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roachboy, I began my own reply to SirSeymour, and then I changed my mind and decided to share some observations with you, instead.

I find myself becoming more isolated, because I go through a "what could they be thinking process", to try to determine what another person has to (should probably) deliberate about.....or something else....before they are able and motivated to post about who and/or what they support.

I just went through that kind of an exercise in trying to put together a response to SirSeymour, as I've done it, for example, in the circumstances of John McCain planning the life changes that pulled him out of the Navy into a new life in Arizona. circa 1981.

McCain at the time, was an Annapolis grad, career Navy officer, from a family line of Naval flag officers. He has plans to remarry and settle in a new state, the home turf of his bride to be. I try to put myself in his place, about to resign from the Navy, and I have a job offer from my new father in law to be, the 12th wealthiest man in Arizona. It's a big leap, new wife, new career; what's up with my fiancee's father, Jim Hensley. How did he become so wealthy and successful, I've only known a working life in the Navy, who is my new boss, what will it be like, working for him?

I ask around, about the man. I'm told he was convicted of a federal felony, related to his long term employment with the most prominent native Arizonan organized crime figure. I find that he worked for the guy along with his brother, also arrested, convicted, but sent to federal prison in the same case.

I'm told that he was arrested a second time a few years later, on similar work related charges, and that the charges against he and his brother were dropped, and soon after, they bought a New Mexico horse racing track together, along with an acquaintance who also worked for the same organized crime boss.

I'm told that my father-in-law to be's brother was convicted two more times on tax evasion charges, and served a total of the 3 stints in federal prison. I'm also told that the organized crime boss that the brothers worked for is reported to be the man who ordered the car bombing that murdered a prominent investigative reporter from the local newspaper, who had written "stuff" like I just described, about the Hensley brothers old boss.

I think about how I would react to all of that....would I still give up my Navy career and go to work as VP of PR at Hensley's beer distributorship, or would I marry his daughter, stay in the Navy, and look for other career opportunities.

Next, I think about how, if I were McCain, I would not go through a process of inquiry like I just described, before resigning from my Navy career and accepting the new job offer. I can't imagine that I wouldn't ask questions and check my father-in-law to be's background and reputation out...after all, there would be so much riding on working for him, and being newly married to his daughter, vs. marrying his daughter and keeping my current job.

Since I cannot imagine that McCain didn't go through a process of inquiry, I have to conclude that either he compromised his ethics by going from being a former POW and Naval officer from a Navy family, to working for Hensley and allowing him to be the principle financial backer of McCain's initial congressional and senate campaigns, or McCain was too incurious a person for me to imagine being president of the US.

Today, I try to put myself in SirSeymour's place, posting what he did about McCain and about not leaving Iraq in the state that it is in. I have no idea what "fixing Iraq", via "staying the course", keeping our military there for "50 or 100 years" as McCain recently talked about, means, or would look like.

I have no idea, given what I've posted about McCain on this forum over the last six weeks, what the process is that minimizes what I wrote about McCain's inquiry and decision making processees, above.

McCain looks to be promising policies that will make the transition from Bush, almost imperceptible.

I try to put myself in the place of those who buy the "hate minister" attack "Op". That's probably easiest one for me to examine. If they are filling page after page in support of it at townhall.com, and "blanketing" the airwaves of Salem Comm's 1600 station strong, talk and news radio network, I'm on the opposite side of whatever idea they're trying to sell.

Now, for Obama, or any of the candidates. If they've come out in support of increasing the size of the US military or the amount of military spending, I cannot support such a candidate. If they've come out in support of that, and they still talk about increasing spending on health care coverage or other domestic programs, I can't even listen seriously, because without cuts in military and in other intelligence/security related spending, there is no money to do anything discretionary.

I am sure others go through different exercises to decide what they support strongly enough to share with us here, but so, far, I am not able to put myself in their places and see how they get where they get, in forming their opinions.

I am trying to get used to feeling as isolated, politically speaking, as I know I am becoming. I would have to ignore or minimize more than I'm willing to, if I am to share in a fellowship with "likeminded" members who often post here.