Chelleology

Tonight about 600 Iowans showed up at the state House to speak out against the repeal of the federal deductibility on Iowa taxes.  That means the tax that Iowans pay to the federal government cannot be deducted from our state taxes.  It’s expected to affect those making over $125,000… that’s per FAMILY!  Do you know how easy it is for a two income family to exceed $125,000? 
House Speaker, Patrick Murphy didn’t like what a lot of Iowans had to say about the bill, especially what the president of Iowans for Tax Relief, Ed Failor had to say about it.  In fact, after poeple started cheering on Mr. Failor, Patrick Murphy had him escorted out by state trooper.  Then he had everyone except those signed up to speak to be removed from the floor.  Radio Iowa has the blow by blow here. 
I warned people months ago that if they elected these democrats, we would find ourselves in a position where we would be paying higher taxes and businesses would leave Iowa.  And here we are.  We first had to defeat the Governor’s push to pass a bottle bill which would have put a tax on all bottled items… not just pop bottles but water bottles too.  Now we are fighting against the democrat’s desire to take away our federal deductibility which would increase taxes on a majority of Iowans.
I assure you that this is only the beginning.  Right now, we see the Governor of New York, David Patterson taxing his residents for everything from ipod downloads to haircuts.  But he is only planting the seed in the minds of our democrat leglislatures at the state house.  We will be next.  Spend it if you got it because there is no guarantee you’ll have it for long.

I know I have been MIA lately but I have now found some balance in my life.  It has really just come down to allotting some time to myself and getting some writing done.  With that being said… expect to read a lot more from me in the coming months.

I woke up this morning conflicted about whether or not I would log on and buy my Def Leppard concert tickets for the summer.  I thought I had made up my mind the other night when I talked to Steph and she said that tickets would be inflated this tour.  I knew it was bad enough that this wasn’t a tour in which they would be in every state and some travel would be involved - but to price gouge too?  It’s not that we couldn’t afford it.  It’s the principal.  Def Leppard hasn’t put out an album this year… let alone a chart topper.  Team up with Mutt Lange again, put out a hit album and maybe I’ll shell out $125 a ticket… well, let’s be real… Joe Elliott still has to be good looking to be absolutely worth it.

However, with Joe Elliott telling Blabbermouth that they likely won’t be touring next year, I start worrying about whether or not I can go a year without seeing my baby rock out on stage.  I understand that they plan on spending next year working on a new album so it would be worth seeing their concert but it’s hard to come to terms with the fact that not only would I boycott this year but there would be no option of seeing them next year.

I took a stroll around some old Def Leppard blog sites that I hadn’t been to in a while to check up on some old friends.  I discovered this fall Lorelei Shellist wrote a biography called “Runway Runaway”.  I couldn’t care less what Ms. Shellist has done with her life… I’m just not interested.  However, I hear there’s a good chunk of the book that is about her relationship and engagement with Steve Clark (so I could just skip to the parts about him).  Apparently there are mixed reviews about the book.  One of Ms. Shellist’s friends, a photographer, says that she confided in him that the Def Leppard fan base didn’t like the book and didn’t want to believe what she wrote about him.  I have yet to find this ‘fan base’ that bashed the book.  Most of the base either never heard of the book because it was a rather small distribution or read it and liked it.  Where is this supposed base that didn’t want to believe what happened between she and Steve Clark?

Let’s get one thing straight, the fans remember what Steve was like.  There was never any doubt that Steve had some demons.  He drank to fight the pain of depression.  He just couldn’t deal.  I’m sure he was a real ass when he was drunk and I’m sure he did a lot of mean and hurtful things when he drank - which is typical and expected.  Although I have not read the book, we need to remember that Steve is not here to defend himself or to confirm or deny anything Ms. Shellist detailed in her book. 

Anyway, if I don’t attend this year’s concert it will leave a great big void in my summer.  I knnow I have my celtic music concerts and festivals coming up but nothing beats a hot summer night and an 80’s hair band!  Def Leppard - I love ya but you either have to lower your ticket prices or put out another album.  Until then, you aren’t likely to find me at your shows.

