i knew that i would be out of town on election day, so i sent off the paperwork to vote in absentia several weeks ago. and then surprise -- i never recieved anything. no ballot, nothing. and i wasn't the only one. there have been some strange snags that have found american citizens flying back home to vote. new york's system is especially antequated. i couldn't afford to be amongst their ranks. i called the new york board of elections and i kept calling until i got an actual person on the line. she was effusive, upbeat and way too happy to help me. as it turned out, they were located on houston and varick, they would be open until 9pm, and they would stay open every day all weekend and on monday, the last day that they could accept any in absentia ballots.
my friend and i braved the freakshows on the streets and made our way from west harlem to houston and varick, then waited for less than 30 minutes in a dingy room filled with those hard plastic school chairs you have to squeeze into to sit in, with way too much flourescent lighting and trash everywhere. it was over in no time. i celebrated by going to a costume party and staying up all night, packing.
knowing how white men in this country have historically worked so hard to disenfranchise anyone not like them from the voting process. knowing that such people are still working hard to keep certain people from the polls -- like ex-felons, for example. (almost 5 million of them won't be able to vote this year. if you pay taxes, you should be able to vote, period. but i digress.) knowing what my 92 year old daddy's parents and their families went through, in south georgia and south carolina -- how they were systematically excluded and shut out of the political process. knowing that he and my mother voted as soon as they opened the polls in georgia -- them and every other black anybody that i can think of. knowing that the system is so corrupt, its a wonder that anything gets done. knowing that the electoral college elects the president, not individual voters. knowing that more than 40% of eligible voters didn't vote in the last election. knowing that some people won't vote because they think that not voting is voting. knowing the bradley effect. knowing how racist so many good americans really are. knowing that no matter how many black people are breaking out the champagne glasses and celebrating in the streets and in our haphazard chats with each other, he's not elected yet.
so now here i sit, watching sarah palin on cnn as she casts her vote and yammers away, spewing these pro-american jingoistic talking points like a trained parrot, and i wonder.
finally, someone in the media has openly denounced mccain's fear mongering and the hate that it has nurtured for the past few months. in this video clip, keith olberman sets them straight. neither senator mccain nor gov. palin have ever reprimanded these hostile crowds. in fact, they defend them vigorously and are flat-out unapologetic. what decent republican wouldn't want to distance themselves from this?
i find it interesting that these flare ups aren't necessarily happening in the south, a place that somehow contains all of the racism in the country as well as our collective racist history, as far as most americans are concerned. that would be convenient if it were true but of course, it's not. no one is absolved. every state carries its fair share of bile on this topic -- especially in the north -- and none of them are dealing with any of it. the incidents that keith olberman refers to in the video above aren't happening deep in the heart of dixie -- they're happening in pennsylvania and ohio. the last time i checked, both of those states were above the mason-dixon line. but not really.
will everyone return to their politically correct behavior after the election, so everything can get back to normal? or will anything ever really be normal again, now that we all know that so much venom is festering just beneath the surface in the american serfdom against people of color? truth be told, there has never been any such thing as "back to normal" for so many of us. we have always known that the hate was there. we see it and we live through it in the most ordinary mundane moments of our everyday lives.
do you really think that this recession is affecting anyone in the ghetto? the poor, the underclass? do you think their lives have changed because the economy is tanking?
my favorite quote from this clip: senator mccain! your supporters at your events are calling obama a terrorist and traitor and are calling for him to be killed. and yet you keep bringing back these same rabid right wing nuts to deliberately stir these crowds into frenzies and then you take offense when somebody who remembers the violence of our political past calls you on it. you, sir, are responsible for a phalanx of individuals who are shouting fire in a crowded theater. there are some things to respect and honor about you senator mccain but on this, you are not only a fraud, sir, but you are tacitly inciting lunatics to violence.
here's the obamas on access hollywood discussing how they do it on a budget. the girls are adorable, aren't they. my favorite quote? michelle obama: this dress i'm wearing cost $30.
