Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Leggo My Eggo, Mr. Media!

News broke this week that Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's 17-year-old daughter is pregnant.

How do you think this should reflect on Palin, if at all? Does this change your opinion of her? Does it damage your opinion of her? Does it strengthen your opinion of her?

Should the media be covering this at all?

Palin has previously gone on record as being in favor of abstinence-only sex education, which I think is something that should be noted in this discussion.

Does anyone think McCain could pull a George McGovern? (In 1972, Democratic Presidential candidate George McGovern pulled running mate Thomas Eagleton from the ticket because of a previously undisclosed history of mental illness.)

It'll also be interesting to watch the Republican National Convention this week proceed as the country attempts to deal with the effects of Hurricane Gustav. I am wondering how this will effect the Republican convention. It may actually help them, in a strange way. It gives the Republican Party an excuse to have Pres. Bush and Vice Pres. Cheney refrain from speaking at the convention, when the two men are extremely unpopular and reflect quite negatively on Republican candidate John McCain. I'm interested to see what the Republicans are going to say they stand for this week.

I believe the Democratic convention could have gone better, but I believe that the Democrats mostly succeeded in presenting a clear vision of an American future. Now I wonder what alternative the Republicans will present this week, after the (mostly) failed efforts of the last eight years, and that is a generous assessment from me. One important thing about the Palin selection that I forgot to mention initially, is that her selection is a strong signal as to the kind of Republican party Sen. McCain hopes to mold in the coming months, and years possibly, if he is elected.

Palin is a fundamentalist Christian, who is also strongly pro-business. Her selection solidifies McCain in many voters eyes as a prototypical neoconservative candidate. While this realization may awaken and energize the conservative base, it should also re-awaken independents to McCain's true ideology. I believe that McCain's choice shows most American voters that he is prepared to stand for the exact same politics as his predecessors have perpetrated on the American people for the last eight years.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

What do you think about Sarah Palin's recent remarks; that is, those likening the Iraq War to a holy war, and saying that war with Russia was not out of the question?

Alex said...

I think she's dangerous to us all, Gov. Palin is. I can't believe she's only a heartbeat away from the Presidency, as the cliche goes.

People ask me: what's the difference between Obama and Palin? I say, the things Obama says actually make sense. Add to that, Obama isn't out of his mind.

I think Palin is crazy. Iraq as Holy War? Who are we, the extremists...or the people fighting them? I can't even tell anymore. And about Russia...no. I cannot reinforce enough how ridiculous it would be for us to go to war with Russia over this conflict in Georgia. Since when do we intervene in those types of wars? It's un-American. Of course, so is pre-emptive action, but that didn't stop us, either. This just further displays Palin's profound ignorance about foreign policy.

Anonymous said...

She was talking about Georgia as if it were a NATO country (which I'm near positive it's not), and saying that if Russia were to attack, we would have no choice but to go to war against them. She is also the complete polar opposite of Hilary Clinton, and yet is apparently dragging in many of her former supporters just because of what she is: an intelligent mother with a family and values. Well, her values are anti-abortion (which I sort of agree with), anti-stem cell (which is kinda silly), and anti-gay rights (completely disagree). She is everything Hilary is not, yet will probably still get some of Clinton's former supporters in November. Our country is so completely disillusioned at this point, it's beyond satire or quip. Not to mention she's been sheltered by the McCain camp so far, and the one interview she has done seems to horrify everybody but the apathetic and the far-right. She will be campaigning with McCain for the next two months, instead of independently like Sen. Biden. I have not seen one reason why McCain picked her, other than a cheap gimmick to pull off a underhanded win in November. If ANYONE can tell me why she is qualified, please share. I'd be willing to learn.

(teleprompter, I have no one here to talk politics with. Thanks for your blog.)

Alex said...

Hey, I love writing this, and I love talking about it. Thank you for reading, and participating.

Yes, I think McCain's selection of Palin is a cheap shot. And the fact that she won't campaign independently of McCain shows you how much faith the McCain campaign has in Gov. Palin. That's a scary thought: if McCain's own campaign doesn't even trust her, why should we?

Also, anyone who supported Sen. Hillary Clinton in the primaries, and who has any idea of what she stands for, and agrees with Sen. Clinton's policies, should see the folly of voting for McCain-Palin. Anyone who does not see this either supported Clinton only because of her gender, or is very badly misinformed about Gov. Palin and Sen. McCain.