We're talking to ourselves.
And we're not saying anything that's going to help win this election.
Everyone who cares knows that Sara Palin is a born again, right wing Republican. That she's a right-to-life, anti-gay, anti-global-warming, book-banning kind of gal.
No one seems to care.
The package and not the content is what's attracting interest. How cute she is when she says it. How cute she is when she skins a caribou. How cute are those barely grown expectant children of hers.
My first instinct was to scream from the roof tops that no self respecting woman was going to fall for this McCain manipulation. But apparently, plenty have. Plenty share her views and the crowds and the TV ratings are growing. The same way they grow for American Idol and other reality shows. Seems like we would rather watch ourselves, however diminished, on TV and in the public eye than people watch people with actual skills and talents. Watching people just like ourselves eating bugs and falling into vats of peanut butter has become a favorite American past time. And apparently, we would rather have an ill informed, inexperienced leader than one with experience and education. Experience has been denigrated to the level of liberal as a word. It's to be laughed at and ridiculed. And a lot of people are buying it. And we're supposed to slink away, like the nerd in high school being attacked by the football player.
But this isn't high school and we're supposed to know better. We have got to take back these words and what they stand for. Leaders need to be chosen from the most talented among us, not from the bottom of the barrel. And we shouldn't be afraid to say so.
What kind of misplaced chivalry would keep the Democrats from calling Sarah Palin what she is? An ignorant, misinformed, inexperienced, bigoted fraud. And unless we find a way to do it, she will be running the country before we have time to turn around.
This will not be easy. I spent hours on the telephone to Ohio Democrats last presidential election. There was no way I was going to convince these working class Democrats that they were wrong to vote for Bush. Kerry scared them. And no manner of logic would turn it around. They voted against their own economic interests, against college for their kids, against their own medical care, against their first amendment rights. Why, because they had been told that Kerry was going to challenge their belief systems. He was "for abortion", "against the troops."
We're going to have to frame the argument in the same way. Who is Sarah Palin? A woman for sure. The package is nice, but the content is out of date and spoiled. If she gets anywhere near power we can expect global warming, the destruction of the constitution, the end of Choice, and books banned in our libraries. And we've got to make people understand this. And even if we can frame it this way, the question remains, are there many Americans who would care? Enough to sustain the constitution? Life as we know it?
I am terribly afraid that we are counting on good sense, and decency and it has gone the way of the ten cent subway ride. We are not thinking about each other. We are thinking about ourselves. Why else would we even consider a woman who tried to get her brother in law fired from his job for daring to divorce her sister. Who tried to get a local librarian to remove books she disapproved of from the library.
Politeness is not in order. We need to be scared. Terribly scared. We need to pull out all the stops. She's not going to self destruct in front of an audience who likes these things about her. Who abhors the clarity and thoughtfulness of Obama. There is no drama in it. There's drama in teenage pregnancy, political scandal and moose hunting.
McCain seems to have known just what he was doing. Now the question remains, do we?
European countries have their shortcomings too, be sure of that. We have dumb people too, and we're materialistic and capitalistic in every sense. But there's one thing that we don't have: religious, moralistic fundamentalists. Well, there might be some. But not in politics. They would be a joke, dismissed immediately. It's of no interest if the candidate's daughter is pregnant, got an abortion, the candidate is three times divorced... as long as he's got the skills and the program.
That's what scares me about the situation in America.
Choices seem to base on such irrational measurements.
PS: Sorry for possible mistakes, it's not my mother tongue.
And that's why it scares me that there might actually be a chance of Mrs Palin to become president.
McCain has had its merits in the past, for sure. But in his age, it's unfortunately not improbable that illness hits him. And bang, here you go.
Unfortunately, from my European point of view, the USA is heading south.
This has several reasons, both external and internal.
Th world has changed fundamentally. We live in a multipolar world now, with China, India, Brazil and others on the fast track. I just can speak for Brazil: i have friends in São Paulo, and it's fascinating to hear how eager, how restless the people are to learn, to bring their country forward. I have heard similar things from Asia too. They just don't stop. In contrast, I get the feeling that America, who's "American Dream" implies just that message, is sort of paralyzed.
... to be continued
So rather than whinge on this blog that someone else should do something, get off your butts, get a stack of literature from your local Obama campaign office (or off the web), and get out there and talk to people. That's a hassle, and some people just aren't cut out for it. But consider just what a President Palin would mean for America and the world.