here's the question of the day: what's the difference between fashion and style?
while the GOP has blown over $150,000 of taxpayer's donations on clothing for gov. palin and her family to make them appear fashionable (they're millionaires! why couldn't they buy their own clothes?), senator obama and his wife michelle are international style icons -- on a budget. it has been roundly documented that whatever mrs. obama wears on camera is tracked down to its retail location and simply blows off the racks nationwide. and how cool that donatella versace has dedicated an entire line to "the type of man that senator obama represents -- a relaxed man who doesn't need to flex muscles to show he has power."
i'm wondering: where's the fashion designer that's inspired by anything related to gov. palin or senator mccain -- or cindy mccain and her six-figure glitzy gilded get ups?
why can't working class blue collar republicans see how inconsistent their party's message is? they're throwing other people's money up in the air like it's green confetti. whee!
this is an interesting clip from the rachel maddow show that examines what gov. sarah palin said during the vice presidential debate a few weeks ago -- the misquotes, the misconstrued facts, and everything inbetween.
this video piqued my interest because of a book that i'm reading right now called the dumbest generation: how the digital age stupifies young americans and jeopardizes our future -- or the alternate title, don't trust anyone under 30. on a train ride to pennsylvania last weekend with my friend, i overheard someone talking about the book. what they said was so interesting, i dropped what i was reading and headed to the nearest bookstore to find it. the author, who teaches english at emory university in my hometown of ATL, asserts that the intellectual future of this country is dying because young people -- the 18 to 24 set -- aren't reading books. actually, they have a great deal of contempt for books and learning in general. he proves it, with a smorgasbord of statistics, surveys, polls and the like.
i'm somewhere in the middle of the book and i'm starting to believe that he's right.
according to his statistics, young people don't know history. they can't see things in historical context. they are so cocooned in facebook, myspace, iPhone and whatever tweaks them at the moment that they don't know who their local politicans are. they don't understand the importance of basic civics. there is a genuine disconnect from the world and what's happening in it that's stultifying. basically, they live in their own world. instead of studying hard and taking the tests, they take tests to figure out how to take the tests.
when you think about it, it kind of makes sense. why should they be able to name 3 artists from the 18th century? whatever information they need can be googled. why should they have to know that little rhyme "i before e except after c"? whatever word is in question can be spell checked. do you really need to know that stuff to land a great job and make a lot of money or to have any degree of rank amongst your peers? or be famous? or rich beyond your wildest dreams? or be the president of the united states of america?
it's kind of like that kid in english class back in the day when i was in middle school that read the cliff notes version of wuthering heights and/or saw the movie and then wrote a paper about it. and got an A. i actually read the book and got an A, too. but i really loved to read. it wasn't a chore for me. i always whipped through whatever i was given at school, kept the school librarian pretty busy, and maintained a personal library at home. what happened to me? my mother taught me how to read when i was 3 years old.
and therein lies the rub.
it's not that everyone under 30 isn't intelligent or ambitious. it's just that they aren't big on ingesting and retaining general knowledge.
that's when i started to think about gov. sarah palin -- the colleges that she attended, the fact that she never had a passport before she became the vice presidential nominee, how painfully inarticulate she is, how little she knows about world history or even american history, how little she knows about global politics, how she refuses to be interviewed because she doesn't want to be pummeled with "gotcha" questions from the media elite -- i began to see a correlation. i know she's over 30, but let's face it: she's a bright shining example of american anti-intellectualism. she is intellectually where most of the college-educated individuals of this country will be in short order unless something changes, and soon.
a phd student from philly asked gov. palin a question about "the pakistan situation" and the answer she gave was in total contradiction to senator mccain and in line with senator obama. what a massively huge gaffe that was -- and ever since, the mccain/palin ticket has pulled the plug on such free-form q & a forums, and has stuck to what gov. palin does best: put her best most folksy-est face forward, misquote historical figures and regurgitate well-rehearsed republican talking points over and over again. the thing is, life isn't rehearsed -- and neither is political strategy. answering questions spontaneously shows us how gov. palin would deal with issues that inevitably will occur spontaneously.
