This week on "The Perils of Sarah Palin," Alaska governor, veepstakes loser Sarah Palin continued jumping in front of microphones and cameras and saying things that never needed to be said for ... I don't know ... the amusement of schadenfreude loving Liberals? Late night comics? Evil Keith Olbermann? Why is she talking again? (And why is Joe the Not Plumber going to Israel to cover the bloodbath in Gaza?)
But most of all, why is she talking about this?
Palin also complained about reports suggesting that Trig Palin was not her son and said she was "frustrated" by rampant rumors about her and her family. However, mainstream media stayed away from such rumors, which were fueled by bloggers and others online and the supermarket tabloids.
"I wasn't believed that Trig was really my son," she said. She called it a "sad state of affairs."
"What is the double-standard here?" she asked. "Why would people choose to believe lies? What is it that drives people to believe the worst, perpetuate the worst?"
"When did we start accepting as hard news sources bloggers, anonymous bloggers especially?" she asked. (Huffington Post)
Why does Palin even bring up Andrew Sullivan's favorite sexy Palin conspiracy theory? No one in TV or in print touched this shit as they did not want it to get on them, stinking up the joint. This was PURELY an internet phenomenon. Yet, she talks about it openly as if the New York Times had reporters bribing her OB/GYN. As if Bill O'Reilly was giving in-depth chats on the status of her daughter's hymien with the rest of The Factor. Why even discuss it, you media-un-savvy nimrod? Why?
As I wrote on Facebook Friday (and feel compelled to share here), I just don't get why she would even bring it up or entertain questions about it. It would be akin to Hillary Clinton taking questions about her assistant allegedly being her Lesbian lover or that she killed Vince Foster. I mean, no one who considers themselves serious media would touch that shit with a 10 foot pole, but Sarah is literally dancing on the pole with pasties on. I mean, GET OFF THE POLE, woman! GET OFF THE POLE!
Mike Paul, Republican strategist, tells Pat Buchanan, unapologetic bastard, that the Republicans need to be a "big tent party" and reach out to the young, women and minorities. Pat's all, "Um ... no." Then has a good laugh about it, doing his best to frustrate, confound and infuriate Paul, who (naturally) wishes there would be more than just him, Condi Rice, Michael Steele and Ron Christie at the holiday party. Pat is Pat and Paul takes offense. Insanity ensues and this time Chris Matthews didn't have to do any heavy lifting. I can't believe I forgot to post this last week!
Pat, who I "lovingly" call "The Bigot," is notorious for not putting up any happy-talk when it comes to doing anything different from what they did in the Nixon Administration to get some black votes. Pat's of the mind that if you can get your 12 to 20 percent, great. If you can't, who cares? Why is he going to waste time winning over people he either:
A) Believes cannot be won over
B) Doesn't want anyway
Pat all but told Paul, "Vote Republican! That's great! Convince your friends and family! Go do that! Me? Me? I'm doing what I've always done. Jack shit. Because I don't give a shit. No sir. I do not!"
What's "sad" is some ... er ... ill-informed conservatives have bashed Paul on the blogosphere for this above sparring with Buchanan, accusing him of supporting Barack Obama. I'm going to assume they based that on pigmentation only because between Paul, Ron Christie and Amy Holmes, I don't know who was tripping over their feet the hardest to explain why electing Barack Obama would be a nightmare. I almost wanted to comment and defend Paul, then I remembered how I couldn't stand him and stopped myself. "What am I doing!" I said as I started to type.
But, you know, I care. Even when I don't agree. I care ... about keeping the record straight. Besides, I don't want them putting Mike Paul and The Snob on the same team.
PS. I'm still on vacation! Complain all you want, but Mariah and Nick will still be there until next Monday (because I wrote all the items two weeks in advance)!
Today's starter open thread topic: Who a gaggle of Republican governors are meeting in Florida this week and will be discussing the future of the party. Who will emerge as the leader, who will be the new stars and who will just barely survive the GOP bloodletting now that MacBeth McMaverick McCain candidacy has failed. Will it be Bobby Jindal? Will it be Mike Huckabee? Will it be Mitt Romney? Or will Sarah Palin find a way to pull an Effie White and announce "I now am telling you, I'm not going, MFers!"
Or, do you think the photographers ask for Glitter to whip out her rock or does she do it just because she likes to flash bling? It does sparkle and you know how she feels about bedazzlers, gem stones and all things glitterily tackylicious. Is she trying to make us jealous? Because I'm happy for her and Chuckles, but I NEVER found Chuckles hot. I don't want her man. But, hey, flash 'em if you got 'em.
The Black Snob's one (and only) defense of Gov. Sarah Palin. Governor, you're welcome in advance.
Palin was apparently a nightmare for her campaign staff to deal with. She refused preparation help for her interview with Katie Couric and then blamed her staff, specifically Nicole Wallace, when the interview was panned as a disaster. After the Couric interview, Fox News reported, Palin turned nasty with her staff and began to accuse them of mishandling her. Palin would view press clippings of herself in the morning and throw "tantrums" over the negative coverage. There were times when she would be so nasty and angry that her staff was reduced to tears. (From the notes of FOX News Chief Political Correspondent Carl Cameron, Huffington Post)
Stop, anonymous McCain heads and Monday morning quarterbacking Republican pundits.
Just. Stop.
You know what I'm talking about.
Stop bashing Miss Wasilla, Sarah Palin, aka "Caribou Barbie." Yeah, yeah. During the election we all had our fun and our Tina Fey impressions and our "I can see Russia from my house" joke variations. All that was great. But to listen to the "anonymous" Round Robin of McCain insiders who say everything from she didn't know Africa from country or contintent to she couldn't name the members of North American Trade Agreement to that she used her status to become a "Wasilla hillbilly looting Nieman Marcuses from coast to coast" is ... how can I but this? In really, really, really poor taste. Harping constantly about how she pushed to speak on concession night andrefused to cram the night before her "big exam" with Kaite Couric says to me you are throwing poo because you want no one to look at you.
Some of the leaks are just catty. Like telling the press she once answered her hotel door in a towel and wet hair, also in a towel. What the hell does that have to do with her being a nightmare candidate? What is that supposed to imply? That she's immoral because she answered a door in a towl? That she's undignified? Wasn't that 90 percent of her appeal for the base? The fact that she was ... ahem ... "real?"
This "Sarah Palin was an ignorant, ungrateful $2,500 borrow suit coat wearing bitch" attack meme is not working on me. Even with a GOP lawyer dispatched to the frozen tundra to take back that expensive packaging and window dressing called designer suits and shoes.
You do realize, Anonymous McCain staffers when you point a finger three more point back at you? That in doing this you are further more soldifying the fact that it was, as John McCain said in his concession speech, his own failings which brought about the loss. One of those failings was Sarah Palin, a women he'd only met twice before offering her the job. It was he who picked this Nieman Marcus grifting Hillbilly who allegedly didn't know diddly about squat. "Country First" was the slogan. Who's country came first when McCain picked the alleged ignoramous, one we were repeated told was the future of the Republican Party the past two months?
