There has been a major upset on the U.S. political landscape. For the longest I thought Barry and Co. had the 2008 election wrapped up. With the adoring MSM election coverage, and the overwhelming need for “change” after the Bush Crime Family fiasco, who would think a Republican could get another shot at the White House? Well, it seems the balance of public opinion has tipped in the favor of the big dooky-caked GOP elephant.
As an ardent follower of political news, I try to keep abreast of the rapidly unfolding election coverage. The game got much more interesting with McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin, an attractive woman with a special needs child as VP. The hard-right conservative voters who felt they had to hold their collective noses to pull the lever for the pudding-brained moderate big government Senator were enticed with the entrance of the purportedly small-government firebrand from the wild Alaskan frontier.
The Palin selection was designed to enlist the scores of disaffected Hillary supporters that desperately needed a vagina in the White House at any cost. The maternal sympathy vote was exponentially compounded by the fact that Palin has a Down syndrome child (who may not have been issued from her womb). Also, dudes with a 50’s-era librarian fetish got a compelling reason to vote for the Republican ticket.
The McCain resuscitation (thanks to the addition of Palin) really hit home when I read Camille Paglia’s Salon article on Palin. As an intellectual and ardent feminist, Paglia’s laudatory treatment of Palin challenged the left’s supposed monopoly on strong feminist leaders. From the Salon.Com article:
Sarah Palin is like Annie Oakley, a brash ambassador from America’s pioneer past. She immediately reminded me of the frontier women of the Western states, which first granted women the right to vote after the Civil War — long before the federal amendment guaranteeing universal woman suffrage was passed in 1919.
Now that’s the Sarah Palin brand of can-do, no-excuses, moose-hunting feminism — a world away from the whining, sniping, wearily ironic mode of the establishment feminism represented by Gloria Steinem, a Hillary Clinton supporter whose shameless Democratic partisanship over the past four decades has severely limited American feminism and not allowed it to become the big tent it can and should be. Sarah Palin, if her reputation survives the punishing next two months, may be breaking down those barriers. Feminism, which should be about equal rights and equal opportunity, should not be a closed club requiring an ideological litmus test for membership.
The addition of Palin to the Republican ticket was a brilliant tactic designed to shift attention away from the corrupt, senile, pseudo conservative McCain. The jury is still out on this broad, but I am certain that I will find a reason to loathe Palin as much as I do every other political hack.
For the record, I do not think any of the current presidential candidates even deserve the role of sanitation commissioner. The corrupt two party duopoly system guarantees a loser every time in a staged over-hyped political bread and circus false-choice election. I would prefer an hourly electro-shock to the testicles before voting for the pudding-brained war-mongerer John McCain or the rudderless neophyte Barack Obama (whose leash is controlled by evil bastards such as Brzezinski and Biden).
Dillsnap Cogitations 
I’m a bit surprised the jury is still out on this woman as far as you’re concerned Johnny. Make no mistake: she is horrible. The very idea that this woman could be a heartbeat away from the presidency (or a spoonful of poison in pudding-brain’s morning coffee) is frightening.
A few things: 1) The Alaska Legislature is conducting an ethics investigation into Palin’s firing of her public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan, because he refused to dismiss State Trooper, Mike Wooten, who just happened to have gone through a tough divorce with Palin’s sister. It’s small-town abuse of power, but it’s abuse all the same, which can be magnified if one has more power.
2) Even though she presents herself as someone who is against wasteful government spending, the state of Alaska under her governance has requested 31 earmarks worth $197.8 million in next year’s federal budget. That means that she has relied on an earmarks program that she now claims to oppose.
3) Palin and McCain’s people like to tout how she opposed the requests by Alaskan Senator, Ted Stevens, and others for $223 million in federal funds for a bridge from Ketchikan, Alaska (commonly referred to as the “Bridge to Nowhere”), but as a candidate for governor in 2006, she backed funding for the bridge. After her election she suddenly was against the project, claiming she would use the federal funds for other purposes.
Speaking of Stevens: She was the Director of Stevens’ 527 Group. Stevens is currently under federal indictment for corruption charges.
