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Sarah Palin read a capable speech last night. But she is not qualified to be President. Therefore, she isn't qualified to be Vice-President.
If she's so qualified, how come even Republican insiders are all over the television admitting that they didn't know much about her before last week? Aren't most qualified candidates, you know, people we've heard of?
Choosing her as a Veep candidate embodies the most blatantly cynical post-modernist aspects of our political process. Palin was chosen precisely because she is an unknown personality -- a blank red slate onto which all the right-wing crazies can write their own opinions and beliefs. America has never seen a Veep candidate chosen so much for symbolism as Sarah Palin.
In the last 48 hours, I have heard an astonishing amount of propaganda about Sarah Palin from the mouths of Republicans. Propaganda is distinguished from actual argumentation by the fact that it's disingenuous, and designed to make an emotional appeal. She read a speech, written by George W. Bush's speechwriter, whom she had met just a week ago. She had met John McCain exactly once in her life before being chosen as Veep candidate.
I've heard that she is being discriminated against because she's a working mother. They say that questioning the value of her almost-2-years as governor of Alaska (population, 670,000) and her stint as small-town mayor (Quoth Palin, "It's not rocket science") is an insult to working mothers everywhere. I've heard that examining her experience is "sexist", because the same standard isn't applied to Barack Obama... a patently false claim. Obama's experience and preparedness to be president was a question fought over 50 states for some 18 months. The voters have given their verdict, and Obama passes the test. In her speech, she assaulted Obama's experience. She must have brass balls under that skirt. Consider: He has been a candidate for President almost as long as she has been governor of Alaska (about 1 month less).
I've heard that she represents certain values. I'm listening now to Pat Robertson explain that this really shows that -- despite a career of showing a distaste for "agents of intolerance" -- John McCain really is a fire-breathing God-in-government conservative. Thank the Lord, say the Christianists, he chose this God-fearing exemplar, this hero of the right wing, to be his co-pilot.
The Republicans at the convention, good partisans all, tell us how much -- how DEEPLY they love Sarah Palin. That seems improbable, since most of them couldn't have told you the name of Alaska's governor a week ago. But she's the blank slate, the empty vessel into which they must pour their adoration. They have no choice; they must.
It's all propaganda. If she were a second-term governor who had some serious accomplishments on her resume, you could take this nomination seriously. I can't. I'm going to venture a guess that there are approximately 10,000 Republican women currently living in the United States with more "executive experience" and more seasoning than Sarah Palin.
Hey, being a working mom is hard, do doubt. It's a credit to her. But it's also a credit to about 100 million other American women who have done it. What makes her so special? Running a suburb 30-odd miles from Anchorage which has a reputation as the Meth capital of Alaska? Being elected governor as the hand-picked choice of "Uncle Ted" Stevens, the dean of the Alaska's Republican machine? She should thank her good fortune.
People point to her 80% approval ratings -- in a state that keeps electing Don Young, Ted Stevens and the Murkowskis. It's a lot easier to keep those approval ratings up when people don't pay taxes, and the government distributes $3200 bribes from the oil industry on an annual basis to each and every resident. You don't have to make many "tough decisions" when you never have to think about raising unpopular taxes and there's a trans-Yukon pipeline of federal money rolling into your state.
Can you imagine her -- really, now -- six weeks into the McCain administration thrust into the Oval Office if the aging McCain's ticker fails? The neophyte governor, so excited about building roads and getting to fire political appointees, would be a doe in the headlights having to make future-of-the-world decisions. She hasn't the first bit of understanding how to wield power. THAT is the key to being a President. Understanding what power is, how to use it, how to store it up. Does anyone truly think she is the best lieutenant for John McCain?
No... No... She's been chosen entirely for image purposes. Substance is not the issue. McCain disagrees with her on key issues like global warming, religious intolerance, and so on. Palin, not McCain, thinks Iraq is a mission from God.
Yet he abandoned his principles to choose her, and in so doing, the key question for the voter is, What the hell does he stand for anymore?
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3 comments:
There was a time, circa 2000, where it might have been possible for me to be convinced to vote for McCain. Since that time it has become more and more apparent that he had since sold his soul (political and otherwise) to the current republican regime, in order to get the nomination this presidential cycle.
Since the 2000 election, McCain has done absolutely anything demanded of him in order to remain in he good graces of the conservative powers that be that got Bush II elected. I can't think of any other rational reason why he would accept someone on his ticket whom he has barely heard of before 1 month ago.
It seems the only thing McCain believes in is getting elected.
-Marty
She talked about war, but not peace.
She talked about Track, but not Bristol.
She talked about winning, but not justice.
She talked about nationalism, not humanity.
She spoke sarcasm, not reconciliation.
She talked about pipelines and drilling, not the public interest.
She talked about exploitation of resources, not sharing.
They should lay off Sarah Palin and attack McCain for making such a poor choice. People want a change - and this choice shows that McCain is just another puppet. They should hammer him as being just another George W.
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