Sarah Palin (Things I hated in 2008)

John McCain’s Hail Mary Pass running mate announcement – coming practically on top of the triumphant Democratic party convention’s endorsement of Barack Obama and his VP choice Joe Biden – was one of the swiftest and most divisive political buzz kills of the summer.

Satire helped.

I’m not sure what was more disturbing about Republican vice president hopeful Sarah Palin, her freaky, right-wing evangelical Christian politics or the winking, smirking ease with which she was able to pass off appalling insults and outrageous lies about her democratic opponents.

I definitely hated her bitchy put downs, like her big fat dig at Obama during her first televised debate: “I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a community organizer, except that you have actual responsibilities,” laying it on thick in a snarky, corn-pone twang.

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Federal election 2008: assessing the hangover

I don’t know about you, but last week’s federal election left me feeling kind of bummed out.

It’s not just the national results that are getting me down. It’s the local race, too.

My Conservative MP, the remarkably life-like Russ Hiebert, got re-elected. And I don’t believe he deserves it. Full disclosure: not a fan of the man or his party. But I’m all for awarding bonus points where applicable.

Not that the other candidates vying for his seat in South Surrey-White Rock-Cloverdale impressed me a whole lot, either. Only one campaign office – the gang working for Liberal Judy Higginbotham – bothered to call me. When I informed the robotic young worker I was undecided, I was greeted with a curt, “Thank you” and click – the sound of the call being disconnected. Note to Judy, pondering your seventh federal election defeat: stop hiring bored teenagers to work the phones.

The Green party candidate, whoever it was, apparently decided it wasn’t worth the bother to write his or her name on any of the party’s campaign signs in South Surrey. I’m confused; what’s environmentally-friendly about that?

Although three different campaign offices were located within a few blocks of my home, nobody came door-knocking, not even the NDP’s Peter Prontzos, whose war room was literally steps away. Guess he took one look at his endorsement from U.S. media conspiracy theorist and linguist Noam Chomsky and decided it was in the bag.

The one bright spot in the six-week campaign was driving past a giant election sign at the corner of 148th and 24th that had been vandalized to read re-elect Russ “Hitlert.” I’ll admit it, that made me laugh.

It’s juvenile, yes, but he is a Conservative after all, and he’s got to expect that kind of thing.

Then again, maybe that’s exactly the kind of cheap shot Hiebert hoped to avoid by skipping an all-candidate’s forum in Ocean Park organized by a chapter of the Council of Canadians.

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