It should surprise no one that I am a registered Democrat.
I believe the proper response would be “No duh,” although I have voted for at least a few Republicans for everything but president. And I voted for John McCain in the 2000 presidential primary in California, mostly because I hated the thought of George W. Bush becoming president.
No duh.
But I voted for Pete Wilson for governor of California in 1994, for Matt Fong for senator in 1998 and for Jim Rogan for Congress twice in 2000 and 2002.
I had differing reasons for the votes, and none of them involved loving the GOP.
My vote for Wilson was because he was pro-choice, and I figured if he ran for president in 1996, it would be good to have at least one pro-choice candidate im the field.
In 1998, I made a point in my newspaper column that I wouldn’t vote for candidates who lied about their opponents. Incumbent Sen. Barbara Boxer (who I voted for in 1992 and 2004) was saying a vote for Fong would give the Republicans another vote toward making abortion illegal. Fong was actually openly pro-choice.
My votes for Rep. Rogan were to thank him for constituent service on our behalf. My French-born wife was jumping through all sorts of hoops to become a U.S. citizen, and the INS was getting slower and slower all the time. We asked Rogan’s office to see if they could help us — my wife was after all a world-renowned scientist working at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
They got it done and I voted for a conservative Republican twice.
That was then in California and this is now in Georgia, one of seven states that are considered swing states and the key to the election.
I have voted in six elections here — for president, governor, senator, congressman and state legislator — and the next vote I cast for a Republican will be the first.
That said, I have received at least one glossy flyer in the mail almost every day from the Georgia Republican Party. They make vicious, misleading claims like calling Vice President Kamala Harris the border czar, which she never was. Saying she will raise taxes on the middle class. Saying the is soft on crime.
Meanwhile, Trump gets sicker mentally every day. He is starting to let profanity slip into his speeches (“Kamala is a shit vice president”), one sign of oncoming dementia.Then in Latrobe, Pa., golfer Arnold Palmer’s hometown, he went into this weird rant about what a man Palmer was because he had massive genitals.
More and more, I find myself wondering if Trump voters realize they are actually voting for J.D. Vance, aka Hillbilli Vanilli, for president. Trump’s father Fred had Alzheimer’s Disease, and Donald is 78 years old.
Vance, 40, would be the youngest president ever, and has much as Trump tries to deny Project 2025, Vance played a major role in it.
I wish I could get local Republicans to stop sending me their propaganda so often.
There’s no way they’re getting my vote.
No matter how much they lie.