Sarah Palin, The Movie, Coming to a Theater Near You

Well if you weren’t aware of it before, Former Half Governor of Alaska Sarah Palin has had a biographical movie made of her. And announced today is news that it will premiere across the country, or at least in Iowa, on July 15^th.

It will be entitled “The Undefeated.”

It has that title because you may not have been aware of this, but Sarah Palin, with her running mate John McCain, actually won the 2008 Presidential Election.

To give you an idea of what you will see when you flock to the theater in July, take a look at this 40 second teaser.

I know, words cannot describe this movie. OK, let me try. Action packed. A thrill a minute. Brilliant.

I wonder if they are going to include footage of the Kenyan pastor who prayed over her so that she would win in her race to become Alaska’s governor.

Oh, you forgot about that one? The one who prayed that Jesus save her from the witches?

People can’t make things up about Sarah Palin because the truth is funnier than fiction.

Cheney and Palin: Gas Emissions on Mubarak

Those not in power – thankfully – still can’t agree on everything, can they? Take for example the former Veep and the former Veep wannabe, Dead Eye Dick Cheney and former Half Governor Sarah Palin.

Both Cheney and Palin are holding forth on their opinions vis-à-vis the fate of soon-to-be ex President of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, Cheney at the Reagan Centennial in California, and Palin on the radio.

It seems Dick Cheney is again critical of the Obama Administration’s handling of the crisis in Egypt, saying that too much said in public is most certainly a bad thing.

From MSNBC:

“Cheney said the U.S. should take measured steps in public, and suggested that too much pressure could backfire. ‘There is a reason why a lot of diplomacy is conducted in secret. There are good reasons for there to be confidentiality in some of those communications. And I think President Mubarak needs to be treated as he deserved over the years, because he has been a good friend.’”

Not surprisingly, Sarah Palin has a different take on this.

Also from MSNBC (but not the same article):

“Sarah Palin says the Obama administration must tell Americans what it knows about who will be Egypt's next leader. In a Christian Broadcasting Network interview released Saturday, the 2008 vice presidential candidate says the administration should level with the American people on what it knows about the Egyptian crisis.”

You would think then, that these two are so far apart in their opinion on this that I might find myself falling behind one or the other and you would be mistaken if you think that. And that is because unlike these two gasbags, I have an idea that it should be the Egyptians that should have a say in who will be their next president, not Obama, not Cheney and certainly not Sarah Palin.

OK, What’s With All This ‘Blood Libel’ Stuff?

Apparently Sarah Palin isn’t the first to use the term “Blood Libel in reference to the shooting of Congresswoman Giffords and the death of 6 human beings.

The first guy to use it was a conservative law professor in the (Malcolm Forbes-owned) Wall Street Journal. In that article he pointed out that liberals wasted no time to point the finger at Sarah Palin’s crosshairs website, where Congresswoman Giffords’ district had a bull’s eye or a crosshairs symbol superimposed on the approximate location of her Arizona CD-8 on Palin’s map featured on that website.

Seeking to hang the tragedy in Tucson directly on Sarah Palin’s – or Glenn Beck’s, or Rush Limbaugh’s – shoulders.

Geez, I know I did.

Mainly because this shooting is something that we should have expected, especially from a mentally unbalanced person as this kid seems to be.

And mainly because Gabrielle Giffords herself mentioned the existence of the website and how it appeared to incite others to do violence against her.

And from that time to this we still don’t know what inspired that kid to carry out what we now know as something that has been on his mind for 3 years now. We don’t know and the only way to know it is to rely on the word of a demonstrably unbalanced person.

And now Sarah Palin is pushing back with her Facebook video in which she also uses the term “Blood libel” giving pundits yet another rock to throw back at her: does she know what it is she is talking about?

The law professor, Glenn Reynolds, used the term just once, when he asked the question “Where is the decency in blood libel?” In that meaning, the term makes a little sense. What he is asking is how can “blood libel,” a false allegation that Jews murdered Christian children to harvest their blood to be used at Passover, in order to justify all sorts of retribution on Jews ever be seen as a polite remark.

