Would Someone Please Explain to Me How It Is?

How is it that John Kerry deserved to be mocked by the Republicans passing out purple heart band aids at their convention in 2004, and yet John McCain deserves to be Commander-in-Chief because he was a POW?

How is it that God is somehow pleased with trashing the environment, tax cuts for the wealthy, uninsured millions, torture, and character assassination in exchange for a constitutional amendment forbidding gay marriage?

How is it that it is good business to deal with the world's largest communist country, China, but un-American to open up dialogue and trade with Cuba?

How is it that liberals are responsible for premarital sex and unwanted pregnancies, yet when they happen in the family of the Governor of Alaska, families have a right to privacy and deserve to be left alone, except of course, when they are useful in television advertising during political conventions?

How is it that Hillary Clinton is a bitch because she is a strong woman seeking public office and Sarah Palin is hip because she loves to fire a gun, hunt, and cuss with the boys?

How is it that wearing the flag (against custom and tradition that the flag not to be used for personal decoration) becomes the token of someone's patriotism?

How is it that "the surge worked" gets to be the test of someone's acumen at appraising a war when (a) lots of factors besides the surge were in play and (b) the surge came four years and thousands of deaths late?

How is it that when Clinton lied about Monica Lewinsky he was "sleazy," yet when George Bush lied in his State of the Union about nuclear materials being acquired by Iraq, he is either ignored, assumed to be telling a truth against all evidence, or is given a pass?

How is it that dozens of Republican congressmen and senators have offices run by or filled with gay staffers, yet vote against protecting the civil rights of those same gay staffers?

For that matter, how it is that a gay person can look at himself or herself in the mirror while working for an anti-gay Republican legislator?

How is it that experience is the key factor in a presidential election until one of the candidates chooses a running mate that is totally inexperienced to the point of not knowing what a Vice President's duties are, at which point "change" becomes the main issue of the campaign?

How is it that Michelle Obama is suspect because she said at last she was really proud of her country, but Todd Palin, a member of the secessionist Alaska Independence Party, is an all-American husband although he publicly disdained the Union?

How is it that Tim Kaine, Governor of Virginia, had too little experience to be Vice Presidential material because he had only been mayor of a small city (Richmond) and governor of a “small” state, while Sarah Palin is qualified to be Vice President because she has been mayor of Wasilla (population in 2007: 9780) and governor of the least densely populated state in the naton?

How is it that in three of the last three Republican administrations we have had recessions or serious economic downturns (Reagan, 1981; George H. W. Bush, 1991; George W. Bush, 2007-8) and yet people with money feel more enthusiastic about Republican economic policy?

How is it that a young person choosing to give several years of his or her life to community organizing, working to improve human lives and living conditions, draws scorn?

How is it that, as mayor, trying to get a librarian fired for not purging the library of books that you disagree with, is not enough to make you suspect for not understanding one of the basic tenets of a free society?

How is it that the longest periods of sustained prosperity since World War II happened during Democratic administrations (Kennedy/Johnson, Clinton) and Republicans declare that Democrats bankrupt the country and only raise taxes?

How is that Reagan racked up the hugest deficits in history (until Bush), and the debt under George W. Bush has zoomed to trillions, and yet Democrats are accused of being the big spenders?

How is it that the media are liberal and not to be trusted to tell the truth, but when they convey trash about the Democratic candidate, no matter how fabricated, they are immediately believed?

How is it that when John McCain uses his “lipstick on a pig” metaphor to accuse Hillary Clinton of warming over her old health care plan, he is “talking straight” but when Obama uses the same metaphor not even talking about Sarah Palin he is accused of being sexist, with Republican women in the House demanding that he apologize for something he has not even said?

How is it that Sarah Palin can make sexist and racist slurs and she is excused “because that is the way Alaskans talk” while Obama is accused of racism on the basis of what his pastor said in a sermon that he never even heard?

How is it that a President who dodged the draft by going into the Texas Air National Guard with his father’s political pull, and a Vice President who had “better things to do” than go to Viet Nam are presumed to have what it takes to lead a nation’s military and foreign policy, and in the next election one must have been a POW to have credibility to become Commander-in-Chief?

How is it that after eight years of disastrous wars, failed foreign policy, a shrinking economy, environmental disasters, inept government (Brownie, Gonzales, Miers) rising unemployment, soaring health care costs, people expect change from two people committed to the same failed policies?

How is it that Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson can be “agents of intolerance” in 2000 but John Hagee’s endorsement can be coveted in 2008 (until pressure mounts to renounce him) and you can still maintain the line that you are a straight talker?

How is it that “maverick” became a label that anyone thought qualified one to be President?

How is it that John McCain can change his mind on immigration, taxes, the environment, and any number of other issues, and still be a straight shooter, whereas John Kerry is mocked for changing his mind by a host of people chanting, “Flip-flop, flip-flop”?

How is that a party can continue to fabricate, lie, smear, trash, slash, and burn its way through election after election and still maintain that it is doing it all in the name of heaven and argue that it is the party to bring about real change?

How is it that the Constitution is a sacred document not to be tampered with and strictly to be adhered to, to the point of denying the vote to an entire area of the country called the District of Columbia, but can be mocked by a Vice Presidential Candidate who falsely accuses her opponent of worrying about reading accused persons their constitutional rights?

How is it that an electorate could possibly keep voting against its own interests because it continues to believe that they will be better off if homosexuals are worse off?

How is it that, after six years, some people, including the Vice President, continue to argue that Saddam Hussein’s finger was on the 9/11 attacks and that whether they were found at all, he had weapons of mass destruction?

How is it that 2/3 of the country could believe one month that the nation is on the wrong track, moving in the wrong direction, and the next month seriously consider voting to keep it moving in the same direction?

How is it that when courts interpret the law in ways that differ from conservatives the judges are “activists” and when they make sweeping changes that accord with conservatives, they are simply interpreting the Constitution?

How is it that when Barack Obama draws thousands in this country and abroad he is dismissed as a phony (or dangerous) celebrity, and when hundreds flock to cheer Sarah Palin she is lauded as being poised for having been a beauty queen?

How is it that you can wade through these questions and not be just a little sick at hypocrisy and falsehood?