The new, bright, shiny object that has captured the attention and limited imagination of the American press and has landed the Veep candidacy for the GOP called it right, albeit with subtlety:  pitbulls and hockey moms are scary.  

That Sarah Palin is a pistol.  I am typically afraid of pistols.  And hockey moms.   I live amongst them… and believe me, here in the Canadian Rocky Mountain sticks, we are thick in the musky odor of the cluster*%$# that is youth hockey registration.  And ain’t nobody bothering with the lipstick!

Gross generalization to follow….

Hockey moms are ballsy, loud and take no shit… or prisoners.  Maybe it’s all the money they’re spending over the course of a season, between new equipment, rink fees and travel expenses.  Maybe it’s the time they spend freezing their asses off in sub-zero arenas or on the road: every weekend, with only a brief break over Christmas, from October through March.  Or maybe it’s the aggression of the sport in general. While fast and graceful, surprisingly brutal as early Atoms at the ripe old age of age 8.  Who the hell knows, but hockey moms are certainly a breed apart.  Understand, these are not just distant musings of an anti-violent, ultra-liberal, elitist academic.  No.

I am, in fact, a hockey mom.  No, not a mom with kids who play hockey.  By that definition I would be considered perhaps an alpine ski mom… a swim-team mom… a dance mom… and most definitely a soccer mom.  No, in the realm of hockey, I am in fact, a mom who plays hockey.  And I play with and against hockey moms.  And despite being tall and appearing fairly formidable in my gear, a hockey mom on break-away… well, it’s a sight to behold. Or, if on the ice in opposition, to avoid. I value my ass-ets, thank you very much. So I know something of what I speak.   

That said, I can see this Sarah Palin’s appeal.  Mother of five; driving her kids to and fro, meeting the formidable demands of youth hockey; clawing her way up the gritty ladder of local and state politics.  An accomplished woman, wife and mother. On the surface she is every progressive woman’s dream candidate for federal politics.  Who better to advocate for issues relating to women, children and families in general?   Ahem.

Not.  Scratch away at the immensely attractive surface and you find a very different picture.  Her record belies her appearance.  There is no arguing her strength or accomplishment.  But the details of her mandate are disturbing… certainly to those of us more comfortable with moderation in all things, particularly politics. Most specifically, her partisan stances on gun control and abortion not to mention her extreme right-wing Christian conservatism.  Despite her own personal and professional accomplishments, her own progress, Mrs. Palin’s views would serve to do nothing but hinder it for others.

If the McCain-Palin ticket is victorious in November it speaks volumes to where the majority of Americans sit politically, socially and progressively.  It also clearly defines what Americans consider change.  

I’m not sure what that means to the rest of us….

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