Fair warning: no synchro here. It’s just politics. I’ve used our daughter’s dolphin painting as the image because it symbolizes how we are often imprisoned by our perceptions.
And first, happy birthday, Megan, 23!!
**
Okay, in terms of politics, the idea is that you watch what the opposition is saying to see how they think. So this evening Rob and I watched some of the Republican convention – in particular Romney’s acceptance speech. I had to breathe through this, that’s how revolting the whole thing was, riddled with lies, lies, and more lies. I thought eight years of Bush was bad; a single day under Romney/Ryan would be intolerable, grounds for fleeing the country. And here’s why:
Today, while at the hair salon where I have been going for more than 20 years, the woman who cuts my hair leans forward and says, “Wow, did you see the anti-Obama film?”
Uh-uh, I thought. This isn’t good. I have a theory, see, that politics of all sorts begins in hair salons. I believe it’s where the buzz about 50 Shades of Grey began. I think it’s where some types of grass roots movements start.
“Uh, no, I haven’t seen it. What’s it about?”
“Obama is a socialist who is going to destroy America by 2016.”
She went on from there and before she’d finished, I held up my hands. “Lynn, if Obama is a socialist, then I’m Russian. Can you actually tell me it’s a good thing that the most vulnerable people in our society – the poor, sick, elderly – are marginalized?”
She thought about that for a moment. “Well, no. Of course not.”
“Can you tell me we need more wars?”
“No, definitely not.”
“And do you think the uber rich need a tax break that puts the onus on the shrinking middle class?”
“The middle class is screwed.”
“And you think it’s a great idea that women’s rights would be hurled back to the dark ages?”
“Well, no, of course not.”
“So tell me why you’re going to vote for Romney/Ryan?”
She couldn’t.
And that’s the thing here. You look around the convention and wow, there’s Clint Eastwood, an 82-year-old celebrity who spoke before Rubio introduced Romney. You know, the make my day guy, the star of countless classic movies, and sorry, he sounded like a demented idiot. He interviewed an empty chair in which an invisible Obama sat, telling him to go fuck himself.
Then Rubio followed Eastwood. Rubio is a powerful speaker, with a powerful biography. But he’s also a liar who was on the short list for the VP selection and was dismissed supposedly because he lied about his biography. His parents didn’t flee from Castro, as he often said. They left Cuba before Castro’s rise to power. And there’s some scuttlebutt about how he used campaign funds. In other words, Rubio was a dubious VP candidate, but is a rising star among Repubs.
Romney had this strange little smile after many of his statements, a condescending smile, the same sort of smile Anne Romney had when she said, “The people have seen all they are going to see of our tax returns.” A smile for us peons: You guys just don’t get it. Your rules don’t apply to us.
‘Romney sounded like a war monger – Syria, Iran, Russia, yes, he went after Putin – – we’re going to take on all of them, and never mind about how we’ll pay for it. We won’t raise taxes on the uber wealthy. We’ll just cut the safety net programs, you know, Medicare, Social Security, Medicaid, National Public Radio, Planned Parenthood, and oh yes, we’ll overturn Obama Care, which was fashioned on Romney Care when he was governor of Massachusetts. But Romney didn’t talk about that.
Romney tried to sell us on his business background through his involvement with Bane Capitol, a venture capitalist company that swept into companies, fired middle managers, accrued debt, and then paid off the top guys – like Romney – to the tunes of millions as the company went belly up. That’s business in America, right? Romney also took federal bail out money to save Bain from bankruptcy, according to a new article in Rolling Stone. In other words, he built that company, yes, on the backs of the taxpayers.
Romney promised 12 million new jobs- but avoided specifics.
He promised that the middle class would be bolstered – but avoided specifics.
Romney promised we would remain strong with security – but avoided specifics, other than new wars.
Then there was the most arrogant statement of Romney’s speech – something to the effect that only Americans can solve problems. Really? Was that a little birther dig?
Here’s the thing with Republicans: they talk like Democrats – we’re going to save Medicare and Social Security, we’re going to bolster the middle class, we’re for smaller government, we love women, we put them in important positions, and blah, blah. But their official platform is the exact opposite.
