John’s choice
With the choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate, John McCain did one thing for sure: he injected new life and perhaps a wee bit of hope into a Republican convention that was struggling to attract America’s attention.
To the wider audience not distracted by funny hats and backdrop films of cornfields and LA middle schools, the snarky comments about Barack Obama had become repetitious and there was even growing suspicion among some that McCain’s only real qualification to be President of the United States seemed to be his five-plus years of experience as a prisoner-of-war subjected to torture.
The “maverick” image of 2000 had pretty well faded as, one by one, McCain took on the attitudes of his former nemesis: tax cuts for billionaires, about which he said in 2003, "I cannot in good conscience support a tax cut in which so many of the benefits go to the most fortunate among us at the expense of middle-class Americans who need tax relief," in 2006 became his new favorite proposal.
Speaking of torture, John McCain famously (and deservedly) supported legislation that would have banned waterboarding and some other forms of torture. But last February, when the bill came to a vote (with Mr. Bush promising to veto it), he voted against it.
The man who, more than many, symbolizes the wounded veteran, has consistently opposed increasing veterans’ benefits, including health care for wounded warriors and educational rewards for serving the country.
McCain’s proposals to address the health care crisis (yes, Virginia, there is one) include offering a $5,000 tax credit to help Americans buy insurance, which makes one wonder about folks who don’t make enough to pay enough taxes to cover that, and (incredibly) taxing as income the value of employer-provided insurance.
The man famous for opposing earmarks in legislation chose a running mate who, as mayor of her town, managed to obtain more earmark money for her constituents than any other town in the country. And the multimillion-dollar allocation earmarked for a “bridge to nowhere,” that Palin wants us to believe she rejected, were actually paid to Alaska — just not for that bridge.
Republicans at the convention seem to have bought into the assertion that a great many of Hillary Clinton’s supporters will abandon all their principles (sort of the way McCain did) and vote for him just to have Sarah Palin “a heartbeat from the presidency.”
The people who voted for Hillary Clinton because of what she said and stood for will choose to vote for Mrs. Palin just because she’s a woman?
It’s called cognitive dissonance, folks.
Does anyone actually stop to think what “one heartbeat away” means? And if and when they do, do they pause at least a moment to imagine the possibility that — like any of us — John McCain, being mortal, could expire on election day, for example, and then what?
We have an economy on the rocks, health care costs about to explode, schools failing, college costs headed for the stratosphere, jobs being lost (the latest unemployment number was 6.1%, the highest in five years); we have global warming (which Palin doesn’t believe in); we have war winding down in Iraq, another heating up in Afghanistan, a developing crisis in Pakistan, the threat of trouble with Iran, unknown challenges in the former Soviet bloc, and the ever-present Israeli/Palestinian conflict.
And John McCain offers us eye-candy with attitude?
We learned over the weekend that the McCain campaign has told the media that Palin will not be available for interviews (read: questions) anytime soon. In fact, according to campaign manager Rick Davis, Palin won't give any interviews “until we think it’s time and she feels comfortable doing it." And, according to a report on Talking Points Memo, he later added that she wouldn't give any interviews "until the point in time when she'll be treated with respect and deference."
In the meantime, all you folks who are still deciding who to vote for this November can just accept the McCain campaign’s word for it: She is, like, TOTALLY ready to order our sons and daughters into battle.
Originally published September 7, 2008
To the wider audience not distracted by funny hats and backdrop films of cornfields and LA middle schools, the snarky comments about Barack Obama had become repetitious and there was even growing suspicion among some that McCain’s only real qualification to be President of the United States seemed to be his five-plus years of experience as a prisoner-of-war subjected to torture.
The “maverick” image of 2000 had pretty well faded as, one by one, McCain took on the attitudes of his former nemesis: tax cuts for billionaires, about which he said in 2003, "I cannot in good conscience support a tax cut in which so many of the benefits go to the most fortunate among us at the expense of middle-class Americans who need tax relief," in 2006 became his new favorite proposal.
Speaking of torture, John McCain famously (and deservedly) supported legislation that would have banned waterboarding and some other forms of torture. But last February, when the bill came to a vote (with Mr. Bush promising to veto it), he voted against it.
The man who, more than many, symbolizes the wounded veteran, has consistently opposed increasing veterans’ benefits, including health care for wounded warriors and educational rewards for serving the country.
McCain’s proposals to address the health care crisis (yes, Virginia, there is one) include offering a $5,000 tax credit to help Americans buy insurance, which makes one wonder about folks who don’t make enough to pay enough taxes to cover that, and (incredibly) taxing as income the value of employer-provided insurance.
The man famous for opposing earmarks in legislation chose a running mate who, as mayor of her town, managed to obtain more earmark money for her constituents than any other town in the country. And the multimillion-dollar allocation earmarked for a “bridge to nowhere,” that Palin wants us to believe she rejected, were actually paid to Alaska — just not for that bridge.
Republicans at the convention seem to have bought into the assertion that a great many of Hillary Clinton’s supporters will abandon all their principles (sort of the way McCain did) and vote for him just to have Sarah Palin “a heartbeat from the presidency.”
The people who voted for Hillary Clinton because of what she said and stood for will choose to vote for Mrs. Palin just because she’s a woman?
It’s called cognitive dissonance, folks.
Does anyone actually stop to think what “one heartbeat away” means? And if and when they do, do they pause at least a moment to imagine the possibility that — like any of us — John McCain, being mortal, could expire on election day, for example, and then what?
We have an economy on the rocks, health care costs about to explode, schools failing, college costs headed for the stratosphere, jobs being lost (the latest unemployment number was 6.1%, the highest in five years); we have global warming (which Palin doesn’t believe in); we have war winding down in Iraq, another heating up in Afghanistan, a developing crisis in Pakistan, the threat of trouble with Iran, unknown challenges in the former Soviet bloc, and the ever-present Israeli/Palestinian conflict.
And John McCain offers us eye-candy with attitude?
We learned over the weekend that the McCain campaign has told the media that Palin will not be available for interviews (read: questions) anytime soon. In fact, according to campaign manager Rick Davis, Palin won't give any interviews “until we think it’s time and she feels comfortable doing it." And, according to a report on Talking Points Memo, he later added that she wouldn't give any interviews "until the point in time when she'll be treated with respect and deference."
In the meantime, all you folks who are still deciding who to vote for this November can just accept the McCain campaign’s word for it: She is, like, TOTALLY ready to order our sons and daughters into battle.
Originally published September 7, 2008
Labels: 2008, maverick, McCain, nominee, Palin, republican, Veep
posted by The Voice | 4:14 PM
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