i have a question: if senator mccain is elected and dies in office (because he's pretty old and he's pretty sick), will gov. palin's handlers run the country?
but i digress.
haven't we heard all of this "young people are stupid" stuff before? maybe i'm saying that because i've had to hear it a lot. my 92 year old daddy thinks that everyone is an idiot. i can see him now, sitting at the end of the kitchen table, waving his hand at one of us, at the television, at the world and going on and on, saying stuff like, "you kids don't know anything." and he's right. the problem with then and now is that kids today have access to absolutely everything -- and there are some people who think that they aren't necessarily doing anything with it. that may or may be true. but when i see gov. palin waffling over simple basic questions about the policies in her own party -- she seriously had no idea what the bush doctrine was, people! come on! the bush doctrine! how can any thinking republican trust a republican politician that doesn't know what that is!-- i'm inclined to agree.
in the video above from a palin rally in ohio on 10/12, casey kauffman reports for the english language version of the arabic language news network al jazeera -- the only independent news station in the middle east -- and displays a cavalcade of white, (lower) middle-class, mostly middle-aged and older, freaked out "good amerians" saying flat-out racist garbage about senator obama and his wife. it should be noted that this happened two days after senator mccain asked that everyone be more respectful during these gatherings -- and yet, it's his running mate that's fanning these flames, saying absolutely nothing to dissuade the crowd from yelling such incindiary things as "terrorist" and "off with his head" whenever senator obama's name is mentioned.
that's right: this claptrap gets broadcast worldwide. the whole world really is watching -- except of course, america. interestingly enough, no major cable news outlet and no major broadcast network's news program showed any of this. that's especially infuriating because in order for us to be the country that we think we are, we need to look at ourselves honestly and make changes. all of this open, up front talk is sparking some harsh realizations.
there's a reason why no media outlet will not address the gross inaccuracies that the mccain/palin campaign has made against senator obama --the "no, he's not a muslim and what if he were?" statement by colin powell said it best -- and all the fearmongering that goes with it. there's a reason why they speak at length about domestic terrorism and bill ayers and somehow never mention the Klu Klux Klan -- defined as this country's first domestic terrorist group -- the politicians that have been (and still are) active members in that organization, or how the federal government has never made a move to dismantle it. there's a reason why everyone is ignoring senator mccain's record on rev. dr. martin luther king, jr. day. there's a reason why the media won't talk at length about how high school graduate todd palin, gov. sarah palin's husband, was a member of the alaska independence party -- a group that wants to secede from "the lower 48".
i suppose they think that the racism will go away when the election is over, and all of it will be a non-issue eventually because we will all have moved on to the next. but if senator obama actually gets elected, this kind of outrage from "good americans" may be a taste of what's to come. for me, all of the seething fury and racism and bigotry that this campaign has erupted will continue to flare up on foreign news outlets as it festers right beneath the surface here at home -- until we talk about the things that no one wants to mention.
yes, that's right. this is gayle quinnell in the video below -- the 75 year old grandma from shakopee, minnesota that got the chance to ask senator mccain a question a few days ago during a rally in lakeville, mn. she thinks obama is an arab and a muslim and that he "pals around with terrorists" -- in spite of the fact that mccain told her that this isn't true and the journalists that interviewed her afterwards specifically said that obama is a christian.
here's my favorite passage:
dana bash of CNN:"his dad was muslim. barack obama has never been a muslim."
gayle quinnell:"yeah...but he's still got muslim in him. so that's still part of it."
the fact is that both of his parents were athiests and his father didn't take part in raising him. actually, obama only saw him a few times in his life. none of that is conjecture on my part. those are facts that have already been verified many times over. but what does gayle care?