A friend of mine from high school posted a memory of me on facebook.  It got me thinking about who I was then and who I am now.  When you boil it all down, I really am the same person, I’m just more cynical, sarcastic and I have a slightly better fashion sense.

When I was 16, I was hopeful.  I was going to get out of the Hell that we call high school and go to college where I would blossom into an intelligent woman.  I would eventually get a good paying job as a political commentator or something in the journalism field and I would be living in a big city..  I’m not so hopeful now.  In fact, I’m downright cynical.  I know there’s no way I’m getting out of Iowa or finding a job outside mortgage servicing.  Any hope I have is that one day someone will notice my passion for politics and will hire me as a campaign manager. 

I’m more sarcastic.  Life has thrown me more than my share of curve balls.  Those curve balls have made me a stronger person.  With that strength came sarcasm.  I often find myself using sarcasm as a defense mechanism to hide my true feelings about myself and other people.  I’ve been hurt not just by some of the guys I dated in the past but by certain people I thought were my friends that I eventually had to dump.  I build up walls of sarcasm so that people don’t see my weaknesses and use them against me later.  I know that’s really childish but when you get burned by people you trust one too many times, you eventually stop trusting people.  It’s working out for me so far but I have to tell you that hiding true emotions isn’t always easy.  Some days I am just not happy but I do my best to fake it so I don’t have to let people inside my head.  There are times though where I wonder if what’s rolling around in my mind are the same thoughts other people have rolling around in theirs.

My creativity went to pot in my adulthood.  When I was in high school, I wrote short stories and I would share some of them with my friends (Jamie was my biggest fan).  Now, I don’t think I could write a short story to save my life.  Political commentary - yes.  Blogging - yes.  Writing stories - absolutely not.  I can pinpoint the exact moment my creativity left my body.  COLLEGE!!!!  Yep.  I got to college and I had so much required reading and writing that my short stories stopped - for good.  I’ve tried to write a story many times but college sucked out all my creativity… much like life sucked away my hope.

I’m sure that these feelings are normal for any adult.  They get older and see life for what it really is… it’s harder than you thought and a lot less exciting than you hoped for.  I’m starting to realize what my parents meant when they told me (when I was 16) “These are the best years of your life!  Enjoy them!”  I wish I had taken them a little more seriously. 

Scott and I had been talking about it for several months and we finally did it on Tuesday night.  We bought a new gun.  This on will be mine and Scott will be getting his next month.  While we already have one handgun (a little .22) and two shotguns, we felt like we needed to make our first move at defiance.  Our next move will be to get our permits to carry.  Knowing the statements Obama has made in the past about gun ownership, his votes on the issue and the fact that he believes in socialism, we felt it was best we act out before it’s too late.

 

The new gun is perfect for me.  In fact, out of all the guns I have handled, this one felt the most comfortable and the most natural to me.  It’s a cute little Ruger .32 single action revolver.  It has finger grooves on the handle so my fingers can settle into the grooves like a hand fits into a glove.  The revolver is not so light that it will kick really bad but it’s not too heavy for me to aim for long periods of time.  We heard there was an indoor shooting range nearby so I can practice shooting in the winter.  The outdoor range a few miles from here is perfect in the summer but handling metal in the winter is a little tricky.  Frostbite anyone?  I’m really excited at the prospect of shooting again.  It has been quite sometime and I’m a little rusty.

 

My excitement was quickly diminished when I had to take over an hour of abuse on a message board.  For the past three years, I have spent gobs of time chatting on a political message board.  While I was one of a dozen conservatives on the board, I still had fun pointing out to the holes in the liberal poster’s beliefs/policies.  The conservatives have always banded together on the boards when the debates got really heated.  We’ve always had each other’s backs.  But on Tuesday night, the conservatives weren’t there.  I guess I picked a lousy time to pick a fight.

