I’m not old enough to remember when Geraldine Ferraro was on the Democratic ticket. And I thought that Hillary running was overall a good thing for women, the country and the Democratic party. So you’d think that I’d be at least a little bit happy to see a woman on one of the tickets this year, even if I don’t agree with her politics.
But I’m not. Instead I find myself filled with a sense of futile rage. That someone so unqualified, so inexperienced, so unworthy was chosen by John McCain as his running mate.
If I thought he really believed that she was the best person for the job I would only question his judgement and marvel that his advisors let him go so far astray. But to know that he chose her at the last minute because he couldn’t have the running mate he wanted, that she wasn’t appropriately vetted, that he and his staff so blatantly think that we’re all so gullible to vote her just because she’s a woman it just makes me so mad I want to scream.
I’m not denying that she seems to be a strong woman and that a woman deserves to be on a major party ticket. But not this woman, not now. Her already proven willingness to use her family for political gain, her willingness to stretch the truth to the point of the ridiculous, the fact that even McCain’s spokesman can’t defend her as their choice, is only going to hurt the chances that a competent and deserving woman will get the same chance in 2012 or 2016.
Her presence on the ticket does nothing more than distract us all from focusing on the real issues. From talking about where the candidates really stand on the challenges, and opportunities, facing our nation today. From choosing a presidential candidate based on his merits, not on the looks of his running mate. And that is a shame and a disgrace.
Heather said it better than I can today. And I completely agree with every word she wrote.
If you want real change, if you want a candidate that will reform our reliance on fossil fuels and grow the renewable energy market, if you want someone that won’t make you feel embarrassed to call yourself an American, there’s only one candidate.
Edited to add, if you haven’t seen the highlights from last night’s Daily Show you should. Jon Stewart says what I’d like to, but better. Hypocrisy reigns.
You said it beautifully. Thank you. I’m more scared that they could actually win than I am anything else. It’s crazy. Everytime they talk about drilling for oil their ratings go up.
My feeling is that it is actually more sexist to promote and vote for an unqualified woman just because she’s a woman. Voting for her is taking the chance that she would be the first woman to hold the office of vice president, with the higher-than-average chance that she become president, then go on to represent women as under-qualified for the job.
It’s exhausting.
I’ve never had the courage to withhold the portion of my federal income tax that funds unprovoked wars of aggression but I won’t cast my ballot for two men who have legislated my taxes for those wars and who advocate more of the same.
I’m not worried about being more more embarrassed but I am worried about more blood on my hands.
Sorry but I bought the promise of change sixteen years ago and never saw it. Now I’m just sick and tired of putting aside my convictions to chose between the lesser of two evils, between neo-conservatives and neo-liberals.
That’s funny…because I’m a woman…and I’m voting for McCain because he picked her. And I DON’T feel like an idiot for it. As a matter of fact, I’m not an idiot. The only candidate that makes me feel like I’m incapable of taking care of my family myself without the interference of the government is Obama. I know I’m a rare conservative in the local food movement, but WOW do you bloggers alienate us in a big way. And even though we disagree, that doesn’t make me stupid. I’ve thought about my opinions, examined the issues, and formed my choices just like the rest of you. Just because I don’t believe everything I hear on television…I don’t know. I just know that conservatives (I’m not the only one) that participate in the slow food movement are NOT made to feel welcome, when ANY change for the better should be embraced.
I marvel at how brilliant Republicans are at persuading stupid people to vote against their own interests. In previous elections, some of the bigger issues for me were a woman’s right to choose and poverty. I consoled myself in 2004 when Bush unbelievably won by saying to myself, “Well, as for me personally, my life won’t change that much — I’m not in a position in life when I have to worry about my right to choose, and I’m doing fine financially — so if those idiots whose lives are really affected by these policies can’t get it together to vote for the correct person, it’s gonna suck for them and I won’t feel bad.”
