I will have plenty of time to sleep when I'm dead
Preparing and participating in the Republication National Convention (RNC) has been an amazing experience. It is has been over 100 years since the Twin Cities has hosted a convention and who knows when the next time will be. Needless to say, I worked long hours on Saturday, Sunday, and yesterday (Labor Day) preparing for the RNC. It has been a lot of fun being next to guys like Mitt Romney and Joe Lieberman but it has also been about five days when I have not had at least two energy drinks. My role in the convention has basically been the journalist gopher. I have delivered sweatshirts when they were cold, ran to Circuit City to get parts, and been the personal chauffer to last minute interviews with Cindy McCain. I know I have worked a ton recently but I just feel that this is a probable once in a lifetime opportunity and after all, there will be plenty of time to sleep when I’m dead. My favorite convention related event was on Saturday Night. The Republican Party threw an event for 10,000+ media members at the Guthrie Theater in downtown Minneapolis. Most of the real big time celebrity TV anchors weren’t there but I did see conservative radio host Bill Bennett and CNN’s Soledad O’Brien.
1. I have rented a few TV shows recently. First up was Mad Men. This show won 16 Emmy’s and the star, Jon Hamm, won the Golden Globe for best actor in a drama. I give the show a B-. Mad Men is about a fictional ad agency in New York City in the year 1960. The acting and directing is excellent but call me cynical, one thing I didn’t like with the show was that there wasn’t a protagonist. Every character has major personality flaws and I can’t find myself “cheering” for anyone. I also rented Curb Your Enthusiasm. So far I give the show an incomplete. After watching three or four episodes, I find the show pretty boring but there have been many shows that I disliked at first (How I met your Mother, Entourage, et cetera) that now I think are excellent. If anybody has any TV shows they think I should try out, please leave a comment.
2. I really think the media is making a big deal out of nothing regarding Governor Sarah Palin’s 17 year old daughter being pregnant. I highly doubt any sane person is going to eliminate John McCain and vote for Obama because his running mate’s daughter got pregnant. That has nothing to do with how McCain would be as a president. I do wonder if McCain knew about this before he chose her. I wonder if Governor Palin knew. These things happen. 17 year olds get pregnant every day in this country from women who are liberal, conservative, poor, rich, black, white, and everything in between.
3. Cool link of the day: http://www.markstechnologynews.com/2008/08/video-amazing-fountain-creates-images.html
4. One of my favorite hobbies (when I am awake at this hour) is to watch Jon Stewart. One of this favorite bits is to have actor/writer Robert Smigel wear a dog puppet and interview people. By interview people, I mean Triumph The Comic Insult Dog will blast nerds, geeks, and social outcasts at places like Star Wars Conventions and the Westminster Dog Show. Last week, he was at Comic-Con. He’s awesome. http://www.comedy.com/embed/triumph-at-comic-con
posted by cyclonejohn @ 4:34 PM
2 Comments:
I, for one, would think twice about voting for a presidential candidate whose vice-presidential running mate has a 17 year-old pregnant daughter. Whether it's right or it's wrong, presidents (and, subsequently, presidential candidates) are held to a much higher standard than the rest of America.
Of course, teenagers become pregnant every day, and of course, it shouldn't reflect poorly upon the parents, but we're talking about a person who may have control of the White House in a few months... who has considerable influence and power over the entire United States and, essentially, the entire world. Should not that leader subscribe to a higher level of morality, of dignity, of credibility than your average American citizen? Not just anyone can be president -- these men (and, hopefully, one day women!) have impeccable breeding. Ivy league educations, prestigious ranking in the military, prodigious families, considerable media clout... why should the standard not be just as high in his or her personal life?
Look at the outburst following the Clinton scandal. Clearly, the personal life of the president, or would-be vice-president, is important.
And, I find it amusing, and subsequently, bemusing that the political group that screams abstinence-only is now openly touting the pregnancy of a unwed teenage mother. Guess the "wait until marriage" talk didn't hit home too hard there. It is without doubt that if Obama's teenage daughter were pregnant, the McCain campaign would be all over it like a pack of starved lions. They would shout immorality and indiscretion until they were blue in the face.
Interestingly, the one group that often comes down hardest on all others is now boldly announcing one of the biggest (perceived) moral discrepancies a young woman could make. Are we glorifying -- or even accepting -- teenage pregnancy as admissible or no big deal? It's okay so long as the father is present and available and ready to marry? Would the situation be different if her daughter were raped or the father were absent or unwilling to marry? As the world witnessed with the Clinton affair, the White House is ripe for media gossip and speculation, and one's morality (or lack thereof) is often critical to the perceived credibility of that person's ability to run a nation.
I'm not saying Palin is a poor mother or that her daughter is not a good woman, because neither is true... but, being president, or vice-president in this case, calls for a far higher and far better basic level of moral behavior that surpasses others. And, I wonder again if Obama's daughter were pregnant, would the McCain party respond, "Family matters are personal and no reflection of one's ability to run the White House?" Somehow, I don't think so.
Okay, I'm not reading Elyse's entire "comment". But I will say that since Palin loves her abstinence-only education so much, this is a clear warning that it doesn't work. If her own daughter gets pregnant while living with her, either she is ignoring her children or it just doesn't work.
Also, how Palin acts and runs her family should have NO effect on how McCain will run the country. But he decided to align himself with Palin, so any mud-slinging in her direction will dirty him too. Plus, McCain is really old, and there is a non-zero chance he will die in office. Then where will we be?
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