The day before the most important Presidential election since 1960 is here and I want to share my political thoughts. Tina Fey has become even more famous for impersonating Sarah Palin by often repeating verbatim the ignorant responses the real Palin has given. What a sad state of affairs.
This is an extremely scary time in this country after the last 8 years of disaster. I never thought that a black man would ever be President, in fact I always used to say that I thought that this country would vote a woman in before they ever voted for a black man. I suppose this speaks volumes about my own racism but given the events that have unfolded since 2000 and so far this year there is no way I could EVER vote for John McCain or the Republican party.
The campaign run by the Senator from the state I live in has been an absolute disgrace. And what gets me is that given all his fuck ups, lies, corruption and negativity he is only losing by six points. Six fucking points! If Barack Obama had a caucasian name name like, say John Edwards and was white he would be ahead by 30 points in the polls. Hands down. But this post isn't so much about Barack Obama's competence or John McCain's ineptitude as it is about McCain's pick of Sarah Palin as his VP. I know much already has been said about the former "Beauty Queen" but I need to write this for my own sanity.
What the hell is wrong with the American people? Somehow people think the Presidential election is like "American Idol" and some stupid popularity contest. I've spoken to many women that actually have the nerve to say they "like her" and think that she would make a great Vice-President or worse yet, a President. WTF?
I like many other Americans thought that picking Palin was an insult to all women of this country. Did the Republicans ACTUALLY think that they could throw anyone up there with tits and they would automatically capture the Hillary Clinton supporters? Sadly, there is some of that. I've also heard her referred to as a feminist. My God, that is such an insult. She is the farthest away from any type of feminist. She does not support abortion AT ALL, her husband is a secessionist (meaning he thinks that Alaska should break away from the US) and she is a Jesus freak. She has said and firmly believes that the book of Revelations will come true in her lifetime. That is extremely scary.
Many scandals have surfaced since she was picked without any type of background checks or vetting. She has shown to be an extremely corrupt and dangerously ambitious politician that never answers questions, shows no intelligence whatsoever and talks in an extremely irritating way. Everyone saw how she froze like a moose in the headlights in the Katie Couric interview, right? Then there is the matter of "Troopergate" when she had someone fired for NOT firing her ex-brother-in-law. More info has surfaced that showed her going back and amending trip logs (once she was selected) to justify flying her kids all over the country at taxpayer expense, steering certain companies to the lucrative pipeline contract that benefits her friends, the GOP spending $150k on clothes for her during the campaign, paying her makeup artist more than McCain's national security advisor and forcing her 16-year-old daughter to marry the redneck that knocked her up. Am I forgetting anything?
Add to that her rallies are full of hate. She accuses Obama of "palling around with terrorists" and doesn't say anything in response when people shout out, "kill him" or "terrorist", and that's more than offensive, it's sickening. No one seems to call her out on this and I find that extremely disturbing. The McCain campaign smacks of desperation but I would think that anyone with half a brain cell can see through this bullshit. How dare they claim Obama is an elitist when he was raised by a single mother, literally rose above poverty to get good grades and put himself through Harvard by way of loans and scholarships and owns one house and one car. All the while McCain has 9 houses and 13 cars and has said that the "middle class" makes less than 2.5 MILLION a year. They are both so out of touch it's frightening. Wake up America!!
Recently, some Republicans have accused her of going "rogue" and breaking away from McCain's already incoherent policies. Are they better? Nope, they are much worse. She wants to be the face of the Republican party for years to come and is positioning herself in such a way that she won't look bad. But if she's the future than we should all be very scared.
I haven't even mentioned her extreme lack of qualifications yet. Since when did being a mother of five children make you qualified to be President? Since when did being a mayor of a town of 8000 or a new Governor of the most notoriously corrupt state in America make you qualified for anything? In her home town of Wasilla, Alaska there are 45 meth labs, that's in a town of 8000, what the fuck! The very thought that this woman could EVER become President is extremely frightening and I wonder why the people of this country don't rise up in major protest. She is scarier than Cheney by far. I don't think it's so far from the truth to say that some men like her because they want to have sex with her. Are we that shallow? She is so ignorant, she thinks the VP is in charge of the Senate, has no idea what a VP actually does, doesn't know what the 1st Amendment is or even what Bush's policies are. She's a moron, plain and simple.
