[BabyGate] I know, I know . . .

It was the How John McCain Just Lost Florida... dKos diary (about Palin's supposed support for Buchanan) that tipped me over the edge and prompted my "Someone is WRONG on the Internet" diary.  One commenter on my diary said, "Very well-reasoned, but you forgot the biggest This whole thing about her 'grandchild' needs to be dropped."  I replied, "I saw that and couldn't stomach even mentioning it.  But yeah, the 'grandchild' thing seems the lowest of all the attacks on her that I've seen thus far."  Also, it was so tabloidy that I thought (hoped) it would just blow over.  But diary after diary talked about -- and got on the rec list, too.

I've refused to even dignify it with discussion, but yes I did end up reading a lot about it.  ( Read more... )

At least Obama himself is a classy classy guy.  Kita quotes him as saying:

I have heard some of the news on this and so let me be as clear as possible. I have said before and I will repeat again, I think people’s families are off limits, and people’s children are especially off limits. This shouldn’t be part of our politics, it has no relevance to governor Palin’s performance as a governor or her potential performance as a vice president. And so I would strongly urge people to back off these kinds of stories. You know my mother had me when she was 18. And how family deals with issues and teenage children that shouldn’t be the topic of our politics and I hope that anybody who is supporting me understands that is off limits.

One of the dKos diaries following that statement reminds us to think before we speak (or blog or whatever) and ask ourselves:

Is it true?
Is it kind?
Is it necessary?

"Is it kind?" is of course the part I have the most trouble with (truths are sometimes hard, &etc &etc).  The blogger references Wee Mama's diary from February for the idea, and in the comments to that February diary, responding to someone on that very point, Wee Mama says:

Kind is not a synonym for nice. Kindness seeks to avoid unnecessary hurt and to offer support for growth or in trouble. Sometimes the kindest thing to do is to speak up about painful or evil things.

The more mature Sarah Palin post.

We had CWM fellowship dinner at Mike's in Davis Square last night.  I was sitting with Carolyn, Cheryl, Sean, and Michele.

As "less contentious" than BU STH stuff, Sean brought up the veep pick, and Carolyn and Cheryl slammed the pick and I said I thought she was a surprisingly strong choice actually and then stopped myself, saying, "How much can I devil's advocate before I get thrown out?"  Someone said two minutes, and then Sean left and Michele promptly moved the conversation to football.  I wasn't gonna force the issue.

Later, Marla was sitting with us, and I think we were soliciting new topics of conversation and Marla suggested politics and I told the story of how we'd already tried that, and Marla was like, "Yeah, she was a really strong choice" -- in a totally serious tone.  That was the first time that I ever felt, "Hey, Marla and I could talk politics!"  (She cares deeply about a lot of things and gets really intense, and so I always felt cowed at the prospect of actually engaging in debate with her.)

We didn't actually get into the topic, but since I've been discussing the Palin pick ever since the news broke on Friday, I figured I'd email my bullet point list anyway (I'm never any good at letting stuff go).

Marla emailed me back: ( which confirmed the sense I got at dinner )

because I refuse to leave Palin stuff as the top entry on my LJ

This weekend was so not as productive as I had hoped it would be (though I kind of knew that's how it would be).  I don't feel especially guilty about this, though, and am looking at it has having had a relaxing holiday weekend (even though I know I'm just going to get busier as the month progresses and this was my best opportunity to get serious work done).

To make myself feel better, a list of things I accomplished this weekend:
I did some unpacking/reorganizing/bagging up of stuff to give to Goodwill.
I washed dishes, did a load of laundry (sheets), and did a modicum of actual cleaning.
I bought some groceries.
I left the house every single day.
I finally wrote a thank you card to my Grandma from my birthday.
I did a lot of blogging -- and had lots of good discussions with people.
I did GoodReads writeups for my outstanding library books (plus the books I read on vacation).
I remembered to pay my rent.

I'm not stressed about going back to work tomorrow -- which possibly means I'm forgetting something?  ;)