Sarah Palin and Mark Sanford, who won't stop talking about the conjunction of their political and personal problems, are taking us into new territory where punditry has to give way to psychiatry to make sense of their bizarre behavior.
Consider the National Institute of Mental Health's definition of borderline personality disorder: "a serious mental illness characterized by pervasive instability in moods, interpersonal relationships, self-image, and behavior. This instability often disrupts family and work life, long-term planning, and the individual's sense of self-identity."
Of the two cases, Sanford's zigzags from ultraconservative pillar of the Republican Party to playboy of the Southern Hemisphere are easier to understand, a cultural cliché going back to "Rain," in which a devout missionary goes mad under the spell of Sadie Thompson.
Palin's odd week raises the psychiatric stakes--denying she is a quitter while quitting as she blames the media for her woes and then gives them nonstop interviews, a love-hate relationship with political fame that defies simple explanations.
In his analysis, Adam Nagourney of the New York Times observes that "there is plenty of evidence that argues against the idea that this was done with forethought and planning. The rollout was something of a car crash, as even her fans acknowledged."
Now Palin is all the over the place, talking to Time, CNN, ABC, Fox News and anyone else who will listen, wearing waders and spouting non-sequiturs next to a boatload of fish, embarrassing herself with references to a "Department of Law" in the White House and other unthinkable gaffes for someone John McCain and millions of voters deemed qualified to be a heartbeat away from a geriatric presidency.
Andrew Sullivan has compiled a dossier of her "lies," but that may not be the relevant category. What reality do politicians like Sarah Palin and Mark Sanford inhabit, and what would a psychiatrist from another planet make of their weird acting out?
Showing posts with label Gov. Sarah Palin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gov. Sarah Palin. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Saturday, July 04, 2009
Overstimulated Statehouses
"People," Gail Collins asks in today's New York Times, "what is going on with governors in this country? Are we doomed to see them go bonkers one by one, state by state?"
As the President heads for Russia next week, he leaves behind troubled American statehouses, from Schwarzenegger's in California handing out IOUs like a busted riverboat gambler to those of Sanford and Palin, who resisted Washington's stimulus money and are now heading out of office, maundering about higher levels of arousal in Argentina and Alaska.
In New York, the legislature is being held hostage by Gov. David Paterson, who got the job after Eliot Spitzer resigned over professional stimulus, while former Gov. Rod Blagojevich of Illinois, awaiting federal trial for corruption, loses out to Palin for the Sitting Duck Award, granted annually to the most ridiculed newsmaker in the nation.
Affairs of the states have been roiled by collapsing economies and rising pressures on chief executives to manage their way through crises rather than primp for the TV cameras in search of higher office. For some, like Bobby Jindal after his disastrous rebuttal to Obama's address to Congress, that may be a blessing in thin disguise.
Meanwhile, the antics of Palin, Sanford et al are distracting millions of mourners who won't win the lottery for tickets to the Michael Jackson memorial next week. Compared to some governors, the Gloved One was a model of sanity and much more entertaining to boot.
As the President heads for Russia next week, he leaves behind troubled American statehouses, from Schwarzenegger's in California handing out IOUs like a busted riverboat gambler to those of Sanford and Palin, who resisted Washington's stimulus money and are now heading out of office, maundering about higher levels of arousal in Argentina and Alaska.
In New York, the legislature is being held hostage by Gov. David Paterson, who got the job after Eliot Spitzer resigned over professional stimulus, while former Gov. Rod Blagojevich of Illinois, awaiting federal trial for corruption, loses out to Palin for the Sitting Duck Award, granted annually to the most ridiculed newsmaker in the nation.
Affairs of the states have been roiled by collapsing economies and rising pressures on chief executives to manage their way through crises rather than primp for the TV cameras in search of higher office. For some, like Bobby Jindal after his disastrous rebuttal to Obama's address to Congress, that may be a blessing in thin disguise.
Meanwhile, the antics of Palin, Sanford et al are distracting millions of mourners who won't win the lottery for tickets to the Michael Jackson memorial next week. Compared to some governors, the Gloved One was a model of sanity and much more entertaining to boot.
Saturday, April 04, 2009
Palin Social Notes
As the Obamas hobnob with royalty overseas, their former rivals, the Palins, are making news in Alaska.
The matriarch of the clan, Gov. Sarah, is rebuking Levi Johnston, her former son-in-law-in-waiting, for appearing on the Tyra Banks Show to reveal that he and Bristol were "pretty sure" her mother knew what they were doing under the Palin roof.
"Bristol did not even know Levi was going on the show," the Governor's statement says. "We're disappointed that Levi and his family, in a quest for fame, attention, and fortune, are engaging in flat-out lies, gross exaggeration, and even distortion of their relationship.
"Bristol's focus will remain on raising Tripp, completing her education, and advocating abstinence. It is unfortunate that Levi finds it more appealing to exploit his previous relationship with Bristol than to contribute to the well being of the child."
As unsettling as all this may be to Palin family values, there is more--the half sister of the Governor's husband Todd is being charged with felony burglary and misdemeanor criminal trespass and theft for two Wasilla break-ins.
Sarah Palin campaigned against Obama for being elitist and out of touch with ordinary Americans. It's looking more and more like she may have had a point.
The matriarch of the clan, Gov. Sarah, is rebuking Levi Johnston, her former son-in-law-in-waiting, for appearing on the Tyra Banks Show to reveal that he and Bristol were "pretty sure" her mother knew what they were doing under the Palin roof.