The meaning is that just as Christians have “blood libel,” liberals are manufacturing complete lies in order to communicate their disdain and in order to justify their hatred for all things Teabagger.

In that meaning, however, he went a little over the top. Sarah Palin is one person who has never been subjected to death camps and genocide. Yet blood libel was used to justify both of them in the past centuries.

And blood libel is patently false. That Sarah Palin used unfortunate language to stir up her base is, unfortunately not false.

It happened.

Here is what Palin said:

“Journalists and pundits should not manufacture a blood libel that serves only to incite the very hatred and violence that they purport to condemn.”

Now blood libel is a specific libel. It is a libel about the use of the blood of Christian children. Journalists and pundits (not “pundants” as it was pronounced by Palin) did not manufacture a blood libel, and law professor Reynolds did not use it in that way. But it is obvious to me that to the Alaskan huntress, the term “blood libel” has a kind of ring to it.

So she used Reynolds’ term and got it wrong.

The ignorance and fuzzy thinking of Sarah Palin continues to astound me.

Perry/Palin in 2012

What do you call it when you put a state governor who has spent too much time in that office on the same presidential ticket as a state governor that couldn’t even serve out her full first term as state governor?

A dream ticket.

A dream ticket, that is, for Democrats.

Rick Perry is running for president. He hasn’t declared it, not yet. But actions speak louder than words. When Rick Perry ran for re-election in this past mid-term election he didn’t debate his Democratic opponent or anyone else for that matter. And that, as it turns out, was not because he was afraid of what Bill White could do to him, although he would have been turned into mincemeat by a more thoughtful debater, it’s because Rick Perry wasn’t running against Bill White in the past election.

He was running against Barack Obama.

His landslide victory was not a result of a Texas electorate that was elated over his record as governor – they had no idea what his record was – it was about how Perry took up the battle cry of anti-federalism. Rick Perry is a “Tenther” of the first order – a states’ rights proponent of an order that we haven’t seen since the Lincoln-Douglas debates. And this hits an emotional chord with Teabaggers.

Teabaggers and Texans.

And now, according to this article in the Chron, Perry is taking his argument with the Feds to the national stage.

From the Chron:

“Perry is preparing to revamp the Republican Governors Association to focus more on policy and energize states' push-back against the federal government.”

“‘There's just no question that Rick Perry views his upcoming term as chairman as an opportunity to raise his issues and his national profile,’ says Cal Jillson, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University.”

Rick Perry is running for president.

And nipping at his heels for the role of the populist candidate of greatest appeal to Teabaggers is former semi-governor of Alaska Sarah Palin. Her well-timed book signing tour will keep her in the forefront of Teabagger politics as we head toward the inevitable hat-tossing contest that will occur early next year. With the Iowa Caucus only 14 months away, we will soon see the field of GOP candidates emerge. And you can bet that Perry and Palin will be there at the forefront.

Now Sarah Palin scared the bejesus out of independent voters in 2008. She is sure to do so again. Should Rick Perry be his party’s choice to run against Barack Obama in 2012 he would be insane to include her on his ticket. But who knows, that’s a year and a half away. Lots can happen.

What would happen, for example, if Rick Perry gets the nomination and chooses “Anyone but Palin” to be his running mate? Would this be enough to inflame his base and cause the schism in the GOP that I have been expecting?

Tax cuts for the rich that run up the deficit. Earmarks. Medicaid cuts. All of the things that Teabaggers are against Republicans seem to be for, but so far there has been no organized opposition to the Republican agenda by Teabaggers. But this would personify it for them.

Facts and issues don’t concern Teabaggers. But slighting Sarah Palin, the darling of the poor-spelling wearers of teabags and tricorn hats just might be the spark that we Democrats have been anticipating for some time now.

Palin Hustles Houston

The Chron has the video but I have embedded it below. Incredibly, people waited in line for up to 18 hours for the opportunity to meet Sarah Palin – after shelling out some bucks to buy her latest book.

