sarah who?

Does John McCain really think women are that stupid? Maybe I should bite my tongue until I see the poll numbers... many women may, in fact, be that stupid. But, come on.... Sarah Palin? Not only is his pandering embarassingly obvious, but in case anyone was fooled by such a lack of subtlety on the part of the McCain campagin, Palin herself couldn't resist from mentioning Hillary in her acceptance speech. (The speech, by the way, was ridiculous and weak on content but well-delivered... and we all know America is about style, not substance. Who's playing to America's celebrity obsession now?)

I'll give Hillary's supporters some credit, and perhaps John McCain should have, too. Yes, Sarah Palin is a woman. After that, I'm not really sure what she has in common with Hillary Clinton. It's certainly not years of experience, a liberal policy platform, and the respect of her peers. Palin has been the mayor of a teensy town of 6,000 (she was also her town's representative at the Miss Alaska pageant once... how much competition could she have really had?). She has "fought corruption" in Alaska, a state still plagued by it, while perhaps perpetuating the tradition with her cavalier attempts to fire her sister's state trooper ex-husband, as well as the man who refused to fire him. All the woman could think of to talk about today was how her husband is the ultimate man's man and they have made lots of babies. But it's not just Hillary supporters he's going after; it's Republican women who weren't excited about McCain and unlikely to bother voting in November. However, I must say that if I were a Republican woman, I would be insulted... there are many more female conservatives more qualified for the job. No woman wants a female vice president selected merely on the basis that she has ovaries; they want a woman to be chosen because her merits were assessed and she was deemed the most qualified candidate. Palin clearly is not.

Here's the catch, though: for the majority of Americans, I fear that her manly blue-collar husband and good Christian values are enough to trump any questions about her qualifications. I actually know people, family friends from St. Louis, who have regularly put their trust in businesses that turned out to be corrupt or poorly run, solely because "they're good Christians." In their eyes, this apparently implies competence because "God's on their side!" These family friends have lost their home in the mortgage crisis, the husband has lost his money and pride by pursuing risky careers with questionable businesses, and their marriage is in shambles. Yet they continue to vote Republican and probably love this Sarah Palin character. What have the Republicans ever done for them? What have the Republicans ever done for ANY working class people? Nothing. But they'll continue to talk about fishing and moose-hunting and Jesus and babies instead of competent policy, and that's how they win over the masses.

As my mom said today: if McCain and Co. manage to pull out a victory this November, we're going to have to move to a more intelligent country.