Geeky Mom

I had every intention of watching McCain’s speech. I watched all the lead-up speeches, beginning around 8:30. Geeky Boy was watching with me. His first comment was, “Oh I see what this is all about: 9/11.” And that was when that Senator from Oklahoma was talking about the OK City bombing–something done to us by religious fanatics in our own country. After her and Tom Ridge and Cindy McCain, I just couldn’t take it any more.

I will say that the mood of the convention seemed very negative and not all that excited–a little like a DNC convention 4 years ago. Compared to the general party atmosphere that seemed to permeate the DNC last week, the RNC just didn’t seem to have the energy to do much. Maybe it was past their bedtime.

It’s been interesting to watch the “woman” issue circulate during these conventions. The Democrats had the first viable woman candidate for president, a woman who, no matter what else we may think of her, is smart and capable. Now, the Republicans, who have selected a woman of questionable qualifications as a VP candidate, are claiming all the credit for having broken the glass ceiling. On the one hand, I’ve been disgusted by hearing conservatives claim that the liberals’ statements about Palin’s inability to lead are sexist. On the other, hearing them finally say that having a woman on the ticket is necessary makes me think that we may have a chance to really break the political glass ceiling. I don’t trust any of these people, but maybe some of it is sinking in to the heartland of America.

I’ll have to catch up on McCain’s speech sometime today, but from what I’ve seen of blogger comments, it looks like it was stiff and more of the same.

I did it. I voted for Hillary. I’d like to say I have really good reasons from a policy standpoint, but I don’t. On the issues I care about, there’s not a huge difference between Obama and Clinton. And honestly, if the election had been held a month ago, I probably would have voted differently. But, for the last few days, I’ve been thinking about the way Hillary’s been scrutinized and how women tend to get the raw deal when it comes to getting positions of power. No, she’s not perfect, but we know the ways in which she’s not perfect. I think she has a good chance of getting important legislation passed because she does have connections in Congress that I don’t think Obama has built yet. And I think it’s about time a woman was president.

In my precinct, where I once again served as judge, the vote was very close, with Obama beating Clinton by only 10 votes. Talk on the elevators in the courthouse was all about how the radio was projecting Hillary to win and they just couldn’t believe that because Obama won their precincts. There’s a large swath of PA that’s very different from Philadelphia and its suburbs and the there’s Pittsburgh, a former steel town. I’m thinking that Obama didn’t necessarily appeal to those areas. There were lots of people who switched parties for this election and just based on my observations at my precinct, I think quite a few did so to try to influence who McCain will run against, not out of some real change in ideology.

Whatever happens, I think we’re in for an interesting election come November.

Got this via AAYOR

Note that Hillary is near the bottom for me. I’ve always like Kucinich, but Biden? Gravel? Gravel’s kind of a nut.

89% Dennis Kucinich
87% Mike Gravel
81% Joe Biden
80% Barack Obama
79% Chris Dodd
78% John Edwards
73% Hillary Clinton
73% Bill Richardson
36% Rudy Giuliani
30% Ron Paul
29% John McCain
22% Mitt Romney
21% Mike Huckabee
12% Tom Tancredo
12% Fred Thompson

2008 Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz

So, the Iowa caucus had interesting results. Huckabee first? Hilary last? Wow.

We’ll wait to see what happens in New Hampshire, but I’m inclined to think we’re in some uncharted territory here. Sort of. Seems like every primary cycle offers its share of surprises, but it’s certainly true that the MSM is clueless about what really is going on.

First, some thoughtful commentary by others:

• Tim Burke on liberals’ usual reliance on competency and reason (back online–go read).
• Laura at 11D on Brooks on Huckabee.
• John Holbo speculating on Hilary as VP.

What do I think? I want someone who’s going to give us universal health care. I want someone who’s going to help solve the global warming crisis and get the oil companies, the auto companies, and others on board. I want someone who will really help the middle class and the poor and stop giving tax breaks to people who fall into the top 1% of earners (much of that earning coming from investments) and stop letting CEO’s make hundreds of times more than the folks who work for them. I want someone who’s going to stop scaring the crap out of people and who’s going to rebuild our reputation in the world. I want someone who’s going to take religion out of the equation and who will support education with money and resources.

Do I think a president can give me all that? Probably not. I think some of this has to start closer to home with city officials, state officials, and congresspeople. While the president can set the tone, the real work gets done elsewhere.