GOP Pres Candidates Breaking Bad

Pols for GOP nomination are lame, or not sufficiently crazy

Update: See also Sarah Posner's Christian Zionists, Bibi, Obama, and Armageddon at Religious Dispatches.

The weakness of the field at this point is comparable to December 2007 when many on the right were trashing Mike Huckabee in the twisted objections then twirling in leading Republican minds.

Sarah Palin is the recipient of similar derision today, though from different players.

As Chris Cillizza wrote then of the GOP field: "Someone Has to Win the GOP Nomination."

McCain won and lost, the target of McCaincon—a plot by authortarian (ostensibly religious) Movement officers to sabotage the GOP nominee for not being sufficientally crazy, though McCain tried mightily and got a bum rap by the right in this respect.

The parallels between the '08 and '12 nomination race are striking.

The most striking analogue is Mitt Romney.

The Ken Silverstein cover story of the November 2007 issue of Harper's seems like it could be rerun today without anyone noticing.

November 2007

Writes Silverstein: “(Romney) says all the right things, his speeches run through the litmus test on conservative issues, but there’s no conviction behind it. …,” said Cyndi Mosteller, a social rightwinger and GOP politico in South Carolina.

Add to this lack of conviction a dose of Christian religious bigotry against Mormons and you have a political Loser, now leading the current pack of crazies. [Palin, Paul, Gingrich, Cain, Pawlenty, and Bachmann]

Let's say Romney wins the nomination. Will he then pull a McCain and court the endorsement of John Hagee, another whack who says the Holocaust was part of God's plan, among other charming nonsense?

ADL in 1994 Hits Crazies

Being Christain Zionist and anti-Tolerance, anti-Pluralistic and just plain nuts, as Hagee is, sits fine with elements of the Lobby now-a-days—now making noise to align with the GOP nominee [certain to be anti-pluralistic] as long as the Christian right-endorsed candidate advocates war against Islam or at least employs the term "Islamofascism" with some frequency.

The ideologues—who may fall together into a motley coalition looking for an endless war against terror, Satan, Muslims, [maybe even South America]—look to conjure some GOP chimera.

But they may find that the vast majority of Americans are not apocalyptic, war-mongering nuts who, as Noam Chomsky wrote in 2002, do not accept the "increasingly desperate claim that everyone is following them in their depraved subordination to power" and more war.

One aspect of the American political culture persisting is the hope that people can compete with power; that the remnants of our democracy are sufficient to knock down a religious zealot like Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, a Medicare-destroying ideologue like Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin), rightwing billionares like the Koch brothers, and the eventual Republican nominee for president.

Fort Hood Terror v. Neocon Arizona Terror

When news of the 2009 Fort Hood Massacre broke, the most tenuous evidence was used to paint the killing as the work of Al Qaeda and other Islamic groups. (Fox)

"The murders at Ft. Hood are about the radicalization of individuals by an extremist ideology -- jihadism -- which fuels acts of terror," writes Walid Phares at FoxNews.com's Fox Forum.

But suggestions that Sarah Palin-Glenn Beck-Michele Bachmann-gun-toting Tea Partiers-Jesse Kelly's "shoot a fully automatic M16" to "get on target for victory" might constitute a "radicalization of individuals by an extremist ideology" evoke expressed shock and outrage by the neocons.

At the Weekly Standard, for example, are columns on "The Left's McCarthyism," "The Arizona Tragedy and the Politics of Blood Libel," and on and on.

Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol was on C-SPAN over the weekend comparing criticism of neocon, eliminationist rhetoric to what Kristol says is the absurd suggestion that George W. Bush lied about WMDS. These guys are a laugh a minute.

Paul Krugman puts things into perspective:

The point is that there’s room in a democracy for people who ridicule and denounce those who disagree with them; there isn’t any place for eliminationist rhetoric, for suggestions that those on the other side of a debate must be removed from that debate by whatever means necessary.

And it’s the saturation of our political discourse — and especially our airwaves — with eliminationist rhetoric that lies behind the rising tide of violence. ...

Where’s that toxic rhetoric coming from? Let’s not make a false pretense of balance: it’s coming, overwhelmingly, from the right. It’s hard to imagine a Democratic member of Congress urging constituents to be “armed and dangerous” without being ostracized; but Representative Michele Bachmann, who did just that, is a rising star in the G.O.P.

And there’s a huge contrast in the media. Listen to Rachel Maddow or Keith Olbermann, and you’ll hear a lot of caustic remarks and mockery aimed at Republicans. But you won’t hear jokes about shooting government officials or beheading a journalist at The Washington Post. Listen to Glenn Beck or Bill O’Reilly, and you will.

Even now, not one GOP-Tea Party extremist will issue even a tame tone-down-the-rhetoric statement. That should tell you rather clearly that they intend to engage in more of the same. But accepting responsibility for the harvest is a different story.

The neocons are going to lose this political battle of terror speech and they know it; but calling for an end to eliminationist rhetoric would be making it a rout.

Palin Camp Caught in Lie on Bullseye—Not Tageting, Just 'Surveying'

Sarah Palin's camp is in full retreat mode, and is now caught in a lie.

Adviser to Ms. Palin, Rebecca Mansour, says the cross-hairs placed on Rep. Giffords’ district (and 19 others') are "surveyors symbols."

But Palin's recent Twitter (above) tells another story, referencing the "'bullseye' icon used 2 target the 20 Obamacare-lovin' incumbent seats ... ."

“I don’t understand how anybody can be held responsible for somebody who is completely mentally unstable like this,” an adviser to Ms. Palin, Rebecca Mansour, said in an interview with a conservative radio host, Tammy Bruce. Responding to accusatory messages on the Web, Ms. Mansour added: “People actually accuse Governor Palin of this. It’s appalling — appalling. I can’t actually express how disgusting that is.”

