Left I on the News

Lord knows (and so do my readers) that I have plenty of problems with Democrats, but the Republicans really are unbelievable. And I'm not referring just to the absurdities like the ones highlighted by Jon Stewart last night - Karl Rove denigrating Democrat Tim Kaine as being an unqualified and "intensely political choice" for Vice-President (had he been chosen) because he was only the former mayor of Richmond, VA (population 200,000 - "105th largest city in America," per Rove, "smaller than Chula Vista, CA, Aurora, CO, ...") and Governor of Virginia, population 7.6 million ("only for 3 years" according to Rove), while one month later touting Sarah Palin, the 20-month-long Governor of Alaska (population 670,000, 3 1/2 times larger than Richmond and 1/10th the size of Virginia) as obviously qualified because she was the former mayor of the "2nd largest city in Alaska" [actually the 4th or 5th largest, and, for the record, the 5680th largest city in the United States]. Or Bill O'Reilly castigating "the parents" of Jamie Lynn Spears as being primarily to blame for her getting pregnant because "they obviously have little control over her," while denouncing those judging the Palin family and pontificating about how teen pregnancy is a private family matter.

No, I'm talking about the larger issues. Sarah Palin talking in her first public talk the other day about "smashing the glass ceiling" and extolling Hillary Clinton and Geraldine Ferraro, and then the audience erupting in wild applause. As if they weren't the group that was the main opposition to women's rights over the years, including the Equal Rights Amendment, abortion rights, equal pay for equal work, and so on. Or the audience erupting in cheers last night when Palin referred to her husband as a "proud member of the United Steelworkers Union," as if the people in the hall weren't the principle opposition to unions in this country, both in the legislatures and in the corporate board rooms. And, last but not least, Palin shamelessly exploiting her Down's Syndrome baby to make an appeal to that "interest group" (parents of special needs children) and claiming that she would be their "friend and advocate" in the White House, as if the entire Republican philosophy was not to cut any kind of government assistance and to eliminate any possibility of universal health care, both of which would benefit such people.

It's almost enough to make you vote for a Democrat.