Archive for October, 2008

With Halloween falling right before a historic presidential election, politically inspired decorations are everywhere. Just step outside and you’ll see partisan animus carved into jack-o-lanterns, worked into yard tableaus, and projected onto hanging effigies by enthusiasts of all stripes.

No surprise–in the costume department, Sarah Palin is the clear frontrunner.

Of course if you’re lazy or a last-minute shopper, you can simply modify a drug-store ghoul mask and go as John McCain. But that’s just plain boring–and scary. So for the more motivated readers out there, I’ve taken the liberty of compiling a few pointers in the event you’d like to impress your neighbors with a homemade Sarah Palin costume.

1. First, you’ll need a brightly colored skirt-suit. Make sure it’s monochrome! No fanciful (liberal) patterns. Try a thrift store near a retirement community or a local PTA office.
2. Next, take up the skirt 3 or 4 inches, and accessorize with a second-hand brooch (American flag or elephant if possible), a pair of hooker heels, and bright lipstick.
3. Save precious American dollars by repurposing that up-do wig from last year’s sexy teacher, sexy librarian or sexy witch costume.
4. The signature rimless eye wear is going to be tough (Sarah Palin knockoffs are sold out everywhere). I suggest checking Home Depot for a pair of plastic safety glasses.
5. To bring this costume alive you’ll need to practice winking after every fourth word and using a variety of random catch-phrases such as “Washington elite” “without preconditions” “bad guys” and “palling around with terrorists.” Be as hostile as possible in your delivery.
6. Practice your Miss America wave–elbow, elbow, wrist, wrist.
7. Carry with you a homemade Palin rally poster that looks like it was scrawled by a third-grader. For extra fun, write on the back “I’ll be in charge of the senate!”
8. Finally, find a plastic rifle to sling over your shoulder, and force your child (or any child) to accompany you dressed as either a moose or wolf.

And voila! You’re ready to go toe-to-toe with all the other maverick reformers at your costume party. Dressed like a bona-fide political babe, you may even score a date!

In our whirlwind affair with Sarah Palin, it’s just possible that the gal we thought we knew isn’t exactly who we’ve been told.  The image-meisters have been selling us a Palin that doesn’t exist.  The package doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.  Here I’ll attempt to debunk some of the most egregious myths:

**********

Myth #1: Palin is a Reformer.

Fact: Palin is no Reformer. Palin started her political career by shaking up the Wasilla government, but it was with the significant help and encouragement of the state Republican party.   As Sarah was running for Governor the Veco bribery scandal was starting to reshape state politics.   Palin had no role whatsoever in uncovering or prosecuting the corruption, but she had a keen political sense, and took advantage of the scandal to further her own desire for power.  Sensing the changing winds, she grabbed on to the mantle of reformer and has held on since.  Apparently Palin thinks a leader is someone who sees where the mob is heading and runs like heck to get in front of them.

**********

Myth #2:  Palin is loyal to those around her

Fact:  Palin regularly turns viciously against her former friends. Palin started her political career in the little town of Wasilla.  Sarah met the sitting mayor and police chief in her aerobics class.  With the help of these friends, she ran for the city council.  Once there, she turned against her former friends, and drove them out of office so that she could take power, calling them “good ol’ boys.”  If there is one trait that comes through loud and clear with Sarah Palin it is raw ambition and disregard for the means of obtaining power.  Perhaps it is this trait that accounts for her extremely strained relationship with many who have had to deal with her, including her husband’s mother.

**********

Myth #3:  Palin is a Fiscal Conservative

Fact: Palin raised taxes and left Wasilla in debt. Palin raised the sales tax while mayor of Wasilla.  When she left, the town had millions of dollars of debt that had been taken on in order to build a new sports complex.  The debt was higher than just the construction costs; enormous legal fees had been incurred because proper title to the land had not been obtained before building had started, and resulted in a protracted and expensive legal battle.  Palin raised taxes, and incurred debt.  And that state jet she sold while Governor?  It turns out selling things on eBay is a standard method of selling state property.  Only in the case of the jet they couldn’t sell it on eBay, and had to turn to a private broker, and then they lost over half a million dollars on the sale.  Nice story for her RNC speech, it just wasn’t quite true.

