If Obama picks a Republican, I'm gonna hafta choka bitch.

There's some talk of Obama picking Chuck Hagel as VP candidate. I don't think this is at all likely, but it's a possibility.

I've long since stopped professing to be a Democrat. I've changed my mind on too many issues with them, and they've failed to stand up for even the most basic of Liberal principles. I seemingly disagree with every Democrat I meet on important topics - abortion, stem cell research, the war. But I have greater disagreements with the Republican party.

More important, however, is the issue of "bipartisanship." Hitchens has talked about this before - bipartisanship should not be made a fetish. It is not an end in itself. In fact, I think bipartisanship is wholly dangerous to the republic.

The two party system is not perfect. I wish there were more parties, but the system is not set up to easily accommodate that. But it is important to remember the jobs that parties serve:

1) They provide voters with a means to find candidates they generally agree with.
2) They provide a clear delineation between opposing ideologies.
3) They provide a sort of check on ideological power - there always exists a group of people who will fight against the established party's plan.

Bipartisanship undermines all of those purposes. A frequent complaint of those independent voters is that the parties are too similar. What better way to show that is true than to run on a unified ticket?

I personally hope that Obama chooses Joe Biden as his running mate. He was the candidate I was going to vote for before he dropped out. I don't know who I will vote for in November, but I definitely won't be voting for an Obama-Hagel ticket.