Our Voice Now

Yes, that is what I said. And what do I have to back this up? Well, the reason I haven’t posted recently is because I’ve been putting in 10-12 hour days at my local Obama office and, as the election gets closer, that time is increasing. Generally, things have been calm in my area (which is being viewed as THE deciding area for Pennsylvania) until this past week.

The other day I was driving to the office, I have three Obama bumper stickers on my car, and the next thing I know some woman in an SUV is on my tail at a red light beeping her horn and giving me the finger and cursing me out for supporting Obama. Now, I realize both parties have extremists on both sides yet it does seem to be the McCain supporters who seem to be the ones reacting like a cornered animal. But okay, I was willing to write it off as she was having a bad day and that just set her off.

Until tonight. We were working late and I ran out to get coffee for a few of us. When I came back around 10pm, a car pulls up in the parking lot beside me with four 20-somethings - two guys in the front and two girls in the back. The guys start yelling stuff to me and I was merely ignoring them then I saw our security guard (yes, the campaign has had to get a security guard for our office) came to the door and one of the girls said, “Let’s just go.” They then sped off. We also had another guy come in to the office yelling about how a black man has no right to even think of running a white country - hmmm, last time I checked it was the Native Americans who were actually here first and the white men stole the country from them. And I’m in a Northern State for heaven’s sake! Though Murtha was right, Central and Western PA is extremely racist - no one can deny that.

I have, as a result, chosen to remove my bumper stickers not because I don’t want people yelling at me but because for the last week whenever I go out to my car in a parking lot I have to check to make sure that no one punctured the tires or worse. And with the election getting closer it’s only going to get worse. Our office is such that I have to say that more than once the thought has crossed my mind of how easy it would be for someone to just drive by and shoot it up. Not a happy thought when I’m there feeling like a sitting duck.

Then there’s the story of the McCain volunteer in Pittsburgh who, earlier this week, claimed a black man attacked her at an ATM machine when he became enraged by her McCain bumper sticker. Funny thing was she didn’t want to go to the hospital - told the police she’d go another day. And as her story sounded less and less believable sure enough, today she confessed she lied about it and carved the letter “B” on her own cheek. Is this really how desperate the McCain people have become? McCain himself stated that no one has to fear anything if Obama is elected. But that damage has been done. The “Pitbull with Lipstick” (gee, isn’t a female dog also known by another name??) Palin did what she set out to do - divide this nation even more by encouraging racism and hate and yes, domestic terrorism by scaring their supporters with lies about Obama once more.

For a party that claimed to be disgusted by the fact that Iraqis had to worry about being killed for voting and being terrorized if they didn’t vote for the right person, they certainly seem to be doing the exact same thing to Obama supporters here. I guess it’s just more of the ‘do as we say not as we do’ mentality that the Republicans have embraced of late.

To any fellow Obama supporters, please, don’t be afraid but don’t be stupid. Keep an eye out at all times and leave the office in pairs. To the McCain supporters - this is a free country and we are allowed freedom of speech and expression - even if it isn’t the same opinion you have.

With tonight’s much-anticipated VP debates looming, I am still hearing talk about how the bar has been lowered for Palin since she’s not really much of a debater. Why? Would the bar have been lowered for Hillary? No. Expectations would have been high for her in this same position so why are people willing to give Palin some room here? She’s not running in yet another beauty pagent, she’s running for Vice President of the United States. With McCain as her running mate, odds are pretty good she might just end up being President so why, exactly, should the expectations be lower for her? Was it not the Republicans who kept saying the running the country is not ‘on the job training’? Why is it different when it’s their candidate who hasn’t an inkling of a clue?

I am saddened by this nation to hear that because Palin is a woman and new to this that it’s okay if she doesn’t do well and apparently if she gets her name right that will be above expectations. What is wrong with the voters? We are in a time where we need to restore our name and credibility in the world and how, exactly, will that be achieved by someone who, when asked what her views are or if she give examples of laws, she replies, ‘Well, I’ll look into it and have to get back to ya on that’?

Far be it from me, however, if some voters insist on voting for someone simply based on gender and/or party even if that candidate manages to make even Paris Hilton seem like Einstein.