**********

Myth #4:  Palin is Against Earmarks

Fact:  In Alaska, a politician has to get money from the federal government to survive. Palin was no different.   Alaska has the highest intake from the Federal government per capita of any state in the union.  Palin excelled at getting earmarks, and was able to obtain over $27 million in federal earmarks for little Wasilla over three years.  And that “Bridge To Nowhere” that she was against?  Well, first she was for it.  When the attention and outcry meant that the project was no longer feasible, then she was against it.  Make no mistake - during her run for Governor, Sarah Palin supported the bridge to nowhere.  And after she was against it, she still kept the money and directed it to different projects.  Against earmarks?  Hardly.

**********

Myth #5:  Palin had great success with her Pipeline Project

Fact:  The jury is still out. Palin basically told the big 3 American oil companies to pound sand, and cut a deal with a Canadian company to build a pipeline.  The problem was that she committed over five hundred million dollars of Alaska’s money on the $40 billion deal, and the legislature still hasn’t approved the funds.  It could be a coup, it could be a fiasco.  Like so much that is left in Palin’s wake, there is a lot of disruption from the large waves of her impulsiveness and lack of foresight.

**********

Myth #6:  Palin is squeaky clean

Fact:  Troopergate. The independent investigator found that Palin violated ethics law and standards.  She used her position as Governor to pursue a personal vendetta against her ex-brother-in-law.  Her entire political career is littered with the complaints of her former allies as she has pursued her small town agenda with a big state apparatus.  Billings to the State:  Palin took her per diem expenses for over 300 days when she was in her own home.  She brought along her husband and children and charged expenses to the State even though they had no official State business, and then didn’t report the picked up expenses as income.

**********

Myth #7:  Palin’s high popularity in Alaska was because of her expertise running Alaskan government.

Fact:  Palin used oil company money to pay off Alaskan citizens. Two thousand dollars for every Alaskan.  And then an extra twelve hundred dollars thanks to Sarah and the windfall profits tax.  The same taxes that McCain and most Republicans oppose.  That’s right - she played Robin Hood for Alaskans - taxing the oil companies and cutting checks with her name on them to the people - while claiming to be a free marketeer on the national stage.  If there was an award for creating a cash-for-votes operation, Sarah would be walking that red carpet.  Her popularity comes from the high price of oil, an oil windfall profits tax, and sending that cash to Alaskans in the form of a check.  Palin and simple.

**********

Myth #8:  Palin is a staunch defender of capitalism.

Fact:  Alaska is a socialist state. At least when it comes to natural resources; it turns out that the people of Alaska equally share in the ownership.  Those annual checks for citizens?  They’re the result of the people’s ownership of the oil reserves.  I’m not judging the situation, just calling it.  For Palin to call Obama a socialist is beyond irony.  Socialism means the collective ownership of the means of production.  What is more basic than the natural resources?   And in Alaska, those are owned collectively by the citizens.

**********

Myth # 9:  Palin has always been a “Country-First” kind of lady.

Fact:  Palin is Alaska-First and an opportunist. When she was running for Governor, Palin gave an Alaska-First rallying cry.  Lest you dismiss this as something that every State Governor would do, remember that Alaska is special.  Just ask the secessionist Alaskan Independence Party, the one in which her husband Todd held membership.  She has prominently said that “Alaska needs to protect our sovereignty.”  Choose your poison:  believe that Palin can switch allegiances faster than a RNC-bought couture jacket from Barney’s; or believe that she is being disingenuous about her “country first” message now, and still holds dear her Alaska-first belief system, evidenced by her proclivity to extract ever more money from Washington.

With the Republican ticket struggling, the different camps within the party are forming their circular firing squad.  Palin seems more focused now on establishing her own power base for her own political future than in helping the ticket or fostering Republican unity.  So I have to conclude that her radical make-over had its intended effect - Palin has increased her power because the media has not had the time or the gumption to shine the bright light of truth on the package of Palin myths that have been sold to the American people.  We can only hope that the simple power of the truth will soon catch up with her, and make this scary tale have a fairy tale ending.

