I don’t know why this has happened, but apparently I’ve got a lot to say (and to link to) and so I’m just going to try to get it out of my system. If you’re not into politics and you came here looking for comics, please just bear with me…comics will be back shortly.
Let’s start with the easy stuff…
As if there weren’t enough reasons to love Jon Stewart, take a look at this clip from a recent episode that talked about republican hypocrisy. Why does a comedy show have less spin these days than political and “real” news programs? Something is wrong with this country when I have to get my comedy AND my truth from the same show.
If Jon Stewart and Janeane Garofalo (the link is to her on Bill Maher 9/12) had a child it would be the most brilliant wonderful perfect being ever…like Jesus even, assuming I believed in Jesus. Salman Rushdie isn’t bad either (also from Bill Maher 9/12). I can usually do without Bill Maher and all his womanizing borderline sexist crap (Maher calling Sarah Palin a stewardess, though it may be a bit funny, is really not, and is definitely not helping us), but with his vocal support of Barak Obama this year I’m slowly coming over to the dark side…
Also, while I never thought in a million years I would link to something on The View (suffice to say I’m not a fan), I was surprisingly impressed with their interview of John McCain, it was less softball than I would have thought, and McCain (I believe) comes off very badly (yay!). He seems to be searching for answers, brusque, rude, and full of lies and misinformation (shocking). So let’s link to it! It was also a good reminder that Barbara Walters was once a woman with more to her than just The View – it would be good to see her get back to that. FYI – part three with Cindy McCain is the least interesting and hard hitting of the segments.
The View Part I
The View Part II
The View Part III
One of the many lies being floated in the McCain campaign about Palin is her “maverick” status – the fact that she came in and defeated the “boys club” in Alaska and brought reform. It may be true that she defeated the “boys club”, but as far as bringing reform, it is blatantly obvious to anyone looking (assuming they want the truth) that she simply took over and replaced the existing corrupt system with her own vendetta driven corrupt system. Here’s a good article that outlines some of the corruption, from hiring old school friends to important legislative positions to intimidating bloggers; firing and trying to fire various people including a librarian who was not open to her book banning plans; to simply misusing budget funds and lying about cutting spending. No, she didn’t fire the chef, she just reassigned the chef.
Do I care if she fired the chef? Hell no, but I do care that she lied/is lying about it. And maybe even more importantly that she thinks the American people are stupid enough to take her word for it simply because she’s a woman that calls herself a maverick. You know what? If Palin can call herself a maverick and a reformer…then I’m going to start calling myself thin…I wonder how many people will believe it, despite the fact that they can see just from looking at me that I am clearly NOT thin. Why does this work for her and not me? Perhaps because she has a giant political spin machine and the desperation of a people determined to steal another election behind her? Hmm…perhaps.
And if you haven’t seen Palin’s incredibly underwhelming (and quite frankly alarmingly frightening) interview with Charlie Gibson (who wasn’t my first choice, but I think did a pretty exceptional job across the board) then check out both the video and transcript here.
Are we really prepared to have another four years of someone that does not know how to pronounce the word NUCLEAR? C’MON! And why doesn’t she know what the Bush Doctrine is? I KNOW what the Bush Doctrine is and I’m a freaking office manager. Do we want me running the country? Hell no – we want someone WAY smarter and more informed that me…I’m just a FREAKING OFFICE MANAGER. We can’t let her anywhere near leadership of the free world. It will be our undoing.
Moving back to the horror that has become John McCain, a guy I at least used to think was somewhat interesting as a candidate, many many years ago. Check out clips of McCain contradicting himself again and again. Is this stupidity or lies? Which is worse? I have to say, I think it’s lies, if only because of the blatant lies that have been used recently to slander Obama (lipstick on a pig? He wasn’t talking about Palin – he was freaking talking about McCain’s Economic Policy – even Bill O’Reilly – horror that he is – knows this!) and to attempt to cover up/excuse Palin’s obviously non-stellar record in office.
Lastly, why is nobody talking about the abortion issue in more concrete terms. I think Palin’s family, and especially her children should certainly be off limits, and I have no real opinion about her seventeen year-old daughter Bristol’s decision to have her child, but I think it is INSULTING that Palin wants to ignore the fact that it is Roe v Wade (and years of men and women fighting for reproductive rights) that gives Bristol the right to DECIDE that for herself (or to have her family and the GOP decide it for her – whichever it was). Why does nobody care about this? Why is nobody talking about this?! When a Vice Presidential candidate gets on a stage and makes a speech in which she says that her daughter has made a DECISION to keep her unborn child, but that same Vice Presidential candidate is actually AGAINST CHOICE…I see that as maybe the biggest most horrible hole in all of this talk we’re having. I guess there’s just too much drama and scandal to go around…no time for the real horrible facts.
In summary, I plead to the youth of this country, that I know for a fact are largely behind Barak Obama. You must get out and vote. I believe you will be the vote that matters this time around (you were possibly the vote that mattered the last two elections and largely didn’t show up) and hey, I get it…you have class that day, or you forgot it was Tuesday, or you don’t have a job to go to so that you can easily swing by your voting location on the way in to work, or you forgot to register, I get it all…but I cannot stress how important it is that you do whatever it takes to get into that booth this year. I believe Salman Rushdie and Janeane Garofalo in the clip above where they say that in the end they don’t even think this election is going to be close – that they believe Obama is going to take it easily, but do you know why they believe that? They believe that because they believe that YOU are going to come out and vote on Tuesday, November 4th, 2008.
We need you youth. I’m telling you, we need you. We already have all the great older people (seriously), the ones who can’t stand to see this country going to hell, but we need you, we know you feel the same way, so do whatever you have to – have a voting party the night before and all go to vote together, write that shit on you hand (or your face) with a sharpie, whatever it takes, just get there. It’s your country, let’s fix the hell out of it, and let’s make history at the same time, no only by voting in Obama as the United State’s first black president, but by the youth coming out and actually voting in record numbers.
