I am tired and achey tonight… and yet, I cannot not speak about some things. Mostly, hypocrisy. The hypocrisy being expressed minute by minute at the Republican National Convention is making me slightly crazy.

Having said that, my great fear right this moment is that in the midst of discussing Sarah Palin’s pregnant teenage daughter or her troopergate isssue… the media is forgetting to bring to our attention the fact that she is incredibly unqualified to be vice president… and possibly president… of the United States.

But! Back to hypocrisy.

1) Hillary Clinton. Republicans were quick to demonize Clinton for being too aggressive, too militant, and at the same time, too soft, too emotional. When the media shines a similar light on Palin all we hear is a resounding “FOUL!” from the right.

2) Teen pregnancy. Honestly, I don’t care that Palin’s daughter is pregnant. She is right that that is family business and not mine. What I do care about is the Republican support of this pregnancy… support in the face of “teenage pregnancy” being a huge platform of the Republican party. Support that it is MORE RESPONSIBLE for a 17-year-old girl to marry than to be taught how to use a condom. In fact, this is somewhat personal… growing up in a conservative household like those voting for Palin this year, I was taught that sex before marriage was not just a mistake.. it was the RUINATION of the rest of your life. Forgiveness for such a great sin was something that could only be hoped for, maybe, one day, if you were good enough in the years to come. But ultimatey, no matter what forgiveness meant, you should expect to be miserable and desitute all of your life for having premarital sex. Fornication. There is no hope for you after that. The same people who taught me this are rallying around the young Palin for her pro-life stance. Believe me… having lived among those people… it is not a CHOICE she was given. This is not a decision that was made. In the fundamentalist world, abortion would be tantamount to the fires of everlasting hell and damnation. That she “chose” to keep the baby is more accurately describes as having chosen to save her own soul. Hardly much of a choice, to my mind.

3) The senator who has made it a part of his legacy to campaign against earmarks and “pork barrel” spending has teamed up with a woman who, as governor, was the recipient of multiple millions of dollars in government earmarks. Actually, her earmarks were programs which McCain specifically said MUST GO.

How about that?