Miss Congeniality

Lately, I've read a lot of commentaries, op-eds and bloggers on Sarah Palin. Many of them love the self-described "hockey mom" (I wonder how many campaign staffers it took to come up with that clever moniker) and nearly as many hate her. I hate nearly everything she stands for and supports. But what I hate most is the idea, the misguided notion that women, especially we women who haven't aligned with any party and vote independent, will vote for her simply because she has two X chromosomes. We'll see her as one of us. We're stupid enough to feel a kinship for a strong person who also happens to have breasts, a vagina and a bunch of kids. Isn't this what McCain has been banking on? Women stick together, after all. Really? Do they?

And the concept that pro-Hillary Clinton voters (again we're talking about the women), still angry at her loss, will choose McCain and his female running mate over Obama just doesn't fly. Maybe a few of those in anger management classes right now will switch sides. But most won't. They aren't that stupid.

So if McCain doesn't actually believe that women are politically gullible and uninterested and don't follow the issues and will pull the lever for him in 44 days (holy crap!) simply because he has a female running mate then why did he pick her? Because she shares similar political views and he truly does imagine she's the right person for the job? Because she's a woman and a heck of a lot younger ... the opposite of him? Because she is shorter than him and practically un-heard of by anyone outside of Alaska until lately? Because he wants voters to remember that he's a maverick and is the candidate for change? I'm still trying to figure out what he was thinking.

Maybe we already know a lot about Sarah Palin ... she's a life-time member of the NRA, anti-abortion, pro-death penalty and a former beauty queen. I'd call that my absolute worst nightmare. It takes me right back to dorm life and a certain college roommate. I believe Palin was actually chosen Miss Congeniality in the pageant ... she's pleasant and friendly. Isn't that nice?




I wonder what Vladimir Putin thinks of this potential new guest at the Kremlin?

One of the sites I encountered in researching Sarah Palin laid it pretty bare. Not only is she anti-reproductive freedom but stridently pro-hunting, off-shore drilling, anti-environment and against protecting endangered species. We may have heard most of this before with all of the media coverage of late ... but something about seeing it all lined up in an ordered column fairly turned my stomach. http://www.grizzlybay.org/SarahPalinInfoPage.htm

Palin's record on the environment is abysmal and her support of the barbaric treatment of animals is down-right vicious.

She scares the hell out of me.