Watch the video and observe the glazed over look in the eyes of Palin’s patrons. These are the true loony birds who will make the 2012 elections the most fun since the last time Barack Obama won. Barack Obama won in 2008 because people were, among other things, scared fecesless over the prospect of Sarah Palin getting elected to any federal office, let alone to be the Vice President.

These are the people who vote for the lesser of us because they identify with them.

Small wonder.

Sarah Palin: As Serious as a Heart Attack

I can’t think of another Teabagging Republican that I’d like to have running against Barack Obama in 2012 than Sarah Palin, and today she just made my day.

Sarah Palin is going to run for President in 2012.

But the way she backhandedly made her announcement has me absolutely flummoxed. Sarah Palin says that she will run for President “if there’s nobody else to do it.”

That is, I guess, if Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, or heck, Christine O’Donnell don’t toss their hats into the ring, then, aw shucks, Sarah will do it.

Continuing, Palin was quoted saying this:

“…it's going to entail a discussion with my family [and] a real close look at the lay of the land, to consider whether there are those with that common sense, conservative, pro-Constitution passion, whether there are already candidates out there who can do the job.”

This is the ultimate candidate. What she is saying is that if no one is out there that can out-common-sense her, no one can out-conservative her, no one can out-pro-constitution-passion her, then she’ll run.

By Sarah Palin’s own admission, she is the best-qualified candidate if she indeed decides to run.

With logic like that, who needs intelligence and political savvy?

Sarah Palin and Gonads

So Half-a-Term Former Governor Sarah Palin has pronounced from her new Fox News pulpit (a better-paying gig than being a governor of the 49th state, I’ll bet) that Arizona Governor Jan Brewer’s male gonads are larger than those of President Obama.

No really, that’s what she said.

Only she didn’t say “male gonads”. Nor did she say “testicles.” Or “balls” for that matter. No, Sarah Palin used the vulgar Spanish, or really, Mexican Spanish slang term for male gonads: “cojones.”

This statement is just wrong on so many levels I don’t know where to start.

Well, OK, how about here.

First, it takes the rather ugly, racist, drivel that has been spewed by newly emboldened Teabaggers to a new level, a new low level, by very rudely speculating on the size of the male anatomy of the President of the United States.

Second, it speculates on the actual existence of male anatomy on the sitting governor of the state of Arizona. Jan Brewer – a female. I don’t know about the school systems in Alaska but I’m pretty sure that by the time they reach 10th grade, school children here in Texas are all pretty much aware that males have testicles and females have ovaries. Hopefully Palin was awake in biology class when that lesson was taught and not asleep as she was during the three weeks that ecology and evolution were covered.

Third, it makes use of a non-English idiom. There are lots of them to choose from in conversational American English, mainly because of our rich history and diversity. Just as we have accepted people from all countries and cultures into our society, we have also assimilated their colorful slang words into our own language. Palin’s choice of an idiom, though, from Mexican Spanish, seems almost completely inappropriate considering who it is that Governor Brewer is purported to have the large cojones to oppress.

Mexicans.

But finally, and this is not just my idea, others have said this, Palin’s “cojones comment” makes absolutely no logical sense in the non-literal meaning of the word. Obviously, Jan Brewer has no testicles. Saying that she has cojones though, doesn’t imply that she has them, but instead speaks to the personality attribute that someone with “a pair of big ones” has, and that is courage. What Sarah Palin is saying is that Jan Brewer has more courage than Barack Obama because she signed into law a bill whose sole purpose is to round up Mexicans and other tanned people.

What takes more courage, though? Signing into law a bill that has been voted on by a majority of state legislators, a bill that is supported by a large majority of Arizonans? Or is it more courageous to oppose the law, see that it gets gutted in federal court, all of this despite the fact that polls show that a majority of Americans also support this law? Who has taken on more political risk, Brewer or Obama?