if that kind of idiocy doesn't blow your hair back, maybe this will: grandma quinnell spends her spare time at kinkos, xeroxing letters chok full of Information That Obama Doesn't Want You To Know and passing them out. do people read these letters and believe what they say? she says they do.
why would any intelligent person believe any information that's unsubstantiated?
i've said it before and i'll say it again: a lot of this country's problems would be fixed if everyone had a basic liberal arts education and if they would stop eating deep fried garbage. a decent education and proper nutrition, folks. seriously. who in their right mind is going to watch this video and not think that we really need to raise the bar?
i know everyone is giving senator mccain a special pat on the back and a modicum of nonpartisan respect because he told this lady that she was wrong about what she believes -- and in so doing, his supporters believe that he has effectively silenced everyone who believes the things that she does. the problem is that all of the hate and fear and racism that he and palin have been spewing ad nauseum has caused a LOT of damage. who's to say that some "good american" redneck won't pop up at some rally and commit a violent senseless act because he believed what he was told at a mccain/palin rally, just as grandma quinnell does?
think about it: this woman is only 3 years older than senator mccain. now, that's scary.
no, that's not scary. this is scary: at gov. palin's rally in johnstown ohio the next day, a "good american" brandishing a curious george monkey with a big obama sticker on it gets up close and personal with the camera.
could someone please identify this man, so the world can call him out for his racist behavior? someone out there knows exactly who he is.
here's what happened when he got inside the rally -- and all of a sudden, he realized that the cameras were on him and he was on national television. (heh.)
that's right. he gave the monkey to the kid.
oh, boy. this election is really bringing out the best of middle america, isn't it. God bless us, everyone.
i don't understand how anyone in this country can go on about the threat of domestic terrorism and how wrong it is and not make any mention whatsoever of the klu klux klan -- defined by any real dictionary as a domestic terrorist organization -- and the way that they tortured, lynched, raped, murdered, bombed, assassinated and massacred african-americans and native americans and asian americans and many others for hundreds of years with scant interference from the state or federal government. as a matter of fact, the KKK is still very much alive and well, and they're still at it. so many in their ranks are guilty as sin itself, and they're completely and utterly free -- and in some communities, they are celebrated heroes. evidently, the federal government doesn't care about justice for the crimes committed against african americans.
that's right, mrs. carolyn bryant -- the accuser that got emmett till killed -- i'm talking to you. everybody knows where you live and that your children are protecting you at gunpoint. why do you suppose the federal/state/local officials won't come and get you and put you in prison where you belong? you make me sick. but i digress...
what about congressmen who are members of the klu klux klan or who are klan sympathizers? if it's true that "once a terrorist, always a terrorist" rule applies to ayers, does it also apply to membership with the KKK? because if it does, there are millions of americans out there who are palling around with terrorists and who probably don't even know it.
here's a bright shining example of what i mean: robert byrd, a senior congressman from west virginia and a democrat, joined the KKK at the age of 24 and was unanimously elected exalted cyclops and kleagle (recruiter). he remained active in the klan for years and was proud to be counted amongst its ranks. (see? i didn't even have to mention racist/segregationist/bigoted ol' strom, or the lovely daughter that came along after he raped the family's black maid.)
of course senator byrd is very sorry about his involvement with the KKK now. he's all set to apologize for it for the rest of his life -- because according to him, he'll never be able to apologize enough. here's what he had to say then about african-americans in the military in a 1945 letter to mississippi senator theodore bilbo:
"I shall never fight in the armed forces with a Negro by my side... Rather I should die a thousand times, and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds."
charming.
if obama is guilty of crossing paths with ayers -- because a crossing of paths is all their relationship has amounted to, really -- is it so farfetched to accuse politicians of associating with terrorists by mingling and socializing with the klan members in their midst?
and hey -- what about the secessionists? we all know about the racist militia groups and how they've grown exponentially in recent months. what about the fact that todd "the first dude" palin was a member of the alaskan independence party until as recently as 2002? yes, they're the ones that were seriously thinking about breaking away from the US and joining canada a few years ago. how patriotic is that?