But perhaps the worst thing to come out of the McCain campaign are those damn speeches all around the country when they BOTH say that the REAL Americans are in small towns. I am extremely offended that they would even imply, let alone say that there are certain sections of the country that are more "American" than others. FUCK THEM. I was born and raised in San Francisco does that mean I'm not an American? How dare they!! We are ALL Americans. If you want to play that game than I firmly believe that people from cities are more capable of making rational and educated decisions than those simple "farm folk" in small towns. The Republicans just like them because they can be easily influenced like sheep. So there.
I am also exasperated by the fact that Republicans play extremely dirty with all their "fingerpointing", name-calling, sarcasm and out-right lies but when the Democrats defend themselves they are accused of those very things. Hell, the Republican party invented those dirty tactics and they fake outrage over everything. They seem to forget that they have been in power for 8 years and look what has happened. The country is almost bankrupt, we are still fighting 2 wars, Wall Street has collapsed and there is no hope in sight. They accuse Obama of being a socialist and try to strike fear into the country when the real scary thought is that they might actually win this election. Are people that fucking stupid? Yes they are. I'm worried about this election and the direction this country is heading. Does that make me un-American or unpatriotic? The GOP thinks that any dissenting opinion or questioning is un-American and unpatriotic and that makes me sick. I love this country but I want it to be better. I want change, I want to travel around the world again and be thankful to be an American. I want us to be respected and happy but more than that I want the American people to care enough to do something about it. This country has been hi-jacked by the religious right and the over-zealotry of the fundamentalists that tell us we only have "family values" if we're Christian.
Nobody seems to have a problem with "fingerpointing" at a criminal trial. I don't see the defense saying "What matters is that we all work together to find a solution". And if a captain takes his ship into a storm by incompetence and/or malfeasance, we expect his fault to be properly assessed. We also want to find out how we got into the storm in the first place, so that we don't do it again. The same goes for our leaders: it is appropriate to look at the situation and question how we got there. If it was because of specific policies and ideological beliefs, then it behooves us to pass judgment on the policies and on the people to advocated them. In criminal law, "fingerpointing" is better referred to as "charging with". And we tend not to be particularly upset when prosecutors do it. It's our right to question and demand a certain level of intelligence for the most important job in the world, is it not?
I don't care about "Joe-six-pack" or "Joe the plumber" or "hockey moms" or any of those other stupidly coined names that are first and foremost fictional characters. That's not me. What about "Jack the professional artist" or just simply me, the single professional filmmaker who struggles everyday to make a better life for himself?
This is why I cast my vote for Barack Obama and I sincerely hope that he gets elected and turns this country around. We have real problems and he's the person who can bring us the change we so desperately need. The people of this country are like children who don't have any idea what's good for them but need a strong and steady hand to teach them instead of someone who runs everything from their "gut." We are so narcissistic in this country to always want someone to be President who's like us. I don't want ANY of our leaders to be like me. I want them to be tolerant, pragmatic, honest and above all intelligent. Is that too much to ask for??
Since we are so fascinated with celebrity in this country why can't Tina Fey be the VP pick instead?
-- Janaki Cedanna
Post Election Addendum:
So, my worries are over. Obama won the Presidency. YAY! McCain might have one his home state (by only a measly 8 points) but in MY election center I'm proud to say he won by a 3-1 margin. Gotta love Mesa. Well, not really.
As I scan the headlines this past week there is virtually no mention of McCain but there is at least one story about Palin everyday. Come on people let her fade into the collective memory as a novelty item, will ya?
One of the scariest things was that in her first TV interview since her and the old man's landslide defeat was a comment she made about running for Senator. She said and I quote: "I would serve in the Senate if God gave me the opportunity." Do Americans fully realize how close this psycho came to being "a heart-beat away" from the Presidency? I mean is this really the kind of mentally unbalanced person we want running the country? She is someone who has actually said on many occasions that she firmly believes that the Book of Revelations will come true in her lifetime. Wow, I don't even know how to respond to this. Why, oh why do people INSIST on bringing up their stupid made up fairy tales they call religion to EVERY single discussion? I blame Jimmy Carter for this. He's the first President to actually tout his religion to the entire country and look at where we are now.
When faced with hard decisions or worse, a national disaster our leaders actually say like clockwork, "Let's pray" for them. How about using your fucking brain? While I agree it's important to have faith, misplaced or blind faith is much more dangerous than not having any at all. I'd rather have someone who actually thinks for themselves than someone who waits for some gaseous cloud to give them a "sign" on what they should do. It's pathetic. Just think we could have had another couple of Jesus freaks running this country into the ground for another four years and that scares me more than the Book of Revelations ever could.
It's good news, bad news for Vince as the guys go back home to Queens to chill out. Martin Scorsese cameos in the 5th season finale!