Ms. Mansour said that the cross hairs, in fact, were not meant to be an allusion to guns, and agreed with her interviewer’s reference to them as “surveyors symbols.” Aides to Ms. Palin did not respond to interview requests on Sunday. [Zeleny, Rutenberg; NYT]

Looks like Palin is also shocked, shocked to find that "Giffords' Tea Party-backed opponent, Jesse Kelly, held a machine-gun-themed campaign event, whose invitation said, "Get On Target For Victory in November. Help remove Gabrielle Giffords from office. Shoot a fully automatic M16 with Jesse Kelly." Maybe those were surveyors' tools and not machine guns. (Goldberg, TAP)

Or Glenn Beck's allusion to guns:

On his radio show in October, for example, [Beck] speculated that the government might seize his children because he's refusing to give them the flu vaccine. 'You want to take my kids because of that?' he said. 'Meet Mr. Smith and Mr. Wesson.' (Goldberg, TAP)

Maybe Smith and Wesson makes surveyers' tools as well.

Army Vet and Muslim Sgt. Key to Saddam Capture Speaks Out on Islamophobia

Update: See also Did Task Force 20 Kill Osama Bin Laden
- U.S. Army Sergeant Ayman A. Ibrahim's intelligence directly led to the capture of Saddam Hussein. Ibrahim speaks out now as a Muslim for America, and against the rampant Islamophobia in America -

Exclusive to Michael Leon and Veterans Today


U.S. Army Sergeant Ayman A. Ibrahim (1985–2005 (ret.)) is a highly decorated military hero who despises this description.

Mr. Ibrahim's preference aside, the former paratrooper with the U.S. Army’s 82^nd Airborne (1985–1988) who received the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star (awarded for exceptionally meritorious conduct) among other citations, was a key figure as the senior interpreter (and interrogator) attached to the Saddam-hunting, American Special Forces Task Force 121.

Task Force 20

Task Force 20 located and captured Saddam on December 13, 2003 on a farm near Tikrit in central Iraq.

Task Force 20 is an elite and shadowy multiservice Special Forces unit reportedly composed of Marine Force Recon, Navy Seals, Army Delta Force and Rangers, and Air Force Special Operations personnel.

Ibrahim's intelligence—derived by non-coercive interrogations and rapport-building—directly led to the capture of Saddam.

Informed personnel say American media reports and even books on Task Force 20 operations generally are rife with cover stories and misinformation, hence the often-used adjective “shadowy” by writers.

Currently working as a contractor supporting the U.S. mission, Ibrahim, now living in the Middle East, contacted Veterans Today to speak out against the Islamophobia gripping the United States as war clouds gather over Iran.

Ibrahim is an American Muslim who speaks fluent Arabic. After 9/11, working in California training mobilized National Guard troops and reserve units, Ibrahim saw his country under attack and badly wanted to work with a forward combat unit.

His sense of duty includes a heart-felt betrayal by those few calling themselves Muslim who attacked America.

“Ayman is a fiercely loyal guy who's not only a roll-up your sleeves workhorse type, but has extremely sharp intellect under pressure. I have known him since our teenage days back in the early 80s when we rolled the California mean streets. He's the kind of guy you want on your team; a man of integrity, principle-centered leadership, and mental toughness under extreme pressure that you absolutely need when you live in the trenches of warfare,” said John Allen, General Manager of the Veterans Today Network and long time friend, in an e-mail.

I spoke with Ibrahim, reached in Amman, Jordan, by phone on 9/11 last Saturday—the ninth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the United States—for about an hour.

War and Task Force 20

Ibrahim, as I can perceive in a phone conversation, has an unusual intensity in his voice. He talks easily, tolerates frequent interruptions, but there appears fierce conviction behind his narratives and seemingly behind each spoken word, lending his vocalization a Carl Sagan-like quality.

“War is usually a failure. When we have war, diplomacy has failed. Something has failed. Someone has not done their jobs well. Say, the neocons and Richard Pearle, for example, they are either failing in preventing war or they are trying to start one,” said Ibrahim.

“The guys I worked with [Task Force 20] in Iraq, everyone has the idea of a Rambo, elite super soldiers [like those portrayed television series], but these guys are professionals. They don’t do things for kicks. They do their jobs, and treat human beings like human beings. If they have to go in hard, it’s because they are risking their lives. So some people who do not know what they are talking about give these guys a bad rap. But Task Force Special Operations Task Force 121 is composed of professional, dedicated and smart people, and yes, they are very tough, and yes they are the best on the world. They have character.”

Islamophobia

“These Islamophobes, Koran-burning, no Mosques or community centers. They betray America. I feel I have to speak out because this is not the America I know and love. They are not the Americans I believe in. I went through some events where after 9/11, security concerns were raised about me while I was a soldier because I am a Muslim. But my team, the people who I served with knocked that down right away,” said Ibrahim, referring to the post-9/11 days that sent him at his request to forward combat units, ultimately with Task Force 20.

“You get these people who say America is only this way. Only this belief. And if you don’t like it, ‘leave.’ That’s not America. You find your way in America, you pursue what you believe: That’s America and if you don’t like that, you can leave.”

This Mosque controversy in New York is so ridiculous. I'm willing to move the Islamic center to another location, but what is next; we need to identify what is the end game for these guys who are yelling hate. To equate all Muslims with terrorists is beyond foolish. Is Christianity a terrorist religion because of the KKK and the like? No. But I do not fear anti-Islamic bigotry. It’s nothing to me in the sense it is so foolish and so gutless that it presents no threat to me at all. But I speak against it now because I stand up against it as a proud American who has been challenged in other ways as a solider and a man.”

Ibrahim is a military man and his comments on the capture of Saddam Hussein are punctuated with references that are heavy on his belonging to a team.

But even now, seven years after the capture of Saddam, Ibrahim begs off precise details on Task Force 20 operations.

Ibrahim does say that one Iraqi walking away with a $25-million reward for the capture of the man who became known as the “Ace of Spades” are incorrect.

Warrior for Peace

“There is one instant in under fire where you can freeze or you can draw adrenalin from what is happening and in some ways love it, and crave it. I love it, and these Islamophobes are dangerous, but they are very weak and fearful people as individuals,” said Ibrahim with seeming contempt.

The vast majority of Muslims speak proudly of the tolerance of Islam that regards as prophets— Abraham, Moses and Jesus.

Listening to Ibrahim, I thought about the contradictions of being simultaneously religious and being an elite warrior for a state. But coming from Ibrahim, his words seem very convincing.

