Barbie girl
October 3, 2008I’m a barbie girl, in a barbie world… Life in plastic, it’s fantastic!
That pretty much sums up my view on Palin’s performance in the debate this night. I watched the entire debate (just as I did with the first presidential debate), and I must say, it was rather interesting. To us Europeans, both Palin (that’s the MILF with the knocked up daughter, right?) and Biden (who?) are relatively unknown, creating a more or less level playing field from our perspective.
Palin did well. But let’s face it, it was pretty much impossible for Palin to underachieve. However, she was kind of like the interiors of most American cars; sure, it looks great on photos, but you know that it’s all just cheap plastics we Europeans wouldn’t even make disposable cutlery out of.
Biden did well too, but from where we’re standing, it was pretty much impossible for him to underachieve either. He did sound an awful lot like a broken record player, and he had a fetish for lists and voting records, but he had a few really good moments.
Sadly, both tickets are pro-apartheid, and pro-Israel. Both tickets (yes, including Obama) oppose gay marriage, and therefore contradict the Founding Fathers by blatantly promoting inequality. In addition, both tickets have this unhealthy obsession with the rogue state of Israel, a country that ignores the UN and the anti nuclear proliferation treaty. I’m not saying that Israel is any better or worse than its neighbours, but the special treatment it receives, based on a misplaced spoon-fed sense of guilt, is simply not something that that country deserves.
America deserves better than either of these two sides of the coin, but you folks across the big wet thingie will have to make do. I’m just glad I’m not going to be in that voting booth.
I mean, our voting booth is pretty much similar, just with more choices between nothing. And more is better, right?
Politics | 
Mike Gravel was the real deal for a president, I wrote about him many times on my blog. But as he had no major funding, he couldn’t make a difference. Read his positions.
Comment by Eugenia — October 3, 2008 @ 10:00 am
Thom —> Barbie Boy.
‘nuf said.
Comment by Name Goes Here — October 3, 2008 @ 3:45 pm
There’s nothing in the Constitution that states how marriage should be defined, and there shouldn’t be (there should be a clear line between church and state). They both basically said that civil unions should have the same rights and privileges as marriages, and that’s pretty much what most people have been asking for.
Comment by Chris — October 3, 2008 @ 6:44 pm
Or, *I* am secure enough concerning my sexual orientation that I am not afraid to stand up for my fellow (homosexual) man and woman.
Comment by Administrator — October 3, 2008 @ 7:15 pm
There’s no reason at all to create special names and extra paperwork. We shouldn’t cave in to personal religious beliefs (they’re not universal, just about every Christian that I know personally does NOT oppose gay marriage at all) - the moment we do, there’s no longer a clear separation between church and state.
Religion should be confined to one’s personal life, and shouldn’t be forced upon others - or, what some atheists do, “unforced” upon others.
Comment by Administrator — October 3, 2008 @ 7:18 pm
As much as I like the word “unforced”, I have to protest:
Have you ever seen an atheist standing next to a mall, handing out pamphlets?
Asking random people: “Sir, Ma’am, do you believe in god? You do? Well, I don’t and let me tell you why you shouldn’t either:…”
I don’t think so.
Comment by RandomGuy — October 3, 2008 @ 11:28 pm
#1: I am fairly sure our Founding Fathers were not in favor of gay marriage and were not, for the most part, even in favor of women or blacks voting. They were, of course, wrong on all counts. But it is difficult to sell gay marriage this way. Gay marriage is regarded by its opponents as a product of modern decadence. They have serious trouble connecting this to the rights of the individual, unfortunately.
#2: It’s not an unhealthy obsession with Israel. It is calculated pandering. This is perhaps just as bad but not the same thing. There are groups within the United States which have connected weak or incomplete support for Israel with anti-semitism, which is ridiculous, but that’s what they’re pre-emptively addressing.
In Palin’s case, she probably felt the need to offset her weirdo Pentecostalism. American evangelicals tend to go to either of one of two extremes in regard to Israel. She was being demonstrative of which side she was on. But even most of the pro-Israel evangelicals are only pro-Israel because of biblical prophecy, and a future in which Jews are all converted to Christianity.
Likewise some on the Left are not great fans of Israel’s policies re: the West Bank and Gaza, and so Biden went out of his way to announce that he wasn’t one of those.
The way politicians grovel this way is pretty embarrassing, frankly. The pro-Israel lobby in the United States is quite powerful, and can buy a lot of media time. Unfortunately, “Israel” gets confused with “Jews” and so everyone is really afraid of appearing anti-semitic (or being called that).
Palin is worse than a barbie girl. What’s more problematic is that she is representative of the kind of pervasive, consumerist middle class mediocrity which has too long defined this country. With really off-the-edge religious fervor thrown in.
Unfortunately, a fair number of Americans think they’re looking in a mirror when they see Sarah Palin; they recognize her type as one of their own. This is the whole problem.
Comment by Quag7 — October 3, 2008 @ 11:46 pm
Coming into the debate I thought Palin was a menace to society that should never be allowed to be a heartbeat from the presidency, and my view remains the same. However, I’m ashamed to say that she did manage to make me laugh a couple of times … *B-P
Comment by Phil — October 4, 2008 @ 4:16 am
Americans, stand up for your rights. Let the states declare independence and unilaterally withdraw from the Union. Create your own interest free currency and survive the meltdown. If you have to, declare your town independent and do the same. Give the banks the finger. They’re the most corrupt institutions in the history of mankind (even more so in Europe, BTW).
Comment by yelamdenu — October 4, 2008 @ 8:11 pm
to all americans : please vote for a third party.
that left/right, donkey/elephant, dem/rep stuff is driving me nuts. you have to make a choice between 2 people who are almost thesame. they need to stay close to the middle to grab the undecided voters. the voters to the left or right will have their vote anyway.
in the netherlands we have a lot of political parties (like 15 real options). this means a coalition of multiple parties has to be made. this way a balanced system will be set in place instead of electing your dictator every 4 years. this also makes it possible to switch parties without having a big impact on the general course.
too bad ron paul is out of the race. now the republicans have to elect some weird, alienated, hypocritical and paranoid madman.. again..
if anyone could explain the unconditional support for israel from both parties i would be really grateful, because i really don’t get it (especially the unconditional part).
too bad we (the dutch) now have harrie potter as president instead of pim fortuyn :(
Comment by alwin — October 5, 2008 @ 11:35 pm