These same staffers protected, defended and lied for her when the left pointed out and mocked her flaws. But when the loss hit and hit hard instead of looking within and finding their own mistakes, they've gone feral, launching the malicious, sexist attacks many accused lefties of once pulling. You have chosen this instead of going "maybe we could have responded faster to the financial crisis? Maybe 'suspending' the campaign looked like grandstanding? Maybe we did a poor job of explaining 'why McCain' while shouting 'Nobama?' Maybe we had no coherent strategy? Maybe we never knew or understood how to handle the race issue or Obama's rock star status -- other than bitch about him being a 'celebrity?' Maybe we ran McCain's campaign into the ground? Maybe he ran his campaign into the ground? The man wouldn't even work on weekends. Maybe it was because all we had were stunts and tactics but no real transformative ideas? Maybe Obama's digital and we're analog? Maybe Obama's a Mac and we're a PC? Maybe we suck?"
And if they'd ask themseves these questions they would know the truth.
You're a bunch of sour losing sons-of-bitches who, rather than be introspective and use this time to figure out where the hell you went wrong, chose to blame the bitch, the oldest routine in the book. You've already branded Palin with a scarlet letter "C" for campaign wrecker when -- j' accuse! -- It was you, all of you, McCain from the top down, complicit in this catagory five failure of temperment and judgment. The people wanted change. You couldn't offer it so you simply ripped off the word and started calling yourselves "the Original Mavericks." You went narrow when you should have made a play for the center. You picked up lame attacks that made little to no dent once the defening sound of the housing crisis imploding and Wall Street crashing came down.
Palin may have gone off script, been opportunistic, been a dim bulb, but it was the McCain campaign who was paraded her around like their new prize pony. Who sprung her from obscurity to infamy. Then you get mad because the prize pony is a "maverick" and just does "whatever." She doesn't read things. She's out for self. As I said before. If I was the lummox, I would be too. As repellent as I found her views, she was being used by the McCain campaign to ignite a recalcitrant base, and they got that.
They just lost everyone else.
That's how gambling works, McCain and anonymous McCain staffers. When you throw the die and it comes up snake eyes you don't curse the dice. You gave fate a roll and she bum-rolled you, Rick-rolled you, sushi rolled you. As The Stranger said in The Big Lebowski, "Sometimes you eat the bar, and sometimes, well, he eats you."
The "bar" just fucking ate you because of your incompetence. Deal with it! Get therapy!
And McCain? To stand silent while your running mate's legend as a moron increases is really classy, and I say "classy" as in not classy at all. It reveals your true character. Are you that compassionate, magnanimous loser from Tuesday night or are you the son of a bitch who can't say, "Knock it off, people I hired! We lost! Sarah's flawed, but the blame is shared and the bulk of it lies with me." But instead we get ... silence.
I thought she was was ready to be your vice president, Johnny Mac? I thought she was your "soul mate?" Yet there you are in the busted "Stray Talk Express" pretending to look the other way as your staffers hogtie her to the ground so you can accidently run her over a few times.
Yes, she's cocky. Yes, she's a know-nothing. But she was YOUR know-nothing. You picked the Alaska disasta.' She was your one real chance to show your executive decision making ability and you came up craps. Well, tough titty, Senator. Stand up, stand behind, stand somewhere on your decisions. Admit that it's not her, it was you. Even if you hate her. Even if you wouldn't talk to her for most of those two months. Even though you both could read the writing on the wall. You wanted your pitbull in a skirt. You wanted this dinner of regret and crow, knowing now you will never be president, knowing you were destroyed by your own bad decisions on top of the failures of the Bush Administration and hundreds of other Republican politicians and operatives.
Invite your little bitter ones to your royal feast and tell them all to shut the hell up. While making Palin look bad, they are making themselves and their former boss look ever more the worse.
Personal responsibility shouldn't just be a political catchphrase every four years. Learn it. Love it. Live it. Practice what you preached, Republicans. Show. Don't tell.
Apparently the magazine didn't get the memo on Barry being a "spread the wealth," socialist, anti-capitalist red. Shame when that happens. Obviously McCain Campaign flack Tucker Bounds is not doing his job in getting the smears out n' stickin'.
(T)his cannot be another election where the choice is based merely on fear. In terms of painting a brighter future for America and the world, Mr Obama has produced the more compelling and detailed portrait. He has campaigned with more style, intelligence and discipline than his opponent. Whether he can fulfil his immense potential remains to be seen. But Mr Obama deserves the presidency.
This doesn't mean The Economist is in love with Obama. They're concerned about how he'll handle the Congressional Democrats if they start pushing protectionist economic policies and acknowledge that he doesn't have a lengthy resume to do extensive tea leaf readings on. But like many members of The George Will Revolt, The Economist's editors couldn't get over how different the John McCain of 2008 was from the John McCain of 2000. And Gov. Sarah Palin? She almost made them spit up their blackberries and brie.
The choice of Sarah Palin epitomised the sloppiness. It is not just that she is an unconvincing stand-in, nor even that she seems to have been chosen partly for her views on divisive social issues, notably abortion. Mr McCain made his most important appointment having met her just twice.
The Republicans really left them with no other choice ... and somewhere Mitt "Mittens" Romney, former governor of Massachusetts, is rubbing his hands together, prepared to pull the lever for Obama -- not because he likes the candidate (Heavens no!), but to make sure it's his economic phoenix who will emerge from the ashes of what he hopes will be a crash and burn one-term presidency to give The Economist the free market, ship your jobs to China, lower your tariffs and raise your dividends, lover candidate she deserves in 2012.
It seems the brain of the Republican Party is now horrified at the monster they helped create. Where will they go now? David Frum, David Brooks, Scott McClellan, Christopher Buckley, Christopher Hitchens, Peggy Noonan, Kathleen Parker, Charles Krauthammer (even though he still hates Obama), ringleader George Will -- the list goes on and on and they all blame, Alaskan Snow Bride Sarah Palin, but as Colbert drolly points out -- really? The party's been off the rails for years now. This is the excuse you're using?
On Larry King Live last night Larry King and CNN political map guru John King mentioned that the rift over Palin could lead to a break-up of the party. When Larry King asked the female Republicans on his panel about this I agreed with them in that I don't see this happening.
But I do see a mass purging coming if John McCain loses (or wins). A sort of Spanish Inquisition for modern conservatives, only instead of being drawn and quartered or waterboarded, they'll just be exiled to Berkley, Calif. or Greenwich Village, NY or the other anti-America parts of America.
I hope you like Gay Pride parades and spoken word poets, Peggy Noonan. Wherever those exist is where the RNC is setting up the concentration camps.
Someone won't stop hitting the Sarah Palin panic button at McCain headquarters and the giant screeching noise is giving me a headache
When all this Republican caterwauling over Sarah Palin ruining everything began a few weeks ago little did I know that it would get this far.
For the first time since never, a political party has begun its "pre-blame game" for a loss that hasn't even taken place yet.
I blame the yellow bellies of The George Will Revolt. They kicked off this kvetching, leading to multitudes of smarty-pants, conservative-to-moderate noodle-noses balking over marching to the Sarah Palin drum.
