I’ve really tried to avoid politics in my blog lately because people can become so divided and aggravated simply by someone not sharing the same view. Unfortunately, I’ve got to let loose some steam with the latest news on the Republican front. For those who have managed to avoid hearing about it, Sarah Palin is the (presumptive) VP pick for the Republican party. I won’t go into her views, because I assume that anyone who can read this blog can easily see what she thinks on issues like abortion, ANWR drilling, etc. What I do want to mention is how painfully hypocritical this choice is for McCain.
One thing McCain has based his anti-Obama ads on is his lack of experience. Obama has been a senator for almost four years. Palin has been a senator for zero. She has, however, been a governor for almost two years. Her other experience that seems to be frequently cited is as a mayor… but what usually isn’t mentioned is that the town’s population was about five or six thousand people.
Another basis for the McCain ads has been Obama’s “celebrity” status. Ignoring how McCain’s site called McCain himself a celebrity and ignoring all the TV shows McCain has been on (Entertainment Tonight, twice!?), you still can’t ignore that Sarah Palin has been a model. She won second place in the Miss Alaska pageant and she was also on the cover of Vogue magazine.
I checked out John McCain’s site, thinking that news about Palin would be right up on the top, and saw “Black Republicans Stick with McCain” at the top of the news. I noticed the use of ellipses in the article and thought, “I wonder what they cut out of the article.” Here’s an example of one of the portions that were removed from the original article in order to make it safe for the McCain site:
Lloyd Newton is a retired four-star general from the U.S. Air Force who lives in Tampa. He is a black, registered Republican who supported Crist in 2006.
But this time, Newton said he is voting for Obama.
“We’ve got much, too much, concern about party in my mind and not enough on Americans as a whole,” he said.
“Barack Obama is that individual that I find will bring about the kind of change that I personally think, and I think the nation thinks, we need in Washington D.C., Newton said.
He said Obama’s race is “way down the chain of factors … I’m looking at his leadership, what he’s done since he’s been in Washington, the kind of impact he’s had.
“When you get through all of that, now I’m ready to consider, ‘Guess what? This guy happens to be an African-American.’ “
I think that last quote really sums up how pointless that article is. If you drop race, it’s simply “republicans stick with McCain,” which shouldn’t be too surprising. They certainly wouldn’t want to vote for an celebrity politician who is inexperienced! For a great explanation of Sarah Palin’s experience, you can watch Tucker Bounds explain Sarah Palin’s experience.
Man, that video got me all riled up and now I’m actually reading about politics again. I hope you’re happy!
By the way, it’s good to hear your teaching experience is going well or as well as could be expected in the first months.
(Oooh, minus points for not showing that Mail is a required field!
Sorry about that… Just watch The Daily Show and Colbert Report, and you’ll get enough of politics without having to do any reading
Yeah, it’s going well. I had my first observation yesterday, and it was a good one. Today had some interesting plan changes partway through that gave me a bit of a challenge, but it proved to be a worthwhile one. I almost stopped by VC22 today, because I came on campus to visit financial aid, but the HELPs seemed to think I wasn’t worthy of taking up the parking space for an excessive period of time. Interesting fact: I couldn’t pick up my parking pass today…
(Bonus points for half-attempting to fix it)