Michael Moore: Liberals, lay off Palin

Sorry for the misspellings...

"Pay no attention to this new Rasmussen poll showing that Palin is now likely the most popular politician in the nation."

jesus, rod, we've been exposed to this woman for a week. i tend to agree with moore, but let's not overdo it. give it time - obama's positives were higher before the GOP hammered at him for being the "other" for months and months.

MOST americans don't hunt.
MOST americans don't live in rural areas.
MOST americans don't belong to pentecostal megachurches.
MOST americans don't have pregnant teens.
MOST americans support some measure of reproductive freedom.
MOST americans live in metropolitan areas.

sarah palin is an identity politics pick that appeals to a fraction of the electorate. this fraction of the electorate is disproportionately represented at the federal level thanks to the senate, and to a lesser degree, the house. tyrrany of the minority on display.

Assuming she's still on the ticket two weeks from now...

Huh?

Potentially embarrassing video:

newsmax.com/insidecover/palin_iraq_war_gods_plan/2008/09/05/128092.html

Palin sounds like a giddy Sunday School teacher or Youth Group Leader, not a governor or head of state.

It is too much a reminder of the "Jesus Camp" characters.

Hoo, boy. It was recent, too, since Trig had been born, from what she says.

Apparently it's part 2 of the video.

Now, she does seem to say that they should pray that it's God's will that they're doing, not that the Iraq War is God's will, but this video may work against her.

Most people aren't a lot of the things she is. But, I'll bet many
long to be! It's easy to blend in a metropolis, and easy to not find great fishing holes in the city, It's really easy to not spot any moose in the city, and more likely than not, it's easy to not find a little town church.
But, her life choices express a great sense of joy and love for life and it shows! What's wrong with having
so much joy and beauty and fulfillment? You don't think many, many
Americans seek such a balanced, harmonious life and wouldn't mind having someone at the top brass who brings that lifestyle with her to D.C.?

Here is Part 2.

youtube.com/watch?v=k84m2orSOaM&feature=related

My previous post was Part 1.

Rod: Please, nice leftist people, make more fun of Palin's church

Still waiting to hear why Jeremiah Wright was so important as to merit multiple threads and Palin's pastor is apparently off-limits. Rod? Anybody in there?

I am a christian woman that is fed up and insulted by Palin. If the right can't even attempt to choose the most highly qualified people to lead the country I will vote Obama. It has nothing to do with Palin's beliefs (which I think are way too extreme). Its her qualifications, which are practically nonexistant. This is insulting. She went to 5 yes FIVE mediocre universities before finally graduating with a BA in journalism. All the while there are photos of her in trashy t-shirts and other nonprofessional attire that reminds us all that she was a woman on the slow train to nowhere in her 20s. Whatever her IQ is, it is below mine I am certain. This is an embarrassment.

Progressives don't have to be exactly like red state americans (in fact, its better if they don't try...it always looks ridiculous), but progresives do have to be respectful. I wish the Bible belt types would do the same towards progs, also. I have friends and family on both sides and I love them all dearly. We need all types here in America. Can't we all just get a bong..uh, I mean "ALONG". :) .

Omigosh. Part 2 of the video really goes into "prophecies" being prayed over Sarah.

"Prophetic Declaration."

This may speak positively to the Charismatic Christians in the country (I lived/worshiped/etc. among them for 25 years), but it is going to look really looney to everyone else, IMO.

Is she going to have to do to her church and pastor what Obama had to do to Trinity and Wright? I don't see how she could or would.

"Every snide attack, every ridiculous sideways attack on her "experience", cements and emboldens the opposition."

but this is all the right-wing does on obama. what's the difference? oh, yeah, he's black.

"Michael Moore is right: you have totally misunderstood the appeal of Sarah Palin to a HUGE segment of the population, and you will pay for it at the polls."

yeah, to people who ALREADY will vote for mccain in overwhelming numbers.

"So keep it up. You're doing more to elect McCain and defeat Obama that you know."

lol, ok. let me know when palin goes before the media. this isn't a coronation. hell, obama is being shown butting head with bill o'reilly of all people, stretched out until the middle of next week. somehow i doubt we'll see any actual vetting of palin. there'll be more whining about unfair treatment from the same press that played "god damn america!" over and over and over for weeks.

and one more thing: that national enquirer story might just have legs. sullivan noted on his blog that her husband's business partner has had his divorce records sealed. and i imagine if it is true, the rightwing will talk about how palin's infidelity, just like her pregnant daughter, is an example of heartland values or whatever. wonder if rod will put up numerous posts with a mocking "silky pony"-like title for palin. nah, more heartland values instead - many of the faithful stray! and so forth. oh, and she reportedly homeschools. and has a baby with down's syndrome. did you know that?

palin represents an appeal to tribalism more than anything. she isn't the right's obama - she's the anti-obama.

