Mortified to be a Pennsylvanian

I'm usually quite loyal to my home state. Green, rolling hills; gorgeous rivers; fairy-tale snowfalls and lush summers; good people... there's so much to love.

But I'm horrified at Hillary Clinton's win in our primary today. It's killing me. I even changed my party affiliation from independent to Democrat just so I could vote in the primary... against her!

Anyone who knows me will know that I'm pretty riled up to even say this out loud. As a social studies teacher, I was very careful to keep my political views to myself and not inappropriately influence my students. They knew I despised Bill Clinton, but other than that, I kept it private. Even if I had had a strong inclination to a political party, I intentionally remained registered as non-affiliated because I felt it appropriate given my subject area. Then I married a military officer and felt the same choice would be prudent. This primary was sufficient reason, however, to reneg on that policy.

Now, in my state's defense, the Pennsylvania primary was not a fair contest for these two candidates. Clinton tends to be backed by hard-core Democrats, while Obama appeals to middle-of-the-roads, independents, and liberal Republicans... who generally aren't registered Democrats, in which case they are not eligible to vote in the primary. This gave Clinton a HUGE advantage in the primary. I notice I'm not seeing much discussion on that fact at present.

Well, I did my best. And I'll have to wait until John comes home from a TDY to Japan to rant about this. At the moment I have my hands full with a toddler suffering from a bad case of tonsillitis--high fevers, copious amounts of gunk flowing from various orifices, and a "tummy huut".

Speaking of which, a note to self: Don't wear a white shirt when dealing with a very sick toddler. Between the nose running like a seive, buckets of tears at the trauma of the pediatrician's office, and a child whose primary source of comfort is snuggling into her mother, it was not a pretty sight. Wet t-shirt contest, Mommy-style. Oh, my life is ever so glamorous...