A Closer Look Here, There and Everywhere
by Trish PurcellSome of the things we should be talking about in this election are a trillion dollar war, rising unemployment, a deregulated and crashing housing market, failing banks, global warming, and a 22% increase in the number of uninsured since 2000.
What are we talking about? We're talking about Sarah Palin - was she or was she not a good mayor? Is she, or is she not a good mother? Do we like her hair style? What about her glasses? And when we talk about John McCain, we are talking about what he did 35 years ago.
Probably the worst offenders are the pundits who take the position that it's all just a game and say phrases like "getting a post-convention bump" or "playing to the soccer Moms." This isn't a game of Monopoly or Survivor. There are real truths that exist outside of the spin they are given and have an effect on lives. 250,000 Iraqi civilians are dead because we let our reality be distorted by the most effective propaganda machine in fifty years, the corporate American press. Money and jobs are flying out of this country as our currency becomes worthless and we're talking about the fact that McCain is a veteran.*
Is it possible that the people of this country, over the last two weeks have forgotten about 4000+ dead soldiers, mounting numbers of homeless families due to foreclosures, the highest unemployment rate in five years, Katrina, four dollar gas, and a president and vice-president disrupting global relationships by goading Russia, and intent on starting a war with Iran before leaving office. Could Americans possibly think a single individual and what may or may not be true about her life, is more important than all these national interests?
Have we really become such a nation of sheep that we can be so easily distracted from the issues that will determine the survival of our country, not only in our lifetimes but in those of our children and grandchildren?
Is Sarah Palin or anything about her so important that it should decide who we choose as president?
The people did not choose Palin, they chose John McCain. Let’s look at him, at who he is, what he believes, what he will do for us. And the people chose Barack Obama. Let’s look at him, at who he is, what he believes, and what he will do for us.
Let us compare these two candidates that we chose and decide which of them is most likely to do what we need done – bring our troops home, restart our economy, help save our planet, developed innovative energy alternatives, undo the damage done to our governemt by reinstating habeus corpus, depoliticizing the Justice Department, and repopulating the FDA, FCC, EPA, SEC and FTC with personnel who will actually work for consumer protections.
Bush/Cheney have done horrific damage to America and its people and they continue to do damage each and every day they remain in power. John McCain has supported Bush 90% of the time. That is what we need to talk to him about. That is why we need to ask John McCain what he means when he claims to be an agent of change. What change? Do ads that minor in issues and major in character assassination indicate change? Or are they proof of lack of character – a win at any cost mentality that duplicates the GOP campaigns of the past and promises to continue the broken government of the present.
So let us put Sarah Palin in the context in which she belongs. She is not a superwoman, a savior, or the next president. Sarah Palin is a running mate for John McCain. One who agrees with his policies. And it is those policies that need to be examined, discussed, and debated.
If we don’t get down to the important business of really evaluating the change these two candidates will bring, we will face, as we did in 2004, an election that shocks the world with our stupidity.
* Adam McKay, Huffington Post, Sept 8, 2008
Trish, I don't honestly believe all the distractions thrown in our face by the media, as well as the McCain people are going to work for much longer. I continue to believe Sarah Palin is going to blow up in the face of the McCain campaign. Already her weary mantra of lies is beginning to sound very old, and it's not nearly as convincing out there on the campaign trail as it was in that large auditorium where it was heard for the first time. And the media seems a bit offended by the pick of such an unqualified person to be a heartbeat away from the presidency, and they are finally doing their homework, and yes, even Fox Noise at times.
A friend sent me an interesting article. The people in Alaska know Palin's claim that she stopped the bridge to nowhere is a lie, so when she was back there for a few days, the rhetoric suddenly changed, until she left again of course.
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/09/13/1394679.aspx
The McCain/Palin campaign is so loaded with obvious lies and blatant stupidity that I am quite certain it isn't going to fly for long. There aren't enough clueless Independents and undecided voters out there for this campaign to convincingly lie to. If these people were as obtuse as the Republican base they wouldn't be Independents or undecided.
What is beginning to concern me now, is the very real possibility of voter fraud. Both the 2000 and 2004 elections were darkened by that particular shadow. The disenfranchisement of valid voters, and the possibility of faulty (manipulated) electronic voting machines is a real threat.
Already reports are coming in from around the nation about the possibility of voter disenfranchisement in various places. One issue in particular is that of ID verification between names on a voter registration form exactly matching those on driver's licenses. A dot here or a line there, and they don't match, and the process stops. I have a friend that couldn't get a CA driver's license for three months because of a period on one document and not on another.
Another issue arises because of the foreclosure of so many homes around the nation. People don't always move right away when there is a foreclosure, but it appears there are people out there seeking to automatically take those folks off the voter rolls, claiming they are no longer residents, whether or not they have as yet moved.
No doubt we are going to hear a lot more about all this in the next few weeks. Quite honestly, I can't see any way the extremely lame ticket of McCain/Palin can honestly win an election. There are a lot of clueless Americans that simply vote the same as their families have for generations as a matter of habit, and others that vote with religious issues they deem more important than actual national issues. But, I don't believe there are enough in either of those groups on the right, to swing this election for McCain.
Also, more and more new voters are registering around the nation, and there are a lot of veteran voters switching parties. And, the majority are not registering or switching to the GOP.
The nation has been steadily going down the economic tubes for eight long and weary years, and regardless of the silly efforts of the Republicans to blame this on the Democrats, everyone, regardless of intelligence quotient and/or political ideology, knows who has been in power for those eight years.
Stephen, I wish I were as confident as you are that “reason” will prevail when voters decide who to vote for. When I wrote this blog, I felt like I was hitting my head against a wall. For a long time I have puzzled over the GOP ability to suck otherwise intelligent people into their web of lies. And I have continued to write and talk, using reason, trying to convince them that they are being hoodwinked. It rarely worked. Then, after posting the blog, I read the article I sent to you, What Makes People Vote Republican?
This article gives an explanation that is feasible and explains what has seemed unexplainable. It is written by Jonathan Haidt, Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia. He researches morality and emotion and how they vary across cultures.
It seems clear that referring to the Democratic/Republican strife as the culture war is very astute. Based on the advances that now allow us to map the brain, genes and unconscious attitudes, Haidt says,
That last sentence pretty much describes what we do, don’t you think? (smile) We see the “truth” about how the Republicans trick people. We feel righteous anger and are sure we are on the moral high ground. What we miss in our moral outrage is that what a whole lot of other people see is a choice between the moral order that the Republican vision of good and evil seems to give them or the moral chaos offered by the Democratic alternative of diversity and progress. It does no good to proclaim that as a false choice. As long as it continues to be their perception, it will be possible to trick them into voting against the national interests they claim to support. The article goes on to give a more detailed explanation of what feeds into that perception and therein lies the knowledge we need to actually change it.
In the meantime, it seems dangerous to assume that reason will take precedence over the Republican appeal to deep seated concerns. Didn’t we do that in the 2004 election? What thinking person would have believed that Bush could be reelected in light of his first term performance? But he was and the whole world was shocked. The suspected voter fraud in Ohio was not sufficient by itself to win that election. They also needed the voters who remained convinced that the Republican promise of moral order was true. We need to make whatever change is needed in our approach, to be sure that doesn’t happen again.
Trish, in my opinion, the key here will be the Independents and those undecided voters. Sure, the diehard Republicans wouldn't know how to vote otherwise. I just don't think the McCain/Palin horse and buggy show is going to impress those two groups. And, I hear there are indeed a lot of Republicans switching to Democrats, and in Butte County!
From your mouth to God's ear!