What if?

The text below comes from an e-mail a friend forwarded to me.  It has some valid points.  What if things were a little different and roles were reversed?  How would this year’s presidential campaign be different?

Ponder the following:

  • What if the Obamas had paraded five children across the stage, including a three month old infant and an unwed, pregnant teenage daughter?
  • What if John McCain was a former president of the Harvard Law Review?
  • What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class?
  • What if McCain had only married once, and Obama was a divorcee?
  • What if Obama was the candidate who left his first wife after a severe disfiguring car accident, when she no longer measured up to his standards?
  • What if Obama had met his second wife in a bar and had a long affair while he was still married?
  • What if Michelle Obama was the wife who not only became addicted to painkillers but also acquired them illegally through her charitable organization?
  • What if Cindy McCain graduated from Harvard?
  • What if Obama had been a member of the Keating Five? (The Keating Five were five United States Senators accused of corruption in 1989, igniting a major political scandal as part of the larger Savings and Loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s.)
  • What if McCain was a charismatic, eloquent speaker?
  • What if Obama couldn’t read from a teleprompter?
  • What if Obama was the one who had military experience that included discipline problems and a record of crashing seven planes?
  • What if Obama was the one who was known to display publicly, on many occasions, a serious anger management problem?
  • What if Michelle Obama’s family had made their money from beer distribution?
  • What if the Obamas had adopted a white child?

You could easily add to this list. If these questions reflected reality, do you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they are?

This is what racism does. It covers up, rationalizes and minimizes positive qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities in another when there is a color difference.

Educational Background:

Barack Obama:
Columbia University – B.A. Political Science with a Specialization in International Relations.
Harvard – Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude

Joseph Biden:
University of Delaware – B.A. in History and B.A. in Political Science.
Syracuse University College of Law – Juris Doctor (J.D.)

vs.

John McCain:
United States Naval Academy – Class rank: 894 of 899

Sarah Palin:
Hawaii Pacific University – 1 semester
North Idaho College – 2 semesters – general study
University of Idaho – 2 semesters – journalism
Matanuska-Susitna College – 1 semester
University of Idaho – 3 semesters – B.A. in Journalism

Education isn’t everything, but this is about the two highest offices in the land as well as our standing in the world. You make the call.

~Vulcanella

October 24, 2008. Barack Obama, Election 2008, Hypocrisy, Joe Biden, John McCain, Sarah Palin. Leave a comment.

Patience Paves the Road Ahead

Captain O’Biden and myself did a little fall gardening this weekend in hopes of having a colorful garden in spring.  It can sometimes be difficult to envision what the garden will look like in several months when it now just sits as a pile of recently disturbed soil.  However I have faith in those daffodil bulbs, and the patience to wait for my springtime reward.  My patience extends to the upcoming election.  I know that our country’s problems won’t be solved in one day.  We have to hunker down are really get to work, but there are no east fixes.

I do worry that the country’s apparent ADD and short-term memory will cause people to forget that all our goals, universal healthcare, balanced budget, healthy economy, secure borders, reduced gun violence, etc, will take a lot of hard work and time!.  I worry this falls on deaf ears.  After all no one this entire campaign season has remembered that John McCain was under investigation in the 1980’s when we were going through the Savings and Loan crisis.  He was never charged with a crime, but …  it was forgotten almost as quickly as the report finding that Sarah Palin abused her power as governor.

Why don’t people remember the past and learn from its lessons?  I cannot believe that Sarah Palin admonished Joe Biden in the VP debate for not looking forward.  Where are we going if we don’t know our point of origin?

My point is that the United States has serious problems and we need to identify all the problems and we cannot forget some in lieu of others.  Then we must draw the solutions from every available port of information including our own past.  Then we must implement our solutions, support President Obama, and above all exercise patience.  Understand that it took 8 years to get into this mess and it will take time to repair, but like those spring daffodils, the rewards will be the first color in the gloom and bountiful for us and generations to come.

~ Ferosha

October 23, 2008. Barack Obama, Change, Election 2008, Joe Biden, John McCain, Sarah Palin. Leave a comment.

Another Superhero Disses Palin

Now the Terminator is dissing Palin, he told Campbell Brown that he doesn’t think Palin is ready to be commander in chief yet, ouch!

CAMPBELL BROWN: Do you think she’s qualified to be president?

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER: I think that she will get to be qualified.

