As the Iowa caucus approaches, I decided to spend some time today researching the presidential candidates and how they stand on the core issues. I’ve never been one to keep up on politics. It never appealed to me. And all of the bashing makes me want to do the skedaddle. But considering this election will probably turn out to be one of the most exciting of my lifetime, I figured I’d better start doing my homework.
I’ve mentioned before that I’m a registered Republican mainly because I’m fiscally conservative, but on social issues, I’m pretty liberal. A couple months ago, I took this online quiz that paired me up with Giuliani. My pairing score with Giuliani was pretty low which goes to show how scattered I am when it comes to how I think politically. For starters, I am PRO-CHOICE. I don’t give a hootenanny what the Catholic church thinks. The fact that these high and mighty MEN are going to decide what a woman does to her own body makes me want to throw up. If you’re going to force a teenager into unwanted pregnancy, then you try taking care of a baby on minimum wage and no family support! Totally ridiculous.
On immigration, I read today that Giuliani thinks we should build a technological fence to keep out illegal immigrants. OMIGOD! He lost my vote right there. What an idiot. I’ll be honest, I still have more research to do but this country is what it is today because of immigrants. Lots of whom were/are here illegally!!! Immigrants are our parents, our colleagues, our bosses. They farm our land, they nurture our children. WTF, people. WTF?!?!
On a final note before bedtime, I am a big Hillary fan. Always have been, always will. She will most likely get my vote. She has the most experience, being born and bred and wed for this job. And two presidents for the price of one. You can’t beat that! But seriously, when saxaphone-playing Billy was in the Oval Office who do you really think was running the show? Come on, people. While Bill was getting his job blown (you know what I’m talking about), Hillary was getting the job done. Enough said. I’m not going to play the first woman president card. Hands down, she is the most experienced and most qualified.
From the New York Times, Dec. 26, 2007: “[D]uring [Bill Clinton’s] two terms in the White House, [Hillary] Clinton did not hold a security clearance. She did not attend National Security Council meetings. She was not given a copy of the president’s daily intelligence briefing. She did not assert herself on the crises in Somalia, Haiti and Rwanda. And during one of President Bill Clinton’s major tests on terrorism, whether to bomb Afghanistan and Sudan in 1998, she was barely speaking to her husband, let alone advising him, as the Monica Lewinsky scandal played out.”
Never one to shy away from controversy, I wanted to respond to your political posting from the other day. Why am I up commenting on a blog at 5:30 on a Saturday morning, you ask? I’m just coming from comforting my sick baby girl back to sleep…for the second time tonight. I’ll leave your perspectives on immigration and Hillary in the agree-to-disagree category, but I couldn’t let your comments about abortion go without giving my two cents.
I’ll be the first to admit that throughout my twenties (by definition, not a teenager on minimum wage) I was quite firm in my belief that, should I ever get pregnant, I would definitely have an abortion – no question. Luckily I never had to actually face that decision. Now that I am a mother of two precious babies, I look at my kids and I can’t even bear the thought of anything ever happening to them, let alone at my own hand. I have heard of too many Mothers out there who now have a hole in their hearts for the child that they chose to kill back before it was *convenient* to have children. Does this mean that only people who decide to have a family later in life feel this painful regret over their abortions? Doubtful. And while I can’t bring myself to conclude that an absolute ban on abortion is the best policy, I do know that it is entirely too easy and socially acceptable for women to kill their own children. I believe your assessment of it being simply a matter of whether “high and mighty MEN are going to decide what a woman does to her own body” is ignorant of the true reason most pro-lifers are anti-abortion. If you’re going to be “PRO-CHOICE” (as the position is euphemistically described) you ought to be willing to discuss the deeper meaning & consequences of such a serious decision and admit out loud what “choice” is being made.