I did .. really.
Flying back from the DNC and hearing that John McCain had picked a woman as his running mate, I thought, "Wow! That was a brilliant move, especially timing it right after the high of the Democratic National Convention...pretty smart thinking"...
Now, don't get me wrong; I wasn't voting for McCain myself, but I'm usually pretty open-minded, and I thought that it was a pretty good coup, even if it WAS for the 'other side'.
A woman with five children, one little one with special needs. A woman 'like me' who was able to move up from PTA Mom to councilperson to Mayor to Governor .. pretty darn impressive, I thought.
Talking to one of my friends, who had also gone with me to the DNC, I stated, "No matter what, this is a phenomenal woman. Imagine what it takes to raise a family AND to move up politically as she has. He (McCain) got this right."
That was the first day or two. Then, I REALLY got to thinking, "Hmmm...what type of mom, though, leaves her children, especially a little one, to hit the campaign trail?". You see, when my son was diagnosed with PDD (a disorder in the autistic spectrum), and I was told by the psychiatrist, "He will never be mainstreamed", I determined that the psychiatrist was wrong. When I found out that my insurance, while covering his diagnosis, would NOT cover the needed therapy, I quit my job as an office manager. Determined to do the right thing for my son, I decided that living in poverty (on child support and his SSI), was what I needed to do in order to provide him with therapy myself. It wasn't an easy decision; no one WANTS to be poor, but I feel that my most important job is to prepare my children to be productive, well-rounded citizens of our society. I read, I researched, I put him on vitamin therapy, cut the dairy, the gluten, and the sugar. I stayed consistent and on track with getting his social skills in order. Almost four years later, my son, who is now 8, is in public school without an IEP. People who aren't intimately familiar with autistic disorders can't even tell that anything is wrong with him. Now, getting another job in this current economony, well, that's a different story for a different day. I guess my train of thought became more subjective, because I know the sacrifices I made for the sake of my own child's well-being, and I didn't really understand the kind of ambition that would put career before one's own children.
Then, on hearing about her 17-year-old's pregnancy, I thought, "Wow, doesn't her daughter need her right now more than ever?".
I didn't jump on the train with those that were pointing fingers and saying things like, "Ha ha! What about HER family values? Look at her; she extols abstinence, is against abortion, is supposed to be religious and raise her family 'right', and her own teenaged, unmarried DAUGHTER is pregnant?"
I raised my family 'right', I gave them good values and common sense, and my own daughter had a child when she wasn't even out of high school, so I know that these things aren't always under a parent's control.
I DID, however, realize that if the shoe were on the other foot, the GOP would have had a field day with OUR candidate. Progressives, however, have that undefinable quality called empathy. We tend to understand other people's misfortunes. We understand how circumstances sometimes cause people to make the wrong decisions. We usually don't put the 'holier than thou' face on things, because we generally know that, given a differing set of life circumstances, WE could be 'that person'.
Unfortunately for her, Ms. Palin has put her foot in her mouth time and time again, and proven that not only is she not very bright, not only is she combative without cause, she is someone that even a progressive could not be sympathetic to.
Sorry, John, you really SHOULD have vetted her. I'm certain that on first impression, your impression of her was the same as mine. But you couldn't even figure out that "Troopergate" was looming? Your staff couldn't figure out that the plane "sold on Ebay" wasn't really sold on Ebay and that it was sold for a loss? You could not keep her from spewing outright lies? I could go on, and on ... and on ... but, well, you get the picture, right?
When you lose this election, it will be because of YOU, Mr. McCain. It will be because YOU showed the electorate that YOU are not qualified to lead. It will be because YOU chose an ignorant, ill-informed, lying grifter as your running mate. It will be because YOU were so interested in scoring this 'coup' that you didn't take the time to choose one of the more moderate, educated, well-spoken women in your party. In the end, you can't even blame Sarah the Buffoon. YOU, after all, were the one who chose her.