Sapere Aude!

Sarah Palin: Pitbull or Poodle?

During the 2008 campaign Sarah Palin clearly had no problems playing the political game.  She repeated some of the worst charges against Obama by trying to paint him as a terrorist sympathizer and stroke the flames of xenophobia by painting him as an unknown Other.  Remember this stuff?

She was a pitbull on the campaign trail.
But, now we see that Palin seems to have trouble taking the negative attention and criticism that unfortunately goes part and parcel with politics. She cites it as a part of the reason for her resignation.

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Now, she comes across more like a poodle that we're supposed to feel sorry for because it has been kicked by the media. Also, this thing where Republicans try to paint themselves as just a bunch of regular Joes is really getting on my nerves.

Partisanship at the Baton Rouge Business Report

I do not know if I've seen a more blatant example of holding your political opposition to a higher standard than the folks on your side of the isle than what's in this column.  It's filled with poor reasoning and unreflective social commentary that is all too easily interpreted as self-serving political and social bullshit. Nobody in their right mind would think that Obama's election ended rascism once and for all.  Just because a sufficient number of people voted for a black man to win an election does not mean that there are no racist people.  Then there's the fact that this guy has never criticized Bush for one thing, but is already blaming Obama even though he's not even in office yet.  Way to go.  I guess being a good business man does not have much to do with being a good reasoner about all sorts of other issues.  Not one column critical of how Bush policies contributed to the economic meltdown.  But, if Obama does not fix it in six months it's all his fault.  Priceless.  It's precisely this sort of thinking that's killing the Republican party and turning it into a regional party.  I guess some folks that live in that region still aren't getting it.

Palin Blames Bush

Sarah Palin's not completely off the mark, at least one this one.

WASILLA, Alaska (AP) — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, amid speculation she'll run for president in four years, blamed Bush administration policies for the defeat last week of the GOP ticket and prayed she wouldn't miss "an open door" for her next political opportunity.

That's a pretty big turn around, no?  Of course, McCain's campaign strategy of throwing every right-wing smear against the wall instead of making a positive case for his own presidency probably did not help either.  Then there's that other thing.  You know, when they picked Palin for the VP spot.  My racist grandmother even told me that she would not vote for McCain because of Palin.  That's progress, people.

Election maps

Election maps.

Get Your War On

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Palin in 2012?

You've probably already heard about Sarah Palin being billed as the new star of the Republican Party, and running again in 2012.  I think this is absolutely lunacy, and so I hope that it happens.  I hope this GOP loss fractures the Republican party beyond repair such that it's various segments must form new parties.  I know that's wishful thinking on my part.  But, I think it would be totally awesome if the religious right just formed its own party with Palin at the helm in 2012.  I can just imagine the platform - a total ban on abortions that includes a ban on birth-control, evolution would be ripped out of the science curriculum and replaced with intelligent design, they'd mandate school prayer, insist of prayer as a form of medical service, and stick to the economic policies that have uttlerly failed by the measure of some their architects (i.e. Greenspan).  The conservative intelligensia rejected her altogether, rightly except for these folks, who think that Palin is McCain's greatest gift to conservatism.  Seriously, they should be required by law to take "intellectual" of their site's name.  I'm so glad I left the Republican party and switched my registration to Independent in 2004.

More Sour Grapes from the Right-Wing

Here's some more from the super Americans on the right-wing.

Barrack Obama, Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey were flying on Obama's

private plane. Obama looked at Oprah, chuckled and said, 'You know, I

could throw a $1,000 bill out of the window right now and make somebody
very happy.' Oprah shrugged her shoulders and replied, 'I could throw
ten
$100 bills out of the window and make ten people very happy. Michelle
added, 'That being the case, I could throw one hundred $10 bills out of

the window and make a hundred people very happy.' Hearing their exchange,

the pilot rolled his eyes and said to his co-pilot, 'Such big-shots back

there. I could throw all of their asses out of the window and make
56 million people very happy.'