 

I logged onto the board and announced that I was the proud owner of a new gun.  Some of the staunch liberals on the board made their snide comments and left.  These are typically the people who post and run for fear of conflict.  Then someone asked me why.  As any gun owner knows, this is a set up question.  There is no good answer.  You say for protection and they start foaming at the mouth and saying that it’s more likely a robber would pop off a shot at me first before I would hit him, blah, blah, blah.  You say you fear the government and it’s “you’re a whacko”.  So, I gave the answer that happened to be the most true and the most likely to be accepted.  I said “Not that I need a reason but… one it’s my right to own a gun and I’m exercising that right and two I enjoy shooting as a hobby.”  Almost instantaneously the redneck comments came out.  I wasn’t the least bit surprised.  One poster said that she hopped I was more responsible with my gun than her neighbors.  She went on to explain three people were shot in front of her house.  I said “OMG.  There’s a lot of action in your neighborhood”.  THEY GOT ME!  That one sentence and they got me.  I was told that my response was cavalier and uncompassionate.  Um, no.  I was simply stating a fact.  When a shooting happens, an ambulance shows up, the police show up, neighbors come out of their house.  What do you call that?  Action?  I was not being insensitive.  I was also told that I was making fun of her neighborhood.  Now where did I say that?  After multiple explanations and clarifications of what I said, they just continued to twist my words.  Apparently, if you’re losing a debate, take something innocent your opponent says and twist it to suit your needs to prove that you’re right.

 

After three years of trying to sell the conservative argument I feel like I have wasted my time.  There are people you are just never going to get to understand things like the second amendment, smaller government and lower taxes.  In the past year of working campaigns I have learned that getting people to think about the issues is not through a message board but through consistently talking about the issues to those you see every day.  Talking politics at work has gotten such a bad name almost like you should be ashamed of who you are and what you believe.  But I’ve reached quite a few people just talking about my beliefs around the proverbial water cooler.  I talk to my friends, even ones that lean left.  In fact, one told me the other night that I talked her in to voting for the first time in her life.  She said I made her think about the issues and to look at each candidate carefully.  It feels good to know that I’ve at least touched a few but they weren’t people on the board.  I wonder why that is.

When I was a little girl, I spent most of my summers with my grandparents in Michigan.  Because it was summer I was often allow to stay up until 11 in order to watch TV.  Sometimes there was a really good movie on that I would snuggle up to my grandmother and watch with her.  One movie sticks out in my mind.  While I do not remember the name of this movie, I do remember it was about Jim Jones and the mass suicide at Jonestown.  The part of the movie that sticks out in my mind is not the suicide but how the followers worshiped this man they called ‘father’ (in my research on the topic, I found they sometimes called him dad).  I recall a scene where he was in a crowded room and people were chanting ‘father, father’ and reaching out to touch him.  My grandmother and I used to mimic this scene in a joking manner.  While I realize the story is pretty scary, we joked about the ‘father’ chant only because we realize, as rational people, it’s just stupid to worship another human being.  Coming from a semi-religious background, I have no sympathy for these people who killed themselves on the orders of Jim Jones (although I do feel sorry for the children who did nothing wrong but to be born to parents that were crazy).  In my religion, I am taught to have no other gods before the true God of Christianity.  This brings me to my main point of this post - the similarities between The Messiah and Jim Jones.
Let’s first start with their communist and socialist beliefs.  Jim Jones believed in communism.  In fact, he so despised capitalism that he called it racist, facist and sinful (http://jonestown.sdsu.edu/AboutJonestown/Tapes/Tapes/TapeTranscripts/Q1053-4.html).  His beliefs were the main reason he had moved to Guyana.  He wanted to form a small communist society where he could control his congregation without any intervention of family members or American society.  The Messiah, although he tries to hide it, has very similar views.  The spreading the wealth comment he made to Joe the Plummer comes to mind.  There’s also his many associations with declared communists like Bill Ayers, Bernadine Dohrn and others.  Might I add I’m a little sick of people defending The Messiah saying well he didn’t know, blah, blah, blah.  When you’re friends with someone for so many years, you know who they are and what they represent.  If you lay with dogs you’re gonna get fleas!
Second, there’s the cult of personality (which I have to tell you is of bigger concern than his communist and socialist leanings).  The manner in which The Messiah zombies chant with with that glassy look in their eye is very similar to those followers of Jim Jones.  “Oh-Bam-Ah” and “Yes we can” are eerily reminiscent of Jones’ followers chanting “Father”.  Just as the Jim Jones followers, they walked around with blinders on not realizing the harm that would come to them in believing this man.  Jim Jones was charasmatic which allowed him to control his followers.  The longer he controled his followers, the more blind they became to what would ultimately seal their fate.  The Messiah is the same way.  While I don’t expect that he would get his followers to drink Kool-Aide (and I’m not speaking metaphorically) and lay down for a long sleep.  I do think that the longer The Messiah controls his followers with his charasmatic ways the less likely they will see how he will eventually destroy everything Americans hold dear - freedom of speech, gun ownership, etc. 
I think the best the outsiders can do is to continue to see past the charisma and try to point out exactly what The Messiah is doing to this country.  If that doesn’t work, we could always order “Combatting Cult Mind Control” (www.amazon.com) in mass quantities and drop them off on people’s doorsteps.