They'd choked down their George W. BushBoones Farm and pretended like it was Chablis, but they were not sucking down this latest batch of Palin Political-Wine-in-A-Box.
They went to Harvard. They are simply better than this ... all of a sudden.
Watching columnists, politicos, pundits and authors suddenly bolt from the McCain-Palin Pox has been amazing. Individuals who normally would have held their noses and voted McCain for King of America for All Eternity over "pick-a-Democrat-any-Democrat" are scrunchie-faced because they refuse to share a cheerleading section with Elisabeth Hasselbeck and Kellyanne Fitzpatrick Conway. The nerve!
Oh, now you don't like the Blonde Fembots for Freedom and their candidate of choice? You are soooo getting put in their slam book, Peggy Noonan!
Then there are the staffers, the back-biting, shark-jumping, whiny staffers, leaking words like "whack job" and "diva" to the press, who are basically accusing Palin of being the causation of the entire downfall of the ticket, party and possibly the industrial world. She just cruised in wearing a tiara and playing a flute, taking a wrecking ball to it all.
Really, noodle-noses? Really?
While I can't stand anything about Gov. Palin, the Maybe it's a pitbull, Maybe it's Maybelline cadidate, is not the cause of The Great GOP Panic of 2008.
She is a mere symptom.
The "panic" is a McCain-Bush production based purely on Bush having the opposite of the Midas touch and McCain tying himself to Bush post-2004 when the senator finally stopped hating Junior just long enough to realize he wanted to be president that badly.
Let's be real here -- John McCain PICKED Sarah Palin. Palin did not hop on Todd's snow machine with her five kids, future grandchild, governorship, a six pack of Schlitz and a sawed off shotgun (hand on pump, of course) and demand Mr. Walnut Cheeks to put her on the ticket. She was chillin' in Anchorage where no one knew her from Adam as the longest of longshots while Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty and Charlie Crist took turns holding the bowl of ice water McCain soaks his balls in while reciting the most famous line from Grey's Anatomy over and over: "Pick me. Choose me. Love me."
It didn't matter if they'd seen McCain and Sen.Joe Lieberman holding hands the other day. McCain needed a pro-lifer and everyone in that trio loved life ... especially if it began and ended on Pennsylvania Avenue. Crist was willing to enter a loveless marriage ... with a woman! It was that serious! So poor pitiful McCain had options and he went with a little Northern Lights "Razzle Dazzle."
Now Gov. Crist has extended poll hours in Florida from eight-a-day to 12. Apparently he is ignoring his "please do your best to suppress the vote turnout" memo.
But if the McCain campaign thinks Palin is some hick albatross they can to dress up to the tune of $150,000 only to hang this screeching, screaming, faltering massive Republican freak-out on her, they are sadly mistaken. No sir! You will NOT blame the Caribou Barbie for this! Every time you point one finger at the failed sportscaster you point three more back at you.
If I were Sarah Palin, I'd be looking out for number one like I legally changed my name to Ocho Cinco. She may not be an intellectual, but she's no numb-nuts. She can see the-powers-that-be within the McCain campaign measuring the noose for "a long drop with a short stop" just for her after the election. Why not go rogue when you know John McCain was only using you as disgruntled Clintonista/Jesus Freak bait anyway? It's Operation Chaos, baby. Yukon style.
Palin is doing one of my favorite "wronged woman" routines -- The Bitch Who Would Not Die. (Sometimes also known as The Bitch Who Would Not Leave. Just think Angelina Jolie in every movie she's ever been in and of Jennifer Holiday singing "And I Am Telling You" from the original Broadway production of Dreamgirls.)
The phrase refers to that point in the book, soap opera, movie or life story where everyone has decided that a particular woman is horrible and should just go away for the bettermint of everyone, but that woman looks back and screams nothing but Efie White until she either gets carted away or starts getting AWESOME.
Now, I don't want this to go "awesome" for Palin. I want this to end with her vice presidential dreams dying quite abruptly on Nov. 4. But until then, I want to see her go out in a psychotic blaze of glory. Don't wait for General Sherman and his army to show up and burn your proverbial Atlanta to the ground when you can torch that sucker yourself! Burn, baby, burn, Sarah Palin! Go so "Rogue*" you start hanging out with Stan Lee, wearing yellow and green jumpsuits. Dye a long white streak in your auburn hair and accessorize all your Anchorage consignment shop suits with full-length leather gloves as you purge the posh money Republicans, centrists and Colin Powells from the party.
There's only one way McCain can make the potential election loss on stick to My Fair Veep. McCain would have to capitulate again, join The George Will Revolt, denounce himself and cheer on as the GOP burns with Palin as the last woman standing, fatally destroying her chances of a second act.
Of course, McCain quitting would STILL make her crashing and burning and going "oh what a world!" John McCain's fault, but it might distract a few people.
Or he could concede. I suggest he consider it.
*And, yes. That is my second X-Men reference for the week. And, yes, when not being a snob, I am a nerd. And no, Todd cannot be Gambit even if Todd kind of looks like Gambit with short hair. He's not from the Bayou and he's not Cajun and I've revealed enough of my nerdom for TODAY!
Just when you thought it was safe to turn on the TV (in Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania), Rev. Jeremiah "Goddamn America" Wright has returned just in the nick of time ... they hope!
So are you scared? Because, whooo, if hearing Rev. Wright for a whole month-and-a-half at the end of the Democratic Primary didn't send you running from Barack Obama this lame, last minute attempt won't either. No new footage. No new allegations. Just the same old insinuations. He sat in the same church. He called him his mentor. Okie doke. Give me something new. Is Obama in a "down low" relationship with Rev. Wright? Is Malia Obama really Rev. Wright's daughter? Were Rev. Wright and Obama the "real killers" OJ Simpson spent all that time not looking for? Was Rev. Wright visiting with Saddam Hussien and Khalid Sheikh Muhammad before 9/11? C'mon, RNC! Put out some new tracks! I'm tired of the remixes! (Source: Politico'sBen Smith Blog)
And not because I think my sweet Hopey McChangey is going to lose. Au contraire, mon amie! Many Democrats keep uttering things like "landslide." America has been a 51-49 nation since the Culture Wars began and commonfolk could be divided along class and tribal lines. Such as, by nature of their needs, you'd think poor white people and poor black people would band together to fight their circumstances, but the teachings of Tim Wise would prove otherwise.
Culture Wars, re: ignorance and racism, trump common sense every time.
Or does it. And that's what freaks me out. Since the economy discombobulated all over us, the Obama Campaign has been on fire. Smoother than smooth. Calmer than calm and quicker than quick in recognizing and dealing with problems that most Democrats don't fight until after the fact.
Like poor and minority voters having their rights disenfranchised. Launching a team of lawyers to fight voter suppression in lieu of the looming election. The Colin Powell endorsement, huge no matter how hard some right wingers must trash a man they thought was their "pet Negro," but, as I've said before, if they'd ever actually listened to him talk about his reality they would have figured out long ago, Powell is no one's pet.
