During the Republican National Convention, Sarah Palin was introduced as the party's Vice Presidential Nominee to John McCain. During this introduction, Palin seized the opportunity to tell the world about her background including being mayor of a small Alaskan town. She described snowmobile riding, PTA & soccer mom duties as well as snubbing the traditional good ole' boy's network, which apparently had dominated the state. All pushed out to the public to highlight Palin's so-called "executive experience". A stretch compared to the traditional vetting of a corporate VP let alone a Presidential one. That was not the most interesting part of Palin's speech. Instead of appearing humbled by the obvious surprise nomination from McCain, Palin came out swinging and smug. She did not hesitate to give the grand old party's base exactly what they hungered for. She belittled Democratic Nominee, Barack Obama's experience as a community organizer as well as suggesting he did nothing during his time in the Illinois or Federal Senate. Palin mocked Obama's criticism of the military treatment of prisoners and upholding the rights of prisoners in United State's custody while the crowd chanted "USA, USA!" This was a Sarah Palin who seemed to say "up yours" quite often, building on her "baraccuda" nick-name (even though the authors of the song sent requests the RNC stop using their song at their events.)
I for one, found this to be quite upsetting. In a time where Palin may be called upon to lead the country or influence the President, her smug, defeatist and non-compromising attitude would only fuel the flames already started by George W Bush. I truly hope the world doesn't sleep on this election. DO YOUR PART AMERICA!!! Speak out, let the world hear what YOU have to say. Post a comment and pass it along.
Chicago Jedi 2008
Palin's Negative Rant Lacked Substance
ReplyDeleteArrogant, smug, and overreaching. Palin is about as appealing as another 4 years of $4 gas, endless war, and bravado rather than diplomacy. The Republican party is characterized by negative rhetoric for one reason---they don't believe in or stand for anything. Waving a flag while mocking the constitutional rights that have made America a beacon of hope to millions who flee tyranny is hardly patriotic. Crying sexism while smiling towards supporters sporting "Hoosiers for the Babe" buttons tells you something about the Republicans view of the Women's Movement. Admonishing the press for commenting on her dysfunctional family before trouncing out her daughter's "baby-daddy" to be congratulated for risky, premarital sex and teen pregnancy by none other than the official representative of the "conservatives" simply begs to become a soap opera plot (or is already?). Smugly comparing her resume to that of a Harvard-educated, University of Chicago Constitutional Law Professor, Senator, and (oh yeah) former community activist whose grassroot support was built on the millions he served not the handful of elitists who appointed him---well, that doesn't even deserve comment.
Barack is not running to make history. He is running to change policies of the past that endanger our nation's future. Maybe Palin should pull up a chair and learn a little something. Sarcasm is great for sound bites but does nothing to fix the economy, bring our troops home to live their lives rather than give their lives, or reduce our dependency on foreign energy. Black or white, skirts or pants, the bottom line in this election is not changing the way the Executive branch looks---its about changing the way it operates.
-Alia
I’m a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight.....
ReplyDeleteIf you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you're exotic, different.'
Grow up in Alaska eating moose burgers, a quintessential American story.
If your name is Barack, you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.
Name your kids Willow, Trig and Track, you're a maverick.
Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable.
Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're well grounded.
If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.
If your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive.
If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real Christian.
If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian.
If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.
If, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state's school system while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant, you're very responsible.
If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't represent America's.
If you're husband is nicknamed 'First Dude', with at least one DUI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.
OK, much clearer now!
The following article was taken from the Ebony Jet.com website.
ReplyDeleteA Woman's Worth
We've come a long way baby
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
By Goldie Taylor (EbonyJet.com)
I have been a mother all of my adult life. A single working mother. I put off dating, took menial jobs far beneath my qualifications and baked my share of ginger bread cookies for PTA Night, all so that three incredible children could have better. I chose their lives over mine. I don't have to tell you that it wasn't easy. Unfortunately, my story, our story, is not
unique.
We slept in cars, bought groceries with food stamps and prayed for a better day. When that wasn't enough, I put myself through school at Emory University and took a part-time job as a staff writer at the Atlanta Journal Constitution. That was over a decade ago.
Along the way, things got better. I've been an executive at two Fortune 500 companies and a practice director at two multinational public relations firms. Today, I own an advertising agency and I've authored two novels. A third and fourth are on the way, God willing. All of this was possible because somebody laid a brick or two on the road for me.
A few weeks ago, I woke in tears. It was my 40th birthday and certainly not a time for sadness. Rather, I cried in joy because for the first time I realized and could embrace the value of the struggle. The bright little girl, who once cried in my arms because we didn't know where we were going to live, was headed off to Brown University. The small boy who had been the "man of the house" far too soon was now truly a man. And the tiny, angelic baby who had come to this world precious and innocent just 15 months after him was now a 16 year old girl headed out to her first job interview.
For all of this, maybe I should be proud of a woman like Sarah Palin. Maybe, just maybe, I should be rejoicing in John McCain's selected running mate.
