Are you watching the RNC?

I'm a former republican who became an independent after the takeover of the party by Dirty Dickie Nixon.  However, out of fairness, I feel I have to give a listen to them.

I'm not feeling very fair though.  Why are these people so conformist?  I haven't seen so many black suits and red dresses since the last RNC.  Then there are the delegations all dressed the same, like some kind of square dance team - Texas has identical red shirts and straw (I think) cowboy hats.  Another delegation is all dressed in blue denim shirts.  I long for the craziness of the DNC.  They had some music but nobody was dancing in the aisles - the just sat demurely in their seats, clapping in time or sort of bouncing their heads.  What duds.

Then there's this little tidbit

http://www.washingtonindependent.com/3934/rep ublicans-lobbyists-party-with-hookers-and-blo w

I suppose they have to let off all that pent up steam somehow. 

The speeches so far are about what you'd expect.  Fred Thompson talked about McCain's life, but stopped with him being a POW.  didn't he have a life after that?  Not one mention of his two marriages and all those kids. 

I intend to stick with this.  Who knows, maybe there will be something said or done that will change my jaundiced mind.

What do you think of it?  And feel free to disagree with me - I don't mind - it's called free discourse.

One caveat: no discussion of Sarah Palin - we have a thread for that already.

Original Post by sportstergirl:

as a voter, i feel that you should get to know all you can about what you are voting for. if you don't, it could end up biting YOU in the end. case in point, an 18 year old with enough pot on him to smoke himself. not selling it. just personal use. he gets pulled over and gets a misdemeanor. he gets busted two more times and he is now facing a felony charge. he is 18 years old, going to prison and now having to proclaim himself a felon. we vote on laws before thinking about the impact on everyone. we were just thinking of the drug dealers and pushers. fyi i have never smoked pot or used any drug but i do have family that have kids that do. my point is that we should hear both sides before making a final decision and not worry so much about pushing our own views on others.

 

 I think the moral of that story is to not do things that are illegal.

I was referring to my state of mind in 2000, peaches. In 1996, I had very serious concerns that the Reps were indeed going to reverse Roe V Wade, and did 'vote for my uterus' in that election. :)

sportster: Thompson's quote, although clever, is a misrepesentation of Obama's plan. the problem with that way of thinking is that it feeds fear, not hope.

I personally am done voting out of fear, especially given that I finally have a candidate that is trying to harbor hope, instead.

Voting for my uterus is pretty important to me. It isn't just about voting for my reproductive rights. It's about not letting the government decide what I can and can't do with my body.

I understand.  I just can't bring myself to make abortion rights the deciding factor on who I vote for. 

Original Post by peaches0405:

Original Post by sportstergirl:

as a voter, i feel that you should get to know all you can about what you are voting for. if you don't, it could end up biting YOU in the end. case in point, an 18 year old with enough pot on him to smoke himself. not selling it. just personal use. he gets pulled over and gets a misdemeanor. he gets busted two more times and he is now facing a felony charge. he is 18 years old, going to prison and now having to proclaim himself a felon. we vote on laws before thinking about the impact on everyone. we were just thinking of the drug dealers and pushers. fyi i have never smoked pot or used any drug but i do have family that have kids that do. my point is that we should hear both sides before making a final decision and not worry so much about pushing our own views on others.

 

 I think the moral of that story is to not do things that are illegal.

very good moral...until of course you find yourself in a federal court room and a judge is about to send your child to prison for 20 years because he smokes pot. i bet you would have a different point of view then!

Original Post by sportstergirl:

and "cindy mccain creeps me out" really??? how would you like someone to say that about you?

 Maybe it's all the botox that gives her face that unreal, slightly psychotic, expressionless look - like a Barbie doll turned polygamist cult wife.

Original Post by kathygator:

sportster: Thompson's quote, although clever, is a misrepesentation of Obama's plan. the problem with that way of thinking is that it feeds fear, not hope.

I personally am done voting out of fear, especially given that I finally have a candidate that is trying to harbor hope, instead.

 Neither side has a monopoly on misrepresentation.  But if you look at FactCheck.org, you see that more lies have been told about Obama than about McCain.

Original Post by sportstergirl:

Original Post by peaches0405:

Original Post by sportstergirl:

as a voter, i feel that you should get to know all you can about what you are voting for. if you don't, it could end up biting YOU in the end. case in point, an 18 year old with enough pot on him to smoke himself. not selling it. just personal use. he gets pulled over and gets a misdemeanor. he gets busted two more times and he is now facing a felony charge. he is 18 years old, going to prison and now having to proclaim himself a felon. we vote on laws before thinking about the impact on everyone. we were just thinking of the drug dealers and pushers. fyi i have never smoked pot or used any drug but i do have family that have kids that do. my point is that we should hear both sides before making a final decision and not worry so much about pushing our own views on others.

