10 Reasons McCain Should Not Seek The Support of My Parents

Dear Mr. McCain,
It seems just about every magazine I pick up these days gives a list of reasons or "facts" about one thing or another. Oprah has a list of "6 Ways To Improve Your Love Life" and Time Magazine has a list of "4 Things McCain Must Do to Win the Election."

Given the popularity of lists and the recent delivery of a Republican National Committee Victory 2008 Pledge of Support letter sent to my parents, I have decided to respond with my own "10 Reasons McCain Should Not Seek the Support of My Parents."

1. They are Democrats. For my entire life, almost 50 years, they have been Democrats. They both work for the Democratic Party even in their 80s and give financial support not only to local Democratic candidates, but state and national candidates as well. Unfortunately for you, this includes financial support for Barack Obama.

2. More than Democrats, my parents walk that continuum of the party on the left. They are not centrists, they are not Clinton supporters, and they do not have any love for the likes of people such as Joe Lieberman who apparently is a Republican in Democratic clothing. Independent, my ass.

3. I watched my father once throw marshmallows at our own Democratic state senator, Scoop Jackson because both my parents thought he was an ass (an early version of Lieberman), though only my father felt the need to hurl spun sugar at the senator. My mother was just as adamant in her disdain for Scoop, but she has always been more well-behaved in public than my father.

4. My father quit smoking the year Nixon was elected president stating clearly enough for my 10-year old ears to understand and comprehend, he wanted to "out live the bastard." My mother watched in disgust at the broadcast of Nixon's funeral when everyone talked of his "legacy" in such a positive way.

5. My mother thinks you are a fool. In their elderly years, my mother has become a lot more outspoken than my father. She is more likely to spit out her opinion and she has not held back when it comes to your nomination by the Republican Party. "He's a frightening man," she told me recently, "and wholly incompetent to be President of anything."

6. My father, on the other hand, writes letters to the local newspaper and receives hate mail in response from redneck, Christian conservatives who'd like to use their lifelong membership to the NRA as a reason to scare my father into silence.

7. Both of my parents have received a multitude of awards and recognitions from the Democratic Party for their service and dedication to local, state, and national candidates. When members of the community hear that I am the daughter of my parents, they have one of two responses: "Wow, your parents are amazing" (these are Democrats) and "Oh, I am well aware of your parents' work" (these are polite, though not always, Republicans).

8. My parents are only a decade older than you and they both think you are too old and in too poor of health to last a four year term. Therefore, your recent last minute selection (which they see as yet another knee-jerk reaction on your part) of Governor Sarah Palin scares the hell out of them. If you are elected and if you should die in office (neither of which my parents wish for you), we would have an AK-47 wielding pro-life, Christian conservative WITH NO INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE deciding on US policies and carrying on diplomatic discussions (or not) with the likes of Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Russia (to name only a few). While she may hold to her religious conservative values, it's clear with her daughter's recent unwed pregnancy, that she is unable to maintain order in her own house let alone the "house" of the United States.

9. The Keating 5. Have we, as a nation, forgotten this thievery? While you and John Glenn were "acquitted" you were both harshly criticized for your lack of judgment. And now this judgment desires the presidency? My parents haven't forgotten, nor have I for that matter.

10. My parents, despite their own life mistakes, have always been consistent in their views. Sure my mom voted for Tom Dewey and my dad liked Ike back in the day, but even then they both felt compassion for social issues that today you apparently scoff at -- just look at your choice for VP. In my lifetime my parents have always been pro-choice, pro-affirmative action, and pro-environment. They believe in evolution AND they attend church. They both belong to the ACLU, they both believe in limiting the sale of guns, and they both are against the death penalty. They are for stem-cell research and adamantly against the teaching of abstinence in schools. They fear the Patriot Act as a reprisal of the House on UnAmerican Activities and they believe in same-sex marriage. I could go on and on, but suffice it say what you stand for, they stand against and what you stand against, they fight for on a daily basis.

Why on earth would you ask these people, my parents, to financially support your campaign?

If you knew my parents at all, you would have left them alone. You would have saved your campaign the price of paper, envelope, and stamp by NOT sending the letter. You are out of touch as your competitors have so duly noted and your poorly researched request gives me one more reason not to vote for you. And let me tell you, if I took the time to list all the reasons why I (and my parents) will not vote for you, it would be far, far more than a list of 10 reasons.

I wonder if Oprah's magazine would publish a list that long?

Please do not send anymore requests for money or support.

Signed: The Lesbian (and proud) Daughter of Leftist Liberal Democrats