And the South shall rise again ... but for Obama? In Virginia? Once the seat of the Confederacy, it's residents are so dissatisfied that they're considering to go the way of The Great Black Hopemongerer? North Carolina? Talks of Obama using this "I'm rich, bitch!" donation stash to start making inroads in Georgia?
The state polls show he's more than closing in, he is beating down. He's neck-and-neck in Ohio and Missouri. He's leading in Florida where the Sarah Palin pick has gone over like a lead balloon with the fiscally conservative (but not too keen on the cultural conservatives) Jewish voters. Plus, her church participated in hosting a "Jews for Jesus" group. If you want to creep out a Jew who loves being a Jew, start hanging out with Jews for Jesus, which many Jews believe is a "peaceful" extenuation of the Holocaust.
Yeah. The shit is that deep.
John McCain is on defense, offense, the fence, fighting a trench war he only recently prepared for. The Obama campaign has been on the ground in ever state mobilizing for more than a year. Two years in some cases. Johnny Mac is a Johnny-Come-Lately, as he fights for Pennsylvania despite an 11 point Obama lead.
What the hell is going on? There are rumors that Obama plans to take his fight right to McCain's front door of Arizona, where the senator is up by 11. There are rumors that McCain, with his shrinkage -- re: funding shrinkage -- may abandon Colorado, where Obama is up by 5 points.
Next to falling off a stage a la Bob Dole, McCain is doing almost every thing he can to help Obama overcome the Bradley Effect and get into the White House and I salute the flyboys efforts, but I'm freaked out all the same.
The Democrats are "winning," people. The Democrats haven't done winning in decades. Save that brief respite called the Clinton Years (which were full of prosperity and filthy oral copulation), it's been a Democratic drought. Now we're facing the possibility of ANOTHER political monopoly, this time -- Donkey Kong style.
I'm interested if they'll go mad with power like the Republicans did, or if they'll maintain some semblance of common sense? Who am I kidding? Those sons (and daughters) of bitches want revenge. Even I want a taste. If they get the majority, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will morph into "The Punisher," black skull T-shirt at all.
But what scares me, with all the success looming, with everything going the Left's way, but we've seen this movie before.
How will the Democratic Party fuck up this time? They've botched so many elections. What possible scenarios are the DNC and the Obama Campaign over looking that they need to check their list twice on? November 4th could be a dream OR a nightmare. If the Dems mess up this time what is the most likely scenario (other than Mad Dog Joe Biden saying crazy things) to come to pass and how can we prevent it from becoming "deja vu all over again?"
In one weekend, Barack Obama received crowds of 100,000 and 75, 000 respectively in Missouri, his campaign announced raising more than $150 million in September, he's up in Virginia and North Carolina and Gen. Colin Powell endorsed him Meet the Press.
This is a lot, A LOT, of good news going into Monday and if we've learned anything from the last few go 'rounds the McCain Campaign cannot allow all this to become the news story du jour. None of this is helpful to the Republican candidate. This is so much "rah rah rah Obama" news that it will completely block out Gov. Sarah Palin's tethered performance on Saturday Night Live.
I don't think the appearance hurt her in any capacity, but it further solidified the point that she's limited in her scope. The best bit was in seeing her sway side-to-side while Amy Poehler performed a hip hop number in her honor.
But seeing her and Tina Fey quickly cross each paths like a pair of voodoo black cats isn't enough to silence Powell's statements that the narrowing scope of the campaign and McCain's judgment in selecting Palin as veep sent him running to Team Obama.
So what stunt will be pulled Monday? Where will the juggling bears and the dancing girls come from this time? Just how many trick ponies does John McCain own? I prepared for the Republicans to do their best to explain why Colin Powell is no longer relevant. That pretty much started the minute the interview was over with.
On Face the Nation, Missouri Gov. Matt "Little Boy" Blunt told Bob Schieffer the endorsement didn't matter, then dug into the crates with the "Obama = celebrity" meme when explaining how The Great Hopemongerer pulled 175,000 folks in Missouri rallies. Did I mention Matt Blunt is a highly unpopular governor who chose not to run for re-election rather than face certain doom to the Democrats this year? He took one for the team and got out of the Missouri Republican Party's way so they could at least have a shot at the retaining Jefferson City.
Blunt had his talking points. Endorsements don't matter. Even when they're from the guy behind the "Powell Doctrine," who is generally liked by both parties, is an iconic military figure and has played ball with the Republicans for the last few decades.
And Powell and John McCain are "friends."
But saying that alone isn't going to make it go away. It'll take something crazy and unexpected. Perhaps something clever involving Donald Trump and Heidi Montag, or Sarah Palin suspending her campaign to go hunt Osama bin Laden. Or McCain naming Joe Lieberman and "Joe the Plumber" as Palin's co-veeps. Or McCain calling for some random person within government to "step down."
Maybe he'll challenge Obama to a duel. Anything to keep the Irate Talk Express rolling and straight jacking for news cycles. Whatever it takes!
Gen. Colin Powell, seen here getting his swerve on at the Africa Rising music and fashion festival in London, is going on "Meet the Press" Sunday. Washington is a-buzz that the former Bush Secy. of State and leader of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (under the Poppy Bush) will throw himself onto Team Obama.
Earlier in the campaign, Powell was offering some foreign policy advice to Barack Obama, but had spoken favorably about both candidates throughout the election. Conventional wisdom is that it will be shocking if Powell doesn't endorse Obama, considering that backing McCain would be a non-starter (and not-really-earth shattering,considering Powell is a military man who worked for two Republican Administrations. Granted, the last one shut him down once they'd used up all his credibility, but it was within the same political family).
His address at the "Africa Rising" celebration inside London's Royal Albert Hall fueled speculation that an endorsement of Barack Obama is imminent.
Powell -- who has yet to back a candidate -- told the audience: "I stand before you as an African-American. Many people have said to me you became secretary of state of the USA, is it still necessary to say that you are an African American or that you are black? And I say yes, so that we can remind our children."
"It took a lot of people struggling to bring me to this point in history," Powell told the audience. "I didn't just drop out of the sky. People came from my continent in chains."
I don't know. Maybe this is part of some revealing "Oh my God! Colin Powell is some common Negro" journalism. Maybe seeing him with other black people, dancing of all things, then giving a speech where he acknowledged that African Americans have roots in ... gasp ... Africa, disturbed their sensibilities. I wonder if they remember his speech to the RNC a few years back and the large gaps of silence when Powell spoke about the reality of race in America. Just because you don't agree on the role of government in American life or you have an actual foreign policy/war "doctrine" named for you, doesn't make you magically stop caring about issues that effect black people. I swear.
What have I become, my sweetest friend Everyone I know goes away in the end You could have it all My empire of dirt I will let you down I will make you hurt -- Nine Inch Nails, "Hurt"
When Sen. John McCain looks at himself in the mirror does he like what he sees?
I've never been a fan of the senator, but there was a time when I didn't loathe the man. I was disgusted over his push back of a federal holiday for Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the 1980s, but time passed and by 2000, I was so blinded by my utter distaste from the inarticulate, "reformed" frat boy slacker seed of George Herbert Walker Bush, that McCain seemed endearing. Refreshing even. He was a champion on ethics and campaign finance reform (largely out of the hard lessons learned during to the Keating 5 scandal.) To the media, who he once affectionately called his base, couldn't get enough of his accessibility and loquacity and his affinity for "straight talk."
