You go girl!

Just had to find a forum to vent.  Like many of you, I have been perusing the internet for information - information about this upcoming election, it's candidates - their stances on issues.  I've been spending hours sifting through the plans and documents on candidate websites, looking for any information that will, no doubt, be left out in media reports.  

In doing so, I come across a blog - a pro McCain blog, or should I say, Pro Palin blog.  On the blog, I see this image (to the right) and I can't help but laugh and feel disturbed.  Palin as a 'real life' Rosie type?  Sure she is a woman who holds a job that is mainly held by men - um, so do I (and so do many other women I know)- She is probably too young to really understand the relevance of this poster and to realize that the glass ceiling was cracked by many of her predecessors before her 44 years... Let's not play the gender card here...

I  am just getting to know this woman just like the rest of the world.  From the book censorship, to the "troopergate" scandal to her hometown neighbor Anne Kilkenny's letter (please google Anne Kilkenny) - I can't help but think that much of this country has flipped. Why the adoring fascination?   I am not that dense to support someone just because they, like me, have a vagina.  That would be like supporting someone solely based on their religion, race or hell, their hair color.  Sorry - I don't buy the, "what the hell, get any woman in office just because attitude." Ultimately, it comes down to a person's character, their belief system - who they are at the very core.  I think her real character will unravel in the next 60 days.

The blog I visited was so Pro Palin it was frightening.  It's almost that some of these women turned into dudes- they see a woman in "politics" who doesn't look like a man or George Washington and feel the need to say "You go Girl! This woman knows what she is talking about even though she ain't talking 'bout much. But DAMN, she looks good doing it!"  As Ms. Kilkenny said in her letter, it's like she is "the most popular girl in middle school" and all the ladies (particularly the moms) want to be her best friend and the guys, well, they just think she is a "babe."  Is that what motivates us to rally behind someone? I mean, it can't have anything to do with the empty speech she gave - full of stabs and anger (I say, penalty for high sticking!) - The blogger I read was just glowing after "Palin's speech," amazed at how it spoke to her - and, by golly, this woman is just like me! (well, maybe even worse - and isn't that what a lot of us want? to watch someone who just might be a little worse off than ourselves...)  

I couldn't help but post a remark.  I learned from a Time article that speechwriter Matthew Scully (former Bush speech writer) actually wrote much of the speech BEFORE they even realized who the candidate would be.  After learning that it was Palin, they tossed in some folksy stuff that would appeal to most of the Idiocracy of lots of America. 

 It's sad, really.   

Because ultimately, this is not really about her or her story that really belongs on Lifetime or Jerry Springer, and surely not at the foot of the White House steps.  Let's keep in mind this is about John McCain and his attempt to make us believe that he wants "change."  How can McCain claim to be the harbinger of hope and change? He's been in Washington over two decades, so why now?  The Republicans have held the keys to the White House for 8 years and the control of the Congress for most of it - and wow baby, look at us now.  Perhaps it is just as John Stewart said to Mike Huckabee the other night: "So, you believe that YOUR party is the ONLY party that can correct the damages that YOUR party has done."  

I hope this forum will serve as, if nothing else, a place where I can make sense of some of the screwed up stuff I hear and see on a daily basis.  We are in for a bumpy ride, no doubt.