Daniel said this: "Liberals have lost too many elections underestimating their opponents and the ability of their opponents to use culture war tactics and rhetoric to their advantage."

It doesn't seem to occur to Daniel (or to many liberals) that the Republicans don't have to "use" culture war tactics and rhetoric. People like me respond without being given marching orders. We don't need Fox News or Rush Limbaugh to spell it out for us. The liberals provoke a response just by their contemptuous attitude and over-the-top dismissal of conservatives. While no doubt Republicans take advantage of this type of thing, it is the liberals who keep giving them the ammunition.

Most of my family is liberal. When my father and brothers talk, they can't help but express disdain for the Palin's of the world. That includes farmers, blue-collar workers, and sincere religious believers. Meanwhile they (members of my family) live out their lives in academic enclaves, thinking they understand the real world and know how to help the lower and working classes. Every time I'm around them, I'm reminded of why I left the Democratic Party.

For perhaps the first time in my life, I'm impressed with Moore's acumen. He actually uses the words "smug" and "self-righteous" to describe the typical leftist reaction. He's more right than he realizes.

What's the Matter with Kansas? Nothing. Stop making fun of them and there won't be a culture war.

We are also called to "put away falsehood" (Eph 4:25) and to refrain from slandering, belittling, or speaking out of contempt for anyone.

Unfortunatly a lot of this against Sarah Palin is a legit concern and I feel would be irresponsible reporting to completely lay off. But I do feel its gotten out of hand.

And Rod you really need to appologize to many, many, people -- if you want to go down this road and be taken seriously. That is unless all of the archives of this blog and your articles are scrubbed.

Richard Bottoms-

You neglected to mention that while she did not sell the plane on eBay, she did in fact sell it...and a half-million dollar loss.

Folks, let's just get to the real issue:

When are we going to put Sarah Palin on the dollar bill?

The Left's attack on Palin lacks understanding of simple mathematical set theory. They believe that their ridicule is effective by use of the AND operator when it is counter-productive because of the OR operator.

The Left acts on the assumption that it is fine to ridicule people who hunt AND live in rural areas/flyover country AND belong to evangelical churches AND are pro-life AND want low taxes AND have 4 or more children, for the reason that the intersection of each of these sets is a vanishingly small fraction of the population. The lack of insight comes in that they are actually ridiculing people who hunt OR live in rural areas/flyover country OR belong to evangelical churches OR are pro-life OR want low taxes OR have 4 or more children. The OR operation combines all these subsets, which leads to a large fraction of the populace.

I don't hunt, but I am old enough to understand that deer are not humans and that human dentition was evolved for an omnivorous diet, which includes meat. Growing up on a farm is a good emphasis of the vast distinction between man and beast.
I don't live in a rural area, but I grew up there, so I intensely dislike those who despise flyover country denizens.
I don't belong to an evangelical church, but my orthodoxy aligns me far closer to evangelicals than with the cultured despisers of religion.
I am pro-life, so the disdain for pro-life stances is hardly an attraction.
I don't favor lower lower levels of taxation, not because of a fondness for Great Society programs, but instead because all people need to intensely experience the cost of the benefits they demand from their fellow citizens.
I have 4 children, and therefore the epithet "breeder" doesn't do a whole lot for me toward gravitating toward the Left.

Rod's "Lock and Load" post and the comment regarding "ears down and fangs bared" looks more and more likely. It took the Civil War to resolve one of the great moral divides of our country's history. I don't think many look back and ask was Antietam, Shiloh and Spotsylvania worth it, but it literally cost hundreds of thousands of lives to conclude that moral battle.

Right now, we've got everything but the bloodshed.

This is delightful.

Obama's communication director was on NPR this morning saying, basically, that they just want people to forget about Gov. Palin ("This election will be about the top of the ticket, and that's John McCain.")

As I posted yesterday, according to Rasmussen, a majority of the public believed the media was DELIBERATELY trying to smear her -- and that was before Palin's speech. The early feeding frenzy was so obviously excessive that it has innoculated Palin against virtually any new revelation.

