We are not allowed to talk about the 17 year old impregnated daughter of McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin. I am told it is an off-limits topic, as how a family chooses to deal with such an event is personal. Unfortunately, the conservative position (and in this case Sarah Palin's position) of advocating abstinence only education, makes it a completely relevant topic. The fact that the nominee's daughter (Bristol) is pregnant seems to undercut the position that abstinence only education keeps children from having premarital sex. After all, if they ever happen to hear about condoms, they are all going to go crazy and start fornicating like rabbits. It is a tough situation because you do not want to have the daughter thrown into this political turmoil and quite honestly, I do not think she needs to be. What should be up for discussion is whether or not the candidate's position on abstinence only education works and I think you can address this issue without involving Bristol too much.
This weekend, I was at dinner with my friend and his mother. My friend's mother is a Democrat and her husband is a Republican. However, it sounded like she had decided that she may vote for McCain because he had picked a woman as his running mate. Something about this is disturbing to me because it is just reverse discrimination. Once again, we are not measuring a person for their own individual qualities that make them unique, but simply the immutable ones over which they have no control. If you put a male running mate with McCain with the exact same ideas as Palin, you would not find this woman voting for McCain, but because it is a woman, suddenly it makes McCain a viable option. I have the same problem with people voting for Obama because he is black. Granted, some black people may vote for him with the belief that he uniquely understands the black experience in a way no white person ever could (and the same goes for women voting for Palin and the female experience). However, it seems to me that one should really want to vote for the person that is most qualified and that has the plans that are most like what you want to see happen when the person is elected.
This is why I am completely disappointed with my choices this year, as neither candidate has very good positions in my opinion on most of the issues. And I fail to find either of them to be very qualified. McCain is an old man that is for sale to the highest bidder, in my opinion. It pains me because I liked McCain when he ran last time, but after watching him over the last seven years, I am really disappointed in him. Add to this the idea of electing a 72 year old man and having the real possibility that he could have medical problems and end up leaving the country in the hands of a woman that has never had the job of running a diverse society with over 1,000,000 people and no foreign policy experience, greatly concerns me. When I go to have surgery performed, I want someone that has done it multiple times and done it well. I would think when I go and select my next leader, I would want similar qualifications. I also do not agree with most of McCain's positions. Obama is largely untested. Sure, he can speak nicely but some of his positions lack real substance and some of them (like health care) are not anticipated to have any real impact for many Americans. I looked at other party's candidates but was even more disappointed with them, as many of them have incomprehensible positions or lack any clear position on anything except their key issue - like the environment for the Green Party.
I really would like to be excited for the upcoming elections, but I still have trouble finding someone that truly seems qualified. I guess maybe we should just not talk about it.
This weekend, I was at dinner with my friend and his mother. My friend's mother is a Democrat and her husband is a Republican. However, it sounded like she had decided that she may vote for McCain because he had picked a woman as his running mate. Something about this is disturbing to me because it is just reverse discrimination. Once again, we are not measuring a person for their own individual qualities that make them unique, but simply the immutable ones over which they have no control. If you put a male running mate with McCain with the exact same ideas as Palin, you would not find this woman voting for McCain, but because it is a woman, suddenly it makes McCain a viable option. I have the same problem with people voting for Obama because he is black. Granted, some black people may vote for him with the belief that he uniquely understands the black experience in a way no white person ever could (and the same goes for women voting for Palin and the female experience). However, it seems to me that one should really want to vote for the person that is most qualified and that has the plans that are most like what you want to see happen when the person is elected.
This is why I am completely disappointed with my choices this year, as neither candidate has very good positions in my opinion on most of the issues. And I fail to find either of them to be very qualified. McCain is an old man that is for sale to the highest bidder, in my opinion. It pains me because I liked McCain when he ran last time, but after watching him over the last seven years, I am really disappointed in him. Add to this the idea of electing a 72 year old man and having the real possibility that he could have medical problems and end up leaving the country in the hands of a woman that has never had the job of running a diverse society with over 1,000,000 people and no foreign policy experience, greatly concerns me. When I go to have surgery performed, I want someone that has done it multiple times and done it well. I would think when I go and select my next leader, I would want similar qualifications. I also do not agree with most of McCain's positions. Obama is largely untested. Sure, he can speak nicely but some of his positions lack real substance and some of them (like health care) are not anticipated to have any real impact for many Americans. I looked at other party's candidates but was even more disappointed with them, as many of them have incomprehensible positions or lack any clear position on anything except their key issue - like the environment for the Green Party.
I really would like to be excited for the upcoming elections, but I still have trouble finding someone that truly seems qualified. I guess maybe we should just not talk about it.
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