After Conventions Reflections- Welcome Back Readers

While not having a life actively devoting myself to the political fray during this historical time, I have come to a few conclusions:

1) Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity are full of sh!t. The Fools (Fox) News network has the Republican party's stick far up their a$$es and the Administration's hands in their pockets while they pose as an objective source for information regarding American politics both domestically and internationally. And yes, Faux News receives their talking points from the Administration, not talking points which they feel the American public have the right to know about. My problem is not that these guys have an opinion. The problem is that they assert their opinion onto the viewers (by the way, I do not contribute to the growing problem by increasing their ratings, which would imply that I support their biased, obtuse, and relatively child-like behavior which they call interviewing - I watch the show from other sources. Have to watch it in order to critique, right?) in a manner which assumes all of their viewers hold the same opinion and guests on the show are nothing more than pawns to prove that the "White Christian Male" power structure does not lose its base in America (yes O'Reilly did say this). They promote the Conservative agenda and nothing else, regardless of whether or not their candidate may not be right in a particular given situation. When faced with Liberal opposition, their interviews frequently turn into a shouting match in which the hosts play a "you're wrong, I'm right" stance, appear to allow the opposing view the "final word", which is then followed by a statement whose intention is to sway the viewers in favor of the host instead of allowing viewers to make their own conclusions.

Summary: Fox News is full of it.

2) McCain can't play with fire. The GOP backs out of an interview with CNN. His representatives felt as if Campbell Brown crossed the line by inquiring into decisions which the poorly vetted and hastily chosen Veep Gov. Sarah Palin made while serving Alaska which qualify her to be the "fall back" for a Presidential Candidate who was alive when George Washington crossed the Delaware. The speaker skirted around answering said question at least three times, not because he didn't want to answer, but because IMO, he honestly DIDN'T KNOW. Even Obama sat down with Bill O'Really (yes, oh really), a man who mentioned Michelle Obama and lynching in the same sentence, to be "interviewed", which aired immediately preceding the RNC and will be airing Mon-Wed of next week. First of all, O'Reilly stole the RNC's spotlight by attempting to discredit Obama to make him seem incompetent and provide leverage to the GOP's candidate, which failed, and McCain can cancel an interview entirely because a journalist asked too many questions - or just one question that had to be asked numerous amounts of times? Let's not mention how he became the proponent of change. Everyone wants change...but you can't clearly have your opponent's platform. Originality. If he attended CU, he would be brought under questioning by the Committee. Did I mention that I was bored out of my mind listening to him speak, and didn't even flinch until he started recall his POW days because a man who went through all of that and hates war is willing to continue a war for 100 years if need be while following terrorists to the gates of hell? Good ol' John McCan't.

3) The media needs to leave Sarah Palin's daughter alone, period. Sex happens. Pregnancies happen. Her daughter did not sign up for constant bashing of her character. It's a lot for a pregnant, engaged, 17 yr old middle child to be whirl-winded into the national spotlight so suddenly. Please stop bashing her and commend her for making an adult decision by deciding not to have an abortion and step forth into motherhood. And I know I would be pissed if someone exposed my family on national TV like that. To hell with the unwed pregnant daughter sh!t, this is 2008. This has been going on for years. Ever read the Scarlet Letter? Or the Bible?

4)The choice of Sarah Palin, IMO, is just a ploy to win over discouraged Hillary Clinton supporters and add someone to the campaign who can counter what Obama represents as a face of change. However, it's offensive to me as a woman that a politician would think so little of me to assume that I would vote for her just because she is a woman. I can't relate to her. I'm not a mother, I'm not a hockey mom, and she definitely doesn't win any points by saying "Hey, I have a special needs child." My opinion: she will drop from the race because of some unforseen apocalyptic event, say a meteor hitting Alaska, which would allow the GOP to replace her without looking "wishy-washy" and retaining the votes they garnered as a result of her being on the ticket. And yes, I am mad at the Hillary/Democratic voters who switched tickets only because Palin is a woman. WTF y'all? WTF.

While I clearly support a certain candidate, I am not trying to persuade you either way. Research and find out what you stand for. If you don't like either of the candidates from the two major parties, check out these guys: Don Grundman, Diane Templin, Sreve Kubby, or my personal third party favorite, former Black Panther of the Green Party Elaine Brown. The important thing is that you vote.

I know this dissertation is a lot to read. If you are reading this sentence Kudos to you, but no cookie.

'Tis All.