But I'm not.
I'm not "bed wetting liberal" nor am I a "right-wing zealot." What I am is a working mother. And I cry foul.
I won't, for a moment, denigrate her experience or lob spit balls at her family. I will, though, take issue with what she knows. Or more succinctly, what she does not know. Living in Alaska, I'm not sure how much she knows about the people living in inner city Baltimore. I don't know how much she cares about the 125 murders this summer in Chicago. I have no idea what she believes about HIV/ AIDS and the havoc it wrecks on Black women or the cancer rates in East St. Louis. She hasn't said nary a word about Hurricane Katrina or the infant mortality rates in Appalachia.
I do know that she's a life-time member of the NRA, a proponent of individuals who wielded the very weapons that killed my father and brother. I do know that she “lives really close to Russia,” but I'm not so certain she is ready for Putin. I know she wanted to ban books for public libraries and sex education in schools, but that her 17 year old is pregnant and preparing for a shotgun wedding. I know that she loves her husband enough to allow him (and probably did herself) use her office to settle a personal score--one that the McCain campaign would now like to cover in under a blanket of Juneau snow. I know that the Alaska Independent Party, and its secessionist platform, was enticing enough for her to attend its conference (and for her husband to become a card carrying member). Does she love her country? I'm sure. Enough to support those who want to leave it.
But I have no earthly idea what she knows (or could possibly know) about national domestic policy or foreign diplomacy. For all of her working class values, she never once mentioned the Middle Class in her diatribe that mocked her opponent's experience. Having been the mayor of Wasilla (pop. 6,000 at the time) and governor of Alaska (a state a smaller than the county I live in) for a little over a year, she felt she was qualified to do that. And obviously, so did John McCain.
If she's qualified, then so am I.
But in this country I love, she has been afforded the ability to run. The very constitution she says doesn't apply to the men at Guantanamo says she can. But this is about more than that.
As Gloria Steinem said in a recent Los Angeles Times editorial, "Feminism has never been about getting a job for one woman. It's about making life more fair for women everywhere. It's not about a piece of the existing pie; there are too many of us for that. It's about baking a new pie."
The good news is thanks to Shirley Chisholm, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Angela Davis, Condoleeza Rice, Anita Hill, Madeline Albright, Maxine Waters, Kathleen Sebelius, Hilary Rodham Clinton and a slew of others, there are 18 million proverbial cracks in the ceiling. Our collective political and economic power is due to the strides (and leaps) they, and others, took on my behalf.
I am grateful. I am deeply humbled to stand on the bricks they'd laid before me.
But, whatever our struggle was (and is) that last thing I want is to be patronized. Just as I cannot support just any African American who decides to offer themselves up for public service, I will not toss my vote to someone just because we share the same chromosome mix. To do so would dishonor the vow I made to my children, to myself. I did not vote for Al Sharpton, wasn't old enough (nor would I have) voted for Jesse Jackson and I certainly will not support Sarah Palin. Identity politics, especially in this case, are a sham of the worst order.
When I cast my vote, it will be for people who will lay more bricks for people like me. It will be for people who will put diplomacy before war, challenge us all to provide healthcare for the sick, help another child go to college, and check the special interests in Washington. This fall, I'm not looking for a woman.
I'm looking for a brick layer.
I could care less if that person hasn't spent "enough" time in Washington or can "properly field dress a moose". I could care less if that person likes hockey, soccer, football or table tennis. I could care less if they graduated from Harvard or the University of Iowa. I'm a Christian, but I could care less if they are down with Deuteronomy, Leviticus or Numbers. I want them to uphold the Constitution.
So no, I will not sit idly by as they attempt to suspend habeas corpus at Guantanamo Bay, engage wiretaps on American citizens without a warrant, and hide behind executive privilege when they are caught firing attorney generals based on how well they tow the Republican line. I won't let them cost us $12 billion a month fighting a war that should have never been authorized and never been waged. Not while working people lose their homes to predatory lenders and watch as we bail out the financial institutions that created the housing crisis.
I will not, in the name of history, vote for a woman like Sarah Palin who does not share my values.
But here’s what I will do.
I will continue raising money for Barack Obama. I will get on the phone again and call people in distant states I've never met. I will e-mail, call, and knock on doors until the final vote is cast. I do this, not because he shares my skin, but because I admire his principals and he shares my values. I do this because Barack Obama is more than a community organizer, he is a bricklayer. And he sees -- just as he sees the light in Michelle's eyes -- my struggle, my worth as a woman.
Goldie Taylor is CEO of Native Brand Communications and chairman of Goldie Taylor OmniMedia, LLC. She is the author of In My Father’s House (Wheatmark, 2005) and The January Girl (Madison Park, 2007 & Warner Books, 2008) and is currently working on her third novel, Come Sunday. Taylor and her children live in Atlanta and New York. For more information, visit www.goldietaylor.net or her blog Second Day at www.goldietaylor.wordpress.com.