The Obama camp, along with Moore (and perhaps our man Daniel here) are pros who understand that the Palin focus is a losing game for them. But I suspect they'll be unable to prevent the Nutroots from doing what it does best.

This reminds me a bit of the Dan Rather fake-but-accurate scandal in 2004. There you had a legitimate issue about Bush's conduct during the Vietnam era. But CBS's persistence in such an obviously fraudulent story rendered that issue moot, no matter who else brought it up or how. Instead the issue became the apparent attempt by a powerful media organization to deliberately distort the truth in order to help John Kerry. What started as an embarassing liabilty for Bush was turned into a significant net asset politically.

This is delightful.

Obama's communication director was on NPR this morning saying, basically, that they just want people to forget about Gov. Palin ("This election will be about the top of the ticket, and that's John McCain.")

As I posted yesterday, according to Rasmussen, a majority of the public believed the media was DELIBERATELY trying to smear her -- and that was before Palin's speech. The early feeding frenzy was so obviously excessive that it has innoculated Palin against virtually any new revelation.

The Obama camp, along with Moore (and perhaps our man Daniel here) are pros who understand that the Palin focus is a losing game for them. But I suspect they'll be unable to prevent the Nutroots from doing what it does best.

This reminds me a bit of the Dan Rather fake-but-accurate scandal in 2004. There you had a legitimate issue about Bush's conduct during the Vietnam era. But CBS's persistence in such an obviously fraudulent story rendered that issue moot, no matter who else brought it up or how. Instead the issue became the apparent attempt by a powerful media organization to deliberately distort the truth in order to help John Kerry. What started as an embarassing liabilty for Bush was turned into a significant net asset politically.

So, was she shading the truth with the eBay thing or not?

In interesting news, which apparently is NOT rumor, Palin's husband's business partner just filed an emergency motion to have his divorce records sealed, which the court denied. The court's website has now been crashed by the thousands of people downloading the documents.

The man may only be trying to protect his privacy from prying eyes. But that scenario doesn't look good. If it turns out that the National Enquirer allegation has legs, it will be interesting to see just how much Rod and the right are willing to forgive. I imagine that at this point, if it turned out that Palin was Anton Lavey's love-child, they'd still support her, but the moral yoga required to do so will be informative to watch.

"Liberals have lost too many elections underestimating their opponents and the ability of their opponents to use culture war tactics and rhetoric to their advantage."~Daniel

Ahem. Former DNC press operative, self-described "libertarian Democrat," and staunch Iraq war opponent Terry Michael writes in Reason magazine's June issue: "As Democrats prepare to do battle with John McCain this fall, we need to dispel two comforting but self-defeating myths about recent failed White House campaigns. These canards are also shared by many editorial page pontificators, who ascribe 1988 and 2004 losses to crafty Republicans working their negative-advertising black magic, Willie Hortonizing Michael Dukakis and swift-boating John F. Kerry, who were either excessively noble or maybe too slow or too wimpy to fight back ... don't make excuses about dirty GOP tactics to explain why the electorate rejects Democratic candidates, when what voters really eschew then and now is failure of judgment, lack of common sense and intellectual dishonesty ... to this day, in the left-liberal imagination, it was Republican racists who did poor Dukakis in. No. It was Michael Dukakis who did himself in, because he seemed more interested in the privileges of criminals than the rights of victims. If Horton had been a blond, blue-eyed Minnesotan, letting him out on a pass still would have struck voters as taking rehab theory to its illogical conclusion."

Daniel, what you have written is what I have referred to as Democratic myth-making. You're already trying to "frame" the narrative about how you lost the election of 2008 around tired old excuses. Greenwald also attempted to do this yesterday. I'm not saying you *are* going to lose. I'm saying you're engaging in predictive behavior suggesting you fear that's a possibility, and you're trying to preemptively rewrite history around a narrative about how the election was "stolen" again.

It doesn't wash.

Different topic: I've watched the "infamous" Youtube video of Palin speaking at her old church, and I'm honestly bemused by the hysteria around it from the Left. She's governor, and she makes remarks about boring state policy. Then it's typical church lady talk you'd find on any given Sunday all over America. This is what people do in church. They express their faith in God. If they're Christians, they express their faith in language specific to Jesus Christ. They quote from the Gospels and the Psalms and the Pauline letters. They pray. They ask for God's blessings. They ask for His guidance. They seek to do His will in all things.

You could find many Democratic governors in the Midwest and South doing precisely the same thing in Southern Baptist churches, Methodist churches and other denominations.

