I have caught a few minutes here and there of speeches and the like coming out of the Republican National Convention in the past few days. I tend to only be able to maintain my attention for those few minutes at a time before I become dumbfounded at how people so adamantly support such hypocrisy. I thought surely last time around there was no way they could possibly re-elect Bush, but then they did. And now despite all the negative response around the selection of Governor Palin for VP, I worry that the same thing could happen.
When it comes down to selling your campaign on grabbin' yer guns and upholding some notion of Christian law, apparently votes quickly swing your way. The Republicans have only managed to shift gears slightly since last time around, slightly fewer references to the dreaded 9/11 (except those by GW himself), and endless more references to McCain's POW experience. Sure the guy is a hero in that regard, but so are countless other vets slipping further into senility, and under-assisted by aid and health care programs. I don't see how this becomes such a strong selling point in marketing the President of the USA.
As usual these days, its basically been put on satire shows like The Daily Show and Colbert Report to reveal the hypocrisy of the actual halfway relevant talking points, and they've done a hilarious job. The speeches themselves would be funny, if it wasn't so scary, what people are willing to believe.
The two most prominent platforms in the speeches so far seem to be the 'protection of human life', and the 'resolve to get the job done in the war against terrorism'. In that juxtaposition, I've finally realized some of the 'logic' in Republican thinking. The life of children must be protected, until such age that they are fit to suit up in camo and carry an M16, no matter the costs to the mother bearing them, or the perhaps young father, who has nowhere to turn but to the military to earn money to support the child. Two birds with one stone right?
Sure we have our own imminent election coming up in Canada, and it has its implications for conflicts overseas as well, but it all seems to pale in comparison to the problems faced south of the border, and in reality, the world over, should the Republicans steal another 4 years.