Category: Political

I am deeply disappointed in the Democrats in Congress, who felt they had to “compromise” in the interests of re-election and pass a bill to allow offshore oil drilling.

I can understand the political maneuvering—about having to give in to the SOB in his SUV, or get voted out of office. I can agree that removing the oil company tax credits is way overdue. But the whole point on this bill is to cater to ignorance; to play the numbers game. We’re compromising now, we’re told, for the greater good later. Compromise so that the Democrats will win, and keep winning, because the alternative is just too horrible to consider.

Not long ago, the sci-fi writer John Scalzi wrote, There’s no actual office for ‘President of the left’, when explaining why Obama has made some of the moves he has. Today, we know there is no Congress for the left, either. However, we seeming few on the left will continue voting Democrat because we’ve been properly terrified of what will happen if we don’t.

Fear. This election is based on fear. The Republicans generate fear of terrorists, and the unknown. The Democrats generate fear of the Republicans. What does this state say about this country?

Tomorrow I’ll put on my happy face and be a good little soldier and tell everyone about change is happening, and a better day is coming. Yeah, a better day is coming. Especially for insurance companies. Can’t let the insurance companies go hungry, no sir.

Tonight, though, I’ll mourn the fact that there is no President for folks such as me. No President, and no Congress, either.

As of September 12:

• New heights of stupidity: Glenn Greenwalk maps out the route a ridiculous accusation takes, from propaganda to major media.
• Election will impact Supreme Court: Buffalo News Op-Ed on choosing the next member of the Supreme Court, and the impact this will have on the land.
• Canadian Elections 101: A nice introduction to the Canadian election system.
• Jon Stewart, funny as always, with his version of “Then and Now”.
• Joe Klein, at Time’s Swampland, has vowed to only cover issues. He begins with a look at McCain’s Health Care Tax Increase, and follows it up with a good look at general tax plans, between both McCain and Obama.
• The McCain interview. Scary.
• Video: Republicans and military men on John McCain. Well done video. Very scary message. “He will make Cheney look like Ghandi.”
• James Fallows on the Palin interview. ‘What Sarah Palin revealed is that she has not been interested enough in world affairs to become minimally conversant with the issues. Many people in our great land might have difficulty defining the “Bush Doctrine” exactly. But not to recognize the name, as obviously was the case for Palin, indicates not a failure of last-minute cramming but a lack of attention to any foreign-policy discussion whatsoever in the last seven years.’

  Actually, no interest in politics, either, because the Bush Doctrine was a point of contention during the Democratic candidate debates, and Obama has referenced it several times when discussing McCain.

  It’s as if Palin has lived in a vacuum for most of her life, where the world consists of Alaska, and “other”.

Senator McCain runs head first into women who aren’t buying his line. Way to go, ladies. However, the event softballed towards the end when Cindy McCain joined the group.

Last update: From last Palin interview: Palin earmarks are “good” earmarks; Obama earmarks are “bad” earmarks. Good, I’m glad that was cleared up for me. I was confused before, and thought earmarks are earmarks.

Recovered from the Wayback Machine.

I don’t necessarily want to write much about politics, but I think that if we women don’t speak out about this presidential race, the menfolk will continue to assume that we focus on identity politics, rather than issues. In other words, we’ll vote for a candidate just because she’s a woman, and not because of the candidate’s position on issues.

I supported Hilary Clinton because she had one of the best platform positions on universal health care. In addition, I felt she had a good grasp on what it would take to turn this country’s economy around. I was also saddened, angered really, at the condescension shown towards her at times by the seemingly liberal males in the Democratic party. We have a long ways to go before the Democrats are truly a party based on “equality”.

Having said this, I find that in most issues, especially the important ones, Clinton and Obama share the same views—particulary the view that we need to focus on problems within this country, as compared to some seemingly never-ending threat elsewhere. Because of this shared viewpoint between Clinton and Obama, I am just as happy to vote for him, as President. His being black is an added bonus, but is not the reason I’m voting for him. Clinton being a woman was an added bonus, but not the reason I voted for her in the Primary.

Sarah Palin is no Hilary Clinton, and neither is she comparable to Joe Biden. Joe Biden may be a white male, but he and I share the same beliefs, interests, and concerns across the board. Palin and I are both women, and were both born in the Northwest; here the similarity ends. Ends abruptly, in fact.

If you line up all Americans and asked me to pick who I would want as a VP candidate—and potential president— Palin would be in the last few thousand: just before Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly, Phyllis Schlafly, that red neck with the confederate flag in the back of his truck window who cut me off on the freeway last week, and any remaining members of the Bush family.

I do think that McCain’s choice justifies our concerns about McCain’s age. You can’t look at Palin only as VP—you have to think of her as potential president. To be blunt, she doesn’t have the experience to be any kind of a good leader, and I’m not talking about foreign experience. All she knows is her little corner of Alaska. From all indications, she’s rarely visited the Lower 48. She certainly doesn’t understand the diversity that is America.

More importantly, she has no experience dealing with a government that isn’t lushly sponsored by a single resource: oil. As it is, her own government in Alaska is frustrated with her because she’s not taking care of business, even in a state with only 670,000 people.

Now, for other views:

• Blogher has an interesting debate on Palin. The site has both conservative and liberal readers, so you’ll find a fairly even debate in the comments.
• Editor & Publisher is publishing a series of articles on getting to know Palin, featuring editorials from, and interviews with, the Alaskan media. Parts I, II, and III.