Two years ago, Harold Ford, congressman from Tennesse, filmed a campaign commercial in a church. At a campaign event at Mt. Zion church in Nashville with Obama, the following occurred:

---
"...being an underdog has its own righteous appeal, and the campaign used that status yesterday not only to rally voters but as evidence that God had looked with favor upon the Democratic campaign.

Ford told an African American crowd at Mount Zion Baptist Church here, was evidence that 'we got something else at work.'

'I think the congressman said something wise -- we got another manager in this race," Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) told the group.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/05/AR2006110501272.html
---

Now who is being selective and theatrical here? It's okay for Ford and Obama, but it's kooky and "Christianist" for a Republican like Palin to talk to her own home church?

I am not a Pentecostal, but there are many, many Pentecostals in this nation of ours -- and they are not kooks, and they are not crazy. The Assemblies of God denomination has some 57 million adherents worldwide.

In this Youtube video that I've seen, Palin is not standing up there in some fit of rage-filled liberation theology "prophecy" screaming out to God, asking Him to damn America. Nor can you compare what a guest speaker said at a church to 20 years' worth of mentorship in a militant black nationalist liberation theology worldview. So get over it already, and knock it off with the conflation routine.

The more that the Left reacts with hysteria to things like this Palin video, the more average Americans like fbc are going to realize how out of step their world views are with them. We can just look it up on Youtube and watch it. We don't require the high priests of the media to interpret it for us.

I'm like fbc, I'm a white-collar professional in a large metropolitan area, I don't have a pregnant teen (or any teens, for that matter), I'm pro-life, I don't own a gun, I'm not a Pentecostal, and I was definitely not a C student.

And I find the sneering from the Left completely unbearable and off the charts.

Seriously, I'm asking: Do you not understand how off-putting it is to the vast majority of Americans when you engage in histrionics like this? When you insult us with this cooked up "Christianist" label?

Understand that faith is at the root of who Americans are. If that upsets you, it puts you out of the mainstream, not the other way around.

Democrats have made real in-roads in reaching out to people of faith this year. Leaders within the DNC have made every effort to do so. Presumably this was based on political expediency, but one also hopes it was motivated by some modicum of respect.

I've picked up "Sojourners" off the newsstand repeatedly the past few years, enjoying many of the articles and agreeing with much of what is espoused in its pages.

You're doing everything possible to implode that outreach -- as I predicted you would days ago.

The early feeding frenzy was so obviously excessive that it has innoculated Palin against virtually any new revelation.

Except if it's true. Palin isn't Oprah and she's not untouchable, despite the worshipful adoration. The dissection of Palin's record has only begun and there may be plenty of bombshells in the next 60 days. The narrative on Palin's speech has already shifted in two days.

She will have to face a press conference sometime soon. She will have to sit down for an interview with someone not employed by Fox or People magazine. She can only use the "hockey mom" and lipstick line so many times.

And don't we want some vetting and people asking questions? If she's going to be elected to something other than the governor of the 47th largest state in the U.S., shouldn't we expect more scrutiny and questioning of the Palin mythology?

The thing about Willie Horton and the Swiftboats: It was all true!

Tell the truth about a lib = Evil & Nasty!

How DARE you mention the TRUTH about me!?!

Ha ha ha ha...

"...you guys lost last time, if i recall."

For the love of Mike, what are you talking about? "hysterics" your Nom de Guerre is looking a tad too apt here.

Do you have a Union uniform tucked away in your closet somewhere? "Your side"? What the frack does that mean? It was 150 years ago!

Are you assuming that every Palin supporter is typing comments here with a jug of whiskey next to our keyboards, letting out a Rebel yell every time we post?

People, dial it back. That goes for all sides engaging in their favorite "The Postman" civil war fantasies.

Get real.

Everyone.

Houghton - I agree with you in a lot of ways. But Pentecostal church behavior, with "prophecying," etc., is at a minimum a bit weird in the eyes of even many mainstream Christians, not just liberals. On the other hand, Charismatic Christianity has so penetrated so many regular churches via contemporary worship, etc., that it all may be just a shrug of the shoulders to many people, for many persons' neighbors are Charismatics, and they know that they're just normal folks.

We'll see.