And this from the L.A. Times: “As mayor of the small city of Wasilla, Alaska, Palin appears to have made use of the system she now decries, hiring a Washington lobbyist, Steven Silver, to represent the town. Years ago, Silver worked as an aide to Stevens.
After he was hired, the city obtained funding for several projects, including a city bus facility that received an earmark valued at $600,000 in 2002. That year a local water and sewer project received $1.5 million in federal earmarks, according to Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan watchdog organization.”
4) This is a woman who was open to banning books from a local library. The Anchorage Daily News quotes her in conversation with the librarian, Mary Ellen Emmons: “What would your response be if I asked you to remove some books from the collection?” I don’t know what books she was referring to, but banning books period is disturbing. If she’s willing to ban books, what else is she willing to ban?
5)Palin is a social conservative, an idealogy which has directly led to the division in this country for the last eight years. She is pro-life, yet, ironically, also pro-capital punishment. She is for teaching Creationism in public schools. She is against teaching sex education in public schools (this, despite the situation concerning her daughter). She is against all abortions, even in cases of rape or incest. Environmentally speaking: she thinks man-made global warming is a hoax and she sued the Federal Government to make sure polar bears did not make the Endangered Species List
6) The most important reason to oppose this choice of McCain’s is this: If voters choose a vice president, they realize or should realize the nominee’s Constitutional duties are that they are ready to assume the presidency. The most important factor is the VP’s readiness to assume the presidency. Sarah Palin is not fit to assume that responsibility. She has zero – zero – foreign policy experience. McCain is 72 and he’s had several recurrences of cancer. There is a very good possibility that he could become sick or die during his first term. It’s not unthinkable. And who will take his place as leader of the free world – Sarah Palin?
Palin is in the middle of her first term as Governor of Alaska. Before that she served as Mayor in the small town of Wasilla, Alaska with a population of just over 5,000 people. She attended the University of Idaho and received her degree in Journalism with no additional education. It’s an accomplishment, but not where it concerns being the VP.
Alaskan Republican State Senate President Lyda Green: “She’s not prepared to be governor. How can she be prepared to be vice president or president? Look at what she’s done to this state. What will she do to the nation?”
The biggest knock people have against Obama is his lack of experience. Then McCain chooses the most inexperienced VP candidate in modern times. It’s insane.
Oh, sure, I know why McCain picked her – he hopes to pick up disaffected Hillary supporters. He assumes women are stupid. Some women may, as you wrote, be obsessed with seeing a vagina in the White House (pretty fucking tasteless, even for you, Peepers) but the majority of women voters are going to vote on the issues that are important to them, whatever those may be. I hope this blows up in McCain’s face.
So well written, a pleasure to read – congrats. I wish news outlet would know how to pack so much substance in so few words.
PS: Is the picture blurry, or is that young lady seriously hairy-legged?
In what other business can a guy my age drink martinis, smoke cigars and sing? I think all people who retire ought to go into show business. I’ve been retired all my life.GeorgeBurnsGeorge Burns
Way to post a photoshopped photo, hey credibility called they wanna know where you have been… Meth still Peeps?
I think you know where I stand on this issue.
Sex Mahoney for President
Manco: I think the verdict is in now – the bitch is rotten.
Ray-Ray: Thank you for the compliment. You are a very kind man. I am pretty certain that Palin’s legs are hairy. Alaskan broads usually keep a year-round coat to keep their legs warm.
Lisbon Treaty: Politics and high finance.
Taylor/Quixo/John Peeps/mancompany/Jonny Peepers: Pick a name turd-muffin, you are making me dizzy. Did someone’s sacred sow get gored?
Sex Mahoney: Absolutely!
I watched Palin’s interview last night and I think she is really good. She is great at talking in circles and never answering the questions.
Even though I would love to have hairy legged, woman in the white house… Not this one!!!
Ps. Manco loved your summary!
One of reason i never believe in Feminism. Bcs i believe stupid women are much more than stupid men. For example It’s so idiotic that JUST bcs of electing a woman, feminists vote for that stupid old pervert guy to be president. And they dont care he will make the world worse than what Bush did?
BTW, i think Presidential election in US is not democratic at all..Seems like a joke for me..
