Last night during the Sarah Palin speech (Jesus Christ -- that voice is liable to get us into yet another war -- no wonder McCain picked her), a friend of mine and I were trying to fathom the ungodly devastation a McCain presidency would have on this country. While I still have faith that the American people could not possibly be that stupid (well, again), the conversation -- as it often does -- began to veer off into the "bright side" of things, should things go horribly wrong on Election Day.
It went something like this:
Him: Can you believe the hottest guy I’ve seen at either convention is the one who knocked up the daughter of one of the candidates? He looks really uncomfortable and smacks his gum. Five months ago, he was just in Alaska being a redneck and bangin chicks –- now he’s standing on the platform of the Republican convention. What a country this is.
Me: god bless america . and god let that man sexually assault me.
Him: And if not him, Mr. Mom wouldn’t be bad. I could certainly do a Whitesnake photo spread on the top of his “snow machine” if that will get his attention
Me: I know ... when's the last time someone in the Cabinet had a goatee?!
Him: And drove a truck with a gun in the gun rack. This whole race has taken an interesting turn – I’ve never been so interested in politics before. I grew up with these kinds of people. They’re so typically middle-class American. It will be interesting in a week or two when things settle down and Obama comes back into the news.
Me: It's a Jerry Springer show waiting to happen. Really too much!
The way I see it, if McCain won at least we'd have Palin's hot husband and even hotter would-be son-in-law moving to the East Coast. (And you thought the Bush twins were a mess!) Rednecks gone wild!
BTW: All kidding aside, don't think for a second that deep down I'm not seething that the Republican Party are the first ones to point fingers at minorities who have babies out of wedlock and gay people who become infected with HIV through unprotected sex, yet they're bending over backwards to pat these two on the back for fucking irresponsibility and giving this Levi kid a hero's welcome. (Kind of an offshoot of the whole Sen. David Vitter thing: White guy "gets some" and there's a whole wink-wink, way-to-go mentality that kicks in.) Only in America, folks. But that's a discussion for another time. This is just about being silly over a cute boy. I find some solace in thinking about how horrified the Palins will be when they find out Bristol's sperm donor is becoming a GAY sex symbol!
Apparently I'm not the only one looking at the "upside":
Thursday, September 04, 2008
Capital Gains
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13 comments:
Ken, you miss the point about unwed minority pregnancies because most of the husbands (60%) don't stick around to help raise the child (unlike the Palin child example), that is one of the causes of why African-American women struggle. I am a liberal but I get how absent fathers harm the children (African-American men are both the highest percentage and the highest in absolute numbers in this regard). I see how this issue affects education test scores of minorities and decreases their acceptance to secondary educational institutions in the work that I do with one of the top universities in the USA – my work relates to how to increase the attendance of minorities at universities.
With regard to Palin, I see a backlash forming among independent voters who think that she has been mistreated (the rumors have only increased interest in her and made her a more sympathetic person to independent and moderate voters). I believe that this is why she had more viewers of her speech than Obama's last week (37.4 million versus 36.6 million and she didn't spend $5 million for a stage). Running my models now, I see McCain winning the election 274 to 264 (Electoral College). Not what I wanted to have happen after 8 years of Bush but Obama is a flawed candidate who has put the Dems in this position. Cheers, GP
Levi's more likely to become a drunken gay basher than anything else. Now I don't blame Bristol for doing it with a hot jock, but it's still stupid to get pregnant at 17. I would like to see how that marriage turns out in 10 years.
KTZ...He is a barnyard pig! You like fat guys. I'm way to little for you now, I'd better send you some more shirtless photos of me for your friends to comment on. db
GP --
It's hard for me to concede that I'm missing the point when your argument is based on your ASSUMPTION that Levi and Bristol will spend the rest of their lives together when they HAVEN'T EVEN gotten married yet! (Many a deadbeat dad are white and middle-class: just ask MY mom.)
Surely you can do better than that, my fellow liberal!
Hey Ken, I am sorry that you had that personal experience; however, you seem to have turned out just fine (another assumption). I admit to not having the same personal experience as you and, therefore, may look at the situation with a dispassionate perspective.
