In, But Uneasy

Somewhere I read that 90% of voters have already made up their minds about who they'll vote for in November. 

I have.  I'm a True Blue Democrat, and I'm with Barack all the way, to the point of donating $30  every month to his campaign, although I'm so cheap I'm going to use my 2008 yard sign. 

I've been reading about the attack ads Obama's running in swing states.  Glory be, they seem to be working, but at times I find myself wincing, because, really, I'd like my guy to rise above that.  Yes,  the other side does it and now Obama's ahead in the polls, but I have to make myself look the other way while it's going on.

If  it's true that most people have already made up their minds,  then we're paying a ton of money to convince a relatively small pool of people who don't read about the issues, but pay attention to expensively-crafted attack ads.  I wish we could just give them the money.  They could use it to avoid foreclosure, pay for deferred dental work, or buy a new set of tires. Or send a kid to college.

Frank Bruni's column, "Truculence Before Truth," in today's New York Times also made me squirm.  Bruni's sore at Democrat Harry Reid for claiming  to anyone who'll listen that Romney paid no income tax for ten years.  That would be delicious and damning if it were true, but Reid's provided no evidence that it is.

"Spew first and sweat the details later, or never," writes Bruni, who's left-leaning himself.  "Speak loosely and carry a stick-thin collection of back-up materials.  That's the M.O. of the moment, familiar from the past but in particularly galling and profuse flower of late."

If you can say anything and pretend it's true,  "You might as well put a dead cocker spaniel on your head and start yelling about birth certificates," Bruni quotes Jon Stewart as saying, referring to Donald Trump.

I'm definitely drawing the line at donating to Harry Reid.  Not a nickel.  But my $30 a month donation--it's just enough to pay for a Starbuck's run for a handful of advertising executives figuring out the next negative, but not necessarily untrue,  ad. 

Am I in or am I out?  I'm in, but I'm uneasy.  I also make a monthly donation to an agency that helps homeless women and children, but I don't feel that gets me entirely off the hook.