Man the Lifeboats - She's Goin' Down - Democratic Underground

NanceGreggs

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Sat Aug-30-08 11:16 PM
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Man the Lifeboats - She's Goin' Down

Edited on Sat Aug-30-08 11:20 PM by NanceGreggs

From the minute John McCain won the nomination of his party, I knew that before the campaign had run its course, he would commit political suicide.

All the signs were there – the hair-trigger temper, the obvious frustration that comes with an inability to recall facts, the flashes of anger when being challenged on previous positions (or, worse yet, the obviously politically-motivated changes in those positions), the fury unleashed when being alluded to as a kept man who married for money rather than make his own way in the world.

From the beginning, we all prepared ourselves for the moment – some cringingly and others anxiously – when John McCain’s famous temper would hit the boil-over point and manifest itself in a meltdown of mammoth proportions, rendering him as unelectable as Charles Manson, O.J Simpson and Scott Peterson, combined.

What I never expected was that Johnny would get his gun and – deliberately and with no thought aforethought – turn it on himself and blow his brains out on the national stage.

In the time it took to say, “And my running mate is …,” the USS McCain crashed into the iceberg and started taking on water through the hidden-but-deadly gash below the surface.

Of course, the right-wing punditidiocy tried to plaster smiles on their collective egg-encrusted faces immediately, urging passengers to ignore the flooding in the hold and stay positive while singing “Nearer My God to Thee”.

Within minutes, the spinmeisters were busy at their craft, attempting to fashion a silk purse out of the nomination of a woman with little experience, and even less substance – a woman who, despite her good looks and perkiness, is still nothing more than a sow’s ear, and a decidedly deaf ear at that.

“But, but, but …,” sputter the talking heads, insisting that Goodie Sarah will bring in the Fundie vote, the family values vote – and, of course, that all important wimmins vote.

And the fact is, she won’t.

For every alleged God-fearing Christian who sees Ms Palin as the saving grace that makes a ticket that includes a pro-choice/anti-choice waffler like McCain palatable, there are two who have come to recognize pandering when they see it. They remember the promises of one G.W. Bush to overturn Roe v Wade and amend the Constitution to prohibit gay marriage – along with remembering that those promises were only held out at election time, and never came anywhere close to being kept.

For every voter who sees Pretty Sarah as embodying traditional Family Values, there are four who wonder why a mother of five, including a special-needs infant, is more than willing to leave her children behind while she pursues not a 9-to-5 job, or even a demanding career, but a position that will mean all but abandoning the rearing of those children to someone else.

Of course them wimmins voters are just dyin’ to see one of their own elected to high office, and obviously don’t care who that woman is, or what she stands for – because as any smart-as-a-bag-of-nails GOP operative will tell you, all cats are grey in the dark, and one candidate with a vagina is the same as another.

While counting on all of the aforementioned voters that Ms Congeniality was destined to bring into the fold, it seems apparent that no one bothered counting those who would just as quickly leave – those who have wondered whether McCain still has the mental capacity to make sound decisions, those who are truly concerned about having a steady and experienced hand at the helm as the country navigates treacherous waters, those who are cognizant of the Republican candidate’s questionable health and hoped to see a VP pick who could take over the reins of power without skipping a beat.

Needless to say, those voters are heading for the nearest lifeboat, along with those who are aware of the investigatory question marks that already surround Ms Palin’s short-but-scandal-ridden political career and realize that they’re probably just seeing the tip of the iceberg that will inevitably take them down.

The sad part of it is that I don’t think Johnny Mac meant to end it all this way. I suspect he was handed a loaded gun, assured by his advisors that it was full of blanks – noisy enough to get the attention of those who have already lost interest in a lack-luster campaign, but certainly not fatal. And those were probably the last words poor Johnny heard before he pulled the trigger.

As I’ve listened to the Republican cheerleaders over the past twenty-four hours, extolling the virtues of a game-changing nominee and the maverick instincts of the man who chose her, I can’t help but be reminded of the same sorry rhetoric being trotted out when Harriet Miers was suddenly being touted as the most brilliantly qualified SCOTUS pick since the dawn of the Republic.

Well, we all know how that story ended. And I’ve no doubt that Ms Palin’s vice-presidency bid will end the same way – as an answer to a Trivial Pursuit question that only the most picayune politicos will remember a year from now.

Sadly for the GOP, knowing that answer might get you a piece of pie in a board game, but it won't win an election.