Monday, September 22, 2008

Al, You Make Me Feel Uncomfortable

“…And for 35 years I was a writer. I wrote a lot of jokes. Some of them weren’t funny. Some of them weren’t appropriate. Some of them were downright offensive. I understand that. And I understand that the people of Minnesota deserve a senator who won’t say things that will make you feel uncomfortable…” Al Franken, Accepting the DFL Nomination in June

So it seems Al Franken had a hand in Saturday Night Live's most recent political skit featuring Darrell Hammond as Senator John McCain in a spoof about his approving radio ads for his campaign. There have been varying reports (some from within the Franken campaign itself) as to Franken’s level of involvement in the skit. Some say it was an idle observation he made while talking to an old friend; some say after SNL decided to try to make the idea into a skit Franken was involved, again by phone, in the formation of the skit; and some say Franken was listed as a co-writer on the script. Whichever story you choose to believe, the truth is Franken was involved.

I wasn’t born without a funny bone. I saw the skit and, frankly, I thought most of it was funny. Of course I don’t agree with the portrayal of McCain as an old, crotchety man who will take the word of anyone as truth and then agree to it. But sometimes you have to be able to laugh at yourself, or in this case, your own candidate or political party.

I stopped laughing, however, when the skit turned ugly:

Sarcastic Announcer: Barack Obama has fathered two black children in wedlock.

Hammond as McCain: My friends, I must say, that reminds me of an attack George Bush made on me in 2000.

Staffer: He won that election, right?

Hammond as McCain: (immediately leans into the microphone) I’m John McCain, and I approve this message.

I couldn’t believe it. Okay, so we try to have a sense of humor about ourselves. But to even bring up the horrible incident from the 2000 election concerning McCain’s adopted daughter was going too far. At that point, the skit became offensive.

The skit was referring to a smear campaign against McCain in which his opponents spread lies that his daughter Bridget was his illegitimate child instead of a severely ill orphan adopted by McCain and his wife from one of Mother Teresa’s orphanages. To suggest that McCain would, in order to win a campaign, endorse a message attacking Obama in the way he was attacked in the 2000 campaign is egregious.

The 2000 incident was deeply painful for the McCain family. This excerpt from a Newsweek article titled, “In Search of Cindy McCain" illustrates just how painful it was:

When her husband dropped out of the race, Cindy retreated once again to Arizona, furious. She now admits it took her a long time to get over it, much longer than her husband. "It was my daughter," she says. "I think any mother would agree with me. You can go after me, but stay away from my children."

Cindy decided not to tell Bridget about what had happened in South Carolina until she was old enough to understand. But not long ago, the 16-year-old discovered it on her own when she Googled her name. She asked her mother why President Bush hated her. "I did the best I could to say it wasn't President Bush," Cindy says. "But what she doesn't understand is … how could people say things like that." *

As in the case of Bristol Palin, this subject also involves the minor child of a candidate. Once again, Franken and his friends have shown that they don’t know when to stop or where to draw the line. That’s why Franken has to apologize so often for trying to be funny when he’s not.

His consistent display of faulty judgement is just one of the reasons we should feel "uncomfortable" with the idea of Al Franken as Minnesota’s senator.


* (I highly recommend this article to people who want to know more about our potential first lady. Read it at http://www.newsweek.com/id/142650/page/1


Monday, September 8, 2008

Vote for Norm in Tomorrow's Primary

A lot of Republicans might feel they don't need to bother voting in tomorrow's (September 9) primary, but we should do it anyway.

The primary is mostly about deciding contested seats on the Democrat side (still another example, in my opinion, of how the Dems have problems even running their own election process), but it doesn't hurt for us to go out and show our support for Norm Coleman, Erik Paulsen, Shari May, Jennifer Loon, etc.

So, if you were thinking of skipping it, or didn't even know about it, drop by and drop in your Republican vote. Supporting our candidates never hurts.

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Candidate Paulsen Addresses the RNC

Congrats to Erik Paulsen on his speech tonight at the RNC. Paulsen seemed very comfortable on the large, national stage. His speech was very natural; and I wasn't surprised, because he spoke of the traditional Republican values he stands for. There would be no need for him no over-rehearse because he was speaking about things he truly believes in.

After serving us well in the legislature in Minneosta, Paulsen is absolutely ready for the 3rd District seat vacated by retiring Representative Ramstad.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

On Sarah, Short and Sweet

On television, I saw women with tears in their eyes and rolling down their cheeks after watching Governor Palin speak. I was one of those women.

Women have been waiting for centuries to see a woman rise to this level of power with a baby on her hip. Geraldine Ferraro wasn't that woman. Hillary Clinton wasn't that woman.

Tonight, Sarah Palin was that woman.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

IT'S NONE OF OUR BUSINESS!!!

I was disgusted when I turned on the morning news shows today only to see that Governor Palin’s daughter’s pregnancy was the top news story of the day, even overshadowing the damage caused by hurricane Gustav.

Reporters are asking the McCain camp and pundits are opining about how this reflects on abstinence-only sex education. Their questions and speculations are disgusting and inappropriate.

How in the world do these people, who don’t know Sarah Palin or her family, presume to know what kind of sex education her daughter, Bristol, has had during her lifetime? How dare they try to use this young girl, who is clearly going through enough already, to push some kind of agenda about sex education?

This young woman is five months pregnant. She has probably had to endure first the realization to herself that she is pregnant, had to notify the father, and their parents. She is a senior in high school, and everybody at school has probably known for a while that the governor’s daughter is pregnant. That would be enough stress for any young woman.

Then her mom is chosen to be the vice presidential running mate for John McCain. Maybe she has dreaded the moment her pregnancy would hit the national news, maybe she is secure enough in the circle of love of her family that she is either insulated from it or no longer cares who knows about it because she has grown to love her baby and is proud to bring it to life. No one but she and her family know how she is feeling.

That is as it should be.

I can’t finish this blog without talking about the accusations that because Sarah Palin’s daughter is pregnant Sarah is a bad mother.

There is a list of things you don’t want to happen to your child. The biggies are: not graduate high school, do drugs, drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes, get arrested, get pregnant or get someone pregnant. When one of those things happens, you have to deal with your own private feelings of failure. Can you imagine the entire country weighing in on your parental qualifications under such circumstances?

The only people who should be judging Sarah Palin or her daughter are: people who were never pregnant or never got someone pregnant out of wedlock; people with grown children who can prove those children were never personally involved in an out-of-wedlock pregnancy; and people who have never had or will never have children.

Speaking of children, what happened to them being off limits in politics? Chelsea Clinton remained nearly untouched through the entire Clinton administration, including the campaigns. Even Obama rightly says Palin's children should be a non-issue.

If only the media would stop talking about it and move on. It’s none of our concern. Bristol Palin’s pregnancy makes absolutely no difference as to Palin’s qualifications for Vice President. That’s all that matters.

Monday, September 1, 2008

An Honor for a Minnesota Woman

Congratulations to Angela McDermott, Miss Minnesota, who has been chosen for the honor of singing the national anthem for the opening of the Republican National Convention at about 3 p.m. CDT today.

Angie will be representing the great state of Minnesota in the Miss America pageant in January. She's an incredibly talented singer; she won both the talent and interview portions at the Miss Minnesota Scholarship pageant in June before taking home the title of Miss Minnesota.

Congrats to Angie, and the Miss Minnesota progam. She'll do us proud.