Well, for one thing, Laura Bush will be replaced by Cindy McCain.  I didn’t think the Stepford Wife thing could go any further.

Don’t get me wrong, Mrs. McCain has a fair amount of accomplishments hidden under her brightly colored pantsuits.  She is a philanthropist, most notably through her founding of the American Voluntary Medical Team, which sends people out to areas hurt by disasters or war.  After receiving a master’s degree in special education, she even turned down a role in her father’s company in order to work with mentally challenged kids.  Even though that lasted for only one year, she was an important part of developing a new approach to movement therapy for severely disabled children.  She also has four children of her own, one of whom was adopted from Bangladesh, in addition to the three kids from John’s first marriage.  Still, my mother raised four children on her own while running a home daycare; and this was without a cushion of cash or prescription drugs to fall back on.  Cindy’s addiction to Percocet and Vicodin is certainly not something to be taken lightly, but addiction can get the best of any of us.  Her actions, however, led to the demise of the American Voluntary Medical Team after it was discovered that she was illegally obtaining prescriptions by using the names of its employees without their knowledge.  While I respect her for overcoming her addiction, I feel that even her “nonprofit” organizations are very profitable to her in ways that most people wouldn’t even expect.  If all I had to do was pay restitution with my father’s money to get off of drug charges, I would fraudulently obtain some sedatives myself.

Cindy McCain is one woman I know I wouldn’t be able to stand if I came face to face with her.  Born Cindy Lou Hensley, she’s a rich girl who has benefited profusely off of family money (beer from Anheuser-Busch is completely ruined for me) — not to mention the fact that she uses this money to fund her husband’s political campaigns.  She has funds from a $300 million dollar company, and she is bitching about Obama’s campaign money?  And if you thought John McCain’s seven houses were bad, his wife owns ten, in addition to parts of 3 office complexes.  I thought women married older men for money — so why did 25 year-old Cindy go for McCain at 42?  I mean he is 72 now…an old 72.  Not to mention he already had children and, oh yeah, a wife.  During his courtship with Cindy, John pushed for a divorce from his wife Carol McCain. He remarried a month after their divorce was finalized.  While her husband went on with his political life, Cindy followed him to Washington — where she was ostracized because of Carol McCain’s popularity and spent her time writing over 4000 Christmas cards in 1983.

Writing Christmas cards is a pain in the ass, and I am sure I will end up doing it when I am a “wife.”  But I can hardly stomach the fact that this is a fact listed in Cindy McCain’s life story.  I firmly believe that a First Lady should be a woman who uses her intelligence for more than domestic niceties.  The contrast could not be any more apparent — Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama both act like ladies, but they are also able to articulately voice their opinions.  Cindy McCain can voice her opinions too, but she sounds less like an intelligent woman and more like that bitchy girl from high school.  Still, the Republican Party praises her for “her elegance at coffee shops and other small campaign settings, where she frequently refers to her children, carpooling, and charity work.”  I agree that raising children is more than a career, but I don’t think women fully convey their intelligence by talking about chauffering their children around.  Talk about your children, talk about teaching kids with special needs, but please, don’t relive every detail of getting your kids and their friends to pee-wee football practice.  Cindy herself emphasizes the idea that she would be a “traditional” First Lady — which seems to mean she will not stick her nose into her husband’s business…you know, his business of governing the country.

I can’t imagine that John was a young and lively man when he met Cindy.  As hard as it is to believe, this ice queen was the epitome of the vivacious girl-next-door in her younger years, and she definitely started early.  At the age of 14, she was named the Junior Rodeo Queen of Arizona, followed up by the even better accomplishment of being voted “Best Dressed” at her affluent Phoenix high school — well, at least now we know how she came to be so diluted in her fashion sense.  At college in California she was a cheerleader as well as a sorority sister (is anyone else seeing the stereotype come to life?).  She was not as dumb as one might think, however, and she was heavily involved with Charles Keating’s financial affairs.  Cindy and her father invested nearly $400,000 in a project with Keating, and she also acted as a bookkeeper — although not a very good one, seeing as how she simply “couldn’t find” several receipts when shit hit the fan in the Keating scandal.

So all in all, I am obviously not impressed with Mrs. McCain, volume 2.  She may have accomplishments, but like Sarah Palin, I can only wonder where her ambition comes from and, more importantly, where this ambition is headed.  Everyone makes mistakes, but her demeanor serves only to emphasize the idea that she doesn’t seem to learn from them…just as with her anger towards the Obama campaign, her problems and misdeeds seem to be on everyone else’s shoulders.

***Explore the many faces of Cindy – this made me laugh, but be warned, it is offensive.

***Read this satirically heartwarming look at the McCain marriage.

***Who does Mrs. McCain most closely resemble?  This look-alike website has reached a consensus…

Photo Credits Found Here.

I don’t rely too much on polls, but it seems that McCain had to knock Obama out in this one just to regain an even balance. I did think Obama focused on the issues and gave specific examples of his policies, but I honestly wasn’t extremely impressed by either candidate (check out their report cards).  I felt as if the debate evolved into a bickering match over records, policies, and of course, character. We had McCain talking about the “candies and goodies” used to entice Senators such as “that one” (Obama) into voting for certain bills, and then we had Obama talking about how McCain has been “cheerleading” Bush through the war (although I have to admit, I did laugh on that last one). There seemed to be too much of a back and forth, with each pointing out the hypocritical voting records of the other – I ended up not knowing what was the truth and what was a crock of crap.

