Why women shouldn't vote for John McCain

I, unfortunately, didn't write the well-crafted post I'm linking to, but in it, the author of "Suburban Bliss" clearly articulates why I will will be voting for Barack Obama.

Solon's Last Post Reprised, and a Tuesday Musical Tribute

My friend, my friend hes got a knife
A statement from his former life
When he was easy but alone
Beside him was an empty throne
But what of silver silken blade
Affix his gaze, his features staid
Grasps the handle, clips the cable
One steps up, sits at his table
My friend, my friend, hes got a knife
My friend, my friend, hes got a wife

My friend, my friend, the clever ruse
Persuasion through his thoughts peruse
A hidden relic from his past
That wasnt there when he looked last
He feels it ticking like a bomb
Feeding fear, assaulting calm
Takes the object, starts the game
Moves closer to the flame

"Keep Talking": In Honor of Pink Floyd, Barack Obama, and a Media That Never Fell for McCain's Effort to Shut Up

Well, as ye all know by now, McCain will debate tonight in Mississippi. The link provided shows you how to spin these developments as evidence of McCain's heroism and leadership virtuosity. It seems McCain, whose level of expertise and gravitas on matters pertinent to this bailout, and to the economy generally, is clear to all Americans, was willing to "put politics aside" and "solve problems in a bipartisan manner," but Obama selfishly put his Presidential ambitions above eveything. That is the Spin you're going to see from the Right all day.

Still, it is a wonderful thing that the debate is on, regardless of how they spin it, and regardless of the outcomes. Harrogate therefore posts this song in honor both of Debate in Principle. And in Honor of Barack Obama. Because as Obama demonstrated in his strong response to McCain's FASCISTIC SUGGESTION that discourse be put off in the name of crisis management.

Yes, as he demonstrated in that response, one of Obama's best features is that he understands the life and death stakes of Talk.




Here are the lyrics to Pink Floyd's "Keep Talking"

For millions of years mankind lived just like the animals
Then something happened which unleashed the power of our imagination
We learned to talk

There's a silence surrounding me
I can't seem to think straight
I'll sit in the corner
No one can bother me
I think I should speak now
I can't seem to speak now
My words won't come out right
I feel like I'm drowning
I'm feeling weak now
But I can't show my weakness
I sometimes wonder
Where do we go from here

It doesn't have to be like this
All we need to do is make sure we keep talking

Why won't you talk to me
You never talk to me
What are you thinking
What are you feeling
Why won't you talk to me
You never talk to me
What are you thinking
Where do we go from here

It doesn't have to be like this
All we need to do is make sure we keep talking

Why won't you talk to me
You never talk to me
What are you thinking
What are you feeling
Why won't you talk to me
You never talk to me
What are you thinking
What are you feeling

I feel like I'm drowning
You know I can't breathe now
We're going nowhere
We're going nowhere

McCain at Global Initiative

McCain just finished speaking at the Clinton Global initiative. He began his speech by reminding everyone that he suspended his campaign yesterday. That's right, no more politics--country first. After that, he went on to talk about some of the economic and health problems that threaten the wellness of the world. Then he told everyone what he would do, as President, to address these problems. In other words, I'm not campaigning but vote for me.

Palin PBS Poll

Here's something else of interest that my students have led me to. PBS is sponsoring an on-line poll about Sarah Palin's qualifications for the job of VP. So far, 54% of those responding thinks she is, in fact, qualified. Check it out, Situationers.

Real Cracks in Real Ceilings: Identity Politics Versus the Economy

Fruits of Eco-Conservatism. McCain and GOP=Dead End Street

There's a crack up in the ceiling,
And the kitchen sink is leaking.
Out of work and got no money,
A sunday joint of bread and honey.

What are we living for?
Two-roomed apartment on the second floor.
No money coming in,
The rent collectors knocking, trying to get in.

We are strictly second class,
We don't understand,
(dead end!)
Why we should be on dead end street.
(dead end!)
People are living on dead end street.
(dead end!)
Gonna die on dead end street.

Fox Reports, You Decide. Or, Heh: Cindy McCain not Happy with The View

Yesterday Cindy McCain cried out at the myriad injustices committed by the Media against her husband's campaign, and especially those committed by the ladies on The View.

Look, Readers, at the combination of Fox's staff writing and of Cindy McCain's quotes. It is really quite artistic:

"In spite of what you see ... in the newspapers, and on shows like 'The View' — I don't know if any of you saw 'The View' yesterday, they picked our bones clean — in spite of what you see, that's not what the American people are saying and what they are believing," Cindy said at Saturday's 119th annual Oakland County Republican Party's Lincoln Day Dinner, ABC News reports.

"In spite of what you see ... in the newspapers, and on shows like 'The View' — I don't know if any of you saw 'The View' yesterday, they picked our bones clean — in spite of what you see, that's not what the American people are saying and what they are believing," Cindy said at Saturday's 119th annual Oakland County Republican Party's Lincoln Day Dinner, ABC News reports.

During the McCains' appearance, they were asked about everything from Gov. Sarah Palin to their houses to the separation of church and state.

Ahhhhh. Such a wonderfully figurative turn of phrase, "picked our bones clean," and it made it into the headline of the piece. And then Fox "substantiates" Cindy's claim by pointing out that she and her husband were (GASP) asked all kinds of questions on the set.

