lifeonq.com

Suffering Through a Night of Republican Speeches

I’m not sure I can do this without popping a vein, but I’m watching the Repulican National Convention on CNN and will live blog through it. With a stiff drink near the keyboard.

10:15 pm - Sarah Palin’s sister Heather Bruce described her sister as “one of the smartest women I know.” I wonder if she would be willing to recommend one of those smarter women she knows for Vice President. When asked about the controversy surrounding Palin’s family this week, she said the family keeps their opinions private. Hmmmm…..

10:23 pm - Rudy Giuliani just made his first reference to 9/11. He made it through 10 or 15 minutes before he used his tagline.

10:25 pm - CNN just cut to Cindy McCain holding Sarah Palin’s infant son. I’m just wondering, why do you never see the Dad holding the baby? This is the first time I’ve not seen the baby in the arms of his pregnant sister Bristol.

10:30 pm - Giuliani just used Sarah Palin’s approval rating as proof of her readiness to be vice president. And it’s true she is very popular. But if approval ratings are the measure of readiness, George W. Bush should have submitted his resignation months ago.

10:34 pm - Giuliani used the old Republican spin again. Saying the opposite of reality. Like America being an inspiration around the world. His party destroyed respect for the country. How can he claim it with a straight face?

10:36 pm - Sarah Palin is onstage. Here we go. BTW, her husband is finally holding the baby.

10:41 pm - Five minutes into the speech, and Gov Palin has only talked about McCain.

10:43 pm - Palin just introduced her family. Boy, does Levi Johnston, Palin’s “future son-in-law” looks soooo uncomfortable.

10:49 pm - Palin is going to explain to Democrats why being mayor of a small town qualifies you to be vice president. “Unlike being a community organizer, you have actual responsibilities.” Yeah, Republicans really hate do-gooders who try to help people in need. The only people in need they care about are lobbyists.

Security just hustled a protester out of the arena, who was flashing a peace sign. Amazing she got in.

10:50 pm - An attack on the media. Yes, it’s liberals and media. What a great diversion. It’s worked for Republicans since the 1980s. How long will Americans fall for that? I’ve not heard a thing yet about economic policy. Just a chant of “Drill, baby drill.” And the same old drumbeat for a fruitless and costly war.

10:55 pm - Palin is patronizing Democrats for saying that drilling offshore will not bring energy independence “as if we don’t know that.” Then, she proclaimed that was no excuse for doing nothing. What I’m wondering is, if drilling is not the whole answer, why has Sen. McCain voted against every measure for renewable energy in the Senate?

10:56 pm - Palin is accusing Obama of wanting to increase the size of government and send more orders from Washington to the American people. She’s learning from her colleague Mayor Giuliani: say it like you mean it, and conservative sheep will believe it. Nevermind the facts–that government is significantly bigger now, thanks to six years of Republican control of Washington and two more of Republican obstruction in a razor-thin Democratic majority Congress. And is she serious about “orders from Washington?” Oh, I guess anti-gay marriage amendments, airport security, warrantless wire taps and limits on abortion rights are not orders from Republicans; they are merely “suggestions.”

11:01 pm - Interesting. Sarah Palin says it was lobbyists and comfortable committee chairmen who have fought against John McCain since the primaries in 2000. Funny, everyone knows that it was George W. Bush and Karl Rove who “push polled” McCain in 2000, using McCains adopted daughter as political bait. Funny how “families are off limits” is the rule until it can benefit a Republican. And by the way, John McCain’s adopted daughter is one of only maybe three people of color at the Republican Convention. And the others are being paid to be there–like Donna Brazille, for example. And even CNN has put her and her Republican token black female commentator away from the other pundits, isolated in a viewing box above the sea of white faces. It’s so white in St. Paul, I had to pause my TiVO and go fetch my sunglasses.

11:09 pm - You have to hand it to Sarah Palin. She nailed it. It was a great speech. It was full of lies and devoid of any substance other than “War is good,” and “Drill, baby, drill.” But it was a good speech. She looks relieved. She actually took a deep breath and sigh of relief. And who can blame her. On a side note, someone should tell Levi not to chew gum on national television.

11:16 pm - CNN just halted their commentary to stand for the national anthem. An honorable gesture, but I can’t help but notice how CNN has been groveling all night. The “liberal media” and Campbell Brown’s call on the carpet with McCain’s senior strategist a couple of days ago must have really pissed off some of those rich, white Republicans who run the “liberal media.”

All’s Fair in Gov. Palin’s Family Values

Gov. Sarah Palin with her daughter Bristol and baby Trigg. This photo was found on Bristol's Myspace page over the weekend, before someone woke up and had Bristol set her profile to private. Bristol's caption on this photo is "Mommy Inlaw Trigg and Myself." Mommy Inlaw. What does that mean?