However, that coping mechanism won’t work for me now. My eyes are open to much bigger problems. If a McSame presidency takes this election and continues to hi-jack this country and destroy the planet so big oil can have more obscene record profits, that’s not something I can isolate myself from. What does McCain care anyway? He’s about to kick the bucket and he’s rich beyond all reason… but my baby has yet to have a chance to see this world. That’s right, Republicans only care about unborn babies, not the quality of life they leave for those that actually make it out of the womb. Their attitude is the following: Asthma in the Bronx? Screw them, they’re poor. Chemicals in your water? Well, anyone who is worth anything is buying Fiji water and trucking it in. Your job went overseas? Well, you are a nation of whiners.
And as for conservatives in the local food movement who vote for McCain, sorry to break it to you … you are not part of a movement, you are just a foodie.
As for Palin — what a shrill awful woman. It’s the stuff of nightmares that she could be one super-feeble heartbeat away from the presidency.
You were a lot nicer about it than I would have been. Anti-choice (even in rape and incest cases), anti-gay…etc.
The woman is a terror, and I’m proudly voting for Obama as well.
I am a Hillary Clinton supporter, and I will not be voting for McCain/Palin.
That said, I quit a women’s political group after being inundated with email from hundreds of women who decided to vote McCain, after he chose Palin. They never heard her speak before they made their choice. Apparently, some people do vote for candidates on basis of gender.
BTW, yesterday I posted a quote from Palin’s speech in my Live Journal that had me counting sheep the night before.
“Al Qaida terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America, and he’s (Obama) worried that someone won’t read them their rights.”(PALIN)
I’m sorry, but I don’t find mocking and giggling at Universal human rights to be funny.
My vote goes to Obama/Biden. I don’t expect miraculous change, but at the least maybe we can start reversing some of the damage.
Quote:
“And as for conservatives in the local food movement who vote for McCain, sorry to break it to you … you are not part of a movement, you are just a foodie.”
Wow…that is a misguided statement that makes an enormous amount of sense [rolls eyes]
How bout this? It is obvious that both sides have candidates with less experience than a majority of people are comfortable with. If they were overflowing with years of experience, this argument wouldn’t even be a talking point for the Dems or the GOP. Can we just drop the the experience argument? Obama and Palin have a finite amount of executive experience. Objectively, that is undeniable. Seeing as how these are the choices for the executive branch come January, maybe we can all find comfort in the fact they will indeed have experienced colleagues filling their respective cabinets (regardless if you agree with either candidate). Drop the damn pithy “experience” arguments.
Palin is HOT! (ok, ok, i had to throw that one in just to piss people off…hehe. My apologies)
Boo higher taxes!
Boo bigger goverment!
and boo talking about politics on food blogs.
Now…back to talking about food? and farming? a freshness?
-Morgan
I’m a Canadian and I am very worried about this woman being picked. She is a nut right from the get go. She could become President now that is very scary, and the amount of people who support this kind of thinking is just plain nutty.
You said it very well. Thank goodness there is some sanity happening here.
I’m just a foodie? WOW. Thanks for breaking it to me. I didn’t know that. I’m glad you (who’ve never met me…and know nothing about me…) had the compassion to reach down from your high horse and pat my on my little, trying-to-make-a-difference-even-if-its-in-a-way-you-dont-like head. That’s awesome. Continue making a good name for people like yourself. ‘Preesh-ate it.
Katrina – well said, I agree.
Kim – that’s my biggest fear beyond the general perception that it’s a good thing to put a woman in the white house that’s “just like me” as I heard one Republican say on TV last night. I don’t want a President or VP that’s just like me – I’m not qualified to run the country and neither would that person be.
Amanda – wow, you managed to take insult where I didn’t intend it (I never called anyone an idiot or stupid) and then insult me on my own blog. I’m entitled to my opinion and vote and so are you, and since this is my blog I can nicely say whatever I want. If I’m not insulting people I’d appreciate it if you didn’t either.
Einat – While I agree with what you’re saying about it being no longer okay to stay silent about it if we want change and the Republican attitude towards those less fortunate, can we have a conversation here without insulting the other side?
