Monday, September 1, 2008 | 38 responses | Filed Under: Daily & Only Judith
Maybe it's just me… Maybe I'm really the only one of us not surrounded by a bevy of political-minded friends, family, and neighbors.
Maybe, I really am on an island (in the middle of Arkansas), and all of you have gotten out and talked to other voters in your area and none of them have ever said things like,
"I just don't like the look of him."
"I think's she's really a man."
Oh God, I hope so. I really truly hope so.
Because right now?
I'd really like to believe that every sewing circle in every small town in this country is currently discussing Sarah Palin and asking themselves,
"Yes… but what does she think about universal healthcare?"
Instead of,
"Did you hear that she has five children and that her oldest is joining the Air Force? And I bet you she sews a mean cross-stitch, too!"
Right now?
I'd really like to believe that people aren't looking at that picture (or any one of the thousands just like it that are plastered everywhere) and thinking,
"Oh my goodness! How many times have I balanced my baby in one arm and my work in the other just like that? "
Right now?
I'd really like to keep up the pretense that people cast their vote based on policy and not on familiarity.
Because, let's face it: working mom, five kids (one in the military, one with a disability), small town girl, all tied up prettily with a pregnant teenager to "keep it real"…
I'd say that she's about as pretty damned familiar as she can be.
So here's to you, Mr. GOP Brilliant Idea Thinker-Upper, go grab yourself a nice cold Bud.
I believe that you just topped the last election's decision to focus on same-sex marriage.
And we all know where that got us.
September 1, 2008
*a standing fucking ovation*
Can I say fucking here? No? Oh. Sorry.
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September 5th, 2008
No. No, you can not.
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September 1, 2008
I'd share a beer with her.
There isn't a day that goes by, I don't relate to her. Well other than the pregnant teenager. I better NOT be dealing with that anytime soon.
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September 5th, 2008
I wouldn't… We'd totally strangle each other in like five minutes flat.
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September 1, 2008
I hope I can say this and it come out how I mean for it to. I hope there is more substance to Palin than all that family stuff. I hope that she wasn't selected just to be the poster girl for soccer moms everywhere. I want, NEED, for these candidates to tell me how they plan to lead this country. Right now I know about her family life than her qualifications to be vice president. I don't want to hear about her children, I want to know about health care, taxes, how we are going to bring our troops home, how we are going to reduce our dependence on foreign oil… not where her daughter has registered for her baby shower. I want more… I think we all deserve more.
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September 1st, 2008
Tara, don't get me wrong, honey! I think that Palin is MORE than capable for the position. And, of course, you'll be hearing about their stance on the issues (although I would definitely like to point out that McCain and Palin together are so freakin' to the right that it scares the hell out of me).
She just comes with the added benefit of being someone that a huge majority of people can relate to DESPITE her stance on the issues at hand.
Plus, she is the perfect "Anti-Hillary" right down to her former pageant days.
A total ace in the hole.
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September 1st, 2008
Okay… just re-read what I wrote above and need to clarify it a bit. I meant that Palin is MORE than capable of the position as benefits the GOP. Not necessarily as benefits us. LOL
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September 1, 2008
so glad I'm not the only thinking that…… She's perfect except for the fact that she a right wing conservative nut job!! So far her stance on the issues I've heard about are so far gone that it scares me.
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September 5th, 2008
Some of them literally shock me… I just don't get it. *Sigh*
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September 1, 2008
When I first heard this I thought it was a joke. I mean, really?!? The GOP is playing such a game. Sarah Palin is a pawn and it blows me away how seriously people are taking her new position. The GOP does not truly respect women.
I feel McCain's people saw how many supported Hillary and are going to try to cash in. Hillary supporters were starting websites "Democrates for McCain" for crying-out-loud!
And, on Obama's side, I feel that his people kept hearing about McCain's age and how some say it will bring the necessary experience, and that's why he went with an older V.P. as oppossed to someone closer to his age. They didn't want to make it a "youth ticket". It all seems to be about pictures and posing. Not true issues.
McCain's people just made the next move. I wonder what will happen next?
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September 1st, 2008
Exactly.
Unfortunately, the biggest joke of all is how the politicians (with good reason, considering past election results) feel about "us" and our ability to be swayed by all of the pictures and posing.
And as far as the GOP not respecting women, this ticket is so anti-woman that it's nauseating. Too bad there aren't very many in the majority who will realize it.