"Bristol did not even know Levi was going on the show," the Governor's statement says. "We're disappointed that Levi and his family, in a quest for fame, attention, and fortune, are engaging in flat-out lies, gross exaggeration, and even distortion of their relationship.
"Bristol's focus will remain on raising Tripp, completing her education, and advocating abstinence. It is unfortunate that Levi finds it more appealing to exploit his previous relationship with Bristol than to contribute to the well being of the child."
As unsettling as all this may be to Palin family values, there is more--the half sister of the Governor's husband Todd is being charged with felony burglary and misdemeanor criminal trespass and theft for two Wasilla break-ins.
Sarah Palin campaigned against Obama for being elitist and out of touch with ordinary Americans. It's looking more and more like she may have had a point.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Stimulus Show-and-Tell Starts
State by state, the Recovery Scoreboard is lighting up with projects to be funded by some of the $787 billion Congress passed last month to get the economy moving again.
Just keeping track of the money, let alone spending it wisely, is going to be a monumental job as governors appoint overseeing groups and, in some cases, "czars" to make sure the money is not fraudulently or stupidly spent.
The Recovery.gov web site is getting almost 4,000 hits a second, according to the chairman of the federal Transparency and Accountability Board, but it's not clear how many of the viewers are concerned citizens or job seekers looking to get to the money tap.
Residents of every state can click on the interactive map and get, along with a self-puffing picture and message from their governor, a breakdown, with varying degrees of detail, on the projects about to get going in their area.
State officials are under pressure to move projects fast and efficiently. As Vice President Joe Biden warned them at a Washington meeting this week:
"Six months from now, if the verdict on this effort is that we've wasted the money, we built things that were unnecessary, or we've done things that are legal but make no sense, then, folks, don't look for any help from the federal government for a long while."
Politics, of course, is part of the picture, as 2012 presidential hopefuls like Govs. Mark Sanford of South Carolina and Alaska's Sarah Palin righteously turn down part (but far from all) of the federal funds.
Their conservative grandstanding may go down well in future primaries, but they may have to take some flak meanwhile from their own residents watching them throw the money back at Washington.
Uodate: The New York Times reports: "President Obama issued a directive on Friday requiring lobbyists to make their requests in writing about the projects they believe should be awarded from the $787 billion economic stimulus bill, saying the plan 'will not be an excuse for waste and abuse.'
"In a speech to state lawmakers here, Mr. Obama outlined what he called 'unprecedented restrictions' to increase the transparency on how the government spends money on projects to boost the economy and create jobs. The conversations between federal lobbyists and his administration, he said, would be disclosed on the Internet.
“'Whenever a project comes up for review, we’re going to ask a simple question,' Mr. Obama said. 'Does it advance the core mission of the Recovery Act? Does it jump-start job creation? Does it lay the foundation for lasting prosperity?'”
Just keeping track of the money, let alone spending it wisely, is going to be a monumental job as governors appoint overseeing groups and, in some cases, "czars" to make sure the money is not fraudulently or stupidly spent.
The Recovery.gov web site is getting almost 4,000 hits a second, according to the chairman of the federal Transparency and Accountability Board, but it's not clear how many of the viewers are concerned citizens or job seekers looking to get to the money tap.
Residents of every state can click on the interactive map and get, along with a self-puffing picture and message from their governor, a breakdown, with varying degrees of detail, on the projects about to get going in their area.
State officials are under pressure to move projects fast and efficiently. As Vice President Joe Biden warned them at a Washington meeting this week:
"Six months from now, if the verdict on this effort is that we've wasted the money, we built things that were unnecessary, or we've done things that are legal but make no sense, then, folks, don't look for any help from the federal government for a long while."
Politics, of course, is part of the picture, as 2012 presidential hopefuls like Govs. Mark Sanford of South Carolina and Alaska's Sarah Palin righteously turn down part (but far from all) of the federal funds.
Their conservative grandstanding may go down well in future primaries, but they may have to take some flak meanwhile from their own residents watching them throw the money back at Washington.
Uodate: The New York Times reports: "President Obama issued a directive on Friday requiring lobbyists to make their requests in writing about the projects they believe should be awarded from the $787 billion economic stimulus bill, saying the plan 'will not be an excuse for waste and abuse.'
"In a speech to state lawmakers here, Mr. Obama outlined what he called 'unprecedented restrictions' to increase the transparency on how the government spends money on projects to boost the economy and create jobs. The conversations between federal lobbyists and his administration, he said, would be disclosed on the Internet.
“'Whenever a project comes up for review, we’re going to ask a simple question,' Mr. Obama said. 'Does it advance the core mission of the Recovery Act? Does it jump-start job creation? Does it lay the foundation for lasting prosperity?'”
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Jindal-Palin, Obama-Hillary for 2012?
Tonight's spotlight on Bobby Jindal to rebut Obama's speech to Congress shows Republican reverting to the finest traditions of show business, type casting, in the wake of last year's election disaster.
Just as Marilyn Monroe begot Jayne Mansfield and Mamie Van Doren and one TV reality show spawned dozens more, the GOP now has an African-American chairman and is pushing forward Jindal and Sarah Palin to duke it out in the 2012 primaries--a plot twist with two demographically appealing young governors of different genders to repeat last year's electoral success of the Democratic senators.
Like all type casting and knockoffs, the problem is a severe drop in quality of the product. Sarah Palin, it is amply clear, is no Hillary Clinton, and the Indian-American Louisiana governor is showing some of Barack Obama's rhetorical style but little of the substance.