Yesterday came the announcement from McCain that he is suspending his campaign, cancelling his appearance at the debate on Friday, and heading back to DC to work on the economy. He asked Obama to do the same, trying to make it look as if Obama didn’t suspend his campaign as well that he didn’t care about the economy. Last time I checked the President takes care of more than one thing at a time. Last time I checked if McCain was President he wouldn’t be able to suspend his Presidency to take care of a fire on California and ignore the other issues. What kind of leadership is McCain really showing here? A deep concern for the economy (which would make sense with his seven homes and thirteen cars at risk) or the inability to deal with one thing at a time?

Today, he has also requested that the Vice-Presidential debate be postponed for Palin as well. Now THAT is far more telling. The GOP still will not let her be interviewed by the media other than those they hand choose and have control over what questions are asked and they are still whining that she is being ‘picked on’ by the media because she’s a woman. She’s running for VP, odds are she’d end up as President. If she can’t handle the heat then she never should have been picked. They certainly didn’t stand up for Hillary when things were being said about her. She sucked it up and accepted that it came with the territory.

It seems to me that there is a lot being covered up with the McCain-Palin ticket and it terrifies me that so many are ignoring the obvious facts and still supporting the lies and spinning from the GOP.

More on the economy front - why are we, the American people, not up in arms over the fact that Paulson wants this $700 Billion bailout with no strings attached and no questions asked? Why has he made it clear in writing that if he gets this that he will never be allowed to be prosecuted? What is he planning on doing with the money? If he was really using it to do what he claims then why the concern over being questioned and possibly prosecuted for it? And for those who missed it, he also managed to blame future administrations for the economic mess. Yes, future - as in never existed yet.

Yet, I cannot say it is only the GOP and their supporters who are completely clueless. This past weekend, I attended a private home event with Jill Biden. Many of the women there were Hillary supporters and were there to hear Mrs. Biden’s reasoning as to why they should support Obama (yes, there are those who still refuse to swallow their pride and do what’s best for the country). While some of the questions they asked were old news but I can understand they wanted to hear an answer in person the one suggestion that was brought up made me want to lunge across the room and whack this person upside the head. She told Jill Biden that Hillary needs to do a thirty second telelvision ad telling her supporters that she is supporting Obama and she wants them to as well. And that this commercial needs to be aired often. Based upon Jill Biden’s face, I suspect I would have been in line behind her to slap this woman. She very diplomatically reminded this woman that Hillary had, in fact, done that at the convention. The woman replied that wasn’t enough. They needed commercials telling them what to do.

Yes, these women, supposedly intelligent and educated, agreed that they needed a complete stranger to do a tv commercial telling them what to do before they would vote for Obama. I bit my tongue but I really wanted to stand up and tell them that if they needed their tv to tell them what to do they had no right voting because they were obviously too stupid to vote too.

While it appears stupidity is running rampant among voters on both sides, I go back to the original part of the post. What is McCain trying to hide by ducking out of the debate and what is the GOP trying to hide by keeping Palin hidden? And why don’t the voters educated themselves a bit more than merely a tv ad?

It seems there is at least one email going around now about Palin and the facts about her and her career. The Republicans and McCain supporters are crying about how unfair it is and that it was obviously generated by the Obama campaign as a smear tactic. The really ironic thing is that the email about Palin is all true! She is under investigation. She did fire a sheriff when she was mayor of Wasilla simply because he did not agree with her politically. She does hunt and takes pride in killing wildlife. She is a lifetime member of the NRA. She does support banning abortion for any and all reasons. She and her husband are members of a group pushing to have Alaska secede from the US. Her husband is a snowmobiling champion. She did support Ted Stevens ‘Bridge to Nowhere’ until it became a public embarassment then suddenly she didn’t support it anymore. There was nothing in that email at all that was made up. Yet the Republicans are complaining about it. Yet, it was proven the GOP supporters (if not the GOP themselves) were behind the rampant emails from the primaries that were 100% lies and smears about Obama. Those same conservatives have even come out and admitted that no, Obama was never a Muslim. It is the conservatives that have resorted to repeating and emphasizing Obama’s middle name as if that means anyone with the name Hussein is a terrorist. By that definition, anyone with the name Bush is a psychotic moron who by his own definition is also a terrorist. For more information about the lies (aka smears) spread by the conservatives about Obama visit http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/fightthesmearshome