but the fact that gov. palin refuses to see the national "home grown" terrorists in her midst -- even when she's probably married to one of them (and is one, actually) -- isn't the the kicker.
the kicker is that she would "read" an article in the new york times about obama and ayers (you and i both know one of her minions signed off on that one -- she wouldn't touch the times with someone else's hand), cherry pick her way through the facts, twist all of it into a hot steaming pile of jingoistic rhetoric and feed those half-truths to a seething crowd of republicans who are so full of fear that they are foaming-at-the-mouth ready to accept any reason to take a stand against obama. even if it's an outright lie.
the truth is, obama doesn't pal around with ayers -- or any other terrorist. they haven't spoken to each other since 2003. and what about the other politicians -- both democrat and republican, by the way -- that have worked with ayers over the years? why isn't anyone mentioning any of them?
so many in the republican party seem convinced that he's an arab, a terrorist, and that he's muslim -- when in fact, nothing could be further from the truth. with every gathering, they are becoming increasingly agitated and violent. and racist. senator john lewis was right when he compared senator mccain to george wallace and the birmingham church bombers. he and palin are inciting a riot. God only knows which "good american" will take it upon themselves to show their patriotism with an act of violence towards obama, their percieved enemy.
here's the CNN report on the "terrorist" scare that gov. palin created.
...and here she is, taking the new york times article in question totally out of context.
and finally, CNN's truth squad debunks everything that gov. palin has said. we now know that obama doesn't pal around with terrorists.
now, how many "good americans" saw this report and ignored it because gov. palin said otherwise?
perhaps the real question that should be asked is, will the federal government step in and put an end to the mccain/palin race baiting and hate mongering? or are they going to keep this up until something bad happens?
more fallout about how patently clueless sarah palin is on the basics from jack cafferty's cafferty file in CNN's situation room. (in her interview with charlie gibson, she was not at all familiar with the bush doctrine. where has this woman been since 9/11? astonishing stuff...) what's disturbing at this point is how many neo-conservative republicans want her to step down for the good of the nation and her political party -- and how so many others insist that she's doing a great job. like elizabeth hasselbeck on the view, for example. *sigh*
are most republicans like ms. hasselbeck? close-minded, unyielding and uninformed, blathering their way through any argument by talking over anyone else? i'm not kidding when i say this: she has the intellectual maturity of a canned ham. seriously -- she is genuinely uninterested in considering anyone else's point of view, even when what she's saying (her vigorous defense of sarah palin to joy's hilarous observation) is pure idiocy. she seems proud, that she is standing up to the liberals by spewing talking points like shrapnel. ew.
i don't want republicans to become democrats. i don't want to convert anyone to a particular way of thinking. i just want everyone to stop clinging to their ideology and listen to another point of view. ms. hasselbeck is a wierd case to me because she's on a show that's all about considering that other perspective -- and she doesn't do it. if she's typical of what a republican is like -- because frankly, i don't know any -- we are going down like a freight train, a la freddy king. but i digress.
i said all that to say this.
as we stand on the verge of tomorrow's vice presidential debate, i thought it would be a good idea to zip through these clips to get a glimpse of what the rest of the country is thinking. because like i said, i don't know any republicans.
"when fascism comes to america, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross." -- sinclair lewis
if you haven't seen cbs news/katie couric's interview with vice presidential candidate sarah palin, you should take a moment to watch this. it is, without question, an absolute flaming bombshell of a trainwreck.
okay, here's my top three complaints/gripes/observations:
1. i'm really grateful that ms. palin was interviewed by a woman so that no one could accuse the interviewer of sexism -- although i 'm sure they will, simply because she is female. ms. couric asked the questions politely and respectfully and ms. palin was her usual friendly, attractive, evasive, misinformed, jingoistic, entitled, priveleged nasaly self.
