i wish it were. i posted a blog on opensalon on why i have a visceral reaction to sarah palin, and i will not only summarize it succinctly here, but will tell you why i have a similarly horrible reaction to the republican party, and wind it up with my own two cents.

i cannot stand sarah palin because she says she's pro-life but takes away funding to organizations that help pregnant teenage girls finish high school, claims to be an outdoorswoman even though she supports shooting wolves from the inside of a plane, and advocates for the teaching of creationism because you "shouldn't be afraid of information" even though she tried to ban books from the wasilla library. she claims to be a fiscal conservative even though she left her tiny town in middle of nowhere, alaska, $2,000,000 in debt when she moved into the governor's mansion, and if you think she's a true reformer, i have a bridge (to nowhere) to sell you. she says she's a feminist even though she's on the ticket of the man who voted against the violence against women act, and voted against the ledbetter equal pay for equal work bill, and she not only refers to herself as a hockey mom but also as a dog in lipstick.

these antics lead me to why i loathe republican party members more than usual, as their recent discovery of sexism has allowed them to sell buttons at the convention that say "hottest VP from coolest state" while claiming that their VP pick is the victim of gender bias, and meanwhile, they are still busy calling obama an elitist even though millionaire heiress cindy mccain wore a $300,000 outfit to the RNC. Todd Palin, a member of a party that wants Alaska to secede from the union, is a patriot, while Michelle Obama is not; and McCain's calls for service to one's country apparently don't extend to community service because it's like being a small town mayor without the ability to ban books, fire people who don't agree with you, or hire lobbyists to get federal earmarks.

if only it were just politics. i don't know that this country, or the world, can take four more years of this brand of politics. there are supreme court appointments up for grabs. when your daughter has to bear her child's rapist, cary, go ahead and let her know it's "just politics". when more soldiers come home in body bags, call their moms and tell them it's "just politics". when you can't afford your medication or medical insurance anymore, tell your wife it's "just politics".

we are at a critical point where it's NOT Just politics. and as for the LW: donate to Obama. Volunteer for a phone bank. Write to your local paper. Make sure your friends understand, in real terms, what's at stake. Cause it's NOT just politics.

yes, $22,000,000 in debt. i stand corrected.

my head is going to explode. if i were a republican, my head would probably explode because it would require this complex moral pirouetting that i don't think i would be able to execute. let's do a rundown, shall we?

mccain, who married a model and left her after she became disfigured for a younger woman, and beauty queen and beer heiress, is not sexist.

obama, who married a woman who is in every sense his intellectual equal and has had a very successful career in her own right, is sexist.

mccain, who does not wish to see the ledbetter v goodyear decision overturned, thus denying women equal pay for equal work, is not sexist.

obama, whose running mate co-wrote the violence against women act, is sexist.

mccain, who suggested his wife model topless in a contest entitled something like "miss buffalo crap" or whatever, is not sexist.

obama, who, to my knowledge, has not asked his wife to publicly disrobe or simulate oral sex on a banana to win a contest, is sexist.

mccain, who once quipped that chelsea clinton is ugly because janet reno is her father, is not sexist.

obama, who proclaimed that candidate's families were "off limits" when news of bristol palin's pregnancy broke, is sexist.

mccain, who used the words lipstick on a pig to describe hillary's health care plan, and palin, who said the only thing separating a particular type of woman from a particular breed of dog was a beauty product, are not sexist.

obama, who used those same words, is sexist.

i need a drink. it's 8 o'clock somewhere. i'm having it.

yes, yes, and yes. i feel like i'm living in bizarro world, but this horrible kind of bizzaro world because it's real, and suddenly, fox news pundits and republicans care about feminism because they realize that they can twist it and redefine it. mccain is running around the country with two former beauty queens that are each twenty to thirty years his junior one of whom he recently invited to disrobe so that she could participate in the miss buffalo crap contest. he does not support equal work for equal pay, his running mate saved $15,000 for her tiny town by charging rape victims for rape kits, he opposed the violence against women act, he's anti-choice even in cases of rape or incest, his running mate compares women to dogs, he once quipped that chelsea was ugly because her father was janet reno--and he has the balls to lecture ME and the rest of america about sexism?