Nonetheless, GOP hopes are high. "Gov. Jindal," says the director of the Republican Governors Association, "provides the outside-the-beltway, not D.C., perspective. And he's one of the smartest policy minds in the country. He's not perceived as an overtly political person."
Say what? Spouting conservative platitudes, Jindal is refusing stimulus money for the unemployed on the flimsiest grounds, leading the New York Times to observe in an editorial:
"Governors like Mr. Jindal should be worrying about how to end this recession while helping constituents feed and house their families--not about finding ways to revive tired election-year arguments about big spending versus small government."
It's encouraging to see Republicans trying to get into the 21st century, but they may want to take a closer look at show business' dismal record with sequels, retreads and reruns.
Just as Marilyn Monroe begot Jayne Mansfield and Mamie Van Doren and one TV reality show spawned dozens more, the GOP now has an African-American chairman and is pushing forward Jindal and Sarah Palin to duke it out in the 2012 primaries--a plot twist with two demographically appealing young governors of different genders to repeat last year's electoral success of the Democratic senators.
Like all type casting and knockoffs, the problem is a severe drop in quality of the product. Sarah Palin, it is amply clear, is no Hillary Clinton, and the Indian-American Louisiana governor is showing some of Barack Obama's rhetorical style but little of the substance.
Nonetheless, GOP hopes are high. "Gov. Jindal," says the director of the Republican Governors Association, "provides the outside-the-beltway, not D.C., perspective. And he's one of the smartest policy minds in the country. He's not perceived as an overtly political person."
Say what? Spouting conservative platitudes, Jindal is refusing stimulus money for the unemployed on the flimsiest grounds, leading the New York Times to observe in an editorial:
"Governors like Mr. Jindal should be worrying about how to end this recession while helping constituents feed and house their families--not about finding ways to revive tired election-year arguments about big spending versus small government."
It's encouraging to see Republicans trying to get into the 21st century, but they may want to take a closer look at show business' dismal record with sequels, retreads and reruns.
Monday, February 02, 2009
Sarah Palin, Silent Star
We are back to the days when movie actors posed and pranced for the cameras without uttering a word in the new media strategy of the Republican vice-presidential candidate whose charisma had an unfortunate side effect last year--foot-in-mouth disease that hurt John McCain's chances.
Here she is in Washington this weekend for photo ops after notifying the assembled Republicans in Hot Springs, Va. that she would be tied up on state business in Alaska, making the 4,500-mile trip to attend the Alfalfa Club Dinner Saturday night, an annual closed-door do for the nation's political elite.
But Governor Palin said not a word, either at the dinner or in answer to questions reporters tried to ask as she came and went.
While giving media the silent treatment, Palin has formed a political action committee that will allow her to raise money for and donate cash to candidates for office over the coming years, positioning herself to run for president in 2012.
Sarahpac will be "dedicated to building America's future, supporting fresh ideas and candidates who share our vision for reform and innovation."
The new Palin strategy of media muteness will certainly keep her gaffe-free for a while, but there is no sign that it is stirring fellow Republicans. Asked about her no-show at the Congressional GOP gathering, House Leader John Boehner had a succinct comment:
"Whatever."
Here she is in Washington this weekend for photo ops after notifying the assembled Republicans in Hot Springs, Va. that she would be tied up on state business in Alaska, making the 4,500-mile trip to attend the Alfalfa Club Dinner Saturday night, an annual closed-door do for the nation's political elite.
But Governor Palin said not a word, either at the dinner or in answer to questions reporters tried to ask as she came and went.
While giving media the silent treatment, Palin has formed a political action committee that will allow her to raise money for and donate cash to candidates for office over the coming years, positioning herself to run for president in 2012.
Sarahpac will be "dedicated to building America's future, supporting fresh ideas and candidates who share our vision for reform and innovation."
The new Palin strategy of media muteness will certainly keep her gaffe-free for a while, but there is no sign that it is stirring fellow Republicans. Asked about her no-show at the Congressional GOP gathering, House Leader John Boehner had a succinct comment:
"Whatever."
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Privacy for the Palin Family
Years from now, at show-and-tell in school, Tripp Easton Mitchell Johnston will be able to bring in pictures of his grandmothers from the year he was born, one of them running for vice-president of the US and the other being busted for dealing dope.
Even in wide-open Wasila, Alaska, that could be unusual for the baby born this weekend to Sarah Palin's daughter Bristol, a 7 pound, 4 ounce boy whose father, Levi, took a bow at the Republican convention this fall.
But young Tripp's privacy will be protected from now on. The governor's office has said it would not release information because it considers the birth "a private family matter."
Meanwhile, Grandma Palin is busy governing Alaska, Grandma Johnston is facing felony drug charges for transactions involving OxyContin, a prescription painkiller, and the happy parents are planning to marry next year.
Keep moving along, folks, nothing unusual to see here.
Even in wide-open Wasila, Alaska, that could be unusual for the baby born this weekend to Sarah Palin's daughter Bristol, a 7 pound, 4 ounce boy whose father, Levi, took a bow at the Republican convention this fall.
But young Tripp's privacy will be protected from now on. The governor's office has said it would not release information because it considers the birth "a private family matter."
Meanwhile, Grandma Palin is busy governing Alaska, Grandma Johnston is facing felony drug charges for transactions involving OxyContin, a prescription painkiller, and the happy parents are planning to marry next year.
