Frigging Politics

Caught up with most of my correspondence list, which has done a marvelous job of explaining to me why I can't watch Sarah Palin, look at Sarah Palin, or listen to Sarah Palin for more than fifteen minutes without my blood pressure sky-rocketing through the roof. Let alone write about her. I keep praying she'll just disappear after November 4 or someone will secretly replace her with Tina Fey like they did in that film with Kevin Kline entitled Dave.

Here's the posts that explain why. Apparently my correspondence list has a better stomach for politics at the moment than I do. They seem to have watched both the debate and the Katie Couric Interviews - which have been amusing my parents to no end. Every time I've talked to my parents this week - they quote another segment of the interview - making me wonder if Couric decided to do it in five day segments as opposed to all at once. Apparently there was also a really clever SNL sketch regarding the interview - which can be found somewhere on YouTube (since my parents don't tend to watch SNL) - that entertained the heck out of my Dad.

Here's the link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/27/tina-fey-as-sarah-palin-k_n_129956.html

[And yes, Tina Fey could replace Palin and I seriously doubt we'd notice.]

My father is a bit of a political/policy wonk - and in his retirement has found heaven down in Hilton Head. He's on the World Affairs Council down there - which has retired Pentagon Officials, University Professors who've written extensively on the topic, and a woman who spent about 40 years in the Middle East with her husband. All they do is talk policy and plan educational seminars for high school students. While most, heck all, outside of my Dad, tend to be fairly conservative (actually very conservative) - they all, without exception, despise John McCain. Which I find interesting. My parents keep quoting George Willits - a conservative commentator for the Washington Post, who has reamed John McCain, along with the Wall Street Journal. This is sort of reassuring.

Anywho here's some good links, in case you haven't read them already:

Why Sarah Palin is not appealing to Joe Sixpack, so much as condescending to him.
Reliable VP Debate commentary including linkages
More Reliable VP Debate Commentary - including quotes and linkages
The Supreme Court Case - Sarah Palin Bashing Meme source that everyone was doing
Why you should vote and how you can register to vote

Regarding the last link, my brother to my knowledge has not voted in the past two elections.
Or if he did, it was for Nader. Always a source of annoyance for my Dad and I, who believe that if you don't vote, you get the President that you deserve. The one election I always vote for no matter what is the US Presidency. Maybe it's because there are quite a few people around the world who can't vote in their country's presidencies. And for a long time, women did not have the right to vote. It's not a privilege that one should take for granted. That said, it's nice to know you have the choice. That you don't have to vote if you don't want to - like the people in Africa, who were forced to vote for Mugabe, protested, and were beaten for it.

Here's George F. Will's Washington Post Column on John McCain's handling of the financial crisis:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/09/23/ST2008092301500.html