"Actually, the abolitionists won. You know, those religious fanatics who believed that blacks were human beings. Those religious fanatics who were anti-choice when it comes to having a slave. Those religious fanatics who didn't buy into the slogan "Against slavery. Don't own one.""

no the yankees won. you know, the people who are on the other side of the culture war. the region that is ever more consistently voting against the GOP, the party of "family values" and coerced pregnancy and, not conincidentally, dixie, the place where "freedom" means "freedom to at first own, and then spend a century brutalizing, a race of americans". yours is the politics, sectarian religion, and culture of the american south, even if you don't live there.

few things are more repulsive than trying to equate slavery, a massive institution that required state support (i.e. enforcing the property rights of slave owners) to the point of its enshrinement in the CSA constitution (art. 1 sec. cl. 4 "the right to trade in negro slaves shall not be impaired"), to something that, whether you like it or not, whether it's legal or not, can be accomplished by a single individual in private.

there's simply no comparison beyond "i think it's wrong!" what a vicious appropriation.

"Do you have a Union uniform tucked away in your closet somewhere? "Your side"? What the frack does that mean? It was 150 years ago!"

no, just responding to lucius' somewhat ridiculous comment on the fracture of the nation and how it was resolved last time.

you want a civil war over abortion rights, guys? really?

Well look, EricW, I'm not comfortable at Pentecostal services. I've seen 'Jesus Camp' too. (Also, Rod actually posted some really interesting material about 'Jesus Camp' at the time the documentary came out).

That said, I know a passel of Pentecostals - successful, with-it, educated, whip-smart people. They're mouth-breathing hicks from the sticks, and I've yet to hear any of them mention the Rapture or how thrilled they are to be working for the Dominionist-theocrat-Christianist conspiracy to institute "The Handmaid's Tale" and bring about the apocalypse. But maybe they just don't trust me with this deadly secret.

I've never been caught up in a rapturous frenzy of speaking in tongues but in my own worship at my own church, though I'm somewhat inhibited, I've also been known to raise my hands once or twice if I felt moved to do so. I find churches where everyone sits in stillness in the pews generally unmoving. That's just me.

I don't think that makes me or anyone else like me weird, however. I remember watching a wonderful PBS documentary about faith and 9/11, and it featured this moving segment with a rabbi who prays aloud, singing the direct words from transcript conversations of 9/11 victims' last words to their families on the phone. I didn't find him weird, either.

I think you're dead-on in your last observation, because there are even Charismatic elements in the Catholic church. It's part of the quilt of Christianity. What I saw in that Youtube video was a church filled with people who are genuine in their faith, and that's it.

Good grief, I mean to write "they're NOT mouth-breathing hicks from the sticks"!

Man, that word omission is funny stuff. No, it wasn't a Freudian slip.

I hope you're right, Houghton.

Actually, the Catholic Charismatics were some of the larger parts of the Charismatic Movement in the 1970s or so, IIRC.

The videos may only enforce the left's fears and not ruffle the right's feathers much at all. But what will they do to the undecideds? Maybe the videos will be a zero-sum game.

Would all those invoking the Civil War as an analogy for the state of politics in the early 21st century please deposit your voter registration card in the nearest wastebasket?

Thank you.

McCain likes to illustrate his moral fibre by referring to his five years as a prisoner-of-war in Vietnam. And to demonstrate his commitment to family values, the 71-year-old former US Navy pilot pays warm tribute to his beautiful blonde wife, Cindy, with whom he has four children.

But there is another Mrs McCain who casts a ghostly shadow over the Senator’s presidential campaign. She is seldom seen and rarely written about, despite being mother to McCain’s three eldest children. She is McCain’s first wife, Carol, who was a famous beauty and a successful swimwear model when they married in 1965.

She was the woman McCain dreamed of during his long incarceration and torture in Vietnam’s infamous ‘Hanoi Hilton’ prison and the woman who faithfully stayed at home looking after the children and waiting anxiously for news.

But when McCain returned to America in 1973 to a fanfare of publicity and a handshake from Richard Nixon, he discovered his wife had been disfigured in a terrible car crash three years earlier. Her car had skidded on icy roads into a telegraph pole on Christmas Eve, 1969. Her pelvis and one arm were shattered by the impact and she suffered massive internal injuries.

When Carol was discharged from hospital after six months of life-saving surgery, the prognosis was bleak. In order to save her legs, surgeons had been forced to cut away huge sections of shattered bone, taking with it her tall, willowy figure. She was confined to a wheelchair and was forced to use a catheter. Through sheer hard work, Carol learned to walk again. But when John McCain came home from Vietnam, she had gained a lot of weight and bore little resemblance to her old self.