I digress though. It would seem the the right wing wishes to continue on with the ‘do as we say not as we do’ attitude and expect Americans to continue to accept that. If we say something new and different it will automatically be a ‘liberal unpatriotic view’ but if they say the same thing a month later it’s ‘patriotic and pushing America forward’. Everything that has come out about Palin and has been criticized about Palin in just a week has, mostly, been fact. She has faced the same heat that Obama faced from her own party. The big difference? She is facing the heat for her real record and her real illegal activities and her real lack of experience. Obama faced the heat for lies and a smear campaign generated by the conservatives. Even today many of the churches spoke out about Palin making fun of Obama for considering community organizing as experience saying that without strong community organizers like him there would be no community. Seems community organizers play a significant part in keeping communities safe and invovled and, gasp, even attending church.

We the voters MUST put an end to the double standard. They don’t even try to hide it anymore. THAT is how stupid they think we are - and the fact that Bush did get in in 2004 doesn’t really argue their belief that Americans are brainless sheep.

It appears that so far Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are the only two truly willing to stand up and point out endlessly the lies and hypocracy of the Conservatives. More reporters need to do that. There is certainly enough video proof in the form of interviews just in the last four or five months so why is no one fighting back hard?

The Huffington Post has some great comparisons about this double standard. Some of them are…

1.) If your pastor rails against inequality in the United States of America, you’re an “extremist.” If your pastor welcomes a sermon by a member of Jews for Jesus who preaches that the killing of Jews by terrorists is a lesson to Jews that they must convert to Christianity, you’re a “fundamentalist.”

2.) If you’re a Democrat and you make a VP pick without fully vetting the individual you’re “reckless.” A Republican who doesn’t fully vet is a “maverick.”

3.) A DUI from twenty years ago is “old news.” A speech given without proper citation from twenty years ago is “relevant information.”

What still scares me more is the fact that nearly half of America either doesn’t see the hypocracy or they just don’t care.

And a bit of self-promotion… one of my current best selling items:

http://www.cafepress.com/ourvoicenow9.301960135 - REAL Women vote on The Issues NOT The Gender - a paraphrase from something Madeline Albright told a small group of supporters (somehow I got invited hehe) in PA on Wednesday.

Which is another thing - Palin is about to have to take on Hillary - not something I’d want to do!!

First McCain and company joked that Obama was really out of touch when Obama suggested that drivers maintaining their vehicles every 3000-5000 miles and keeping their tires inflated would help save gas. Obama was quickly proven right when AAA and NASCAR both came out and said, yep, that’s true. Oops number 1 for the GOP.

So what was Obama right about this time? Well, it seems that when McCain and Hillary were calling for a repeal on the gas tax for the summer and Obama did not side with this saying it would not help the drivers really and it would end up costing taxpayers more money in the end because it would deplete the transportation fund and everyone laughed at him saying he was clueless - oops, guess who was right again? Yep. CNN just touched on a report that is now coming out saying that drivers drove 50 million miles less this past year, thus using less gas and now the Transportation Department is about to run out of funds because they aren’t getting the money from the gas tax.

Yes, I can certainly see where Obama will be such a horrid President. He was one of the few brave enough to stand up and say invading Iraq was wrong. He was smart enough to know that basic common sense of keeping a car maintained would help save drivers a few dollars a year at the pump and he had the foresight to know that if the gas tax was repealed for even this summer that it would have disastrous result for the transportation department and THAT problem will be passed on to us, the taxpayers who can’t afford to pay more.

So… it looks like so far the score is Obama: 2 McCain: 0

Courtesy of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart - Jon Stewart did NOT make these clips up - he’s just smart enough to realize the proof is out there.

