Washington, Here We Come

So, it is a sad day in the world. The republican’s last hope of having a semi-respectable chance-in-hell ticket just went down an Alaskan pipeline. Now I do not embed myself with either republicans or democrats and do not claim affiliation to either party. But in the immortal words of Forest Gump, “stupid is as stupid does.” I heard Sarah Palin’s speech at the Republican National Convention last night. Can I say - not impressed? Disappointingly, I found her caddy, immature, and just a poor speaker. It was like listening to a candidate for a high school student body election. She didn’t say enough about why she was a good candidate for vice president; other than she is going to break that glass ceiling that Hilary put so many cracks in. But really, when John McCain dies can you imagine having the country run by a soccer mom or even a hockey mom? No offense to any of the soccer or hockey moms out there but the stereotype is there for a reason…it’s true.

My favorite bits were when she talked proudly of her selling the jet on eBay and telling Congress “thanks, but no thanks” to the earmark for Alaska’s bridge to who really cares where. But aside from the ‘a hjucks’ that her “progressive” statements may have reaped there are real issues here. Hmmm, Alaska is really far away from the rest of the states. It might actually make sense for the governor’s office to own a jet to avoid the restrictive commercial airline schedules and potential time and money savings. Who knows? But even better is the bridge stance. Mrs. Palin was for it when she ran as governor. But when the construction costs nearly doubled, she decided that maybe it wasn’t such a good idea (not a good way to maintain your constituency). But it gets better. What she failed to mention was that Congress converted the earmark to a grant prior to her decision. So, when she so brashly told those stuffy old men in Congress “thanks, but no thanks” her state still got to keep the $225 million to do with as they please. Now let me think. Is a $2 million dollar jet that actually serves a purpose more of a waste or is the $225 million that was supposed to build a bridge but was absorbed into the states budget? Again I digress to Forest Gump when he said, “Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.” Well, in this case, it looks like just a bunch of nuts. Consolidated sources and more info.