2. repeating your half-baked answer (which was really only a memorized soundbite in the first place!) to a valid question doesn't give it more substance or embue it with meaning, even when you say it slower and with more feeling and authority -- like ms. couric (and the rest of us) didn't hear it the first time. ms. palin has a really bad habit of doing this. her handlers/media wranglers/speech coaches should tell her that it makes her sound like an idiot. either that or they should put some other authoritative-sounding misinformation in her matrix.
3. an interview on a nationally syndicated news program is not a take-home test. you are supposed to answer the question fully and completely, when it is asked of you -- especially when it's something that you should already know.
what are they calling her now -- dan quayle with a ponytail? hitler in high heels? i can't keep up. what's obvious is that this woman is getting a lot of scrutiny because if john mccain wins this election, it's quite likely that she would have to take over as president sooner rather than later. let's face it -- he is old and he is NOT healthy at all. that's why i want every media outlet everywhere to grill her like a cheese sandwich. if she were anywhere near as competent as her republican fan base wants to believe that she is, that wouldn't be a problem -- so why did she fall apart with these easy, simple questions from "america's sweetheart"?
simply put -- sarah palin doesn't know how to think critically and she doesn't know what she's talking about. don't you go to a decent liberal arts college to learn how to think critically? where did she get her degree -- a gumball machine?
no wonder the rest of the world thinks that americans are idiots.
there's a poll on the website of pbs' newsmagazine NOW asks a simple question: do you think palin is qualified? the results so far have been more than just a little unnerving -- but then again, maybe that's because you haven't put your two cents in yet.
i don't understand how vice presidential candidate sarah palin expects the government to stay out of her 17 old daughter's decision as to whether she will or won't have a baby because it's "a private family matter," yet she believes that the government should have the right to intrude into anyone else's private family matters to make this personal decision for them.
i'm not pro life or pro choice. i'm anti-fascist.
slowly but surely, this country is turning into a fascist state, owned by foreign interests, and run by american serfs who are too inebriated and overfed and materialistic to know or care about what's really happening. over half the people in this country who are eligible to vote didn't bother to do so in the last election. over one-third of african-americans -- that's 8 million for you counting at home -- are NOT registered to vote. the bottom line is, if you don't vote, you don't count. period.
do you know what the first sign of malnutrition is? APATHY.
check out the video clip above from the daily show, wherein samantha bee asks RNC attendees about the pro life/pro choice issue. no wonder the rest of the world thinks we're stupid.
i was really disappointed in the overall response from feminists at the beginning of obama's campaign. it was flat-out sexist that so many of them were pro-hillary simply because of her gender. in gloria steinem's new york times article, she stated that "gender is probably the most restricting force in american life" -- implying (unintentionally, she says) that white women have it harder than black men. boy, did that kick up some dirt. interestingly enough, geraldine ferraro backed her up and went even further, saying "if obama were a white man, he would not be in this position and if he were a woman of any color he would not be in this position. he happens to be very lucky to be who he is."
as an african-american and as a woman, congresswoman shirley chisolm's presidential run in 1972 was the historical first that both parties are appropriating ad nauseum. what really infuriates me is that beyond mentioning her name in passing, no major media outlet has noted this fact. thank goodness for the documentary shirley chisolm: unbought and unbossed. it should be required viewing for anyone who calls themselves an american.
she misfired when she wrote of obama but in her critique of alaska governor/vice-presidential candidate sarah palin, gloria steinem gets it right. here's an exerpt from her article in the la times -- palin: wrong woman, wrong message:
This is not to beat up on Palin. I defend her right to be wrong, even on issues that matter most to me. I regret that people say she can't do the job because she has children in need of care, especially if they wouldn't say the same about a father. I get no pleasure from imagining her in the spotlight on national and foreign policy issues about which she has zero background, with one month to learn to compete with Sen. Joe Biden's 37 years' experience.
Palin has been honest about what she doesn't know. When asked last month about the vice presidency, she said, "I still can't answer that question until someone answers for me: What is it exactly that the VP does every day?" When asked about Iraq, she said, "I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq."