For the past year, Scott and I have had to eat out more than we ever have.  Between volunteering on campaigns, attending political meetings, Scott teaching class on Monday nights and my fiddle and Irish language classes, we just had no time to cook.  Today was the first time I cooked in a looong time.  As much as I hate cooking, it was a welcome change because I was getting really close to losing my shit and strangling the lazy punk kids behind the counter.
Occassionally, you will run into bad service and it’s no big deal.  You’re angry about it for two minutes and if it’s a tipping situation, you may not tip well.  After that, you’re over it.  There are bigger things to be angry about that the kid who gave you someone else’s drink.  However, I have noticed a significant change in the way customers are treated - namely at fast food restaurants. 
Let’s start with McDonalds.  Around here there are three main McDonalds.  I tend to stick to the one on University and the one on Main.  There are two distinct differences between the two and neither are flattering.  If you want verbal abuse or an indignant attitude you go to the one on Univeristy… you may not get a smile but at least your order is right.  The one on Main, they will always screw up your order.  How many times have I rolled out of their drive thru for chicken nuggets with barbeque sauce only to get home and find the sauce didn’t make it into the bag?  About three times in the month of October! 
How about Taco Johns?  I was hooked on their tacos for a while but that went out the window when I dicovered that if you want your food fast, you’re better off going to Taco Bell.  Not once have I ever gotten my food within the three minutes fast food restaurants used to strive for.  One instance sticks out in my head.  Scott and I were on our way home from a meeting.  We pulled up to Taco John’s just before 10PM.  It’s 10PM, it’s not exactly busy at that time.  I thought it would be no big deal to make three tacos.  Oh no!  There were two cars ahead of us.  After about 5 mintues of waiting for our food, the kid tells us to pull up into a parking space and they’ll run our food out to us.  Ten minutes later, Scott gets pissed and goes barging into the restaruant demanding to know what the deal was.  Two teenagers were making food - moving slower than snails and the manager not seeming to care watching and talking. 
How about Wendy’s suddenly not every having any chili.  This is Iowa.  Chili weather usually starts in late October.  On two incidences, about a week apart, we went to Wendy’s for chili - both days were brutally cold and perfect for chili.  We place our orders only to be told by a kid who seemed indifferent to our inconvenience mumbles “We don’t have any chili today.”  What the hell?  Here’s my number, why don’t you call me when you have some! 
The only restaurant that continues to offer top of the line service with a smile is Taco Bell near the mall.  I know it’s really inconvenient that they have no drive thru but if it means I’m going to get my food fast, hot and with a smile, I am more than willing to get out of my car for it.
So, understand why I’m not always eager to support the state and federal government’s idea of increasing the minimum wage.  This increase means that in order to pay these punk kids more, we have to pay more for the food and get no upgrade in service.  Perhaps we should skip the minimum wage and have these kids work the drive thru for tips.  Offer me bad service and you get nothing but your standard $3/hour base pay.  Treat me well and I may slip you a $10.  Just last week, we tipped a waitress $20 on a $40 tab.  Why?  Because she got us what we wanted fast, she made reccommendations and in an attempt to be funny and prove a point we asked her a question.  Her answer was so good, we gave her a $20.  What was the question?  “I’m going to tip you but I’m going to take half this tip and give it to your coworker because she’s not getting as much in tips because she’s slow or just lazy.  What would you say to that?”  Her answer?  “Well, that’s stupid as shit.”  Good answer!

