Steve Einstein was angry the other day and couldn’t figure out why. While going for a run, it suddenly hit Einstein, a nurse at Memorial Hospice, what was troubling him: The McCain campaign. So Einstein did something uniquely American. He took a length of bamboo stick and an oversized piece of paper and, using yellow and green pens, fashioned a protest sign. “Thou Shalt Not Lie” is the message that Einstein has been spreading for the last three days as he walks patiently back and forth in front of Santa Rosa’s McCain/Palin campaign headquarters at the corner of South E and Fifth streets. Einstein explains that he chose the Biblical language in part to reflect the mawkish love of God and country that politicians often espouse when they want to sidestep an issue. But it was McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin as a vice presidential candidate that finally broke the proverbial straw for Einstein. “It’s such a cynical choice,” he says, pausing briefly in the hot afternoon sun. “To make the assertion that this woman is qualified to run our country. It’s absurd.”
As for how long he might keep this up, Einstein is stoic. “I plan to be here until election day,” he says, “or until they stop lying.”– Gretchen Giles
