sarahlee310:
2012swingstates:
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) has canceled her campaign schedule for the week to be with her critically ill 84-year-old mother, Betty Anne McCaskill, who was in a St. Louis Hospital Intensive care unit.
According to McCaskill campaign spokeswoman Caitlin Legacki the senator has canceled campaign stops in Mount Vernon, Butler and Clinton and all other stops through the rest of the week.
I applaud her for having her priorities straight, while cringing at the timing - not that there is anything she could do about that. I sincerely hope that Missouri voters can see how she is demonstrating real family values and do not penalize her for doing the right thing.
If that were me and my mom? She’d cuss me out the moment I arrived to watch over her in the hospital and tell me to get my ass out on the campaign trail.
True story: for 48 hours, my mom was in incredible pain, vomiting blood, etc. One hospital near their country home told her that she was just experiencing another kidney stone. They got back to Houston, neither the pain stopped nor the vomiting and my mom got so very weak - that my dad called an ambulance. For my family, this is a huge deal. He got to the hospital - and then, called me around 3 a.m. and I had been studying for a test all night, and had just taken Tylenol PM. He asked me to come to the hospital, so I did, and I lived like five minutes from it. When I arrived, she was incredibly weak and completely out of it, but she kept saying, to me, “Go home and go study.”
She said this as we had to remove her jewelry for the MRI. She said this as we waited for the MRI results, as we waited for the on-call weekend surgeon. We were informed that she had to have emergency surgery to repair a perforated ulcer. After surgery, before we could see her, my dad left to get some sleep… and when I could go into her room in the ICU, she STILL said, “Go home and go study.” I got my book out of my car, and a blanket and studied in her ICU room, while she slept, while I waited for my sister to get there. And anytime I asked her if she needed anything, she said, “Go home and go study.”
If that were to happen today, my mom would say one of two things: “Go home and get some sleep for the campaign.” or “Get back to work to win this election.” I’m not even kidding.
As a mom, McCaskill should know that her own mother would want her daughter’s dreams to come first. Is McCaskill a doctor? A surgeon? Is there anything she’s going to be able to do in the hospital other than wait around? Is this honestly a great use of her time and resources?
A man, in the same situation, would ensure his mother had the care she required from the best possible people, would check in as much as possible with the doctors and nursing staff, and then, head back out on the campaign trail. I applaud family values, but not stupid ones. This - right here - is the very example of what men say when they say women have no dedication. I don’t agree with it when they say it, but, seriously? In this instance, they kind of have a point. What parent, really, would want their child to remain by their bed side when they were ill, when that child were in a campaign like this one?
…and, if she wasn’t ahead in the polls would she still be taking a week off? NOTHING is guaranteed in an election cycle. It ALWAYS comes down to the person that wants it more. Before Akin’s comments went viral, McCaskill was losing this election. She still can.
*****
However, Chris has just informed me that this could be a benefit to McCaskill’s race, since she has a history of being perceived as a cold bitch… So… maybe I’m wrong…
(Source: The Huffington Post)
