On The End of the World as We Know It and Stability...

McCain...

I don't quite understand him. I mean, I hear people rhapsodize about what a great statesman he is and about all of his experience and yet I don't quite understand where he's made a significantly positive impact on our world.

The POW thing... Kudos to him (and the 600 other heroic POWs) for enduring that time and yet I don't consider this a presidential qualification. In fact, as a psychotherapist, I've worked with people who've experienced similarly bad things and I've got to say it doesn't do wonders for one's emotional stability. I wonder how his imprisonment and torture shape him today? Does he have residual and understandable PTSD effects?

Then there is the issue of his temperament in general. Long-standing stories and anecdotes about how volatile and reactive he has always been (even prior to his POW time). I'm uneasy that our president would be emotionally vulnerable like that when he is the one who has power over some serious kick ass, world destroying, weapons.

I admit I hadn't given much thought to McCain until he picked Palin. I figured, well, he's pretty old and doesn't represent my generation's concerns but I wasn't particularly worried about him maybe being president. Then he picked Palin...an impulsive, increasingly absurd, decision that could have serious consequences to the world as we know it. The woman is fluent in gibberish.

Then there's his recent decision to "suspend" his campaign so he could presumably help with the economic crisis. Though Fox News called this brilliant (Fox... fair and balanced? I mean, really, the rest of the Country said WTF...rightfully so. Stop the BS or stop calling yourself fair and balanced) the rest of us just thought he lost his mind or, more accurately, looked to avoid the debate and David Letterman. Then he does come to the debate, leaving us to wonder what, exactly, he possibly contributed to the "crisis" during his "suspension."

Now he has his campaign blaming Obama for McCain's own party voting down the bailout bill. How on earth could Obama have so influenced the Republicans to vote NO when Obama's own party (and I think Obama himself) largely voted YES? On what planet does that make sense?

These stunts are ridiculous, unwise, and impulsive. Do you really want a president who thinks (or doesn't think) like this? I hate to say it, but he just might be worse than GWB and Palin is--as one reporter brilliantly put it--"George Bush in drag."

The more I see McCain, the more I see a petulant little boy. The kind of little boy you dread to see on the playground because he's just sort of a sassy little sh*t. I know he isn't always like this (none of us are just one persona, right?) but he is like this when challenged. He is this smart-ass bully when people disagree with him or challenge his presumed authority... Unfortunately, this is a natural element of the job of President.

McCain takes his work personally. He takes dessenting views personally. He's snotty, rude, snide, impulsive and immature. He can rant all he wants about being a maverick and about jumping party lines, but he doesn't know how to play well with others in the sand pit. He can compair himself to a dozen dead presidents, but they never would have picked Mrs. Cotton-candy Brains as a running mate.

I hear the Right on their worries and beliefs. I know it's tempting to support McCain just because he's the one unfortunate choice on the Republican ticket. I was similarly tempted by John Kerry--a candidate I couldn't wrap my brain around because he was such an arrogant jerkwad but who was the only choice for folks who are of Democratic mind. It totally sucks to have such a poor choice for your party. Maybe you could all revolt? Demand another choice? Impeach McCain/Palin before they ever have the chance to destroy our country...?

But the thing is, with McCain/Palin, I don't believe we are safer. I don't believe they'll take the time and reflection to make good decisions. I don't believe a vote for McCain/Palin is a vote for stability...it's a crap shoot on two people who seem unable to "put country first."

If you were hiring a manager for your company and you wanted someone you could depend on, trust and who could inspire and motivate your staff... If you wanted someone who could partner with other organizations, customers, and vendors... Someone who had the "people-skills" to collaborate at all levels and manage divergent agendas... Someone intelligent; intellectually and emotionally... Would you hire McCain or Palin?

On Pull-Strings and Zeros...

I, like many Americans, have been paying close attention to this campaign and also our economic clusterf$%k. I admit I have very few words to describe how I feel about it all... Perhaps this sums it up nicely:

WTF!?!?!

Oh my God... where to begin? First of all, Palin and McCain: has our country ever had a more absurd, clueless, ridiculous and whacked presidential ticket? Ever?

When the McCain campaign announced Palin (who?) as his VP pick and I watched that intitial first appearance of the two, it seemed to me that McCain was pretty much trying not to stare at her butt and he smacked of some cute little nursing home womanizer who--at any moment--would reach out and get his hand slapped before talking about his weather-predicting gout. Something about the two of them standing together just looked seriously wrong. It was as if her presence and contrast shrunk him, aged him, and rendered him a goofy caricature of his former self. I thought, Oh Man, this is just going to be a disaster.

Then I watched her convention speech and found myself a bit surprised. She did a fairly good job (for a snarky wench), I'd say, and had me wondering if maybe McCain knew what he was doing.

Then I saw the Gibson interview... the Hannity interview and a slice of the Couric interview...

OMG

I hadn't quite anticipated just how clueless Palin really is. Now, politicians give pat answers and cleverly worm their way around difficult questions...we're used to that. Palin, on the other hand, behaves as if she's been programed with a script. It's...it's as if she's one of those dolls with the pull-cord on her back and a limited menu of statements that she blurts out of her fixed vacant smile whether they match the interview question or not.

Occasionally, she's like one of those androids on Star Trek (old school) who get flummoxed and smokey-eared when asked a paradoxical question (except the questions she's being asked are not paradoxical...but rather simple, really).

This person is somehow ready to be "a heartbeat away from the presidency"??? Really??? The woman can't even answer to Katie Couric without becoming a pile of silly goo. Oh, honey, your ego is writing checks your brain can't cash.

The bottom line is that Palin is in way over her head. She's been isolated in a culture that does not represent most of America, her education is weak, and while she can snap at people like a Pomeranian she has no bite. Palin is small potatoes and no where near ready to lead our country. I won't even get into how freaky it would be to have the leader of the free world believe that "the end of days" is a good thing... she'd run our world into ruin happily if it meant a faster track to rapture. I'm frankly terrified for what her possible presidency would mean for the world as we know it.

So, OK... Yikes.

Then we have this "financial crisis." Of course, no actual useful information is given to the American people about what's going on. We get the rough impression that the sky is falling due to the mortgage debacle (Question: Who's idea was it to issue impossible mortgages to people who couldn't ultimately afford them???? Answer: The rich bastards who will profit from our tax dollars and be kept floating in their affluence even as the middle class are becoming unemployed, homeless, and forever indebted in order to save the world...)

Is it just me, or was the mortgage thing ultimately just a pyramid scheme? I mean, really. And now the rest of us get to shoulder the burden of helping...um... who, exactly? "The economy"? Stupid, overextended home-buyers? Greedy, predatory lenders? Rich CEOs who still feel they're entitled to their bonuses?

I know... why don't we let those banks fail and give 700,000,000,000 to the American taxpayers? I figure that's roughly $5,000 per taxpayer. Then we'll buy stuff, thus stimulating the economy... OK, OK... I know, I know... silly me. Instead, lets just bail out the greedy f#%krs so they can live to see another day of profit, plan for their company-paid vacations, and hunt for their next trophy wife. It's on me.

Funny... you can bet they'll do plenty of lay-offs... They'll lay off the folks making 24-50k who have not had the luxury of saving millions of dollars in their bank accounts, who do not own 8 houses, and who will have to go without health care (or pay $500 a month for their COBRA insurance...with their unemployment insurance...uh...yeah). Yay. Do you think those people will see a dime of the 700,000,000,000? Ah, well, see they'll benefit because the economy will improve and the executives who f%#d up in the first place will buy stuff, thus stimulating the economy...

Wait... I think that made Palin's ears smoke.