There was this sense that John McCain was letting you in on what was really going down within the Republican Party. There was even a time, after getting trounced in 2000 by George W. Bush, when he was actively being sought by Democrats to at least become a dependent or switch sides altogether.
He entertained the notion, but like Sen. Chuck Hagel did recently, he declined.
The race in 2000 was devastating to McCain on all fronts. His wife was verbally abused and assaulted for her painkiller addiction. His adopted Bangladeshi daughter Bridget was used as a smear to insinuate that McCain had fathered a black child out of wedlock. He was accused of being a traitor to his fellow POWs. He was accused of being unfit for command due to post-traumatic stress and a bad temper. Karl Rove's minions all but branded the man as insane.
McCain, never good at hiding his true feelings, hated Bush. He might still hate Bush. The 2000 South Carolina leg of the Republican campaign was dirty. The man turned tail on the red hot Confederate flag issue. Bush's team humiliated him. Other conservatives hated him because his ethics reform dogma interfered with being a true GOP party man.
When he endorsed Bush in 2000 after being destroyed by the affable man-child, he could barely contain his bitterness and he spat out several times in a row:
I endorse Gov. Bush! I endorse Gov. Bush! I endorse Gov. Bush! I endorse Gov. Bush! I endorse Gov. Bush!
He said he didn't want the vice presidency. His body language said he didn't want anything to do with him.
What a difference four years make.
After years of being bitter, after the smears, the lies and the obfuscations, Sen. John McCain found himself on a stage helping out a man he hated. Mired in a tough 2004 presidential re-election campaign McCain lent his credibility and brand to Bush, famously captured in the photo of that enthusiastic, but awkward embrace. This snapshot demonstrated McCain had decided if he could not beat them, he would join them.
All was far in love, war and politics.
Old enemies became tepid friends. Bush had an incredible team who could raise funds and get him elected. The both had similar views on the rectitude of the war. The Republican Party was known for rewarding individuals when it was "their time" to be the nominee. McCain was finally willing to capitulate, finally willing to play ball.
Finally willing to bend over and sell his soul in one tender embrace.
It is the defining moment of John McCain's political career: The Hug. George W. Bush's 2004 reelection campaign needed help. After four years of a surprisingly radical brand of conservatism, Mr. Bush needed some moderate bona fides. After a campaign of fiction and falsehoods that led us to war, Bush needed a credibility transfusion. After the Democrats nominated a certified war hero, John Kerry, Mr. Bush (who famously avoided serving not only in Vietnam but even in the Alabama National Guard) needed a warrior's support.
And so John McCain gave him The Hug.
In embracing George W. Bush that August afternoon in Pensacola, Florida, John McCain embraced Mr. Bush's agenda, his policies, his principles, and his manipulative, mendacious brand of politics. And McCain embraced him with gusto.
This wasn't an irrationally exuberant Sammy Davis, Jr., spontaneously wrapping his arms around Richard Nixon. This was a calculated, choreographed commitment. The John McCain most people thought they knew would never have hugged George W. Bush. More likely, he'd have punched him in the nose. And for good reason.
Put yourself in McCain's shoes. Someone benefited from (and, some believe, orchestrated) the most savage attack on your sexuality, your sanity, your marriage, your wife, and your daughter. He smirked as his supporters attacked your honor, your dignity, your manhood, and your innocent child. What would you do? Seriously. Some of us might have shunned someone who'd treated us that way. Others might have cursed them. Still others might have kicked them in the shin or kneed them in the groin. But not John McCain.
John McCain hugged George W. Bush.
What about forgiveness? you may ask. Good point. But forgiveness starts with confession and contrition, and neither Mr. Bush nor his top advisers have ever manned up and confessed to smearing McCain. Indeed, as recently as 2007, Karl Rove aggressively challenged a questioner who alleged he had "helped spread the false story" about McCain's daughter. "That is absolutely not true, and I take offense," Rove replied to the questioner at Troy University in Alabama. "If you have any bit of evidence that anybody connected with the Bush campaign was involved in that, you bring it forward, because it is a reckless charge."
So why would John McCain embrace George W. Bush? Not to be too simplistic: He wanted to. He believed in the Bush agenda and wanted to advance it into a second term.
But I'd take this one further with Begala.
John McCain embraced Bush for John McCain. Not for the country or ideology or party solidarity. He embraced him because he believed it benefited him and his cause. It gave him leverage. Now W. owned him one. If he became the nominee in 2008 that meant access to W.'s people, donors and team. The same individuals who successfully brought down him and Sen. John Kerry.
No longer the "outsider," he would be in that inner circle by the oldest political deception -- the marriage of convenience.
The base loved Bush, not McCain, and he would never see the White House without the support of the base. The 2000 race had taught him that. So many enemies became friends like Bush, McCain found himself kissing and making up with old adversaries like Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, the numerous Republican operatives who spread those defamatory tales.
McCain began selling it all away -- his morals, his integrity -- the minute he decided that power trumped all. In his self-prostitution he decided he could make it up to the country later.
If he was the right man for the job, and he'd believed he was, America would understand.
The ends justify the means.
Yet what I've seen lately is a man who has sold so much of himself for victory he is running out virtues to markdown. These last six months John McCain has been hosting a morality fire sale. All items must go to insure the presidency.
Straight talk? Gone. Integrity? Gone. The high road? He's on the low. Experience? Gone with the Palin. Why try substance when you can pull stunts? Why bother with talking to the best of Americans when you can rile up the weak base by appealing to the worst? Let's bring back the ghost of Jesse Helms to reach out with his white hands and snatch the White House away from a steadily advancing Obama.
Early this summer we learned that Sen. Hillary Clinton's fired adviser Mark Penn wanted the Senator to push hard on Obama by painting him as "the other." He wanted her to bring up former Weather Underground founder and 1960s counter-culture activist/reformed domestic terrorist William Ayers, by pushing harder on his "exotic" upbringing, by painting him as unAmerican.
Clinton was accused of a lot of things throughout the 2008 Democratic Primary, but in this one situation the-woman-who-would-not-be-queen said no. She had to draw a line somewhere. Calling Obama a dangerous foreigner was it.
McCain started out the general election, disowning individuals who demagogued Obama for having a Muslim name or those who used racial slurs. He said he was going to run on the issues, but the issues were not in his favor.
McCain tried a lot of things to "define" Obama, but none of them stuck. He's inexperienced! He's a celebrity! He's an elitist! He eats arugala! A lot of the false outrage rang of hypocrisy. McCain, while being in the senate for 26 years had no more executive experience than Obama. McCain was infinitely more wealthy than Obama by virtue of his rich second wife, Cindy's, inheritance. He was a sub par student who got into and got by in the academy trading off his father's well-respected name.
He gained some ground when he pulled out the politrick of picking Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate, but in a matter of weeks (and a few nightmarish interviews), he was down again. The thinking class of the Republican Party were already writing his obituary, leaving him alone with the disparate fractions of a broken political apparatus.
