people, it kinda supercedes the rest.
Since I’ve already lost a few friends, I’ll just point out that Democrats have promised to roll back the Bush tax cuts, aka raise your taxes.  And they want to leave Iraq, which, regardless of how you feel about the war, is a pretty much dumb idea.  They also don’t believe that we’re in a war right now.  These are all blanket statements, if they generate enough interest, we can argue about them in detail.
But until then, go vote.  Go vote party-line Republican.  You’ve read this, which means you’re probably more informed than most of the mental midgets that will be out miscasting ballots.  Go do your civic duty.
Today, we vote. Tomorrow, we get peace and quiet on the airwaves.
Well, except for all the lawsuits and voter-fraud allegations.  What’s the over-under for Jesse Jackson press conferences in the next two days?  42?