Friday, August 29, 2008

66 Days and Counting...

With the election just 66 days away, the last 24 hours have kind of been ridiculous. First of all if you missed Obama's speech last night, you honestly missed one of the best political speeches I have seen in my lifetime. My cousin, a staunch Republican, was even impressed. It was the highest rated convention in television history. My favorite fact about last night was that more people watched it that the American Idol finale. That might sound like that should be how the world works, but when you look at the numbers, and the number of people who seem apathetic or disinterested in the world, it's huge. It was really something to see, and on the 45th anniversary of Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech, he grasped the notion of it without making it seem like he was trying to cash in on the inspiration of it.



click on the video and follow links to see all of the parts to the speech

Then today McCain made the out-of-nowhere choice for Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska. It was, I suppose, generous of him to not announce it last night, but really, what is he thinking? It's kind of an insane choice if you ask me. I understand he wants to grab those possible Hillary votes, and also the conservative Republican vote, but it's bad for a few reason. First off, if he thinks he can get Hillary votes just because they are women, I hope he's wrong. I hope that people voting for Hillary were doing so for policy reasons and not because she was a woman, and on that Palin and Clinton couldn't be more different. It should hopefully backfire right in his face. Obama picked Biden in what I think was a smart move. He strengthened his 'weaknesses' but still added something to his campaign that it might have been lacking. Palin has as much foreign policy experience as me. Literally. She has as much national policy experience as me. Literally. Aside from being Gov. of Alaska for less than 2 years she has done nothing. She was on some school board or something before she became mayor of Wasilla. I have been to Alaska and I have been to Wasilla. There is nothing there at all. So little that we didn't even get out of the train, the tour guide told us that everything we see is the whole city. The only reason it has any notoriety is because it is the official starting point for the Ididarod. The big dog sled race. It's famous for having nothing there except for this. The city's name is derived from, "All I Saw," in reference to the dog race. All I Saw backwards is Wasilla. Truth.

Anyways, another reason it's awful is because of who she is. A terrible super right wing conservative. I know lots of republicans and some of my best friends are registered GOP lovers. But there's a difference between your average Republican and right wing Evangelical Christian Republicans. They are terrible. They are the people who send their gay children to christian rehab centers to cure them of their gayness. These are people who believe that they are the saviors of the world and their word is gospel. Aside from her anti-abortion, anti-gay rights, anti-renewable energy, she is also pro-guns, pro-drilling in ANWR, pro-oil and pro-Bush. If McCain added her to add some diversity and 'change' to his campaign, he failed. She is essentially an old white Strom Thurmond, only she's young and attractive.

Anyways, go big.

-M, p, z & shredder

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