So again, what appears to be the case, proven over and over, is that we Americans dodged a bullet in spectacular fashion back in 2008 when we turned the McCain/Palin ticket away. This is just not a very smart woman we have here in Sarah Palin.

A real putz, if you will.

To Refudiate or Not to Refudiate, That is the Pedestrian

Sarah Palin appears to be channeling one of my favorite standup comics from awhile ago.

Norm Crosby.

You know, the guy who made a living out of malapropisms?

Indeed, Norm Crosby was known as the "Master of Malaprop."

He’s the guy who used to build an entire comic standup routine by stringing together words, words found in the dictionary or not, it made no difference, in order to describe a situation.

He even made commercials stringing one malapropism next to another, but somehow, if you put some thought to it, you created order out of chaos.

Which was probably the whole purpose of letting Crosby do his routine, you had to think about what he was saying.

Or trying to say.

Getting us back to Sarah Palin. I doubt that she had the slightest intention of mangling her words because people already suspect that she is living on the bleeding edge of her ability to communicate. That she gave in at the end and compared herself to William Shakespeare, who is known to have made up some of his own words, is the ultimate in “self-servitude.”

Shakespeare gave us such words, so common in the English language now, as “bump” and “ding-dong.” He formed words from sounds. Sarah Palin formed a word that stands half way between refute and repudiate, but one that actually means neither.

The difference between Sarah Palin and William Shakespeare is this: Sarah Palin is a former politician with nothing of substance to say, and William Shakespeare is the most revered playwright in the English language.

My guess is that if Sarah Palin really puts her mind to it, she can come up with a word that sounds like the sound of the word. Here, for instance, is the word Sarah Palin could come up with that sounds like the act of deep, concentrated thought:

"                ."

Perry Does Palin a Tit For Tat

Ignoring, for now, the mental images evoked by the title, today we find that Governor Rick Perry has gotten on the Sarah Palin bandwagon to endorse uber right wing Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman, who is running in a 3-way race against a Republican and a Democrat for the New York CD 23 congressional seat.

That’s right, Perry is doing his level best to mimic his gal pal supporters Sarah Palin, who was among the first to endorse Hoffman, and Cathie Adams, newly elected Chair of the Republican Party of Texas, who has made it her life’s work to identify and support “proper” Republicans to the detriment of “improper” Republicans.

Republicans like Dede Scozzafava, a longtime resident in New York’s CD 23, are not Republican enough for the likes of Palin, Perry and Adams (not to mention the baker’s dozen or so Republican leaders whose endorsements have relegated the only Republican in the special election to the lonely distant third place position).

Hoffman, who is not even a resident of CD 23, has become the golden-haired boy of the GOP rightwing. Hoffman, who pulled a Palin in his flubbed interview with a local CD 23 newspaper, the Watertown Daily Times, because he didn’t know enough about the pressing local issues, has the good will and wishes of the far right, even to the extent that the race, previously out of reach by any Democrat since 1871 has evolved to a possible Democratic win.

In times past, Republicans have bedeviled Democrats in their ability to unite in lock-step, to produce a voting bloc so daunting that Democrats have looked every bit like the disorganized array that they really are.

Not any more. As progressive liberal Democrats and conservative Democrats in DC find common ground in some form of a public option in healthcare reform, Republicans are getting ready to shred their platform, their party and their principles only to demonstrate who among them is the most conservative.

All of this under the misguided belief that America is truly composed of a majority of individuals who think just like them.

So as the sun slowly sets on the Republican Party, the Party of Reagan, the Party of Lincoln, let us all bid them a fond farewell and best wishes to our former foes in their new roles as street corner messiahs and radio talk show hosts.

Republican Party, it was nice knowin’ ya.

Sarah Palin to Resign?

Well you could have knocked me over with a feather. Sarah Palin just conducted a news conference at her Wasilla home, amid raucous waterfowl in the background (and Russia not in the view). She announced that not only will she not seek re-election as governor of Alaska, but she will also be stepping down as governor on July 25^th.

At that time, at the state’s annual Governor’s Picnic in Fairbanks, Alaska’s Lt. Governor Sean Parnell will be sworn in as governor.

