Back in the days when I was still working for Adoption dot com, when a new and enthusiastic editor carved out yet another blog for me after noting my news-houndyishness and created the “News” blog, word came down from On High that I should take on the task of examining Presidential candidates and their positions on adoption.
Having worked with politicos during my news days, this seemed an easy assignment; after all, who in a big race would turn down a chance for free press on a topic so much less loaded than weapons of mass destruction and genocide, and to shine with some merciful light radiating from some innocent child?
Turns out, all of them.
After researching who was who and where, I sent emails to the people in charge of getting press for their candidates, for answering questions and sending out miles of column inches of controlled blather in hopes that someone, somewhere, will pick it up and publish at least something, but to no avail.
Yes, I did get on everyone’s mailing list and spend too much time trashing rah-rah bandwagon mail, but any direct adoption-related contact or offers to send position papers my way?
Nope. Not a one.
I was puzzled, to say the least, and since I still have a few contacts in and around the US political scene, some of whom have moved up the power ladder in the years I’ve been away and now hang with hopeful Presidents, I asked around.
In America it’s a ten foot pole, while the Brits say barge pole which must be about that long, but whatever you call it no one was touching me.
I’d been instructed to play the Adoption dot com card … huge Web site, thousands of hits per month, blah, blah, blah … which, it happens, slammed the door faster than if I’d showed up in black leather and asked to give spankings.
Seems the lawsuit the company had recently lost to a gay couple they refused to do business with put the kibosh on getting cozy for anyone with an eye toward not being associated in any way with homophobes.
A representative from one of the company’s advertisers even started a boycott movement, so apparently enough attention had been focused to staple a big “keep away” sign on anything coming that might look like a tie.
This all happened some months ago, and the field of candidates has narrowed a bit, and because of my early attempt at contact … and all the mailing lists that plastered me to … I’ve been following bits from the campaign trail I wouldn’t normally be paying much attention to.
I will vote in the general election when it finally rolls around … You bet I will! … but all the run-up hoopla usually ebbs around me like creek water around a midstream boulder. I’ve not lived in the US since the year after Bill Clinton came into office, so too many of the early posers are so new to me that I’d rather wait until it looks like I really should know about them.
I don’t vote in the Primaries, so it’s all done but the shouting by the time I get to say my bit, so burning extra energy on losers isn’t a hobby I take on.
I did see a tiny bit of CNN this morning, however … a tiny bit is all I get before Chinese State TV in English takes over to spout the wonders of the regime and the overwhelming joy of the people of China … candidate-related, as Florida was just finishing the voting there.
It was Mitt Romney on, spouting to his cheering and oh-so-well-groomed crowd, and I was very surprised to hear that his whole theme was change.
Change to healthcare. Change to education. Change to taxation. Change to war … and on and on. Rousing chants of something like “They didn’t fix it” followed each proclamation of what had badly needed change, but hadn’t been addressed.
Excuse me … but haven’t we had a Republican President for the last almost 8 years? And wasn’t, until recently, Congress also dominated by the GOP? So, wouldn’t they be they?
What am I missing? Really. I would love someone to explain to me how a Republican candidate can be running on a platform of change. (Not why … that’s clear … but how.)
Because he’s never held office in the federal government? Because he’s been a governor and businessman his GOP connection has been without pull … just a regular Joe hanging at the club and demanding better education for the poor?
Okay, you’ve probably gathered that I don’t usual vote the GOP ticket, although I am not a lock-step voter by any means, and I would be cutting him more slack if I thought more like he does, but even if that was the case, one line that got a huge and deliriously agreeable response stood out and had me suspecting that this guy hasn’t had an original thought in a very long time:
We will teach our kids that before they have babies they should get married!
.
Yeah. That’s new.
A collection of my short stories:
I'm in this one, too ...
And I'm in here, as well ...
Paradise Preoccupied 
I hate to get into political discussions, but I wanted to chime in on something which I find interesting. I attended a lecture a few years ago and it was pointed out that in every presidential contest for the last 100 years, the candidate with the most charisma is the one who wins. When I look at all the candidates, I have to think Romney is most charismatic. I don’t really like his politics, but I see him winning.
Oh, and BTW, I think all the candidates refuse to comment on adoption for fear of making either the birthmoms or the adoptive parents mad. It’s a no-win, as they see it.