Not to mention the snide comments about time constraints. Yes, Obama talked a lot, so much so that he often went over the time limit. Honestly, I know there are time limits imposed for a reason, and the campaigns previously agree to them in the name of fairness. But at the same time, is it really necessary to keep to the 90 minute time frame? This is the presidential election for Christ’s sake, and I would hope that the candidates have enough to say to make the debate longer than a feature film. I like Obama as a debater for firmly yet politely emphasizing his stance instead of being shut up and sat down by a clock. McCain seemed as if he was brown nosing not only the moderator but also the audience: “I am going to stop, and you didn’t even have to wait,” McCain told moderator Tom Brokaw at one point. Good job, Johnny, you showed us Americans that you can follow the same rules they institute into beauty pageants…hmm, Sarah Palin has taught you a lot.

Still, there were a lot of important points brought up despite the childish bickering. One aspect of the debate that I found particularly interesting was the discussion of the Iraq War and the Vietnam War. One audience member at the town hall asked a question about whether or not the U.S. should go into countries neighboring Iraq, which was a tactic considered during the Vietnam War. In the 1960s, the U.S. chose not to enter Cambodia or Laos, and in fact a communist regime came to power in the state of “Pathet Lao.” The debate of today mainly involves Afghanistan and Pakistan, two countries that Obama believes we should be focusing on. While McCain argues that Obama is “telegraphing his punches” on live television (saying the Democratic candidate is broadcasting his plans to “attack Pakistan”), the former military hero quotes one of his own “heroes” when he declares his foreign policy strategy: “speak softly but carry a big stick” (Teddy Roosevelt, by the way). Now, I do not know much abut military strategy or foreign policy, but I would think that talking would be a bit more important. Both candidates emphasize that they need to gain support of Pakistan’s people, just as the U.S. government had unsuccessfully tried to gain the support of the South Vietnamese. Still, McCain wants to be diplomatic in a way that can hide America’s true motives; we have to be tough and carry that big stick, right? On the other hand, Obama says that America needs to “stop coddling” Pakistan. He did not mean we should jump in there and attack them (as if we never do that…), but it was his way of letting them know where America stands. Pakistan might be angry, but they ain’t gonna hear us if we speak too softly, and darn tootin’ right they aren’t gonna like us too much if we act nice and then whip out our big sticks (come on, McCain, save that for Cindy).

There were sharp disagreements not only about the war in Iraq, but also about America’s position in the world. Not only do most people agree that Obama won the debate, but they also believe that he presented a stronger foreign policy stance than his opponent.  McCain emphasized our status as the shining light of the free world, noting that our country is obliged to at least try to intervene in world struggles. Obama, on the other hand, said that while it is a moral duty to intervene in cases of genocide, there are other situations (I am assuming he means politically) in which the U.S. has to determine if, in fact, their presence will benefit anyone or bring about any sort of resolution. This seems like a legitimate enough foreign policy for me, and it probably would not have gotten us into Iraq in the first place. Sure, I want genocide and ethnic cleansing in Darfur to end, but I don’t think the U.S. should go around policing governments that we do not approve of, like Iraq. Like Obama said, we can not do it all. There is always going to be oppression and struggle in the world, but we can not intervene everywhere. Especially during this economic crisis, Americans should be focusing first and foremost on our country. Even McCain said that in order to have a strong military, you need to have a strong economy as a foundation. Well, maybe now is a good time to focus on the root of the problem instead of spending billions of dollars in a country where we really do not seem to be getting anywhere.

There is so much more I could talk about (economic and energy policies in particular) but what did everyone else think of the debate?

Photo Credits

I am sure there are a trillion posts about John McCain’s pick for VP. But come on, Sarah Palin is just a goldmine for words; I am excited just thinking about the state of our nation’s politics today – black guys with afros, beauty queens, and body builders! The world is a crazy place, and this election perfectly exemplifies the changing nature of our society. I don’t know much about her, but from what I have been reading there is only one thing in my mind: confusion.

Ok McCain, we know Barack Obama had to pick an old white guy to hedge his bets. Apparently you had to hedge yours by choosing a woman – one who is certainly not bad to look at, given her status as a beauty pageant contestant. She looks like a former model dressed up in executive clothes, but much less of a tight-ass than your wife Cindy McCain.

I am frustrated. Frustrated because I would love to hear a woman’s voice in the presidency, but really more frustrated because this is apparently the kind of woman we need to start off with. I admire her tenacity and her success, but then I read about her background and her stance on certain issues and I just want to send her back to Alaska. She may be a financial whiz, but then you look at her opinions on social issues. She was obviously picked because she is a woman who shares many of McCain’s viewpoints. She is a woman who is against abortion, a friend of gay people who is against gay marriage, and a mother of an 18-year-old son in the military who spends her spare time shooting rifles. McCain says she is perfect for the job, but he puts a big hole through his inexperience angle. If Obama is inexperienced, then what the hell would you call Miss Congeniality? She ain’t no Hillary, but sadly she may just have the right genitals to sway a few female voters.

So be sure to check back here for more about Sarah Palin – there is so much more to say about her, so she has won the honor of being the next bitch on the burning block!

The Photo Credits