I promised myself I would not blog on politics but I can’t help myself.

I watched Sarah Palin’s speech last night.  Interesting.  What did you think?  Here’s my take: 

She is very well spoken.  She’s very engaging and inviting and injected humor into an otherwise stodgy convention.   I liked the fact that her husband has a regular All American type job (fisherman-probably one of the toughest).  Well, that’s one of his jobs anyhow.

Her pledge to be an advocate for special needs was refreshing, although I’m perplexed by the fact that while Governor she slashed 62% (over $5,000,000) off the Special Needs Budget in Alaska.   And, after the Alaskan Legislature passed a spending bill last April, she eliminated or reduced the funding of programs benefiting teen moms. 

It’s very commendable to have a son who will be serving in Iraq (something you don’t see a lot of in our families of those in high positions)….although I’m wondering if and how long he will actually be deployed there considering his mom is now on the VP ticket.  (remember Prince Harry after all!)  Regardless, the fact that he is serving at all is respectable & wonderful thing!
Kudos to him!

I could have done without he injection of rhetoric from the campaign ads we see daily on tv (i.e. “Obama will raise the middle class taxes”, and that goofy out of context parroting about religion and guns). 

I think we all got to know her alittle bit better, but time will tell.  I still have issues with her trying to get  her State Trooper brother-in-law fired.  When he wasn’t fired, she fired the state public safety commissioner.

Now, granted, I’d be pissed too if someone was making death threats against my father…but when you are in a position of power, it’s not appropriate to use that power for personal reasons.  It’s not respectable and it’s certainly not legal.   (I think this behavior is the same thing she’s talking about getting rid of in DC)

And then there’s that Bridge to Nowhere.  Very admirable of her to say ‘No Thanks’ to the $233,000,000….but what she’s not saying is that she actually endorsed that project while a gubernatorial candidate in Alaska.  And it’s not like she sent the money back to Washington….Alaska kept it for different projects.

There’s a conflict of interest in the fact that her husband works for BP Oil.  I’m wondering how you take on the oil companies when your husband is receiving nearly $50,000 a year in paychecks from one. 

Alaska’s lifeline is oil.  Did you know that eligible Alaskans got about $1700 each last year in dividend checks from oil royalties? 

And although in Palin’s speech she poked fun at Obama for his energy policy, she actually praised him this August for his wanting our government to work with the Canadians to build a pipeline for natural gas in Alaska.

So I think we’ll see some skeletons coming out of her closet.  No one escapes these things without the skeletons.  We’ve seen skeletons from every candidate.  I’m not here to point every one of those out because we’ve seen stories and ads about these skeletons for months now. 

Now, as a mother myself I do find it intriguing that a normal everyday mom is on the ticket.   But also as a mom I can’t imagine how hard it would be to run an entire country when I’ve got so many kids that need me. 

Also as a mom, the argument of ‘a father can do the same job raising the kids’ definitely can NOT be made.  This isn’t a mom taking a ‘regular’ job, or even a job of Mayor or Governor….it’s the Vice President for heaven’s sake.  And….no matter how much you love your husband…they simply cannot do the job of a mother.  All moms know this.  Duh, that’s just insanity. 

Don’t kill the messenger, I’m not saying she ‘can’t do it’.  Just saying it’s going to be very difficult.

I look at all the things I do with and for my kids.  All those things would make a great resume!  But not to run my Country.  And, God forbid, McCain (who has a myriad of health problems) should die, she WOULD in fact be running the Country.

I heard nothing of any substance in this speech regarding health care or foreign policy.  I would have expected her to speak to these issues considering they are very important to the average Joe.

Regardless of who gets into the White House, they are going to spend the first couple years fixing the mistakes of the past Eight.  I’m not sure how much they can actually get done of their own agenda considering the mess we are in in this Country. 

We need to repair our reputation in the world.  A reputation that has been completely destroyed.   We need to fix our ‘own house’ and we need get off the oil.  God gave us the sun and the wind.  It’s free!  (Until someone can find a way to sell it to us of course)

I’m an American.   I want what is best for MY Country.  I’m so sick of all the crap by both parties.  All the moronic talk about Dems not being Patriotic or the Repubs being war mongers.  How stupid.  First of all there’s a difference between patriotism and nationalism.  (see here if you’re unsure:   http://www.dekalbrifles.org/Articles/Patriotism%20versus%20Nationalism.htm

I am an Independent.  Unfortunately there’s not enough of us to break the destructive tug of war by the Repubs and Dems.  So we have to pick a side.  Just be straight with me on the issues, don’t lie and don’t fill your pockets with money you earned for a decision or a nod.

This is going to be the most exciting election in American history.  As a woman I’d LOVE to see a woman in the White House.  But how dumb would it be to vote on that basis alone?  Let’s make sure when we cast our vote that we are doing it for the right reasons.  NOT because she’s a woman, he’s white, he’s black, because your friends are or because your party nominated that person.  Why not vote with the brains that God gave you?  Learn the differences in the issues they are campaigning on.  Good link for some of those issues:
http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/news/0806/gallery.election_issues/