The Red Herring Economy

Both the Republican and Democrat presidential candidates are beathing a huge sigh of relief now that the economy seems to be in trouble. It's the best thing that could have happened for them. Why?

Because they really, really needed a "red herring" issue to take the discussion away from the more important, and more difficult issues, like immigration.

The last thing presidential candidates on either side of the aisle want is to have to talk about immigration. That's because the political elites of both parties are so far out of sync with "normal" Americans. Most Americans - over 80% - want to control the border and not provide amnesty of any kind. But the politicians, thinking they know better, want amnesty. They do not want to control the border.

Any issue that moves the discussion away from immigration, Social (in)Security reform or any number of other political thorns is a blessing to both parties.

It is my opinion that no candidate should be allowed to base their campaign on one issue, while putting the others on the back burner, hoping voters will not notice. Every candidate needs to thoroughly address each of the important issues. And they need to provide details on excatly how they would deal with each.

Any candidate that cannot, or will not do that will certainly NOT get my vote.

And as a special note to John McCain, I put more stock in your past voting record than I do in your empty promises for the future. You have been in Congress for generations, and you have a long history of siding with liberals on important issues. That is not the sort of thing that can be buried by rhetoric and hype - a leopard does not change his spots overnight. If you were to get elected, you would quickly forget your promises and push your own, liberal agenda, just as you always have.