Huh, a bit funny if you ask me. Palin, in less than a week, is whining about how the Dems are spreading lies and rumors about her and her family. Is it not her and her party who have been spending about two years brainwashing people into believing Obama is a Muslim even though that has been proven time and again to be 100% false? Is it not her party and ticket partner who have been claiming Obama is not patriotic enough because he doesn’t wear a flag pin (where is YOUR pin, Mr. McCain?). Is this woman not part of the same party that was so quick to jump all over Obama having little experience and yet, when one dares to compare his record to hers, Obama is accused of being sexist? Is this not the same party that had no problem attacking Hillary for being a woman, for crying on camera and telling her she had to toughen up if she was going to play with the boys and run for President? Well, Ms. Palin, the same goes for you. You knew what this was all about when you agreed to run for VP. You knew your daughter would be internationally humilated in the spotlight to further your career - what kind of mother does that to her daughter? You knew that ever little thing you and your family have ever done, said or thought would be brought to light. Did you think that somehow you would be immune just because you are a Republican? You joined this race so YOU now need to toughen up and deal with it. There is no double standard for women running for office.

As for the lies. First of all, it was the independent bloggers who did a bit of research and found the actual Alaska newspaper story that clearly states Ms. Palin only told her staff she was ‘pregnant’ when she was supposedly in her 7th month - and no one on her staff that worked with her day in and day out had a clue? It was in the Alaska newspaper that the story of her amazing birth was recorded as fact - in her own words. That she was in Texas when she went into labor. That she stayed and gave that speech in the afternoon without bothering to go to a doctor or hospital. That she flew home from Texas to Alaska, with a layover in Seattle, while ‘in labor’ and proceded to drive yet another hour outside of Anchorage to Wasilla to give birth. She waited 20 hours, flew nearly 11 hours on a plane, to give birth? I’ve never known any baby that waited until it was convenient for its mother to pop out. How, Ms. Palin, is that a rumor when the newspapers quoted you, in your own words, in recollecting the story only four months ago? How is it a rumor that you only applied for a passport a year ago and have only travelled to Ireland and Germany and refer to the country you may be running as the ‘lower 48′. A little history lesson for you - we were here first. Alaska was not added until the 1950’s. How is it a rumor that you and your husband are members of a group pushing to gain Alaska’s independence away from the US? What kind of patriot is that? What kind of leader of the entire country is that?

How is it a rumor that you fired a top staff member when he refused to, on your command, fire your ex brother-in-law (a state trooper) who was in the middle of a nasty custody battle with your sisiter? How is it a rumor when you just hired a lawyer as this is heading to court as we write? It is listed as fact.

How is it a rumor that when you became mayor of Wasilla (population 9000) you fired the sheriff and another official simply because they did not agree with your political views and was even taken to court and, somehow, you won and the judge said that yes, you can fire people who don’t agree with you - what blackmail did you have on that judge, Ms. Palin?

How is it rumor that your only degree is a Bachelors in Journalism? How is it a rumor that you were runner up for Miss Alaska? How is it a rumor that you were a tv anchor when the video is all over the internet and news now?

How is it a rumor that your husband no longer works and is a four time snowmobile champion? How is it a rumor that you will take away a woman’s right to choose - that same right that somehow you seemed to allow your own daughter but will happily take that choice away from everyone else’s daughter?

No, Ms. Palin, the ‘rumors’ against you are not rumors but facts. Perhaps you should have thought about scrubbing the internet BEFORE you made your announcement. And this is all facts that have only come out in less than a week? What other skeletons are you hiding? Is Trig really Track’s son? Seems a bit stranger that a young girl is holding Trig right after he was born while sitting and you are standing over her peering over the chair like a proud grandmother and the caption states ‘my mom in law’. For those who care, another blogger grabbed the page of pictures off of one of Bristol’s friends myspace pages before that one, too, went private.

Ms. Palin, you are a disgrace to women, a disgrace to democracy yet the shining example of what the current Republicans stand for - do as we say and we want you do to but stay out of our lives where we do everything we tell you not to.

I’ve held off on blogging over the last few days regarding Bristol Palin because, while I do think that this discussion has a place in politics right now, I don’t feel that it should have been at the expense of a 17 year old girl who did not choose to get thrown in the spotlight. However, that said, it seems pretty obvious Trig is Bristol’s child, no matter how far along her parents claim she is right now. It’s easy to lie about numbers and apologize after the fact. There are quite a few stories not matching what Sarah Palin is claiming - such as she went into labor in Texas, gave a speech, flew back to Alaska with a layover in Seattle then drove out to her family doctor before giving birth - nearly 20 hours after going into labor and the flight crew remembers her as being pleasant and not looking at all pregnant. It was only four months ago so it’s pretty safe to say they’d remember. Aside from the fact that it is fact Bristol was out of school for the last five months of school and no sister holds a baby brother the way she was holding Trig at the convention.

