There's no going back.

I must tell you that, the day of Palin's speech, I felt deeply, emotionally moved by her being on the ticket. Truly. I got quite weepy. I felt represented as a woman and mother for the first time. I understand that not every woman or person agrees with her viewpoints about women's issues, but her very unexpected rise to this possible position in our nation made me proud and touched. Apparently, that makes me sexist, but that's how I felt. I felt pride not just as a woman or because she IS a woman, but because she did start from such humble roots and has taken such a surprising path, and because I love Alaska and I know she has fought hard for Alaskans. I expect she would do the same for Americans on a larger scale.

Then the speech happened and I felt floored that she pulled it off to such huge accolades in the Republican party and beyond. While I expected her to "hit it out of the park," actually witnessing this process was impressive. Even the Barack Obama fans in my family were impressed. I found the speech somewhat canned and not at all like the woman I've seen in office here. This has all been incredibly unexpected. I felt very aware of the political machine at work, grooming her behavior and words, giving her a speech, etc. It rather disappointed me and icked me out.

The venom, the sarcasm. I don't believe that women should be "well-behaved," but I do believe her to be a nice person. I have looked in her eyes and shaken her hand and have "watched her in action" here in AK and she is an awesome woman!! And here she is, playing right into the part. I want her to stay nice and sweet and accessible and I see that there is no going back and she is One of Them now. She acted so damn vice-presidential. I was and am proud and sad, all at the same time.

Now that a couple days have passed, I feel ready to be objective again and focus on the issues. The economy and the war are the most important issues to me. Getting out of this monstrous debt as a nation and getting back to a balanced budget. What are the candidates' specific plans to do so? What will we have to sacrifice on a personal level in order for this to happen? Still researching. Humorously, when I see excerpts of her speech now, I no longer experience it as "venom." She is successfully morphing into a new breed in my mind which makes it all seem perfectly normal.