She was elected governor largely because the incumbent was unpopular, and she's won over Alaskans mostly by using unprecedented oil wealth to give a $1,200 rebate to every resident. Now she is being praised by McCain's campaign as a tax cutter, despite the fact that Alaska has no state income or sales tax. Perhaps McCain has opposed affirmative action for so long that he doesn't know it's about inviting more people to meet standards, not lowering them. Or perhaps McCain is following the Bush administration habit, as in the Justice Department, of putting a job candidate's views on "God, guns and gays" ahead of competence. The difference is that McCain is filling a job one 72-year-old heartbeat away from the presidency.
So let's be clear: The culprit is John McCain. He may have chosen Palin out of change-envy, or a belief that women can't tell the difference between form and content, but the main motive was to please right-wing ideologues; the same ones who nixed anyone who is now or ever has been a supporter of reproductive freedom. If that were not the case, McCain could have chosen a woman who knows what a vice president does and who has thought about Iraq; someone like Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison or Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine. McCain could have taken a baby step away from right-wing patriarchs who determine his actions, right down to opposing the Violence Against Women Act.
i admire any woman in this day and age that has accomplished anything at all, irregardless of her political stance. but this vice presidential choice is flat-out ridiculous.
think about it: if mc cain wanted a woman on the ticket, he had many accomplished intelligent educated candidates to choose from -- candidates who have put years (and in come cases, decades) into their political careers, and have proven themselves on a national and international platform. any thinking republican knows who they are. elizabeth dole, for example -- BA Duke University, post-grad work at Oxford, MA from Harvard in education, Harvard Law graduate, worked under johnson and nixon. she's the only woman in washington, dc that's worked as a cabinet secretary for two federal departments (transportation and labor) under two presidents (reagan and bush). mrs. dole would have been a smart choice, someone that could realistically be vice president.
he could have picked secretary of state dr. condoleeza rice, put a black woman on the ticket and trumped them all! i will argue that there is no female in politics today with (the exception of madeliene albright) that is more educated or accomplished than she is -- BA political science Phi Beta Kappa, U of Denver, Masters in political science from the U of Notre Dame and then a PhD in political science from graduate school of international studies in denver at the ripe old age of 26 (!!!). nevermind the fact that she was/is a professor at stanford, or that she's an accomplished classical pianist or that she speaks spanish, french, russian and german. she was the first female, first african american, and the youngest ever to be appointed provost at stanford. and that ain't all.
now, that's vice presidential material.
who did mccain choose? the newly elected governor of alaska (only 20 months on the job), a state that's density in population ranks it as the 17th largest city in america (the school district in new york city handles more kids than the entire population of alaska); a former mayor of wasilla, a town with a population that's not as big as most college campuses; a self-described hockey mom of five, a former sportcaster and a failed beauty queen who by her own admission has no idea what a vice president does all day. no one seems to be paying attention to the fact that she is pro-life, that she believes in teaching creationism in schools, and that she has zip foreign policy experience (has she ever been to a foreign country? and please don't say canada -- that parallels bush the younger with only mexico under his belt as the newly nonelected president). She is also a lifetime member of the NRA. (protecting yourself with a handgun is one thing, but why should civilians own uzis?) remember: at 72, mccain is the oldest candidate for presidency, ever. if something happens to him -- and yes, he has health issues -- she'll be the leader of the free world. if that doesn't scare you, nothing will.
she's a force to be reckoned with like thunder curdles milk. clearly, it's going to take a lot more than a patriotic, gun-toting working mom to get us out of this mess.
i'm a lot of things but what i am not is a vagina american. i've never voted with my gender and i'm not about to start now. but i will tell you this: anyone who is all for this ticket deserves exactly what mccain and palin will turn this country into if they are elected: an arctic region covered with ice. and if they are elected, i will be more than happy to suffer through their four years in office, just to watch the people who voted for them get exactly what they deserve.
