politics, a funny thing....

So I admit that among my addictions to ESPN, 24, Lost and Studio 60 I also love, love love MSNBC and it's people. Because of that I am a Newsweek subscriber and because of that I spend more time than I should following essentially inconsequential political news as I gear up for the '08 election.

Of course this comes as no surprise but I have long thought myself a Republican. I love Bush. Respect his faith and his character. He had me at hello - to steal a line from my wifes favorite movie - when he said:

When I act, you will know my reasons. And when I speak, you will know my heart.
I believe in tolerance, not in spite of my faith, but because of it.
I believe in a God who calls us not to judge our neighbors but to love them.
I believe in grace because I've seen it, and peace because I've felt it, and forgiveness because I've needed it.
I believe true leadership is a process of addition, not an act of division.

Whether he lived those words as president I guess is for you to decide, but he certainly drew me in and has given me no reason to doubt his faith-led presidency ever since (well the war had me slightly questioning, but only slightly and that's a whole other topic that would take at least 3 comments for me to respond).

Whatever, the point of the post is this. Howard Fineman, who I love, in said article basically puts the Presidency frontrunners into 3 categories - the charismatics, the front-runners and the base-wooers. Very interesting.

Most interesting is the fact that the very 2 candidates I most see myself voting for in my first ever actual presidential election (yeah, i suppose you actually have to become a citizen before you can vote) both fall into the 'charismatics' category.

Long a self-proclaimed Republican - I honestly have no idea how I'd vote between Guliani and Obama were I faced with that decision. Both are men of faith. Both have significant shortfalls in the midst of their faith and belief yet both are honest about it. The 'platforms' seem to carry less weight than ever. I honestly don't know.

What I do know is that Hillary is a psycho, Edwards a fake, McCain unstable and Romney a very misled Mormon. That leaves me 2 guys that I can support. 2 differing parties - two when you get down to it - very similar views.

It's gonna be a helluva next 18 months. Do your modern Christians stick to the ranks or do they change course. What is the 'christian' mandate in the election. Plenty of "post-moderns" are quick to defend the liberal mindset - will they vote for Billary - I mean Hillary? Will the "moderns" vote for whatever the Republican party puts up there regardless of personal preference - or will they go with the young, charismatic, honest and real Obama? Will the Dems of faith go for the golden child - Edwards - or will they pull for Obama? Given the worse case scenario - will Christian republicans actually vote for the very Mormon Romney? Will Democratic Christians rally around slightly crazy Clinton?

Very interesting to think about. I think we are truly - as Newsweek reported 2 years ago - living in the purple. But how will the Evangelicals respond to that? It'll be interesting to see. Especially for me since the 2 guys I can see myself voting for the most - might be the farthest apart.