Check out the Dress Like Sarah Palin game!

Go ahead, you’ll really enjoy it!

Since we are both parents of daughters, I’m a bit confounded, Senator McCain, about your lack of interest in things that would benefit your girls directly. I know you probably won’t pay much attention, but here is the list of the things I want for my PunditGirl:

1. Equal pay for equal work. I know you seem to think that that’s all about more education and working harder, but that’s just nonsense and you know it, you just don’t have the spine to stand up to your GOP colleagues and vote for something that should be every daughter’s right in this country. Ask your daughters Meghan and Bridget — I’m betting they’d agree. Your oldest daughter Sidney, who’s an executive in the music industry, might also have some really enlightening things to chat about when it comes to women in the workplace. You might want to sit down with her about that … soon.

2. To be a feminist. I know you think that “feminist” is a dirty word. I can tell by the Dr. Evil smirk on your face in this clip with Fox News:

The funny thing is that the definition of a feminist is someone who advocates for the rights of women to be equal to the rights of men in all ways, including the social and political worlds.

Hmmm. That doesn’t sound especially liberal to me, especially since, Senator, you must, by definition, be a feminist since you apparently believe that Sarah Palin is as competent as you to be President. Otherwise, you would never have chosen her to be your running mate, right? Again, I’m thinking your daughters might have a few interesting thoughts on whether they think having equal rights is so horribly liberal.

3. Adequate paid maternity leave. You might be familiar with my reason for wanting this, because when Mr. PunditMom and I adopted PunditGirl, I was a federal employee — just like you! As a result, I did not get any paid leave, and it wasn’t because we adopted to form our family.

No federal employees get paid maternity leave, not even the parents who have their children the “old fashioned” way. I know when you and Cindy adopted Bridget, whether you got to take paid leave wasn’t an issue — Senators don’t get docked pay for taking time off and, of course, even if you had, Cindy is financially loaded, so it wouldn’t have been a problem for you. For me? It sure would have been helpful to have even part of my paycheck for those six to eight weeks.

Since she’s only in third grade, PunditGirl doesn’t have to make a decision yet about whether she wants to become a mother, but I know she wants to work at something, so it would be lovely if mothers in the future actually got some paid leave, like, say, the rest of the civilized world, so she won’t have to worry.

4. Access to safe and affordable birth control. I was lucky. I came of age at just the right time in terms of having access to birth control. I’m particularly happy about that because without it, there’s a big chance that my life would be a lot different today. You see, John, (may I call you John?), I made a pretty reckless decision and got married when I was a VERY young 19. The marriage didn’t last long because it turned out that my now ex-husband was pretty abusive in a lot of ways. I am thankful every day that we did not have any children that either would have tied me to him in some way for the rest of my life or would have exposed a child to an abusive father. Without access to birth control, I shudder to think how things might have turned out differently.

The Bush administration you are so cozy with is still in its waning days doing everything it can to take that right away. Now, in light of my recent birthday, that’s not something I have to worry about anymore. But don’t you and your conservative cronies dare take away from my daughter what she may want and need when she’s a young woman. Again, maybe you’ve neglected to chat with your daughters about birth control and how they feel about this?

Senator McCain, those are just a few of the things I want for my daughter that don’t have anything to do with being a conservative or a liberal, no matter how you try to paint it. What I would like, though, is for you to wipe that ‘I’m-so-far-behind-in-the-polls’ smirk off your face when you hold Sarah Palin up as the shining example of anti-feminist, conservative motherhood.

‘Cause, you know, without feminism, Palin couldn’t even be your running mate, right?

Thanks to Mom-101 who tweeted this video.

Media outlets were speculating on this a few days ago when it was announced that Powell would be appearing on Meet the Press.

Powell says Obama has the “intellectual integrity” to be President, and has a “definitive way of business that will serve us well.”

Powell says Obama brings a fresh set of eyes to the problems of America and while John McCain is talented, Powell says America needs a generational change.

UPDATE: Clip from Meet the Press:

I try to stay out of politics. Really, I do. But the presidential debate Wednesday night really highlighted the candidates’ differences on health care in America. If you missed it, here is the briefest of comparisons, as presented in the debate and elsewhere.

Under Barack Obama’s plan, insurance companies will not be allowed to discriminate based on preexisting conditions. Like, oh, say, cancer.

Under John McCain’s plan, there is no such assurance.

Under Barack Obama’s plan, all children will have health insurance, through their currently held family plan, through Medicare, or under a new plan similar to that held by federal employees.

Under John McCain’s plan, there is no such assurance.

Under Barack Obama’s plan, I would be able to continue to get treatment at my current hospital, with my current doctor. I would be able to change jobs without fear of losing access to health insurance, due to my pre-existing condition. The little children in my son’s school would all have coverage as well, and be able to get care when they need it, instead of waiting to see if an ER visit is necessary.

Under John McCain’s plan, there is no such assurance.

The difference is striking. And huge, for those of us who have, have had, or will develop cancer in our lifetimes.

