First thought: Election night is the worst time for my internet to be down! Six hours I was without access last night…

Second thought: While most of the nation was tuned into the final four of American Idol, the ultimate reality show was taking place in Indian and North Carolina…

Third thought: That odor coming out of Lake County, Indiana isn’t from the steel mills. It has the all the aromas of voter fraud.

Most important thought: What will Hillary’s decision on whether or not to stay in the race reveal about her character? Her argument to the super-delegates is that she is a better match-up against John McCain. But even this isn’t true anymore if one considers the backlash that results when the nomination is taken away from The Anointed One. She’d be crazy to think she could convince Obama fanatics to vote for her after that.

So what will she do? 

Will she make good on her promise to do “everything (she) can to make sure a Democrat is elected to the White House” in the fall. It’s looking more and more like this would mean withdrawing from the race.

Or will she stay in and fight despite no matter the short (and potentially long) term damage done to her party’s chances in November? Of course, a Republican victory in the general election would mean that there won’t be an incumbent Democrat running for reelection in 2012. Isn’t that interesting?

I’m a conservative -- a proud conservative -- a conservative who believes that the tax-the-rich-to-help-the-poor policies so often put forth by our liberal friends put more strain on the poor than they do the rich and are historically proven to fail. I’m a conservative who believes that the most proven way to stimulate the economy is to inact massive across the board tax cuts as was done in the 1920s, the 1960s, and the 1980s. I’m a conservative who believes the federal bureaucracy is bloated, inefficient and sucking billions of dollars each year away from the pockets of taxpayers who would otherwise invest their earnings in the private sector. So it would be very hard for me to vote for a candidate who does not share these views.

But I have to ask.

How important is the truthfulness of a politician who is a candidate for your vote?

We were told in the ‘90s that character does not matter. We are hearing that again today with the Elliot Spitzer saga, the Jeremiah Wright controversy, the Detroit mayor indictment, and now the Hillary Clinton Bosnia tale. When Republicans are found to be untruthful, the media focus is often not on the lies but the hypocrisy.  Why?

Politicians are in office to serve – not to rule. They answer to the People – not the other way around. We are, with our votes, entrusting the future of our nation to their care. 

Truth is part of the glue that holds our republic together. As such, there is a reason perjury is a felony. Why should lying under oath in a courtroom result in a prison term and lying to the American People in an effort to obtain their vote be seen as nonchalantly “misspeaking”?

Therefore, I submit to you that when given the choice, it would be more prudent to cast your vote for an honest liberal than a crooked conservative. Of course, we avoid this dilemma entirely when we refuse to nominate a chronic liar as a candidate for public office.