Sexism vs Palin

I’ve been hearing a lot of noise this election. And I mean a lot. For instance, the McCain campaign is sending out noise that the media and even Obama are being sexist when they’re being tough on Palin. Well, guess what: they’re not.

Obama, Biden, and McCain have all been involved of this process for nominating our presidential nominees for months. Palin is a fresh face who is a NO NAME. No one knows who the hell she is. So, what’s the reaction? Well, we want to know who the hell she is. So what does the media do? They explode and try to find out as much as they can about the Governor from Alaska. 

Another thing, the whole issue of her daughter being pregnant. No one went and pried into her personal life to find that out. The McCain campaign let that information out into the public to avoid it being a problem later on. There it is. Now stop complaining.

Let the media do it’s job. Let them find out all they can about Palin. If she is going to be a heartbeat away from the Presidency we deserve, and should, know everything we can about her.

There’s also a little issue about Obama and his “you can put lipstick on a pig but it’s still a pig” remark. Well, it was a joke. It was a bad joke, but it’s a joke. This joke was talking about policy. Although Obama should still watch what he says as the McCain campaign seems to have a ten man team waiting in the wings to chug out another TV ad whenever needed.

Can’t we please forget the sexism and racism from the media and focus on issues and the candidates character? I mean really, the only sexism and racism in this election season will come from voters.

What It Takes

If you were to have the opportunity to compete for your dream job, would you? Would you do whatever it took to get that job? 

These are the questions that should flutter in your head as you look at the coverage of the election this year. Sure, American politics can get dirty and Republicans and Democrats may go at it quite a bit, but that’s what it takes. Who wants it more?

Often, we admire people who put their hearts and souls into attaining something they dream of. In fact, we tend to admire athletes and sports teams that do whatever it takes to win. Teams that scratch and claw their way to the top. Even when they have little chance, or everyone tells them they can’t do it they do it anyway. Look at the past two Super Bowl champions, the New York Giants and Indianapolis Colts. The Giants were going against the undefeated New England Patriots and no one thought they could do it. Yet, they did. The Colts had a horrendous run defense, yet they turned it around and won it all.

This could be what’s happening to the McCain campaign.

I was watching Obama’s interview on Countdown with Keith Olbermann and something interesting caught my ear. Obama said something to the effect of: I believe the American people will realize McCain represents the past and Bush policies. Now, either Obama is being way too political or he’s making a huge error. To beat McCain, he’s going to have to smash the American people over the head with constant links to the current President. Not only that, but he’s going to have to do one important thing.

He’s gotta keep it simple.

McCain is doing his job and is doing it well. He’s up in the polls, his VP pick is dominating the current media coverage, and he’s finally united and energized his base. John McCain is leading his party and leading it well. He’s actually doing it a lot like the NY Giants did. He’s scratching and clawing. He’s even resorted to hiring former enemies. Enemies that ran against him in 2000 when he ran against George Bush in the primaries.

Before the Republican National Convention, all the pundits had counted McCain out. He had no chance, Mitt was going to take it. Well, McCain easily cruised through the primaries and became his parties nominee. Now, he’s closing in on November with a lead in the polls. His VP has been a hit so far and his ads work. Sure, they might not all be true (when do politicians tell the whole truth anyway?), but they work.

In the end, he could come up short. Look, his VP pick’s honeymoon period still isn’t over, but if she passes all the tests and remains a rock star he has a very good chance at becoming our next President.

And all he’d be doing is whatever it takes.

Stealing McCain’s Thunder

Sarah Palin is the new Barack Obama.

It’s true, it really is. With a couple speeches, the Alaskan Governor and ‘hockey mom’ has energized the Republican party and has brought new attention to the GOP’s ticket this election. Before Palin, McCain was looked at as kind of boring and… well… old. But now, ooh but now he has the young and attractive Palin. She has a family, she’s a ‘hockey mom,’ and she’s very conservative. Basically, she’s everything Republicans want.

She’s basically the Republican Obama. Obama is essentially everything the Democrats want, except of course for some female Democrats who want Hilary Clinton. 

Both Obama and Palin even have one thing in common: inexperience that people consider a bigger deal than it actually is. 

They aren’t totally the same though… I mean, Obama’s biggest scandal was Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Palin’s biggest scandals are yet to come out. The biggest one being Troopergate. Was it an abuse of power or not? We’ll find out Oct. 10th. 

Despite all this, she’s stealing McCain’s thunder. But it’s understandable. She’s new, she’s fresh, and she can give a good speech. She has all the right elements. The same thing the Democrats said about Obama when he started winning support. Oh, but, be careful. Mrs. Palin actually challenged the media during her RNC speech, so… I wouldn’t be surprised to see a whole bunch of dirt brought up in the coming weeks.

Here’s the laundry list of potential dirt:

Leaving the city she was mayor of in debt.

Teaching creationism in school.

Calling the Iraq War a ‘task from God.’

Banning books from a library.

Supporting the Bridge to Nowhere before she was against it.

Being supportive of earmarking.

Troopergate.

Rebuilding the Republican Party

Astounding is the word I think after watching the Republican National Convention, and it’s not because of Sarah Palin’s speech. It’s not because of Rudy Giuliani’s speech. It’s not even because of John McCain’s acceptance speech.

It’s because Bush is no longer welcome.

He didn’t attend the convention. Instead, he stayed in Washington, D.C. and addressed the RNC via satellite. 

In tonight’s acceptance speech, McCain didn’t even reference him by name.

They’re slowly rebuilding themselves. 

The choice of Sarah Palin excited the conservative base and started the rebuilding. Conservatives suddenly became excited for the ticket that they were once skeptical of. Now, I understand not all conservatives like Palin because of her lack of experience and certain scandals brewing about her, but I digress.

McCain has capped off this rebuilding by essentially denouncing Bush in his speech tonight.

There’s a question remaining, however:

Will the rebuilding and the mentioning of ‘change’ actually work?