Today, she stands at just 5ft4in and still walks awkwardly, with a pronounced limp. Her body is held together by screws and metal plates and, at 70, her face is worn by wrinkles that speak of decades of silent suffering.

For nearly 30 years, Carol has maintained a dignified silence about the accident, McCain and their divorce. But last week at the bungalow where she now lives at Virginia Beach, a faded seaside resort 200 miles south of Washington, she told The Mail on Sunday how McCain divorced her in 1980 and married Cindy, 18 years his junior and the heir to an Arizona brewing fortune, just one month later.

She says. ‘My accident is well recorded. I had 23 operations, I am five inches shorter than I used to be and I was in hospital for six months. It was just awful, but it wasn’t the reason for my divorce. ‘My marriage ended because John McCain didn’t want to be 40, he wanted to be 25. You know that happens...it just does.’

Some of McCain’s acquaintances are less forgiving, however. They portray the politician as a self-centred womaniser who effectively abandoned his crippled wife to ‘play the field’. They accuse him of finally settling on Cindy, a former rodeo beauty queen, for financial reasons.

McCain was then earning little more than $40,000 a year as a naval officer, while his new father-in-law, Jim Hensley, was a multi-millionaire who had impeccable political connections.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MUY9S6iCvk

Lets see what his vet buddies confirm about McCain the hero.

And Sarah Palin how is she going to defend the country if she can't defend her children against pedophiles?

Every time her conduct as a corrupt and toe the line governor gets in the news, the republicans scream. Let her be exposed for what she is as a politican and leave the family out of it but...about that pedophile and protecting your country...hhmmm

Very astute observation by Michael Moore. The Democrats have to be very careful how they play this one. They have to be very direct and blunt about the legitimate criticisms of this new phenomenom, and intolerant of the irrelevant ones. If not, they risk a big backlash - not just from the right wing Christianists but also from these "C" student, gun toting, Nascar loving middle Americans.

Here are a few examples:
-Corruption and abuse of power in settling family squabbles: fair game
-Misrepresenting her record about things like decreasing size of government, seeking pork barrel earmarks, and supporting the Bridge to Nowhere: fair game
-Railing about the pregnant daughter (and connecting it to sex-education debates): off limits
-Railing against her Talladega Nights lifestyle: off limits

See, this isn't hard. The Dems just need to hire some folks who hail from that background to tell them what will play and what will offend.
PTR

The mayor-elect of my city is a youngish, pretty-good-looking, charismatic guy with more executive experience than Palin (in a place that has about as many people as the state of Alaska), with some reformist cred and a reputation as a pretty tough politician. He's also gay. Too bad Obama didn't pick him as VP—we could have a full-on identity politics smackdown!

"Most popular politician in the nation" after barely over a week? Doesn't someone have to have been a popular politician for longer than that to qualify for such a "title"? That's like calling a rookie who wins the Masters the most successful golfer in the world.

We Are The Right
(Hum Along With I Saw The Light)

We Are The Right/
We Are The Right/
Only Darkness/
No More Light/
We're Trigger Happy/
Flee Our Gun Sights/
Praise The Lard/
(Rush Limbaugh)/
We Are The Right/

We Are The Right/
We Are The Right/
Bathed In Hatred/
Filled With Spite/
You Will Obey Us/
Or Be Slayed By Us/
Praise The Lard/
(Rush Limbaugh)/
We Are The Right/

We Are The Right/
We Are The Right/
Slaves To Reverends'/
Jim's and Pat's Slight/
They Take Our Money/
We Live In Fright/
Praise The Lard/
(Rush Limbaugh)/
We Are The Right/

"I am a Christian woman that is fed up and insulted by Palin. If the right can't even attempt to choose the most highly qualified people to lead the country I will vote Obama. It has nothing to do with Palin's beliefs (which I think are way too extreme). It's her qualifications, which are practically nonexistent. This is insulting. She went to 5 yes FIVE mediocre universities before finally graduating with a BA in journalism. All the while there are photos of her in trashy t-shirts and other nonprofessional attire that reminds us all that she was a woman on the slow train to nowhere in her 20s. Whatever her IQ is, it is below mine I am certain. This is an embarrassment."

