It would be funny if it weren't so frightening.
I'll have an Election 2008 wrap-up later this week, but before I express even one moment of joy about Obama's election, I feel it important to not suddenly forget the great fraud that was perpetrated upon the American public. I believe firmly that history will judge the Republicans and conservatives of this election year based exclusively on how willing or unwilling they were to indict the selection of Sarah Palin as Vice President. This is not sour grapes. This is much bigger than that. Much.
While Obama won convincingly (for this day and age anyway), over 56 million votes were cast for John McCain and Sarah Palin. No doubt the vast majority of those votes would have been cast for McCain regardless of whom he selected as his VP, but this means in no uncertain terms that 56 million Americans were willing to accept either the promise or risk of Sarah Palin as President. I know conventional wisdom says people vote for the top of the ticket, not for or against the bottom, but the selection of Palin was such a profoundly awful decision by McCain that any vote for McCain has to consider Palin as a significant issue...both in terms of his judgment and in terms of her ability to actually step in and lead. Evidently 56 million Americans did...and still decided McCain would be a good decision-making President, and Sarah Palin would be a reasonable should-he-die President.
Obviously I find that result, based on what we learned about Palin in her short time in the spotlight, to be astonishing. But that's old news. What's new news is the truth about the selection of Palin that's starting to trickle out. The following video is from Fox News and, while it's quoting off-the-record sources, the fact that it's Fox News and that it's savaging Sarah Palin certainly gives it the ring of truth.
This is disturbing on so many levels that I can barely think straight. Obviously the "holy shit" part of the video is the revelation that Palin didn't know that Africa was a continent, not a country. While that juicy tidbit is stunning, it's the overall theme that should leave a bitter taste in everyone's mouth---especially those who voted for McCain. Essentially McCain gambled with the future of the free world and, once he realized it was a mistake, decided it was more politically prudent to stick with his mistake than to correct it...all the time insisting to the American people that she was more qualified to be President than Barack Obama. "Country First" is the campaign slogan for McCain/Palin. Laughable. I'm not going to sit here and say that McCain is a bad man. Like most people, McCain is a good man who did some bad things. The problem is, this particular "bad" thing is one of the most reckless, dangerous, cynical and self-serving things any political candidate can do.
Seriously, is getting a blowjob from an intern and then lying about it under oath worse than knowingly sticking with a Vice Presidential nominee who clearly has no grasp of the intricacies of foreign policy? During a time of war? A candidate who doesn't know which countries are in NAFTA? In a time of global economic crisis? When your motto is "Country First"? Are you fucking kidding me? McCain didn't break the law as Senator Ted Stevens did, but I would argue McCain's decision to keep Palin on the ticket after becoming fully aware of her inadequacies is far worse. Oh, and Ted Stevens was reelected, which should tell you a little something about Alaskan politics.
With an Obama victory I should strike a gracious chord of unity. But no. Not tonight. Not tomorrow. And perhaps not for some time. 56 million votes. There was sufficient evidence before the election to know that Sarah Palin was a wholly unacceptable nominee for Vice President, but there were still people who would argue she was a good candidate. They wouldn't argue that she was average, mediocre, bad or irrelevant. They would actually argue she was good. Anyone who would make such a claim is either ignorant or disingenuous or both. And now that the truth is starting to come out about how little she was vetted, how little she really knows, and how McCain chose to stick with her in light of all this, there is nothing that will satisfy me short of a complete and total rebuke of Republican cynicism and hypocrisy.
While Obama won convincingly (for this day and age anyway), over 56 million votes were cast for John McCain and Sarah Palin. No doubt the vast majority of those votes would have been cast for McCain regardless of whom he selected as his VP, but this means in no uncertain terms that 56 million Americans were willing to accept either the promise or risk of Sarah Palin as President. I know conventional wisdom says people vote for the top of the ticket, not for or against the bottom, but the selection of Palin was such a profoundly awful decision by McCain that any vote for McCain has to consider Palin as a significant issue...both in terms of his judgment and in terms of her ability to actually step in and lead. Evidently 56 million Americans did...and still decided McCain would be a good decision-making President, and Sarah Palin would be a reasonable should-he-die President.
Obviously I find that result, based on what we learned about Palin in her short time in the spotlight, to be astonishing. But that's old news. What's new news is the truth about the selection of Palin that's starting to trickle out. The following video is from Fox News and, while it's quoting off-the-record sources, the fact that it's Fox News and that it's savaging Sarah Palin certainly gives it the ring of truth.
This is disturbing on so many levels that I can barely think straight. Obviously the "holy shit" part of the video is the revelation that Palin didn't know that Africa was a continent, not a country. While that juicy tidbit is stunning, it's the overall theme that should leave a bitter taste in everyone's mouth---especially those who voted for McCain. Essentially McCain gambled with the future of the free world and, once he realized it was a mistake, decided it was more politically prudent to stick with his mistake than to correct it...all the time insisting to the American people that she was more qualified to be President than Barack Obama. "Country First" is the campaign slogan for McCain/Palin. Laughable. I'm not going to sit here and say that McCain is a bad man. Like most people, McCain is a good man who did some bad things. The problem is, this particular "bad" thing is one of the most reckless, dangerous, cynical and self-serving things any political candidate can do.
Seriously, is getting a blowjob from an intern and then lying about it under oath worse than knowingly sticking with a Vice Presidential nominee who clearly has no grasp of the intricacies of foreign policy? During a time of war? A candidate who doesn't know which countries are in NAFTA? In a time of global economic crisis? When your motto is "Country First"? Are you fucking kidding me? McCain didn't break the law as Senator Ted Stevens did, but I would argue McCain's decision to keep Palin on the ticket after becoming fully aware of her inadequacies is far worse. Oh, and Ted Stevens was reelected, which should tell you a little something about Alaskan politics.
With an Obama victory I should strike a gracious chord of unity. But no. Not tonight. Not tomorrow. And perhaps not for some time. 56 million votes. There was sufficient evidence before the election to know that Sarah Palin was a wholly unacceptable nominee for Vice President, but there were still people who would argue she was a good candidate. They wouldn't argue that she was average, mediocre, bad or irrelevant. They would actually argue she was good. Anyone who would make such a claim is either ignorant or disingenuous or both. And now that the truth is starting to come out about how little she was vetted, how little she really knows, and how McCain chose to stick with her in light of all this, there is nothing that will satisfy me short of a complete and total rebuke of Republican cynicism and hypocrisy.
posted by Kraig Smith at
11:48 PM
1 Comments:
Amen. This is stuff right out of the movie "idiocracy." I laughed out loud when this came out yesterday but then took a moment to consider the gravity of what could have been. This was beyond political malpractice. And there will be some in that 56 million crowd who will be thankful that they lost upon hearing this news. And for them, I would reach out my hand of bipartisanship. But for those who still persist, I agree with you. What on earth could we possibly agree upon and why on earth would we? Disgusting. Kritol, Steve Schmit, Tucker Bounds, McCain, Rove all of those who actually knew this information long ago are traitors to their country, pure and simple.
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