But I am not here to do a write up on the trials of being 17. I’m here to ask a few questions. IF it does, in fact, come out that Trig is Bristol’s child fine, that is a family issue. What is not a family issue is if it is true that Trig is Bristol’s son, we will then be stuck with yet another four years of lies and do as I say, not as I do leadership.

The other issue I have is that obviously Sarah Palin knew her daughter was pregnant before she agreed to be the VP nominee. Now, logically, one would think that if Palin is as in touch and informed as she claims she would have known that everything about her family would be dragged into the spotlight whether they wanted it or not. What mother (or father) willing chooses their own agenda and career over protecting their children? I guess more specifically, what GOOD parent? For those that haven’t done a bit of research, a few bloggers did manage to get onto the boyfriend’s myspace page before it disappeared and what a winner. He claims he’s a “f****** redneck”, drinks, has a lovely photo of him giving the camera the finger while holding onto a girl and is exactly the type of young man that you just know will sacrifice himself for his family. There is also a myspace page for Track, their eldest son, (or at least there was last night still) with pictures of him drinkng - at 17, cursing his heart out and so on.

Kids will be kids, yes. Parents are not always in control of what their kids do but if you are going to be running a nation on certain values then you darn well better make sure your own family is in order first.

One can only figure that in Wasilla, Alaska they don’t have the internet, cable or electricity as to why all this coverage has come as such a surprise to them. Which again would point out - if Palin is that out of touch with the lower 48 how can she be expected to be VP or President?

And now the GOP is trying to say that family matters are private and have no place in the elections. Really? I seem to recall 2000, Gore vs. Bush when Gore’s son was pulled over for speeding on Interstate 95 (something we all do might I add) and the Bush campaign used that over and over suggesting that if they can’t keep their own family in check how are they capable of running the country. Huh. Funny how it’s okay if it’s the Republicans using it against Dems but the Dems darn well better not give them a taste of their own medicine.

The GOP has so much hypocracy in the world of politics that it’s sad, pathetic and sickening. More disgraceful is the number of voters who buy into it.

Does anyone really believe the GOP wants women in power? If they did, why didn’t they pick Condi as VP? Why not a few other Republican govenors with far more experience who actually run states with a population more than about a million. States that have real problems with crime and education and poverty and jobs being shipped overseas?

Women, the GOP does not care about us - Palin is their token choice because they believe women are stupid enough to vote based on gender. And Palin is not the woman we need nor want. She will set women back to before Victorian times. She will send us back to alleys and be seen but not heard. She obviously doesn’t care about her family so why would she care about millions of strangers?

Seems to me that for a party that claims to be the moral majority, the moral thing for Palin to do would be put her own career and agendas aside to be there for her daughter when her daughter needs her most.

With McCain’s age being a serious consideration in this election, his choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate was, well, I suppose a foreshadowing of what choices we can expect from him as President - patronizing and un-informed.

What record does Palin bring to the ticket? She voted to take Polar Bears off the endangered list because their endangered status was interfering with oil drilling in her state. She supports banning abortion for every reason - including rape, incest/rape by father, and the endangerment of the mother’s life. She is currently under investigation for firing Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan when he refused to fire a state trooper - her former brother-in-law - who was involved in a nasty custody battle with her sister. She is currently under investigation for that firing as well as a few other questionable actions such as trying to claim land through ‘eminent domain’ so she could build an ice-skating rink. She initially supported the “Bridge to Nowhere” proposed by Senator Ted Stevens until it became a negative project - then suddenly she pulled her support.

However, many are saying, oh, she has a child born with Down Syndrome she must take care of - how wonderful of her to take on such a task. First, the child was born in April, making that child currently 4 months old. How well will she handle the require care in a few years time if she can’t afford a nanny? What about the millions of parents who have to work two or more full-time jobs just to pay the medical bills for caring for a disabled child? Why aren’t they being praised? Her husband is, this is fun, a world-champion snowmobiler. Yes, folks, the possible First Man knows how to snowmobile with the best of them and used to work in an oil field - apparently he no longer works there but does spend his summers fishing in their hometown in Alaska.