Columnist David Brooks of The George Will Revolt (growing larger with every passing day) called McCain's vice presidential select "a fatal cancer to the Republican Party."
Then McCain was struck by his Achilles' heel. Not his temper, but his other Achilles' heel -- the economy.
When the market crashed he was found flat-footed. He gambled again on an "in-name-only" campaign suspension to work on the crisis. He came off as harried and erratic compared to Obama's calm, unflappable demeanor.
He'd done all he could, he sold all he could to get to where he is now. Maybe in his mind he could justify it. He could make it up to America later. He was the right man for the job and Obama wasn't so it was OK. Maybe that's what he told himself when he looked in the mirror before joining in with the angry, fearful mob shouting out "terrorist," "off with his head" and "kill him," during rallies. The mob that was fuming and thrilled every time Sarah Palin pounded Obama for a trumped up relationship with Ayers.
Like a not-so-secret recipe of hate -- add one part Ayers, one part black, one part "secret Muslim" and one part "Hussein" -- no one in the McCain campaign would admit what their alphabet soup was spelling, but his supporters could easily read fill in the blanks.
Terrorist. Dangerous. Manchurian candidate. Foreigner. Black. Bad. "Not one of us."
It's been done since forever and many times it has worked. But this is a different candidate, a different election and a different electorate. Dog whistles are one thing. The tubthumping of Palin, John McCain and a suddenly "mad as hell and not going to take it anymore" Cindy McCain, were leading a rallying cry for the natives to grab their torches and pitchforks.
Who did this Obama fellow think he was anyway?
Many people, like pundits/politicos David Gergen, Chris Matthews and Joan Walsh of Salon.com, pointed out that this was going in a scary, old school Strom Thurmond/Richard Nixon, "Southern strategy" direction. MSNBC host Rachel Maddowwondered if this talk bordered on inciting violence. The Secret Service and FBI were already looking into a few more verbose individuals.
Some scoffed at this notion. Especially certain conservatives like Pat Buchanan who thinks almost any smear against a Liberal or a Democrat is fair game. Even if it's a terrorist laden, racialized smear when our country has a history of murdering black people under the most suspect and flimsiest of circumstances.
No one is expecting a return to Bombingham, but the theatrics did not make McCain look good and at the end of the day, in the most recent debate, he couldn't even fling those smears he so forcefully promoted on the stump and in commercials to Barack Obama's face.
McCain had a choice: bite down hard and bend over if he really wants this presidency by any means necessary or try to put out the fire he started?'
The episode reflected the intensity of the anger that many McCain-Palin supporters have for Obama -- anger that was stoked, in large part, by McCain itself. It also underscored just how difficult a situation McCain has walked himself into. Hours before he attempted to calm nerves, the Senator's campaign sent out a statement to reporters defending the remarks of its crowd members.
"Barack Obama's attacks on Americans who support John McCain reveal far more about him than they do about John McCain. It is clear that Barack Obama just doesn't understand regular people and the issues they care about," read a statement from spokesman Brian Rogers. "Even worse, he attacks anyone who dares to question his readiness to serve as their commander in chief in chief. Raising legitimate questions about record, character and judgment are a vital part of the Democratic process, and Barack Obama's effort to silence and shame those who seek answers should make everyone wonder exactly what he is hiding."
He tried to do the later and got booed. His base. His Muslim fearing, fear of a black presidency spewing base turned. They never could trust the bastard anyway. Did John McCain want this thing or not, hard right critics asked? George Bush, the son or the father, never let a little demonization get in the way. What was McCain's problem? Why couldn't he pull the trigger?
After his first debate with Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), both spectators in the hall and commentators on TV noted that McCain had deliberately avoided looking at his rival.
A close McCain friend said the reason is clear: McCain is miserable about having to run a campaign that’s antithetical to his persona.
“He is basically having to be somebody that he isn’t,” said the friend, who remains strongly supportive. “He is just not a guy that goes on the attack in public. For him to be on the attack constantly, attacking Obama’s character … McCain is uncomfortable with that, and it’s made him grumpy.”
That's why when I hear McCain speak and sound lost. When I look into his eyes and see confusion, frustration and exasperation that leads him to Bob Dole-esque flourishes of "Where's the outrage?" in calling Obama "that one." When I watch his campaign oscillate between "straight talk" and "hate talk," I see a man of two minds. One that remembers what he sold of himself to get here. Another that wants to win by whatever it takes.
In his wrestling with the devil we already know who's winning. This leaves the other side to look into the mirror and wonder what has he become. Things have come full circle and he is McSame -- but not for Bush's policies or his ideology -- but because he has become the thing he once hated.
The war hero is now the villian in the story of his life.
But I see McCain looking in the mirror, telling himself it'll all be worth it because he's not doing this to win, not for himself, but for the country. He's simply the better man for the job.
He blocks out the fac that he is steadily morphing into a charicature of Gollum from "Lord of the Rings." McCain nakedly desiring for "his precious" -- the power that comes with being biggest man to walk into any room.
The self-hate and the anger is there. But he will not divert from the path he has embarked. With a soldiers rectitude he will see this through even if the experience leaves nothing resembling the old John McCain behind.
The potential of absolute power corrupts absolutely.
The beast is unleashed! (Not that it was every properly tied up in the first place.) And now it's being used and directed by Cheerleader-In-ChiefSarah "Silverman" Palin -- guilty as charged of saying reprehensible things will attempting to be adorable.
She has studied from the annals of Patrick J. Buchanan (who has the world's most obvious and disgusting dirty old man crush on her) and she's demagoging as fast as she can to make up for her dear soul mate, Johnny Mac's, lackluster campaigning.
She's Sarah Palin-Christ, Political Superstar, and she just wants to let you know -- there's something not right about that Barack Obama.
“Well, I was reading my copy of The New York Times the other day, and I was really interested to read about Barack’s friends from Chicago. Turns out, one of his earliest supporters is a man named Bill Ayers. And according to The New York Times, he was a domestic terrorist and part of a group that, quote, ‘launched a campaign of bombings that would target the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol,’” the Alaska governor said.
“Barack Obama said Ayers was just someone in the neighborhood. But that’s less than truthful. His own top advisor said they were, quote, “certainly friendly.” In fact, Obama held one of the first meetings of his political career in Bill Ayers’s home. And they’ve worked together on various projects in Chicago.”
"Our opponent ... is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect, imperfect enough, that he's palling around with terrorists who would target their own country." — Palin, to donors Saturday at a private airport in Englewood, Colo.
"This is someone who sees America as 'imperfect enough' to work with a former domestic terrorist who targeted his own country." — Palin, at a rally Monday in Clearwater, Fla.
"To tell you the truth, Bill, I don't know why that association isn't discussed more, because those were appalling things that that pastor had said about our great country, and to have sat in the pews for 20 years and listened to that — with, I don't know, a sense of condoning it, I guess, because he didn't get up and leave — to me, that does say something about character. But, you know, I guess that would be a John McCain call on whether he wants to bring that up." Palin, in an interview with William Kristol, published Monday in The New York Times.
