It is amazing to me how people: 1) grab onto one candidate early in a campaign; 2) claim that particular candidate is the one and true person to fill an office; 3) vilify any other entry as being a dumbbell or worse; 4) argue until they turn blue to defend their position; and 5) claim to be "liberal in thought."

A political campaign is supposed to be a time when the candidates compete with each other to sell themselves, their ideals, their ideas, their opinions and their plans. The key word is compete. In short, they are selling themselves to the voter-customer.

There is no sale occurring until the voter enters the voting booth. Up until that time the intelligent voter-customer gathers as much information as s/he can - the same way any wise shopper does before laying out considerable cash on an important purchase.

If it were only that way!

I must admire Sen. Obama, and the Democratic National Committee, for the hypnotic effect which they generated, mainly by getting people not only to buy the goods without knowing what's really in the package, but also convincing people: 1) to refuse to possibly consider that the package may be a little empty; 2) to abjectly denounce any other package as being inferior without investigation (e.g., comparative shopping); and 3) to close their minds to any other information, view or opinion which even minutely questions Sen. Obama in any way or the substance of any DNC position.

When people question, they seek answers, not insults. They have not bought the goods yet (and may never), but they are still shopping and can still be sold. However, they see through double standards being applied and closed minds to other opinions. No political party holds a majority of American registered voters, so the necessity to "sell" others is paramount for any candidate to be successful.

The competition is between the candidates, not the voters. The sharing of knowledge and information by voter-customers is healthy, but taking defensive positions when answers don't exist and hiding behind closed minds when there are no answers is hollow - and any smart shopper tends to walk away from a hollow sales pitch, insults or abrasive salesmanship.

The truly liberal thinker seeks answers, shares information and knowledge, and believes that more is accomplished through education than dictation. The closed minded person says This is it, Period! and if you don't "get it," then you must be deficient in some way. The closed-minded so-called liberal is two things: an oxymoron for one, and a bigot for the other.

big·ot (bgt)
n.
One who is strongly partial to one's own group, religion, race, or politics and is intolerant of those who differ. (the freedictionary.com)

Open-minded exchange without posturing and insulting makes us all richer. Slamming only results in rejection and isolation. Who wins with that?