The Republican campaign for president is shaping up like a bad episode of "I Dream of Jeanie," with John McCain as the Navy flyboy who finds a magic lamp and Sarah Palin as the quirky "Jeanie" who always manages to create hilariously improbable circumstances for her master.
One would think the Republicans have lost their minds, but according to poll numbers, some people are swinging their way.
If there are any female students or faculty at Ball State University disillusioned by Hillary Clinton's defeat in the Democratic primaries, take heart. Don't take the bait.
I know a 36-year-old man who still believes in Santa Claus, yet he can see through the shameless, desperate move John McCain's campaign has made in trying to fill the Clinton void with Palin.
McCain calls Obama young and inexperienced, but Palin is three years younger than Obama, and her only experience in government is two terms as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, and two years of her first term as governor of Alaska.
"Sarah Palin is in her first term as governor of Alaska," said Jack Cafferty of CNN. "That's a state that has 13 people and some caribou."
According to 2006 numbers reported by the U.S. Census Bureau, Palin was mayor to 6,311 people and governor to 670,053. In the same report, the USCB said Indianapolis' population stood at 785,597.
So, is Palin's experience (beauty pageants aside) really worth anything other than the whopping three electoral votes she'll bring with her from Alaska?
Cafferty also expressed concern about her ability to act as president in the most foul of circumstances. He asked his viewers to consider whether they'd rather have 36-year U.S. Sen. Joseph Biden (Obama's running mate) or Palin. It's a fair question.
The Republicans are willing to put a "pitbull" with lipstick second in line to the presidency, behind a partially crippled man of 72 years, who has battled skin cancer. In Obama's case, he would leave the office to Biden, who is more than competent in foreign policy and was a viable candidate for president when this circus began.
McCain's selection shows how abysmally rotten his ability is to pick the right woman the first time. He flies by the seat of his pants with this stuff, and that's not with the same groovy panache he used flying sorties over Vietnam.
The Los Angeles Times reported Sept. 8 that, after Palin gained her seat as governor, she quickly lost interest in the affairs of the people and began building a long list of absences from legislative sessions. She visited Washington D.C. and never met with the congressional delegation from Alaska, according to the article.
She wants to shoot wolves from helicopters to save the caribou, which is insanity, and at the same time, she wants to drill for oil in their habitat. Maybe the wolves who survive her wrath can live off of the caribou roadkill that were smashed by the heavy equipment sent in to rape our national resources.
She's a right-wing, pious crusader who pushes for abstinence instead of better sex education and birth control, and she would like to see abortion abolished, even in cases of rape and incest.
Her twisted ideology of pious glee is like a rattlesnake bite on the buttocks of society. Her philosophy doesn't bode well, given that she has a pregnant 17-year-old at home.
Palin certainly shouldn't be attacked for that and her daughter shouldn't have to endure all the attention her pregnancy has garnered, but there is a serious question that should be considered by voters: If she's a great leader, worthy of a presidential ticket, how can she be so short-sighted as to what goes on in her own home?
I'll tell you how. She is blinded by a monumental sense of piety and self-righteousness.
Her Dark Ages mind-set is dangerous. It causes men with rifles to camp outside abortion clinics to do "God's work." It causes presidents to appoint right-wing religious fanatics to the Supreme Court. It's what Wal-Mart, "X-mas" and wars against terrorism are all about.
Keep that in mind when you step up to the polls in November.
Write to John at jrfrees@bsu.edu
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