V. P. Debate

The Vice-Presidential debate is about halfway through as I write this. I was a big Ron Paul supporter, as the regular readers know, and still would be, were he still running for President. As the months wore on, however, I found myself swayed toward voting for John McCain, not so much because I would be voting for him, as much as I would be voting against Barack Obama. When Sarah Palin was chosen as McCain's VP, that raised other questions, particularly in regard to the question of women in office. Doug Wilson has made several comments about this on his weblog, though I haven't had a chance to read much of what he's said. I'm not as of yet convinced that I should vote for a woman for office. And so I still haven't made up my mind whether or not to vote for McCain. But if I decide I can vote for him with a good conscience, it will be more of a vote for Palin, because of her strong anti-abortion stance. I've been pleased in some of what she's said tonight, particularly those comments that call for less governmental interference in individuals' lives. Nonetheless, she is still a pro-war candidate, supporting a foreign policy that has the U. S. meddling where it has no business to do so. And in one breath she will call for a cut in taxes, while in the next breath she will call for ramping up government education and paying school teachers more. You can't have it both ways, Governor Palin.

But watching the debate right now is a bit of a painful experience. To some degree, it seems to be little more than a big brown nosing session for the prospective VP's respective Presidential candidates. "My candidate rocks, and he rocks more than your candidate!" Also, the debate is so stiff. What happened to the good ole days, when the candidates actually debated (which would actually require them addressing one another directly)? This debate is so formal I feel like I'm watching an extended version of one of their cheesy campaign commercials.

I love, too, how Palin gives these little linguistic tip-offs that she's heavily imbibed on the American Evangelical subculture. My favourite phrase that she's used over and over again is "near and dear to my heart". The only reason I'm still watching the debate is to see if they end it by standing and singing "Shine Jesus Shine".