As I looked out over the convention floor, I saw almost no people of color, hardly any ethnic diversity. As Rob remarked at one point, “Anyone who isn’t white, is a speaker.” Like Condi Rice, former Bush secretary of state, who came of as the most sane, moderate in the crowd. Except for Jane Edmonds, former secretary of workforce development in Massachusetts, who described herself as a progressive Democrat. So why the hell is she speaking at this convention? Why is she supporting Romney?
What I feel right now is disgust. The other night, Rob suggested I should sign up for Obama’s camp and go door to door. My response? “You do it.” I tried that in 2008 and after a couple of doors were slammed in my face, I realized my strength didn’t lie in canvassing. My strength is language.
Here’s my scenario under Romney/Ryan. It’s close to The Hunger Games, without kids killing kids. You’re a pregnant single woman who can’t afford a child. You have been raped by your father or brother or some other male relative and the government demands that you must have this child because life begins at conception and a fertilized egg has personhood. You seek out someone who can abort this abomination.
In this world, in this scenario, there’s an entire dark underbelly that provides such services but it’s prohibitively expensive. Because you are unemployed or underemployed, you sell your soul to the devil or its modern equivalent, get your abortion and nearly die. And then you must deal with the devil and the government. If it’s a Hollywood ending, you find true love in a Clint Eastwood character who says, Make my day, I’ll love you forever, maybe.
And you’re thinking, Huh? What day is that?
Looking out at the faces in this convention, I was struck by the number of white women waving signs and banners and cheering at every speech. I am in total disconnect with these women. They aren’t connecting the dots. They fail to realize the end result is appallingly simple.
Women couldn’t vote until the 19th amendment passed in 1920. If you, as a woman in 2012, are considering a vote for the Repubs in 2012, then you should first read Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. And then think long and hard about your vote. If you, as a woman, aren’t going to vote at all because Obama has disappointed you, then you better have an exit plan for life in another country.
Life under Obama versus life under Romney/Ryan spells the difference between freedom and indentured servitude. Life under Obama versus life under Romney/Ryan spells the difference between you as chattel and you as a sovereign human being. While it’s true that Obama has disappointed progressives on many of his change promises, he inherited a damaged country, and it may take decades to recover from Bush and the damage he did to this country.
If Romney wins – due to redestricting, voter purging, a Mercury retro on election day – I have an exit strategy. House on market, animals with documented innoculations, and a fervent argument that our daughter should join us in Costa Rica, a country still open to Americans. I refuse to live under a regime where a political party claims rights to my body, my being.
quite a thought out seemingly well informed opinion there Trish Mac….
Well, we DO try, whoot.
tell it like it is, trish!
Let me speak to anne romney, pelase.
Can’t believe Megan is 23!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GIRL! I remember when she was going through the school years of melodramatic ups and downs…..generally with Megan, they were UPS!!! 🙂 So hard to believe she’s an adult now. WOW! And speaking of, how is the situation progressing with the owner of the pit bull who attacked Nika, and is Nika now herself again? I suspect it traumatized Megan as much as it did Nika, in a different way! We need an update. please?
Megan is still waiting for the owner to reimburse her for the vet bills. Otherwise, she and ika seem to be fine. Nika, though, is sometimes skittish, Megan says, when a larger dog moves toward her.
I’m 10000000000% in agreement with having a woman as president! And Elizabeth Warren would be a great choice for that position. Of course, being somewhat of a feminist, I tend towards the conviction that behind every powerful and successful man, there is a woman standing in the wings. I’ve lived most of my adult life in a man’s world, having a husband and three strong-willed sons, each with a completely different personality, so I’ve been bombarded with testosterone all these years. I firmly believe a woman with savvy could pull our country back up onto its feet. I’m sure many will disagree with me, but I admire Hillary and the strength and intelligence she has demonstrated through the years in the face of staggering difficulties. She says she’ll be retiring into the private sector after the end of Obama’s first term. Looking at her, I have a sense she is ill. Don;t know what ailment she may be battling, but her energy field shows a serious illness haunting her. She’s a brilliant woman. Made mistakes, as we all do, but still, I have to admire her tenacity and her
intelligence, and I honestly think if we could eventually put a really strong, experienced, intelligent woman in the Oval Office, we could rise above the quicksand.
