Cranky and trite pseudo-analysis of Palin, post debate

I couldn't believe that I was thinking "Now I can't wear my hair like that any more". But it's true. I've been growing my hair long to wear it in an updo, or a modern bouffant (a tame version of Amy Winehouse), and now I'm thinking "I don't want to look like Palin." What will I do?!

And, I can't believe that she winked. If a man winked at the camera, how well do you think that would go over? It is impossible for me to conceive that any woman watching could relate to her, but I suppose there's a lot of ex-cheerleader types out there.

I heard a woman on TV say "she's just like me." Sorry, anonymous woman, Palin is not at all like you. She's running for the second highest office in the United States and, really, should be held to a higher standard than, well, you, whoever you are.

Did Palin really dismiss everyone who lives on the east coast? Yes she did!

At one point, I said to Dick, "Do you think she's on speed?"

If you are sensitive to foul language, please skip the following:

At one point, I said to Dick, "Joe Six Pack is probably coming in his pants right about now." What point was that? Probably one of the countless times she scrunched up her nose in that cutesy way, followed by a hard as nails soundbite.

I don't like any of the candidates trotting out their families, but puh-leeze, seeing her with her baby, yet again. . .a living prop. And her husband - now he is the one who looks like a deer caught in the headlights. Who told him to keep a perpetual five o'clock shadow? I feel sorry for him. I can't place why. Maybe, in spite of her sexy/smart thang, I see her as far more emasculating than even Hillary Clinton. She's sort of the Lil Kim of politics. Seriously.

Am I being bitchy? Yes. It's not something that I usually indulge in or feel. Wait: just because I'm a woman doesn't mean I'm being bitchy. I am so offended by Palin it is painful. There's a need to kid around about it some.

With all the qualified women on the Right, McCain picks her. It can only be about seduction. I find it impossible to believe anyone says she is "real" or "sincere". At one point I said to Dick, "She reminds me of the women who stand next to new cars, but with a voice."

Gotta love Dick 'cause he said at least twice, "I hate her!" I ought to ask him to explain, but I was just enjoying his disapproval, since he's a man.

I was seriously offended when she didn't respond to the fact that Joe Biden choked up. It was as if he wasn't even there. What if he had said something that implied she had no problems in her family and she had gotten choked up? He would have been seen as a bully. And if he had ignored that it had happened, he would have been seen as a heartless son-of-a-bitch. But she can get away with it. It hurt to watch.

Her rah-rah America mini-speeches made me want to gag. This is the kind of faux patriotism that makes me feel badly about "my" country. It stuns me that people respond to this crap. But then again, it stuns other people that anyone responds to Obama's version of the same thing.

Once again, I am reminded of what a divided nation we live in. It seems that there are very few people who are not polarized on one side or the other (though there are plenty who don't give a damn). But when I look at the polling maps, I see it: Yep, the Northeast coasts are blue, the West coast is blue and then there's the northern middle states (and some people do call Chicago the "third coast").

I see the maps, with all that red in them, and wonder how on earth Obama can win. Then I realize how low the population density is in the states where he's not strong and remember that it's all about rural vs. city. Why don't more country folks feel offended by being winked at and talked to like they are idiots?

Okay, I let myself be mean spirited. I just had to. Anyway, my September vow is over 'cause it's October.

Painting note: Joshua Reynolds The Ladies Waldegrave 1780-81
Big hair in the 18th century! A solution to my hair crisis?