Sorry Fred if I misinterpreted your response.

Adjectives like conservative and liberal mean different things to different people anyway. I consider myself a "conservative-leaning moderate", but one whose faith in conservative government has been so shaken by the arrogance and incompetence of the Bush team that I would vote for a Clinton/Obama ticket in the next election if W were running again them. I'm still a resistered Republican, but in the last election I voted straight Democrat except where the only candidates were a Republican and a Libertarian, in which case I voted for the Libertarian. The Republican party under the incompetent Bush government no longer represents the views of the average American, and we communicated this to him with their votes in the last election. The sad thing about this is that most of the people who voted for Democrats, like me, are really more conservative than liberal.

So with that said. Although I'm not happy with Bush say 40% of the time, he is far better than any Democrat that I would be unhappy with 90% of the time. So the idea of "sending him a message with the last election results" is flawed in my mind. I would be screwing myself 50% of the time by voting for a liberal to "send a message".

Not to mention you have to look at the big picture. The President also appoints Supreme Court justices and judges. This is one of his most important responsibilities. Bush has done a fairly good job at this in my opinion. To send Bush or the Republicans a message by voting in a Democrat may allow that Democrat to change laws for years or decades to come when he appoints liberal judges. Just look at the 9th circus court in CA. Are these the type of judges you want? Would you be willing to put up with these activist judges for years because you didn't like Bush? Think about it?

So I think not voting at all or voting for a party you disagree with 90% of the time to send a message is only hurting your political beliefs and the country in the end. Not to mention that the Republicans in Congress may be exactly what you want in a congressman. To vote them out because you disagreed with the president seems flawed to me as well. What say you???

If I were to believe what you say, and I have no reason to doubt it, then it really doesn't matter which party you vote for because you would be unhappy with 50% of what they do. You describe yourself as a "conservative-leaning centrist". If this is true then you would be slightly better served by a Republican than a Democrat.

Sounds like Guiliani might be your man. He's not my cup of tea because he has several liberal stances but to each his own.

Actually no, I never purchased one. I looked into it for some time but never actually did it. Other projects got in the way. I still want one for me and my sons. We are planning on moving soon and after that I will start looking again. I do/did appreciate your help though.

Mr Vinyl