The next move? I'm honestly scared to find out…
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September 1, 2008
It's taken me all weekend to pick my jaw up off the floor and now that I have, I don't know whether to be depressed or horrified or enraged. I actually feel really bad for all the Hilary supporters out there who are realizing exactly how little Team McCain think of them: that they can just slap any old woman on the ticket and they'll all be swayed like lemmings. It's insulting. I didn't think things could possibly get worse with this election. I thought that no matter how it turned out, it couldn't be worse than the last two terms. I was okay with my own personal worst case scenario of a McCain presidency. I'd made peace with that possibility. Now I'm scared.
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September 5th, 2008
I'm honestly almost willing to blame some of the Hillary supporters… As Ann said above, many of them made a huge show of switching loyalties based not on policy, of course, but on the sheer fact that she didn't get the nomination.
Hell, how else was the Old Boys' Club supposed to interpret that?
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October 5th, 2008
I agree, the issues took a back seat to the concept of fairness.
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September 1, 2008
Although I think the fact that we live in an age of "instant information" is incredibly beneficial to us in ways too numerous to count, it is at times like these that I cannot stand the media. I cannot stand knowing that every photograph, every speech, every "off-handed' quip is carefully orchestrated to manipulate us and prey upon our weaknesses as humans. I cannot stand seeing people led about like sheep, failing miserably to exercise their brains and entertain an independent thought. It makes me want to turn off my television and my laptop and go hide under the covers.
I'm a Canadian, but I like to think that I follow American politics enough to have a good sense of what's going on in this election. (After all, it would be naive of me to think that what happens south of the 49th parallel isn't going to affect my life in any way.) I prefer to believe that people will think hard about the issues before they vote in November, but I would also prefer to believe that I look as good now as I did when I was 20. Bygones.
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September 5th, 2008
Wha'? I totally look as good as I did when I was twenty.
And, yes, you're spot on… Palin will (and already has been) used much as product placement in the movies. We're told what's cool. And we never even bother to question it.
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September 2, 2008
Makes me a bit nauseous, seeing so many people behaving so mindlessly. When I heard about/saw Palin all I thought was "Bitch needs to learn to keep her legs together….but I guess there's not much else to do in alaska except club baby seals."
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September 5th, 2008
… club baby seals??? BWAHAHAHAHA.
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September 2, 2008
I think you're "bloody brilliant", woman. You're dead on, I believe. And I think the saddest thing is how many people follow blindly without critical thought. My MOTHER sends me Obama-bashing emails all the time when she KNOWS my position. Drives me freakin' nuts. So I'll just come here and get the antithesis of mom from you, okay? BTW, thanks for the button - I promptly put it up with my other bloggy awards and am displaying it proudly!
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September 5th, 2008
My dad voted for W in the last election because he "didn't like the look of" Kerry. It was that act that finally convinced me that I'm adopted… even if I do have his big ears.
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September 2, 2008
I *swear* I am not just jumping on your coattails.
But this is the exact thought I had when I saw that picture:
Hmm, she must be right-handed since her cell phone is in her right hand, and the baby is in her left arm. I've done that many, many times. In fact, I can make chocolate milk in a sippy cup while holding a baby/toddler in my left arm.
Also, she has the same hairstyle and glasses as me. Not that I'm going to vote for her just based on her hair.
It would be the glasses, because everyone knows wearing glasses mean she's smart. Like me.
And my glasses.
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September 5th, 2008
LOL.
Yeah, I'm a sucker for a great pair of glasses… And the up-do? Meow.
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October 5th, 2008
I too am a sucker for the glasses and do, I can relate to it, I LOVE the hair and hope there is a brain under it.
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September 2, 2008
I call it brilliant becuase, since the announcement, who's been talking about Obama speach at the DNC? No one. Way to steal his thunder. I like Sarah Palin because she is familiar.
(linked from feed…I read, first time commenting.)
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September 5th, 2008
I think that that would have happened regardless of candidate… The announcement time was planned out long before the pick was even made, specifically to undermine the convention. These politicians know their dance steps well.
And, among all of us 'mommy' bloggers, who wouldn't find her familiar?
But familiarity shouldn't trump the issues, you know?
(And hello! Thanks for stopping by!!)
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September 2, 2008
Well, now John McCain cannot make fun of Obama's lack of experience anymore. Because now Mr. McCain himself chose to work with a woman, who has not followed the "recent developments" in Iraq, because she was too focused on state government issues (and pregnancy and babies…), and who has been in her governor's chair for only 18 months… Yikes!!
