The Republican Convention
I only tuned in to the RNC tonight, and my blood pressure is going up too high to be healthy.
I just got done listening to the governor of Hawaii as she says that Sarah Palin, like her, is really a CEO.
Does that mean that she will send our jobs to India, eliminate our retirement savings, and leave us on our own when she jumps out of the plane with her golden parachute?
Honestly, I give John McCain props for picking Palin (though I haven't heard her speak yet). I think she connects with pro-life family oriented middle America.
Guiliani is talking at the moment about how we need executive experience to be president. What executive experience does John McCain have?
He says we (liberals) gave up on America by giving up on Iraq.
Well,...like Obama, I never thought we should invade Iraq. I did not support the surge. I do not support indefinite occupation or presence in Iraq.
I do support a responsible withdrawal.
I haven't given up on Iraq. To give up on something, I had to be for it at some point. I was never for the invasion and occupation of Iraq!
Afghanistan is a different story.
I also oppose torture and wire tapping, which Rudy seems to favor.
I lean strongly towards Obama - but it isn't November yet.
The strength of the McCain/Palin ticket is on one issue, and one issue only - that only issue being abortion!
That may not be the most important issue of this election - but it's the issue that will win many Catholic votes.
And the real question when it comes to this issue - the only question that really matters - is whether John McCain or Obama can reduce abortion more.
Is reducing demand for abortion more effective than reducing access to abortion?
I support a right to life amendment and oppose abortion even in cases of rape and incest (hardly popular with fellow liberals).
Yet, I think Obama's strategy to reduce abortions might be more effective in the present moment.
I have voted Republican historically on this issue - but when the government actively kills, I consider this more serious than government allowing citizens to potentially kill!
If I were to give advise to the Democrats, it would be to IGNORE Palin entirely, and focus on McCain's weaknesses. Debate him vigorously on the issues - denying McCain is strong on foreign policy.
McCain is WEAK on foreign policy because he is a footsoldier - not an admiral!
IMHO, John McCain (the candidate) is stupid when it comes to foreign policy. The doctrine of preemption has been tried and failed, but he still seems to cling to it.
If experience equates hitting a nail with a screwdriver longer than anyone else, John McCain has it in spades!
But judgement is more important than experience!
Hitting a nail with a hammer is smarter than hitting a nail with a screwdriver, even if the hammer were never tried before, and the person hitting the nail with a screwdriver tried it 10,000,000,000 times before.
UPDATE: Soooo. I said we should ignore Palin, and after tonight, we should. But let's have a chance to react to her speech....
Initial reaction: she sounds like the church lady from SNL, but maybe there are lots of church ladies out there in middle America.
Now (as I write) Palin is speaking, and she's talking at the moment about John McCain's resolve on the war in Iraq - which only goes to prove my point!
This election - like 2004 - is about one issue and one issue only above all else!
The economy?
That's probably the top priority to most people, but not to me.
That's the second most important issue to me (and maybe more important than abortion, which I oppose, and gay marriage, which I support).
The most important issue IMHO is still the war in Iraq and foreign policy!
Was America right to invade a country that never attacked us, had no ties to Al Queda prior to the invasion, had no weapons of mass destruction (as confirmed by U.N. inspectors prior to the invasion), and posed absolutely and positively no imminent threat to us - at the cost of thousands of lives and billions and billions of dollars - a wrecked economy left in the wake?
Were we right to invade a county that, as current Vice President Cheney warned in 1992, is unstable and may be more violent and open to terrorists influx if Saddam were removed?
Is the Bush doctrine of preventive war a just war doctrine?
(Hint from the Catechism of the Catholic Church as interpreted by Pope Benedict - NO!!!!!!).
Is cowboy diplomacy, unilateralism, forward leaning militarism, saber rattling and refusing to talk to people the best way to win the war of ideas against terrorists?
Sure. McCain will TRY to defend the unborn (unless their embryos are useful for stem cell research).
Sure. Palin will TRY to defend the unborn more consistently than McCain (and that is HUGE).
But can the President or Vice President really do anything to make even some abortions illegal in the next four years?
I don't know. I doubt it.
What I do know is that the Commander and Chief can direct when and where our military will be used to kill people!
Innocent people.
Innocent people killed with our tax dollars and by the order of our executive!
And tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians have died because we elected to wage this unnecessary, ineffective, illegal, and immoral war of choice!
So. Sarah Palin can drone on and on about how hockey moms are like pit bulls wearing lip-stick and she doesn't pay attention to polls, but I'm not buying her "I'm just won-uv-u" spin (fed to her by a speech-writer and devoid of substance).
I grew up in red Ohio, am a registered Republican, a daily Mass communicant Catholic, pro-life and definitely working class. And I'm not buying the spin fed to her by the Karl Rove types!
Rove politics is mean spirited and divisive, and we need hope.
She can slam community organizing all she wants. I've done BOTH (community organizing, and managing people in business). They're the same damn thing. Community organizing may be harder - because the people who work for you aren't always paid!
Look at the way Obama has run his campaign, and there is objectively no way one can deny the man can lead a disciplined organization.
Now she's slammin' the media. Has she forgotten the role of Thomas Paine in the formation of our union?
And what are the special interests the Republicans keep talking about that control the liberals?
Seriously?
Are liberals controlled by big oil? Military contractors? CEO's outsourcing IT jobs to India? Wal-Mart? Tobacco? The major stock holders in the auto industry?
She says she vetoes a lot. Does that mean that she ignores the majority?
Thanks but no thanks to the bridge to nowhere? Was that before or after you supported it?
Competition fosters fairness? What about cooperation?
Energy Independence by drilling in Alaska? Is she serious?
Now she is closing by talking about McCain's heroism. He was heroic, and that's admirable. But what does surviving torture have to do with being a good President?
