2008 Presidential Elections in Review

2008 was a very hectic year with an exciting presidential race that was really unique. The second female vice-presidential candidate Governor Sarah Palin, the oldest presidential candidate to ever run Senator John McCain, the first African-American presidential candidate to win the nomination Senator Barack Obama, the first vice presidential candidate to ever think that TV was invented in the 20s Senator Joe Biden.

The year was filled with controversy and was probably one of the most biased elections I've seen yet.

Some of the highlights of the 2008 presidential election include the New York Times running a story about an affair between a lobbyist and Senator John McCain with unknown sources, violating all journalistic ethics and ruining their credibility as a trustworthy news source.

The Times and Newsweek ran countless covers featuring Barack Obama in a positive way, and countless stories criticizing the Republican candidates and countless stories praising the Democratic candidate. I'm sure many people canceled their subscription to Time magazine, I hope you have.

Saturday Night Live made it's biggest paycheck ever by dressing up Tina Fey exactly like Governor Sarah Palin (like as if that was so difficult, remember Steve Bridges who impersonates George W. Bush perfectly and actually looks exactly like him?), and bashing her intelligence, which granted the interviews she had with Katie Couric were very badly done, she obviously cannot smooth talk her way out of anything and is not the best politician.

However, SNL was able to cash out, and created an atmosphere combined with YouTube that anything Tina Fey says people confused with Sarah Palin and created the image that Sarah Palin is the dumbest politician alive, this cost the Republicans a lot of votes.

People watched the SNL clips their friends showed them, and many of these people also went on youtube to watch the real interview and while they wouldn't understand half the questions they would say "Oh how silly is this Sarah Palin? Who would vote for her?"

It's the power of sociology and group mentality, and it spreads fast and wide. Definitely much more than Barack Obama's silly "57 state" comment where he actually thought for 10 seconds and said "I visited.... uuuuuhhh.... 57 states." If I said something crazy like that in my job I'd be fired.

It spread more than Senator Barack Obama saying that his white grandmother is a "typical white person" who fears black people. I bet if Barack Obama was 100% white (not 50%) and his grandmother was 100% black, Barack Obama would have been impeached on that comment alone.

The double standards were all over this year.

The victim in this election was Senator John McCain, Sarah Palin is young she may have other chances, her inexperience and her lack of knowledge of world politics and foreign policy cost the Republicans a lot of votes. I know some of you think "No, if it wasn't for Sarah Palin fellow Republicans wouldn't have come out to vote." This is completely false, think about it, do you really think a Republican voter would stay home when every single Republican politician is yelling "MARXIST, SOCIALIST, FRIEND OF TERRORIST, IS GETTING ELECTED!" ?

Sarah Palin did inspire people, but just like how Barack Obama inspires people, it is meaningless. Inspiration alone does not bring out voters. Young voters came out to vote for Barack Obama because he is the "First African American Presidential Nominee" and because they hate George W. Bush. I know because I asked them why they went and voted and it wasn't because they liked the Barack Obama speech so much.

You can also ask your Republican friends why they went out to vote, and they will tell you (if they are honest) that it's because they didn't want Senator Barack Obama the most liberal senator ever to get elected as president, or let him to raise their taxes, or let him slash defense funds completely or that his comments make him unfit to be commander in chief.

Sarah Palin should be given credit where it's due but don't idolize her, that will only lead to defeat.