This past weekend we were in northern Delaware at an Embassy Suites right across the street from the University of Delaware because my husband had a job interview in the area.  We spent a day driving through this 2nd smallest State in the US, actually it takes a lot less than a day to drive the 90some miles from the northernmost part of DE to the bottom of the State.  There are political signs EVERYWHERE, loads of them, and not being from the area, none of the names were familiar.  What we did notice was there weren’t many Obama/Biden signs, we saw a few that just had “Biden” on them, and have to say we saw more McCain/Palin signs than we did the Obama/Biden.  We thought this interesting, but perhaps it doesn’t mean a thing. Maybe it’s just assumed that people in DE will vote for Obama/Biden since Biden is their Senetor.

Anyway, it’s good to be home, and have internet access again.  The hotel they put us up in had a CHARGE for access, we’ve never had that before in much less expensive hotels, and there was no way we were going to spend $10 a day just to spend time on the net.  Surfing and blogging would have to wait.

But we’re back, the never-ending campagn drones on, and we have one more debate this week.  Is anyone else besides me looking forward to the election being over and not having to watch campaign ads anymore?

I didn’t blog yesterday, but did something that has become a bit of a tradition….I watched MSNBC’s special, the news reporting of the events of 9/11 played at the exact time they happened, now 7 years ago yesterday, so that you are re-living the experience.  It was interrupted only for the President when he spoke at the memorial, I am glad he was given the respect he deserves in doing that.

Then last evening, I watched some talk shows, and on one of them, Rudy Giuliani was interviewed.  When he was asked something along the lines of why he thinks it is that many as a Nation are either forgetting about 9/11, and why we are no longer united as a Nation like we were then, he suggested that it could be related to the elections and party politics. 

We are in the midst of our second election since September 11, 2001, in which the nation is deeply divided by what they are told to think about “the present administration”, what they are told to think about the war, what they are told to think about how things were handled after 9/11, depending upon what isle they camp. Yes, I’m generalizing, not everyone is blindly following, but many are.  We are divided - democrats - republicans - and the chasm seems to be getting wider so that we as a Nation are falling in.  I don’t know what the answers are, I, too, will be voting for who I believe is the best candidate, who once again is within the party I’ve voted most of my life. But I wish the ads, the process, wasn’t as nasty as it has become recently. It doesn’t impress me to see two men, Obama and McCain at the site of 9/11 (less than an hour from our home, btw) on TV one day, and attacking each other the next.

I do know that I never want to forget 9/11.  I want to view the following images at least once a year, and be reminded, and be thankful for “the present administration” which has had to make decisions few administrations ever have had to face.  Thank you.

By the way, the video includes some of those who jumped from windows, if this disturbs you, dare I say watch it anyway?

According to the Nielsen ratings, approximately 37 million viewers watched Sarah Palin’s speech last night, not quite as many as Obama’s speech, but very close for someone who is running for Vice President, not President.  Wow!

I’m curious to see how this is going to affect the polls, aren’t you?

Waiting on McCain’s speech tonight…

Here’s the woman that everyone was waiting to hear from telling it like it is in her own words. I am going to find the speeches by Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee and will add them later.

This is new in the news, at least to me.  Sarah has an unmarried daughter who is pregnant, she will be marrying the father of the child. This is all that I know, but I’m sure more will come out in the days to come.

As a mother who raised a daughter, though she didn’t get pregnant before marriage, it is something all mothers think about, so I can understand how this must be affecting the family.  This is something that can happen to anyone, a private issue brought public by the fact that Palin is a Vice Presidential candidate.  I hope we can watch and see the positive way this is handled, and not destroy the life of this precious daughter through media bashing.  The challenges in life refine a person… this is another event in the life of Sarah Palin and her family that will bring understanding toward others who have experienced the same thing.

God bless this precious new life that is going to come into this world, and the family.

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Update later today…I have to admit I’m a little embarrassed that I even put a post like this on my site, adding to the many who are mentioning this issue…I do want to add in the Palin Family statement that was made later in the day, and then say no more:

“We’re proud of Bristol’s decision to have her baby and even prouder to become grandparents…she knows she has our unconditional love and support.  Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realize very quickly the difficulties of raising a child…we ask the media to respect our daughter and levi’s privacy as has always been the tradition of children of candidates.”

On her wedding anniversary, and on McCain’s birthday, and the week we celebrate the anniversary of woman winning the right to vote, a woman, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska is declared the Republican Vice Presidential candidate.  The speech she gave clearly showed her strength.

We have a lot to get to know about this woman, but we also know quite a bit. She has a son headed for Iraq who joined the military on September 11th…is it too much to ask that the hurricane headed for the gulf coast might push the Republican Convention up a week so it’s on the 9/11 anniversary? Maybe…I’d rather our friends in the south be safe! But I digress, Sarah gave birth to a child with Down’s Syndrome, as a sister to a brother who is disabled, this means something to me in a way it wouldn’t unless you’ve “been there”. In between these two children she has 3 other wonderful children and a husband who is a wonderful “regular” guy. How American can you get? No fireworks, no celebrities, just down home America in Ohio today, and quite a crowd, too!  Way to go, McCain!  I am finally excited about voting for my party again…not that I wasn’t going to, this has just added a whole new energy to the ticket. I hope nothing happens to upset that.

I was looking for a video of her speech, and will add it when I find it, but in the meantime, I found a few others that I’ll post for now.

Sarah Palin on Glen Beck:

Why Sarah Palin should be McCain’s VP:

All indications seem to point to Gov. Sarah Palin of of Anchorage, Alaska…and as I type, FOX news reports it’s official!  More to come on this, but this is exciting…so outside the box…a woman, a conservative, a maverick like McCain, 44 years of age, single (oops, editing this, she’s not single) Mom of 5, child with Down’s Syndrome, pro-life, pro-family, from almost as far away from Washington DC as you can get in the US.

I’ll have more to share, but for now, this is the official word! Go McCain, another sign of what a maverick you are!