I only tuned in to the RNC tonight, and my blood pressure is going up too high to be healthy.
I just got done listening to the governor of Hawaii as she says that Sarah Palin, like her, is really a CEO.
Does that mean that she will send our jobs to India, eliminate our retirement savings, and leave us on our own when she jumps out of the plane with her golden parachute?
Honestly, I give John McCain props for picking Palin (though I haven't heard her speak yet). I think she connects with pro-life family oriented middle America.
Guiliani is talking at the moment about how we need executive experience to be president. What executive experience does John McCain have?
He says we (liberals) gave up on America by giving up on Iraq.
Well,...like Obama, I never thought we should invade Iraq. I did not support the surge. I do not support indefinite occupation or presence in Iraq.
I do support a responsible withdrawal.
I haven't given up on Iraq. To give up on something, I had to be for it at some point. I was never for the invasion and occupation of Iraq!
Afghanistan is a different story.
I also oppose torture and wire tapping, which Rudy seems to favor.
I lean strongly towards Obama - but it isn't November yet.
The strength of the McCain/Palin ticket is on one issue, and one issue only - that only issue being abortion!
That may not be the most important issue of this election - but it's the issue that will win many Catholic votes.
And the real question when it comes to this issue - the only question that really matters - is whether John McCain or Obama can reduce abortion more.
Is reducing demand for abortion more effective than reducing access to abortion?
I support a right to life amendment and oppose abortion even in cases of rape and incest (hardly popular with fellow liberals).
Yet, I think Obama's strategy to reduce abortions might be more effective in the present moment.
I have voted Republican historically on this issue - but when the government actively kills, I consider this more serious than government allowing citizens to potentially kill!
If I were to give advise to the Democrats, it would be to IGNORE Palin entirely, and focus on McCain's weaknesses. Debate him vigorously on the issues - denying McCain is strong on foreign policy.
McCain is WEAK on foreign policy because he is a footsoldier - not an admiral!
IMHO, John McCain (the candidate) is stupid when it comes to foreign policy. The doctrine of preemption has been tried and failed, but he still seems to cling to it.
If experience equates hitting a nail with a screwdriver longer than anyone else, John McCain has it in spades!
But judgement is more important than experience!
Hitting a nail with a hammer is smarter than hitting a nail with a screwdriver, even if the hammer were never tried before, and the person hitting the nail with a screwdriver tried it 10,000,000,000 times before.
UPDATE: Soooo. I said we should ignore Palin, and after tonight, we should. But let's have a chance to react to her speech....
Initial reaction: she sounds like the church lady from SNL, but maybe there are lots of church ladies out there in middle America.
Now (as I write) Palin is speaking, and she's talking at the moment about John McCain's resolve on the war in Iraq - which only goes to prove my point!
This election - like 2004 - is about one issue and one issue only above all else!
The economy?
That's probably the top priority to most people, but not to me.
That's the second most important issue to me (and maybe more important than abortion, which I oppose, and gay marriage, which I support).
The most important issue IMHO is still the war in Iraq and foreign policy!
Was America right to invade a country that never attacked us, had no ties to Al Queda prior to the invasion, had no weapons of mass destruction (as confirmed by U.N. inspectors prior to the invasion), and posed absolutely and positively no imminent threat to us - at the cost of thousands of lives and billions and billions of dollars - a wrecked economy left in the wake?
Were we right to invade a county that, as current Vice President Cheney warned in 1992, is unstable and may be more violent and open to terrorists influx if Saddam were removed?
Is the Bush doctrine of preventive war a just war doctrine?
(Hint from the Catechism of the Catholic Church as interpreted by Pope Benedict - NO!!!!!!).
Is cowboy diplomacy, unilateralism, forward leaning militarism, saber rattling and refusing to talk to people the best way to win the war of ideas against terrorists?
Sure. McCain will TRY to defend the unborn (unless their embryos are useful for stem cell research).
Sure. Palin will TRY to defend the unborn more consistently than McCain (and that is HUGE).
But can the President or Vice President really do anything to make even some abortions illegal in the next four years?
I don't know. I doubt it.
What I do know is that the Commander and Chief can direct when and where our military will be used to kill people!
Innocent people.
Innocent people killed with our tax dollars and by the order of our executive!
And tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians have died because we elected to wage this unnecessary, ineffective, illegal, and immoral war of choice!
So. Sarah Palin can drone on and on about how hockey moms are like pit bulls wearing lip-stick and she doesn't pay attention to polls, but I'm not buying her "I'm just won-uv-u" spin (fed to her by a speech-writer and devoid of substance).
I grew up in red Ohio, am a registered Republican, a daily Mass communicant Catholic, pro-life and definitely working class. And I'm not buying the spin fed to her by the Karl Rove types!
Rove politics is mean spirited and divisive, and we need hope.
She can slam community organizing all she wants. I've done BOTH (community organizing, and managing people in business). They're the same damn thing. Community organizing may be harder - because the people who work for you aren't always paid!
Look at the way Obama has run his campaign, and there is objectively no way one can deny the man can lead a disciplined organization.
Now she's slammin' the media. Has she forgotten the role of Thomas Paine in the formation of our union?
And what are the special interests the Republicans keep talking about that control the liberals?
Seriously?
Are liberals controlled by big oil? Military contractors? CEO's outsourcing IT jobs to India? Wal-Mart? Tobacco? The major stock holders in the auto industry?
She says she vetoes a lot. Does that mean that she ignores the majority?
Thanks but no thanks to the bridge to nowhere? Was that before or after you supported it?
Competition fosters fairness? What about cooperation?
Energy Independence by drilling in Alaska? Is she serious?
Now she is closing by talking about McCain's heroism. He was heroic, and that's admirable. But what does surviving torture have to do with being a good President?