Keep moving along, folks, nothing unusual to see here.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Colin Powell Spanks Sarah Palin
After being overshadowed by another spunky statehouse figure, Alaska's Governor finally gets some attention this weekend as Colin Powell emerges on CNN with a little lecture for her on American values.
"Gov. Palin," Powell tells Fareed Zakaria, "pushed the party more to the right, and...had something of a polarizing effect when she talked about how small town values are good. Well, most of us don’t live in small towns. And I was raised in the South Bronx, and there’s nothing wrong with my value system from the South Bronx."
I admit bias here. Colin Powell started life in Harlem and the Bronx of poor immigrant parents, as I did, and was given an education at the City College of New York, as I was, by the American people. He spent his life serving them with honor and valor until George W. Bush and Dick Cheney trashed his reputation by putting him out front at the UN with doctored intelligence about Iraq.
Having taxpayers give you what your parents could never afford gave generations of us values of community and responsibility that led many to try to do more than make money and reputations.
Colin Powell, with his endorsement of Obama and now his attempt to push the Republican Party back to its roots and ahead to its future of talking to all minorities, including hockey moms, is still trying to serve his country.
"Gov. Palin," Powell tells Fareed Zakaria, "pushed the party more to the right, and...had something of a polarizing effect when she talked about how small town values are good. Well, most of us don’t live in small towns. And I was raised in the South Bronx, and there’s nothing wrong with my value system from the South Bronx."
I admit bias here. Colin Powell started life in Harlem and the Bronx of poor immigrant parents, as I did, and was given an education at the City College of New York, as I was, by the American people. He spent his life serving them with honor and valor until George W. Bush and Dick Cheney trashed his reputation by putting him out front at the UN with doctored intelligence about Iraq.
Having taxpayers give you what your parents could never afford gave generations of us values of community and responsibility that led many to try to do more than make money and reputations.
Colin Powell, with his endorsement of Obama and now his attempt to push the Republican Party back to its roots and ahead to its future of talking to all minorities, including hockey moms, is still trying to serve his country.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Flying Turkeys of Yesteryear
It's not every day you get to write a sentence like this:
As Keith Olbermann was making a pumpkin pie with Martha Stewart yesterday, they discussed the video of Sarah Palin cheerfully pardoning a Thanksgiving turkey with others being slaughtered in the background, as he recalled the classic 1978 WKRP sitcom episode of turkeys being dropped from a helicopter on the mistaken assumption that they could fly.
In the context of politicians scrambling around to give Citibank, AIG and other plummeting turkeys a soft landing, there is something symbolic about Palin's rescue plan for one bird while others are going down.
After all this, the nostalgic may opt for a Thanksgiving dinner of moose chili and watching tapes of Jimmy Carter's fireside chats about the ailing economy back then.
As Keith Olbermann was making a pumpkin pie with Martha Stewart yesterday, they discussed the video of Sarah Palin cheerfully pardoning a Thanksgiving turkey with others being slaughtered in the background, as he recalled the classic 1978 WKRP sitcom episode of turkeys being dropped from a helicopter on the mistaken assumption that they could fly.
In the context of politicians scrambling around to give Citibank, AIG and other plummeting turkeys a soft landing, there is something symbolic about Palin's rescue plan for one bird while others are going down.
After all this, the nostalgic may opt for a Thanksgiving dinner of moose chili and watching tapes of Jimmy Carter's fireside chats about the ailing economy back then.
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Half-Baked Alaska
In that alternate reality Up North, Gov. Sarah Palin is back home with her new fame and wardrobe, while Ted Stevens seems to have won reelection to his Senate seat.
The careers of Alaska's two media stars have been intertwined since before Palin emerged and ran for the state house in 2006, and the conjunction will clearly continue.
Senate Republicans, anxious to escape the past and look to the future, would undoubtedly pressure the 84-year-old convicted felon to step aside to let Palin run for the seat in a special election early next year.
That would pose a slight problem for John McCain's running mate, who attained national stature without showing any knowledge whatsoever about substantive issues. As a senator, she would be a politician, to quote her convention speech, "with actual responsibilities" to know what's involved in proposed legislation and cast votes.
But her admirers at the National Review and Weekly Standard would be happy to supply tutelage, and it would be hard for Palin to resist the spotlight and remain frozen in Juneau.
As she told Rush Limbaugh, she is not bothered by the pesky attentions of the mainstream media: "Well, yeah, I guess that message is they do want me to sit down and shut up. But that's not going to happen. I care too much about this great country."
In his concession speech last night, McCain called Palin "an impressive new voice in our party for reform and the principles that have always been our greatest strength" and in Washington she would have much more occasion to wear the designer clothes that Republican contributors bought for her.
The careers of Alaska's two media stars have been intertwined since before Palin emerged and ran for the state house in 2006, and the conjunction will clearly continue.
Senate Republicans, anxious to escape the past and look to the future, would undoubtedly pressure the 84-year-old convicted felon to step aside to let Palin run for the seat in a special election early next year.
That would pose a slight problem for John McCain's running mate, who attained national stature without showing any knowledge whatsoever about substantive issues. As a senator, she would be a politician, to quote her convention speech, "with actual responsibilities" to know what's involved in proposed legislation and cast votes.
But her admirers at the National Review and Weekly Standard would be happy to supply tutelage, and it would be hard for Palin to resist the spotlight and remain frozen in Juneau.
As she told Rush Limbaugh, she is not bothered by the pesky attentions of the mainstream media: "Well, yeah, I guess that message is they do want me to sit down and shut up. But that's not going to happen. I care too much about this great country."
