Sunday, September 28, 2008

No, it's still fun

Apparently "top Republicans" are shitting their pants as the Vice-Pres debate nears, and some are loosing that ol' honeymoon feeling as Palin continues to blunder, oh, just about every time she opens her mouth. I read one rather hilarious quote by a conservative columnist that read, "It was fun while it lasted."

There are many, many, many things to laugh about (not least that Planned Parenthood has recently raised over three-quarters of a million dollars by encouraging people to donate money in Palin's name in an email campaign), but one of my favorites continues to be her famous line about her proximity to Russia equaling foreign policy experience. I suppose if that were true, every citizen of northern Wisconsin, or, say, San Diego would have at least as much foreign policy experience as Palin, who just got her first passport last year. Of course, this might all be essentially meaningless to a large majority of Americans, who voted for Bush not once (oh, no!) but twice. Bush, of course, made his first overseas trip only after making office, and, as everyone knows, he's just done a hell of a job managing foreign policy.

But one thing that does not amuse me about the whole Palin debacle is how often I hear people say, "Now, the feminists are going to get mad at me for this..." or "Now, I'm a feminist, but she's an idiot..." As if all feminists (or women in general) are required to support each member of our sex, regardless of how idiotic she may be. Discussing Palin's inexperience (or, ridiculing it, as the case may be) doesn't mark you as a woman-hater, any more than my saying that President Bush has been the worst president this country has ever known makes this feminist a man-hater. In the end, she is a person, just like any other, who happens to be ridiculously under-qualified for a position for which she is applying. It's unfortunate, that, as a woman, she is not and would not be a champion for women's rights (I encourage you to read that as human rights), but will continue to erode them just like the Republican party has done for the past 8 years.

6 comments:

Indiana Fan said...

Hey, K. Good post, especially on the women's rights=human rights note. But, I have to take exception with the "large majority of Americans who voted for Bush twice."

George W. Bush received 50,456,002 votes in 2000, about a half-million less then Gore. And not all of the same 50 million voted for him again in 2004. With the US population well over 300 million at this time, the number of US citizens who actually voted (any voting-machine shenanigans notwithstanding) is likely less than 17%.
So, in this way, you can feel pretty decent about most of the folks you see on the street. Odds are, they didn't vote for Bush twice.

Special K said...

Hmmm... Ok, I see your point. But I still have to cast a stern look at my fellow americans. If you didn't vote against him, that's pretty much a vote for him. It really aggravates me that so many people don't vote.

Anonymous said...

Special "K", your the GREATEST! Keep up the good work, and by the way...."GO CUBS!"

Special K said...

Thanks, pa. Is it still baseball season?

KHM said...

these last few weeks have been such a display of audacity from the GOP that I've been unable to articulate myany frustrations. I
Mean, as if Palin on the ticket doesn't adequately express their disregard (contempt?) for the American voter now we've got this ridiculous bailout scheme that rewards the very people who have wrecked our economy. Nice work, lousy bastards!

Carrie said...

Oh, the bailout. What's a homeowner in a low income, minority populated neighborhood surrounded by forclosures driving her property valuse into the dust to think? Without a bailout, the forclosures will continue to wreck my equity, and with one, ick, those bastards get more than they deserve. Trying times.