John McCain’s choice for the vice presidential nomination was a hail Mary pass to out-buzz Obama’s masterful performance in Denver’s football stadium.  But he clearly fumbled the ball.  Republican pundits are really twisting logic and reason to the breaking point with their irrational and highly ironic defense of McCain’s choice Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin for vice president from a number of unflattering angles.

“Troopergate” is being dismissed on national television by trying to deflect the conversation to variations of “he (Governor Palin’s former brother-in-law) is not a nice guy at all.”  Okay.  So abuse of power is okay if you’re abusing your power to hurt someone who’s not a good person?  Will that be Palin’s defense when she talks to the investigators appointed by the Alaska State Legislature?

Meanwhile, Barack Obama is trying to take the high road, declaring Gov. Palin’s children off-limits in political discourse, referring to the controversy over Palin’s unmarried, pregnant 17-year-old daughter Bristol.  But I respectfully disagree.  I strongly, defiantly disagree.  Of course, it’s not the glaring lack of family values that a pregnant high school daughter that is the worst reflection on Palin (although clearly she should have practiced the “teach abstinence” she preaches).  What reflects unflatteringly on Gov. Palin is that she herself put her daughter in the political fray.  The governor’s statement on her daughter’s situation tells us that, unlike Senator Obama, she has no problem using her daughter for political purposes.  That is what all the national pundits are missing.  When Gov. Palin stated that she “is proud of her daughter’s decision to keep her baby,” she made Bristol a political tool.

Being proud of Bristol’s “decision to keep her baby” is Republican political code for, “See, I’m against abortion, even when my daughter has an unwanted and unplanned pregnancy.”  Sarah Palin made her daughter the political poster child for anti-choice zealots.  That is why Bristol Palin’s pregnancy is fair game.  Her mother made it political. Period.  End of story.

If Republicans and the media can’t see that, then irrationality, double standards and hypocrisy have reached heights never before seen.  They can’t be serious, can they?

Republicans Continue Their Law of Opposites Approach with VP Choice

In the initial media coverage of today’s announcement of John McCain’s choice for the Republican VP nomination, the word of the day has been “maverick.”  I see it more as “cavalier.” In choosing Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, John McCain has not made a maverick choice, but rather has remained loyal to the Republican party line.  While undermining the rule of law for the last eight years, the Republican Party has instead governed by the law of opposites. How can this say-one-thing-do-the-opposite strategic approach to elections and governing not be recognized as cynical, manipulative and yes, immoral?

Today we learned John McCain has embraced this law of opposities in his VP choice.  Clearly Governor Sarah Palin is a choice made in cynicism.  Rush Limbaugh said it on his radio show this morning:  “Now we’re the ones with a babe on our ticket.”  Can it be any clearer that Gov. Palin is a token?  As a woman, I find that more offensive than any of the perceived slights to Hillary Clinton (and the real slights and sexist coverage aimed at her by the media). After months of attacks on Barack Obama for his experience and age, McCain chooses someone with less experience who is three years younger.

I do understand McCain’s logic, a brain-twister though it is. Palin is perfect for the Republican agenda.  McCain clearly is counting on Palin’s gender neutralizing the historic aura around Barack Obama.  I have to give it to McCain, Palin is a rare find.  She is a woman who opposes a woman’s right to choose.  She is a woman whose position on gun control are dead-on with the NRA’s postions.  She’s been photographed aiming AK-47s, a weapon with a single purpose:  killing people quickly, in large numbers.  She is a woman who opposes gay rights.  She is the daughter of a preacher.  She favors more oil drilling in Alaska and took campaign contributions from Veco, the same company connected to Alaska Senator Ted Stevens. Palin is even an enemy to polar bears.  She opposed Pres. Bush’s decision to put polar bears on the threatened species list.  Her government filed suit against Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne earlier this month, hoping to reverse polar bear protections.

The religious right, who have been less than enthusiastic about McCain, must be thrilled.  The Republicans must be hoping that her gender will be an effective Trojan horse.  Once back through the gates to the White House, using the skirts of Palin to hide their attempt to borrow, or steal, the sense of history that Democrats gave us in Obama and Clinton. If given the chance to govern, Palin’s gender will matter less to Republicans than her hard-right positions on pretty much every issue of importance to women.  McCain has placed his bet on the disgruntled women who voted for Hillary Clinton.  Surely that is a bet he will lose once those women consider what’s at stake for them and their daughters if we end up facing four more years of conservative Republican rule. More »