McCain is not a maverick. He intends to only serve one term. That leaves us with a possible replacement who is a right wing extremist.

I honestly believe that McCain only wants to be a president period. He has not intention of governing in the name of those who need it. “Mommy!! I jus wanna be president!!! Waaa!!!

Glad to see other women are outraged. I hear too many of us exclaiming over the cheerleader.
Curdles the blood.

” But the packaging of her as Every Woman, as the one whose going to “shatter that glass ceiling,” as if she’s even remotely in Hilary Clinton’s league, is condescending and deeply insulting.”

Instead of taking each candidate in the context of the ‘packaging’ the various commentators from each side and campaigns themselves give us, i’m trying to analyze their records and personalities myself….

All 4 candidates have children. Why are we only asking if Sarah Palin has the time to be both a parent and a P/VP?

That, to me, is what is sad about sexism’s persistent prevalence.

The CNN article on this news is disturbing in myriad ways (Internet rumors that the Palin baby with Down’s was the daughter’s? Who knew?), but as much as I’d like to shut down your previous “It doesn’t matter, we’re gonna lose anyway” argument, the quotes they included from Republican delegates make me just want to go crawl into a corner with a stiff drink and an enormous spliff. To wit:
Delegates to the Republican convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, said the disclosure of Bristol’s pregnancy would not hurt the Republican ticket and may make Palin “a real person like all the rest of us.”

“I have a 17-year-old daughter, and they start making choices without us,” said Annette Ratliff, a delegate from Texas. “I appreciate the choice she is making to have the baby, but it just makes her a real person. It happens every day in America.”

“I think, if anything, it shows the Republican Party is a real American party,” said Rex Teter, another Texas delegate. “Every family has to deal with children, and sometimes children make decisions that parents wish they would not have been made, and things happen. But I think children are a blessing from God.”

If I think too much about the rampant hypocrisy and doublespeak these people and the rest of the Republican machine will have to go through to make this seem completely innocuous and irrelevant to the campaign, my head will explode. So I’ll leave the commentary to you, my friend.

Let’s get together with our girls soon. You never know which foreign country we’ll choose to move to if things get much worser around here.

I’m so disgusted with Palin for VP that I had to forcibly avoid all the commentary of it in the news because I’m afraid if I get any more pissed off my head might explode. That move was a put down to all the women of this country, and yet I know some who will blindly play into it and fool themselves into thinking that their party is so “progressive” and “hip” that they have a woman on the ticket! I honestly have no respect for any woman who would vote for McCain just because Palin will be VP. Can anyone really see her as President should it come to that?

Biden was a sound choice IMO. Sure, he’s older and has been in Washington a long time, but he brings many assets to the ticket and speaks volumes about how carefully the rest of Obama’s administration will be chosen.

In the end I always end up voting for the lesser of two evils. I’m so far out in left field politically that no one comes close to being that “it” candidate for me. But Obama is far more likely to change things in Washington than McCain. Even if he only achieves a small percentage of what he says he intends to it will be a huge step in the right direction. And how can anyone not love Michelle Obama? That woman is awesome and the two of them together says something about them both.

Now as for Palin? She does more to strengthen Obama’s chance at the White House than McMethuselah’s ardor for Bush and significant memory gaps.

And, FYI, Republican horndogs: if I required some girl on girl action, Hillary (not Sarah) would put the hitch in my gitalong. I need some meat with my potatoes. Plus Talbots makes me hoooootttt.

I think my state of mind right now is one of great frustration that I have to do the “lesser of two evils” thing (hey, at least I get a choice, though). However, as you said, Obama is the guy most likely to bring forth SOME kind of change. Maybe three decades from now I’ll see a government and leaders that I feel more comfortable with because of the things he does. Sometimes it’s so hard to be patient and not just want some kind of revolution (hah); like you said, though, change is slow. But it’s completely worth waiting (and voting) for.

And to Amanda, sweetie, I SO hear you! I do. I am equally as cynical. I didn’t give myself over to Obama because, like you, I have felt like he’s moved ever so slowly away from who I thought he was and toward some undefinable middle. It wasn’t until I heard Michelle Obama speak last week that I decided I wasn’t going to live in that place of negativity and curmudgeonly pessimism. I’m not accusing you of this in anyway, just saying that’s what I’ve been doing.

This election is so important for our country on so many levels. And despite his shortcomings—which ALL of our politicians have—I believe that Barack Obama is the best candidate for our time. We’ve been brutalized by George Bush for 8 years now and if we don’t do some damage control, if someone can’t put a finger in the dam, I believe the United States will cement it’s place in it’s current downward spiral from which there won’t be a recovery.

I also was not very enthused by Joe Biden. But I do not believe he was chosen to balance out the color scheme on the ticket. I think Obama chose him—smartly—because Biden has a very, very long history with foreign policy and is an amazing diplomat. If you’ve followed this election cycle at all, which I have (barely), you know that one of the most frequently lobbed criticisms of Obama is that he has no experience. That argument is now deflated with Palin on the Republican ticket (she makes Obama look like a 20 term senator by comparison) and I think Obama’s selection of Biden is a very clear indicator of the kinds of people he will surround himself with should he be elected. Personally, I want to know that he’s going to build his cabinet with people who have the experience he lacks, even if those people are lackluster. Know what I’m sayin’?

They might be old, they might be white, they might be women. I really don’t care, as long as they represent me somewhere in there and work to give me and my daughter a better future. The reality is that no candidate will ever truly represent me because I’m too progressive. But I’ll take a man who values compassion, education, womens rights, health care, and diplomacy any day over a mean, old chameleon who thinks that it’s okay for women to earn less than men in the workplace, who thinks I can’t make decisions about my own womb, who wants the Iraq war to continue endlessly, who thinks that the solution to high oil prices is to drill for more, who thinks that workers paying taxes on their employer’s contribution to their health plans is the way to fix our healthcare system. McCain is out of touch. And. AND! I don’t think that a person—woman or man—who was the mayor of a town with a population of roughly 9,000 people and then governor of a state with just over 600,000 folks is qualified to step in should something happen to the president.

Will Obama deliver on his promises? Probably not on most of them. He isn’t a dictator or a cheat like the current sitting prez and he’s going to need some innovative thinkers in congress to back him. Change is slow and takes courage and I think Obama’s got it. Whatever his faults, he’s got an amazing ability to communicate and a willingness to reach for greater heights than any leader I’ve seen in a long time. He must be determined in his convictions because, as the first black president, he will definitely be in the crosshairs both metaphorically and literally speaking. He knows this and is willing to risk his life for a better future for our country. I think I can stand behind him. I have to stand behind him. So for me, I’m trying to bring myself to a place of positive thought and will vote for him. And, of course, Michelle Obama. She’s magnificent and this speaks to the kind of man her husband is. Clearly, she is no Laura Bush or Cindy McCain, for that matter. We should all be very grateful.

And you? Maybe you can think of it as voting for the lesser of two evils, which is usually how I vote. I think it’s fantastic that you’re involved because it would be so much easier to throw up your hands. We’re all very lucky to have been born in this country and it’s important, I believe, to fight for what makes this country great. In posting your comments here, it’s evident your willing to go down fighting for what you believe.

Thanks for stopping in. Come back and write your novels anytime! ~a