Risa – thanks. I wrote about 15 versions of that post before putting it up. Trying to make myself measured and non-inflammatory and back up what I wanted to say with actual facts.
Anita – exactly. The sudden change from McCain running a campaign on the basis of his policies and experience to one that mocks the other side is disturbing me to the point that I just made my first ever donation to a political campaign and signed up to canvas my neighborhood this week. Overnight I went from a luke warm Obama supporter to one that’s willing to stretch in ways I never thought I would.
Morgan – I’m going to let the first part of your comment alone. But the last part about going back to just talking about food and farming and freshness? Eating is a political act in this day and age. What you eat, where you buy it, how it’s grown, all of these say something about who you are and what you believe. I no longer believe that they can be separated. It doesn’t mean that you have to be a Democrat or a Republican or an Independent, it just means that you are making a political statement about the condition of our food supply when you choose to eat local, organic, from your garden or bought directly from the farmer. If you don’t believe there’s a connection, then you ARE just a foodie.
Linda – thanks.
Amanda – I don’t think it just makes you a foodie and I never said it did. I think it makes it harder to affect change at the national level if you disconnect the two. However, that said, I do believe that change for the food supply will come as much at the local/state government level as it will at the national. Good for you for believing in the need for change. Now can we get rid of the combativeness on everyone’s part? Hope you’ll stick around even if we disagree on politics.
Well said, Laura. You expressed many of my own fears and concerns about this woman.
(I tried to check out the link to Heather, but got an error message saying the URL is not valid.)
Thank you for speaking out.
Hi Laura. I love your blog and am a regular reader. I don’t post about politics on my blog simply because I fear it would take it over. I am a political junkie and the wide gaps in my locavore posts coincide with periods of high activity in the political process. I do remember Geraldine Ferraro’s run, for all its glory and all its humiliation. And no one has run a woman since.
For the first time in my life, I don’t have a horse in the race. My candidate was Hillary. For the record, I don’t agree with her on every single issue, but she was far and beyond ahead of every other candidate as a whole on command of the issues and forward-thinking policies. I am appalled at the way the DNC conducted the primary this year and cannot bring myself to reward bad behavior (some examples among many: telling her to get out of the race when she was actually pulling out ahead–they’ve never done that to a man, threatening down-ticket SDs with primaries for their seats, not having a legitimate roll call vote). I agree that the experience argument is moot. If we’d wanted experience, we would have picked Hillary and Sarah wouldn’t even be in the conversation. The Obama campaign, by definition, made experience irrelevant. This is the most difficult election of my life because I truly don’t have the heart to vote for any of them.
That all being said, I found this letter from Dr. Lynette Long compelling as it addresses the “just not this one” issue. I am still “undecided” but this is some food for thought. Someone else I know observed that if McCain loses now, it will be a long, long time before either party puts a woman on the ticket. I hope that isn’t true, but I have been here for these last 24 years.
These are my opinions and I don’t begrudge anyone theirs. Now back to deciphering the instructions for the pressure canner before my tomatoes rot.
Ooooh. I’m glad I’m not the only one getting flack for posting about politics
People are sure getting their shorts in a knot over this election.
I like Palin. I was on the fence about voting at all before she joined McCain’s ticket. I was thrilled to hear that she was the nominee for VP. My daughter had done some research on the state of Alaska last year and we were familiar with the Palin family. We are pro-life and Catholic and fans of the local food movement. I don’t know if you’ve ever read any of the distributist writings of Chesterton or Belloc? I’m not firmly tied to either party–my faith informs my political choices not the other way ’round. I don’t particularly care for McCain or the war–could not in good conscience vote for Obama either–but the possibility that Palin could have a major influence on policy and the future of the country has gotten my vote. She is an amazing role model, in my book, and I definitely identify with many parts of her life. Never hunted moose, though.
That being said, I think the nation should be proud that whoever wins this election, there will be somebody *different* than who came before in either the oval office or the vp mansion.