I have lived in several “red” states all of my life. Born and raised in the Magnolia State, lived for a stint in the swamp lands of Louisiana, and I am raising my kids in the volunteer state of Tennessee. I will always be the girl from Mississippi and I learned to love cultural diversity from Louisiana, but the great state of Tennessee has help shaped my world view more so than any of the other states. All have taught me that a Repub does not make a conservative and every conservative is not a Repub.
The Grand Ole Party not only has a visual image problem but it is in a place that we normally see Demos, absent of leadership, trying to figure out who they are and what group is their base. President Bush’s fall from grace made the Repubs’ reputation take a nosedive in the area of public trust and perception. Big government and outrageous spending that would feel right at home with the Demos, seemed to cloak the Bush Administration like a warm blanket. A message was sent in 2006 that the country was not happy with business as usual, but it took the elections of 2008 to really nail the casket shut. Many folks were buried alive politically. A few, however, managed to dig themselves out of their Rovian graveyard. But hanging out with the walking dead is only popular among morticians and grave diggers.
Senator McCain’s decision to pick Governor Palin was brilliant in strategy, but dumb in execution. Clinton supporters were yelling to the high heavens for a minute there. They would have voted Strawberry Short Cake in office immediately following Senator Clinton’s primary defeat because they wanted a woman so badly. A cartoon character would have sufficed as long as she was a female. Picking a woman was a good call for McCain but the plan lacked intelligence. Those 18 million cracks needed sealing. Picking Gov. Romney (IMHO) would have been a deal sealer and would have made those of us who were hurting in the pocket feel safe and secure (money wise). Many moderate Repubs would have spent more time analyzing the issues than wondering if Palin was sane or not.
Watching Palin come unglued right before American eyes was not how to win an election. It was at times too painful to watch. Palin and that hail Mary pass was a gimmick and it backfired on the Repub party. Senator Obama went on to become our forty-fourth president. Folks had enough of buffoonery and gimmicks.