Ibrahim is a universalist. His commitments are social, concerned with the rights of his fellow human beings, raising in a listener the words of John Donne:

Each man's death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind ...

Ibrahim blows off specific questions about his present work in Amman, Jordan. Though he is undoubtedly intently focused on whatever he is doing, his words come back to the topic of America, Islamophobia and the growing scent of outright fascism.

So I ask Ibrahim speficially about Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin, Christian Zionists, and near-constant fear-mongering of the specter of a world Islamic mission of a presumably Sunni-Shia alliance imposing their will onto America.

Said Ibrahim, “I ask these haters who think they speak in the name of our beloved Prophet Jesus, please do as he preached and do not be a Bin Laden and interpret as you like to promote your own agenda of hate.”

America and Americans are better and deserve better than being labeled as haters and racist people. They should not follow those few preaching hate as their moment will go away. But world perception will last, we need to protect our country from all those hateful people inside and out.”

Thank You Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin, Rightwingers Will Regret It

- Stupid, white people do not mess with the memory of Dr. King and then get away with it -

I spent a lot of time in some neighborhoods on the South side of Milwaukee in 2008.

The area is a microcosm of America. Segregated, apolitical, isolated, islands of peace and social justice activists, often provincial, and with a rapidly changing demographic from what was once a largely Polish and German [white] to a multi-ethnic population, one aspect that stands out and that should inform political commentary is the 2008 mobilization of the heretofore politically withdrawn class, particularly black women.

Milwaukee in 2008 is an experience I'll never forget. The embracing of the political process by many ethnic minorities who never vote, the energy, the hope; it was real. And it sure isn't dead. Reading the various analyses on the GOP-Tea Party resurgence, though, one might believe so.

The Obama campaign brought so many people out to vote, the vote-obstructing Wisconsin Attorney General (and McCain-Palin co-chair) J.B. Van Hollen and the national GOP-vote obstruction teams knew they had only one slim chance to win Wisconsin, and the country: Defense, don't let the other team score. Or in campaign terms, in anti-democracy terms: Don't let the other team vote. [See Targeting Black Milwaukee Voters, and Black Voters Across the Nation (Andrew Hacker, New York Review of Books, Sept 25, 2008) and Block the Vote by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Greg Palast.] They lost. A record voter turn-out knocked the GOP on its collective ass.

Well, it's been a tough two years. Personally, I would have done much differentally both in degree and substance than the Obama administration has done, but the statist-reactionary kooks on the right have managed to do something that Obama could not do himself in the mid-term campaign. That is re-mobilize the forces that brought us the first black president.

You see, stupid, white people do not mess with the memory of Dr. King and then get away with it.

That's something that the Becks, the Newts and Sarah Palins are going to find out in about eight weeks on election day.
---
And here's saluting AlterNet for for its rebuttal to Beck and Palin who were decked out in red, white and blue on Saturday exhorting 10,000s of white people, real Americans, to restore their country, seize "honor," and take back their government just like god and the founding fathers intended.

• Glenn Beck Goes Messianic at 'America's Divine Destiny' Event Before 2,500 Screaming Fans by Peter Montgomery


• Glenn Beck Has a Long History of Racial Mockery on the Radio -- His Civil Rights Talk Is Pure Fraud by Alexander Zaitchik / SPLC's Hate Watch


• Glenn Beck's Messiah Complex by Adele M. Stan


• Glenn Beck's MLK Dream is Perverse, But What's Our Vision? By Kai Wright / ColorLines


• Glenn Beck Is Not Martin Luther King Jr. by Robert Greenwald


• Glenn Beck's Attempt to Bastardize Dr. King's Dream

Right-Wing Crazies Fight Witchcraft and Demons, Sarah Palin Leads the Way

A radical, right-wing charismatic evangelical movement is burrowing into the power structures of major American cities and states; if Sarah Palin runs for president in 2012 we could have a New Apostolic Reformation president.

See Bruce Wilson in AlterNet.

Below is Sarah Palin's greatest hits.

Teabaggers Are Stupid White People - Video

Teabaggers are the same, old, white, xenophobic, racist garbage. Good for a laugh, but never let racism go by unchallenged. Cuéntame -- "a place for Latinos and the public in general to connect with fellow fans, bloggers, activists, artists, musicians, journalists" challenges the racism of the Teabaggers.

¡Hola,

As hosts of Cuéntame we want to tell you a bit about ourselves, the project and about our latest campaign against Tea Party racism and violence.

Both Ofelia and I have seen with great sadness and frustration how Tea Partiers have unjustly and unfairly targeted the Latino community to further their political agenda. This is why our latest campaign exposing Tea Party racism has hit a nerve, not only within the Latino community but also with many folks across the country who like us are fed-up of all the hatred, the violence and the bigotry peddled by teabaggers.

From calling Mexicans 'filthy, stinking animals,' to listening the likes of Tom Tancredo and Sarah Palin deliver hateful speech after hateful speech to the increase use of violence in their words and actions, Teabaggers have come out in full force against our community.

We are fed up and are ready to fight back. You can help us not only by watching and spreading our videos, but also by joining our [FaceBook] page ... and recruiting your friends - Latino or not - to do the same.

Sarah Palin Draws Raves from David Broder

Just when you thought American politics could not possibly sink to lower depths of self parody, Sarah Palin's address to the Tea Party-whack set is belatedly endorsed today by the Dean of American Journalism, the neocon of neocons, the Washington Post's David Broder.

Broder was an cheerleader for the Bush-Cheney regime, heaping praise on Bush's grand design for democracy as evidenced by ... Bush's speeches. He writes that Palin's address "was not the first time that Palin has impressed me."

His column is gushing inanity, devoid of policy and substance [befitting the modern Dean] and concluding, "Those who want to stop her will need more ammunition than deriding her habit of writing on her hand. The lady is good."

Here's some political ammo: Sarah Palin is an ignoramus without the slightest understanding of major policy spheres. Sarah Palin is an Evangelical Zionist clown, catering to the right-wingers in Israel who want America to engage in war without end in the region known as the Middle-East. Sarah Palin is anti-choice and a statist reactionary.