In his concession speech last night, McCain called Palin "an impressive new voice in our party for reform and the principles that have always been our greatest strength" and in Washington she would have much more occasion to wear the designer clothes that Republican contributors bought for her.
Sunday, November 02, 2008
Palin's Pluses
As new polling shows her costing him more votes than she might win, John McCain's running mate is, in her own way, doing a number of services for the Republican Party and the nation as a whole.
For one, Sarah Palin is proving that gender doesn't count in bringing ignorance (pace Dan Quayle) and mean-spiritedness (shades of Spiro Agnew) to a national ticket as she promises a balanced budget after four years of a McCain Administration and keeps repeating blatant lies about Barack Obama's tax proposals. Feminists can rest easy now that she and Hillary Clinton have shown women to be the equals of men in both venality and statesmanship.
Perhaps even more valuable is Palin's demonstration, by her meteoric rise and downfall, that media exposure cuts both ways in politics as well as show business (i.e., Britney Spears and Paris Hilton). Her handlers have learned that in presidential politics, as Muhammad Ali said about the prize ring, you can run but you can't hide.
Palin's most important contribution may be yet to come. When the extremists who finessed McCain into choosing her for VP start pushing Palin for the top spot in 2012, traditional Republican may finally rise up and take back their party and restore responsible two-party politics to the national dialogue.
If and when that happens, Palin can go back to governing Alaska with a sense of accomplishment and a nifty new wardrobe.
For one, Sarah Palin is proving that gender doesn't count in bringing ignorance (pace Dan Quayle) and mean-spiritedness (shades of Spiro Agnew) to a national ticket as she promises a balanced budget after four years of a McCain Administration and keeps repeating blatant lies about Barack Obama's tax proposals. Feminists can rest easy now that she and Hillary Clinton have shown women to be the equals of men in both venality and statesmanship.
Perhaps even more valuable is Palin's demonstration, by her meteoric rise and downfall, that media exposure cuts both ways in politics as well as show business (i.e., Britney Spears and Paris Hilton). Her handlers have learned that in presidential politics, as Muhammad Ali said about the prize ring, you can run but you can't hide.
Palin's most important contribution may be yet to come. When the extremists who finessed McCain into choosing her for VP start pushing Palin for the top spot in 2012, traditional Republican may finally rise up and take back their party and restore responsible two-party politics to the national dialogue.
If and when that happens, Palin can go back to governing Alaska with a sense of accomplishment and a nifty new wardrobe.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Wisdom of the Aged
Andrew Sullivan cites her for commentary "that knocks your socks off," but with the restraint more seemly for age, I just tip my hat to 82-year-old Helen Philpot of Texas and her college friend, Margaret Schmechtman of Maine, who have started an octogenarian blog that really rocks.
Ms. Philpot does not mince words:
"I am surprised that some of you are up in arms about my calling Sarah Palin a bitch, or John McCain an ass or even George Bush a jackass...Some of you are actually praying for me...
"Well this old broad is hurt...I am so sorry if I have offended any of you...
"New rules:
"I will stop calling George Bush a jackass when he stops calling me a terrorist: Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.
"I will stop calling John McCain an ass when he stops calling Barack Obama a socialist at every dog and pony show on the Straight Talk Express tour.
"I will stop calling Sarah Palin a bitch when she stops calling Obama a terrorist sympathizer. And I will stop calling Sarah Palin a bitch when she stops calling the parts of the country where I don’t live more Pro-American than the part of the country where I do live. And I will definitely stop calling Sarah Palin a bitch when she stops acting like a bitch.
"I’m old enough to remember the Republican party of Barry Goldwater--when the party stood for fiscal responsibility, small government and personal freedoms. I remember when I could talk with friends about politics and just agree to disagree. And then religious nut cases decided that if you didn’t agree with them you were immoral. So they went and elected George Bush President so he could take the Republican Party from being a party full of respectable people to a party filled with asses, jackasses and yes--bitches like Sarah Palin."
Ms. Philpot has a good memory and a salty tongue that makes some of her contemporaries (like me) sound timid and lame.
Ms. Philpot does not mince words:
"I am surprised that some of you are up in arms about my calling Sarah Palin a bitch, or John McCain an ass or even George Bush a jackass...Some of you are actually praying for me...
"Well this old broad is hurt...I am so sorry if I have offended any of you...
"New rules:
"I will stop calling George Bush a jackass when he stops calling me a terrorist: Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.
"I will stop calling John McCain an ass when he stops calling Barack Obama a socialist at every dog and pony show on the Straight Talk Express tour.
"I will stop calling Sarah Palin a bitch when she stops calling Obama a terrorist sympathizer. And I will stop calling Sarah Palin a bitch when she stops calling the parts of the country where I don’t live more Pro-American than the part of the country where I do live. And I will definitely stop calling Sarah Palin a bitch when she stops acting like a bitch.
"I’m old enough to remember the Republican party of Barry Goldwater--when the party stood for fiscal responsibility, small government and personal freedoms. I remember when I could talk with friends about politics and just agree to disagree. And then religious nut cases decided that if you didn’t agree with them you were immoral. So they went and elected George Bush President so he could take the Republican Party from being a party full of respectable people to a party filled with asses, jackasses and yes--bitches like Sarah Palin."
Ms. Philpot has a good memory and a salty tongue that makes some of her contemporaries (like me) sound timid and lame.
