Well, America, you saw it on your televisions all week — that Grand Old Party, the Republican Party, is apparently filled with old, smug, wealthy white folks … and not much else.

They are also apparently very fearful folks. They told us again and again that the world is a dangerous place today; that we should fear our enemies; we should fear change; we should fear the Democrats; and that John McCain is going to defeat the “axis of evil” and all the other bad guys in this very malevolent, scary world.

Are you relieved?

Not me, by a long shot. Seems the McCain vision for the future is to continue to start wars as a first, not last, resort, rather than build alliances to apply other forms of pressure to bring “bad actors” to heel. I agree that the world has indeed become a dangerous place, but the bellicose Bush-McCain approach has unfortunately made the world far more, not less, dangerous and polarized.

The Bush-McCain partisans run from their record of eight years of government waste and mismanagement, taking the Clinton surplus into unprecedented deficit, running up a nearly $10 trillion national debt, and then shamelessly pointing the finger at what they call "tax and spend" Democrats.

That’s logical – Not.

Do they really think they can convince us that they know best by just repeating smoothly crafted lies again and again … just like they did in taking us to war in Iraq? I hope the Bush years have taught us all to beware when we hear those smug Karl Rove Big Lies.

Whenever Americans dare ask how the Bush-McCain approach can continue throwing American lives and national treasure into unnecessary wars squares with fixing our depleted, broken economy, they just repeat the mantra that they are great leaders and always put America first.

Sure, right, they just left out a few adjectives. They mean they always put right-wing, wealthy America first.

The McCain camp asserts experience in national office is crucial in this campaign. Then McCain picks a relatively unknown, untested nominee for his vice presidential candidate, who recently admitted she didn't really know what the vice president of the United States does. Now there’s a confidence builder.

A McCain win would put Gov. Sarah Palin but a 72-year-old heartbeat away from the presidency … and she has zero U.S. federal or international experience. Sure makes me wonder why John McCain would take such a cavalier, riverboat gambler approach to his first big decision as a presidential nominee.

He must think America can be fooled once more into trusting the oligarchs with the fruits of hard working Americans’ blood, sweat and tears. With so much at stake for our economy, for our credibility in the world community, and for our children let's pray that John McCain doesn’t know us very well.

Douglas Clapp

Parker