Once at the convention the hypocrites were in overdrive, trying to con the public into somehow believing that the Republican party wasn’t in charge over the last 7 and a half years (forget the Democrats being in charge of congress for the last two years when the Repugs can use rules they created to basically kill any decent legislation.) It all comes down to making the tax cuts for the richest among us permanent and stirring up the culture wars to get the ignorant blue-collar bible thumpers out to the voting booths this November. It was the same old same old, except they had a feisty “hockey mom” from nowhere to fire up the conservative base. (Not that Wasilla, Alaska is nowhere. On the contrary. I’m sure it’s a beautiful spot. I’m mean symbolically that Sarah Palin is from nowhere. She has no significant political background. She is being used as a political tool to engage a certain voter: anti-choice, book burning creationists. The same lunatic fringe that elected George W. Bush . . . twice. (Of course the results of the 2000 election show that George W. Bush was selected not elected; and the results of the 2004 election should probably be examined a little more closely. (Hello Ohio.) )These voters have never been crazy about John McCain, who once (accurately) called Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson “agents of intolerance.”
The ploy at this week’s convention was obvious. Sarah Palin was there on Wednesday night to (literally and metaphorically) give the conservative base a hard-on. While John McCain’s job on Thursday night was to appeal to the independents and those dissatisfied with the way things have been run for the last 7 and a half years. His choice of Palin was such a obvious political hail Mary pass. A desperate overture to the fundamentalists in the extreme right wing of the Republican party. If you are John McCain — a self-professed maverick — you don’t go from considering Joe Lieberman and Tom Ridge for the V. P. spot one week to suddenly picking the radical mother/governor, who is already embroiled in a bit of controversy. Now she is thrust onto the national stage, along with her political and familial baggage (and they seemed to be tied together in this case) to rev up the base before hightailing it back to Alaska to sort out her affairs (no pun intended) and bone up on foreign policy. I’ve heard that she is being quickly schooled in the ways of the world by the ever stalwart (hack!) Joe Lieberman. It seems that Joe has nothing better to do than lick the boots of Republicans since being re-elected back in 2004.
All in all I’m not worried by this recent turn of events. The idea that Hillary supporters are going to flock to McCain now that he has a vagina on the ticket is preposterous and insulting to thinking women everywhere. As has been pointed out, there were much more qualified women on the right to fill that position, such as Kay Bailey Hutchinson and Susan Collins. If people are not riled up enough to get out in force and elect Barack Obama in an attempt to overturn what has been done to this country for the past seven years then we, as a country, will get what we deserve. When I mention to my conservative parents the things that repel me about Bush’s control of our government: legalizing torture, systematically stripping away fundamental constitutional rights, consistently rewarding his corporate buddies. They blithely respond, “well, we don’t know about that.” Exactly, and that’ just how the powers-that-be want it. The public is being dumbed down by a corporate culture run amok, so that they cannot get off their lazy asses one day out of the year to vote the bastards out of office.
It’s a nation of flag-waving hypocrites exhorting a war that they do not actually have to fight. When ever anybody utters the word “draft” they are immediately hushed. I support the draft, because then, if more citizens were forced to serve militarily, they might be more apt to oppose a senseless illegal war. When your ass is literally on the line then you might be more likely to say, “hey wait a minute!” Two of the Republican party’s most aggressive chicken hawks warmed up the crowd for Sarah Palin on Wednesday night: Fred Thompson and Rudy Giuliani. Thompson was deferred from the draft during the Vietnam era, because he had children. Rudy Giuliani, who was fresh out of law school, had influential judges in New York excuse him from duty, by declaring him vital to their staff. I’ve only seen bits and pieces of these speeches, including the highlight of the evening Gov. Palin. I find that I hearing lies and propaganda continuously for a few hours damaging to my health, mental and otherwise.
McCain and Palin were stumping in Wisconsin today, repeating some of the same lies that they introduced during the RNC. For sixty days we will be subjected to some of the basest and most vile attacks on Barack Obama, Joe Biden and on roughly half the country in disagreement with right wing ideologues. If we question their ginned up war we’re labeled unpatriotic (even those of us who have served in the military.) If we urge diplomacy over military aggression than we’re called appeasers. If we want a fair wage and decent affordable health care we socialists! And what’s wrong with socialism anyway? Our capitalist democracy seems to favor the wealthy few over the masses. Why would any sensible working individual fall for the scam called “trickle down economics?” As Dennis Kucinich shouted at the most recent Democratic convention: Wake up America!
The flag waving half of the country drink the Kool Aid by watching Faux News, and getting stirred up about gays and immigrants while their jobs are being sucked away by the corporate elite. I’m sure the oil execs were creaming their jeans when they heard the crowd at the Republican convention start chanting “Drill Baby, Drill!” Election after election common working people hand the richest few in the country everything they want and desire. Before Bush & Co. leave office they are determined to get drilling approved for ANWAR, contraception declared abortion, and they are gutting the endangered species act among other things. The right wing thugs have raped and pillaged this country for the last seven and a half years. Enough!
As for Sarah Palin: the idea of a Dominionist, who believes that God has a plan for Iraq being the vice president to a president, who is a seventy-two year old cancer survivor, sends chills down my spine. The warped ideology of those who would urge on the apocalypse, because they believe that they are going to rise up into welcoming heaven at that moment, is just as dangerous as the Jihadists, who believe that they have 77 virgins awaiting them after their martyrdom. And as for Ms. Palin being once voted Miss Congeniality during a beauty pageant?
Now that I've got that out of my system. Let's take a break for a little cooking instruction.
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