If Americans, through apathy or idiocy, elect the McCain-Palin ticket in November, the jokes on all of us. Presidential campaigns and political campaigns in general are usually built upon various layers of lunacy. But this McCain-Palin Republican presidential ticket is the mother of all multi-layer political cakes.
In the first place, you’ve got a guy, Sen. John McCain, heading the ticket who’s been a “Washington insider,” i.e., since 1982 he has served first as a congressman and now a senator, portraying himself as some sort of “maverick” who’d work not for the party first but for America First. He decries Washington politics (which he has been a major player in shaping since 1982) — and, by God, he insists he means it!
The next thing this maverick warrior of the people does is find someone highly qualified to lead the nation, should anything happen to him as president: Gov. Sarah Palen of Alaska. The good (?) governor has been shaped in the forge of high-level Alaskan policy, having earlier served as mayor of a town there of about 9,000 people — oh, and, uh, she’s under investigation within the state of Alaska for possible ethics questions related to possibly using her influence to get an ex-brother-in-law fired from the State Patrol (or whatever Alaska’s name for it is). Never mind that the good senator has spent several MONTHS insisting that Sen. Barack Obama is very lightweight on the experience score, and really, pretty young to be taking on something as important as president. (For the record, Obama is actually OLDER than Palen.)
Finally, Sen. McCain, Gov. Palen, and all the delegates at the GOP Convention gave each other standing ovations and congrats all around for their astute grasp of our nation’s needs. Palen was applauded as though she were the Second Coming of Christ — despite MONTHS of patter from McCain and the GOP that a major fault against Obama is that he’s a “rock star” or “celebrity” — AND THE ENTIRE REPUBLICAN PARTY SEES NO INCONSISTENCIES, NO HYPOCRISY IN ANY OF THIS????????
Sorry. Got carried away there. I’m 61 years old. I began voting the first election I was old enough to do so — 21 at that time, in 1968 — and I’ve never missed voting in a presidential election. For many years, I was a dutiful nod-my-head-slack-jawed-and-vote-Republican/Christian-conservative. Then I did the unforgivable for the GOP/Christian/Conservative camp: I started paying attention and THINKING about what’s going on in this country.
I have concluded that, 1) ALL politicians of ANY political party will ALWAYS say just what they think you want them to say to get your vote, and, 2) of the major parties in this country (both) that are, so to speak “full of it,” the GOP — especially under this dual ticket from circus world — is MORE full of it generally speaking. And they are several layers of B.S. beyond believable this year.
My apologies for getting so carried away. It’s the absolute, bold and blatant hypocrisy of this year’s Republican ticket that just leaves me speechless and makes me rant so.
Ah, well, what do I know? I’m just a guy who reads the papers.