The McCain-Palin Ticket

I actually watched more of the Republican Convention this week than I did the Democratic Convention last week. I guess I wanted to "know thine enemy" or something. Suffice it to say, what I now know makes me like it less than before.

Sarah Palin came out swinging in her speech on Wednesday. She spoke in very partisan, very aggressive terms, and what she said was full of lies and misrepresentations of Obama's and Biden's records. She exaggerated her own so-called accomplishments as the Mayor of Wasilla and as Governor of Alaska. After a week of the campaign berating the media for focusing on her family's woes, she paraded all of her children - and her daughter's condomless teenage boyfriend - in front of the camera. Her speech was style over substance, and the style was offensive.

Last night, John McCain was so boring he couldn't even keep the RNC attendees on their feet. He did bring some substance into his speech, but much of it was also blatantly untrue, like when he discussed his tax plan versus Obama's, or when he said that Obama opposes nuclear power. He referred to himself time and again as "a maverick," and he spoke at length about how he and Palin are going to "shake up Washington." Last time I checked, the best way to shake up a regime is to kick it out and install a new one!

After allowing myself to reflect on the various speeches at the two conventions, I believe that the patina of McCain-Palin will fade quickly. If change is your priority, it cannot be brought by maintaining the status quo. The only way to truly affect change is to bring in a new set of policies, and the experience to make them effective.

If you haven't seen this clip yet, enjoy!