I don’t know what infuriates me more… the fact that an uninformed public and their mob mentality voted one of the most socialist men in the world to the White House or all the stupid, yes stupid, people who voted straight party Democrat and got Democrats voted back into Congress and the state House.  Or perhaps its the college students who are not nearly as affected by politics because many of them do not pay taxes who threw this election to the tax sharks that want to rip our hard earned money from our fingertips. 

I’m not too upset that the White House went to The Messiah (Obama will never be President Obama.  He shall be known as The Messiah).  I believe in the winds of change… what goes up must come down and all that bull.  I think people will get the message that socialism is no way to run this country.  They pissed  and moaned for eight years about how Bush stole the election, started a war, oh yeah and allowed a hurricane to wipe out much of New Orleans.  I think at least every four to eight years, a Democrat should take office just to remind people how badly they fuck shit up.

There are two things that piss me off about the election and they are both kind of inter-related.  First, dumb asses that know very little about politics pulling the straight party ticket.  Here’s a clue… don’t vote straight party.  If you know nothing about the candidates in other races outside the presidential race, LEAVE IT BLANK!  Seriously, how is it that congress could have, what, a 9% approval rating and yet vote everyone of those jack asses back into office.  Does this not strike anyone as odd?  These congressmen rode the coat tails of Obama straight back into office.

Who is the most guilty?  College students!  Think back… think way back.. back to when you were in college.  Boy, didn’t we think we knew everything?  We were all in for a very rude awakening when we graduated and actually had to get jobs and fend for ourselves.  Mommy and Daddy pay for everything and the kids are not required to get jobs… rightfully so.  They should be focused on studying and not working.  If they work, it’s part time and typically to obtain beer money.  These kids don’t pay taxes yet they can vote.  These kids come into the polling place with the Obama psychosis eyes (Oh -Bam-Ah, Yes, We Can) and pull a straight democrat ticket not knowing or giving a damn about the people they are indirectly voting into office.  Tons of people were pissed that our State House passed the smoking ban, in fact, there were democrats prepared to vote against their own party to express their anger over this decision and there were almost as many people pissed that the democrats in office went way over budget for 2008 and 2009.  So, how is it we voted these same yahoos back into office.  Must we wait until they raise our taxes to pay for their out of control spending to vote these people out?  Or do we have to wait until they take more of our rights away?  Maybe they could ban guns or maybe they can ban smoking in your house or your car before people realize that their actions have consequences.  When you vote people like Jeff Danielson and Doris Kelley into office, you are in essence handing them your guns, your paycheck and your packs of cigarettes.

Sure, I busted my butt to try and get Walt Rogers into office and beat out that arrogant “You have hate in your heart” Jeff Danielson.  And it’s likely that after all the votes are counted that Walt will have lost.  But here’s the bottom line… one by one, I will tear down the democrats at the state house.  If Walt loses, Danielson will be public enemy number one.  I will bust my butt to find someone who can get enough votes to put Danielson right where we belongs (on a path to Hell).  Then I’m coming after Doris - I don’t care if I have to run against her myself!  Then Debra Berry!  That’s right Debra, you don’t scare me.  You may have your cronies come after everyone that runs against you by having them harassed and called names but I do not fear you!

As for Obama, I plan I blogging about every socialist policy he puts into place.  If he tries to silence me like he tried to silence those in Missouri when he came to the state to speak, I will only speak louder.  Please, I beg you to put me in jail for it!  It would only prove my point how socialist The Messiah really is and how he wants to silence any dissent and thus taking away our rights.  The Messiah is all knowing.  He can find out where I live and come get me - I’ll leave the light on for you all mighty one!

