Superstitions

You gotta love the Republicans.  To paraphrase Henry Higgins, "they are so deliciously low."

But I just loved this photo.  The obvious response to this is "yes you did!"  I don't think this was quite the message that the convention intended to convey.

I loved The Daily Show's Samantha Bee, interviewing conventioneers about the Republican Platform, which states that life begins at conception and that no exception in the case of rape or incest will be allowed.

She asked a handful of delegates how they felt about it, and they all said they believed it completely.  Then she said that Romney had said he would allow exceptions for rape and incest and asked how they felt about that.  The answers were so beautiful, I just had to transcribe them.  Remember, these are delegates being interviewed about the republican platform and all of whom state unequivocally that they believe life begins at conception and there should be no exceptions.

SAM:  But Mitt Romney would allow for exceptions.

Delegate: If that's the choice he makes, that's his choice.
Delegate: He's allowed to choose
Delegate: I know the percentage is so small, so small of a person becoming pregnant from a rape that I just don't know if that's even in the equation. There have been some cases

SAM:  Yeah.  About 32,000 a year.

Delegate:  Is it 32,000?  OK.
Delegate:  We live in a free society. We live in America. It is up to any human being to choose, to decide what is best for themselves.

(remember these are delegates talking about Romney's right to allow exceptions to the no abortion policy)

Delegate:  Is it Romney's choice to be different from the platform?  Well, of course!  Who are we to tell someone how they should act?
Delegate:  We're not forcing Governor Romney to accept anything.
Delegate:  I don't feel that it's forced on anybody.
Delegate:  I do not believe for one second that he has made this decision lightly.
Delegate:  It's hard to make that decision unless you're the one in that situation.
Delegate:  It's not for me to judge.
Delegate:  Government has a purpose and we lose sight of that.  The purpose of government is to protect your individual liberties.
Delegate:  That's what the country is.  We're individuals and we get to be who we are.  Everybody gets to choose the path they choose because it's their choice.

...unless you're gay and want to marry, or have been raped and want an abortion...

This is the party of hypocrisy.

And did you see how many people (including a FOX News reporter, of all people!) pointed out the lies in Ryan's acceptance speech.

• Ryan accuses Obama of shutting the GM plant (which was shut down while Bush was still in office)
• Ryan claims taxpayers got nothing from the stimulus (The stimulus added 3.3 million jobs, cut unemployment by 1.8%, and grew GDP by 4.1%. Nothing is what the country got when Ryan and his fellow Republican obstructed the American Jobs Act.)
• Ryan says Obama put the federal government in charge of Healthcare.
• Ryan blames Obama the country's downgraded credit rating
• Ryan hints Obama is a Socialist.

(For complate answers to all of these charges, check this page. You can also find it on Huffington Post, and a host of other links, including Sally Kohn of FOX news who describes Ryan's speech in three words: Dazzling, Deceiving, Distracting, and added that it was "an apparent attempt to set the world record for the greatest number of blatant lies.")

But I am becoming superstitious.  I was so involved in the 2008 election, read everything, listened to everything.  But I come from a long line of losing candidates and I'm so afraid that I'm going to believe all the negative things about the Romney/Ryan ticket and confidently assume Obama will sweep effortlessly back into office.  I'm afraid to believe. 

I no longer have the audacity to hope.  I want to send in an absentee ballot and then crawl into a cave and come out after the votes are counted.