Prepare: Plainly Partisan Political Post

I am so, SO disgusted by the hypocrisy of the Republican party right now, it makes me want to throw up.

If you have a legitimately different opinion than mine, on ANY topic, well...that's your right. If you can thoughtfully and respectfully express that difference of opinion, well...you're not going to change my mind, most likely (and I can accept that I'm not likely to change yours), but we can amicably agree to disagree.

But if you're going to fill the airwaves with hypocrisy, half-truths and flat-out lies, well...I don't and can't respect that. In the immortal words of Kathy Griffin, you can suck it!

To wit: the "lipstick on a pig" controversy. WTF? Barack Obama did not invent that saying out of whole cloth. It's a very old colloquialism. Did he choose that one specifically over, say..."if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck..." because Sarah Palin herself made a lipstick joke? (Which, by the way, I found offensive to the gentle, affectionate pit bull.) Perhaps he did. He's quick like that. (And thank god for it.)

But the Republican response? Un-frickin'-believable. "He insulted her." "How dare he?" "He called her a pig!" Oh, grow up. John McCain himself used that exact same expression, word for word, just last May, when talking about Hillary Clinton's health care plan. (Dick Cheney is on record as having used it as well, when talking about Democrats.) Did Hillary's supporters swing into action, accusing McCain of insulting THEIR darling? They did not. Why not? Well, I can only speculate (not being in Hillary's inner circle) that they did not because they were intelligent enough to recognize it for what it was--a folksy saying used in the context of a political campaign as a way of expressing disagreement with a particular policy or policies. No big deal.

Why are the American people letting them get away with this bullshit? Why are we letting Mike Huckabee (a former Southern Baptist pastor) stand up in front of the country and say "I want to tell you folks something. She got more votes running for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, than Joe Biden got running for president of the United States."

It's patently untrue: Palin got 616 votes in the 1996 mayor's election, and got 909 in her 1999 re-election race, for a total of 1,525. Biden dropped out of the race after the Iowa caucuses, but he still got 76,165 votes in 23 states and the District of Columbia where he was on the ballot during the 2008 presidential primaries.

I call foul. Why isn't everyone? Why aren't the rational members of the Republican Party (and yes, I know you're out there--some of you are even related to me) saying "Hey--that's not right. Can't we lay our policies and beliefs out there to stand on their own, without lying outright to get applause?"

"I said 'no thanks' to that bridge!" Sure, you did, Sarah. But only after actively advocating FOR it during your gubernatorial campaign, and only after it became clear that Congress wasn't going to let you build it, AND you kept the money anyway, so...WTF?

Sarah Palin's children, particularly Bristol, are strictly "off-limits" for discussion. Okay, but where were the outcries when John McCain called a young Chelsea Clinton "ugly" at a Republican fundraiser in 1998? (And in my opinion, saying "she's pregnant" and "she's ugly" are worlds apart. One is fact, one is mean-spirited judgment.)

Well, I could keep going for a while, and yeah, yeah...I'm sure there are plenty of examples of hypocrisy on the other side of the aisle, and if you want to write about them on YOUR blog, feel free. I might even come read it. But this is MY blog, and I'm pissed at the Republicans.

I've been wearing my black wristband to work all week. I think I'll wear it until Bush is out of office. It's the least I can do in payback for having to listen to THIS kind of thoughtful, intelligent political discourse:

(Note: this was an actual conversation held within my hearing by my Republican coworkers the morning after the John Edwards sex scandal broke.)

"Did you hear about Edwards? Isn't that hilarious?"

(There is much audible laughter.)

"Just your typical liberal."

"Do you think they'll still let him speak at the convention?"

"LET him speak? He'll be their HERO. It will be a coronation!"

(There is much more audible laughter.)

At which point I couldn't stand it any longer, so I walked up and said "yeah, he cheated on his wife, just like any number of politicians, including a good many Republicans, since cheaters don't come with any particular party affiliation." And then I went outside and petted the parking lot cat for awhile. They were quiet when I came back inside.

Truly, I ask you, WTfrickin'F? Because Bill Clinton had affairs, Democrats must LOVE adultery? Guess what? We don't. I was incredibly saddened and disappointed by John Edwards' actions. And, by the by, we are NOT the party who is currently making heroes of Rudy Giuliani (who openly squired his mistress to NYC events and tried to have his wife ejected from Gracie Mansion) and John McCain (who cheated on his first wife numerous times after she became disabled.) That would be...oh, wait...the Republicans.

It's going to be a long couple of months around here, and I have a feeling that cat is going to get a LOT of petting. And there may be more ranting in this space. I probably won't be able to help it--after all, my blog turns TWO tomorrow, and you know how toddlers can be with the tantrums. Heh.