BROWN: She will get there? What do you mean? She’s not ready yet?

SCHWARZENEGGER: By the time that she is sworn in I think she will be ready.”

That doesn’t sound like a ringing endorsement to me.

~Roy

October 23, 2008. Election 2008, Heroes, Joe Biden, John McCain, Sarah Palin. Leave a comment.

Obama and Biden challenge McCain to “say it to my face”

In the last week, we’ve seen the politics of fear and smear as the McCain campaign realizes that it is losing in places Republicans have typically won.  Yesterday, both Barack Obama and Joe Biden addressed the negative attacks.

Joe Biden challenged John McCain to bring his campaign of smear to next week’s debate.  Biden says, “when you’ve got something to say to a man, look him in the eye and you say it to him!”

See all of what Biden said:

Later in the day, Barack Obama wondered the same thing in an interview with Charlie Gibson.

~Vulcanella

October 10, 2008. Barack Obama, Election 2008, Joe Biden, John McCain. Leave a comment.

Trains and presidential candidates

Ever wonder what sort of train each of the candidates would be?

Well, wonder no more.  Ripley found a great illustration that sheds a little light on what sort of train each of the candidates would be:

Presidential Candidates and their Trains

Presidential Candidates and their Trains

I personally love how Sarah Palin is Thomas the Tank Engine and has fallen off the tracks.

~Vulcanella

October 6, 2008. Barack Obama, Election 2008, Joe Biden, John McCain, Sarah Palin. Leave a comment.

Rate the Debate: Biden v. Palin

We know what we think, but what do you think?  Did Joe Biden or Sarah Palin win last night’s Vice Presidential debate?

~Vulcanella

October 3, 2008. Debates, Joe Biden, Sarah Palin. 2 comments.