Gee. Isn't that something candidates for office should be inviting (Palin)? Even if you wanted to cede the claim that too much is being made of how many houses they own--the McCains seem to be doing pretty well coming out and saying tha too much is being made of it. Of course, some might make a connection between the McCains' class status and John's claim that the economy is sound. But again, they are free to rebut this. It is called a free press and an accountable government.

Now, Readers here know that Harrogate is no fan of The View. More often than not he finds it banal and even insulting to thinking people everywhere. And Whoopi Goldberg (Harrogate's least favorite of them) certainly sounded dumb when she asked McCain whether his view of the judiciary's relationship to the Constitution meant that she might have to go into slavery. Technically at least, adherence to the Founders' intent also means you are in favor of the electorate's right to amend the Constitution. There are so many things noxious and wrong with McCain's attitude towards the judiciary--why not focus on them, Whoopi, instead of going for a feelgood line empty of substance?

But overall, Harrogate was pleased to see how well the View ladies did. Indeed, Harrogate would like to see the Hard News Media learn a bit from what those ladies did. They appropriately grilled McCain on a number of fronts, including Roe.

And, come on. Joy Behar may as well have been saying the sky is blue when she said that McCain's Ads have been lying. This doesn't stop Fox from making it seem like Behar's words were scandalous:

At one point, co-host Joy Behar told McCain that two of his campaign ads are "untrue ... they're lies"

Heh.

Dishonorable Mention

John McCain has a serious problem. Each day McCain presents the American public with a new lie. Here are the current flat-out lies presented to the American people that were exposed to day:

Claim: McCain states 23,000 people show up to his rallies. Reality:Bloomburg news says that number cannot be confirmed and, in reality, is much lower.

Claim: Sarah Palin has been to Iraq. Reality: according to The Boston Globe, she has not.

This is on top of the Censorship, the Earmarks, and The Bridge to Nowhere. Classy Campaign McCain.

"let me explain to them what the job involves": Making War and Banning Books

John McCain closed out his speech last night with rousing, Henry V-style calls for America to "Stand up" and to "Fight," words he used over and over again. The convention-goers went nuts. After all the ballons were dropped, at the top of the ticket what we were left with was, Fight, Fight, Fight; Did you know John McCain was a POW? He wasn't scared to fight! Now its our turn to Fight! Always Fight!

Speaking of fighting, in presenting us with Sarah Palin, a red-meat throwing politico who makes George W. Bush seem intellectually curious, John McCain started a big ole fight against our republican institutions as well.

Wednesday night both Rudy (noun, verb, 9/11) Giuliani and Palin made much of her mayoral record as part of her "executive experience." And then Palin, playing the victim, offered to "explain to them what the job" of Mayor involves. But she said nothing about her time as Mayor, opting instead for trashy, snarling, sarcastic derogations of Obama.

But, Harrogate will help Palin out. Her on-record urge to ban books as Mayor will nicely complement McCain's urge to stoke nationalistic fervor and start wars. What a team the McCain Administration promises to be, if we are ignorant enough as a people, to let them in the door.

Palin the book banner link. It also shows how she made abortion a central issue in a small-town MAYORAL race.

This bitch is a nutjob, people. The GOP's kind of nutjob.

But anyway, here's the book-banning blurb. Too bad this isn't a huge story already:

as mayor, Palin continued to inject religious beliefs into her policy at times. "She asked the library how she could go about banning books," he says, because some voters thought they had inappropriate language in them.

A good time to summon up some of this feeling right here, the opening seconds of this clip from the third greatest sports movie ever made:



"Ray, I just halted the spread of neo-fascism in America."

Gloria Steinem: "Wrong woman, wrong message"

In an LA Times editorial, Gloria Steinem succinctly explains why Sarah Palin is the wrong person for the job.

Selecting Sarah Palin, who was touted all summer by Rush Limbaugh, is no way to attract most women, including die-hard Clinton supporters. Palin shares nothing but a chromosome with Clinton. Her down-home, divisive and deceptive speech did nothing to cosmeticize a Republican convention that has more than twice as many male delegates as female, a presidential candidate who is owned and operated by the right wing and a platform that opposes pretty much everything Clinton's candidacy stood for -- and that Barack Obama's still does. To vote in protest for McCain/Palin would be like saying, "Somebody stole my shoes, so I'll amputate my legs."

Personally, I don't get the whole "I'm gonna vote for someone else to protest the fact that my candidate got nominated" argument. Frankly, I don't even get the whole "I'm not gonna vote at all because there are no candidates I'm interested in" argument. Both seem like a cop-out on the part of the voter. Voting for McCain (and let's be real here; few people vote for a VP candidate--although Palin is being touted as a real reason to vote for McCain for some odd reason) to protest that Clinton didn't get the nomination is not stupid; it is asinine. And, as I think Harrogate would argue, is tantamount to agreeing to kill more people in the Middle East and God knows where else many Republicans would like to start wars in the name of protecting our freedoms.

What Steinem does so eloquently is remind us that we're not electing Palin. McCain is the one who needs to be held responsible for this poor choice, for treating the American public--and American women in particular--like we're stupid, and for putting our country at risk. As she points out, if he wanted to put a woman on the ticket, he had lots of other options--elected officials with real experience, who wouldn't make the rest of us cringe, and, despite their status as Republicans, actually work for the cause of gender equality. Instead he chose a woman who mirrors every single one of his policies.

If identity politics is all that matters to us, then I suggest we look past what the candidates look like and listen to how the present themselves and what they say. Both Barack Obama and Joe Biden argue that women can't be equal outside the home until men do an equal amount of work inside it. That seems like a message most women would want to pay attention to.