So the official election results have been available for several days now:
http://www.washco-md.net/election/2008Gen.htm
And to no surprise the McCain / Palin ticket won the majority in the county. What amazes me though is the fact that so many people in this area thought they would actually benefit from John McCain. I read the following in an article in the Herald Mail a few days ago:
David Peters, 27, of Hagerstown, disagreed. He said a majority of Washington County residents voted for McCain because the Arizona senator had more experience.
“(McCain) knows more about politics,” Peters said. “Obama didn’t know a lot. All he wanted to do was raise taxes. I wouldn’t have liked that. Now, it’s going to happen.”
I would love to know if David actually is making more than $250,000 per year. My money is on he is not making even a third of that. The simple fact is that Western Maryland average incomes have never benefited from republican policy. The vast majority of people out here are not executives but working class folks that need all the breaks they can get. When the median household income hovers around $35,000 per year, I find it hard to believe why someone would support a candidate whose tax plan pretty much only reduced capital gains taxes on people who make a lot of money with investments.
The fact is that most people did not choose McCain because they thought he "is the better man" as the article suggests. People in Washington county chose McCain and Palin because they hold much more conservative religious beliefs and he has Military service on his record. While there is nothing wrong with either, it is hard to say if they make him a better man than Barack Obama for leading a country. The presidency is about making policy, not determining Military strategy and tactics on the ground, nor is the presidency about setting the religious standards in this country.
When it comes down to who is the better person for the presidency, the better person is the one who can energize people, talk eloquently, rally the support of foreign nations and present a much more inviting face to the rest of the world. Not to mention make intelligent policy decisions without relying on only one strength to guide them such as military experience. It's time for America to realize that in order to be effective, we must utilize diplomacy but maintain the threat of military force, utilizing it only sparingly as needed. As Teddy Roosevelt said, "speak softly and carry a big stick."
Better to have people fear what you could do, then show what you can. I think Barack will understand this along with the rest of his military and policy team. I think this is something that someone not so ingrained in the military culture of the country can truly understand and utilize to great effect.
So do we have the best person from the candidates possible entering the White House? Yes, I think we do. Is he young and somewhat untested on the world stage? Absolutely. Is this such a bad thing? No it is not. Barack has a lot to prove and a lot to live up to, but bringing a non-insider attitude to the White House is a plus. He also has the presence of mind to surround himself with some of the greatest political and military thinkers of this era which will provide him with advice for the situations he has never faced in his own life. This will be a collaboration, a truly team effort and one that should make us all proud since pooling the strengths of individuals is what makes America so strong. I believe we will be proven to be strong once again in the coming four years as well.
Once again Sarah Palin opened her mouth and something stupid came out:
"We believe that the best of America is in the small towns that we get to visit, and in the wonderful little pockets of what I call the real America, being here with all of you hard-working, very patriotic, very pro-America areas of this great nation,"
What can I say other than, you will never be more pro-American than me Sarah and I would never vote for you. You're the one that has done questionable things while being an elected official, a position that people in America trusted that you would perform ethically in. Unfortunately your idea of "pro-America" equates to those people that want to have you elected which is a minority of the country. Your ideas are radical, you clearly don't have any tolerance for people that don't think like you and you have not performed very well throughout your political career. All things that I think are not pro-American.
America was actually founded on immigrants, otherwise know as including others, which apparently most conservatives can't seem to remember. How many of their families came from Europe in the late 19th and early 20th centuries? Now because a new generation wants to make their way to America from places where people don't look like us, we don't want to let them in our country. Let's cut through all of the "they're taking our jobs" garbage and boil it down to what it mostly is - prejudice.
Then we have all of the educated and upward moving folks in cities that understand this. The people that you are implying are not "pro-American." I'm sorry I have a good job and an education and can see through crap being slung by the republican party this election. I'm sorry I know that a lot of people will be severely more at risk with a John McCain health care plan. I'm sorry if I see that the so called "war" in Iraq and Afghanistan can't be won by our brave soldiers because it is now a war of ideologies without true objectives from the top. I'm sorry if I happen to think that the wealthiest in America should pay proportionately more in taxes than the poorest people. But you know what? None of these things make me "anti-American" We are all Allowed under the American constitution to say and speak what we feel, a principle that makes this country what it is. Just because I don't agree with you does not mean that I do not love my country.
My love for my country will be expressed in my vote this November when I vote for Barack Obama.
Asked Tuesday by radio host Hugh Hewitt if she agreed that interviews with ABC's Charles Gibson and CBS' Couric were designed to embarrass her, Palin replied: "Well, I have a degree in journalism also, so it surprises me that so much has changed since I received my education in journalistic ethics all those years ago."
