Any les sthan wholesome comments can be directed straight to McCain's election staff, and anatomical observations should just be kept to yourself.
This is a total freak show. It's like the Jerry Springer show has taken over Washington. I feel so sorry for Palin's daughter, having her embarrassing situation thrust in the limelight all as a political ploy to pump up McCain's lackluster support from his party. I agree with Senator Obama that the candidates' children are not appropriate fodder for politics. This includes Palin's appalling use of her Down's Syndrome child as a political talking point as well as throwing her pregnant teenage daughter to the media wolves in order to rally the Pro-Lifers around McCain. The Republicans like to think they have a monopoly on family values, but what kind of "family values" are those? Definitely not ones I'd want in my family. I also worry about her son in the military, because if I were an Islamic fundamentalist, as of this week I would now have a whole platoon dedicated to the sole mission of tracking her son down in Iraq to kidnap him and hold him ransom. The US would have to listen to you if you are holding the Vice President's son hostage. Even the UK pulled Prince Harry out of Iraq THE MOMENT his cover was blown by the media. These people want to talk military strategy and "keeping America safe," - what kind of strategy is it to announce to the whole world that the 19 year old son of the Republican VP nominee is going to be deployed to Iraq next month? How does giving our enemies blackmail leverage "keep America safe"? What astounds me even more is that NO ONE in the media, Rep or Democratic, has even talked about this! Why am I the only one who's completely freaked out about her son's safety?!?!
How on Earth McCain could think a redneck mom from the sticks who's been governor for less than two years - with NO international experience, should be one spot away from the presidency is beyond me. This entire time I've kept my mouth shut every time a Republican pointed out Obama's lack of resume because what could I say? They're right. Obama doesn't have a lot of experience and I have to concede with his critics that they're right have reservations about that. Now they've completely nullified their own strongest argument against Obama by putting a candidate on their ticket who has even less experience than Obama does.
These people are absolutely crazy. It scares me. It really terrifies me every time I take a look over the aisle to the Republican party and see that it's just a front for a bunch of fanatically paranoid religious extremists to weasel their way up to the highest echelons of government. Whatever happened to the separation of church and state? To quote today's New York Times article: And, "In her speech to the Wasilla Assembly of God in June, Ms. Palin said it was “God’s will” that the federal government contribute to a $30 billion gas pipeline she wants built in Alaska."
It totally freaks me out that Republicans keep nominating and electing candidates WHO THINK GOD TALKS TO THEM! There are other people in our society who think invisible people talk to them, they're called SCHIZOPHRENICS! Not only that, but the woman tried to ban books at her town's library, then tried to fire the librarian when the librarian refused to ban books, and it wasn't until the rest of the city council stood up to her trying to get the librarian fired that Palin finally dropped the book banning idea. Do we really want people who believe in censoring knowledge from the public in charge of our government? I don't understand how more people aren't appalled by this!
As a woman, I also find it personally insulting that the McCain administration has said they chose Palin with the specific intent that putting a woman on the ticket would attract more female voters. Fuck you. I wasn't going to vote for Hilary just because she was a woman, nor would I vote for Palin (who is on the wrong side of every issue most important to women, by the way) just because she's a woman either. It is inherently sexist to suggest that female voters would make their voting choices based on gender rather than on policy.
