Friday, October 3, 2008

the dayton time on the vice presidential debate, or, where i systematically refrain from snark and snit

There's a few things that stuck out in my mind from last night's debate.

First, the whole War Issue.

It would be a travesty if we quit now in Iraq. Because the thousands of dead Americans, dead sons, daughters, mothers, husbands, aunties, uncles, cousins? Isn't a travesty? The countless, literally countless number of dead Iraqis, military and civilian? Isn't a travesty? The veterans who are coming home with minds more broken than anyone's body could handle. Not a travesty? This, coming from a person who loudly proclaims the dignity of life? I'm not mocking here, really I'm not. I am just wondering: does it seem to anyone else that the Life Meter appears to operate ambiguously at times? Is the life of an unborn child/fetus/whatever title you wish to assign, more valuable than an Iraqi child living in a mine-infested war zone? Because honestly, I'm not God enough to be able to step up and make that determination. And as much as I seek God, I don't think I know Him well enough to know what God would say about that.

Your plan (the Obama-Biden planned withdrawal of troops) is a white flag of surrender in Iraq.

Because I know you all will not take the time to click over, here is the part of the plan you won't hear the McCain-Palin ticket mention:

Under the Obama-Biden plan, a residual force will remain in Iraq and in the region to conduct targeted counter-terrorism missions against al Qaeda in Iraq and to protect American diplomatic and civilian personnel. They will not build permanent bases in Iraq, but will continue efforts to train and support the Iraqi security forces as long as Iraqi leaders move toward political reconciliation and away from sectarianism.

The role of the Vice-president? Her take on the flexible nature of our Constitution.


The Constitution:
Article 1, Section 3 (you will need to scroll down a little to get to section 3)

The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided.

The Senate shall chuse their other Officers, and also a President pro tempore, in the absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise the Office of President of the United States.

That is the only mention of the role of the Vice President in the Legislative job description section of the Constitution. How that is flexible? I truly have no idea. It plainly states that the only time the Vice President becomes involved in actual lawmaking is when there is a tie vote. And really, people, the odds of that happening are very, very slim.

Sarah Palin was interviewed by Fox News' Carl Cameron today, and she reiterated her position on the flexibility of the role of Vice President as President of the Senate.

CAMERON: One of the things you talked about last night was the flexibility of the vice presidency (INAUDIBLE)

PALIN: Yes.

CAMERON: What do you mean by that?

PALIN: That thankfully, our founders were wise enough to say, we have this (INAUDIBLE) and it's Constitutional. Vice presidents will be able to be not only the position flexible, but it's going to be sort of this other duty as assigned by the president. It's a simple thing. I don't think that was a gaff at all in stating what the truth is.

And that is we've got flexibility in the position. The president will be directing in a lot of (INAUDIBLE) with the vice president does. The vice president, of course, is not a member -- or a part of the legislative branch, except to oversee the Senate. That alone provides a tremendous amount of flexibility and authority if that vice president so chose to use it.

HOW, PEOPLE? HOW IS THERE FLEXIBILITY IN THE ROLE OF VICE PRESIDENT IN REGARDS TO THE SENATE? WHERE? WHERE IS THIS FLEXIBILITY GIVEN??? It's true, the founding fathers were thinking. They were thinking ahead to unruly mavericks like Dick Cheney and, now, Sarah Palin, who are usurping authority and power from wherever they think they can.

And this quintessential Palin quote, not taken out of context AT ALL, as I have provided both the transcript and the link to the official Fox News transcript of the interview, for your pleasure. Do these words even go together? Is this really a coherent sentence? Vice presidents will be able to be not only the position flexible, but it's going to be sort of this other duty as assigned by the president. It's a simple thing.

It's a simple thing? If you're a simpleton, and have no concept of the whole subject-verb-predicate idea they (used to) pound into the brains of school children across America.

And then there's this:


It is my experience that grandpa wanna-be's, men looking to get laid, and liars wink. Normal people do not wink. The more I see of the winking, the less I will be surprised on the day she leans over the podium, uses her elbows to squish her gals together, and calls a reporter "Big Boy". Seriously.

I do not want a Vice President who is trying to be sexy. I reallyreallyreally do not want a Vice President who is trying to be cute. Puppies? Cute. Babies? Cute. Heads of State? NOT CUTE.

I want a bad ass head of state, not one who flirts with opposing heads of state from a country that boasts of its dominant religion killing men and women due to illicit behavior towards one another. That Guy from Pakistan? The President? HAS A FATWA ON HIS HEAD RIGHT NOW. That means that the leader of his mosque vehemently opposed the way he hit on Sarah Palin, telling her "You're gorgeous" at their meeting at the United Nations. No. I want a Vice President who is not calling attention to the USA because she's hot, I want a Vice President who will be able to go to another nation on a diplomatic mission, and be able to accomplish DIPLOMACY. Not getting the other guy murdered because he stared at her knees too long.

And while we're on the topic of diplomacy and foreign policy, this will be the very last thing, I swear, I am just going to say this:

It makes more sense to me to sit down with adversaries to discuss a volatile situation, hopefully figuring out a possible resolution, than to make jokes and sing songs about annihilating other countries. Bomb, bomb, bomb... that is not the way to get the credibility of our nation out of the toilet. The Republican nominees are not in favor of responsible, planned acts of diplomacy. There's no place for mavericks of any sort when nuclear weapons are stockpiled.

There is a place for careful use of the English language, free of easy to misunderstand, folksy colloquialisms. There is a place for polite interaction and using restraint. There's a place for kid gloves.

And to quote Sarah Palin, in the gaffe of the evening, John McCain? He's the man we need to leave.

Amen, sister.

5 comments:

  1. Amen.

    How have her handlers not beat the language abuse out of her? I mean really, my 5 yr old is more coherent than she is. Oooh! Maybe she's drunk?

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  2. I am singing your name to the tune of the Hallelujah Chorus! I went to the Springsteen/Obama rally in Philadelphia yesterday and Ed Rendell started his speech by promising the crowd he wouldn't wink at us. He spoke of the importance of fixing the educational system - he said "If we don't fix it we're all going to be - and he took a little pause there. Someone in the audience yelled out "Sarah Palin". It was brilliant.

    Here from WRH!

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  3. Now, now, nutmeg. It's not the fault of the educational system that Sarah Palin went to so many colleges before obtaining her impressive journalism degree, where she learned impeccable ethics.

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  4. Followed you via Clayjack. You are right on in this entry. That woman scares me, but so many people are bowled over by her because she's one of *us*. I have a friend who simply states "I like her", and when I tell her about all the lies she spews, she says "all politicians lie."

    She's nothing like me and her folksiness is contrived. There is nothing REAL about her. AND the winking, I accidentally got rid of my entry on that, BUT THE WINKING.

    I was on the treadmill when she made that "McCain is the man to leave the country" gaffe and I swear I almost flew right off.

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  5. I love how her quoted text is barely understandable. How reassuring. God, she is such a simpleton. If the Lord above has any mercy, we will be free of these lunatics come Nov. 4.

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talk to me, people. because you know i get all giddy when you do.