RNC 2008

With the week coming to an end, the Republican National Convention is also finally over. And what a week. From every Republican who spoke, we heard lies, attacks, taunts, exaggerations, and a whole lot of Bushit (even though McCain's campaign is trying so hard to distance itself from being aligned with Bush). It's also very interesting to hear the Republicans speak as if we've been run by Democrats for too long now- even though it has been a very overbearing Republican Bush administration for the past 8 years. They pick at the current congress as not getting anything done and as having the lowest public approval ratings there is, but they fail to recognize that congress has only been, narrowly, Democrat controlled for the past year and hasn't been able to get anything done because of the president's overuse of the veto and unfair pressure from the administration for earmarks, and special interests. But enough about the current admin- let's get back to the RNC.

It was surprising when McCain claimed that his campaign is one based on a "Culture of Life". He clearly was referencing Palin's staunch anti-choice views. What he forgot about was that his campaign is also pro-death penalty and pro-war. How do death and destruction fit into their definition of "culture of life"?

I was not surprised to hear McCain as he chided Russia for having national ambitions and for intimidating/invading other sovereign nations. (Apparently he doesn't understand the American military and foreign policies as well as he'd have us all think.) It also was no surprise that even though McCain has a personal interest in Georgia, and has been very harsh towards Russia, he still wants us all to think that he could work positively with both countries to establish peace again. 

Throughout McCain's speech, he spoke again and again about doing things for the country, not for himself. He went on and on about recognizing the people of the country. In so many words, he has declared himself to be "The People's Candidate". He didn't outright state that, but may as well have. The comical part of all this is that "The People's Candidate" was a title given to Senator John Edwards when he ran for the presidential nomination. It's interesting how McCain and Palin both keep pulling from the Democratic party for inspiration and/or ideas on how to do things.

McCain made a very big deal in talking about his military service in Vietnam and the time he spent as a POW and all the amazing and heroic choices he made. It's striking, though, that every time the story is told it changes. AND there isn't any corroborating evidence that its all true-just McCain's word and his memoir. And still, McCain uses his time spent in Vietnam as credentials for knowing what the military can do and how it operates. Yet, if he really knew so much about the military, and really knew so much about war, and really knew so much about Vietnam then why does he continue to think that we're winning the war in Iraq? In both Palin and McCain's speeches they spoke about how we are now within sight of an Iraq victory, an awkward echo of Bush's statement years ago that it was "mission completed". (Unless of course the mission wasn't really Iraqi liberation but really getting America (and American corporations) entangled with the middle east in a way that we'd be there for quite a while yet to come.)

McCain made the comment at one point that "I don't care who gets the credit" for any thing that happens or for anything someone does. Yet he then went on to talk about how "I...I...I...I...I...I" am going to blow my own horn and make myself sounds like an American hero- The American Hero. People who preface statements like that, really mean the opposite of what they say. McCain is all about receiving the credit for things he claims to have done.

I foresee that McCain's administration would be just as damaging to the American people as Bush's administration, if not worse. First, Palin spoke of a clear disregard for human rights and civil liberties and then last night McCain talked about how after the Vietnam war "I wasn't my own man anymore- I was my country's." Of course he was telling everyone that they should turn their lives over to the country too- let the will of the government control their actions and desires. He then clearly restated that by saying "If you don't like the country, join it...enlist..." 

An point of note is that McCain's whole platform is based on how being in Vietnam and giving up his free will in favor of mindless government orders is what makes him so amazing- is what makes him a hero. He even credits his life to America because during the Vietnam war "my country saved me." Of course, he fails to acknowledge that his country is the one who put him in harm's way to being with.

On a more comical note, McCain stumbled over the statement that people should "teach an illiterate adult to read". Perhaps he and Bush will volunteer to be the first in line for that service.

McCain ended his speech with the same old American Dream rhetoric that's been spewed out relentlessly. If you fight hard enough and push long enough, you will succeed, nothing is outside of your reach if you really try. We are American's, we don't give up. Etc, etc, etc. To bring it all to a point, McCain said we need to fight, fight, fight. We need to stand up and fight. 

I was certainly glad to see that many people are already doing just that. At the RNC there were two disturbances during just McCain's speech. Both Code Pink For Peace and the Veterans For Peace managed to get onto the floor of the convention and almost managed to get a sign hung up! They are standing up for us! At the same time, hundreds of protestors outside the convention were arrested- with a focus on the media and journalists. But we can't stop there:

I think we need to stand up and fight against another Republican Administration taking over the White House and our country. I think we need to stand up and fight for all of our civil liberties. I think we need to stand up and fight to decrease corporate greed taking over the smaller people. I think we need to stand up and fight against America intimidating and invading other countries. I think we need to stand up and fight for the common good of all our fellow human beings. I think we need to stand up and fight against everything that isn't in the common good for us all.