Well, one week from tonight the waiting will be over. We’ll know a lot of things. Did Obama succeed? Did McCain and the republicans figure out how to steal another election? Is there going to be a ground swell of excitement in this country, or the dread of another 4 years of “rule” by the party that came so close to gaining a total “grip” on the system. And, to me, probably the biggest question will be if the democratic party will start acting with courage and quit worrying what these “toxic” republican pundits are saying about them. I heard an add on the radio today from Ralph Nader, and the thought that crossed my mind was that it is probably time for a “third” party to enter the scene.
Absent a huge purge of voters by the republicans I really don’t see any way to stop a democratic landslide. Then the question becomes can the republican party even recover from, not only these last 8 years, but from the last 30 years of constant pilfering of our economy and abusing the rights of people all over the world in the name of “freedom.” I fully believe many of their misdeeds will become public knowledge and many people, including the honorable republicans, are going to be shocked. As I stated in my last post, I’m in the middle of a book called “Angler” which is an expose’ on the Vice Presidency of Dick Cheney. I’m telling you, this book is a real eye opener. When the things this man has done becomes public knowledge, Dennis Kucinnich will be hailed as a national hero, and the democratic party will have a lot to answer for because “impeachment was off the table.” It is clear to me that Dick Cheney RUINED GW Bush’s presidency. I’m actually feeling kind of bad for Bush as I’m reading this book. I think many of us considered him a “pawn” as president, but the degree of criminality and the purposefulness of it is extremely startling. I for one, will abandon any support of the democratic party if they fail to hold this rogue and his legal advisor, David Addington, responsible for their treasonous actions.
Above and beyond this, there is the issue of Sarah Palin and what is to become of the republican party. The thought of her in the White House in any capacity is a bit scary. How could anyone with her lack of qualifications get to this position. She blames the media for making a “big deal” out of the fact she got $150,000 worth of clothes in two weeks. When I thought about it, that is just below the median house price in this country. If she would somehow become Vice President, that would be a bit above the median house price. And she talked as if she envisioned the Vice President in an expanded role from that of Cheney. If you think that’s not scary then read “Angler.” Along with the clothes, the highest paid staffer on McCain’s campaign team in the first two weeks of October was Palin’s makeup person. ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? $22,800 in two weeks for makeup. If that doesn’t tell you what her/his strategy is, I don’t know what would. Aside from that, the stuff she says is beyond alarming. I read the report of the “troopergate” investigation and it cleary said she violated Alaskan ethics laws in firing the guy in Alaska who wouldn’t fire her former brother in law. She responded by saying that she was happy with the decision and that it showed that she had done nothing wrong and exonerated her from violating any laws! Huh?????
She appears to me to be positioning herself for after the election. Her plans are much bigger than being John McCain’s running mate. That means we’re going to possibly be putting up with this self-labled “hockey-mom” for the next four years. Personally, I’ve had enough. My feeling is that if she’s not found guilty of an actual crime in the next phase of what she’s now calling “tasergate” I can’t imagine listening to more of her “you betcha’s” in the future. I find her reference to the investigation as “tazergate” after saying that she fired the guy (I think his name is Montague or something like that – if I was a real blogger I’d look it up) for reasons other than his refusal to fire her former brother in law somewhat self-incriminating. If she really fired him for a budget dispute, then the fact that her ex brother-in-law allegedly tazered her sister’s son wouldn’t be how she would refer to the investigation – or at least it seems that way to me. Of course Palin has committed so many outright lies in her short national campaign experience (probably why the “base” is so excited about her – she’s really GOOD at lying) that one wouldn’t expect her to be forthright in any investigation of her “integrity.”
I’m clearly supporting Obama. But let me remind anyone who might happen upon this site, Obama along with McCain, supported the 700 billion bailout of the – whatever Henry Paulson wants it to be for – or so it seems – Wall Street banks. Obama also voted for the FISA bill that granted retroactive immunity to the telecoms and granted additional powers of “spying” on its own citizens to our government. We have a lot of work to do, and we have to demand “progressive” action from Obama. I am very concerned that in an attempt to “heal the wounds” of this nation he’s going to let the Bush administration off – not pursuing the prosecutions of these criminals that so many of us have been demanding for the last 4 or more years.
Cheney has been beyond arrogant, and it is apparent that Bush has walked in lock-step with him on some issues that are significant to the future of our nation and significant to the rest of the world. They are clearly war criminals for their condoning acts of torture that unquestionably violate the Geneva conventions and our own laws against cruel and abusive treatment. I’m not kidding when I say that they drew the line with burying someone alive and then digging them up before they would have died. Abu Ghraib was scripted right in the office of the vice president of the United States, it was approved by the president, and authorized through the office of the secretary of defense. Bush, Cheney, Addington, Rumsfeld, these are the people who should be in prison, not the privates who were the ones caught in the pictures that shocked the world. Additionally, it was Dick Cheney who orchestrated the spying on millions of American citizens in violation of our right to privacy by ordering “data mining” of phone calls and emails. Obama has a responsibility to right these wrongs, and the only way to show the people around the world that we stand on our principles is to put our own leaders in jail for violating our laws and international laws. That is how we can prove we are a “nation of laws and not men.” Then we can proceed to “unite” our nation in the huge effort to restore this economy, restore the fundamental principals of our nation which was built on the backs of the workers, and restore our military to one that will stand up for the cause of freedom but won’t be used for rogue intrusions into nations who have not attacked us or our allies. And hopefully, the job of bringing Osama bin Laden to justice will be the result of all these changes. Next Tuesday, that is the change I need!