Downstream somewhere ChicagoDem (
http://chicagodem.dailykos.com/) has an excellent diary (
http://chicagodem.dailykos.com/story/2004/5/29/4408/05777) laying out the many reasons that John McCain is not compatible with the Democratic party. It's an amazing great eye-opener. Understanding that IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN, it forced me to ask myself why -- given the stark contradictions in values -- I would theoretically accept him as John Kerry's running mate.
We live in polarized times. Not since the Vietnam war (and then the Civil War before that) has this country been so divided between "us" and "them", "red" and "blue". 40% of Americans will vote will the Republican party regardless of who they nominate and the almost the same amount of people who will vote with the Democrats. This is a FACT of our current state of affairs and given this fact I think it is worth considering creating nominating the one ticket that might represent the full range of American thought.
When people talk about a "unity ticket", I think they are usually just talking about the "political trick" of siphoning off nominating McCain (or Hagel or whomever) in order to siphon off Republican and Independent and win the election, but to me a unity ticket is far deeper than that. It's about rising above partisan politics and saying that at this moment in our history, we the Democrats understand the fragility of our place in the world and therefore are willing to create an administration that speaks (on some level) to almost every American.
That's why I'd accept John McCain.
Not because he speaks for me, but precisely because he doesn't.
Update [2004-6-4 20:11:15 by JeffLieber]:: Testing. Testing 1.2.3.
Update [2004-6-4 20:17:10 by JeffLieber]: Shit. Shit. Ignore this. I was just trying to see how it all worked and now I've mucked it up. Damn new technology! Aw hell... IGNORE ME PLEASE.