Source: AP
Apparently tough questions constitute a lack of ethics when the person being asked can't effectively answer them. At least that is Sarah Palin's definition of ethics as it pertains to journalism. What I find even more amusing is that she admits to having a degree in journalism in her comment to Mr. Hewitt. If I had fumbled so embarrassingly during an interview with CBS I would not come right back and say that I have a degree in the field. All this means is that she should have known what was going to happen if she has a background on how interviews work. I would argue that as a journalist, ethically you should ask the tough questions that need to be asked, if it proves the other person is incompetent in the process than so be it, that is not an ethical concern of the interviewer.
It's no wonder that the McCain campaign has kept this woman so sheltered from interviews and it appears they should keep doing so. All she has done so far is proven that she can't hold her own in the face of any tough questioning. Don't people think that this might prevent her from being a good leader? After all, the president and vice president positions are probably two of the most stressful jobs anyone can hold. Biden may be long winded, but at least he can answer a question intelligently without amounting to what eff3ectively is taking the 5th during an interview.
Obviously I don't support the McCain campaign, but I still have respect for the Senator. Unfortunately Sarah Palin has done absolutely nothing to earn any respect in my book and will unlikely be able to do so in the next month, especially with her track record so far.
"She's made some tough and courageous decisions and has not shied away from following her beliefs," she told CNN in a phone interview. "It's plausible a politician in a similar situation could have hidden the pregnancy."
Anti-abortion group says Palin 'walks her talk' - CNN.com.
OK, so once again we have a right-wing conservative group that thinks that Palin did the right thing by coming forward about her daughter's pregnancy. But no one is stating the obvious, that it would have been political suicide to not do so. She had two options, cover it up and let the rumors swirl around that the 3-moth old was actually her daughter's baby or announce the truth that while it wasn't her daughter's baby she was going to have one.
Even after she takes this step to just stop the rumor mill, it is not like her so called "pro-life" stance on this issue is a big shocker. What is she going to do, tell her daughter to get an abortion and really flush her chances of becoming VP down the toilet? I don't think so. She is going to flip-flop on the issue just like McCain has on just about every moderate stance he has ever held and claim that she is encouraging her daughter to have the baby because of her pro-life stance and that she is proud to be a grandparent. The funny thing here is that these conservatives behave no differently than anyone else that has to cover their butts in these situations. They take a fundamental stance that they have on birth control, abstinence and sex education and then marginalize it so they can emphasize the pro-life aspects of what really can be chalked up to a complete lack of common sense and likely bad parenting. I hate to tell everyone, but there are not many people that would be happy to see their 17 year old pregnant and unmarried. There is no doubt in my mind that the Palins are not happy either and are just trying to do damage control as the McCain campaign begins to wonder why they picked this woman.
This incident is just one of a series that proves the complete absurdity of the stance conservatives take on sex education and birth control. If they could come out from the fog that clearly seems to be clouding their thinking, they would clearly see that if they just educated their children a bit about basic human reproduction, then this would not be a big issue. So I leave it up to you to decide which it is, an inability to just see through to a clear solution to a simple problem or Sarah Palin's daughter really just doesn't have any common sense and she severly screwed up in an age where every teen should understand what sex actually is for biologically.
So John McCain needed to pick someone that offset his age to ensure people felt like there was continuity plan for the presidency. Unfortunately, he picked a corrup governor from Alaska with daughters that appear to be trying to match Jamie Lynn Spears for teen pregnancies.
Both Bloomberg and the AP are already running stories about how Sarah Palin's own supporters are saying she in unqiuallified for the job. I especially love the CNN story about her daughter's pregnancy and how they are so happy she is going to have the baby and become grandparents. Whatever. No one goes to their 17 year old daughter and says "I'm so proud of you for having a baby even though you are unmarried, clearly have no common sense and we are going to be grandparents at 45!" The fact is that now she has put McCain in a tight spot already since apparently the uber-conservative right doesn't teach the abstinence only method very well at all and now his vice president's daughter has gone and gotten herself pregnant at 17. Yep, things are starting off well for the GOP in this race already.
Now I am just waiting for the connections between her and Ted Stevens to be reported on and she really will become the dead weight that she clearly appears to be. Honestly, what the heck was John McCain thinking when he did this? I don't think this is quite as brilliant as some conservative pundits were saying if you ask me.
For all of those voting in Maryland and need to know where your polling place is please go to the UMBC Voter Information System to find the site and get directions to it.
You will need to be registered with the State Board of Elections and provide the following information:
- First Name
- Last Name
- Zip Code
- Date of Birth
Once you have entered that information click the submit button and the application will give you your polling information and the directions on how to get to the site.
