Patrick's Rants

Listening to the RNC speeches over the last few days the thing that stands out the most is, John McCain can’t lift his hands above his shoulders. So what? Fred Thompson, whose acting I like but whose politics leave me sick, told the nation that John McCain cannot salute the flag of his country. As McCain would say, my friends… I can only shake my head. A man not in uniform is not allowed to salute the flag by raising his hand to the rim of his hat. It’s disrespectful. (Except a Google search turns up a 2007 law allowing non-uniformed military personnel to salute as if they were in uniform)

The speeches given last night were elitist. Guliani said,

“I learned as a trial lawyer a long time ago, if you don’t have the facts, you’ve got to change them.”

Well we know where he’s coming from then don’t we? Instead of long term results, he started the crowd chanting, “drill baby drill!”

I’ve written enough about about alternative energy on this blog. Nothing said last night changes my opinion and many, many others that we cannot drill our way out of this mess. 100 years of the automobile have sucked the oil out of the ground and put us under the thumb of the oil producing countries. Yes, we have to get away from oil. The steps are not, “drill baby drill.”

Guliani went on,

“This — this — this and a lot more is the kind of change that will create growth, jobs, and prosperity, not what they want to do, tax us more, increase the size of government, increase tariffs, hurt jobs, send jobs elsewhere.”

As Clinton said four years ago, George Bush gave him a tax break instead of putting equipment at our ports that can scan incoming cargo containers. Giving tax breaks and cutting taxes at the top end – don’t be fooled my friends, it’s the top end – will allow corporations to increase profits while off shoring your job. That will hurt jobs and send them elsewhere.

“We need John McCain to save our economy and make sure it grows, but we need it for a more important purpose. There’s one purpose that John McCain understands, Republicans understand, that overrides everything else: John McCain will keep us on offense against terrorism at home and abroad.

For — for four days in Denver, the Democrats were afraid to use the words ‘Islamic terrorism.’

I imagine they believe it is politically incorrect to say it. I think they believe it will insult someone. Please tell me, who are they insulting if they say ‘Islamic terrorism’? They are insulting terrorists.
Of great concern to me, during those same four days in Denver, they rarely mentioned the attacks of September 11, 2001. They are in a state of denial about the biggest threat that faces this country. And if you deny it and you don’t deal with it, you can’t face it.”

And here is the bogey man. If you vote for Democrats the Islamic terrorists will attack again. What was it that was said about Guliani? He says a noun, a verb, 9/11. Guess what, he’s doing it again.
How about we start using the term fundamentalist extremists? That applies to most of the GOP too. Fundamental Extremists. Mormon Extremists. Religious Extremists.
Guliani, ” One final point. And how — how dare they question whether Sarah Palin has enough time to spend with her children and be vice president. How dare they do that.

When do they ever ask a man that question? When?”

You know, when your party is the one that talks about “family values”, as if no one else has any values, whether a woman in that party is able to do the job when she has children is a valid question. Really it is. Interestingly, Palin’s most recent pregnancy was hidden from even her closest staff. In discussions with family and friends, it is the women who take the biggest offense to her behavior. It is expressed very well on this blog with an especially memorable passage,

“And even Palin’s behavior in this regard might be off the table – except she wants to make my uterus part of the public domain, so why should hers be private?”

Huckabee and Romney went on to blame poor people for being poor, reminding us again that McCain’s arms do not go above his shoulders.

Romney rhetorically asks,

Is a Supreme Court decision liberal or conservative that awards Guantanamo terrorists with constitutional rights? It’s liberal.”

No. It’s human

“Is government spending, putting aside inflation, liberal or conservative if it doubles since 1980? It’s liberal.

We need change all right: change from a liberal Washington to a conservative Washington.”

Is it liberal or conservative to rape the federal budget to finance your own private revenge? Is it liberal or conservative to spend your country into the worst debt in history?

Romney suggests that the earth should start to spin backwards, that we should look to the sun to rise from the West. I know it’s poetic license, but look at where we stand now. Romney is trying to paint Bush as liberal, liberal! McCain is supposed to be the opposite?

I supported some of McCain’s position as a Senator but I can no longer even partially support him. He stated that life begins at conception but I have yet to see a single cell human being. If life “begins at conception” then one must be really angry at that ethereal invisible friend that some call God, for he kills many more unborn living humans that all the abortion providers combined.

Republicans are strange animals, protect life until it is expelled from the womb and then say, “fuck you” if your parents are poor and can’t support you. “Fuck you” if your parents don’t have health insurance and can’t properly care for you.

Of course, you can read it all for yourself on CNN