Wednesday Night Live
The presidential campaign peaked on prime-time TV with Barack Obama's 30-minute, $5 million valentine to the American middle class, followed by John McCain on Larry King, free of charge, expressing pride and confidence in Sarah Palin, while admitting their maverickosity leads to an occasional difference of opinion.
Later, Obama upstaged himself on the Daily Show by simultaneously appearing live in Florida to embrace and be embraced by Bill Clinton. In contrast, George W. Bush seemed to be in a presidential protection program as far as McCain was concerned.
A visitor from another planet could easily tell who is ahead by Obama's concentration on hopes for the future, while McCain and Palin continued to belabor fears about their opponent's past, adding a Palestinian professor to their pantheon of scary passing acquaintances.
The political pundits have now been reduced to debating the reliability of public opinion polls to produce suspense in a race that seems to be headed in one direction even as a deciding World Series game ended competition in the other national pastime.
Later, Obama upstaged himself on the Daily Show by simultaneously appearing live in Florida to embrace and be embraced by Bill Clinton. In contrast, George W. Bush seemed to be in a presidential protection program as far as McCain was concerned.
A visitor from another planet could easily tell who is ahead by Obama's concentration on hopes for the future, while McCain and Palin continued to belabor fears about their opponent's past, adding a Palestinian professor to their pantheon of scary passing acquaintances.
The political pundits have now been reduced to debating the reliability of public opinion polls to produce suspense in a race that seems to be headed in one direction even as a deciding World Series game ended competition in the other national pastime.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Sarah Palin's Sentimental Side
After Election Day, Alaska may have the Vice President-Elect (or not) and a convicted felon who has just won another term in the Senate (or not), but in any case, they are not likely to be exchanging Christmas cards.
After Ted Stevens was found guilty today, Sarah Palin said it was a sad day for Alaska and promptly threw her former mentor under the bus:
"The verdict shines a light on the corrupting influence of the big oil service company up there in Alaska that was allowed to control too much of our state. And that control was part of the culture of corruption that I was elected to fight, and that fight must always move forward regardless of party affiliation or seniority or even past service."
In stepping over Stevens' still warm body, Palin is overlooking their personal history: that, during her 2006 race for governor, Palin, while calling on Stevens to come clean about his alleged wrongdoing, held a joint news conference with him, before he was indicted, to have it both ways. Stevens reciprocated with a last-minute endorsement and filmed a campaign commercial for her.
Their connection began in 2003 with Palin serving as a director of the ethically iffy "Ted Stevens Excellence in Public Service, Inc.," a 527 group to raise unlimited funds from corporate donors to help Republican women running for office in Alaska.
If the Republicans fail to take the White House next week, this could be a preview of the gratitude and loyalty John McCain can expect from his running mate in the future.
After Ted Stevens was found guilty today, Sarah Palin said it was a sad day for Alaska and promptly threw her former mentor under the bus:
"The verdict shines a light on the corrupting influence of the big oil service company up there in Alaska that was allowed to control too much of our state. And that control was part of the culture of corruption that I was elected to fight, and that fight must always move forward regardless of party affiliation or seniority or even past service."
In stepping over Stevens' still warm body, Palin is overlooking their personal history: that, during her 2006 race for governor, Palin, while calling on Stevens to come clean about his alleged wrongdoing, held a joint news conference with him, before he was indicted, to have it both ways. Stevens reciprocated with a last-minute endorsement and filmed a campaign commercial for her.
Their connection began in 2003 with Palin serving as a director of the ethically iffy "Ted Stevens Excellence in Public Service, Inc.," a 527 group to raise unlimited funds from corporate donors to help Republican women running for office in Alaska.
If the Republicans fail to take the White House next week, this could be a preview of the gratitude and loyalty John McCain can expect from his running mate in the future.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
McCain's Last Stand
As Barack Obama was promising voters "We're not going to let George Bush pass the torch to John McCain," the GOP candidate himself was in, of all places, Waterloo (Iowa), trying to persuade Tom Brokaw and himself that, on the 41st anniversary of being shot down in Vietnam, his campaign for president was not going down in flames now.
As Brokaw fired off poll numbers, quotes about Sarah Palin's shortcomings and McCain's own words about Bush that evoked the answer, "So do we share a common philosophy of the Republican Party? Of course," the old warrior resolutely insisted on his own version of reality, often using air quotes to denote sarcasm about those who say otherwise and consider Obama preferable.
In this hermetically sealed world, the polls are all wrong except for Zogby (which insists on using a model that forces equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats into an outdated mold) and voters will wake up on November 4th and elect the maverick McCain of 2000.
In this Rip Van Winkle universe, McCain on the economy is FDR in the Great Depression and Harry Truman upsetting Tom Dewey in 1948.
Listening to all this must have been an out-of-body experience for Brokaw, who ended the ordeal with valedictory-like "hope this has been a better Sunday than it was 41 years ago," to which McCain responded, "I appreciate your many years of informing the American people. You've come a long way from South Dakota, but you never forgot where you came from."
So today's Meet the Press ended with an exchange of good wishes by two elderly gentlemen, one of whom will ease back into retirement from TV next year and the other into being the titular head of a minority opposition party from his seat in the US Senate.
As Brokaw fired off poll numbers, quotes about Sarah Palin's shortcomings and McCain's own words about Bush that evoked the answer, "So do we share a common philosophy of the Republican Party? Of course," the old warrior resolutely insisted on his own version of reality, often using air quotes to denote sarcasm about those who say otherwise and consider Obama preferable.
