Sunshine Flip-flop

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Earlier this week (yesterday, actually) I said an Obama-Kaine ticket would be A-OK with me. And then I started doing the homework I should have done before I said that.

Crooks and Liars' take on Tim Kaine presents what is for me an inviolable objection to putting Kaine on the ticket. Kaine's pro-life, anti-stem cell research dogma are ones I cannot accept.

As I updated this evening at the end of Tuesday's "Testing the Waters," when you are a cancer survivor family, some policies are litmus tests. Stem cell research, for us, is such a test. This transcends politics and party. It is the ultimate pro-life issue for families like ours.

So, lesson learned for Prairie. Policies matter. Knowing what policies and philosophies a candidate holds matters. And conveying those policies to the voting public matters this election year.

Amid all the sturm und drang about negativity and celebrity and who's got attitude and who's presidential and who's pro-choosing to sacrifice his honor for campaign tactics, it all really comes down to cutting through the usual crapola of shiny objects we get from the media and pundits.

So that we get to the bottom line: Know the policies. Then you will know the candidates.

And that's a helluva lot more important than flag pins or Britney Spears.
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Testing the Waters?

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Watching Virginia Governor Tim Kaine ably deflect the media barrage of questions about whether he will be Obama's choice for the veep slot this a.m. While injecting the strong standing Virginia has as the "best managed state in the country."

Whether it's eye-raq, or whether it's once again the economy, stupid....

Obama-Kaine '08 would be A-OK with me.
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UPDATE 7/30/2008 7:04 pm.
Well, maybe not: from C&L this about Kaine.
Stem cell research is a litmus test for me. When you're a cancer survivor family, some things are more important than politics, than party.