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Posts Tagged ‘election’

  1. In Defense of Sarah Palin

    October 4, 2008 by Earnest Pettie

    Sarah Palin recently came under fire for not being able to name a newspaper she reads. In her defense, she probably didn’t know how Weekly Parade would go over with the press. Not that I blame her. I read it, too. Not only does it have timely information regarding the whereabouts of celebrities I liked as a kid, but it always has the most provocative Sudoku and crossword puzzles. Parade also features a column by Marilyn Vos Savant, listed in the Guinness Book for having the highest IQ. Getting through that column is the equivalent of a semester at Harvard each week! All that for just the price of the Sunday Paper? It sounds as if she’s already got the know-how to solve our economic crisis. Sarah Palin reads any newspaper that’s put in front of her, and that includes the Weekly World News when she’s ringing up her groceries. It’s just one of her vast variety of sources! What other sources have information regarding pieces of toast shaped like Jesus? Alaska isn’t some remote island, hours from the mainland, culturally separate from the country… like Hawaii. Alaska is a part of this country, and news of the weird makes its way there just as easily as it makes its way to Washington DC.

    Sarah Palin believes that women who have been the victim of rape or incest should avoid having abortions, and why not? Abortion is a traumatic experience. Rape frequently is preceded by at least a dinner and possibly a movie; Incest is a family activity. Abortion on the other hand takes place in the cold, dark office of a doctor you’ve probably never met before. Sarah Palin should be congratulated for having the compassion necessary to spare young girls that experience. America’s young girls will have the rest of their lives to get undressed in people’s offices. Why force them to grow up now?

    There is a question of whether Sarah Palin is enough of a heavyweight to be our vice president. Well, that assertion is simply sexist. We would never question the weight of a man running for office. Of course, the automatic response is “we meant intellectual heavyweight.” Well, I would dare say that’s worse. Isn’t it, after all, a veiled suggestion that a woman who is a fat nerd is unprepared to run the country? I suppose if she were a hot nerd, otherwise known as a sexy librarian, that would be OK! Well, I denounce that sexism and suggest we just give her the Vice Presidency and flowers as an apology. Everyone knows that when you wrong a woman, it’s best to apologize quickly and profusely or you’ll have to listen to her whine until you do.

    America is the kind of country where a woman can go from wanting to be a sportscaster to running for Vice President, regardless of her qualifications. That’s what makes us unique as a nation, and if you can’t support that, then may I suggest moving to a country ruled by serious people of distinct caliber?

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  2. The Source of Barack Obama’s Appeal, At Last!

    September 16, 2008 by Earnest Pettie


  3. The Argument for Hilary

    March 2, 2008 by Earnest Pettie

    Finding a Presidential candidate to support post-John Edwards has been quite a snooze-inducing experience. I understand and appreciate that these are astounding days in which we’re living. We soon will be witnessing either a black person or a woman mounting a credible campaign to be our President. That would have been unthinkable a generation ago. It would have seemed implausible even ten years ago. These are history-making days we’re living in, and I should be proud to be able to take part in this election. I am excited; I just wish I liked either of the major Democratic candidates.

    This year, the nation’s Democrats are being asked to choose between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in their state’s primaries. So far, the Democratic electorate has been pretty equally split between the two. As an independent voter, registered in Oklahoma (I’m registering in California in plenty of time for the general election), the choice between the two has not been mine to make. I just have been watching with dismay as Clinton and Obama duke it out for a spot I’d wanted for John Edwards, beating myself up trying to figure out which candidate I’d prefer to vote for. I’ve chewed it over for weeks now, and I’ve surprised myself by arriving at the conclusion that I’d prefer Hillary.

    Hillary? I lambasted her for years for her complicity in Bill Clinton’s cover-up of his affairs. It wasn’t just the lies I disliked. I actually would have been fine with them had they not occurred in court. I believe everyone deserves a fair day in court, and I thought Hillary’s participation in the Clinton cover-up was unforgivable. Time, however, heals wounds. At this point, that is ancient history. In the here and now, Hillary Clinton is a candidate for President, running a fierce race against Barack Obama, and I think there’s a case to be made for her.

    Rather the case for Hillary is the case against Barack Obama. Barack Obama is running on the platform “Change You Can Believe In.” I don’t believe in change as a platform. First, change is a vague, pandering noun that plays on the weakness of the electorate, who may not know what they want, just that they want something else. Change promises something else without ever stating what that something else is. It gives hope without ever having to deliver. Barack has pledged to change the tone in Washington. Doesn’t every candidate promise that? In fact, even our current President promised it. He pledged to be “a uniter, not a divider.” The truth is that the President can’t effect that kind of change with the swipe of a pen on an Executive Order. In fact, politics in Washington is bigger than a President, or a Senator, or any part of the government. That’s the beauty of our system. I don’t believe in change; I believe in the strength of our system of government to solve our nation’s problems. Best, then, to elect someone familiar with that system, able to exploit it for the good of the country. That candidate would be Hillary Clinton, someone who has experience, if indirect, in the executive branch, someone who has excelled in the Senate.

    Barack Obama wants you to show support for your dreams by voting for him. Washington can change and be better, the nation can change and be better, and you can change and be better. That’s an exciting message that clearly has engaged a lot of voters. If it were as easy as that, I’d throw my support behind him in a minute. Hillary Clinton, however, has already shown the willingness to work for that change, toiling in the face of public humiliation, and that has got to be worth a vote.

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