The other half got another message.
Old people move to the back of the bus, sit down and shut up .
Obama abused the party. His history in Illinois and in the US senate remains a mystery. His image is a cross between JFK and a Denver weatherman. He's good looking and has a mid-western accent.
You mean we can't?
"Men think if they vote for her they can sleep with her."
You mean we can't?
Aw shucks. What a bummer.
Glad you hold us in such high regard. We have no brains, just gonads, right?
Hey, for that matter, why should men even be allowed to vote at all, right?
Now, how do we communicate this to the Obama campaign in a way that won't cause some to accuse us of having chicken-little moments; or remind us why Obama cannot be seen as an angry-black-man?
How do we get the point across to the powers that be that good sense, truth, and polite behavior will not win this election, no matter how superior the "ground-game" may be?
I'm not saying he's right, mind you. But in the long run, if we're as incurably vile and irrational a species as the Republicans believe, then we're going to die off pretty soon anyway, no?
And we're going to give it to them.
I am ashamed for my country right now.
He is a pack animal after all, and such creatures will follow an Alpha with a bone (or a bitch in heat) to the gates of hell.
Years ago, he was attacked by a Pit Bull and nearly died. As we are learning, this particular species they will gladly eat their own.
Don't worry people.
Obama 08
I have been in a funk ever since -- everything he needs and his family needs is what Obama and Biden are about as are Democratic values. At the end of lunch, I thought I just don't get it and -- there's a mentality I don't understand --- this is why we have been saddled with Bush and soon McCain/Palin.
At work today, I spoke to a friend. She was out with another couple; both voting for the Republican ticket. The ticket has their vote because they don't want more taxes [they are middle class] and the husband thinks Sara Palin is great looking. Seriously.
Now for the rest of it. I am a blue collar worker electrician, Female, Union. I am voting for McCain, I was always going to vote for McCain. Like your Nephew I'm not Socialist and as long as the Democrats keep voting from the far left of their party they won't win. I'm telling you I work with hard core union members and they are not voting for Obama. It has nothing to do with his race either. It has to do with his "ideology". We don't believe him. We believe what he wrote in his book (before he was running for President). I keep hearing about the "rich" in such nasty terms. What a bunch of Sissy whiners we have become. "the Government" is supposed to take care of our every need. We have no RIGHT to Healthcare. We have no RIGHT to a College Education. We have no RIGHT to "Self Esteem". We have no RIGHT to own our own home. We don't have the RIGHT to the same outcome.I could go on and on. We have the individual right to make the most of our lives in this great free country. If I choose to buy a car with a 350$ car payment and decide not to buy healthcare MY PROBLEM not Bill Gates or the "RICH". Wake up people WE cant afford all these goodies they aren't FREE.
Read some history about Progressivism and unions. And the fight for union "rights".
Apparently you believe it is ok for individuals collectively to unionize to improve wages, job security, benefits, etc. But to collectively organize to improve wages, health and safety, environmental preservation, etc. through the government and regulations? That is supposedly not OK?
You have mistakenly accepted the lies and fraud of the ruling 1%, who now control more wealth and power than at any time in US history.
Your whining about the "far left" Democrats, freedom, and "socialists" indicate you have no real understanding of socialism, capitalism, plutocracy, or globalisation. Your support of McCain and militarism indicates further that you do not really understand our Constitution and what freedom from government oppression is all about..
By the way, I've never heard anyone on the Republican side threaten to take aware social welfare programs. Heathcare was Billary's platform in 1992 and where are we now? Some of these issues are not quick fixes....
Its mindboggling to witness all of this from the outside and it really has a lot of people here in Europe wondering if America is in some sort of collective breakdown and collapse similar to the end of the Soviet Union in 1989. Very few can believe that in our lifetimes we would see a government in America that has discarded the Geneva conventions,done away with Habeas Corpus, spies wholescale on its own people and is given Congressional immunity to do so (!),kidnaps people and imprisons them without charge or recourse to legal representation OR hands them to other countries for torture, suppresses media and public dissent in an identical heavy handed manner similar to what used occur in Soviet states.
The greatest failing of BOTH parties and candidates isnt their continuation of tired and disgracefully outdated and discredited policies,or their complete subjugation to corporate masters,the greatest failing is this-you are extinguishing HOPE and belief in democracy, not just in America but throughout the world and that is what is absolutely unforgivable.