The Political Voices of Women

This is an interesting question. Are you better off than you were eight years ago? Do you know anyone who is? Just wondering. Let me know in comments.

Just in case you missed it. Here is the skit with Tina Fey as Sarah Palin, on Saturday Night Live…

Also see last weeks SNL Palin Clip

Here is the full video of John McCain and Barack Obama’s first presidential debate…

What did you think? Who Won? Let me know in comments.

“I don’t torture myself over decisions. I make them as quickly as I can,
quicker than the other fellow if I can. Often my haste is a mistake,
but I live with the consequences without complaint.“— from “Worth Fighting For” by John McCain and Mark Salter, 2002

Is this the person who you want with the power to deploy US troops?

Is this the person who you want with the ability to launch a nuclear assault?

Is this the person who you want attempting to influence the US economy?

Are you willing to live with the consequence’s of John McCain’s quick decisions without complaint?

If I worked for the Obama campaign this would be the one quote that I would repeat in ads over and over and over again.

This widget is from VoteGopher…

•An interactive tool that provides users with issues-based coverage of the election in one
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• Pick among 25 issues central to the election and explore side-by-side comparisons of the candidates
• Watch video breakdowns created by the VoteGopher team
• Begin our MyBallot feature and find your candidate

With all the McCain hoopla over the last two days, you may have missed the Sarah Palin interview…I know I did.  But, this is the woman that could literally be a heartbeat away from the presidency.  You need to see this.  Much of this interview is quite unbelievable.   You can watch the first two clips and see the full Palin interview, or see additional clips of her answers to specific questions.  And, just because we can all use a good laugh…If nothing else, check out the last video clip, it’s really funny.   Don’t forget to let me know what you think in comments.

See Full Palin Interview With Couric – Day One…

See Full Palin Interview With Couric – Day Two…

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Here is a guest post by community member Deb Della Piana from Turn Left.

[If you would like to be a guest blogger on The Political Voices of Women, just join our community, and start posting.]

It’s election season, and I’m not about to let up on the McCain-Palin ticket. If I put these two at the larval stage, I’m giving them too much credit. To show that I’m not just a one-issue voter when it comes to McCain and Palin, the issue of women’s rights will not play into the article (but only this one time). I’ve done that article before, and there are other reasons I’d never vote for this ticket.

We already have people in government who believe they are above the law (one resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue right now) and it looks like McCain would like to add one more. Initially, Sarah Palin said she would cooperate voluntarily with the ongoing abuse of power investigation against her. Suddenly, the Alaska legislators are under pressure to wait until after the election to continue the investigation, and her husband is now going to ignore the subpoena he has received. I wonder if he’s getting pointers from campaign advisor Karl Rove about how best to ignore a subpoena and get away with it. It doesn’t take much in America these days, particularly if you’re an elected official. We’ve lowered the bar here to the point where we should all be doing the limbo.

McCain campaign spokesman Ed O’Callaghan is falsely accusing the supporters of Barack Obama of controlling the investigation. The fact is that the investigation was recommended prior to Palin’s selection by a bi-partisan Legislative Council, the vast majority of whom were Alaska Republicans. There’s no way this investigation should be delayed until after the election. If McCain chose this woman as a running mate with full knowledge of the accusations against her (and he says he knew from the beginning), then let the chips fall where they may.

McCain wants to distract, not inform. If he distracts, you may not learn that his plan is to privatize and cut Social Security approximately one percent per year, along the lines of the proposed Bush plan. Workers who retire ten years after the McCain plan is put in place would see a ten percent reduction in benefits from the very beginning.

Next on the McCain-Palin hit list is the nation’s health care system. Their plan would effectively dismantle the employer-based coverage that protects most American families by converting health care benefits into income on which employees would have to pay taxes. The idea is to force millions of Americans into the non-group market where costs are high and services are limited. Benefits that millions now have would be lost. This is what the Republicans call the ‘free market’ system, much like the one currently bringing down Wall Street at the taxpayers’ expense.

