Oh shush

Look. I know I'm supposed to be writing. I like writing. It brings me great joy. It is a flow activity that makes me forget to eat, on occasion. But it's blog or exercise in my life right now. And, generally speaking, I'm choosing exercise.

But not today. Today, at 8:01am, I officially topped off with righteous indignation at conservatives who've suddenly embraced feminism, the absolute right to privacy in the issue of choice, and the Palin-McCain Lying, Manipulating Campaign.

There is little point in assessing Palin as a VP candidate at this point. It's all been said by pundits far savvier than I. And, while it would be easy fun to point out why she is woefully qualified, how much real fun can it be to shoot fish in a barrel? And, right now, nitpicking over every stupid thing Palin says feels counter productive, akin to having the same argument in a marriage over and over where you immediately tune out your partner because you've heard this one before.

Not that we ever do that, dear. :-) And not that I might not choose to nitpick in the future. But not today.

Palin, for better or worse, is the partner of McCain's choosing. It is a choice that says volumes about what he believes are his substantive weaknesses that would be addressed by adding Palin to the ticket. It is a choice which leads us back to the more salient issue: John McCain.

John McCain is where the buck stops. He's the one who made this ridiculous choice. He's the source of the lies and manipulations. He's the one in charge. The one that wants to be in charge. The one we really ought to be focusing our righteous indignation on.

Let's call the Republicans and their chosen leaders out on the issues, even the issues of their own making and choosing. Look at their twisted take on elitism: education makes one incapable of understanding "real people", but money creates no such veil. The average Joe is more able to connect with a politician who has 12 cars and 7 houses than one who has a few degrees and one mortgage?

Or, horrors, let's look at substantive issues at stake in the campaign. The war. The economy. The potential replacements on the Supreme Court. Let's take the time to dissect the views, the records, and the stands Obama and McCain have taken on these issues, determine what they believe, then determine what WE believe and vote based on that.

Digressing to Palin for a minute to make this point. I am the mother of a special needs child. Republicans want me to feel understood by Palin, to feel a symbiotic connection with her because we are both mothers of special needs children. I am supposed to instinctively trust that another mother will do right by these children.

Um. Not so much. Republicans have a nasty record of not supporting legislation that funds programming, education or health care for this vulnerable group of citizens. Why in the world would I trust Sarah Palin or John McCain to help me secure my son's future because of some touchy-feely notion that "we mothers understand each other"?

Yes, we all have feelings. Whoa, whoa, whoa . . . . But I'm not voting based on my feelings. And I hope you don't, either. I hope your vote will not be swayed either by pretty words or pretty pictures. Determine which candidate's substantive positions and records most closely mirror your own opinions and values. And vote accordingly.

Rustily yours,
Liz