An ignorant, militaristic clown is the perfect Broder candidate.

Glenn Greenwald has some fun at Salon:

I was fairly certain that Washington Press Corps Dean David Broder's career would end with his last memorably humiliating moment (of many) being this February, 2007, column, when he giddily announced that ‘President Bush is poised for a political comeback,’ that ‘Bush now shows signs of renewed energy and is regaining the initiative on several fronts,’ and that ‘he is demonstrating political smarts that even his critics have to acknowledge’ -- only for Bush's approval ratings to continue to plummet until he finally left office as one of the most despised Americans politicians of the last 100 years. I was wrong.

Today, Broder pens a gushing love letterto Sarah Palin -- decreeing that we must ‘Take Sarah Palin seriously,’ admiring her ‘pitch-perfect recital of the populist message,’ and warning that she will be difficult to stop as a major political force -- on the very same day that his own newspaper published a poll reportingthat Palin's ‘political standing has deteriorated significantly’; that ‘fifty-five percent of Americans have unfavorable views of her, while the percentage holding favorable views has dipped to 37, a new low in Post-ABC polling’; that ‘there is a growing sense that the former Alaska governor is not qualified to serve as president, with more than seven in 10 Americans now saying she is unqualified, up from 60 percent in a November survey’; that ‘even among Republicans, a majority now say Palin lacks the qualifications necessary for the White House’; and even that ‘Palin has lost ground among conservative Republicans,’ as ‘forty-five percent of conservatives now consider her as qualified for the presidency, down sharply from 66 percent who said so last fall.’ Could Man of the Regular Folk David Broder possibly be any more out of touch with the Regular Folk?

Is that all a candidate has to do for neocon favor: Accalaim one's loyality to Israel? And repeat talking points without any apparent understanding of what is being said? No more qualifications necessary.

Sarah Palin Smackdown! Elites Run for Cover

Update: Those not yet convinced of the brilliance of this magnificent woman can see the video below.

Sarah Palin's address at the Tea Party Nation (TPN) convention in Nashville and follow-up Fox News interview broadcast Sunday morning dealt a crippling blow to the political hopes of American liberals, elitists, socialists, and all manner of Wiccans.

Such elitist luminaries as Noam Chomsky, Jeff Gates, Uri Avnery, Gordon Duff and Mr. Know-it-all Glenn Greenwald over at Salon were schooled Palin-style, as she reportedly "bounded onstage to cries of 'run, Sarah, run' and then delivered a stinging rebuke of President Obama while striking a populist, even folksy tone. Serving up fiery rhetoric with a broad smile, she attacked the administration's policies on the economy and on national security, assailing in particular the decision to read Miranda rights to the man accused of attempting to bomb a U.S. airliner on Christmas Day," the birthday of the Lord (Philip Rucker and Ann Gerhart, Washington Post, Feb. 7, 2010).

Five years after Palin's church, the Wasilla Assembly of God, launched a crash spiritual project protecting Palin from “the spirit of witchcraft,”—ultimately seeing her elected as governor of Alaska where she served a brief tenure while also running as the 2008 vice-presidential nominee for the Republican Party—Palin's paid speech at TPN sent Israeli critic, Jeff Gates, fleeing out of the country to Pakistan where Gates reportedly will be meeting with elements of the American ally's large Islamic population, planning the next caliphate.

Assuming the national political stage after her wildly successful book tour ended in December, Palin brandished on her lapel a small pin composed of two flags, those of Israel and the United States, as she offered advice and a warning to President Obama on the policy of not waging war against Iran in support of Israeli militarism.

Reports Mike Madden (Salon):

'Say [Pres. Obama] played the war card,' she said, casually name-checking Pat Buchanan, whose column apparently inspired this bit of analysis. 'Say he decided to declare war on Iran or decided to really come out and do whatever he could do to support Israel -- which I'd like him to do. That changes the dynamics and what we can assume is gonna happen between now and three years. Because I think if the election were today, I do not think Obama would be elected.'

It's not so much that Palin thinks Obama would declare war on the 17th most populous country in the world just to win re-election. It's more that if he did do something like that, it would give people second thoughts about his failed presidency.

Another noted critic of Israeli militarism and the apocalyptic-Christian rapture alliance, Gordon Duff, a combat Marine Vietnam War veteran and senior editor of Veterans Today, was unreachable by phone this morning.

Duff went into hiding where he is "reconsidering his anti-American ideology" and asking himself why he "hates America" after viewing the Palin address on C-Span's Recent Programs, said a source who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic.

In a related development, an examination of the comments on a recent piece at Veterans Today, Christians Desecrate Wiccan Religious Site at Air Force Academy, reveals that commenting Wiccans and humanists' e-mail suffixes often end in "edu," demonstrating that many readers of the popular site's Wiccan piece are elitists.

Meanwhile, another snotty female elitist living in DC, Wonkette, was largely silent on her site, apparently cowed by Palin's address that was delivered just months after the elitist had derided Palin as "Clown Moose" and "Noted Dingbat."

Said a Palin supporter living in Wisconsin who refused to give his name to a "liberal-looking" questioner, "You elitists can take your fancy footnotes and your rules of inference and stick 'em in northern Alaska when all the Sun does is shine and shine."

- via mal contends

Russ Feingold's Corner of Madness

Update: Please note response of the office of Sen. Feingold in the comments section.

George Wagner's MJS column last month reporting Sen. Russ Feingold defended the filibuster at a listening session in Milwaukee reveals a problem of Feingold's that progressives know about but rarely speak: What Bertrand Russell would describe as Feingold's "corner of madness."

That would be Feingold's tendency to take utterly insupportable positions in the name of polishing his brand as a political maverick. Certainly, it's not Feingold's intellect that leads him to the absurd.

Examples:

- Defending the filibuster in the name of deliberation
- Voting for the confirmation of Chief Justice John Roberts because Roberts assured the Judiciary Committee that he was committed to the jurisprudence of an "umpire" and not that a rightwing activist, Roberts' past ideology apparently notwithstanding in Feingold's mind

Feingold has accomplished much in his tenure in the Senate, but he will never be a great Senator like Robert M. LaFollette because of his tendency to veer into the political idiosyncratic and irrational.

