Courtesy of Brad Kozak.

The opinions expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of AWN, Inc. and its affiliates.

In response to the recent article by columnist Mark Simon, I fired off a letter to AWN, protesting what I feel is Simon's incredibly biased attack on the right, and his irrational statements about the election. AWN's publisher did the stand-up thing and invited me to submit an "op-ed" piece as a counterpoint to Simon's article. Below is my retort to Simon.

As Election Day '08 draws near, it's obvious that this election represents the crossing of the Rubicon for America. As voters, We the People have a choice to make, and it's a dramatically different one than we've faced before. In our generation, we've never had to face a decision that offers such stark contrasts -- Obama, the anti-war, anti-big business, big-government candidate or McCain, the pro-business, anti-tax, political maverick -- who in any other year would be described as a moderate (in almost every respect, except for his position on the war).

Those on the left would have you believe that the choice we face is between the "progressive" ideas of the cool, calm and collected Obama, versus a senile, mad dog (McCain) prone to rash decisions and irresponsible positions on the war, the economy, and our future. In fact, AWN columnist Mark Simon took it upon himself to take a poll of animators and artists. He published no methodology to attest to the accuracy of his poll, nor did he spell out how his demographic sample compared to the population of artists and animators at large. None of this, however, stopped him from using the conclusions he drew to justify what can (in fairness) only be described as a left-wing rant, simultaneously vilifying McCain and promoting Obama as the Obvious Choice for Our Troubled Times. In a tone that I would characterize as smug, condescending, and at times, vitriolic, Simon proceeded to paint Obama as the rightful heir to the über-cool Rat Pack of the '60s. You have only to look at his caricatures of Senators Obama and McCain to understand Simon's unrestrained hatred of All Things Conservative and his undying affection for (as Oprah calls him), The One.

But pause with me for a nanosecond, and let's consider a few (verifiable) facts, and see if Mr. Simon has all the answers.

First of all, let's look at the contenders for the highest office in the land. Barack Obama is an overnight success by anyone's measure. He has served less than one complete (six-year) term in the U.S. Senate, and has little more political experience under his belt in the Illinois legislature. He has neither taken the lead on nor written any legislation in his time in the Senate, and his voting record earned him the title of the single most liberal member of that body. His biggest claim to fame prior to announcing his candidacy was to give the keynote address at the Democrats' convention four years ago. His foreign policy experience is limited to his recent whirlwind tour that culminated in his vaunted speech in Berlin ("Ich bin ein Progressiver!") You can certainly argue that "experience isn't everything" and you "think Obama's got better plans for the country" -- and that's your right as an American. However, you gotta admit, the guy's a little light in the loafers when it comes to an actual record.

John McCain has a well-documented background as a war hero/prisoner of war, and U.S. senator. He has a number of pieces of legislation to his name, as well as a number of bpartisan achievements, most notably his brokering of a compromise to break the deadlock over federal judicial appointments, and the McCain/Feingold campaign finance law. McCain has a long and storied history of voting his conscience instead of towing [sic] the party line, and in the process delighting Democrats and infuriating Republicans. In fact, his voting record reflects that, and shows him to be a very middle-of-the-road moderate. Among the more conservative Republicans, he's called a RINO (Republican In Name Only.) Ask 10 conservatives who they wanted as their nominee this year, and I'll wager McCain was nobody's first choice. Or second. In fact, McCain won the nomination for two reasons -- no conservative candidate was able to coalesce support to the tipping point, and McCain was the media darling. (Remember, McCain was all but out of the race before the Florida primary.) In fact, the media has (up until they collectively jumped in the tank for Obama) had a love affair with McCain for years. He was the only Republican many on the left could stand -- or grudgingly admire. But to paint McCain as a conservative? That's a big stretch.

Let's talk VPs. It's no secret that every presidential candidate picks a VP based on what he (or she) can do for the ticket. In days gone by, most VPs were chosen to balance the ticket geographically. Today, it's to shore up foreign policy street cred (Biden) or enthuse the base into supporting a RINO (Palin). That's not shocking, nor is it a bad thing -- it's a political necessity. Both candidates picked VP nominees to give themselves a boost. In McCain's case, it worked. He no longer has to worry about the GOP base. By all accounts, it was a bold, daring move. (As a conservative, I wish Palin was at the top of the ticket, for I agree with her politics far more than I do McCain's.) In Obama's case, I see Biden as a safe, albeit uninspired choice. Picking Hillary would have been a game-changer, but I don't think he could afford the associated baggage that pick would have carried along with it. There were others he could have picked, but Biden offered the cover of some foreign policy experience that Obama lacks. So be it.

So to be fair, let's paint Obama on the far left, and McCain just to the right of center. (Remember, this is not conjecture -- their voting records back this up.) Biden is almost as far to the left as Obama, while Palin is a genuine conservative, to McCain's centrist. Ironically, by shoring up his support with core Republican voters, McCain committed the one, unpardonable sin against the media -- he picked a conservative running mate. (The horror!) Keep in mind, with Obama in the race, McCain could have picked Ted Kennedy for a running mate (he did actually consider picking Joe Liberman, by many reports), and it would have done him no good on the liberal side of things. As far as the Left is concerned, Obama is The Chosen One -- no others need apply.