Maybe Obama’s second term will pave the way for Warren to step into that position and will leave her a good legacy upon which to grow and build this once-great country. Other countries have very respected and successful women leaders. Why not America.
Elizabeth it is!
I couldn’t stay awake to watch the acceptance speech so saw a lot of that at 6:00 am this morning. This hoopla about women is so transparently fake and makes me want to puke. You should see what Steven Colbert (am madly in love with him) had to say about the audience after the second night. Brilliant and funny. While he plays the role of a right wing conservative if you really listen to him you KNOW that he is not. It is impossible for me to quote what either Steven Colbert or Jon Stewart say on their programs but they are rays of hope. One friend of mine says that if America is stupid enough to vote for Romney we will get what we deserve. That is the most depressing aspect of all this – how many dopes are out there.
I said nearly the same thing to rob when we were watching it, Adele.
Very well said. We will join you in Costa Rica.
Good. How about the pacific coast??
I’m in agreement with everything said here except one thing, and I’m pretty tired of it by now. Yes. Obama inherited one hell of a mess from the Bush years. But it must be faced that we CANNOT continue to blame EVERYTHING Obama has or hasn’t done during his years in office, on Bush. No, I am absolutely not a Bush fan, and I despise everything Romney represents, expecially for women. But I think it’s time to set aside the Bush fiasco and move on to other portions of Obama’s years in the Oval Office that have had nothing whatsoever to do with his inheriting Pandora’s Box from Bush. He’s made a pretty big mess himself in a few areas, all by himself, having nothing to do with Bush. Don’t get me wrong here. I’m not defending Bush. I just think it’s past time to move forward and say, OK, Bush was the worst president ever in this country, and yes, he left America in a quagmire that isn’t yet repaired. But Obama is far from perfect in ways that have nothing whatsoever to do with the Bush legacy. I’m disappointed in his performance as my Commander-In-Chief. I’m disappointed in a lot of stuff Obama has and hasn’t done, and I won’t keep blaming ALL his mis-steps on Bush because some of them belong at his own feet and aren’t relevant to the inheritance from the Bush years.
Having said this, I will vote for Obama again because I believe he entered the position he holds as an inexperienced novice, a first-grader stepping into college, and he’s had almost four years to learn the ropes and I’m hoping the next four years will demonstrate that he has the abilities and the savvy to lead us into a better future and follow-up on his rhetorical promises. In my opinion Romney, among other things too nasty to mention, is a bigoted, prejudiced, racist, male chauvanist pig….pardon my candor….and I wouldn’t cast my vote for him if he were running against one of the Bushes. No, I wouldn’t vote for a Bush, either. I would abstain, because I cannot support the Romney platform in any of its shams. But can we PLEASE move away now from blaming Bush for all of Obama’s shortfalls and allow some of the blame to be put where it belongs, which is on Obama himself. He isn’t perfect. No one is. But ALL his issues haven’t come from Bush. I think the entire Bush family, each and every one of them, is an abomination on this planet, and Mother Barbara Bush is a disgusting portrait of womanhood.
But I think we need to erase BushCo from our mind-sets and try to offer up more of a clean slate for Obama to start again, omitting the BushBlameGame. The more we keep our focus on Bush, the more his filthy garbage will remain in our mass Consciousness as a nation. So please, let’s banish him and move forward to a new day with Obama at the helm, guys. That’s MY rant for the day, and I applaud the MacGregor soapbox. We have no choice but to go with Obama or we’ll be prisoners in our own country. BTW, after watching and listening for a brief few minutes to her, I see Romney’s wife as being full of that stuff we clean up after we take our dogs to do their business. She’s as false as Barbara Bush, and heaven only knows we DON’T need more of THAT kind of woman co-steering our national ship!! I’m asking for some good thoughts to be sent my way, because I’m married to a man who supports Romney and after almost a half century of living with this husband, I fail to comprehend his thinking on this. It astonishes and dismays and infuriates me. He put a Romney sticker on MY SUV. I promptly removed it. He did it again, I promptly removed it again. He finally gave up and, no more Romney stickers. But his vote will cancel mine, so we are a house divided. I’m beginning to wonder if he (husband) has dementia!! Nuff said from my little corner of the universe.
The only romney sticker I’ve seen so far is one about getting rid of obama.