One can go on: Feingold's fighting against retraining funds for out-of-work Janesville autoworkers, raving against stimulus spending in the middle of the worst recession since the Great Depression, supporting the Republican crazies in the impeachment of Bill Clinton and other nonsense.

Liberals [Emily Mills, for example] won't call Feingold out on these preposterous positions because of Feingold's lonely voice of opposition to the worst of the Bush-Cheney nightmare.

But if Feingold's views had prevailed, we would have Senate obstruction, an ultra-activist Roberts Court, out-of-work Americans in need of training, and an insufficiently large fiscal stimulus ... . Ohhh, yeah. This is the type of maverick whom Sarah Palin supports, and Feingold knows this to be true so, really: Knock it off, man.

Reason over Message

With the rise of the public relations industry American politics—from the municipal alderperson to the chief executive—has been reduced to the point where a vacuous Sarah Palin can be talked about as a contender for the president of the United States.

In politics as in marketing, the overriding concern is to deliver a message to create and manage a brand, be it a product like a snow-blower or a political candidate like George W. Bush.

Managing a brand is done through delivering through every utterance, every visual image, every fleeting impression: A message; like strength or family-friendly, some such positive attribute, or negative attribute if you're referring to an opponent.

We have come to adapt this message imperative so unthinkingly that in discussions of matters of public policy, facts, logic, rights and history are of no concern for many in our dying democracy. We live in a make-believe world of messages and visual impressions.

Think that possession of pot should be lowered to a $10 ticket or be completely legalized, and the response from those most vested in message-speak will be: We're sending the wrong message.

Withdraw from Afghanistan: Wrong message. And so on.

How about a trial for 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (KSM)? No, KSM will deliver the wrong message at trial. And the trial itself is delivering the wrong message to terrorists everywhere.

Leonard Pitts Jr eviscerates such nonsense in his column this morning.

Pitts quotes Robert H. Jackson's eloquent opening statement at the Nuremberg trials of NAZIs on November 21, 1945, in serving as Chief of Counsel for the United States.

That four great nations, flushed with victory and stung with injury stay the hand of vengeance and voluntarily submit their captive enemies to the judgment of the law is one of the most significant tributes that Power has ever paid to Reason.

Today, it is thought by the Glenn Becks, the Rudys and Republican Parties of the world, that such phenomena as Reason and the Rule of Law apparently deliver the wrong message, which is what is really important.

Attorney General Eric Holder deserves respect for apparently not giving a damn about message, in favor of Reason and the Rule of Law.

- via mal contends

Sarah Palin: Too Much Gov Regulation Caused Meltdown

Sarah Palin made a splash yesterday showing her grasp of the global economic crisis is on a par with her mastery of biological evolution.

From the Huffington Post:

Palin spoke out against government intervention in the economy. 'We got into this mess because of government interference in the first place,' Palin said, according to the Wall Street Journal. 'We're not interested in government fixes, we're interested in freedom, she added.

Go Sarah in 2012!

Have Republicans really gone so far as to seriously consider this woman for president? Yes.

Sarah Palin is the embodiment of the modern GOP hijacked by ignoramuses, racists and screeching demagogues. The GOP has won Appalachia and the American South for a generation. Non-Palinesque Republicans would do well to jump this crazy train now.

Gingrich Hits Gov Crats' Death Mandate, Praises Wisc Hospital

It's past time for President Obama to call a liar a liar.

The GOP is in full campaign mode with lots of money and lies. And Obama is playing this game like a 1/4-speed, sixth-grade football scrimmage.

Newt Gingrich's e-mail this morning continues the outrageous lies about proposed health care reform, and Gingrich ironically works in a plug for a Wisconsin hospital and patients' rights to make living, medical-care wills:

Emotions are high in the debate over the future of our health care, and for good reason. What we are discussing are deeply personal, often deeply emotional issues.

Americans are troubled by what we're hearing from Washington because we don't want government to dictate these deeply personal, deeply emotional decisions. Especially those decisions that come near the end of life.

Gingrich knows perfectly well that there no proposed death panels or mandates from Washington on how a person can end her life.

But now Gingrich is the new libertarian, death-with-dignity-and-compassion man.

It's a lie and Obama refuses to engage the lies and not surprisingly polls show support for health care reform plummeting.

Gingrich presents a Wisconsin hospital as a model for how one should be able to end her life vis a vis being told by outsiders what she must do. [That Terri Schaivo thing a few years ago never happened.] Writes Gingrich:

We had that kind of an experience at Gunderson Lutheran Hospital in Lacrosse, Wisconsin, where my father-in-law died.

At Gunderson - without any mandates from government - 92 percent of patients have advanced directives setting out what kind of care they want at the end of life.

Patients are treated with compassion, dignity and humanity. Families are engaged. Doctors are allowed to do what they think is best for patients, without fearing that the federal government is looking over their shoulders.

Obama is in a bubble expanding to Bush league proportions. Way past time to burst it.

Who is telling Obama not to take on the whacks and the liars? The same people who are letting the Party of Terri Schaivo become the Party of death with dignity and compassion.

This morning the New York Times quotes Rahm Emanuel: “The Republican leadership has made a strategic decision that defeating President Obama’s health care proposal is more important for their political goals than solving the health insurance problems that Americans face every day.”

Good, nice observation, but health care should be owned by the Democratic Party as an issue and Obama seems content to play Mr. Nice Guy.

Shatner Does Sarah Palin

You have to watch this one.

I never knew that Sarah Palin has the heart of Ginsberg, Kerouac and Blake.

Via John Amato from Crooks and Liars:

Wisc Marriage Ban Suit's McConkey Quit GOP After Palin Chosen as VP

Update: Here's Judith Davidoff's Cap Times link.

Judith Davidoff has a profile up at the Capital Times, "Citizen McConkey: How a straight, married, lapsed Republican came to wage a one-man battle against Wisconsin's gay marriage ban."

McConkey is the plaintiff in William C. McConkey v. J. B. Van Hollen, the Wisconsin Supreme court case that could doom the gay marriage ban voted into the state constitution in 2006.