"I'm making it very clear, as I have a couple of times in the past, that there's no place for that kind of campaigning, and the American people don't want it." — McCain, speaking to reporters on April 23 about the North Carolina GOP ad which called Obama "too extreme" because of his association with Wright.
Well, the cat's out of the bag! Barack Hussein Obama is a secret America-hating terrorist bent on killing "whitey!" Hey, where da white women at, indeed!
But wait? Didn't this cat get out during the lengthy Democratic Primary with Hillary Clinton where everything from former Weather Underground radical William Ayers was brought up in an ABC News debate to Rev. Jeremiah Wright's greatest hits played ad nausem on the cable news? And didn't that cat do nothing since he still was nominated as the head of the Democratic ticket?
Funny thing that lengthy Democratic Primary, the sparring with Sen. Hillary Clinton mixed with the media's desire to hop on the salacious story of the week, be it Hillary avoiding sniper fire in the former Yugoslavia to whether or not Obama was "black enough," everything that could come out about Barack and his wife Michelle is already out, has already been examined and is already old news.
To be blunt, we already went through this. He's been vetted, thoroughly no matter what backwards world you're living in. The press ran with whatever angle they could find (Rezko, that Madrassa rumor) and found nada. What new are Xena Warrior Smear Princess and Mr. Maverick Magoo going to find? Are they going to bust out that picture of Obama in traditional Somali garb? (Done that.) Play that misquote by Michelle Obama loving her country for the first time? (Been there.) Find that "whitey" tape? (Urban legend.)
That's the downside the long campaign. You're playing the media's greatest hits from five months ago. You're too late. Unless you find something new all you're doing is preaching to the Sean Hannity choir.
But don't let me stop you. Please, discuss this instead of the fact that we're all screwed because there's between $16 and $60 trillion in funny money out there according to 60 Minutes. Go ahead. Get the yokels all riled up in this "us against the world" garbage that the ruling class has been using it since early colonists used the "specialness" of whiteness to separate white indentured servants from black indentured servants who were, quite suddenly, turned into slaves.
We know why they do it. For the base, the mau-mauing just plain works.
Palin's routine attacks on the media have begun to spill into ugliness. In Clearwater, arriving reporters were greeted with shouts and taunts by the crowd of about 3,000. Palin then went on to blame Katie Couric's questions for her "less-than-successful interview with kinda mainstream media." At that, Palin supporters turned on reporters in the press area, waving thunder sticks and shouting abuse. Others hurled obscenities at a camera crew. One Palin supporter shouted a racial epithet at an African American sound man for a network and told him, 'Sit down, boy.'
Nice. "Sit down, boy." As I've half-joked, half-seriously said, can we just bust out with the N-jokes already, because I'm tired of this "golly gee gosh," wink, wink "elitist is the new uppity" baloney. Gimmie the straight bigotry, no chaser. Reveal yourself as the baseless, desperate, ruthless political pugilist you are, Sarah, Plain and Full of Gall. So tough you can sling these words in front of 3,000 faithful, but so fearful that you can't say one word to a reporter who doesn't come from FOX News -- and even then you barely talk to them.
They're all the enemy (even though other Republicans talk to them all the time with little problem). Let's face it. If it doesn't involve rote memorization or a stump speech you are stumped by anything that requires deep thought. Or even cursory thought. You claim annoyance with Katie Couric's "gotcha" questions of "what do you read?" and "what Supreme Court case do you disagree with?" Perhaps if she'd asked what your favorite color was or your views on the New England Patriot's "Spygate" scandal of 2007?
All of this to distract us from the truth -- that the McCain hath no clothes. That the economy has left him bare. That his own risks have left him with the taint of one who is too dangerous to lead. That he is the wild one and the young guy, he's the calm in the midst of the hurricane.
McCain is all Rita, all Katrina, all Ike all the time. A whirling dervish of desperation, hiding behind the skirt of a political light weight refashioned as the not-so-heavy. But can he throw that Ayers laced punch himself at the second debate? Can he go even further? Even in that first non-game changed debate, McCain spent most of it looking agitated, as if he could tell he wasn't making up any ground. And looking constipated did not endear him to voters who threw the debate to Hopey McChange.
Damn that Hopey McChange! Johnny Mac tried to be Maverick McChange, but it didn't really catch on. So then he ripped some Kenny Loggins and took us all to the danger zone. Maverick's in the hizz house, bizz-itches, and he marches behind with the woman everyone really came to see.
Manufactured hype, no wind in the sails. All looking, no touchy-touchy! All style, no substance. And isn't that what they used to say about our dear Hopey?
To quote the malapropism Bart Simpson once uttered, "The ironing is delicious."
So this is the campaign, Johnny Mac? Now that you've stopped even trying to explain what you'd do to save us all from financial doom. Now that you don't bother to offer a tepid exit strategy in Iraq. You've pulled out of Michigan, announcing it, another contradiction -- letting the opposition know what you're going to do.
Plus, no one told the Palinator. She really wanted to give Michigan shot. Back of the bus, honey. Your job is to look good while saying douchey things, not interrupt the menfolks as they do their hardest to mismanage this boondoggle.
It's time to double-down and get ugly as McCain continues his MacBeth march to infamy. Better to go down in a blaze of hate (or a blaze of glory if the stunt works), than out with a whimper a capitulation. No need to put on niceties or heirs. The high road was abandoned a long time ago.
I had a length conversation with reader Dorothy last night about Sarah Palin. She was infuriated by Palin fulfilling the prophecy of myself and many political experts -- that the McCain campaign would find a way to rear the head of William Ayrers. This time it came through the mouth of their Cheerleader-in-Chief, Sarah Barracuda.
I told her that Palin was the embodiment of the sexual desires of conservative men in search and described her as such.
(S)he's the perfect person to do (attack Obama). She's the Punky Brewster of the Republican Party. The love child of Ann Coulter and (George W. Bush) ... But they're all so in love and proud of her and wanting to fuck her. It's by far the sickest thing I've ever seen. It's horrifying. She's the Britney Spears (circa 1999) of the Republican Party. Back when she did The Rolling Stone cover in her PJ's and undies and said she was virgin.
And on Sept. 26, Tom Perrotta of Slate.comwrote this:
Caribou hunting aside, Sarah Palin represents the state-of-the-art version of a particular type of woman—let's call her the Sexy Puritan—that's become a familiar and potent figure in the culture war in recent years.
Sexy Puritans have been around for a while. Anita Bryant, the Miss America runner-up turned anti-gay crusader in the 1970s, was an early exemplar of the trend. The young Britney Spears, provocatively dressed and loudly proclaiming her virginity, is a more modern version, though that didn't turn out so well. Elisabeth Hasselbeck, the most conservative member of The View, has a bit of the Sexy Puritan about her, as does Monica Goodling, the former aide to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales who admitted to engaging in improperly political hiring practices, including the dismissal of a career prosecutor Goodling believed to be a lesbian.