I disagree about blaming Obama for the mess our country is currently in. If you look at history, America was still in the Great Depression when FDR ran for his first reelection. And the economy wasn’t great when Clinton ran for reelection. It wasn’t until Clinton’s second term that things started booming. However, the mess we’re in now is more severe because of the housing meltdown in 2008 and the crash of several Wall Street investment firms and banks. Add to that the retirement of the Baby Boomers and it contributes to the ongoing financial woes of our country. How could Obama really get us out of Bush’s mess in 4 years.
However, I think it is more important to look at it this way: Are we better off now with Obama as president than we would have been if McCain / Palin were in the White House? I believe with certainty that McCain would have made things far worse and we would be faced with a Hillary campaign this year. Romney is likely to return America to the same Bush policies that created our current mess and when things are really bad in 2016, are they going to blame it on Obama?
I look at the situation like this: the Republicans burned down the house from 2001 to 2008. Obama is the firefighter who came on the scene of a completely charred out America. He’s had to rebuild from the ground up, but the Republicans keep sabotaging his efforts so that he will be fired and Americans hire the very people who burned down the house to rebuild at our expense. Why would anyone in their right mind ever trust the Republicans after what they did to America? Blame Obama? Nope, I don’t. He got the terrible job of cleaning up the mess left by a spoiled brat who doesn’t care about anyone except himself.
You nailed it.
I will be right there with you, Trish. I couldn’t watch any of the convention, but I just cannot help but hope that some guardian angel somewhere will help this country find its way out of deceit and deception. Thank you for the rant. My sister put up Obama signs last election cycle outside her home in Florida and they were destroyed in the most horrible fashion. Now she keeps her head down and wishes she didn’t live in a red state. Some people are foaming at the mouth that we have a black president and will do anything they can to keep it from happening again. I am very sad but glad there are people like you and Rob in the world.
If I recall, your sister lives in a very red part of Florida. That’s sad that people felt compelled to destroy the signs.
I as you may or may not know am a hairstylist and can verify that hair salons are a hotbed of political talk. I personally cringe when clients get all political when sitting in my chair. I am interested in what clients have to say but I don’t like it when clients personal opinions dominate the whole time spent with me. Typically I just listen and keep my own opinions to myself. I have witnessed too many uncomfortable situations rise from political conversation.Just the other day I had to restrain myself from breaking out in laughter as one of my dear clients assumed I was a republican based on what she knows of my husbands family background. I just thought to myself “lady if you only knew I’m on the other side”. She went on and on about how she was going to stay up no matter how tired she was to see Ann Romney speak and how much see loves her hair! I just thought okaaayyyyyyyyyy. I watched , cringed and thought about my dear client who is just thrilled with what her polictical party has to offer. In my opinion not much! From all that I’ve seen these robotos want to live in the past and God help us all if that happens! I will still continue to keep silent when working but soak up all the chatter and have a few chuckles along the way.
Becky – that must’ve been hard! Bite your tongue and listen to someone go on and on about anne romney’s hair!
Great job! You know seriously I don’t care Republican/ Democrat, whoever can be as honest as possible and make a positive mark on our country and its people. But we all know that is next to impossible, so as I watched the acceptance peace I couldn’t help but be turned off and flat out disgusted with the more than obvious checklist speech. Recall an easier more secure era, check, parent’s loving children, check, oh throw in Neil Armstrong, check, did I talk about babies, no- how about mexicans, check, women I understand you, check and religion check -check-check…wait for applause smile strangely and ridiculously at the camera – yet look humble. It seemed phony to me just telling people what they wanted to hear and a select group of people at that. I don’t think things are fine under Obama either, but there aren’t many options for moving forward with government. Is there? Not saying Romney should be it, no way. Maybe we, the Americans, should just handle things ourselves. Better yet get a woman up there that will fix things. What do you think? Trish 2016!
How about someone like Elizabeth warren in 2016? She’s smart, courageous, and never gives up.
Dear Trish,
Thanks for doing the work and sharing the trial. My vote for this election has been set in stone. I’m just waiting for the ballot. Until then, I avoid all this nasty stuff – which isn’t easy – but only reaffirms… my vote.
I’m now done with watching conventions!