I'm Still Voting Obama/Biden

Palin vs. Biden

Meh. Palin did alright. She certainly held her own, but the longer the debate went on, the better Biden did and the worse she got. She certainly exceeded expectations, but she still didn’t impress me. She’s running for the Vice President and it’s pathetic that our expectations for her were so low to begin with.

Of course it wasn’t long before she started to delve into those annoying clichés that we’ve been hearing for the past five weeks. There were quite a few things that she mentioned that I just didn’t agree with. For instance when they were both asked if they would be willing or forced to give up any of the things that they had promised in their campaign due to the current crisis that we are seeing, and our ever increasing deficit, and she said that they would be able to keep ALL of their promises, because she’s “only been running for 5 weeks”. Yeah…don’t remind us all of how inexperienced you are.

I wanted to throw something at the TV every time I heard the word Maverick come out of her mouth. She needs to discover the synonyms button on Microsoft and come up with a wider variety of clichés that we can tire of all over again. John McCain certainly didn’t show us his “Maverick” capabilities when he voted for the $700 billion bail out plan that included earmarks like a $2 million tax credit for makers of wooden arrows! Or $100 million tax credit for auto racetrack owners! Or $192 million rebate on taxes for Puerto Rican and Virgin Islands rum industry! I guess he forgot that little pen of his! Because we’ve heard all too many times the quote he loves repeating, “I’ve got a pen, and I’m going to veto every single spending bill that comes across my desk. I will make them famous, you will know their names.” But to the man’s defense he is getting old…and perhaps a little forgetful. Or maybe it’s the fact that he doesn’t have a desk in the white house yet…so it doesn’t count right??? Ugh.
*Oh. And we all remember when McCain brought up the $3 million dollars we spent studying the DNA of bears in Montana. Perhaps he forgot about the $3.2 million that Palin requested to study the mating habits of crabs! OOOPS!

I completely disagree with “Goose” and “Maverick’s” health care plan. Can you even call it a plan?? You’re going to tax the health care benefits that people already have?? Hmm…sounds like a tax increase to me!! Let me break it down for you. Say my hubby and I make $60,000 a year, and Nate’s employer pays him $12,000 a year (which is the average) in health care insurance. When Nate and I go to pay our taxes, we won’t be paying taxes on $60,000 a year…we will be paying taxes on $72,000 a year!! This is going to throw a lot of people into a higher tax bracket than they would normally be in. Along with this, it annoys me when Palin and McCain try and make a Universal Health Care plan sound like the absolute worst thing that could happen to the US! They make is sound “sickening”. You know what’s sickening to me? It’s sickening that American’s are willing to stand by while millions of their fellow citizens go bankrupt due to medical bills that they can’t afford to pay. It’s sickening to me that fellow Americans across the nation have to decide on a monthly basis whether or not they should pay for the medicine that they need, or make a rent payment. It’s sickening to me that private health insurance companies are among the richest in the world! Why are we the only democratic nation in the western world that looks at health care as a sort of privilege for the wealthy, rather than a fundamental human right???

My favorite part was when Joe Biden threw it back in Palin’s face that he could “relate” to the American people just as much as she could and said “But the notion that somehow, because I’m a man, I don’t know what it’s like to raise two children alone. I don’t’ know what it’s like to have a child you’re…you’re not sure is going to make it. I understand. I understand. As well as, with all due respect, the governor or anybody else, what it’s like for those people sitting around that kitchen table. And guess what. They’re looking for help….they’re looking for help. They’re not looking for more of the same.” It certainly tugged at my heart strings, but more than that, it was refreshing to hear some emotion about what American people are going through. Rather than the smug little smirk that Palin had on her face during the entire debate…no matter what she was talking about!!

Did Sara Palin impress me? No. She wondered a lot, avoided questions, and when she didn’t know how to answer, she returned to her all too familiar “talking points”. I’m still a bit confused on her stance about same sex civil unions?? She kept using the word tolerant, which doesn’t mean that she would support gay couples having the same civil rights as any other couple, and when she was asked to clarify all she said was that she didn’t support gay marriage…and again avoided another “straight talk” answer.

I don’t think that she did well enough to give McCain a boost. All the headlines today talk about the bailout, which goes to show that she really didn’t change any dynamics of the race. They’re running out of time to prove to us that they really are different than the Bush administration…and as Biden and Obama say…we really don’t want another 4 years of Bush!

President Palin. Now There's a Scary Thought!

Wow. It’s been a while. Between trying to climb and toil my way through books that I only understand after re-reading each paragraph 12 times, trying to keep up with the presidential “race” and what the idiot (this is a hint of things to come) Sara Palin has said lately, and trying to remain at least a decent wife to my hubby…I have had to ignore my urges to blog…but alas…to the disappointment of the many who disagree with me…I have more than a few minutes to catch up on things.

Thanks to Megan, I have been able to keep up with the latest Sara Palin “bloopers”. I’ve been able to watch her stumble through answers that clearly remind me of the young lady from North Carolina that was running for Miss Teen USA (we all remember that right?), and I have to force myself to remember that this is not funny. Although I giggled at first at how absurd she sounded…those giggles quickly turned into nervous bits of confusion as I reminded myself that she could merely be a heartbeat away from becoming MY president.

On top of being able to watch her try and dig herself out of the crater that she is currently in, I’m also stunned at the excuses that people are coming up with to defend her. Excuses like, “Don’t be too hard on her, she’s had a lot to learn in the last month” or “Interviewers are clearly asking her ‘gatcha’ questions, trying to get her to slip up”. WHAT?!? I am so sick and tired of hearing these. If she cannot handle sweet little Katie Couric, then how is she going to handle Putin, if he “rears his head” into the US? What is she going to do if we go through an economic crisis like the one we’re seeing now? It’s pathetic that the media is expected to “go easy” on her. It’s pathetic that more Americans aren’t outraged at John McCain for this GAME that he is playing with the US. We have a fundamental right to ask her these questions, and we have a right to get angry when she gives answers like the ones that she has given. We have a right to demand that the future leaders of this country be knowledgeable about the things that keep this country running. We have a right to demand that John McCain fess up and admit that he picked her merely as a political ploy. Again, it truly does baffle me that more people aren’t outraged at John McCain. It’s clear now John McCain, that she is not qualified to be our VP, swallow your pride, and get her out of there!

The Vice Presidential debate is tonight and I feel like I’m the only one that is demanding that Palin do more than merely “hold her own”. After all of the ridiculous things that she has done…she had better knock this out of the park if she wants to convince me that she can even remotely measure up to the leadership and experience that Joe Biden CLEARLY portrays. The media has been forced to set the bar so low, that it seems like we’ll be content if she is able to even finish a sentence. I’m confused as to why the media is accused of being “biased” when it comes to Sara Palin. I’m confused that the advice people are giving Biden is to not be too hard on her, because then he will appear sexist. He’s proven to us time and time again that he can lead this country, he can actually answer a question, he can state Supreme Court cases that he doesn’t agree with, he can actually list ONE newspaper that he reads…and Palin…well she’ll get back to us on that one…pathetic! Ugh. I’m embarrassed for the woman.

I have lost all respect for John McCain over the past week alone. It’s disgusting and shameful that he is willing to put all logic and reason aside…simply to win an election.