Rare Post - Politics!

So I've never been into politics, despite Jeff's best efforts. Well, this year, probably because I've nothing better to do for the past 6 weeks but watch CNN, I'm paying attention.

After John McCain's speech last night, I posted a status on my Facebook page saying "John McCain is a freak show and a fraud". I woke up this morning to an old college acquaintance's comment "harsh words for a war hero...". Really? Why? One has nothing to do with the other. And since when is it bad to say something negative about someone just because they were in the military? If you put yourself out there in a national election, people are going to critique you. I can guarantee you I'm not going to vote for someone on their military status alone and I'm going to look at who they really are.

Nor am I going to vote for someone just because she's female, which is why I find his VP choice somewhat insulting (that, and she seriously looks like a combination of Tina Fey and Karen Walker, not someone I can take seriously; I would like to point out that I regret not blogging about that last week when Jeff and I were joking about it, because 2 days later, Jon Stewart said the same thing on The Daily Show. Damn!). I voted for Hillary because of who she is (and a love of all things Clinton!) , not because she's female. I think anyone that would make a huge decision like that based on someone being a veteran or being a female is ignorant. There's so much more to it.

I'm also annoyed that they keep spotlighting Palin's son with Down Syndrome, and the McCain's daughter they adopted. They don't want anyone to focus on the negative about their children (ahem, Bristol, the knocked-up one), but they want us all to focus on the ones that are the better PR decisions. It's sick. If you want one kid out, then keep them all out, not just the ones that are inconvenient to your campaign.

Speaking of Bristol, while I don't think Sarah Palin is at fault for her daughter getting pregnant (kids clearly have minds of their own), I think it is hysterically ironic that her underage daughter is pregnant. But why are they glorifying her decision to marry the father? Keeping the baby is one thing, but is getting married at 17 just because you have a baby really a good idea we want to promote? Why not have the baby and see what happens? There's no shame in being an unwed mother. Why put a child through a potentially painful divorce when those two realize they were way too young to get married and decide to divorce?

I also didn't hear anything during the whole RNC about issues that meant anything. It was a ridiculous smear campaign full of mocking the DNC. If that's all the material you have to fill a 3 day convention, it's pretty sad. What about the real issues? What are you going to do other than telling us you'll do the opposite of what the Democrats say they'll do? That's not discussing issues, it's piggybacking on someone else's ideas to come up with your strategy. Insanity.

Despite what the Republicans want the world to think, Democrats do not hate the USA, and do not hate soldiers. I have many family and friends that have served in the military, and I do worry about them, and I do salute them for their service. However, I'd rather them do it in peacetime, not in a senseless war. Serving is serving, you don't have to be shot at to prove you're a hero.

And finally, I'm so sick of "Vote for John McCain, he's a war hero". You don't hear "Vote for Barack Obama, he's black". The reason? It's tacky and irrelevant.