2008 election stuff

Due to various craziness in my life I've not been paying attention to blogs very much. It ended up at the bottom of my priority list. Honestly, I was getting pretty sick of the 2008 election campaigning and didn't have much to say anyhow.

To welcome my return to blogging I'm going to talk a bit about the stuff that has happened this week in the "race to November".

I have been planning on voting for Barack Obama for a long while now. I haven't been one of those electoral fangirl/fanboys about him, though, simply because I had other things to worry about. I think he's not perfect but an awesome candidate and after my first choice got nixed in the primaries I said "okay, Obama it is!". I liked the idea of Hilary Clinton running ... but liked her less than I liked Obama.

I've been pretty severely burned when I got too attached to a political candidate so I was kinda avoiding that, too.

This morning on NPR they played an excerpt from Obama's acceptance speech last night (couldn't watch it, no TV). I got choked up and started crying: just a wave of emotions of amazement, hope, "Oh my gods, this could work!" and just ... wow, so much potential for good and making things right!

I'd kinda shoved my idealism into the closet for a while, gave in to cynicism. It is startling to have it awakened so suddenly and strongly like that.

Meanwhile, McCain has chosen Sarah Palin for his VP. Let me go over the critical parts here:

Lifetime NRA member.

Pro-death penalty.

Against polar bears being listed as an endangered species (translation: doesn't believe in global warming).

Wants creationism to be taught in public schools.

Against gay marriage and queer rights.

Anti-choice

And that's just the stuff I gleaned from today's version of the Wikipedia article! That's not even digging up her voting record or anything.

'Nuff said, in my mind.

If McCain thinks Palin will steal Clinton's disgruntled supporters, he's ridiculous. Sure, a female vice or presidential candidate is an awesome thing. But it doesn't actually show progress if she is going to uphold the beliefs and politics that deny women equality.

I would hope that no Clinton supporter jumps ship to vote for McCain/Palin just based on Palin's gender. That's not feminism, that's not equality, that's not change or progress. That's voting for the status quo of women's subjugation in a skirt. Oh, excuse me, "pantsuit."

I think Hilary Clinton said it best: "No way. No how. No McCain."