Que Sarah, Sarah, Whatever she'll be, she'll be.
At the beginning of the Republican convention week, a poll revealed that 41% of Americans surveyed said they weren't familiar with Sarah Palin. That means that 57% of those surveyed weren't telling the truth.
Now we all know that Sarah Palin, the Governor of Alaska, is John McCain's choice for his running mate as the vice presidential nominee. Not that McCain asked me, but there are some things about this pick that bother me.
Some Republicans are saying that with this choice, women who are disappointed that Barack Obama didn't pick Hillary Clinton as his running mate now have a woman to support and vote for. This seems so sexist, so condescending, that it's beyond belief. Do they actually think that many women will vote for a woman just because she's a woman, even if they disagree with her beliefs and positions? That's crazy. Nobody's saying that men will vote for McCain or Obama just because McCain or Obama is a man.
And then there's this other thing. They're saying that she's not a "regular politician." Instead, "she's just like you and me." "Just like you and me?" Are you kidding? When they were trying to contact her father to tell him that she was going to get the nomination, he was busy caribou hunting and gold mining. I have to tell you, nobody in my family ever spent time caribou hunting and gold mining. If McCain had decided to choose me instead of Sarah Palin, it's possible that my mother would have been busy when they tried to call her, too. But she would've been busy doing something like reading -- not panning for gold or pointing her rifle at an animal.
By the way, what's Sarah Palin's favorite food? Moose stew. "Just like you and me?"
Sarah's father isn't the only one in the family who is a hunter. Sarah likes to shoot animals, too. Rumor has it that she's a much better shot than the current vice president. Then again, Ray Charles was probably a better shot than Vice President Cheney.
Evangelical Christians and other Republicans on the right are embracing Governor Palin's religious and social views. She believes that "abstinence only" should be taught in school, not sex education. She believes that creationism should be taught alongside that other doctrine that's only been accepted by the scientific community around the world for 149 years -- evolution.
There is something I've never understood about "creationists." If they believe so strongly that God has created all the creatures in the world, why do they think that it's okay to shoot some of those creatures with a gun? And then they think it's a nice touch to decorate their homes with the heads and skins of the animals they've killed?
So in Sarah Palin we have somebody who doesn't think sex education should be taught in school, who doesn't believe in evolution, and whose favorite dish is moose stew. "Just like you and me?" I don't think so.
But don't write her off. One of the most amazing things that I've ever seen is that the Republicans are turning all of her negatives into positives. Since they can't call her selection a strange choice, they're calling it a bold one. Instead of apologizing for her shortcomings, they celebrate them. Her inexperience is supposedly an advantage because she's not a "traditional politician." Her family problems are a positive because they show that she has the same kind of problems as everybody else -- except she has to worry about overcooking the moose stew.
And at the convention, she offered up her own blend of political stew. It had equal parts of "Aw, shucks" and venom.
Don't sell her short. She might be different from you and me – she was the 1984 runner up in the Miss Alaska contest, and I wasn't -- but just because she is different, doesn't mean you should dismiss her. I don't think jokes about her being another Spiro Agnew or Dan Quayle are going to fly. As I recall, those two guys were on the tickets that won.
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Why do the Democrats fear someone who's just an ordinary mom?
ReplyDeleteAn ordinary mom!!.....you must be kidding...the mothers in our neighborhood were too busy playing mah jongg and cooking beef brisket...is moosemeat kosher? Sarah is a little too conservative for me and I hope that she has to face the press at least once before the election...........
ReplyDeleteAnonymous said...
ReplyDelete"Why do the Democrats fear someone who's just an ordinary mom?"
Uh... I don't fear her... unless she's pointing her hunting rifle at me.
I do, however, fear the notion of her running the country when her only legitimate experience in government is less than two years running a state with a population smaller than the city of Austin.
Of course, the Republicans are now saying that novelty is valued over experience... which is the exact opposite of what they've been saying about Obama for months. But logical consistency has never been a hallmark of right-wing policymaking.
Don't you mean 59% of the population weren't telling the truth? Or alternatively, 43% said they didn't know who Sarah Palin is. Cause 57 + 41 doesn't equal 100.
ReplyDeleteUnless I missed something.
I was giving her the benefit of the doubt and assuming that maybe 2% had already heard of her.
ReplyDeleteLloyd
She has executive experience unlike oprahbama. She was commander in chief of the national guard even if it was a small unit in comparison to other states. Still trumps the anointed one's experience as a leader. Was mayor of a small town. Again trumps leadership experience of the "messiah". Joe Biden slammed him in the debates for his lack of experience over and over. You guys are all sooooo worried that if Mccain wins and kicks the bucket, an inexperienced vp would take the job. I say, what if Nobama wins and Joe somehow takes a dirt nap? There goes all his experience in foreign policy!
ReplyDeleteAnyway feel free to keep bashing. It's really helping us in the polls!
I ain't a-scared of no Sarah Palin, nosirree.
ReplyDeleteWhat makes me laugh about Palin is that if she were a Democratic candidate, the Republicans would crucify her for having a pregnant daughter and laugh at her small town mayoral experience. But because she's one of theirs, the Republicans put her on a pedastal.
Puh-leeze. Lest we forget, Quayle put the "family values" issue on the table when he criticized Murphy Brown. Pst, here's a secret. Republicans hate it when we use their own arguments against them. Try it. It's fun.
What I'm afraid of is some of the people who have responded to your column. Didn't they learn anything from the last 8 years? It looks like some "folks" have an IQ so low that they can not possibly learn from their past mistakes. Do we really want someone who might be responsible for running the country, and therefore impacting the entire world, to be someone who i so misinformed? And do we really want the President to be someone who would choose a running mate because she is a woman instead of because she would make a vice-president, and a good president if it came to that? Her ignorance is very scary.....but so is the presidential candidate that thinks so little of the vice-presidential responsibility!
ReplyDelete