The first was quite predictable. It has been so much in the news that she wants to go up against Barack Obama in 2012, and to do so as governor would draw lots of heat, as it did when she was campaigning with John McCain.

The speech, done alarmingly without notes, was an incredible rambling oration where she hauled out her family at some points, and sports analogies at others. And then, inevitably, still more praise was heaped on the troops.

All you could really get out of it was that she seemed to be disaffected by how she has been mauled in the press, and that it costs the state extra dollars just having her as a governor (but no mention of the nearly $300,000 spent in various ethics investigations – Troopergate being the most prominent among them).

I think people will be scratching their heads over this one. Why on Earth does she resign? This means that other than being the mayor of Wasilla, and a hockey mom, Palin’s only other credential for leadership is one incomplete term as a state governor.

My advice to all the head scratchers out there is to stop scratching. Don’t look into this too deeply. The woman is a chronic liar.

And a nitwit.

This was nothing more than political suicide. Stick a fork in her, she’s done.

Sarah Palin Not Ready for Prime Time - - - Ever

Have you been following the dust up that came out of Todd Purdum's Vanity Fair article on the relationship between former Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin and the McCain campaign?

This sucker has got some legs.

Now we have two CBS News reporters, reporters who were embedded in the McCain campaign and are writing a book about it, who have come out with a little teaser of their own.

This story is so amazing that it gives you a real appreciation for the bullet we all dodged last November when America woke up from its zombie-like existence and opted out of voting to put this woman a heart beat away from the Presidency.

Three weeks out from Election Day, Salon.com came out with that now-famous story about how Todd Palin, Sarah Palin’s reported “brain trust” was once a member of the Alaska Independence Party. The sole purpose of the party was to advocate Alaska’s secession from the Union. He was a member for 7 years.

The story caught fire that day and it really rattled Palin’s cage, especially when she started getting comments about it at rallies later that day.

From CBS:

“The comment set her off. She worried that the campaign was not sufficiently mitigating the issue of her alleged connection to the party, which despite a platform that harkens more to the Civil War than the 21st century, continued to play a serious role in Alaska politics.”

So Palin started an email flame war with the campaign’s chief strategist, Steve Schmidt with an ever-lengthening cc list.

“Pls get in front of that ridiculous issue that's cropped up all day today - two reporters, a protestor's sign, and many shout-outs all claiming Todd's involvement in an anti-American political party," Palin wrote. "It's bull, and I don't want to have to keep reacting to it ... Pls have statement given on this so it's put to bed.”

When she didn’t get the response she wanted (Schmidt told her to ignore the remarks) she descended that slippery slope of lies:

“That's not part of their platform and he was only a 'member' bc independent alaskans too often check that 'Alaska Independent' box on voter registrations thinking it just means non partisan," Palin wrote. "He caught his error when changing our address and checked the right box. I still want it fixed.”

Schmidt replied that, in essence, she was full of it and if they put out a statement like that it would cook McCain’s goose. McCain was all set to debate with Obama for the third and last time later that evening and all he needed was to have to deal with this when what he really wanted to do was to introduce Joe the Plumber to America.

We’ve all moved on, but every time something like this comes up I just shake my head in wonderment. Wonderment that while the election was an electoral college rout, in the popular vote the result was closer with just a 7% spread between them.

59,934,814 people voted for that Alaskan nitwit.

The US Military: Defending your Right to Tell Bad Jokes

Well it looks like the Palin/Letterman feud mentioned here awhile ago is finally over, and as I predicted, Letterman had some more apologies to make. So he made the apology with a very classy observation that it wasn’t the Palins’ fault that they had misinterpreted his remarks, it was his.

Now I was wondering what the Palin response would be, thinking that something along the lines of “apology accepted” would be likely.

And as I thought, that is pretty much what she did.

But you know, Sarah Palin is running for President in 2012, so you have to wonder how she was going to milk this for all it is worth – and look presidential to boot. So, no, she didn’t leave it at that she went to the GOP playbook and pulled out #18: say something good about the military.