Turns out McConkey is a life-time Republican, who lived in Alaska for a time and quit the GOP because Sarah Palin was chosen as nominee for the vice-president.

Writes Davidoff:

Because of his time in Alaska, McConkey was familiar with Sarah Palin, though he didn't know her personally. But he knew enough, he says, to consider her unqualified to be president. And so when former presidential candidate John McCain chose Palin as his running mate last year, it was the final straw for McConkey, who at that point severed his long ties with the Republican Party.

'I lost it,' he says. 'That just showed a disregard for the American people.'

It was not a decision he made lightly. The McConkey family's allegiance to the Republican Party dates back to the Civil War, when his relatives fought on the side of the Union.

See also:
- Wisconsin Gay Marriage Ban May Go Down
- Brief Looks to Doom Wisconsin Gay Marriage Ban
- Objection, Compound Referendum

Sarah Palin Writes an Op-Ed, Yeah

Sure, Sarah can write.

From Wonkette on Sarah's piece in "the important neo-con pamphlet The Washington Post."

SHUT UP, CLOWN-MOOSE: Erratic wingnut Sarah Palin is ready to rehabilitate her comical image! Only 23% of Americans approve of this fame-crazed snowbilly grifter ... Thank Allah the entire WaPo copy desk spent a few days on this thing, so it wouldn’t read like Sarah’s late-night dumbass Twitters.

Sarah Palin Warns Huffington, Shannyn Moore, Times, MSNBC, Post and Bloggers

Update II: Tana Ganeva: Sarah Palin Resigns: Is She Fleeing Scandal?

Update: Robert Perry - 'Sarah Palin’s abrupt decision to resign as governor – and her rambling explanation – underscores how the GOP over the past 12 years has put up candidates for top national offices who are unqualified and ill-suited.'

Let's pray for her. Here's a video of Sarah announcing that she is quitting because she is not a quitter "at this moment in time" following a "higher calling," as geese squawk their approval.

Empathize this Sunday with Sarah's folly. To borrow from Dylan, Sarah is so hard to define.

Read Todd Purdum's excoriating piece in Vanity Fair for mellow holiday fun on the utter kookiness of Sarah, chronicling her fall into a pit of ridicule that has GOP strategists shaking their heads in disbelief.

Purdum's piece [that elitist meanie] was before Palin's explaining that her quitting as governor is an exercise in her not quitting ... and the troops' not quitting, and the fish. You don't hear much about that, do ya?

Sarah is still taken seriously by some in the GOP as a viable candidate for president. The Weekly Standard's Bill Kristol thinks Sarah's bizarre press conference is "shrewd."

"All I can ask is that you trust me with this decision," said Sarah. Kristol is in a tiny minority in placing his trust in Sarah. Maybe Kristol—former Dan Quayle chief of staff and top chickenhawk cheerleader for invading Iraq to rid the country of weapons of mass destruction—knows something about Palin that we don't.

Probably not. But William Bennett is in the know as well. Watching mainstream pundits on the Sunday talk shows, one gets the feeling that they strain to keep a straight face in accessing the viability of Sarah as serious national political figure.

Now, Sarah is now threatening legal action against journals reprinting "fraudulent claims" against the soon-to-be-ex governor's good name.

Oh Sarah, careful you don't lose the book deal, you corrupt, wacky thing; then where would Alaska be? As Maureen Dowd writes, "Caribou Barbie is one nutty puppy."

In our lifetime, never has there been a national political figure so close to the presidency who is so clearly unqualified, uniformed and utterly off-the-charts batty. No hyperbole can do this woman justice.

From Mark Thiessen in the Post (via AP):

... Palin attorney Thomas Van Flein on Saturday warned legal action may be taken against bloggers and publications that reprint what he calls fraudulent claims.

‘To the extent several websites, most notably liberal Alaska blogger Shannyn Moore, are now claiming as 'fact' that Governor Palin resigned because she is 'under federal investigation' for embezzlement or other criminal wrongdoing, we will be exploring legal options this week to address such defamation,’ Van Flein said in a statement. ‘This is to provide notice to Ms. Moore, and those who re-publish the defamation, such as Huffington Post, MSNBC, the New York Times and The Washington Post, that the Palins will not allow them to propagate defamatory material without answering to this in a court of law.’

Let us pray for her.

McClatchy News has full transcript via the Anchorage Daily News.

- Full Transcript -

Hi Alaska, I appreciate speaking directly to you, the people I serve, as your Governor.

People who know me know that besides faith and family, nothing's more important to me than our beloved Alaska. Serving her people is the greatest honor I could imagine.

I want Alaskans to grasp what can be in store for our state. We were purchased as a territory because a member of President Abe Lincoln's cabinet, William Seward, providentially saw in this great land, vast riches, beauty, strategic placement on the globe, and opportunity. He boldly looked ‘North to the Future’. But he endured such ridicule and mocking for his vision for Alaska, remember the adversaries scoffed, calling this ‘Seward's Folly’. Seward withstood such disdain as he chose the uncomfortable, unconventional, but RIGHT path to secure Alaska, so Alaska could help secure the United States.

Alaska’s mission – to contribute to America. We’re strategic IN the world as the air crossroads OF the world, as a gatekeeper of the continent. Bold visionaries knew this - Alaska would be part of America's great destiny.

Our destiny to be reached by responsibly developing our natural resources. This land, blessed with clean air, water, wildlife, minerals, AND oil and gas. It's energy! God gave us energy.

So to serve the state is a humbling responsibility, because I know in my soul that Alaska is of such import, for America’s security, in our very volatile world. And you know me by now, I promised even four years ago to show MY independence… no more conventional ‘politics as usual’.

And we are doing well! My administration's accomplishments speak for themselves. We work tirelessly for Alaskans.

We aggressively and responsibly develop our resources because they were created to be used to better our world... to HELP people... and we protect the environment and Alaskans (the resource owners) foremost with our policies.

Here’s some of the things we’ve done:

We created a petroleum integrity office to oversee safe development. We held the line FOR Alaskans on Point Thomson – and finally for the first time in decades – they’re drilling for oil and gas.

