Are You Experienced?

[vovat]

Can you believe that the Republicans are arguing that Sarah Palin is MORE qualified than Obama, because she's had a little bit of executive experience? Okay, you probably CAN believe it, but it's still annoying. Apparently Republicans believe that anyone who was class president in high school is more qualified for the presidency than Barack. I suppose those people DO have experience in making promises they don't intend to keep, since I'm sure they never REALLY think they can get a soda machine in the cafeteria. Anyway, it's true that a governor (and probably even a mayor) has a lot of the same duties as the president. On the other hand, Congress is actually making decisions that affect the entire country, and not just one state (in Palin's case, one that isn't even near any of the others). Maybe Palin DOES have experience in the fantasy role-playing sense, as that mostly seems to be the result of killing animals, and she's done plenty of that. Hey, Mrs. Governor, why don't you try fighting a dragon from your helicopter? That might actually be a challenge. And don't try to tell me dragons don't exist, when you think public school science classes should teach about talking snakes, 900-year-old men, and a worldwide flood.

Moving on to McCain himself, apparently having been a POW is one of his qualifications. Now, I certainly respect his military service. I was pretty much raised to believe the Vietnam War was a bad thing, which makes it weird for me when people like Bill O'Reilly try to defend it. But the soldiers were still doing an important job. Mind you, I also respect the people who managed to get out of going to Vietnam. You can argue that they were selfish, but I say that someone who doesn't want to fight and is opposed to the war probably isn't going to give it their A game anyway. But anyway, it may be true that the fact McCain actually fought in a war would make him better at leading a war (although his comments about being in Iraq for another millennium make me a little unsure of that). But it's going too far to say he deserves to be president because he was in a shitty situation, as some Republicans seem to be suggesting. Come on, is this a presidential election or Queen for a Day?

Comments

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

Maybe Palin DOES have experience in the fantasy role-playing sense, as that mostly seems to be the result of killing animals, and she's done plenty of that.

This is the funniest sentence I've read today.

Palin seems like such an interesting person. Mind you, I wouldn't want her running the country. But I do appreciate her uniqueness. In fact I feel bad that she's crazy because otherwise such a person in power would be really cool. If she were only crazy in the RIGHT ways.

I'm still kind of shaky on what exactly the executive branch DOES. The legistative branch makes the laws, the judicial branch upholds the laws, and the executive branch... executes the laws? And I used to get straight A s in social studies. So in other words, I don't really see the "is the experience EXECUTIVE?" argument either.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

The thing is, just to look at Palin, she seems like she'd be easy to get along with, and kind of geeky. I guess looks can be deceiving. Maybe she's supposed to appeal to the people who vote based entirely on looks.

I'm still kind of shaky on what exactly the executive branch DOES. The legistative branch makes the laws, the judicial branch upholds the laws, and the executive branch... executes the laws?

I remember learning that they carry out the laws, which is basically the same thing. If pressed, I really couldn't tell you what the executive branch does either, although I could name several powers that the President has.

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

Well, my husband is easy to get along with and definitely geeky, and he's also a hard-core republican, though not of the Religious Right variety (yeah, I always have to laugh at the supposed link between being conservative/republican and being religious, since in our household I, the independent/raised-by-democrats, am the religious one, and he's the evil agnostic).

It seems to me that the main job of the president is to be the Visible Spokesperson for the country, and really people overestimate the President's power just because he IS the visible one....

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I'm not saying that all Republicans are hard to get along with, just that I get the idea Palin might be hard to get along with, even though she doesn't look it.

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

Actually, it seems like Palin wouldn't be hard to get along with as long as you stay on her GOOD side.... ;)

And, come to think of it, Jason can grate on people the wrong way on first impressions....

[twobitme.livejournal.com]

The funniest, tasteless comment shared by a coworker about the idea that McCain has foreign policy experience because he was a POW in Vietnam is still, "Well, he obviously wasn't very good at it."

Palin reminds me of Tracy Flick from Election. Yeah, she looks like someone we could all get along with, but you know that she's all rhetoric and manipulation under the glasses.

If you do a little digging, you'll find the kind of stuff she did in Alaska, like firing the head librarian because the librarian refused to ban some books from the library for foul language. She reminds me way too much of the small town moms who ruled the PTA with an iron fist when I worked the library.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

The disturbing thing is that some people probably LIKE that she's pro-censorship.

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

There's actually been discussion over at the Horn Book blog (which incidentally you would expect to be all about hating on her)
about this which indicates that she actually FAILED to fire the librarian. There's some interesting thoughts on how the government doesn't have the power over libraries that it likes to think it has, too.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

It does seem like people are exaggerating the situation, but the fact that she even asked about censorship makes me uneasy.

[colbyucb.livejournal.com]

Only 5 more caribou to go, then she'll reach level 15 and learn to dual-wield!

That being said, going on to McCain... you'd be surprised how many people think others "deserve" things for having had crappy experiences, just in day-to-day life. It blows my mind that that logic is being applied to him. Ok, well, it really doesn't because it's brought up all the time so I guess I'm desensitized to it, but seriously. Just stick to his actual qualifications.