Because you know, Democrats don’t like the military, or so Republicans will tell you. As a matter of fact, Republicans have a real love for the military to the extent that they recently sent them to two simultaneous wars. So every once in awhile they pull out #18, even when it seems somewhat disconnected.

As it did in this case.

From Politico:

“‘Letterman certainly has the right to 'joke' about whatever he wants to, and thankfully we have the right to express our reaction,’ Palin continued in the statement. ‘And this is all thanks to our U.S. military women and men putting their lives on the line for us to secure America's right to free speech — in this case, may that right be used to promote equality and respect.’”

But you have to give her credit. Who but Sarah Palin can think of how to relate an apology from David Letterman, something you don’t hear very often, to praise of the service of “women and men putting their lives on the line.” You do have to give her a little applause for that.

Because no one else has ever thought of that.

So next time you see a soldier in uniform, walk up to him or her and offer your expression of gratitude for securing David Letterman’s right to tell bad jokes dealing with sexual congress between teenaged girls and mature men.

I’m sure they’ll appreciate it.

Had Enough of the Palins Yet?

Is it just me or has anyone else simply gotten fed up with the Palins of Alaska? Sure David Letterman did not serve his own self interest or those of teenaged girls for that matter with his off-color remark that implicitly sanctioned sexual intercourse between teenaged girls and mature men. He probably has more apologizing to do on that.

But I am getting fed up at the hypocritical path that the Palins have ventured down, where on the one hand they decry the attention directed at their children in the media, and on the other they foster and feed that attention at every turn.

Because using your minor-aged children for your own political gain or as a lure for the limelight is just wrong. Todd and Sarah Palin are surely the parents from H-E-Double Hockey Sticks.

So how have the Palins capitalized on their own children’s innocence? Three ways that I can count now.

Like using your newborn son, born with Down Syndrome as a poster child for why choosing abortion is the wrong choice.

Like using your 17 year old eldest daughter in a morality campaign promoting abstinence over contraception.

And now using the middle child, a 14 year old, as an object to imply that David Letterman is a pederast and should not be in the same room, city or state as her daughter.

From MSNBC:

“Letterman did give an apology of sorts later in the week when it became clear that it was Palin’s younger daughter, Willow, 14, who had come to town — not Willow’s older sister, Bristol, who has broken up with the father of her infant son. But Palin declined Letterman’s offer to appear on his show, saying ‘it would be wise to keep Willow away from’ him.”

“On TODAY Friday, Lauer asked the governor if she had been implying that Willow would not be safe around the late-night comedian. ‘Take it however you want to take it,’ Palin replied. ‘It was a comment that came from the heart.’”

That one was as over the top as Letterman’s comment, but as far as I could see, Letterman didn’t use his 5-year old son to make his point. Not like Palin made her point with the use of her 14-year old daughter

A point that is tantamount to an accusation.

McClellan or McKiernan?

Which general do you suppose was Sarah Palin talking about last night? Lots of people want to know. It has to be why Joe Biden was inwardly laughing at the debate last night. The last thing he was going to do was correct Palin. It would have been like a father correcting a daughter.

It would have been fun to watch, but Joe Biden judiciously let it slide. It would come up in the aftermath, anyway.

Besides, now we not only have Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero to hold over the head of the McCain/Palin campaign – a man John McCain simply refuses to sit down and talk to – we now have General George Brinton McClellan – the man that Sarah Palin trusts and respects. This particular general was fired by President Abraham Lincoln after he failed to hold off Robert E. Lee’s army in the War of Northern Aggression.

Oh, well. To Sarah Palin, who governs that big state up there, one Mick must look and sound like another.

Hockey Moms For Truth Expose Sarah Palin: “She’s No Hockey Mom”

Well you know it had to happen. Sara Palin’s closet is dark and deep and the skeletons are coming out.

Witness the new video issued by “Hockey Moms For Truth.”



Shocking.