Ugly

It probably should come as no surprise that I absolutely loathe Sarah Palin, the candidate. She's probably a great mom and a good wife and fun to pal around and have a beer with, but the Sarah Palin that's presently running for VP is-in my humble opinion-a snake. Would you like to know why I feel that way? Here's one example:

Among other attacks, Sarah Palin is out on the campaign trail this week accusing Obama of dishonoring the troops, in essence calling them babykillers. This stems from an old charge she (her debate coaches) have resurrected about the Democrat, claiming he said “all we’re doing in Afghanistan is air-raiding villages and killing civilians” some 14 months ago.

Such a statement, she said in last week’s debate, is “a reckless, reckless comment and untrue comment, again, hurts our cause.”

Never mind that we are actually killing civilians in Afghanistan. Never mind that killing civilians in Afghanistan is actually a really good way to lose the war. Never mind that there might actually be alternative ways of prosecuting the war in Afghanistan that doesn't involve our troops bombing weddings, that might be even more effective at winning the war. No, merely daring to point out that what we're doing in Afghanistan might not work is unpatriotic, smears the troops, and "hurts our cause" (our cause being winning in Afghanistan, I presume.) If she believes this, she's a moron and I want her nowhere near the White House. If she doesn't believe this, she's a snake who's willing to use another politicians frank admission of mistakes in a war as ammunition to win a political contest.

Another example:

Bless your heart sir, my son is in Iraq fighting for your right to protest.

No, no, no, a hundred thousand times no. Country music listeners in particular may think that every time one of our soldiers is asked to invade another country and kill anyone who so ungratefully opposes us doing so is "defending our freedom", but anyone who seriously believes that is a moron. The last time our soldiers were fighting to defend the right of an American to protest anything was the American Revolution. They have fought and died for our security, for our national interests, for humanitarian purposes, and the fact that none of that had to do with protecting the "right to protest" doesn't diminish or demean their sacrifice in anyway.

Both of these tropes are wielded by politicians who seek to stifle debate about what our soldiers are actually up to. If "the troops" are always fighting for our freedom, then there's no need to question the mission. If criticizing the mission is the same thing as criticizing the troops, who are engaged in fighting for our freedom, then criticism becomes downright unpatriotic.

If you didn't get enough of that over the last eight years then by all means, vote for McCain and Palin. If you want an actual adult running the show in Washington, then vote for Obama.