Blowin' in the Wind

Disclaimer: I don't understand Republicans. I in no way mean for this to be offensive. If you are a Republican, explain to me how you all make any sense. Also, I don't consider myself a Democrat so it's not necessarily all based on bias.

So I was watching TV last night, and during commericals I decide to flip over to the Republican National Convention, if for no other reason than to be informed. In the end, "informed" would not be a word I could even possibly apply to what I got from watching this. The first thing I see when I turn it on is a bunch of cowboys waving their hats while the entire crowd sings along to the Sara Evans song "Born to Fly"... Seriously!? Is this what Republicans do?! I can't help but think back to every stereotype I have ever heard about Republicans and note that each and every one is basically being fulfilled in this one camera shot.

Then, here comes Rudy Giuliani. Not to discredit him entirely, but... When you get down to it, all he ever really did was his job. He was basically to New York City what Bush should have been to the United States - a good leader in a time of crisis. Now does that warrant him honorary knighthood or Time magazine's Person of the Year status? Not necessarily, in my opinion, but I don't make these decisions. I will say, however, that he gave a hell of speech for the most part. His relentless bashing of Barack Obama was welcomed by the thousands of people in the crowd who already hated Obama. His lisp was more noticeable than ever, but perhaps that is only because he was getting on my nerves already. As a person, I do not like Giuliani. He deferred his draft over and over, he is on his third wife, almost certainly had some extramarital affairs in there...Just traits that seem odd to me in a Republican figurehead such as he. Anyway, good speech as long as all you were looking for was a good old fashioned Dem ribbing.

Now Palin, she genuinely impressed me. She was pretty harsh at times, but for the most part even then she was spot-on. A few things (e.g. Iraq War commentary) I did not agree with at all, but that is to be expected when Angie watches the RNC. Anyway, she basically knocked it out of the park, and I would say her speech probably did more for the GOP than anything has thus far. I still don't like her. I guess we'll have to see what happens tonight...

As a sidenote, I will say on this public forum that the hype about Bristol Palin is ignorant. 17 year old girl gets knocked up, plans to wed high school boyfriend - this happens all the time. BFD. It's unfortunate that kids are having kids but that doesn't mean it is going to stop. Y'know, though, if people would just jump on the pro-choice wagon, this problem could be next to eliminated. It doesn't make sense to condemn babies with babies and also condemn abortions. Not to me, at least. Also, I find it strange that Palin's husband works as an oil field operator and their children have such hippie names - Track, Trig, Bristol, Willow, & Piper. I know this is wrong of me, but does anyone else see the irony in Trig's name?

Okay, that's all I got for now. The moral of this post is - I watched the RNC and the speeches were more than I expected, but the Sara Evans and waving of cowboy hats completely negated any amount of respect I might have gained for the GOP otherwise by watching it.