I find it strangely ironic that the day before the election (yesterday) that the 2 most major events to happen in each other's political camp were really the obvious themes to me throughout the entire campaign.First off Obama's Grandmother, a woman VERY close to this man's heart, so much so that he suspended his campaigning a few weeks ago to go visit, passed away. To mark the event, only a day before the election, Obama did what any responsible, presidential candidate so close to winning the election, and yet knowing that so much was riding on HIM, would do: he kept going. Not only did he keep going, but he only mentioned his grandmother's death in passing, swearing not to dwell on it for very long. In all truth, from most of what I've been able to glean from all the reading and research, and trying to sift out from all the hype and shitslinging- he acted presidential about it all. Time to grieve later, right now there's business to do.
On the other hand, again to emphasize and amplify the quality of the difference between the two camps, Sarah Palin was acquitted of wrongdoing for her role in the so-called "troopergate" scandal by a bipartisan commission yesterday. If you weren't looking you might have missed that out of the mainstream media- from what I saw it's just hitting the main news desks now and only a few late night pundits mentioned it last night that I saw. As a PRIME example, again of the quality and tone that this campaign has been waged in, this decision is probably rushed out to try to make some effect IN the media, and admittedly probably ignored by most media, in the hopes of swaying a voter or two in favor of the "pitbull with lipstick". A "pitbull" who swears she ain't goin' nowhere and will probably make a stab at the presidential post in the year 2012. I am taking the UNDER on that bet- it probably ain't gonna happen and I'll tell you why in a sec. Right now I want to finish my analogy on this campaign...
Ok, Palin was found "innocent" on Troopergate, but wait, just a few weeks before she was found by the state of Alaska's judicial board to have definitely broken at least one ethics violation in this mess, so, you ask- "WTF?". Well, the non-partisan board that cleared her yesterday was entirely appointed by HER, and she KNEW they were going to make a ruling on her case, and I'm sure she was hoping they would have made that announcement a few days earlier, but low and behold- SOMETHING held that decision up until it couldn't be used to back up her Vice Presidential run. THERE'S a coincidence in a world where most believe that there are no coincidences. Now, if all the polls are any indication she's probably heading back to Alaska to live, at least for the next four years, right? On a final note, this was a commission that she herself 'lawyered up" on, on the VERY day she wagged the dog on her "Bristol's Pregnant- please give my family some privacy" memo to the press.
To sum it all up, as I see it, Obama, business as usual- business in the face of tragedy, but business as usual. For Palin- Thank you lawyers for getting me cleared, but God Damn it, why couldn't I have used this to have an effect on how I look in the polls and the voting booth!". To me this "Professionalism VS. Legalese Sleeze" honestly sums up the way I see both of these campaigns running. One can still do what he has to even in the face of losing loved ones, while the other props up her loved ones in front of the media in order to divert attention from the real problems and their legal manipulations to fix them. By now, you have no doubt of who I just went and voted for- and this from a staunch Ron Paul supporter to boot.
On Palin and her running wherever; This is the real rub to all of this. Her record is open for anyone to uncover. All it takes is a reading of her entry in Wikipedia, a little "between the lines" reading and some media watching, with full "spin filter" on on any media show you watch and/or listen to. Palin was a FLAWED candidate from the get-go. Just a pair of legs connected to a record that was far from "pitbullish" as much as it was corporate ass-kissing. Any person naive enough to believe that Palin was THE choice for McCain has honestly got to re-educate themselves on just how our "wonderful" political parties work. Seriously. If it was McCain's choice to make he would have chosen Lieberman, ran on his more liberal record and told the neo-cons to goosestep in line. Instead he flip flopped over the last four years, backing Bush's policies, just to get the RNC nod for Presidential Hopeful, was TOLD who his running mate was by the RNC (It's already public knowledge that McCain had only met with Palin one or two times before he announced her as VP choice), in order for this train wreck to move forward to its' inevitable conclusion. One that if the polls are dead on or close to accurate will leave McCain AND Palin impotent for the rest of their political lives, what little there will be left of them. "Mr. McCain, I'm sure you know Mr. Kerry (who?), and Ms. Palin, I'm sure you know of Mr. Quayle...those are both of their footsteps you will more than likely be following, and those are their footnotes in political history that will not only be slightly above yours, but will likely be slightly longer".I tell folks that Palin was mayor of Wasilla (a town literally 5/8 the size of Flushing Michigan), she took their budget from a surplus to a 25 million dollar hole over a sports complex built by the construction company that built their house (for next to free- again "coincidence"?), and the residents in Flint Michigan just signed a recall petition on their mayor- forcing another election- and He's only dealing with a NINE million dollar hole-in a citer that is lierally FIVE times bigger than Wasilla- go figure. Palin served on the gas and regulatory board where she met a LOT for big oil execs, and preceded a republican incumbent into the Governor's chair using not only those connection but also help from her mentor, the newly indicted Senator from Alaska, Mr. Stevens (who is up one what, SEVEN counts of perjury). Plus, she used the money originally earmarked for that "bridge to nowhere" to cut property taxes in Alaska a whopping SIXTY percent- an advantage that not only bumped her approval rating but made some big land owner oil coprporations REALLY HAPPY. Not only that, but she literally stepped on the republican graves of the mayor, oil commissioner, and Governor that proceeded her, playing this hardball "slit your throat" tactics that seem to stem more from a "woman scorned" perspective more than anyone looking to play the political party game. To me that doesn't make her a "Maverick" by ANY measure- just a back stabbing bitch. Am I the only one who thinks that her entire VP run was a set-up by the RNC? Literally a "win-win" situation for them and played upon her thirst of power to make her totally political impotent. Face it, if she won the VP spot- she's got no real power, and if she losses, she's branded a loser in everyone in the party's mind- "allowed" to finish her term as Governor in SHAME and all the while one scandal after the next will continue to plague her until she retires (she's still got a lot of Wasilla 'splainin' to do) .
I think the RNC HATED her, they HATED McCain (who to me was a solid pussy to kiss RNC ass for four years just to get a spot that seems to be taking him nowhere), and they LET him run a down and dirty, shitslinging campaign because that's all that was really left for him to do. What?, he was going to run on message, with a solid by-the-book, full of solutions plan? GET REAL! He couldn't run on his record (and all those flip-flops), he couldn't run on his reputation (knowing full well that if Hillary was his opponent all we would be hearing in the media would have been "Keating 5" over and over again), so he ran the only campaign he could, one of negativity, shitslinging, fear mongering, and hatred. I not only hope he loses, but that he loses BIG!! Again, all this not only from a staunch Ron Paul supporter, but one who voted for Regan, and both Bush's (one time apeaice- I DID vote for Kerry last election).I, like all of you who give half a shit, await the outcome of this election with baited breath. Either way, not only is history made, but the shape of the world will shift, ideologically, thematically, and even economically. The way we are looked at from outside our borders will be reassessed and we will turn in one direction or the other but things won't be exactly the same as they are today. In the immortal words of the immortal Bill Hicks, "We have a choice, right now, right here, between fear and love, right now, make a choice."
WAKE UP! please.
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