Just sayin'

[textualdeviance]

If Sarah Palin's 20 months as governor of Alaska qualifies her to be a VP candidate, and thus a heartbeat away from the presidency, then my tenure on the board of a community chorus qualifies me to head the Seattle Arts Commission.

Comments

[pieslut.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I mean WTF? I've avoided making McCain is old jokes, but dude is not so long for this earth. What in the hell are we going to do with an utter novice in the highest office in the land?

[havdrake.livejournal.com]

Doesn't it just a little make you wonder that they might already expect McCain to lose and she is just kind of a "throw away"? Or just having a woman on the ticket is somehow a last ditch effort? I don't know. Just seems a little fishy to me.

[mrdorbin.livejournal.com]

I can't help but read it as a cynical attempt to grab disaffected Clinton voters, even though their policy positions have to be a million miles apart. I think they may seriously think Clinton was only popular because she was a woman.

[textualdeviance.livejournal.com]

That's pretty much precisely it.

And there are some who did vote that way. They voted for Clinton not because of her experience or her plans and policies, but solely for chromosomal reasons.

There are, sadly, quite a few people out there so married to identity politics that they utterly ignore the content of a given person and vote just on the container. Which is bizarre, to me. Isn't the point of fighting for equality that we'd all like to be judged on our individual merits, and not lumped in with everyone with whom we share vital statistics?

That said, I do think the tactic is going to fail. There may be a handful of women who will vote for her just for the vagina factor, but I don't think there are enough of them out there to sway the election. Virtually all feminists--even the essentialists--are pro-choice, for instance, and her stance on that is going to turn them off, big time. And the women who aren't were already going to vote GOP anyway.

She'll solidify the women in the GOP base, and that's about it.

[textualdeviance.livejournal.com]

It does seem like a Hail Mary pass. A month ago, she was saying that she didn't even know what the VP's job is. Two weeks ago, she said she hadn't been vetted.

I think this choice was made before Hillary's concession speech, with the idea that there was a lot more bitterness out there than there really is.

It's bizarre all the way around.

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that.

[ladysunrope.livejournal.com]

Yes, I know its not my election but what happens your way usually affects this part of the world damned quickly. I'm amazed at the choice -if he'd wanted a woman there are better qualified Republican women. From the rumours going round, it seems she was not his first choice but one his advisors recc'd as a way of bringing in the RW of the party. Yet, what a way to ensure those advisors strengthen their own power base by putting someone who will have to rely heavily upon them into the vice presidency when the would be President is old and not exactly brimming with health!

[mikescars.livejournal.com]

Okay, I'll probably get yelled at for this which is why I don't say much but Palin's 20 months running a government gives her 20 months more than Obama! That said, there really is no one to vote for in this election. I'm going to have to hold my nose no matter whom I vote for.

[textualdeviance.livejournal.com]

Executive experience isn't the only thing that matters, though. It's true that Obama doesn't have a lot of experience, either, but Palin has the distinction of making him look like a veteran when it comes to national and international experience. Governing 700k people for 20 months is nothing like representing several million people in Chicago, and later, Illinois, for 12 years.

Her only other experience prior to her governorship was 10 years as mayor of a town of 7,000. To put that in perspective, the mayor of the town of Ferndale, pop 10,000, is also a part-time plumber, because there's so little actual governing to do in a town that size.

She also, just a month ago, said she had no idea what the vice president does, and also recently said she had no idea what's going on in Iraq. With the exception of flying over Canada, she's never even been out of the country! Her entire qualifications for the office seem to come down to the idea that she'll pull in women (because of course, women are stupid enough to only vote on chromosomes--yeah, right) and because she's idealogically in line with the religious right. Ugh.

Personally, I do wish someone other than Obama had gotten the Dem nomination (I would've preferred Richardson), because I do question his readiness. However, I think he's surrounded himself with people who know what they're doing, and that makes a lot of difference to me. Biden, for instance, has a huge amount of foreign policy experience--including being an architect of the peace agreements in Kosovo, which was huge. I also expect Obama to select a cabinet that also knows what they're doing. Richardson is likely to be his secretary of state, for instance, and that's an almost perfect match of person and job. This is the guy whom North Korea actually requested to talk to when we needed to get them to stop the nuke saber rattling. And it worked. He's an amazing diplomat.

If McCain's judgment about who he wants around him is so lousy that he's picking someone who's so woefully ignorant and inexperienced as his VP--as the person who will step in for him!--then how can he be trusted to select other people around him who will know what they're doing?

Ultimately, there are three things that are core issues for me:

1. SCOTUS. We're already at the tipping point of having a court that ignores the 1st, 4th and 14th amendments. I'm absolutely terrified of whom McCain might appoint. Roe v. Wade would almost certainly go down instantly. And y'know? As someone with a high likelihood of having a troubled pregnancy and therefore perhaps needing a later-term abortion? That's really not something I'm willing to mess with.

2. Who has access to the button? Is McCain's well-known anger problem (not to mention his chronic use of Ambien) going to cause him to nuke Iran in a fit of pique? I'd much rather have someone who will talk first and shoot later. I'm not exactly interested in blowing up the planet.

3. Health care. More than 20,000 Americans die every year from lack of health insurance. During Bush's two terms, more Americans have died this way than have EVER died in terrorist attacks worldwide. We need to stop lagging behind the rest of the civilized world and start treating healthcare as what it really is--a basic human right.

Ultimately, I want a government that values the rights and needs of people, instead of the "right" of rich people to hoard their money, and the macho posturing of an aggressive foreign policy that has been an utter, complete failure. While Obama isn't perfect, on matters of policy and his judgment to pick the right people for his cabinet, he is leaps and bounds ahead of McCain. The choice, to me, is easy.

Your choice is, as always, your own. Just explaining my reasoning for my decisions on this. :)

(BTW: You do read my uppityliberal journal, yes? There are often a lot of other tidbits of explanation of where I stand on this stuff.)

[textualdeviance.livejournal.com]

Also, just one post-script: Did you know that Palin is against abortion even in cases where the mother's LIFE is in danger?

Dunno about you, but that makes me both terrified and furious.

[mikescars.livejournal.com]

I knew that would get me yelled at! Lack of experience is lack of experience. How did my comment trigger an off topic tirade? I only commented on experience.

[mikescars.livejournal.com]

On 2nd thought, it's your journal. Forget I said anything. I'm sorry!

[textualdeviance.livejournal.com]

Like I said a while back--politics gets us both keyed up. It's probably better if we don't talk about it too much. I don't want a repeat of the big mess we had last time about this. It's just not worth it, y'know?

If it would help, I can keep my political posts here on a filter, so you don't have to see them.

[mikescars.livejournal.com]

No sense putting it on a filter. I didn't start the last one and I am sorry I started this one. I was making an attempt to be funny. I'm sorry it was not taken that way. It is a sad commentary that the only way we communicate is through Live Journal. It has become increasingly obvious that you don't want me in your life. So be it. I'm done.