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September 5th, 2008
… And before that was Mayor to a city of less than 9,000.
Which kind of proves that she was chosen purely for the fact that she happened to have a right-winged vagina, which is sad indeed.
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September 2, 2008
A brilliant move on their part, though I agree that it's really insulting to women everywhere to suggest that Palin is a Republican equivalent to someone like Hillary (or Olympia Snowe, for a Repub. example) just because Palin is a woman. She doesn't have anything like the kind of experience that it would take to run the country, as far as I can tell, and I thought the whole point of a VP was to pick someone who would be a good stand in should something happen to the President. I appreciate that he thought it was a good idea to have a woman on his ticket, but if he wanted a woman for a different perspective and a different kind of experience, then he should have picked someone whose primary qualification wasn't "soccer mom" — which seems to be what they're all touting about her right now.
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September 5th, 2008
I think that they weren't trying for an "equivalent" at all… They were trying for the anti-Hillary, plain and simple. The anti-Hillary brings in all of those votes that criticized her for everything from the cut of her suit to her manners to her marriage- all the while garnering more favor for the simple fact that she's a woman and thus capable of bursting through that glass ceiling.
It's a game. They know that the majority of people place CRAP like this above the issues and are taking advantage of it.
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September 2, 2008
OMG! Don't even get me started on the idiocy of this. Did you know he chose her after meeting her ONCE. GEEE deep thinking process in choosing the (lets face it McCain OLD) potential future president. Lets hope that the same idiots who think this is a good idea forget to vote.
Oh and if this genius idea gets him voted in or not voted but made president anyway (you know, pulls a Bush on us) then I am leaving the country.
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September 5th, 2008
I hear there are lots of cool bloggers in Canada… LOL
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September 4, 2008
For the last few days, I've been thinking about Sarah Palin and have been trying to figure out what it is about her that rubs me the wrong way (other than the fact that she is a Republican). While we would all love to "have it all" how does one effectively raise 5 children (including one disabled infant and a pregant teenager) run the state of Alaska and campaign for the vice-presidency? Something has to give & those are all important jobs that need to be done right. The other thing that nags at me, is why would any mother knowingly subject her daughter to the scrutiny and ridicule that they are facing right now. Being seventeen and pregnant is emotional and embarrasing enough (and yes, I realize the girl made her own choices and must suffer the consequences) without having the entire nation discussing it. Palin is young enough and her political career is young enough to have put her ambitions aside and put her family first until they are in a more stable place. These next few years her family will need her more than ever.
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September 5th, 2008
While the parent in me totally has the same concerns that you do… Can you imagine asking the same of a male candidate? I mean, like, Obama has small children as well. Who's watching them? Of course, Obama doesn't focus all of his speech time on discussing his children and "soccer mom" lifestyle either.
As for her daughter's pregnancy, she's using it as a campaign tool much the same as Republican party is using her vagina. Not only does the daughter's pregnancy help stifle any of those rumors that her fifth child is actually her grandchild but it also backs up her "moral" standings.
If I read one more time that the daughter and her boyfriend are going to be getting married as they should, I think I'll gag. :)
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September 4, 2008
Every time I see her, I think to myself, "I can't wait for 30Rock to start up again". Go women in glasses! We are going places.
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September 5th, 2008
*snort*
Yeah, we're totally going to take over the world one day… :)
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September 4, 2008
I need your help. I just started blogging and I need help designing my page. I hear you are the woman for the job. I don't know what the hell I am doing.
Thank you
Stefanie
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September 5th, 2008
Hi Stefanie,
I am completely booked up right now and won't be available for custom designs for quite some time. However, I do have several one of a kind templates up over at my design site, Judith Shakes Designs, that you may be interested in however.
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September 21, 2008
She's a frightening woman, Darth Palin. What's even more frightening is the level of gullibility of the 'Murkan public. That she *looks, acts, and is* a suburban hockey mom shrew seems to be the only standard necessary by which to select her. Not her Nazi policies. Not her anti-science bent. Not her endless corruption and cronyism. Incredible.
A poster someone sent me. You'll like it:
http://www.orkut.com/Main#AlbumZoom.aspx?uid=5071251595342495311&pid=1221963654164&aid=1pid=1221963654164
Best,
Shawn
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