First. A Newt One was founded as the Truth Surge for a reason. Our first and foremost goal is Truth. We can agree or disagree but I will not tolerate this blog being reduced to little more than a cheer leading section for John McCain.

To be sure, many of A Newt One's members do support McCain- most of them in fact. Your views are to honored and respected and perhaps I didn't do that as well as I should have. Yet, there are members of A Newt One-and across the Country- who are every bit the Conservatives, Patriots and Troop supporters you are but disagree passionately that our country's return to greatness will be facilitated-in any manner- by the election of John McCain.

A vote against John McCain does not equate to a vote for Barack Obama and to claim otherwise is not only violence to simple logic (1 + 0 does not equal 2) but denigrates and insults Conservatives who consider both Obama and McCain to be anathema. You cannot take something away from someone they never had in the first place. Further, you cannot give something to one person by denying it to another. Some persons have reduced the election to two "viable" choices. I see nothing in the Constitution presupposing my vote to one of the "viable" choices. In this election, there is likely but one "viable" choice. That is, there is only 1 person who can win the Presidency this year, from my vantage point.

Of course, time may indeed prove me wrong, but for someone arguing the viability of a Republican struggling in Virginia, North Carolina, Montana, North Dakota and Ohio, I'd suggest you re-examine the strength of your argument.

So, if I determine that only BHO is "viable", must I exclude all other choices, including McCain?

So much for the viability argument.

Does this mean that you cannot make your argument for McCain? Of course not. Yet, A Newt One needs to support issues first. When it comes down to issues vs people, I'll choose issues. Also, I will argue just as strongly against McCain as you argue for him and you will not stop me. I am not seeking a fight...but I won't be censored either.

Those who support John McCain do not speak for the troops, the blog or the Conservative movement. Neither do those who oppose him. Neither position can lay claim to a consensus of any of those groups. That is a statistical fact.

Unfortunately, Conservative, patriotic, troop supporting Americans and A Newt One blog members are divided on the issue of support for John McCain. So, speak for yourself and do not laugh at, insult or denigrate the blog members and friends who disagree. If you do, I'll delete your posts or comments without a minute's hesitation.

Speaking for myself, I will not support McCain. It doesn't matter what he says, it doesn't matter who his running mate is. I will not apologize for that and I will not hesitate to criticize him on this blog. For me, to swear an oath of allegiance to John McCain is to invalidate all of the Conservative positions I have ever claimed to believe. Others here have a very different view and I respect it and I will not try to change it. I expect the same respect. I will not tolerate any further posts or comments trying to persuade me to change my view or telling me I am wrong. I am NOT wrong.

My vote belongs to me just as yours belongs to you. When you make claims such as "McCain is our nominee", you display an arrogance very offensive to us. Their is no our here. My vote is mine, I owe it to no one. Speak for yourself, unless you are speaking of things we are in agreement on. That happens to be almost everything else. A Newt One's official position shall be that we oppose Barack Hussein Obama and the Democrats. We support the full slate of Republicans running for all offices except the Presidency. Since we are not unified on a candidate, our position shall be no endorsement further than a statement of opposition to BHO.

Although I reserve my right to my opinion, I am not interested in intensifying any fights. Therefore, I will try to post election polling data is a purely objective light. Right now, it is my honest opinion that John McCain has less than a 10% chance of winning this election and that Republicans will lose a minimum of 4 Senate seats and will suffer double digit House losses. If those circumstances change, I'll say so.

I will have more to say as we go on. Included will be some guidelines for the practical operation of ANO and ATW. If anyone has any questions on any of these matters, I can be contacted via Snooper.

On a happier note, I wish to warmly welcome Doug Gibbs to our family of contributors. We can always use another homophobe *g*

~Sonlit