Live debate bloging Ferosha-style

  • 8:48 pm- T-minus 11 minutes. We are sitting in the living room watching Countdown with Keith Olbermann.
  • 8:53 pm- Now we are watching a commercial about some business that will help you get out of tax debt… how appropriate.
  • 8:58 pm- The tension is mounting. I am filled with anticipation and a touch of fear. Here we go!
  • 9:00 pm- Thanks, Keith, for reminding us that it is the 1,987th day since the announcement of Mission Accomplished.
  • 9:03 pm- Can I call you Joe? And who did she blow the kiss to?
  • 9:04 pm- That’s right, Joe. Tie everything to the last 8 years of the failed Bush administration. He comes right out of the gate doing his VP thing.
  • 9:04 pm- Uh oh, Captain O’Biden says my typing is annoying.
  • 9:05 pm- I feel odd concern and panic when Palin speaks. I want Joe to win but I feel anxiety at the anticipation of her failure.
  • 9:08 pm- More attacks. Way to go, Joe. That’s right, it is all about attacking McCain. Palin is trying to defend McCain. That team of mavericks, blah, blah, blah. Oh, here comes an attack. Surprise surprise, Obama votes with the Ds.
  • 9:10 pm- Gwen asks who is to blame for the economic crisis.
  • 9:10 pm- Palin’s strategy is clear: she is trying to be a regular, as she says it, “Joe-6-pack”
  • 9:11 pm- What is Palin looking at on her podium? Her blackberry? It doesn’t look like she is writing anything.
  • 9:13 pm- Okay her second strategy is to say something so ridiculous that Joe has to laugh. She just said Obama voted for the largest tax raise in history. Nice rebuttal though on Joe’s part. Okay Joe try and keep a straight face.
  • 9:15 pm- Let’s talk about health care. McCain’s plan taxes people for receiving employer-sponsored health care!
  • 9:18 pm- McCain’s health care plan care, to comment Sarah? That plan sucks- my opinion not hers. It must be hard to defend that crap. Way to go Joe! He’s explaining the truth about the McCain health care plan AKA revenue raiser. The ultimate bridge to nowhere!
  • 9:21 pm- I am still really wondering what she’s looking at. Are they allowed to have crib sheets with them? I don’t see anything on Joe’s podium.
  • 9:23 pm- Palin just said something about how McCain doesn’t tell one thing to one group and another thing to another group… what specifically is she referencing because Joe was just talking about McCain? Not to mention this is probably the biggest audience they will have so who is he talking to the rest of the time? I’m confused.
  • 9:24 pm- Palin just said, I’ve only been at this five weeks and I haven’t promised much of anything? Huh? You are supposed to be touting your running mate first of all, and second of all, did you just make the point we have been making that you are not qualified?
  • 9:26 pm- I am pretty convinced now that she is not listening to Joe. She is just trying to recall her talking points when he is talking because she is totally not responsive. To her credit, she is making complete sentences.
  • 9:29 pm- Gwen, you need to intervene. She is not answering the question. Energy is not the topic.
  • 9:31 pm- Cyclical temperature changes? Wow. I am surprised that she went out on that limb. Doesn’t John McCain believe in global warming?
  • 9:32 pm- Forgive me, but what is a hydracarbon? I don’t know, but thank God Joe knows that global warming is real. How can she really want to stop using oil when she doesn’t believe it causes negative impacts on the environment.
  • 9:36 pm- Same sex couples get benefits in Alaska? That’s good I didn’t know that.
  • 9:39 pm- They both have sons off to Iraq. Let’s talk about the surge. Sorry, Sarah, but they do not vote against funding the troops. They vote against putting troops in harms way forever and ever. Let her have it, Joe!
  • 9:42 pm- Biden and Obama voted for the timeline and against a bill with no timeline. Why is this so harm for Palin to grasp? Ouch, I don’t like her white flag of surrender comment.
  • 9:45 pm- Joe loves McCain but he’s dead wrong… great sound bite.
  • 9:45 pm- I like how in general Biden is substantively answering Gwen’s questions. Sarah is giving brief answers and then running off on her talking points.
  • 9:46 pm- Joe’s answer on handling unstable Iraq and/or nuclear Iran just now was so eloquent. He knows his stuff he understands the situation and wants democracy to survive in those countries.
  • 9:50 pm- Regarding Palin’s untrue comment about Obama’s willingness to meet with the axis of evil guys. Way to defend your man, Joe. He is showing his loyalty. Joe Biden is showing what a wonderful choice he is as VP. Good dinger about McCain refusing a meeting with the President of Spain.
  • 9:52 pm- I am getting tired of hearing her well-rehearsed talking points.
  • 9:58 pm- Joe has really hit his stride. I am having trouble writing because I am so amazed by him. Yes! Once again he is tying Bush’s failures to McCain.
  • 10:00 pm- She just mentioned her gratefulness for our NATO allies. I wonder if she knows that Spain is a NATO ally?
  • 10:03 pm- The question about Darfur/ Sudan was beautifully answered by Biden. He wants to use our responsibility as a world leader to save lives. Palin begins her response by calling Biden and Obama hypocrites.
  • 10:07 pm- Palin just said that McCain knows how to win a war…. uhhh, news flash, we lost Vietnam.
  • 10:09 pm- I know she thinks this team of mavericks thing is a good slogan but I’m still convinced that mavericks are annoying loners who accomplish nothing because no one follows a maverick.
  • 10:11 pm- Joe ties McCain to Bush saying there is no difference between the two. Joe is doing a great job at making the connection.
  • 10:12 pm- Palin just gave a shout out to a third grade classroom. Uhhh, I don’t think that was a question.
  • 10:13 pm- What does a Vice President do?
  • 10:17 pm- When asked if she agrees with VP Cheney’s assertion that the VP is somewhat autonomous from the President because of legislative powers granted to the VP. Palin answers that she and McCain will do whatever is best for the American people. But she fails to say what is best for the American people, most likely because she doesn’t know.
  • 10:18 pm- Ahhh, the ultimate job interview question, what is your weakness?
  • 10:21 pm- That was so beautiful just now. Joe Biden just spoke how he understands what it is like to be a single parent and his voice caught just a bit. His personal story is so genuine and he is so real. Palin looks like ice next to him.
  • 10:23 pm- Right back on that horse, Biden points out that McCain has not been a maverick because he just follows Bush on everything, the war, tax cuts, education, health care, energy costs. “Maverick he is not.”
  • 10:27 pm- Question: how would you change the tone in Washington, DC? Joe would not question people’s motives only their judgment. Palin would appoint people to executive office despite party affiliation.
  • 10:29 pm- Closing statements. Palin uses it as a chance to try and make the media look bad. And of course she’ll fight for America. What can I say about Joe? He knocked it out of the park.

~Ferosha

October 2, 2008. Debates, Election 2008, Joe Biden, Sarah Palin. 1 comment.