 

 I think the moral of that story is to not do things that are illegal.

very good moral...until of course you find yourself in a federal court room and a judge is about to send your child to prison for 20 years because he smokes pot. i bet you would have a different point of view then!

 I hope that I wouldn't.  I was raised to accept responsibility for my actions.  An 18 year old should know this.  Was he not told the first two times that if he did it again, he could go to jail?

However, I apologize for going off topic.

*takes Claire's advice and goes to check out factcheck.org*

BBL

Original Post by clairelaine:

Original Post by sportstergirl:

and "cindy mccain creeps me out" really??? how would you like someone to say that about you?

 Maybe it's all the botox that gives her face that unreal, slightly psychotic, expressionless look - like a Barbie doll turned polygamist cult wife.

 Are you talking about Cindy McCain or Laura Bush? I don't think our first lady's expression has changed in the last 8 years.

Original Post by sportstergirl:

and "cindy mccain creeps me out" really??? how would you like someone to say that about you?

Well, if I were actually creeping them out, I suppose I would only be slightly curious as to why.  But were I in Cindy McCain's position, I would be more likely thinking "Okay, so it continues, and will probably get worse." 

She's been a political wife for a long time - I doubt knowledge of some Democrats' evaluation of her looks is really going to hurt her feelings.  (And if it does, she really needs to start preparing herself - post convention to November is go-time, baby.)

It saddens me when people focus on the way a person looks.

It's the least important thing about them, #1.

For all you know, there's a good reason why she looks like that.

Pick on her for saying that being located next to Russia gives Palin foreign policy experience if you want, but how she looks... come on y'all.

Original Post by nomoreexcuses:

It saddens me when people focus on the way a person looks.

It's the least important thing about them, #1.

Agreed.  But now would be an inconvenient time for candidates' spouses to develop delicate sensibilities.  Michelle Obama is certainly well aware of this.

Original Post by clairelaine:

Original Post by sportstergirl:

and "cindy mccain creeps me out" really??? how would you like someone to say that about you?

 Maybe it's all the botox that gives her face that unreal, slightly psychotic, expressionless look - like a Barbie doll turned polygamist cult wife.

*goes into this posters pictures to see what a perfet speciman of a human she is to make such a statement about others...doesn't find one*

we all would like to feel good about ourselves. isn't that why you are on cc in the first place? or is it just to put others down to make yourself seem better?

Original Post by sportstergirl:

we all would like to feel good about ourselves. isn't that why you are on cc in the first place? or is it just to put others down to make yourself seem better?

 Well, I don't know the woman, but I suspect being the wife of the Republican candidate for President of the United States and potential First Lady, that Cindy McCain already feels good about herself.  Being in such a spotlight may be causing her some stress, I doubt she considers the comments of anonymous posters on internet message forums as all that much of a consequence (nor should she).

And maybe people think they're free to express their opinions here as long as they follow posting guidelines.

The DNC and the RNC have been incredibly different in terms of their methods.

The Democrats are looking to unite, win moderate voters, uplift, change, show they, too, are religious, family oriented people with moral direction, and bring hope into government.

The Repugnicans are looking to put down the Dems, uh, put down the Dems, uh, take way rights, hmmm, put down the Dems, and let's see, blame the "angry left" (Angry left? I watched the DNC in totality and saw very uplifting, happy people. And Barack Obama coming out to tell people to lay off his opponents family even when there is a big lesson to be learned from it -- abstinence only eduction doesn't work -- shows his class and positive nature.), and, of course, Dems suck.

RNC, when it comes to rallying the nation, ur doin it wrong.

it will be interesting to see the next two days of convention

santo, yes, that's true - the candidates' wives get used to far, far worse comments made about them than anything that the good people of calorie count would ever post here - i would just like to appeal to peoples' better nature and discuss more relevant topics if possible

if i ever ran for public office, people would probably say very unkind things about my appearance and i'd need to grow a thick skin if i didn't already have one

how many excellent would-be public servants never seek office because they deem the cost of public scrutiny too dear?  who really loses out in that case?  not the potential candidate - there are other career tracks, but the people he/she would serve

:-)

Original Post by nomoreexcuses:

i would just like to appeal to peoples' better nature and discuss more relevant topics if possible

Understood. 

And if you ever ran for office, I would have to seriously consider voting for you.

likewise!

i find you to be the most reasonable person i've ever encountered online

and i mean that as more of a compliment than it sounds given the nature of the interwebs

more reasonable than most people i've encountered offline too!

*cringing*