Political humor and nonsense

since my adult life, I have always been interested in politics, and while I am a self-identified conservative, I realize that no one party has all the right answers and one all of the wrong ideas. The truth of the matter is that there are good and bad ideas in all political parties and there are good and bad candidates in all political parties. What I would like to focus on today is the humor in the inconsistencies within the current presidential election. I must be honest, I have not yet decided who to vote for as I believe both Barack Obama and John McCain are seriously flawed politicians. Anyhow, here are a few of the inconsistencies that I find humorous, especially the way that media, pundits, and voters are hypocritical in their assessment of candidates.

1. The concept that Sarah Palin is a blubbering fool. Yes, she seriously messed up in attempting to defend a statement in an interview with Katie Couric as is seen here:

but to characterize her from this one mistake is disingenuous when Barack Obama has made his own gaffes that are not widely spoken of or shared in the media, as is seen here:

and John McCain makes mistakes too:

And Joe Biden as well:


Needless to say, all politicians, as all people, have moments that they wish they could take back. So it is humorous to me to think that people will say Palin is not fit to be president because of a few fumbling of words when all candidates have done it.

2. The attacks from the media and from the political left that Palin has no foreign policy experience and is therefore not qualified to be Vice President. Hello, people! Barack Obama does not have any more foreign policy experience than Palin in any measurable way, and he wants to be President! If you are going to knock Palin for it, you have to knock Obama in return.

3. John McCain as Maverick? Ok, so McCain has done some things to tick conservatives off, but to say that he is a Washington outsider is funny. He is full-blown Washington!

4. Barack Obama as a bipartisan agent of change? Haha! This one really makes me laugh! It is hard to believe that the media has sold him as such and America is buying it. The reality is that he has voted 94% of the time lock-step with the democratic position in the senate. 94% of the time! How is espousing the democratic platform change? How is never reaching across the aisle to compromise with republicans bipartisan?

5. Barack Obama as an agent of hope? Obama is pure-blood politician who has been involved in some pretty corrupt dealings during his reign in the Illinois state senate. Just listen to him try to explain away his relationships with corrupt politicians, businessmen, and preachers--it is quite humorous!

6. John McCain with his straight talk? Just listen to him twist and turn on his positions.

7. The media's sudden revelation that McCain is dishonest in how he portrays his opponents is hilarious! The media beats up on McCain for "distorting" Obama's record in his web-video adds and they seem shocked by the maneuver. HELLO MEDIA! McCain was doing the same thing in the primary elections when he completely distorted Romney and the media ate it up. McCain hasn't changed in his tactics--it is just that the media ignores it if the tactic is used on a republican then cries foul if it is done on a democrat. This should be no surprise to anyone who is honest in their observations of the political contests.

There is so much more that I could get into, but I do not wish this blog entry to be too long. The fact of the matter is that double-standards do exist with the media, that both candidates have some serious baggage, and the American people on both sides of the issues are being duped into false ideas and perceptions. I'll address more later.

The Christian Democrats

I have just finished reading the Norwegian Newspapers on-line and took a survey on my political views as they pertain to Norway. If I were living in Norway and was involved in the countries politics, the formulation from the survey states that I would most likely be a member of the Christian Democratic Party. The results page of the survey describe the Christian Democrats in brief: "Another party in the center, promoting Christian values. The party is anti-abortion, anti-poverty and pro-family." The breakdown is as follows:
The Christian Democrats: 47%
The Progress Party: 37%
The Liberal Party: 32%
The Conservative Party: 28%
The Labour Party: 28%
The Center Party: 15%
The Socialist Left Party: 13%
The Reds: 10%

I am assuming that the percentage is reflecting how many of my answers fit into the specific party's platform. The spectrum is probably so wide because of a number of reasons based on issues dealing with Norway. In the United States, I belong to the Republican Party, but I would consider myself a moderate republican, simply because I am more interested in issues than I am with party affiliation. I tend to agree with republicans on more issues, but I don't agree with everything on their platform.

*The following is a brief description of the parties according to Aftenposten.no:
The Labour Party
The Labour Party: A social democratic party that embraces solidarity and believes the public sector should play a vigorous role in society.
The Progress Party
The Progress Party: Norway's most conservative party, it believes the public sector should play a smaller role in society. It urges tax cuts and restraints on immigration.
The Conservative Party
The Conservative Party: Traditionally the major rival of Labour, the Conservatives promote freedom of choice, more competition within the private sector, and tax relief.
Liberal Party
The Liberal Party: One of Norway's more right-leaning "center" parties that supports tax relief but also a strong public sector, liberalized immigration and environmental protection measures.
The Socialist Left Party
The Socialist Left Party: More left-leaning than Labour, the Socialist Left supports high taxes and fees to finance a vast array of social services.
The Christian Democrats
The Christian Democrats: Another party in the center, promoting Christian values. The party is anti-abortion, anti-poverty and pro-family.
The Center Party
The Center Party: Champion of Norway's farmers and support to the country's rural districts, this party wants less free-market influence and more public sector control of society.
The Reds
The Reds: Formed by a merger of parties including Rød Valgallianse and Norway's communist party (AKP), it wants to break down class differences and promote social equality.