In this hermetically sealed world, the polls are all wrong except for Zogby (which insists on using a model that forces equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats into an outdated mold) and voters will wake up on November 4th and elect the maverick McCain of 2000.
In this Rip Van Winkle universe, McCain on the economy is FDR in the Great Depression and Harry Truman upsetting Tom Dewey in 1948.
Listening to all this must have been an out-of-body experience for Brokaw, who ended the ordeal with valedictory-like "hope this has been a better Sunday than it was 41 years ago," to which McCain responded, "I appreciate your many years of informing the American people. You've come a long way from South Dakota, but you never forgot where you came from."
So today's Meet the Press ended with an exchange of good wishes by two elderly gentlemen, one of whom will ease back into retirement from TV next year and the other into being the titular head of a minority opposition party from his seat in the US Senate.
Monday, October 20, 2008
McCain-Palin Cartoon Campaign
Never overburdened with ideas to start, the Republican race has degenerated into a series of loony-tune stereotypes of Barack Obama--as a swarthy Muslim terrorist, a latte-drinking elitist and now, worst of all, a socialist.
"Barack Obama calls it spreading the wealth," Sarah Palin is warning New Mexico voters. "Joe Biden calls higher taxes patriotic. But Joe the plumber and Ed the dairy man, I believe that they think that it sounds more like socialism. Friends, now is no time to experiment with socialism."
It may come as a surprise to Palin that her running mate just voted to nationalize banks, but words have lost all meaning in the final stages of this weird campaign, which calls up the old jokes about accusing an opponent of being "a shameless extrovert" who was known to have engaged in "nepotism" with his sister-in-law, "who was once a thespian" and "even performed the act in front of paying customers" in wicked New York City.
The McCain-Palin people must be mining old issues of Mad Magazine for their linguistic sleight-of-hand, but they are obviously counting on unnerving voters who may have limited vocabularies.
One of their surrogates, Florida Sen. Mel Martinez is equating Obama's tax plan to the policies of Communist Cuba:
"Where I come from, where I was raised, they tried wealth redistribution. We don't need that here. That's called socialism, communism--not Americanism."
Most Americans with a grade-school education would call that demagoguery.
"Barack Obama calls it spreading the wealth," Sarah Palin is warning New Mexico voters. "Joe Biden calls higher taxes patriotic. But Joe the plumber and Ed the dairy man, I believe that they think that it sounds more like socialism. Friends, now is no time to experiment with socialism."
It may come as a surprise to Palin that her running mate just voted to nationalize banks, but words have lost all meaning in the final stages of this weird campaign, which calls up the old jokes about accusing an opponent of being "a shameless extrovert" who was known to have engaged in "nepotism" with his sister-in-law, "who was once a thespian" and "even performed the act in front of paying customers" in wicked New York City.
The McCain-Palin people must be mining old issues of Mad Magazine for their linguistic sleight-of-hand, but they are obviously counting on unnerving voters who may have limited vocabularies.
One of their surrogates, Florida Sen. Mel Martinez is equating Obama's tax plan to the policies of Communist Cuba:
"Where I come from, where I was raised, they tried wealth redistribution. We don't need that here. That's called socialism, communism--not Americanism."
Most Americans with a grade-school education would call that demagoguery.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
The Two Republican Parties
Colin Powell's endorsement of Barack Obama today underscores how clearly and irreparably John McCain has split open the fault line in the GOP.
In going against McCain, whom he has known and admired for two decades, the party's keynote speaker in 2000 and former Bush Secretary of State cited Sarah Palin and the William Ayers tone of the Republican campaign and praised the "inclusive nature" of Obama's as key reasons for his decision.
If, against all odds, McCain wins, traditional Republicans like Powell and those pillars of the GOP before the rise of the Religious Right and Karl Rove's divisive tactics will be all but shut out.
If McCain loses, the struggle for the soul of a battered minority party will be ideologically fierce. The signs are already emerging:
*"In the end," Peggy Noonan writes in the Wall Street Journal, "the Palin candidacy is a symptom and expression of a new vulgarization in American politics. It's no good, not for conservatism and not for the country. And yes, it is a mark against John McCain, against his judgment and idealism."
*The son of the National Review's founding father, William F. Buckley, is forced out for supporting Obama. “But to paraphrase Ronald Reagan," Christopher Buckley explains, "I didn’t leave the Republican Party, the Republican Party left me.”
*Traditional Republican voices, such as those of columnists George Will and David Brooks, have been lamenting the direction of the party and the tone of the campaign.
For decades to come, political analysts will be debating John McCain's decision to move rightward rather than appeal to centrists as the maverick he once was but is now just the basis for an empty slogan.
But win or lose, he will have shaken up the Republican Party for years to come.
In going against McCain, whom he has known and admired for two decades, the party's keynote speaker in 2000 and former Bush Secretary of State cited Sarah Palin and the William Ayers tone of the Republican campaign and praised the "inclusive nature" of Obama's as key reasons for his decision.
If, against all odds, McCain wins, traditional Republicans like Powell and those pillars of the GOP before the rise of the Religious Right and Karl Rove's divisive tactics will be all but shut out.
If McCain loses, the struggle for the soul of a battered minority party will be ideologically fierce. The signs are already emerging:
*"In the end," Peggy Noonan writes in the Wall Street Journal, "the Palin candidacy is a symptom and expression of a new vulgarization in American politics. It's no good, not for conservatism and not for the country. And yes, it is a mark against John McCain, against his judgment and idealism."