Scott came home with his 8 week old puppy yesterday.  We named him Tucker… rhymes with…. you know!  In fact, that’s what I’ve been tempted to call him the second he walked in the door.  The dog acts like it’s on speed.  Always running and always chewing on things that are not his toys.  We are doing the whole crate training deal but it’s taking a lot of patience.  Every time we place him in the crate, he whines.  Scott can’t seem to take it because after a few minutes he lets him out.  I’ve been ignoring it.  I don’t pay attention to whining.  Scott’s gone for the morning so I’m taking him outside about every two hours to use the potty.  He still isn’t getting it though.  He’s still having accidents inside the house. 

Cats are so much easier to train.  Caesar had a problem with chewing at first but he stopped after being told no a few times.  He still likes to chew on plastic bags so we have to keep them out of reach.  I talked to the breeder of my kitten and she said he’s litter training very well and is the biggest of the kittens.  He comes into the mix on October 12th.  I have to gently ask Scott to have Tucker spend the day at the grandparent’s house so the kitten can get used to the house.  I’m sure Scott will oblige since I have been more than patient with his dog.  I don’t like barking and whining and the jumping.  I’m just not a dog person.  I’m trying though.

 

Politicians, reporters, commentators, delegates and even protestors seized upon
St. Paul for four days of over the top excitement.  That’s exactly what they got and then some. 

 

My trip to the RNC started the Friday before Labor Day.  The country waited in eager anticipation of who John McCain would announce as his running mate.  I got the news just an hour before we left Cedar Falls.  I could not have been more surprised or happy.  Many months ago, a friend of mine had mentioned he would like to see Sarah Palin be McCain’s VP.  So, imagine my shock when she was chosen.  I’m taking my friend to the casino to see what his psychic abilities could do for me at the craps table.

 

The conservative talk radio hosts were all abuzz with the news of Palin.  For four hours, my husband and I listened to Andrew Wilkow and Sean Hannity talk about the great things she has done for Alaska (cutting taxes, cleaning up corruption and still standing on her beliefs and never backing down).  There were moments when I choked back tears of joy at such a wonderful pick.  It’s not that she is a woman – that’s a non-issue for me.  It’s that I suddenly realized we could win this election.  No more questions, no more doubt – I was sold.  We CAN win this election.

 

In the days leading up to the convention we began to notice the veiled and not so veiled attempts of the media to slander Governor Palin.  Many of the stories they published and broadcasted were down right absurd.  We heard everything from Palin tried to fire a state trooper because he and her sister were going through a divorce to her 17 year old daughter was the actual mother of her brother Trig.  While it was fun to watch the left wing media scramble to try and find dirt on Palin, it was down right scary to know that there would be those stupid enough to believe the blasphemy.

 

On Sunday evening we were informed the convention was scaled back out of respect for Louisiana as they were being pounded by hurricane Gustov.  The abbreviated session threw the convention for a loop and the first day, which is usually bustling with excitement, actually seemed rather sluggish.  But leave it to the protestors to keep things hopping.  As we left the Xcel Center early that evening, we were informed that the bus that was to take us back to our parking spot could not cross the bridge.  It seems that due to some of the protestors getting out of hand, the bridge was on lockdown.  Traffic was not allowed across the bridge and no one was allowed to walk across the bridge unless they were walking away from the Xcel Center.  As we began our track across the bridge to the car, we saw protestors scatter down below the bridge.  We stopped to watch as law enforcement in riot gear began marching down the street in an attempt to push them back.  They began gassing the protestors and shooting rubber bullets.  It did not take them long to push the protestors back all the way down the street.

 

Now, it’s really important to make the distinction here between the protestors and the criminals.  Many of the protestors were rather peaceful.  I saw three protestors doing ‘Yoga for Peace’, gay rights protestors telling us not to be afraid of them but to support them and a guy with a ‘Vote for Jesus’ sign.  These protestors cheerfully spoke to people in line to get into the Xcel Center.  None of them were nasty and none of them were threatening.  They just wanted to be heard and they were.  Then there was a group of several hundred whose primary goal was not to be heard but cause destruction to the city and harm upon the delegates and guests.  One protestor tried to snatch the credentials off one of the delegates and several others smashed police cars, broke windows of downtown shops and even slashed the tires of the local Fox affiliate.  In the end, approximately 1,000 arrests were made at the RNC. 

