McSane & the former Succubus

I am back, and am going to start posting regularly again since I took a hiatus from inviting you into the recesses of my mind...scary I know. So, I want to blog about something that has been burning within me for this week.

If you are like me, you have been watching with baited breath the dichotomy between the Democratic National Convention and the Republican National Convention. It's been very eye opening to see the stark contrast between the two events. In fact, this whole election so far has been polorizingly different extremes. You have one candidate that offers change and hope, and the other, well...he is a fear inducing veteran who continues to remind the American people just how rough he had it in the Hanoi Hilton. Well, you know just because you are a veteran, does not make you the best qualified person for the job. What it proves is an overzealous sense of militarism and patriotism. Makes anyone with an arm reach for a sick bag so they can fill the damn thing.

Now, my first impression of the RNC is all the empty seats in the arena. Look at the DNC....pretty much standing room only at that venue. When cameras scan back to reveal the emptiness of the arena, it's almost as if it relates well to the messages themselves spoken from the floor of that place. AND, does anyone see any striking diversity among the throngs of mostly white people? I don't. Well, ok, I see the occasional token black veteran, but can anyone see the difference between the diversity of people who were at the DNC compared to this circus known as the RNC? I mean, being from North Dakota, I can see the pale skinned resemblances I am used to, dotting the floor of the arena holding their signs up as if they will magically inspire me to come to the dark side. In fact, seeing such moronic advertising reaffirms why I am backing BO and JB.

Let's take Sarah Palin on for a second. It seems that career driven, power brokering, and politically backwoods, Red Man chewing women now have a hero. I am glad that she is a lifetime member of the NRA. That's alright. I am a member too. But, the difference between her and I is that, she actually believes in the political posturing the NRA attempts to provide for gun toting, rootin tootin shootin Americans. Me, I like to go and shoot rounds through paper plates with a 38 Special or a 9mm Glock. Maybe I like the challenge. Oh, and the NRA membership I have? It was a gift given to me. I am not sure I would pay for one to be honest. Anyway, I was appalled and shocked as the majority of Americans to hear that Grampy McSane had chosen Sarah Palin as his VP choice. Strange choice it is. It's like going to Wal-Mart, going to the pet section where all the fish tanks are, looking at the thousands of tiny goldfish swimming around, and telling the nice salesperson, you want that the orange one. Of all the viable candidates he could have chosen, he chooses this strange, unknown, awkward overextended mother of 5.

Now, I could care less if she's a mom or not. Nor could I care less about her NRA membership, or her former affiliation with a group that wanted to secede Alaska from the rest of the states. Nor do I care if she was mayor of a town of 8000. Nor do I care if she won the Governor of AK job by about 17k votes. Heck how many people are actually residents of AK that are close to a voting place? Figures right? Nor do I care that she is a former Roman Catholic (a recovering Catholic I call her or anyone who have left the RC church on account of reason alone) who is now a card carrying Pentecostal with strong roots to the Assembly of God denomination. It is widely known that she tends to know just what God's will really is as she plainly stated at her home church recently, "I think God's will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built." Now, I am an ordained pastor and I don't even know God's will, nor do I suggest to know it, nor do I hint at it. I tend to realize that God is God and that's the way He prefers it. Nor do I think it ironic given her "Bible-believing" faith that she is an outright supporter of capital punishment. Hmmm...which looked at through the lens of faith, one has to ask, what does it cost our own sense of life when we are willing to take it as justification. Nor do I think that her stance on sex-education of which she supports abstinence only is any cause to be alarmed since we all know just how well that talk went considering her 17 year old daughter really didn't know what a condom was. Nor do I think it strange that only 3 days after giving birth to her second son this past April, did she feel the need to go back to work...you know, to govern the space that is Alaska. Nor do I care that her husband is a man's man, racing snowmobiles and hunting Reindeer. In fact, I bet he makes a mean deer sausage.

But, I do care about what qualifies her to be the next Vice President of our nation. You know the position I am talking about, that is, if Grampy McSane dies in office, that she takes the hot seat?!?! My God. What the hell was he thinking? What because she was a PTA organizer, the mayor of a small village, mother of five, and an infant governor of Alaska? Those are the qualifications of a VP? Yes, she is not a part of the DC elite...hell, I wouldn't want that type of person either. But, she has no track record to prove her competence of governance or GOVERNMENT to speak of. I want to know that if our president dies or is removed from office, we can be confident in the number two choice. It seems that the Repubs have really screwed this up since both Bushes took office. Why do they pick these out of touch, power driven people who could possibly run the country? What are they thinking?

Well, it seems they do not think for one. The Repubs run on fear...they control it, they broker it, they buy it, they sell it, and they have national conventions with speeches that are driven by it. And what it remarkable to me after watching Palin speak last night, was that she is lock stock and barrel, a part of that fear machine. She buys into it, she promotes it, and she tries to prove how in touch and tough she can be when it needs to be defeated. Oh, I love how she mentioned that BO had not mentioned once the word "victory" other than in relation to his own campaign. Well, let's be honest Mommy Dearest, there needs to be a fight with two clear cut opponents to garnish a victory. There is no war to be victorious about. This has not been about defeating an enemy in the right place. This war has been about defeating an enemy to fulfill some kind of agenda that the Bush machine drafted day one of the administration. In Iraq, there is no enemy to be victorious over. Go where we need to be, and start there. Victory? Victory for what and for whom? We as a nation? Because all I have heard is how many bodies we bring home to be buried all in the name of "freedom." Freedom and victory? Sarah Palin, you ask the mothers and fathers of those who had to bury their sons and daughters if the non-negotiable terms of freedom and victory are worth dying for? I bet, you would get a sobering answer that would wipe the smile off your face causing you to take back any frivolous use of the word victory of which you know nothing about.

This election is going to get interesting real fast. Watch for the spin, watch for the language, and watch for the tactics of the Repubs. They will work Palin as the female savior the Republican Party that will try and win votes to their side. That is the only reason they asked her to be the VP candidate...it somehow lures former Hillary supporters because she is a woman. Actually, she is another empty pantsuit like Hillary, but that's for another blog. More later...