Voters in California face a choice this election.

They can vote to change the state constitution to outlaw same sex marriage, which is the proposal put forth in Proposition 8, or they can defeat this proposal by voting NO on California Proposition 8.

I believe that enshrining discrimination into a constitution is always wrong.  I believe that the constitution should strive to protect and enlarge people’s rights, not decrease them.  My opposition to Proposition 8 is solidified by the scare tactics being used by the Proportion 8 proponents - the regular bogeymen of imagined prosecution of clergy and indoctrination of children, as well as additional tactics to threaten and shake down donors to No on 8.

The vote looks very close.  While both the moderate California Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Presidential candidate Obama have voiced opposition to Proposition 8, neither has been particularly active or visible in the effort to defeat the Proposition.  Hey, Obama, use some of that excess political capital to make sure that the high African-American voter turnout (African-Americans favor the amendment at about 58%, according to one poll) doesn’t also put Proposition 8 over the top in California.  We can only hope that the younger Americans (who overwhelmingly oppose Proposition 8) who are also energized by Obama more than offset the potential supporters.

A friend of mine recently told me that he’d heard his pastor yell at the congregation for the last four weeks about how they had to go out and vote in favor of the proposition.  It was only after he actually did a little research and thought about the proposition that he came to the conclusion that he had to vote NO.  I just hope that there are a lot more thinking people in the pews out there who will do their own thinking.

How is this relevant on a Palin site?  Palin has said that she would support outlawing same-sex marriage at the Federal level (a position not shared by McCain - but he has voiced support for Proposition 8 in California - his is a “leave it to the states” approach).  Palin sees herself as a warrior of the Christian Right, someone on a mission from God.  When she talks about “cleaning up government,” she isn’t just talking about garden variety Ted Stevens-like corruption.  She’s talking about legislating morality.  And she doesn’t intend to stop with same sex marriage or outlawing abortion.  If you know anything at all about their goals, you know that these are just the tip of the iceberg on the Christian Right’s agenda.  And anyone who believes in freedom and civil rights in this country should be very afraid of the prospect of a person with Palin’s views taking a position of power.

“In Germany, they came first for the Communists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist;

And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist;

And then they came for the Jews, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew;

And then . . . they came for me . . . And by that time there was no one left to speak up.”

- Pastor Martin Niemöller

Now that the Philadelphia Phillies have won the World Series, it only seems fitting that we just let Pennsylvania pick the next President.

Think about it.  It would save a lot of money.  Both in running all of those polling stations and in legal fees.  The Republicans wouldn’t have to go through the nasty business of challenging and disenfranchising voters.  And the Democrats wouldn’t have to bring in Mickey Mouse to vote.  We wouldn’t have to go through the agony of post-vote challenges, missing ballots, court cases, and finally waking up the Supreme Court Justices from their afternoon naps to pick the winner.

It just seems so much simpler somehow.

But I suppose this being a “democracy”  and all (see McCain and his famous air quotes), we need to let everyone vote.  Instead, I’m just going to assume that whoever wins Pennsylvania on election night (and since it’s on the East Coast, we should get the results early here on the Left Coast) wins the whole sha-bang.  Given the “many paths to victory” of Obama-Biden we may all get a good night’s sleep, which would be a nice change for the large group of people who will remain nervous right up until January.  And beyond.

I’ve heard rumors that there have been another five assassination plans/attempts on Obama’s life in addition to the two bumbling rednecks that were recently announced.  It’s sad that at a moment when we all - regardless of who we support, or our political outlook or party affiliation - ought to be celebrating a milestone in the history of this great country - the election of a black man to the highest position in the land - we are instead worried about the worst happening.  So clearly we’ve come a long way, and we still have a long way to go.  Some have further to go than others.

So congratulations to the Phillies, from far and wide.  Well played.

Now go vote.

OK, I’m sorry, but you know that the McCain-Palin ticket has been abandoned by everyone except the KKK, James Dobson and the Christian Right and their mothers (but, famously, not necessarily mother-in-laws in the case of “First Gentlemen” Todd Palin’s mother) when George F’in Will speaks out against the outrageous positions and claims the ticket is making.