Now, listen up people because this is very important. Before this week I wasn't totally opposed to a McCain presidency. I preferred a Democrat, but I also honestly didn't think a McCain presidency would be a rerun of a Bush presidency (cringe). After this week, I pray to every god ever conceived by human imagination that Obama wins. With the addition of Palin on his ticket, McCain has just gone from the greenest Republican ever to run for president to just another representative for big oil companies. And yes, the environment, particularly energy, is the BIGGEST issue people should be voting on this election because it will decide all our fates for the very recent future. Energy is DIRECTLY tied to every other major issue in this election - both the war in Iraq and our economy here at home. Renewable energy technologies (or ET) are the economy of the future. Energy technologies are going to constitute the next great global industry. They will rival and probably surpass “IT” — information technology. This is the future, people. The country that spawns the most E.T. companies will enjoy more economic power, strategic advantage and rising standards of living. We need to make sure that is America! Big oil and OPEC want to make sure it is not. McCain and Palin have no plans in place for energy or the environment other than drilling for oil here in the US. They consider this temporary band-aid for prices at the pump a solution to "getting America off foreign oil dependency." Obama has also said that he supports off shore drilling as a temporary solution to alleviate gas prices, but he has ALSO laid out a plan to get us off oil, period, not just "foreign" oil. Quote from Obama's speech at the Democratic convention: "And for the sake of our economy, our security, and the future of our planet, I will set a clear goal as President: in ten years, we will finally end our dependence on oil from the Middle East. Washington's been talking about our oil addiction for the last thirty years, and John McCain has been there for twenty-six of them. In that time, he's said no to higher fuel-efficiency standards for cars, no to investments in renewable energy, no to renewable fuels. And today, we import triple the amount of oil as the day that Senator McCain took office." Obama understands that what is really going to make a difference in our lives, our standard of living, and securing our position as global economic leader will be the development of ET - the economy of the future. McCain and Palin want to trek around in the Alaskan wilderness drilling the last remaining drops of the economy of the past. Palin even sued to keep polar bears off the Endangered Species List because she worried it would complicate future plans to drill for more oil in Alaska. WTF kind of messed up priorities is that?!?!
Obama has also laid out many other specific policies he wishes to address as president and told us how he wants to go about it. All I've heard from the Republicans after two days of listening to their convention is everything they're against, nothing they are for, and repetition after repetition of McCain's biography and character. Don't get me wrong, his biography is heart-wrenching and I have no doubts about his character, but after listening to SIX HOURS of Republican speeches in the past 2 days I still haven't heard a single word about what his agenda or policies will be as president.
Obama listed what his policies will be:
- "John McCain has voted with George Bush ninety percent of the time. Senator McCain likes to talk about judgment, but really, what does it say about your judgment when you think George Bush has been right more than ninety percent of the time? I don't know about you, but I'm not ready to take a ten percent chance on change."
- "Unlike John McCain, I will stop giving tax breaks to corporations that ship jobs overseas, and I will start giving them to companies that create good jobs right here in America."
- "I will eliminate capital gains taxes for the small businesses and the start-ups that will create the high-wage, high-tech jobs of tomorrow."
- "I will cut taxes - cut taxes - for 95% of all working families. Because in an economy like this, the last thing we should do is raise taxes on the middle-class."
- "Now, many of these plans will cost money, which is why I've laid out how I'll pay for every dime - by closing corporate loopholes and tax havens that don't help America grow. But I will also go through the federal budget, line by line, eliminating programs that no longer work and making the ones we do need work better and cost less - because we cannot meet twenty-first century challenges with a twentieth century bureaucracy."
- "You don't defeat a terrorist network that operates in eighty countries by occupying Iraq."
This last one has become particularly poignant to me after hearing all the Republicans rave on about how we're finally winning the war now thanks to McCain sending in more troops. What really surprises me that they don't understand is that a war on terror can't ever be won. It's not meant to ever be won. Terror exists everywhere, even here at home. It's a war against an idea, not a country, and you can't wage a war against ideas. You can't shoot a bullet at an idea. You can't bomb an ideology. They're immune. What you can do, is suck money and resources out of your own country to fuel a futile war machine, making rich men richer and giving a political party the leverage it needs to stay in control of the government. Meanwhile, Iraq has a $79 billion surplus while we're on the brink of an economic recession. How the Hell is that "Country first"?
"Some of the things Ms. Palin has had to say in the recent past about foreign policy are especially worrisome. In a speech last June to her former church in Wasilla, Ms. Palin said the war in Iraq was “a task that is from God.” Mr. Bush made similar claims as he rejected all sound mortal advice on how to conduct the war."