*The son of the National Review's founding father, William F. Buckley, is forced out for supporting Obama. “But to paraphrase Ronald Reagan," Christopher Buckley explains, "I didn’t leave the Republican Party, the Republican Party left me.”
*Traditional Republican voices, such as those of columnists George Will and David Brooks, have been lamenting the direction of the party and the tone of the campaign.
For decades to come, political analysts will be debating John McCain's decision to move rightward rather than appeal to centrists as the maverick he once was but is now just the basis for an empty slogan.
But win or lose, he will have shaken up the Republican Party for years to come.
Lost Causes on SNL
Sarah Palin, who has yet to Meet the Press or Face the Nation, showed up on Saturday Night Live tonight minutes before Oliver Stone rose from the audience to plug his lost cause, the movie, "W."
The juxtaposition was no more bizarre, or funnier, than Alec Baldwin mistaking Palin for Tina Fey, badmouthing her to her face and, when set straight, ogling the VP candidate and telling her, “You are way hotter in person.”.
There must be something profound to be said about all this confusion of reality and fantasy in today's world, but life hasn't been the same since Richard Nixon appeared on "Laugh-In" endlessly mouthing the show's punch line, "Sock it to me?"
The juxtaposition was no more bizarre, or funnier, than Alec Baldwin mistaking Palin for Tina Fey, badmouthing her to her face and, when set straight, ogling the VP candidate and telling her, “You are way hotter in person.”.
There must be something profound to be said about all this confusion of reality and fantasy in today's world, but life hasn't been the same since Richard Nixon appeared on "Laugh-In" endlessly mouthing the show's punch line, "Sock it to me?"
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Palin Power Abuse: All in the Family
Her non-stop savaging of Barack Obama's choice of friends may have to be put on hold as Sarah Palin explains herself and her spouse. The governor broke an Alaska state ethics law, a bipartisan investigation concluded today, but it was all in the name of family values.
"Gov. Palin," the report says, "knowingly permitted a situation to continue where impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates in order to advance a personal agenda," i.e. the firing of former brother-in-law Trooper Mike Wooten from the state police force, leading to her dismissal of Wooten's boss.
In the 263 pages of the report publicly released, independent investigator Stephen E. Branchflower, a former Anchorage prosecutor, said that Ms. Palin wrongfully allowed her husband, Todd, to use state resources as part of the effort to have Trooper Wooten dismissed.
The McCain campaign will no doubt offer a flurry of excuses and accusations to explain how their VP candidate is being politically victimized for "palling around" with her own husband as he was hounding the State Commissioner of Public Safety. Is it terrorism when it's all in the family?
"Gov. Palin," the report says, "knowingly permitted a situation to continue where impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates in order to advance a personal agenda," i.e. the firing of former brother-in-law Trooper Mike Wooten from the state police force, leading to her dismissal of Wooten's boss.
In the 263 pages of the report publicly released, independent investigator Stephen E. Branchflower, a former Anchorage prosecutor, said that Ms. Palin wrongfully allowed her husband, Todd, to use state resources as part of the effort to have Trooper Wooten dismissed.
The McCain campaign will no doubt offer a flurry of excuses and accusations to explain how their VP candidate is being politically victimized for "palling around" with her own husband as he was hounding the State Commissioner of Public Safety. Is it terrorism when it's all in the family?
Thursday, October 09, 2008
Michelle Obama/Sarah Palin: Cool/Hot
Last night's debate showed a contrast between two men of different generations, speaking styles and body language. Tonight the TV screens offered disparity of another gender, between Michelle Obama with Larry King and Jon Stewart, and Sarah Palin out on the stump with John McCain.
Comparing these 21st century women calls up the distinction Marshall McLuhan made in the early days of TV between cool and hot personalities, citing the differences between JFK and Nixon.
Palin's hotness is not erotic but, in McLuhanese, an aggressive style that works on the listener to get a pre-determined reaction that leaves no room for ambivalence or ambiguity, eliciting primal responses such as "Kill him" to her attacks on Barack Obama.
Little wonder that conservative David Brooks calls her "a cancer on the Republican Party" out of a populist tradition with prejudices that "scorn ideas entirely."
Michelle Obama, on the other hand, is the essence of cool, shrugging off McCain's calling her husband "that one" as part of the political game and just smiling when Jon Stewart tried to get a rise out of her about Palin.
Cool media and personalities, McLuhan asserted, are inclusive, inviting watchers into their world instead of manipulating them to their own purposes. If the Obamas get to the White House, they could turn out to be the coolest couple since JFK and Jackie.
Comparing these 21st century women calls up the distinction Marshall McLuhan made in the early days of TV between cool and hot personalities, citing the differences between JFK and Nixon.
Palin's hotness is not erotic but, in McLuhanese, an aggressive style that works on the listener to get a pre-determined reaction that leaves no room for ambivalence or ambiguity, eliciting primal responses such as "Kill him" to her attacks on Barack Obama.
Little wonder that conservative David Brooks calls her "a cancer on the Republican Party" out of a populist tradition with prejudices that "scorn ideas entirely."
Michelle Obama, on the other hand, is the essence of cool, shrugging off McCain's calling her husband "that one" as part of the political game and just smiling when Jon Stewart tried to get a rise out of her about Palin.
Cool media and personalities, McLuhan asserted, are inclusive, inviting watchers into their world instead of manipulating them to their own purposes. If the Obamas get to the White House, they could turn out to be the coolest couple since JFK and Jackie.
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