Have they lost their minds?

Watching the President address a special joint session of Congress last night on health care I was reminded why so many politicians are loathed by Americans. I have never witnessed a group of more petulant, arrogant, rude and downright unruly people in my life. Grown men scowling, waving papers, shouting “You Lie!” These wingnuts have lost their minds! Has anyone ever seen this level of disrespect in our government? Articulate, draft a counterproposal, argue your points but don’t sit in chamber with your GOP friends and act like complete hooligans. It was like watching one of those English soccer matches gone bad. I am horrified. The GOP has become less than a joke. They now represent a party of legislators that exist only to tear things down and risk the future of this country.

During the primaries, the GOP stirred up a hornet’s nest when they saw that the then candidate for President, Barack Obama wasn’t wearing an American flag pin on his lapel. Given what I witnessed last night, I cannot understand how they could have ever questioned his patriotism.

Only Douche Bags Cheat on their Wives

I discovered today that my husband and Elizabeth Edwards have a very big thing in common. If you asked my husband his thoughts on infidelity he would say, “It’s a douche bag move to cheat on your wife. You should leave her if you want to bone someone else.” (Charming, I know, but you can never take Jersey out of the boy). After reading at least a dozen articles about Elizabeth Edward’s brave new book, Resilience, it pains me to know that she point blank asked her husband to leave her before he ever humiliated her with an indiscretion as painful as infidelity. Yet, he could not keep it in his pants and do the right thing.

Before the Barack Obama train came to town, I actually thought that John Edwards was going to be my presidential candidate of choice. He seemed to be everything you would want in a president, charismatic, educated, compassionate about the poor and disenfranchised and a loving father. He may still be all of these things but he truly is a douche bag for cheating on his wife, and even more so because he responded to the lamest come-on in the history of the world, “You are so hot!” (cue the gagging noises).

You know who else are douche bags? The women “journalists” who are hating on Elizabeth Edwards for staying with her husband. I’d like nothing more for one of them to walk in her shoes for a day, survive cancer, bury a child, raise young children and try to forgive someone you love. I double dog dare you disgusting cretins to even try two! As a mother of four, the loss of a child would potentially push me so far over the edge, if my husband was Attila the Hun, I would be clinging to his leg for dear life. Don’t get me wrong, do I think that all women should stay with their good for nothing cheating husbands? Absolutely not. But, who are we to judge her choices?

There is far too much judgment in the world. I’d like to believe the douche bags of the world will get theirs, with or without our judgment.

Politics and Parenting in the Year of Obama

One of the eight words that my two year-old twin son can say clearly is “Obama.” That he can say the name of the President is a great source of pride for my husband and I even though it would probably be far more useful for him to be able to say, “hungry,” “tired,” or the penultimate “potty.” His twin sister, in contrast has been speaking in full sentences since she was about 15 months old and can say his entire name, “Barack Obama,” clear as day.

My twins learned the name of our President during the many hours their mom was glued to primary and election coverage. Given that my four children will probably not understand the magnitude of what it means for a non-white president to be elected during their lifetime, I thought it a good idea to at least give them a sense of what was going on in Washington.

During the primaries and especially during the general election debates, I would sit in bed with my four children and try to have them watch the news coverage. My husband would roll his eyes as I would tease the upcoming TV coverage, “After dinner and dessert, we’re going to watch the Obama and McCain debate (if I had been more creative, I could have probably come up with a name that sounded more like a Disney Channel movie). Often, these forced sessions turned into full-scale mutiny for the channel to be changed or crying fits for my husband to take them down to the basement for rough-housing or a DVD animated movie. On the nights where the twins fell asleep early and my two older children stayed with me to watch a debate, sometimes the sessions would turn into discussions.

When Sara Palin winked at the camera and I audibly gagged, my son asked me what was wrong. I told him I didn’t think it was appropriate for a candidate to wink at the TV to get her point across, and that I believed in the power of words over the overt use of feminine wiles. When John McCain said “That guy…,” and gestured in a nearly dismissive way to Barack Obama, I pounded my fist on the bed. My daughter asked me what was wrong. I told her that it was disrespectful to not call another opponent by their name.

With the election coverage turning to the first 100 days coverage, turning to first puppy coverage, turning to how the administration is dealing with Swine flu coverage, I wonder how much of this election my children will remember. I also wonder if allowing them to hear my political point of view will taint the way that they look at the world. For better or worse, my political ideas are nothing I will hide from my children. My hope is that they stay active citizens, enjoying every freedom this country affords, including having a political point of view.