The prospect of a President McCain I would not welcome, but the thought of a President Palin truly scares the living daylights out of me. I find her to be a lot like an onion, in that the more layers you peel away, the more it stinks. And once you consider that being the leader of the free world (or even campaigning for it) seems to greatly accelerate the aging process (something akin to dog years), it means that an ill-prepared first woman U.S. president before the decade is out would not be an out-of-the-realm of possibility. (Yikes!)
I know that Palin very much appeals to “The Base” of the Republican party, but being a progressive myself, it frightens me that someone so fundamentally entrenched in their own personal far-right religious beliefs could potentially be executively initiating national policy, not to mention piling ultra-conservatives onto the bench of the Supreme Court who could likely make Scalia and Thomas almost look like Satan worshipers. To me, this brand of Christiansanity is not all that much different from the Taliban.
At first I thought that Palin was an intriguing choice as McCain’s running mate, which at face value seemed somewhat contrived. After all, Romney, Ridge, Giuliani and Lieberman’s names were being bandied about pretty regularly. It seemed obvious to me that the Republican strategists were hoping that a woman on the ticket would pander to the Hillary supporters who were still embittered that Obama got the Democratic nod, and then didn’t include her on his ticket. Which I find in general to be rather insulting to any intelligent woman.
I guess the first thing that turned me off about Palin, was when I found out that at age 44, and with already having four children, (half of whom are already of propagating age), that she has a newborn with Down syndrome. I find this to be just bad decision-making on a whole bunch of levels. Part of my disapproval is that I kind of have this arbitrary life’s rule, in that once your progeny become viable breeders themselves, then nature is telling you that it’s time for you to pass the freaking baton onto the next generation, if for no other reason, than it’s positively weird to have an aunt or uncle who’s roughly the same age as you. Cousins are supposed to be around the same age, not aunts and uncles. Besides that, I’ve always understood that being grandma trumps the heck out of momhood any day of the week.
But honestly, getting knocked up in your forties is a genuine roll of the dice, and makes a “special needs” child all the more likely, and not a sensible wager in my book. According to “Inside Edition”, not only did Palin keep her latest pregnancy under wraps from her constituency and staff for as long as possible, but she didn’t even tell her own children that their new brother was going to “have issues” until he was born. I would consider this to be somewhat of a betrayal if I were one of her kids. Hell, I wouldn’t want her for a mom, let alone a prez or vice-prez I obviously couldn’t trust.
Another thing I find disturbing about Palin is that she thinks creationism should be taught alongside evolution, she appears to favor banning certain library books, while at the same time opposing explicit sex education. To use an iconic Dr. Phil phrase, “How’s that working for ya?” Obviously not that well considering her unwed teenage daughter is expecting a baby. It still remains to be seen if he or she will emerge a bastard.
I encourage every American who will be voting in this upcoming election to get themselves educated. And even though the vice-presidential candidates will probably garner little more than a passing mention, I think one excellent way to become familiar with the primary candidates, is to make sure and watch the two hour “Frontline” on PBS entitled “The Choice 2008”, which is airing on Tuesday, October 14th. After its over-the-air broadcast, it will be posted for viewing on the “Frontline” Webb Sight. For voters, if ever there were truly “Must See TV”, it would have to be this program.