 

Session two and three were pretty quiet as far as the protestors and criminals go but inside the action was bustling.  It was actually pretty overwhelming.  There were politicians and news personnel everywhere.  Fox had a news tent up called “The Fox Experience”.  They would open it up to the public a couple times a day.  There, we met Ben Stein.  We also saw Chris Wallace and Karl Rove come out of the tent.  I, along with another volunteer, stood between the door and the elevator like a bunch of Beetles fans hoping to catch a glimpse of their favorite star.  It was then that we saw Megyn Kelly of Fox News.  Down on radio row, I met Andrew Wilkow of Sirius Satellite Radio and saw Alan Colmbs and Steven Baldwin.  It was my great disappointment that no matter what I did or where I went, I did not meet Sean Hannity.

 

There were so many speeches over the course of the whole convention from well known to not so well known business owners as well as some of the major players in the Republican Party.  It is for that reason I cannot possibly comment on all of them.  But I can comment on the ones I found the most amazing.

 

Fred Thompson was fired up and his first jab was at the media for the nastiness they have thrown Palin’s way since the announcement she was running as McCain’s running mate.  But that wasn’t even the most memorable part of his speech.  It was when he said that being a POW doesn’t qualify someone to be President but it speaks volumes about his character.  Scott and I talked to several former Fred Heads and we all agree that if Thompson spoke like he did at the convention when he was on the campaign trail, he might have pulled some poll numbers.

 

Although George W. Bush could not physically be at the convention, the audience was very happy to see him via satellite.  President Bush has never made a bad speech and his convention speech was no different.  He was very complimentary towards McCain but still kept his distance from him by stating that they didn’t always agree on everything.  I think it was a smart move because it’s important to show that McCain/Palin are different than Bush/Cheney.

 

Mike Huckabee gave his speech and although bits and pieces of his speech were from prior speeches he made on his own campaign trail, it was still electrifying.  He took a couple of swipes at the media which eventually became a theme throughout the convention.  At one point, the delegates and guests turned to the NBC booth and began booing.

 

Rudy Guiliani really played up to the audience.  When he started talking about Drill Here, Drill now, someone shouted “Drill, baby drill.”  Guiliani smiles and says “Drill, baby, Drill?”  Then the audience starts chanting “Drill, baby drill.”  Rudy was the best I’ve ever seen him.  He got the audience fired up, he took jabs at the media and Obama and talked about McCain’s experience and his readiness to lead this country.

 

Governor Sarah Palin blew everyone out of the water.  I had goose bumps half way through her speech.  Of course, it was mighty cold in the Xcel Center so it was hard to tell if it was the temperature or Sarah’s speech.  Her speech had everything that she needed to help unite the party.  She gave a biography of herself by talking about some of her major accomplishments like keeping taxes low and giving money back to the Alaskan people, saying no to the Bridge to Nowhere and selling the private jet she was to fly in on ebay.  She talked about driving herself to work and how she’s just another wife and mother that just so happens have a job looking out for the people of Alaska.  She took a pretty big swipe at the media saying “I’m not going to Washington to seek their good opinion.  I’m going to Washington to serve the citizens of this country.”  She also whipped Obama stating that being a Governor is like being a Community Organizer but has actual responsibilities.  At some point during her speech, either the teleprompter went out or was scrolling too fast but she never missed a beat.  She continued speaking and we had no idea until later that there was a problem.  She spoke from the heart so there was no need to rely on the prompter anyway.  The audience was pretty hyped up after her speech and I’m sure many went home too energized to sleep. 

 

When McCain took the stage on the last night, the stage crew had to quickly change the shape of the stage so that it looked more like the townhall look that McCain was going for.  However, there were some mixed opinions for those who sat in the higher elevations of the Xcel Center.  I think most of us appreciated the more reserved square stage but once McCain was on stage, those thoughts took a back seat. 

