Breaking My Silence

It's been almost two weeks since John McCain named his running mate, and nearly one week since both conventions wrapped up. I've sat tight and let the dust settle before observing and commenting on America's response. And now, I think it's fair to say - people in this country are even dumber than I thought.

Of the previously undecided voters polled after the RNC closed its curtain last Thursday, 14% have sided with Obama - and another 20% have put a stake in the ground for McCain. Fully 60% remain undecided.

Now, I could go off on a tirade about how much I disagree with the new McCain backers, but I'm not going to. My real problem is with the 60% who somehow still don't know - as if the candidates are actually close in their views and approaches. These are the people who, when you ask them what they think about absolutely anything, and they say, "I don't know, whatever," really are not kidding. Apparently, 100 years in Iraq isn't a whole lot different to them from 14 more months before withdrawal; and apparently, it remains to be seen as far as they're concerned if the economy is humming along fine or in the tank after all. I mean, it's all just so grey between these two candidates, who really can decide?

The rest of this post is dedicated to Sarah Palin - the gun-slinging pageant girl with the "Diana Prince-Wonder Woman" glasses and mop on top of her head. I've remained silent for long enough - and now you've been warned.

The overwhelming concensus seems to be that McCain chose this woman based on her gender and potential ability to convert Hillary voters. But come on, McCain's not an idiot. He didn't really think Hillary supporters would jump the liberal ship for a right-wing conservative. He did, however, correctly surmise that the masses would go nuts for a "spunky little lady" who's attractive enough to distract voters from actual issues. McCain played the lowest common denominator "hot" card - read: she has breasts.

We've all known a Sarah Palin. She was the one in high school who loved hanging with the guys, couldn't get along with a single girl, talked up her interest in things like sports and cars (and depending on the region of the country, guns and hunting), hid behind her glasses in front of the parents and teachers, but put out just enough for the boys to keep her around. Those boys just got older and now wear suits.

The Palin camp is screaming indignations about sexism. In their latest pathetic cry, they claim that when Obama used the well-known adage "lipstick on a pig" to describe Republican policies, he was referring to...Sarah Palin. Enough already! We're going to flip the script for a moment.

Let's put a 44-year-old man in her place, next to John McCain. Have him be fresh off his stint as mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people (Palo Alto has ~60,000), and 1-1/2 years into his gubernatorial reign for the state of Alaska - which, by the way, has fewer people than the city of San Francisco. Now put him on the podium last Wednesday, making a speech in which he belittled the opposing presidential candidate's history as a community organizer for one of the country's largest and most complex cities. How loudly would the country be singing this loser's praises?

It's bullshit.

Aside from having recently held a post that isn't much different from being student body president at a large public school, we don't even have her life experience or academic credentials to look to. Having just obtained her passport a year ago for a family trip to Italy, Moby is practically better traveled than this woman - I'm going to guess he's at least been to more states!

And University of Idaho? Please. She couldn't even get a job at Google with that on her resume, and I'm thinking it's a hell of a lot harder to be second to the Commander in Chief than to sell advertising. If you're applying for the second biggest job in the country, I think it's reasonable for me to expect that you went to a top-tier school, or at least graduated from a top-tier PROGRAM. According to U.S. News and World Report's 2008 college issue, University of Idaho does not even receive an actual ranking. It's "Tier 3," a category shared by University of Hawaii-Manoa and University of La Verne, as examples. In Fall of 2007, University of Idaho accepted 77% of all applicants. Yeah, that's almost everyone. That means practically your entire high school graduating class was good to go according to University of Idaho - and mind you, it's now actually HARDER to get into college than it used to be.

I don't give a damn that she's a woman. I don't care that she has 5 kids. And her love of hockey is of zero consequence. She's AVERAGE - an average person with dangerous ideas that quite obviously don't even break through in her own house. And it takes more than AVERAGE to do the job she's seeking. I'm not an elitist for feeling that way - I'm a REALIST.

Don't support Sarah Palin because she's a woman. Don't support Barrack Obama because he's black. Support someone based on what they've said and shown they will do. And if you disagree with my pick, that's your choice - just don't disagree with it because you're mistaking the election of President and Vice President of the United States for the selection of your Homecoming King and Queen.