It's been more than 2 weeks since we all had the pleasure to learn about Sarah Palin. I include myself in this, regarding what I am going to say next. ENOUGH. 2 weeks is enough. I get it now. I hope you will too. She is exactly what John McCain wanted her to be. He wanted her to be the person to get your panties in a wad -- a wad so tight we forgot who OUR candidate is. John wanted you to focus on her, and not on Barack.

Speaking for myself, for 2 weeks, he succeeded. GOOD. Fine. I gotta give it to him. It was a great political play. But that is what it was, a play. Today, I am going to admit, I am over it. I had my 24/7 Sarah venting time. NOW and today is when we should realize that we have 7 weeks to go. Sarah is 2 weeks ago. It is time we all got back to focusing on the person who will be the next president of the United States of America. Remember Barack Obama? Think about it. 7 weeks. That is less than 2 months. 7 weekends. Less than 60 days. I just REALLY want for everyone to get that time frame into perspective. This is the home stretch.

From here on in, just to give fair warning, things are going to get dirty. REALLY nasty dirty. The 527's will be kicking in to high gear, the smearing is going to go full tilt. Our candidate, and his choice for VP are going to need EVERY one of us to be out there, passing the word along. We don't have any more time to bitch about Sarah. John McCain is the one running for president alongside Barack. These are the people running. Sarah never got a primary vote. She didn't campaign. She wasn't running to be president. She was nothing more than a political pick. This is not about Sarah.

THIS ELECTION IS ABOUT THE ISSUES. It is not about personality. Stop letting people tell you otherwise. We NEED to get back to issues. That was the Obama campaign all along... ISSUES. WE want to ELECT BARACK OBAMA!!! (we should not be worrying about defeating John & Sarah McCain ---oops... sorry)

So, I propose to everyone who is reading this blog today, that we get back to the things that really matter. Sarah Palin does not really matter. She may be a lightening rod, but in the end, if we keep working to get our message out, she will be nothing but a footnote in history. The things that matter to us are everything opposite of what Sarah Palin represents. It's pretty simple. That was not an accident. The sad little secret is that Sarah was chosen by John McCain to be nothing more than a symbol of EVERYTHING that liberals fight against. (not so maverick-like, eh? ) In other words, he is using her. She might be a woman, but she was played and objectified by John McCain for his own political ambition. When we spend so much time talking about her, and not our own candidate, we legitimatize this behavior. We really need to stop giving them that legitimacy. As a feminist in this party, I have decided to stop. Believe it or not, it degrades Sarah and just becuase she is too blind to see it doesn't mean I don't get it. I do. John MCCain is using a woman to get what he wants. I refuse to play that game. I will call her out for her politcal posturing, but I will no longer spend my time wringing my hands over a woman who somehow thinks that because she is a female she can call herself a feminist. She is not.

We are better than this. We are better than falling for this game. We have a spectacular candidate, we have a righteous platform, we have record numbers of people registering, we have record levels of fundraising. We have a perfect storm...

Do not forget that. Do not let Sarah distract you from those simple facts.

We are Democrats. WE need to get back doing everything we can to make sure we ELECT Barack and and stop wasting our time trying to defeat John Palin McCain, because we are right. We have the moral superiority --- we do. After 7 years, how can anyone feel like they have to play defense? We have a great offense! Have a little chutzpah! Let us do a quick review:

We have major banks going belly up, a housing meltdown, government takeover of Fannie and Freddie, record unemployment, depressed wages, millions in job losses, gasoline prices out of control, food prices skyrocketing, two wars with no end in sight, and massive deficits, all of this since 2000.

Was that the Democrats? NO. That was ALL under the rule of the Republican party. You can blame *ush, but John McCain voted with him 90% of the time. (95% in just the last year -- when Johnny bothered to show up to vote at all) This is the word we need to get out and spread to people. We do not have to get Barack Obama elected becuase of how bad Sarah is. The ISSUES are there. Forget Sarah... this is about Barack. We can do this!

YES. We Can.

It is high time for people to get back into that mode. NOW. We don't have a lot of time, and, this is basically the fourth quarter. We don't need the hail mary... we just need to keep playing the game. You see, we are still ahead, and we really do have a better team.

On a personal note, in a few days my sister will be giving birth --- and no matter what her politics are, mine want to make this a better world for that little boy. I believe that Barack Obama can help me do that. The stakes are that high.

:peace: and :heart:
Raine