We have AGIA, the gasline project – a massive bi-partisan victory (the vote was 58 to 1!) – also succeeding as intended - protecting Alaskans as our clean natural gas will flow to energize us, and America, through a competitive, pro-private sector project. This is the largest private sector energy project, ever. THIS is energy independence.

And ACES – another bipartisan effort – is working as intended and industry is publicly acknowledging its success. Our new oil and gas ‘clear and equitable formula’ is so Alaskans will no longer be taken advantage of. ACES incentivizes NEW exploration and development and JOBS that were previously not going to happen with a monopolized North Slope oil basin.

We cleaned up previously accepted unethical actions; we ushered in bi-partisan Ethics Reform.
We also slowed the rate of government growth, we worked with the Legislature to save billions of dollars for the future, and I made no lobbyist friends with my hundreds of millions of dollars in budget vetoes... but living beyond our means today is irresponsible for tomorrow.

We took government out of the dairy business and put it back into private-sector hands – where it should be.

We provided unprecedented support for education initiatives, and with the right leadership, finally filled long-vacant public safety positions. We built a sub-Cabinet on Climate Change and took heat from Outside special interests for our biologically-sound wildlife management for abundance.

We broke ground on the new prison.

And we made common sense conservative choices to eliminate personal luxuries like the jet, the chef, the junkets... the entourage.

And the Lt. Governor and I said ‘no’ to our pay raises. So much success in this first term – and with this success I am proud to take credit... for hiring the right people! Our goal was to achieve a gasline project, more fair oil and gas valuation, and ethics reform in four years. We did it in two. It’s because of the people… good public servants surrounding the Governor's office, with servants' hearts and astounding work ethic... THEY are Alaska's success!

We are doing well! I wish you'd hear MORE from the media of your state's progress and how we tackle Outside interests - daily - SPECIAL interests that would stymie our state. Even those debt-ridden stimulus dollars that would force the heavy hand of federal government into our communities with an ‘all-knowing attitude’ – I have taken the slings and arrows with that unpopular move to veto because I know being right is better than being popular. Some of those dollars would harm Alaska and harm America – I resisted those dollars because of the obscene national debt we’re forcing our children to pay, because of today’s Big Government spending; it’s immoral and doesn’t even make economic sense!

Another accomplishment – our Law Department protected states’ rights – TWO huge U.S. Supreme Court reversals came down against that liberal Ninth Circuit, deciding in OUR state’s favor over the last two weeks. We’re protectors of our Constitution – federalists protect states’ rights as mandated in 10th amendment.

But you don’t hear much of the good stuff in the press anymore, do you?

Some say things changed for me on August 29th last year – the day John McCain tapped me to be his running-mate – I say others changed.

Let me speak to that for a minute.

Political operatives descended on Alaska last August, digging for dirt. The ethics law I championed became their weapon of choice. Over the past nine months I've been accused of all sorts of frivolous ethics violations – such as holding a fish in a photograph, wearing a jacket with a logo on it, and answering reporters’ questions.

Every one – all 15 of the ethics complaints have been dismissed. We’ve won! But it hasn't been cheap - the State has wasted THOUSANDS of hours of YOUR time and shelled out some two million of YOUR dollars to respond to ‘opposition research’ – that’s money NOT going to fund teachers or troopers – or safer roads. And this political absurdity, the ‘politics of personal destruction’ … Todd and I are looking at more than half a million dollars in legal bills in order to set the record straight. And what about the people who offer up these silly accusations? It doesn’t cost them a dime so they’re not going to stop draining public resources – spending other peoples’ money in their game.

It’s pretty insane – my staff and I spend most of our day dealing with THIS instead of progressing our state now. I know I promised no more ‘politics as usual,’ but THIS isn’t what anyone had in mind for ALASKA.

If I have learned one thing: LIFE is about choices!

And one chooses how to react to circumstances. You can choose to engage in things that tear down, or build up. I choose to work very hard on a path for fruitfulness and productivity. I choose NOT to tear down and waste precious time; but to build UP this state and our country, and her industrious, generous, patriotic, free people!

Life is too short to compromise time and resources... it may be tempting and more comfortable to just keep your head down, plod along, and appease those who demand: ‘Sit down and shut up’, but that's the worthless, easy path; that's a quitter's way out. And a problem in our country today is apathy. It would be apathetic to just hunker down and ‘go with the flow’.

Nah, only dead fish ‘go with the flow’.

No. Productive, fulfilled people determine where to put their efforts, choosing to wisely utilize precious time... to BUILD UP.

And there is such a need to BUILD up and FIGHT for our state and our country. I choose to FIGHT for it! And I'll work hard for others who still believe in free enterprise and smaller government; strong national security for our country and support for our troops; energy independence; and for those who will protect freedom and equality and LIFE... I'll work for and campaign for those PROUD to be American, and those who are INSPIRED by our ideals and won't deride them.

I WILL support others who seek to serve, in or out of office, for the RIGHT reasons, and I don't care what party they're in or no party at all. Inside Alaska – or Outside Alaska.
But I won’t do it from the Governor’s desk.

I've never believed that I, nor anyone else, needs a title to do this - to make a difference... to HELP people. So I choose, for my State and my family, more ‘freedom’ to progress, all the way around... so that Alaska may progress... I will not seek re-election as Governor.

And so as I thought about this announcement that I wouldn’t run for re-election and what it means for Alaska, I thought about how much fun some governors have as lame ducks… travel around the state, to the Lower 48 (maybe), overseas on international trade – as so many politicians do. And then I thought – that’s what’s wrong – many just accept that lame duck status, hit the road, draw the paycheck, and ‘milk it’. I’m not putting Alaska through that – I promised efficiencies and effectiveness! ? That’s not how I am wired. I am not wired to operate under the same old ‘politics as usual.’ I promised that four years ago – and I meant it.

It’s not what is best for Alaska.

I am determined to take the right path for Alaska even though it is unconventional and not so comfortable.

With this announcement that I am not seeking re-election… I’ve determined it’s best to transfer the authority of governor to Lieutenant Governor Parnell; and I am willing to do so, so that this administration – with its positive agenda, its accomplishments, and its successful road to an incredible future – can continue without interruption and with great administrative and legislative success.

