IMPORTANT LAST MINUTE MINDSET REMINDERS

On several postings here over the last several weeks, we've compared the pronounced differences in style, tone, and messaging between the GOP and the Democrats. We've also talked, more pointedly, about the virtually deranged fringe clusters that McCain must welcome into the tent in order to cobble together a coalition that could get him elected.

We've pointed out how he's tragically sold out his reputation. And, in chapter and verse, how the fringe clusters he's had to embrace—just like GOP candidates before him, tracing back to the "moral majority"—have wrapped themselves moral and religious rectitude, yet managed to spin the core ideals of America 180 degrees backwards into messages of exclusion and even hate. (FUNDAMENTALS BAFFLE FUNDAMENTALISTS; http://hypercriticalobserver.blogspot.com/2008/10/fundamentals-baffle-fundamentalists.html)

We've pointed out the unbroken legacy of dirty political tricks from the GOP and its supporters, directly and indirectly, from Nixon's Watergate-era CREEP to convicted felon Allan Raymond (who's now hawking his book How to Rig an Election (SMELL FAMILIAR? The Toilet Paper on the GOP Shoe; http://hypercriticalobserver.blogspot.com/2008/10/smell-familiar.html)

After trying hard to give the McCain and the GOP a fair hearing, and despite our hesitation and doubt, their unremitting dishonor has led us to the only sensible conclusion that we must vote in favor of a new mindset—a new lens. We most vote for Obama.

Sometimes, when we see McCain's ads, our resolve wavers…hidden in the reprehensible accusations are legitimate questions about what an Obama presidency might look like. It is plausible that our foreign enemies will cook up a test of his spine as Commander in Chief—will he be ready?

But just when McCain shows us he can be a great sport on SNL, and we can allow ourselves to speculate that a McCain victory wouldn't be so bad after all—he's kind of the devil we know, right?—we get a nice cold water slap in the face to bring us back to level consciousness.

This morning, the Associated Press posted this article: Onslaught of dirty tricks as election day nears-In the final hours of the campaign, bogus fliers, e-mails and calls increase http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27508967/.

The telling point of the AP article is this: all of the horrid, dirty tricks cited for the presidential election are being perpetrated on behalf of the GOP.

He’s John McCain, and he’s approved these messages.

So, here’s the lasting, decisive lesson: this odious stuff has CREEPed into the GOP DNA—this is how they roll.

True patriots would want them gone.