Off-topic from jms re: campaign 2000

[B5JMS Poster]

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From: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)
Date: 18 Feb 2000 17:51:45 -0700
Lines: 88

This isn't B5, it's just me on this one, so feel free to ignore.

You have to understand where I'm coming from on this.  The first time I voted
in a Presidential election I couldn't *wait* to vote because it would give me
the opportunity to vote against that creep Nixon in 1972, for whom I'm sure an
entire section of hell has been set aside.

I'm 45 years old, and in the 28 years since then, I have never once voted for a
Republican for president.  Not Ronald ("Just Tell Me What To Say Boss") Reagan,
not George Bush, not Dole, not *one* of them because I couldn't find any of
them that was worth a damn in my book.

As much to my consternation as anyone else's, I find to my astonishment that I
will be supporting McCain in this election.

Take it as read that I disagree with some of his positions.  I think he's too
conservative on some pro-choice and environmental issues.  

But at the same time, whenever I see a prospective Supreme Court justice being
grilled by conservative senators on the abortion issue, trying to make it a
litmus test for eligibility, I find I'm grinding my molars into powder with
frustration...so how can I then turn around and do the same thing?  I'm not
supporting him because I agree with everything he says, or because I think he's
liberal, or any of that.  I think the courts will be more influential on those
issues in the long term than a president in any event (though I'm fully
cognizant that he will be appointing some of those judges).

For me, this isn't a left- or right-wing thing, lliberal or conservative; from
where I sit, the American Eagle has to have a right and a left wing in good
working order or it ain't gonna get off the ground.  So I don't play that game.
 Never have.  

To me, it's an issue of who's the best *person* for the job.  I think Gore
would be okay, I think Bradley would be okay...GWBush would be an unmitigated
disaster, this guy is a mean, venal, manipulative guy who, as one publication
put it, "was born on third base and thinks he hit a triple," who thinks the job
is his by default, who got here only because the massive money guys in the
Republican party want someone they can own and control....

Then I look at McCain, and I have to confess that despite my reluctance to ever
vote Republican, he's the best *person* for the task in my view.  I like his
forthrightness, his attitude, the way he conducts his business, the ideas he
brings to the table, and his background.  I think he comes from the same mold
of presidents as Truman, or Teddy Roosevelt.  

I think he can be a bridge between generations.  I believe that he can return
to the nation a sense of mutual responsibility and community and self-sacrifice
that has been noticeably lacking of late.  

Now, I'm in the most trivial and ephemeral of professions: I make TeeVee shows.
 So I've got no business preaching to anybody about anything.  So I put this
out there only as a thought, to those fans of B5 in South Carolina and Michigan
and Arizona and elsewhere: if you've made up your mind on anybody else, I think
that's great, go and do.  But if you're on the fence and not sure, for whatever
small value it has, I would ask you to consider taking a chance on McCain.  

If the show has had merit for you, if the ideas and values the show has put
forth have had value, then I ask that you give this guy the benefit of the
doubt.

I know this is a small breach of protocol, but as far as I can remember, I
don't think I've used this pulpit much to advocate for anyone during a
political election.  I hope you understand that I don't do this lightly, and
will probably never do so again.  My perspective has always been to stay the
heck out of these things and not to abuse the voice that producing a show can
provide by advocating personal causes.   (Though as always anyone who wants to
contribute to the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, or a local battered woman's
shelter, is always on my A-list of people.)

It's just that something deep in my gut says this is the right man, in the
right place, at the right time, for what's ahead, and to not say that would be
irresponsible.

Joe Straczynski

 jms

(jmsatb5 at aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com
(all message content (c) 2000 by
synthetic worlds, ltd., permission
to reprint specifically denied to
SFX Magazine)




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