That number is one in three.

Go check out Susan’s writing about her battle with inflammatory breast cancer, as well as her adventures in motherhood at Toddler Planet! Thanks for being today’s Mother of Intention, Susan.

Sometimes, a little family intervention is necessary!

If only all political commentators could be so refreshingly honest.

Tanya over at Not My Gal wrote about yesterday’s BlogHer DC conference, and one of the commenters got very snarky, saying (and I paraphrase), that women will never become a power in politics or business because we can’t get beyond talking and chatting, sharing and caring. Men will continue to be the dominant force because they act unilaterally instead of collaborating.

Hmmm. To that, I say — not so much.

There may be the tiniest grain of truth in that generalization, but the whole “decider” thing hasn’t worked out so well in the last eight years, so it’s time for these guys who like to take charge in the boardroom and the political arena to step aside.

One truth I learned pretty early on, especially when I entered the world of law as a young associate, is that there are times when we, as women, need to step up and take what we believe is ours. Whether by nature or by socialization, women tend to be “askers.” I discovered there were definitely times I needed to push that little voice of uncertainty to the back of my mind, and don the mental cloak of being in charge. For better or worse, we’re a society where image sometimes counts for more than substance. If we have substance AND image? SCORE!

So, if there was ever a time to stop asking and start taking control and power over our voices as a tool for change, it’s now.

I had the sense, especially during the keynote speech with Carol Jenkins of the Women’s Media Center, Lesley Stahl, Liz Mair of the RNC and Mary Ann Akers of the Washington Post, that things are being stirred up. Winds are blowing and moving things around and that always leads to change. We’re not at the level of a collective tsunami or a hurricane yet, but dust devils can swirl things around enough to get attention, and you never know what that can lead to.

There are plenty of times in nature when little breezes are destined to become gale force winds. We just have to know how to capture the powerful force and turn it into something positive. I have a feeling things are going to be quite different in the next four years. Think we should go for it?

The media give us a lot of information about national tracking polls, but as we all learned the hard way eight years ago, our Presidential elections ultimately are determined by a few states rather than the country as a whole, thanks to that crazy Electoral College! So if my fate is going to be in the hands of a few states that aren’t sure whether they’re going to go red or blue, I want to know what people are talking about as they get ready to step into that voting booth a few weeks from now.

Turns out, no matter what state you live in, most people are talking, and worrying, about the same things.

As a girl who was born and bred in Pennsylvania farm country, I always try to keep in touch with what’s going in the Keystone state. For another Pennsylvania girl, Down-to-Earth Mama, equal pay for equal work is important. After seeing a political ad with Lily Ledbetter talking about how many years Ledbetter was discriminated against and made so much less than her male co-workers doing the same job at Goodyear, DTE Mama writes:

Then, when the ad states that McCain had opposed a law for “equal pay for equal work”, [my daughter] looked at the ceiling and began shaking her fists, groaning “McCAIN.”

She is four.

After the TV ad was over, she turned to me and said, “Mommy, why would McCain not want ladies to make the same money? We deserve it if we do the same work, right?”

BlogHer’s own Jill Zimon of Writes Like She Talks, who is totally connected into the Ohio political scene, isn’t just worried about the economy, like pretty much everyone right now, she’s also pondering falling stock prices and the Bush administration’s choice to oversee the supposed economic recovery plan, Neel Kashkari.

I’m hyperventilating just thinking about how much of my very hard-earned money from 25 years in the work force has disappeared. I know I’m not the only one. And I’m not feeling so fine about the guy they say is going to save us. I know age isn’t everything, but he’s a 35-year-old Goldman Sachs alum and I’m just a tad anxious about the idea of having someone with an inclination toward Wall Street being the one who will supposedly save us from Wall Street.

While the economy and the stock market are pretty much the big issues of today, and for the foreseeable future, there are others on people’s minds. MOMocrat Stephanie has been working hard in her part of that state for Barack Obama, and is tired of the hearing stories suggesting that John McCain, as a war veteran, has been a better advocate for military families and sets the record straight:

The Disabled American Veterans gives … Senator McCain, the man [Cindy McCain] claim[s] supports the troops and veterans, only a 20% rating. Senator Obama gets an 80% rating. The Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America just released their 2008 Congressional ratings and gave John McCain a D. Barack Obama got a B. Now I know John McCain is used to getting D’s, I mean he had to have gotten quite a few to have graduated at nearly the bottom of his Naval Academy class. But D’s aren’t acceptable when it comes to men and women who give their lives serving in our military.

I guess it’s no surprise that these are some of the issues swing state voters are concerned about. They’re just a few of the ones we’re all worrying about, especially for those of us who are closer to retirement age than we’d care to admit. So many thing are important right now, but the swing state voters will ultimately be the ones who decide the outcome of this incredibly important election.

I’m just keeping my fingers crossed that they care about the issues the same way I care about them and end up choosing the candidate I want to see in the White House.

Cross-posted from BlogHer, where PunditMom is a Contributing Editor for Politics & News.