As I sit here watching Sarah Palin's speech (woo hoo, laptop!) and having sat through a large portion of tonight's speeches, I've come up with this list of what has really bothered me.1. I forget how downright nasty Republicans can be. I was stunned by the nasty, dismissive tenor of Rudy Giuliani's speech. His speech (and others both tonight and last night) have struck me as condescending and lacking in any real substance other than to make fun of Barack Obama and Joe Biden. You'll notice that during the speeches last week, the Democrats at least had the class to show respect to their opponents. They didn't attack John McCain as a human being but rather questioned whether his ideas were the ideas America needs right now. This convention has an arrogantly dismissive air that really bothers me.
2. It really bothered me that Sarah Palin spent a good 10 minutes at the beginning of her speech talking about her family. I know it's meant to humanize her and endear her to the voters, but I found it rather superficial and pandering. And if Rudy Giuliani wants to question whether we'd worry about a man "abandoning" his family to run for office, then I'm going to question whether a man would feel the need to spend 10 or more minutes talking about his wife and kids.
3. I'm glad to see they cleaned up Baby Daddy. He doesn't look like such a dirt bag now.
4. If the GOP wants to trumpet Sarah Palin as having more executive experience than the Democratic ticket combined, fine, but maybe they need to remember that she has more experience than the guy at the top of their ticket, too. As Stephen Colbert pointed out last night, if it's all about executive experience, maybe they need to flip it around and make it Palin/McCain.
5. As offended as I am by her candidacy, I have to admit I still had the tiniest of lumps in my throat when Sarah Palin accepted the party's nomination.
6. I'm offended by all the "hot chick" paraphenalia that seems to be floating around the convention center -- all with Sarah Palin's picture.
7. Okay, that little Palin kid (the one who licked her palm to smooth down the baby's hair) is pretty damn cute. Not Sasha Obama cute, but cute nonetheless.
8. Cindy McCain gives me the creeps. Like seriously. She's the stuff of nightmares.
9. Was it just me, or was the chanting of "Drill, baby, drill" really, really freakin' creepy?
10. I'm about to sound really heartless here, but I am really, really tired of hearing about John McCain's time spent as a POW. I'm still not sure how that makes someone supremely qualified to lead a nation. Okay, yes, it's a sign of his courage and his strength in the face of adversity, but I guess I need something more solid to cling to above this "test of character" stuff.
11. When Sarah Palin referred to John McCain as "John S. McCain," I couldn't help but think, "Wow. It's like she only met him for 15 minutes before taking this gig!" Oh, wait. She did.
I have to admit, I have a hard time truly judging whether or not Sarah Palin's speech did what it needed to do because I'm having such a hard time separating my objective analysis of her speech from my own subjective reactions. I have a feeling it was successful. She seemed charming and tough, smart but approachable. I think I've had parent-teacher conferences with this woman before. I have a feeling that, if I were a Republican, I'd be nuts over this woman. As a Democrat, though, I can't help but feeling that something was missing -- substance? I don't know. All I do know is that we may be in for a big fight in the next 2 months.
Democrats, this is our time. We have to fight. We can't let their dismissive arrogance defeat us this time.
3 comments:
Just when I think I'm cynical enough, just when I think nothing can shock or disappoint me, something like this happens. Stupid me, I actually thought there was a chance that the Republicans would emulate the Democrats and find a way to speak respectfully of their opponents while making it clear that they disagreed forcefully with their policies.
Silly me. This mockery was offensive. These are not the people I want leading my country, not just because I disagree with their policies but because I would be ashamed to act like them.
And if Sarah Palin is going to make her domestic situation part of her stump speech, then it's fair game. (By the way, she may have said no thanks to the bridge to nowhere, but she kept the money....)
http://www.newsminer.com/news/2008/aug/31/sarah-palin-supported-ketchikan-bridge-nowhere-dur/
on #10 ... my grandfather (Dad's dad) was forced to march in the Bataan Death March and spend the entirety of WWII in a Japanese POW camp. Not very nice jailers from what I've read. He came out of it weighing less than 100 pounds (at 6 feet tall).
Thing is, he never spoke about the experience. It was one that truly horrified him into silence, I suppose.
Thing is, I have an innate mistrust in those who so readily speak about such horrifying experiences ... as though they weren't nearly as horrifying as they would have you believe.
Which is not to say I don't believe McCain was a POW.
I just don't understand a man who can face that horrifying experience every single time he relives it to his audience.
I agree--- it's akin to the pathetic way Giuliani mentions 9/11 in every speech (likely every conversation) he utters.
And though McCain's survival of a, no doubt, horrible (I almost wrote unspeakable! ha!) experience proves his inner strength as a soldier, I don't get what it says about his ability to run a country.
You want surgery? Go see a surgeon for what ails you. Do we really want a military man to run our country? Personally, I'd rather see a community organizer for what ails us. I just have to shake my head that not everyone thinks this way. I just don't get it.
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