I bet that the news reports (not a huge assumption on my part to assume that they will be wed) about an upcoming wedding are correct (regardless of the election outcome, there is no way that an NRA mother and that hottie hunky dad would pass up the chance for a shotgun wedding).
With regard to the stats (i.e., poverty rate, drop-out rate, etc.)on unwed mothers (regardless of race) the numbers speak for themselves with regards to outcomes for the children. Let’s just admit that it is a problem and find solutions that help children succeed and identify unique factors that make it harder for minority children of unwed mothers. Cheers, GP
GP-
Fair enough. (Not scaling back funding on places for unwed mothers in Alaska would be a good place to start, huh?!!)
But again (since you seem to have gotten tripped up on the will-they-or-won't-they-marry part), I don't doubt that these two will marry. But MARRYING someone doesn't equal "raising a child" necessarily. We've got a good 18 years before you know that Levi "did right" by Bristol and the child. And even then we could debate what "good" it did to marry a 17-year-old who will have no life experience of her own but then is "raising" a child.
Thanks for weighing in.
kw
Um, just to correct the numbers in the first post, according to Nielsen, Obama got 38 million viewers, 1.1. million more approximately than the 37.2 million last night. And he didn't have controversy and the same type of media frenzy that led up to last night.
Moreover, most electoral vote projections suggest he has the lead, but it's still weeks away from election day.
Wow, I think this was the "deepest" rebuttal in a long time. Thanks for the thoughts KW and GP.
Wow! I agree with you Kenneth (this is an oddity). But let's look beyond GP's statistics (I always question supposed absolute stats), would the "baby daddy" be Gov. Palin's "baby (Bristol) hubby-to-be" had the Gov. NOT been in the national spotlight. The possiblities (inlcuding abortion) would be limitless.
Conservatives tend to get caught in webs of their own making then reinvent their intent (look at the war in Iraq and whathisname's mens room shinannigans).
The thing I found particularly offensive this week is the first photo op of Palin after the "Babygate" drama was with Laura Bush and Cindy McCain. The VP candidate is having tea with the First Lady and possible future First Lady -- Realy!? Will that be Palin's role in the McCain White House? Shouldn't she have been pictured with say... McCain and George Bush or even Rudy Guilliani? I guess that glass ceiling is actually concrete over at the GOP.
Sarah Palin is a ridiculous choice for Vice-President, and obviously manipulative on the part of the Republicans. How can anyone argue that based on experience she deserves to be Vice-President? Because she was governor of a tiny city in Alaska? Please. She should not be one step away from running this country.
But she is pretty. She is presentable on television. Again, not strong reasons for her to be elected.
What did everyone say when Jamie Lynne Spears got knocked up at 17? Was there anyone who thought Lynne Spears was doing a great job as a parent? Now transfer that to Sarah Palin. Sure, lots of kids get pregnant when they are underage, that doesn't make their mothers and fathers awful parents. But it sure as hell doesn't mean I want to elect them for office.
Speaking of teen marriages, the statistics are NOT GOOD on those either.
The ratings numbers I reported did not include PDS viewers (was using the best data available). If those are included, Palin hits 40 million. Additionally, 4 networks covered Obama's speech but not Palin's (they are BET, TV One, Univision and Telemundo). So for Palin to get numbers essentially equal to Obama's without 4 networks says that she had a higher draw on commercial TV and basic cable than Obama did - showing that the controversy seemed to have delivered a more mainstream audience for what many are calling a strong performance. I have to say that I think that the personal attacks against Palin have backfired with many calling the attacks sexist (drawing the independent female vote) and partisan (firing up the conservative base to show up at the polls) - Obama himself had to distance himself from those comments becuase he understands how they hurt him. This is certainly not what the Obama camp had wanted going into the convention this week. Cheers GP
People only watched Palin because A) they didn't know her since she went into hiding the minute she was picked and B) because it was just human nature to see what the freak show was all about. Her speech was all form but no substance. If I were an alien from outer space and listened to the speakers, I would have surmised that the sitting president was a Democrat. What is with this - "We vs. Washington" rhetoric? Hello!!!! You people ARE in Washington! And this is why we are in this mess!
But, I wouldn't be surprised if the Republicans steal another election. I have lost faith with the American people when Bush was re-elected.
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