My choice is to take a stand and effect change – not hit our heads against the wall and watch valuable state time and money, millions of your dollars, go down the drain in this new environment. Rather, we know we can effect positive change outside government at this moment in time, on another scale, and actually make a difference for our priorities – and so we will, for Alaskans and for Americans.

Let me go back to a comfortable analogy for me – sports… basketball. I use it because you’re naïve if you don’t see the national full-court press picking away right now: A good point guard drives through a full court press, protecting the ball, keeping her eye on the basket… and she knows exactly when to pass the ball so that the team can WIN. And I’m doing that – keeping our eye on the ball that represents sound priorities – smaller government, energy independence, national security, freedom! And I know when it’s time to pass the ball – for victory.

I have given my reasons candidly and truthfully… and my last day won’t be for another few weeks so the transition will be very smooth. In fact, we will look to swear Sean in – in Fairbanks at the conclusion of our Governor’s picnics.

I do not want to disappoint anyone with my decision; all I can ask is that you TRUST me with this decision – but it’s no more ‘politics as usual’.

Some Alaskans don’t mind wasting public dollars and state time. I do. I cannot stand here as your Governor and allow millions upon millions of our dollars go to waste just so I can hold the title of Governor. And my children won’t allow it either. ? Some will question the timing. ? Let’s just say, this decision has been in the works for awhile…

In fact, this decision comes after much consideration, and finally polling the most important people in my life - my children (where the count was unanimous... well, in response to asking: ‘Want me to make a positive difference and fight for ALL our children's future from OUTSIDE the Governor's office?’ It was four ‘yes's’ and one ‘hell yeah!’ The ‘hell yeah’ sealed it - and someday I'll talk about the details of that... I think much of it had to do with the kids seeing their baby brother Trig mocked by some pretty mean-spirited adults recently.) Um, by the way, sure wish folks could ever, ever understand that we ALL could learn so much from someone like Trig - I know he needs me, but I need him even more... what a child can offer to set priorities RIGHT – that time is precious... the world needs more ‘Trigs’, not fewer.

My decision was also fortified during this most recent trip to Kosovo and Landstuhl, to visit our wounded soldiers overseas, those who sacrifice themselves in war for OUR freedom and security… we can ALL learn from our selfless Troops… they’re bold, they don’t give up, they take a stand and know that LIFE is short so they choose to NOT waste time. They choose to be productive and to serve something greater than SELF... and to build up their families, their states, our country. These Troops and their important missions – those are truly the worthy causes in this world and should be the public priority with time and resources and NOT this local / superficial wasteful political bloodsport.

May we ALL learn from them!

*((Gotta put First Things First))*

First things first: as Governor, I love my job and I love Alaska. It hurts to make this choice but I am doing what’s best for Alaska. I’ve explained why… though I think of the saying on my parents’ refrigerator that says ‘Don’t explain: your friends don’t need it and your enemies won’t believe you anyway.’

But I have given my reasons… no more ‘politics as usual’ and I am taking my fight for what’s right – for Alaska – in a new direction.

Now, despite this, I don’t want any Alaskan dissuaded from entering politics after seeing this REAL ‘climate change’ that began in August… no, we NEED hardworking, average Americans fighting for what’s right! And I will support you because we need YOU and YOU can effect change, and I can too on the outside.

We need those who will respect our Constitution where government’s supposed to serve from the BOTTOM UP, not move toward this TOP DOWN big government take-over… but rather, will be protectors of individual rights - who also have enough common sense to acknowledge when conditions have drastically changed and are willing to call an audible and pass the ball when it’s time so the team can win! And that is what I’m doing!

Remember Alaska… America is now, more than ever, looking North to the Future. It'll be good. So God bless you, and from me and my family - to ALL Alaska - you have my heart.

And we will be in the capable hands of our Lieutenant Governor, Sean Parnell. And Lieutenant General Craig Campbell will assume the role of Lieutenant Governor. And it is my promise to you that I will always be standing by, ready to assist. We have a good, positive agenda for Alaska.

In the words of General MacArthur said, ‘We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.’

It's D-Day, Shiller, Roubini, Stiglitz, Kuttner and Krugman Sound Alarm

Just saying.

- Roubini's Pissed-Off and Stiglitz Goes Ballistic

- Robert Shiller: Depression Lurks Unless There’s More Stimulus

- Krugman: Green Shoots and Glimmers

- Kuttner: Will Obama's Economic Team Lead Him Off a Cliff?

Politically, it's time for a for-us or against-us ultimatum to the GOP while people still recognize that Bush and his GOP brought us to this mess. The TEA Party was a joke, for now.

But the idea that we have to try the recovery program now and then try something else, more comprehensive, in the Fall ain't going to work while the economy continues its slide and the GOP continues trring to appropriate unfocused frustration and aggression.

Be bold and great forces of the American people will come to your aid. "Choo-choos," as some the Tea Set derogated the labor-intensive high-speed rail project should be just the beginning of a massive public works program. [I know we have some begun now.]

And everyone knows that the fare of Robert Gibbs' “you will see in a systematic and coordinated way the transparency of determining and showing to all involved some of the results of these stress tests” didn't play and appears emblematic of opacity.

This recovery needs to be framed as Obama against Newt, Rush, Sarah Palin and the GOP.

Spook them [the GOP] , scare them [the public], shake the markets.

I know this more confrontational political strategy is being considered; well now it's D-Day, and Gen. Patton-Obama ought to lead the landing this time and all operations thereafter.

A Vision for High Speed Rail

McCainCon Conducting System Testing

Team members of McCainCon are conducting last-minute system testing though the objectives have already been met: John McCain's campaign is dead.

The plot to sabotage the GOP nominee for president of the United States by conservative movement officers, rightwingers and anti-McCain allies is brilliant. The members participated with faint energy in the McCain campaign, holding back, watching a man they dislike take the fall in a Goldwateresque election for the GOP.

After the election, McCainCon begins the acceptance phase that results in finding the man who they want as the next president in 2012: Sarah Palin.

Watch out for subplots and counter-espionage, and for Kirk Douglas to emerge out of the wreckage of the McCain campaign and blow the whistle.