Dee
LMAO! Based upon my knowledge of certain political circles, I can safely say that if you showed up in leather offering spankings, you’d likely get a good deal of takers.
Seriously.
PS: The owners and management of that website you mentioned did their level best to keep that enthusiastic editor in the dark about that whole lawsuit.
Dee,
Charismatic? Hmmmm. Tough thing to define and quantify. Is GW charismatic? I suppose some might think so, but he’s never seemed so to me, and, quite frankly looked like a demented baboon compaired to John Kerry and Al Gore … and that’s an insult to baboons, I’m afraid. Mitt looks like a Stepford wife only male, from what I’ve seen. Is there charisma in that? Perhaps to some, but I would prefer a president that unclenches from time to time.
Lisa,
You and I should take this show on the road. I put that line in there just for you, and you, of course, didn’t let me down!
Now can I tell folks that you’re a Republican?
LOL! I’m all for taking it on the road. That would be a blast!
I’ve been outed. I’m a Republican.
Not lockstep but Republican nonetheless.
I ran for the MT legislature once but didn’t get far. The conservatives said I wasn’t conservative enough for their liking (and actually spent money to keep me from being elected) and the liberals liked me but said that they couldn’t possibly support a Republican. I, and other Republicans like me, was vindicated when Arnold was elected in CA. 🙂
We might have to draw straws if leather and spankings are part of the routine!
Vindicated by Arnold. Now, that’s a bumpersticker …
Nobody was more surprised than me that Bush won, TWICE, but Gore and Kerry were less charismatic, unfortunately, to voters, it seems. It doesn’t have anything to do with intelligence. The charisma factor [as it was defined for me] really just boiled down to looks + undefinable charm.
It’s just a theory, and it’s certainly debatable.
I would’ve thought, based on charisma alone, that John Edwards would’ve beaten the other Dems in the early races, but apparently not, and he has dropped out.
There’s another theory, which also has some validity, that it’s the candidate with the most MONEY who wins. I hate it, but there you go. Reality stinks…
Dee
Stepford wives…baboons….spankings — you are so dang funny, Sandra!
If you can’t get any response from the adoption question, what about the candidate’s positions on the state of the world’s children? Who is doing what for children and women both here and abroad?
I’ve read some comparisons and such about poverty and AIDS, but who, in your opinion, has the most meat and muscle? (Not to bring you back to the spankings…)
(-:
Well, I won’t comment on the political scene, but I’m pretty sure you could bring in some extra even in Seychelles with your black leather and paddle…..
Dee,
Interesting. My initial superficial take on Edwards was that he has “Republican hair”, and that shoots the charisma factor to bits for me. I have always had trouble trusting men with really tidy hair. Go figure.
Money? Sure, but it’s where the money comes from that’s important. Buckets of it come from places where buckets of money grow, and everyone wants some bang for their buck.
One big problem with US elections is apathy. I live in a country where the turnout is always around 90%, and this is without making it mandatory. People here went too many years without being able to vote to ever take it casually or consider it anything less than a right they will not let slide by them. If 90% of Americans who can vote did vote, the world would be a different place.
One reason many don’t vote is the perceived lack of choice … not hot on either candidate so either voting a negative or not at all. I have suggested before, and will continue to do so, that there is no true democracy until “None of the above” appears on every ballot.
And as for this:
I’ll add only this clickable.
s,
Stepford wives, baboons and spankings do seem to go together, don’t they? There’s a certain symmetry there.
Anyway … now that adoption dot com is no longer a millstone I drag around, I probably could get some response from campaigns, and perhaps I will do just that in the near future.
As far as what I’ve gathered on adoption-related stuff so far, McCain is an international adoptive parent … and classy enough not to drag her out as a prop … and Romney is all for it as an alternative to abortion.
I’ll be looking more closely at the wider issues now that the fields are thinning.
Tisha,
Oh, yes! Many of the world’s rich and powerful like a good spanking from time to time. The leather does tend to go all moldy here, though.
How about foster care reform?
None of the politicians are talking about that to my knowledge.
wearing leather and spankings *snicker*
Sandra, my friend:
“Oh, yes! Many of the world’s rich and powerful like a good spanking from time to time. The leather does tend to go all moldy here, though.”
And you know this, because………?
(jab, jab)
Tisha,
One word for you: Shoes.
Leather shoes grow mold.
Ha!