 

McCain’s speech was prefaced by his video biography that was both moving and inspiring.  It spoke of his military service, his days as a POW and how he and Cindy met and married.  When McCain walked out on stage the crowd went wild with applause and cheering.  Shortly after the audience settled down and McCain began to speak, an anti-war protester began shouting.  They took her out.  He began speaking again and another protester was caught.  The audience wasted no time chanting U.S.A while the protesters were removed from the Center.  Too bad they didn’t enter by the Texas delegates!  They would have eaten them alive.  You don’t mess with Texas!

 

He went on to thank everyone for supporting his choice for VP and touted her record as being a no nonsense type of lady who will help him fight for us.  He reminded us that he supported the surge even when it was unpopular and that he’d rather lose an election than lose the war.  He promises to veto park barrel projects.  He will promote school vouchers and put the management of education back into parent’s hands.  He showed support for Georgia and shamed Russia’s aggression towards them.  He also spoke of his energy policy to drill for our own oil and stop depending on foreign oil from countries that wish us harm.  He also is the best I have ever seen him.

 

Overall, the RNC is what we imagined it would be only greater speeches and more enthusiasm.  If the party wasn’t united and energized before the convention, it was when we left the convention.  After the RNC, the poll number began rolling in and it appears that the VP pick along with the convention helped boost the polls in McCain’s favor by at least 4%.  I suspect that in the coming days that percentage will bounce even higher. 

 

CivicFest has something for everyone from 5 years old to 102.  When we first read the description, we thought it would be a hit and run activity.  We would enter and come out in two hours a little more educated.  About five hours later and several hundred dollars short (thanks to some great vendors), we came out laughing and with a wealth of knowledge.

 

The first exhibit featured the Forgotten Founders – Historic Documents and Medallions of Freedom.  There we saw rare historic documents, letters and newspapers from the fourteen men who served the American Colonies from 1774 to 1788.  The artifacts were well preserved although some items had faded due to their age.  For the History illiterate, it was a little overwhelming but after reading through the exhibit, you are better able to understand where our history started.

 

We also found the Political Memorabilia display very exciting.  The exhibit chronicled all the Presidential campaigns starting from pre-Revolutionary War to the 2004 elections.  We had a good chuckle at some of the names of the political parties and some of the catchy campaign ads.  There were also credentials from previous National Conventions (late 1700s through present).  Some of them were pretty tacky but some were actually pretty interesting.

 

The first interactive booth we encountered was the Decision 2008 where we had our chance to vote on the name of the new eagle from the
National Eagle Center.  We found this was the perfect time to make the joke about same day voter registration.  Scott attempted to go through the line twice!  No fraud there!  Of course, when I came out of the booth, I told the polling official that my union representative told me how to vote.

 

The Lincoln Bicentennial truck was also a very educational display.  It was a museum on wheels!  I have no idea how they got this truck inside the convention center!  The display took us through the life of Abraham Lincoln.  The most amazing sight inside this truck was the life-like holograph of Lincoln giving his stump speech on the back of a train.  You could almost reach out to touch the figure if the glass was not in the way.

 

I think the most popular exhibit was the tour of the miniature White House.  When we approached the exhibit there were scores of people staring in awe at the delicate work that went into creating such a beautiful work of art.  The re-creation of the White House could barely squeeze into my living room.  When you look inside, you can see the layout of each room with its contents.  Even the pictures on the wall were life-like but smaller.

 

I took the oath of office and it was recorded on DVD.  While we enjoyed taking the oath, we really had fun watching little kids take the oath on camera!  One little girl was making faces throughout the whole oath but did not miss a word!  I was very amused.

 

We also took a tour of the life-like replica of Air Force One.  We took goofy pictures of us coming out of the plane and waving.  Looking through the pictures at the end of our day, we realize how real the pictures looked! 

We also had a good laugh posing for pictures at the Presidential Desk inside the Oval Office.  I never thought I would ever have my picture taken with my feet up on the Presidential Desk – okay so it wasn’t the real thing.  But it looked real!

 

I could go on forever about the many other displays and vendors we saw.  After all, we did spend five hours at the festival.  Despite the fact there was so much fun stuff to see and experience, we came out with a little bit of knowledge we did not possess before.