John McCain’s confusion about who’s who in the world continues to embarrass. This from a candidate supposedly superior to Barack Obama in the foreign policy field. When asked if he would commit to a meeting with Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, McCain refused. Apparently, McCain thought Zapatero was a Latin American autocrat. Randy Scheunemann, McCain’s foreign policy advisor, denied it was yet another McCain gaffe, but rather an intentional policy position with regard to Spain. Why would McCain refuse to commit to a meeting with a Democratic NATO ally with 1,000 troops serving in Afghanistan? Either McCain is intent on hiding his confusion from the public or he is upset (as is President Bush) that Spain pulled its troops from Iraq in 2004. Someone should point out to both George Bush and John McCain that there sometimes are repercussions when other nations find they’ve been deliberately lied to.

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Dear Readers,

If the last few days have left you with the same feelings that you had during the run up to the Iraq War you’re definitely not alone.

Remember the WMDs that posed an imminent threat to America?

Remember the statements that implied that the Iraqi oil revenue was going to pay for the war?

Now the Bush Administration and The Fed are saying that we have a financial crisis that needs an immediate $700 billion infusion from the American taxpayer. Did you know that some of that money could be used to bail out foreign owned banks?

Within the next 24 hours, Congress is expected to make an historic choice in addressing America’s financial crisis:

Cut the Bush administration a $700 billion blank check for Wall Street
OR
demand sensible public checks and balances in the $700 billion bailout.

Well, before you let them cut that blank check think about this?

Remember the brave US service men and women who were sent to war in Afghanistan and Iraq without proper body armor.

Remember the appalling conditions at Walter Reed Medical Center.

Remember that the US embassy in Iraq which cost in excess of $600 million to build and is projected to have an annual operating cost of $1.2 billion.

Remember that President Bush vetoed a $35 billion expansion to the SCHIP program which would have provided health insurance to millions of America’s uninsured children. He said that we couldn’t afford it.

Remember the devastation caused by hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and now Ike. There are still parts of New Orleans’ 9th Ward as well as many parishes in Western Louisiana which have yet to have all of the debris removed.

Remember that five years after the worse blackout in US history, the energy grid is still “in dire straits“.

Americans, Get Over The Shock Already!

Are you going to let The Fed, the Bush Administration and Congress rush through a $700 billion dollar bailout of Wall Street and the banking industry when all of the aforementioned have put America and Americans last time after time after time after time?

Now, I’m not saying that nothing needs to be done to fix this broken economy. But are you going to let them rush to a bailout like they rushed to a war?

I just took action with the Campaign for America’s Future to weigh in for common sense solutions. I wanted to urge you to do the same. Please write an emergency letter to Congress now, and tell them: **No $700 Billion blank check to the Bush administration for Wall Street!**

Enough is Enough!

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Memo to the Media:  Stop Covering Manufactured Controversies, Start Covering Issues. 

It’s infuriating that the McCain campaign is continuing to claim statements they make are true, when many have been confirmed to be untrue.   Deception to change your perception, is what the Republicans seem to do best, and it’s only proven to win them elections.  So why would they stop?   Even more troubling, is that this behavior has become an “acceptable” practice in politics.  Not necessarily acceptable to you and me, but acceptable to the media, which in turn leads to the deception of the American people.

From Washington Post…

“We have created a system where there is not a lot of shame in stretching the truth,” said Charlie Cook, editor of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.

However, I’m discovering that the “real” truth isn’t in debunking the lies, it’s in seeing through the lies.

See…We have all fallen for a classic bait-and-switch here.  Clearly, if the media continues to chase down facts (that are purposefully misleading), then the McCain campaign successfully diverts attention away from the “real” issues.  Which is EXACTLY what they want to do (what they are doing).

Why is it that the only people who can see through this smoke-screen are comedians? Or, is it just that they are the only ones who are “allowed” to speak the truth? Isn’t that kinda backwards?

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Here is the ABC Charlie Gibson Interview with Sarah Palin. There is also some fact-checking of this interview by ABC, as well as some pundit reaction. Let me know what you thought about the interview in comments. Do you think Sarah Palin is ready to be V.P. or possibly the president of our country? Are you more or less likely to vote for John McCain with Sarah Palin on the ticket?

Sarah Palin Interview with Charlie Gibson (part one)

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