What is it about Sarah Palin that has the McCain camp running scared?  The election has been over less than a week and we have anonymous leaks from staffers throwing Governor Palin under the Straight Talk Express tour bus.

Where is Senator McCain?  The same McCain that chastised his supporters for shouts in rallies that might hurt the sensibilites of the Obama camp.  Strangely, he says nothing.  No, he’s back in Washington hangin’ with his peeps sitting in the aisle between the Republicans and Democrats.

I watched The O’Reilly Factor last night, and Bill said something that really hit home with me.  He mentioned the fact that as soon as Sarah was announced, every news organ in the country headed North to Alaska, they went North to find some dirt.  With all of their resources and money, they came up empty, there wasn’t any dirt to find.  And now, we are to believe stories from someone who won’t even give us his (her) name?  Let’s get real shall we?

Sarah Palin was the only conservative voice in the entire campaign.  It was her conservatism that energized the Republican base.  I know that I was disgusted with the Republican choice of McCain, and had made up my mind to vote my conscience and cast my vote for Bob Barr.  I knew he had no chance of winning the national election, but he came closer to my ideals than McCain did.  It was Sarah Palin that changed my mind.  Her speech when she was announced as McCain’s running mate sold me.  I heard and watched a woman come out on stage and deliver a tremendous speech that truly seemed to come from the heart, and reminded me of Ronald Reagan, not only in delivery, but in content.  Here was the new voice of conservatism.

This whole thing reeks of politics as usual in Washington.  No one liked the way Obama supporters and the media went after Joe the Plumber with a vengence.  Here is the Republican nominee for Vice President being attacked by a coward who won’t even identify him/herself who was a staff member.  Don’t worry so much about vetting the candidates, worry about vetting the staffers.

I hope this doesn’t sour Sarah Palin.  I know that this is one reason why it will take a lot of convincing to get me behind anything that goes on in Washington.  Sarah, Bill O’Reilly has offered you 30 minutes on Monday night’s program to tell your side of all this.  I, for one, hope you will take him up on it and at least let us hear your take on this whole experience.

But, that is just My Arrogant Opinion

I have to admit that I had forgotten about it. I ran across it while channel surfing on Sunday.  What was it I had forgotten?  Oh, that this was the weekend for the 2008 Libertarian National Convention in Denver, Colorado.

C-Span was covering it live.  I settled in to watch and was very impressed with what I saw.  Having always thought of myself as a Republican, this year in Politics has caused me to rethink my loyalties.  I took the “World’s Smallest Political Quiz,” and was somewhat surprised that it put me squarely in the Libertarian quadrangle.  I say somewhat because the quiz is on a Libertarian site.

All that aside, the more I looked at what Libertarians stood for, the more I liked what I saw.  This is not meant to be a commercial for Libertarians, but I did want to share my path and this pilgrim’s progress.

I tuned in just in time for the 3rd round of balloting and got to see the various candidates speak and interact with delegates at the convention.  One thing that really impressed me about most of the candidates and speakers was their commitment to their overarching commonality and the goals of the Libertarian party in general.  The one exception that I saw was that of candidate Mary Ruwart, who seemed very bitter towards Bob Barr.  Since they were in a dead heat, it came out vividly, in my view, when she conceded the nomination.

In her concession, she never mentioned Bob Barr to whom she had just lost, she never mentioned the coming days till the November General Election. It was all about her, her staff and supporters, as she vowed to fight on.  This viewer was left wondering a little bit whether she was going to break out of the Libertarian Party and start a new Party, maybe the Bitter Clinger Party, as she seemed bitter enough and certainly seemed to be clinging to her presidential bid.

I had to leave before the Vice Presidential candidate was selected, however, it was Wayne Allyn Root as expected as he was number three in the delegate vote count and threw his support to a Barr – Root ticket at the end of the fifth round of balloting.  You can read more here.

Oh, back to what I was saying earlier; I was aligned with the Republican Party, however that party has made a sharp left turn and abandoned the principals of conservatism and small government that drew me to it in the first place.  And this year, I am not voting for the candidate the polls say is the front runner, or the one popular opinion says has a chance to win.  This year, I am voting my conscience and who I think will do the best job for this country that I love.

But, that’s just My Arrogant Opinion.

P.S. Barr-Root in ’08