In his recent Washington Post article “Call Him John The Careless, ” venerable populist/intellectual of conservatives George Will calls out McCain for his reckless choice of Palin as Vice-Presidential candidate.

In his article Will chides McCain for his choice of Palin and her severe misunderstanding of the role of Vice President, and also for their ridiculous challenge to the huge groundswell of support for Obama-Biden.  This surge has been moral, financial and has brought new participants, both young and old into the political process.  Indeed, Obama is one of the first “movement” candidates we’ve had in the United States in a very, very, very long time.  McCain now claims that Obama donors, who have contributed on average between $80 and $90 each, are somehow skirting campaign finance laws and subverting democracy.  Are you McCain’ing kidding me?

Palin and her “circle” were busy today contemplating Sarah’s future if/when McCain/Palin loses.  As I’ve written here previously, apparently Sarah believes she is the future of the Republican party and has even talked publicly about a 2012 run, “if” they lose.  Oops, NOT a talking point!  Personally I happen to think that the establishment Republicans will wrest back control and send Palin a’packin’ - but I always try to remember that no one has ever gone broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people.  Especially Republicans.

I kind of hope Sarah stays around.  It would make this URL domain (www.hatepalin.com) a whole lot more useful, and my life a lot more interesting.  It would also mean the dissipation of conservative power over the nation due to internecine warfare within the Republican party.  I think that would be a very good thing.

If it weren’t all so serious, it would be comical.

So Sarah Palin keeps some unsavory company.  Here’s the video of the endorsement she sought, and recieved, from Senator and convicted felon Ted Stevens.

The Bud Wassup boys have moved on, and now believe in some change. Watch the video:

Watch the ad here:

So much for Sarah Palin’s maverick anti-establishment credentials.  Now that Ted Stevens has been found guilty on seven charges of failing to report gifts on his Senate disclosure forms, will Sarah Palin call on him to resign?

Stevens had extensive work done on his home and didn’t pay for it. Stevens tried to fob off responsibility on to his wife, saying that he didn’t know about the expenses. Turns out Palin is much cozier with Stevens than you might think, given how much of a “throw-em-out” reformer she claims to be. You might even say she has been “palling around” with a now-convicted criminal

Watch what she had to say just this summer - July 2008 - about their relationship:

And so the storied Senator Stevens ends his long and contentious career in the U.S. Senate with ignominy.

UPDATE:  Both McCain and Palin have now called for Senator Ted Stevens to resign, something he is unlikely to do.  This may just be posturing by McCain-Palin, but it’s a step in the right direction.  If Stevens were to resign the likelihood of a filibuster-proof Democratic majority in the Senate (60) increases significantly.  Read about it in the New York Times:  McCain Says Alaska Senator Should Resign.

Poor Sarah Palin.  She has gone from approval ratings as Governor that once soared like an eagle.  Now they’ve plummeted as if she’d been shot from a helicopter.

And now this.  The Alaska newspaper with the biggest circulation, the Anchorage Daily News, has looked past Palin’s ticket to endorse Obama-Biden.

Sarah’s popularity in her own state has been hurt by the negative style of campaigning of the McCain-Palin ticket, the concern that she looks foolish and unprepared in the harsh glare of the national spotlight, worry that she reflects badly on Alaska, and the revelations of petty vindictiveness from the Troopergate scandal.

Republican pundits like Ed Rollins believe that after a presumed McCain-Palin loss that Sarah Palin will work the national rubber chicken circuit to raise money for Republican candidates, and gain some seasoning that could position her for a run again in 2012 at the top of the ticket.

Personally I think there’s little chance of that.  I still think that the Republicans will bundle her off back to Alaska.  I’m sure she’d continue to play well to the Christian Right, but that the establishment wing of the party will see her only as a reminder of one of the main reasons that the party lost the White House.

But I’m willing to concede that I may have (in the words of George HW Bush) misunderestimated her.  For the sake of more material about which to write and continued interest in this site, I almost hope she sticks around for a while.