Paranoia ✓

III: Conner - Race for the Presidency (Part 1)

This wasn't Conner's first interview, and it certainly won't be his last. This was the second time he ran to become the leader of the nation. In his first attempt he was about as noticeable as a single gnat in a swarm of horseflies. In his second time around, he fared no better. He didn't want to succumb to the media friendly tactics that most candidates subjugate themselves to in order to get votes. He wanted people to look at his policies and realize that he was the most well prepared, and in reality, the most sane person on the ticket for the Republican Party.

But today he had a need for the media. He needed them to showcase his stance on various issues to the greater American public. He was a guest for the taping of the short program, Race for the Presidency. Each week they talked about polling stats as if they were odds in a horse race. 'Last week Harry Sayder was at 40 points, but now with Caroline Feral gaining speed, Harry is at 38 and Caroline at 32.' You'd think this was a pregame for a sporting event rather than preparation for an election.

A woman was dabbing Conner's nose with powder while his advisor and campaign manager, Jonathan Davis, was running through talking points with him. John was a slim man who never left his house without a suit and a briefcase or bag of some sort. His watch was digital, not analog, for quick access to the time, rather than fooling around counting spaces. His cell phone vibrated constantly, almost like the pulsation of a heart. Each beat was a notification on social media, an email, or a message keeping him up-to-date with world issues, competitors' rhetoric, and any allegations made against Conner. He'd later incorporate talking points to counter these allegations, or address the breaking news.

"A recent drone strike in Yemen took out three high ranking members of the Kabish just hours ago. The president calls it a success, yet an untold amount of innocent casualties accompanied this success. Do you find a mission that takes the lives of innocent people a success?"

The day John goes easy on me is the day I'll get elected, Conner jokingly presumed. He could imagine his rival Republican candidate, Mr. Sayder, answering the same question by saying, "As long as we get the baddies, I'd considered it a successful mission."

Conner laughed at the thought and ran his hand through his straight gray hair. Starting his campaign as a dark blond, patches of white were now noticeable around the edges of his hair. He has been meaning to either commit fully to white or fully gray, but John advised against it. "It'll make you like your opponents, anchored to a single party and its frame of thinking. You are a conservative who isn't afraid to dance amongst liberals when you know they have something intelligent to say." It was true; bi-partisan agreements were as rare as stars colliding. Each side of the aisle was stubborn and stuck to their party ideals. Yet Conner felt that his side could share more of the blame. He felt he was the only Republican who was willing to step out of the party's skin and look to the world for answers.

That was why Conner tried to distance himself from the Republican Party. Sure he was running as as a member of one, but that was only because the party proclaimed itself to be conservative. The way Conner looked at it, the Republicans pick and choose when to be conservative—that was... when it suits them best. Conner was a true conservative—a man who fought for small government across the board, not just on regulation, but on NSA spying, social security, military spending, etc.

Conner's thoughts about military spending brought him back to John's question. "I find the mission to be a success in some ways and a failure in others. True we knocked out some of the Kabish's top players, but to do so at the expense of innocent civilians is un-American. I don't know the number of civilians that were harmed in the mission, but the death of one innocent life is a horrible tragedy that must be avoided."

John countered, "But when a nation is at war with its enemy, civilian causalities are to be expected."

"Ah, but that's the key: war. A war only occurs when Congress passes a declaration of war, which to my knowledge has not been passed—and I should know, I work in the House of Representatives."