A Choice, Then the Echoes

It seems that the Republican Party is struggling to inflict as much damage on itself as it has on America. As primary season rolled through my home state, I was genuinely surprised at the truly underwhelming selection of candidates the formerly Grand Old Party (GOP) was proposing to run this country (under a unitary presidency, mind you).

Now this: an unknown, inexperienced person whose principal claim on our affections is to deny what she had spent years trying to achieve, the infamous bridge-to-nowhere. With a straight face, the formerly GOP then lays claim to disappointed Clinton supporters ... a towering, breathtaking, monumental -- and laughable -- insult. John McCain thinks THIS will lock-in "the Hillary vote"? Good! For laughter is key to tragedy, and a powerful force. We'll need that force, because -- counter-intuitive as it may seem -- defeating this bizarre combination will not be easy.

Give 'em credit for sick humor. Second-in-command to a four-time cancer-survivor who is 72 years old in the largest, most influential nation in the history of the world? So much for all that loudly ballyhoo'd McCain "experience".

Sen. McCain is notoriously impetuous. Here's exhibit A, right across our faces. This is not "experience." This is credulous hubris surfing the echoes of fundamentalist certainty. "Maverick"? Give me a break. He has now eviscerated that claim.

I'm appreciative! We now know, with absolute clarity, the depths and breadth of the Republican Party's cynicism and the utter contempt they have for us -- the sovereign people in general and women specifically.

McCain's given us a true "come-to-Jesus" moment for any feminists, among whom I count myself. It's an even greater moment of truth for ardent Hillary Clinton supporters, among whom I was not. THIS is what McCain thinks of you. THIS is the ultimate incentive for ANY feminist -- woman or man -- to commit heart, soul, pocketbook and time to getting Barak Obama elected, especially "heart".

We'll need to laugh. The "sting" here is potentially lethal -- it will NOT be easy to defeat the Republican ticket! And a stinging defeat is the ONLY acceptable response to John McCain's awesome insult to us all.

America needs at least two political parties, parties with honestly held, differing view. The formerly GOP seems determined to relinquish any legitimate claim to remaining one of those parties.