Yesterday I heard that McCain was leading in the polls. You have got to be joking. I nearly spit out my drink. Then today, I heard that Palin has re energized the Republican ticket and that she has a 85% approval rating amongst Republicans. Finally, I saw an article on yahoo that says that a lot of women are now indicating they will vote for McCain verses Obama. Is this really happening?
I feel like I'm in an episode of the Twilight Zone. Its not necessarily surprising to me as much as it is truly disturbing. As I was discussing with a good friend today, the Democratic Party has a lot of flaws. Especially, when it comes to targeting it's core audience. We'll get into that more in another post. Hat's off to The Republican ticket for maximizing their chance to leverage this confusion.
For now I'd like to point out some of the few things I have learned about the Republican VP pick. Please correct me where I'm wrong. Given that the Republican campaign hasn't granted any interviews with her we have limited material to work with. Here is the list of highlights I have selectively gathered about her vast career in politics:
1.I heard a CNN report setting the record straight about that government plane that she supposedly sold on EBAY for a profit. They contend that yes it was listed at one time on EBAY, but it didn't sell and was sold through a dealer, at a loss. Not quite as good of a soundbite I guess.
2.The idea that she is any kind of a budget hawk is a complete joke. In an article in the 'Economist' this past weekend. article here
they explain what really happened to that 'Road to Nowhere' project she so defiantely resisted for the good of the taxpayer. When she was campaigning she was all for it until it was exposed for the scam it was. Only then did she change her mind about supporting it. Oh yeah, and the money was simply used to spend on something else. Is this what McCain meant when he said he was going to protect us from "earmark" projects?
3. Remember the theme song to 'The Beverly Hillbillies'? "and then one day he was shooting at some food and up from the ground came a bumbling crude, black gold, Texas tea." I can already see where the Republicans are going with Palin. She's going to save us by her vast knowledge of petropoltics! I can hear the war chant; America must reduce it's oil dependence. We MUST drill in Alaska!!! I say go ahead. We should be surveying that area anyway. What they will likely find is that yes there is oil in Alaska. Probably enough to satisfy US Consumption ( currently at about 25 million barrels per day ) for about 1 whole year. Oh yeah, and it will take about a decade to build out the infrastructure to get to it. That should take the pressure off at the pumps! Trust me, you won't hear that from the debates.
Nor will you hear about how Palin negotiated a windfall tax on the oil companies. That doesn't really rhyme with the lower corporate taxes they are promising does it? Her state also gets more money per capita from the Federal Government than almost any other. I guess it will be nice to have someone that knows about how these earmarks work so that she can put an end to them. Sounds more like putting the fox in charge of the hen house to me.
4. Do I have bring up her comments about wanting to teach creationism in public schools or her messianic rumblings about God wanting us to go to war with Iraq?
5. Finally, what's with McCain picking her in the first place? Apparently,he only met her once before. Was it her distinguished record that attracted him to her? Her vast experience running potluck dinners from the neighborhood hockey moms? It's been absolutely fascinating to me to hear the Republican talking heads rally to her defense. All give the Republicans one thing, they are uniform and united. You have to believe that Giuliani needed a few gin and tonics before he went onstage to sing her praises. Seriously, how could he go up there with a straight face and tow the party line. She must have promised him a squeezer if he did and came across as sincere.
This is a long rant, I know. I'm just bothered that this country is so accepting of these politicians. Are we really that gullible? Unfortunately, I think many of us our. We shouldn't have to dig this deep to get a clear picture. But, that is where we are at. Most politicians by nature would rather drink piss from someone that just ate asparagus then tell us what they really are about. But I guess that is only fair considering all of the crap they spoon feed us that we so willing eat!
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2 comments:
You are preaching to the choir. My biggest frustration with politics is that there is no 'truth in advertising' oversight. I work in marketing for a food company and every tv commercial we make has to be approved by several regulatory and self-regulatory agencies before it hits the air that verify all claims for veracity, insure kids are not being marketed to inappropriately, etc. If we say something we shouldn't we literally get taken to 'advertising court' by our competitors.
In politics none of this exists so they can basically just flat out lie and there is nothing the other side can do about it. In the most recent McCain campaign he says "the most significant thing Obama did as Senator was pass a sex education bill for kindergarteners" (voice dripping with sarcasm). Truth? Obama supported a bill but did not author it, and it was around protecting kindergarteners from sexual abuse, not teaching them to use condoms as McCain would have us believe! But 98% of Americans will not bother to dig for the truth and will just think Obama wants kindergarteners to have sex. Thus political races are won by whichever candidate has less integrity and stoops to new lows in marketing.
Krops, I'm waiting for your Spitzer proposal..
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