Her education? A Bachelor’s degree in journalism with a minor degree in political science from the University of Idaho. Yep, that’s right, we could potentially have a beauty pagent winning, tv journalist as our President. Although, she did get a college scholarship for winning the beauty pagents. Glad to see she worked hard by using her brains to get her education.

For those who still say Obama has no experience - he has 6 years experience in the state senate and is currently finishing out his 4th year in the Senate. Prior to that, he spent many years working with and in local goverments in Chicago actually helping the average American. Palin? 20 months as a govenor of a state that most people think of only when planning a vacation and mayor of her tiny town 40 miles outside of Anchorage.

What amazes me more is that the GOP are actually saying she is more than qualified to run the country!! These are the same people who said that Obama was far from qualified even though Obama worked hard to get himself through college, was the first African-American President of the Harvard Law Review, passed bills that gave children in Chicago health coverage when their parents couldn’t afford it, has graduated from both Columbia University (where he majored in Political Science and specialized in International Relations) and Harvard Law School. In between Columbia and Harvard, he spent three years as the director of the Developing Communities Project - a faith based organization aimed at setting up job training programs, a college prep tutoring program and a tenants rights organization.

It would seem that McCain and the GOP are still living in the dark ages when women were seen and not heard. It would seem as though they think somehow we will all just simply vote for someone based on gender. Women were not supporting Hillary simply because she was a women (well, okay, some were but they were the very few). Women supported her because of who she is, what she has done and what she will continue to do. I was not a Hillary supporter but even I acknowledge she has done quite a bit and it was simply a personality choice for me. McCain and co. seem to think that women are stupid and will not look at the issues and the records simply because we will all be just so grateful that a Republican is giving a woman a chance. THAT is far more of an insult to women than calling his wife the ‘c’ word.

I also suppose McCain is no longer patriotic as he was not wearing a flag lapel pin at all today when the announcement was made about Palin. For someone who wasted no time getting on Obama’s case about it - I guess we can now claim he hates this country because he isn’t wearing a pin that was made in China.

If McCain gets in it will either show the GOP is right and women are sheep who will vote simply on gender or it will prove that Americans are lazy when it comes to voting and couldn’t be bothered fact-checking and instead believe what they are told in a 30 second ad.

The idea of Barack Obama choosing a Republican as his running mate has been around for quite awhile. While it makes some Dems cringe, there may be something to it.

He has said he wants to cross party lines (now there is a concept to those of us who never vote based on party but on person) and what better way than to have a bi-party ticket?

But who would be a good choice? A few have been mentioned - thankfully not including any more Bushs! Yet there is one that has not been mentioned and, while I never thought I’d say this back when he was first running for Governor, he has proven to be smart about decisions and has also proven his ability to look at all sides before making a decision. Before I mention his name, I am sure there are a few in his state that will disagree but that would hold true for the Governor of any state… Arnold Schwarzenegger.

I will give everyone a few minutes to absorb the shock and to stop laughing :D.

Continuing on, Schwarzenegger has made alternative energy and the environment two of his biggest issues and has actually managed to get things done in regards to both! Instead of shuffling his feet and repeating “Yes, we need alternative sources” but does nothing, he has help to continue the harnessing of energy through windmills throughout the state and has made very strict environmental laws for the state - which admittingly if you walk along the beaches in Santa Monica or Malibu you’d never be able to tell based on all the trash. California is a large and very diverse state and he has managed to work with ALL people of the state and has earned the respect of both Republicans and Democrats alike.

On a less serious note - he also married into the Kennedy family so he really wouldn’t be allowed to screw up as much as Bush without being whacked upside the head a few times - starting with his wife!

But seriously, as strange as this ticket sounds, it would be a ticket that could and would do wonders to get back the respect from the world that we have lost since the Bush Administration. Granted, those that still think that we are the only country in the world and all others are beneath us won’t care one way or the other about how other nations view us.

That all said, I know that a President has to have been born in the US (which, to those who still believe the Obama was not born in the US - yes, Hawaii IS a state!), I do not know if a VP has to have been born here too.

But just a random thought as these ideas are being tossed around.