Posted by: Michelle | September 5, 2008 1:50 PM

Michelle,

Attending five universities before graduating is not unheard of among working-class people who want to better themselves. I am the daughter of a sheet metal worker and a teacher's aide (both of whose formal education ended with community colleges and who are intelligent people with a great interest in current events). I attended two community colleges, one women's college and two state universities between the ages of 16 and 33 (when I received a BA in Liberal Studies with minors in History and Latin American Studies -- probably as easy or as hard as a BA in journalism). I attended community college part-time for six years. I took a three year break between earning my associate's degree and going for my bachelor's degree, partly because of finances, but also because of illness. (I have a severe case of major depression, and did not find a helpful combination of medications until two years ago: I have found out the hard way that working or going to school full-time, or even doing both part-time, is too much stress for me.)

Do not insult Sarah Palin (whom I do not intend to vote for: her stand against abortion is about all that I agree with her) by thinking that her journalism BA from a third-tier university indicates a mediocre intelligence or unsuitability for the presidency. Truman did not attend college at all, and became a decent president. Besides, in this country, people are supposed to believe in second chances. Even if Sarah Palin was "on the slow train to nowhere in her 20s", she got off it in her 30s.

Sarah Palin is the most-PUBLICIZED politician in the country, not the most "popular".

Ask yourselves this: did you even know who she was two weeks ago ?

Ask yourselves this: who got her name all over the airwaves and the internet ?

Ask yourselves this: why did they do that ?

Finally, ask yourselves this: What's their game ? (Big Hint: It's not yours.)

A little good, healthy cynicism is called for here, troops.

Your servant,

Lord Karth

"In today's world, cynicism is a survival skill."

All this militant Christian, gay-bashing, angry-white-guy-on-radio, Malkin-slander, gun-fetish, Obama-is-Muslim-email stuff is just a strategy to get lower-middle income people to vote in the interests of corporate wealth.

You can fool some of the people all of the time.

I forgot to add that the only poll with any meaning whatsoever is the one on November 4.

Lord Karth,

I'd rather go walkabout, as you so stereotypically described it, than spend a week in the narrow-mindedness of the Governor's life. It hasn't been a pleasant experience.

I do understand the machinations of your political system and it is not only the American public and her political opponents that should be wary of Mrs Palin but John McCain and the Republicans party machine.

Underestimate this woman at you peril. Behind her smile and folksy charm she is uber-ambitious and she has left many an opponent and colleague on the floor bleeding as she has climbed her way to the top.

You may be correct in your assumptions but I suspect that if the citizens of the USA happen to vote Republican again then she will be coveting and manoeuvring for the Oval office even before Mr McCain has unpacked his suitcase.

Thank you very much Tom. What many here don't seem to realize is that the rest of the worlds leaders don't have this issue with "elites". Basically, elites are the achievers of society and I am sorry to tell you people here, that someone who goes to Harvard is much more adept at negotiating with world leaders than Palin- that is OBVIOUS from her speech which only reiterated her "hick town" credentials.

You want to ignore the fact that she went to 5 mediocre universities before graduating with a BA in journalism? Fine. You want to ignore the fact that her FAMILY sent pictures of her in her 20s wearing t-shirts that said "I'm not flat BUSTED", fine. You want to ignore the fact that republicans can't allow her to be interviewed by the media because she doesn't have the skills or SMARTS to handle it, fine. If this substandard individual becomes president just so that you people can feel good about yourselves, you deserve what you get. The country is in debt to the chinese to the tune of 10 trillion dollars, when we went into the decade thinking the entire national debt would be paid off by 2012. This was caused by nothing more than incompetance and my party was in charge. No more. Republicans are just too much of "plain folk" to run the largest company in the world, the USA. I, a Christian, will vote Obama. Good luck to you all.

@ Michelle...if you can read these:

http://blog.beliefnet.com/crunchycon/2008/03/the-insanity-of-black-liberati.html

http://townhall.com/columnists/LorieByrd/2008/08/22/the_case_against_obama_-_in_his_own_words

and watch this:

