Northern Exposure!

So tonight, the nation was supposed to get to know Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska, who is the Vice Presidential candidate for the Republican ticket. We watched her come out and then go on an almost vicious tirade against Barack Obama, the Washington elite and the main stream media.

She very briefly told her story of how she was just a small town girl from Wasilla, Alaska where she eventually became the mayor before becoming the governor of Alaska. She briefly talked about her family, her husband, her kids, including her youngest who is a down syndrome baby. She went into a victim-laden tirade about how unfair the media has been against her family, and she even found enough time to criticize Barack Obama on his "inexperience". (As if Rudy Giuliani didn't do that enough).

However...

I made a list, and unfortunately, she didn't even touch one item on my list.

Here's the list...

1) The economy
2) The plan for the Iraq war
3) Housing crisis
4) Environmental issues - green economy
5) National security
6) Women's rights (after all she is a woman)

And to my shock and surprise, she didn't talk about ANY of the above! I mean, am I wrong, but isn't this a presidential election? Shouldn't we be talking about the issues? I just don't understand the Republican convention as a whole. Since day one, all we have heard from them is a litany of stories about John McCain's POW experience. All we have heard is a barrage of fear-rendering stories about 9/11, and all we have been force-fed is how dangerous the world is now. I feel like I am watching the same old crap. Let's instill fear, grab our guns, hold on to our self-righteousness and somehow trust this moose lady from northern territory. ARE THEY SERIOUS???

This is what Barack Obama was talking about. OLD POLITICS! Let's attack the opponent, let's create a dramatic story about ourselves and simply evade the real issues. This is no surprise, it is a regurgitation of OLD WASHINGTON, and aside from her being able to stand there and read a teleprompter well, I don't feel like I really got to know why she was the best candidate for vice president.

The other story...

They gleaned to Barack Obama's words to the media stating that families are off-limits. Yet, she exploited her family and showed them off tonight, almost using them as props throughout and then after her speech.

They (the right) claimed that the media was sexist and unfair to her because she is a woman. Yet, many delegates wore buttons that said: "HOTTEST VP FROM A COOL STATE!" As if that isn't sexist.

Then finally, Palin had the audacity to get up on stage and attack Barack Obama for lack of experience...ARE YOU FREGGIN KIDDING ME??? She is the poster child for inexperience and cluelessness. After all, this is the same woman who got on television, C-SPAN to be exact, and asked, "I just want someone to tell me exactly what a vice-president does?" And this was a month ago!!!

I have had enough. I don't want to hear another damn story about what happened to him over 40 years ago. I don't want to hear another story about what he voted on in the Reagan administration, which was over 25 years ago. And I certainly don't want to hear about him being a maverick, when quite honestly, John McCain hasn't done squat besides tirelessly trying to run for president over the past eight years, while his Republican colleagues have set us back.

At the end of the day, as a woman, who aspires to be a wife and a mother someday in a country where I would want my family to be safe, Sarah Palin fell unequivocally short of what I expect and need from a vice president. She tonight, came off as Dick Cheney in a skirt, and that's downright scary. But most of all, I don't feel like I got to know her at all. All I know is she can kill a moose, she's a mom, a wife and the governor of a state most Americans don't really know that much about.