The right-wing base is so stupid that they are incapable of grasping their own hypocrisy.   Anybody that disagreed with Bush during the last eight years got called unpatriot and unAmerican, but these folks are joking about the new guy getting killed.  I hope this election and the GOP's utter failure breaks the Republican party for good.  Their failure to abide by their own principles of fiscal responsibility, limited government, and protection of civil liberties and endoresement of domestic spying, indefinite detention, and expansion of government contributed a lot to the Obama victory.

Post-Election Conservative Delusion

It's amazing to me how many conservatives are having a hard time acknowledging how the failure of GOP policies probably contributed to an Obama win.  Instead, they post stuff like this on Myspace with the title "Why Obama got elected."

“The most eye-opening civics lesson I ever had was while teaching third grade. The presidential election was heating up and some of the children showed an interest. I decided we would have an election for a class president. We would choose our nominees. They would make a campaign speech and the class would vote.

To simplify the process, candidates were nominated by other class members. We discussed what kinds of characteristics these students should have. We got many nominations and from those, Jamie and Olivia were picked to run for the top spot.

The class had done a great job in their selections. Both candidates were good kids. I thought Jamie might have an advantage because he got lots of parental support. I had never seen Olivia’s mother. The day arrived when they were to make their speeches. Jamie went first. He had specific ideas about how to make our class a better place. He ended by promising to do his very best. Every one applauded. He sat down and Olivia came to the podium. Her speech was concise. She said, “If you will vote for me, I will give you ice cream.” She sat down. The class went wild. “Yes! Yes! We want ice cream.”
She surely would say more. She did not have to. A discussion followed. How did she plan to pay for the ice cream? She wasn’t sure. Would her parents buy it or would the class pay for it. She didn’t know. The class really didn’t care. All they were thinking about was ice cream. Jamie was forgotten. Olivia won by a land slide.

Every time Barack Obama opens his mouth he offers ice cream, and fifty percent of America reacts like nine year olds. They want ice cream. The other fifty percent know they’re going to have to feed the cow.” by Don Rasmussen

Yeah, the failure of those GOP trickle-down "raising tides raise all boats" economic policies probably had nothing to do with why folks were willing to vote for a change of policy.  Time for the party of personal responsibility to acknowledge the failure of their views.  Plus, they spent money like drunken- sailors . . . that probably did not help either.

McCain's Concession and Racism Southern Louisiana Style

McCain's concession speech was excellent.  It would have been even better if it had not been interrupted by people booing.  But it looks like there are quite a few people that are upset about the Obama win.

I would have thought that people, regardless of their politics, would be able to follow McCain's lead and recognize the historical significance of a half black man getting elected to the highest office in the land.  I mean come on people, that's half way to racial equality in a very important respect for our society.  But, sadly, many people down here in Louisiana do not have this capacity.  There are lots of sore losers around here. My wife was accused of being a "racist" today because she thinks electing a half-black guy is a historical milestone worth celebrating. But, oh no, if you take race into account that makes you a "racist" in the eyes of some little Louisiana boys.

Redistributing the Wealth in '08

This Slate article has some good points regarding McCain's claim that Obama is running for redistributor-in-chief.

In the last lap of his limping campaign, John McCain is claiming that Barack Obama "believes in redistributing wealth." The problem with this charge is not that it's untrue. It's that McCain—and most of his supporters—favor redistribution, too.

Government redistributes wealth to some extent by its very existence, since it's impractical for citizens to pay for or benefit from it in equal proportion, even if that were desirable. So long as you have a system of taxation and a spending on public goods like education and roads, some people will do better in the bargain than others. The real questions are whether public policy consciously tries to affect the distribution of wealth, how much it tries to change it, and in what direction.

Redistribution has a "from" side—taxation—and a "to" side—spending. On the "from" side, the notion that government should use taxation to increase rather than decrease equality is hardly Marxist. In The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith begins his section on taxation with the following maxim: "The subjects of every state ought to contribute towards the support of the government, as nearly as possible, in proportion to their respective abilities." To ask otherwise, Smith writes, would be obviously unfair.

When you point out to a right-winger that Obama is not a socialist, they immediately assume that you are only objecting to the charge because you support Obama.  But, no, in my case it's just that I happen to know a few very basic points about political philosophy.  Calling somebody that is not in favor of the collective control of the means of production a socialist is like calling somebody that does not believe in the resurrection of Jesus a Christian.