http://www.eyeblast.tv/public/video.aspx?RsrcID=2036

and still vote for Obama, then I would ask you what Christian values you are upholding and to SERIOUSLY reconsider you stances. BTW...I'm not sure what you're tuning, but whatever it is...it's way off. Not 10 trillion, its 53 trillion as of June 08. Do some research. Your more worried about a tshirt that says busted than the ONLY...and i repeat for your "Christian" values...ONLY Senator (even though he's only a junior one) to vote for partial birth abortion in the last vote. And the only one to vote "Present" over 100 times as opposed to actually having some balls and taking a stance on something...or just doing this thing called his J-O-B. Last time I checked it was a Senators job to legislate (hence the legislative branch) which he has continually through his time as a Senator EPICALLY failed to do! She governor a state...he...spent...alot of time in...Washington...not...voting? Yeah, sounds qualified to me. She has consistently been a pro life supporter...he has...voted to murder babies in new and more demented ways. Which maybe you should take your Christian morals and do a little learning on the subject bc supporting this view would be in violation of AT LEAST Genesis 4:1,17; Psalm 139:13,15; Jeremiah 1:5; Psalm 22:10-11; and those are just a few...exegesis, its a wonderful tool. There are also numerous others that could be used when taking those Scriptures as a base, like Jeremiah 29:11 for example. So, instead of claiming to be a Christian (which you very well may be, I'm not denying that), maybe just keep your mouth shut and cast your vote. Instead of using your Christianity as some kind of shield against criticism if or when you vote for Obama, especially since biblical morals don't line up with your politics.
Also, if you want to use words like "plain folk" as a synonym for ignorance, then here's some for you from the man you're voting for:

· Last May, he claimed that Kansas tornadoes killed a whopping 10,000 people: “In case you missed it, this week, there was a tragedy in Kansas. Ten thousand people died — an entire town destroyed.” The actual death toll: 12.

· Earlier this month in Oregon, he redrew the map of the United States: “Over the last 15 months, we’ve traveled to every corner of the United States. I’ve now been in 57 states? I think one left to go.”

· Last March, on the anniversary of the Bloody Sunday march in Selma, Alabama, he claimed his parents united as a direct result of the civil rights movement: “There was something stirring across the country because of what happened in Selma, Alabama, because some folks are willing to march across a bridge. So they got together and Barack Obama Jr. was born.” Obama was born in 1961. The Selma march took place in 1965.

(taken from Lorie Byrd's article The Case Against Obama in His Own Words)

Your candidate is just an outright liar...even made up a cute story about how his parents got together. How exactly is it that a Harvard educated lawyer doesn't know how many states are in the Union? It would tough to form economic policy thinking that you have 7 more states contributing to your country than actually exist. Probably won't help out with the national debt will it? Also, your Harvard man has NEVER published a single piece of legal writing during his tenure at University of Chicago...is he really a scholar? haha...laughable at best. Speaking of world leaders...since you brought it up...does it bother you that his (now former) pastor broke U.S. law to travel abroad and speak with leaders of boycotted countries? Wow...and he refers to Rev. Wright as his spiritual mentor. That's disturbing. Does it bother you that he wants to open up the country to talking to known terrorist leaders and communist countries? Or maybe you would prefer to be hit in the wallet...since money seems to motivate you over babies' lives, as implied by your ability to vote for economic policy over abortion. Maybe you want to sell your home? How about a nice 28% tax on its sale courtesy of your friend Obama. Oh but its okay cuz he gave you that nice 1000 bucks back right? Last time i checked 28% of almost any home sale was more than 1000 bucks. Maybe you should check this out...http://forum.baby-gaga.com/about321057.html
Senator McCain contributed over 18% of his total income to charity...did Barack do such a thing...simply NO. Just over 6% in 2006, and it only goes downhill from there. Charity is a biblical principle isn't it? How does your candidate exemplify that through his life...? Oh wait...he doesn't.
Maybe you should do a little reading and try to be more informed before throwing out statements like you made here, because you're only exposing your "hick town" credentials and if your were judged as harshly as you have Mrs. Palin, then you shouldn't be allowed to air your ignorance anywhere where another human could hear you. Speaking of universities...I've been to 3, until I found the one that fit me, and it's accredited by the sme guys that accredit Columbia, Princeton, and Carnagie Mellon just to name a few. Switching universities doesn't make you less intelligent, just as going to any university, however prestigious doesn't make you smart. I'm a computer scientist (engineer) and will probably go back for my master's next fall. So, bashing her for that is moot at very best and that's with an added measure of intellectual generosity.

Just a plain American but one of the greatest - "Honest Abe". If any of these liberal nut cases knew anything about greatness (other than how to get a free lunch) they would vote the McCain - Palin ticket.

Visit mooreionic.blogspot.com for the truth about "Obama Osama" as dear old Uncle Teddy called him.

Everyone is expecting recession getting over soon. I have a very close friend, who graduated from Harvard. Worked for ML for over 8 years, recently he’s been “right sized” too, despite of his outstanding performance and the increasing revenue he generated. OMG, now the banking industry is badly hurt, how long it would take for those financial background guys like him get back to the job market. Banking jobs are not there as much as before as easily seen on http://www.joboutlets.com and other job sites in the region