I continued to write to Dorothy:
I get sick of the small town vs. big city. When they first (introduced Spears) that's what they played on. That she was this "good" girl from a small town who didn't know she was hot who had a corny accent, but danced with a stripper's pole. That's where Palin is. And what he said is part of Palin's 90s Britney Spears allure.
She's a whore and a virgin. A virgin/whore. The unicorn of the patriarchy -- a woman who doesn't complain and puts out and does whatever you want her to do. It doesn't matter that even Palin doesn't cosign onto that shit. But some menfolks need the dream.
(A)fter watching Pat Buchanan, ordinarily a hateful bastard to everyone, go in lust/love over her and discount the fact that she was woefully unprepared or that "good enough" isn't good enough for the (vice) presidency, he just was like, "Fuck that shit! I got me a unicorn!"
She's someone they can point to when yelling at other women.
"See? She has five kids, stays hot and is governor! Why do you have to bitch about me (not helping to raise) my own kids? I want my woman to bring home the bacon, fry it in a pan and never let me forget who has the penis!"
Like many people, I thought, "Damn, a hyperconservative, fuckable, Type A, antiabortion, Christian Stepford wife in a 'sexy librarian' costume -- as a vice president? That's a brilliant stroke of horrifyingly cynical pandering to the Christian right. Karl Rove must be behind it."
It is a kind of eerie coincidence that Sarah Palin is being sprung on the public at the same time as the bimbo/frat-boy titty comedy "House Bunny," which features a poster of a beautiful young lady with Playmate-style bunny ears, big, stupid eyes and her mouth hanging open like someone just punched her.
Sarah Palin is the White House bunny -- the most nauseating novelty confection of the evangelical mind-set since Southern "chastity balls," wherein teen girls pledge abstinence from premarital sex by ceremonially faux-marrying their own fathers.
I'm not alone, in thinking that part of fervor is over the fever of the mythology of the Madonna/mother/whore psychology. Conservative pundits focus on her razzle dazzle and her camera-ready looks, but not on the fact that she was only able to recite talking points and defend herself. But you have to play make believer that Palin is about substance, otherwise you have to acknowledge that her selection was about sexing up McCain's saggy ticket. That she as a winky diversion to McCain's wrinkly politicking. Many aren't willing to admit that like Buchanan, most rather bask in the lust, dreaming of Palin, conservative Dominatrix-in-Chief 2012.
I can almost see the gears turning in the Obama Campaign machine.
Nobody move. This son-of-a-bitch could implode all on its own.
Sometimes I wonder if John McCain wants to throw the election. One person can't be this reckless, erratic and risky. This has to be performance art. There has to be a trick here, a method to this madness, yet we only see madness after madness.
Even conservative columnist Charles Krauthammerhad to fill Barack Obama with backhanded praise for being the one of even temperament and intellect compared to McCain's high wire, hail Mary circus act. For McCain there's no problem a tacky gimmick can't fix. There is no gawdy, grandiose display of "Country First" that's too shallow, disingenuous or shady. The wheels came off a long time ago, but he's still sliding around, getting by on what is left of his formerly good name. Relying on culture wars and the "us versus them" that he's never engaged in with any authenticity to get him through.
Because John McCain isn't a true believer. That's the main philosophical difference between him and George W. Bush. He's a war hawk and a free market lover and a hater of graft (ever since his career was almost destroyed by his involvement in the Savings and Loan debacle in the 1980s). But he's not a culture warrior. He's not Pat Buchanan or Phyllis Schlafly. He's not some Bible-thumping, Jesus-quoting, gay-bashing, master of divide and conquer rhetoric.
Everyone is expecting McCain to become increasingly desperate and dirty if the trend of Obama pulling away continues. People are predicting a dusty return to Rev. Jeremiah Wright (which would be pathetic) and more attempts to tie Obama to William Ayers (which would be the apex of pathetic).
The operatives and pundits recite all on cue that McCain is near the nadir of his campaign, a depth which he may descend to and never dig out of. Chris Matthews remains one of the few TV yakkers who can't let go of the fact that McCain's no. 2, Gov. Sarah Palin gave a "spelling bee-esque" performance that could have been done by any well coached grad student. That there was no thought in her answers, just the reciting of talking points and when those failed her, the rambling of words, a stream of consciousness that muddled the McCain's position on gay rights and the role of the vice presidency.
Did she really mean that the vice president needed more constitutional powers? Was she just bullshitting to get through the two minutes? Could it really be a success, Matthews bellowed if she kept having to look at her notes and had to rely on winks and declaring that she wouldn't answer the questions as asked no matter what, how could that be deemed a success? All politicians evade answers, he said, but few announced from jump that they would be doing so.
How could the pundits see a tie when all the polls said American saw an overwhelming victory by Sen. Joe Biden, even though their feelings towards her general intelligence and capabilities went from zilch to, "Oh, I guess she was just a little nervous when she bungled those elementary questions CBS News Anchor Katie Couric asked. She seems chipper now. She's talking loud and saying nothing, but she's standing on her hind legs and being assertive. Attaboy!"
More than once, Matthews, and many others have simply wondered allowed what on earth is going on in the McCain campaign? Why did every night appear to be amateur night for a veteran politician? All the Obama campaign has to do is lie in the wings and wait. McCain was doing the heavy lifting, dismantling his own campaign exploding brick by exploding brick for Barack.
I'm sure Barack appreciates it too. He needs a "Bradley Effect" buffer. He'll take every fumble and foible. Those ahead don't fall over the one behind. He can see the tip of McCain's sword and is anticipating a fall. No one fully trusts it, but that is the impression given.
Him pulling out of Michigan. Rumors he may pull out of Pennsylvania. The fact that his number one surrogate, his running-mate, can't do TV interviews. Hardliners pushing for McCain to play Rev. Wright's greatest hits one last time, but rumors that McCain likely won't, depending on the RNC and 527 groups to do the muckwork. The George Will Revolt, which continues despite Palin's make-up exam, with conservative critics suddenly turning on their nominee as if they've already declared him dead in the street. They talk as if he's already gone.
But sometimes they come back.
So we're left watching, waiting, staring not wanting to make one false move before November. We want to hasten the fall, but we don't want to delude ourselves into thinking the hard work is don. So we wonder what's next? No one could be this bad on purpose, we ponder. This has to be a trick.
I don't necessarily think this is a trick. These are the acts of distraction by a desperate man trying to break through the albatrosses of President Bush and the tarnished Republican brand. He's trying to survive a collapsing economy and discontent over two wars. He's trying to argue why a Republican can fix the mess a Republican president created. That they are not two of a kind. That he is not "McSame." This is how you act when you're coming from behind. Throw everything, do everything -- something has to work. There's no method to this madness. It's just madness. But just because they are desperate acts of insanity doesn't mean they won't work.
Rep. Barney Frankis not feeling the Republican response to why the bailout bill failed Monday. The Republicans came twelve people short in a vote where the Democrats brought two-thirds of their team.
Give me those twelve people's names, and I will go talk uncharacteristically nicely to them, and tell them what wonderful people they are, and maybe they'll think about the country.
Insiders say the Republican leadership made the mistake of going to the floor of the House not knowing if they had enough votes.
