Political Hypocrisy

I have been wanting to write about how I feel about this year's election, but it is just so damned depressing that I can't seem to write my feelings. I am so frustrated with the Palin/McCain ticket. I don't know what happened to McCain since 2000, but he's not at all the same guy. Not that I would have voted for him if he WAS the same guy...just that I wouldn't be so terrified as I am now if he were to get elected. His "maverick" and thoughtless choice of Palin as his running mate is a slap in the face, and a good example of a total lack of judgement. It was his first opportunity to show some sound decision-making and leadership, and he chose Hockey Mom. I wonder if he had any idea that she would upstage him so thoroughly. When you see them these days, you begin to wonder which one of them is the candidate and which one is the running mate. Which is why I call them Palin/McCain.

I get really tired of the hypocrisy. A few years ago, a knee-jerk Republican colleague said she did not like Bill Clinton...that she could never vote for a man who cheated on his wife (of course, she is married to a man who cheated on his first and second wife, but forget that because he's not the president...thank goodness). And yet, this year she will vote for a man who not only cheated on his wife, but left her because she was disfigured in a terrible car accident (he has admitted this was probably a mistake), only to immediately turn around and marry a multi-millionaire that he called a very nasty name in front of reporters. Lovely man. But for many years now, I have thought it my bound duty and my husband's to get out and cancel this colleague's vote and her husband's... In fact, every time I finalize my vote, I feel very smug about it, knowing that I have done my bound duty.

Anyway, I am including here wonderful piece makes me very glad that I left the Republican party to become a Democrat way back when. But I am such a luddite that I can't figure out how to attach it without making it PART of my entry. So, here it is in its entirety.

Subject: Different outlooks

If you're a minority and you're selected for a job over more qualified candidates you're a "token hire."
If you're a conservative and you're selected for a job over more qualified candidates you're a "game changer."

Black teen pregnancies? A "crisis" in black America.
White teen pregnancies? A "blessed event."

If you grow up in Hawaii you're "exotic."
Grow up in Alaska eating moose burgers, you're the quintessential "American story."

Similarly, if you name your kid Barack you're "unpatriotic."
Name your kid Track, you're "colorful."

If you spend 3 years as a community organizer growing your organization from a staff of 1 to 13 and your budget from $70,000 to $400,000, then become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new African American voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, then spend nearly 8 more years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, becoming chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, then spend nearly 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of nearly 13 million people, sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you are woefully inexperienced.

If you spend 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, then spend 20 months as the governor of a state with 650,000 people, then you've got the most executive experience of anyone on either ticket, are the Commander in Chief of the Alaska military and are well qualified to lead the nation should you be called upon to do so because your state is the closest state to Russia.

If you are a Democratic male candidate who is popular with millions of people you are an "arrogant celebrity".
If you are a popular Republican female candidate you are "energizing the base".

If you are a younger male candidate who thinks for himself and makes his own decisions you are "presumptuous".
If you are an older male candidate who makes last minute decisions you refuse to explain, you are a "shoot from the hip" maverick.

If you are a candidate with a Harvard law degree you are "an elitist-out of touch" with the real America.
if you are a legacy (dad and granddad were admirals) graduate of Annapolis, with multiple disciplinary infractions
you are a hero.

If you manage a multi-million dollar nationwide campaign, you are an "empty suit."
If you are a part time mayor of a town of 7000 people, you are an "experienced executive."

If you go to a south side Chicago church, your beliefs are "extremist."
If you believe in creationism and don't believe global warming is man made, you are "strongly principled."

If you kill an endangered species (Polar bears) or shoot wolves from an airplane, you're an excellent hunter.
If you have an abortion (even in cases of incest and rape and the mother's health) you’re not a Christian but a murderer.

If you teach abstinence only in sex education, you get teen parents.
If you teach responsible age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.