P.S: Is the first foto real or fake?
Di: Yeah, I loved her concise explanation of the “Bush doctrine” and her willingness to champion the next war. She is gonna be a real treat. At least Hillary had the decency to keep her hairy pock-marked kankles covered up 24-7.
Shahrzad: Feminism was a Rockefeller/CIA-funded plot to sow division between the sexes under the guise of equality. For many brain-washed saps, identity politics (race/gender/religious affiliation)trumps the candidates experience and issue positions. It is the death knell of the representative republic.
The U.S. elections are a joke. Unfortunately, far too many put faith in these empty vapid leaders who lie to them on a daily basis. The U.S. is a corporate fascist pseudo-democracy led by men far different than imagined.
I am certain that picture of Palin is photo-shopped, but it is damn funny.
Palin = delitist
I think Obama is a better choice than not voting. Sure he is compromised by this system we purport as democracy – but I cringe at the thought of Mc Cannibal and Whitemeat in the Oval.
Great post and discussion.
Best
Thanks qazse. I plan to use my vote as an instrument of rejection directed at the the rigged duopoly political system. I agree that Obama is the lesser of the two evils, just not lesser enough.
I reject McSame’s false promises of change and I certainly reject his pygmalion pick, Sarah Palin. If you dig just right below the surface, that woman is nothing more than George Bush with a vagina.
Peepers: If the poll numbers stay at their current levels, your vote for the third option will only help McCain. It sucks, but you need to hold your nose and vote for one or the other evils. I don’t want to imagine this country under a McCain/Palin presidency. It won’t survive. I’m going to vote for Obama. I’m not completely sold on the guy, but I’ll take him over McCain any day.
Look, I’m all for shaking up the two-party system. It’s grown stagnant and corrupted. But it’s not going to happen overnight, particularly on the national level. If people truly want to bring third party politics into the picture, it has to start at the state and local level. The movement you seek must start from the ground up.
Also, it doesn’t help that our ill-informed and ignorant citizenry continue to vote the same people into the House and Senate. Approval ratings for the Congress are and have been extremely low for some time now. Yet, Republicans and Democrats keep voting for the same people instead of voting for Republicans and Democrats or Third Parties that are running in opposition. Connecticut is a perfect example of this problem. Joe Lieberman was beaten fair and square by Ned Lamont in the primary. Instead of accepting his defeat, Lieberman – a lying, worthless, corrupt old bastard – decides to run as an independent, shifting himself more to the right in order to attract conservative voters in the state. He won, of course. But he never would have been elected without a sizable amount of Democrats voting for him. The people of Connecticut had a real opportunity to have a fresh start with Lamont and they shit all over it.
I always hear government is the problem. I don’t hear enough that we’re the problem. And if you believe in the philosophy of our system (a government of the people) then we, as the government, are the problem. We’ve led ourselves, or have allowed ourselves to be led to believe that we are seperate from government. People have come to view Government as almost God-like, with some believing in its absolute infallibility and others believing in the inherent danger of believing in it. But it’s an extension of each one of us – you and I. We have to make it work. And turning our backs on it, refusing to take part in it, hoping for a deux ex machina in the form of a third party, isn’t going to bring about the new direction we seek.
Manco: I appreciate your lengthy and impassioned attempt to rescue my vote. Nonetheless, I refuse to vote for any candidate that stands in stark contradiction to my personal political views because the other bastard is unpalatable. They are both business as usual, Obama just has a catchier slogans and a slicker PR department.
The two-party system is rigged to guarantee that the power elite always get their man. Part of their game is to dupe you into believing that you have a say about the direction of the country – you don’t. Instead, the inevitable Hobson’s choice is thrust upon the masses every four years guaranteeing perpetual misery.
“I always hear government is the problem. I don’t hear enough that we’re the problem.”
I agree with you there. I plan to not contribute to the problem by rejecting the two perpetual party’s vacuous offerings. I refuse to stay within the preset defined party lines in which I am expected to loyally operate. It takes a man (or woman) of compromised principles and a jelly spine to rise to the top of the two-party ticket. My tacit endorsement would say more about me than it would McCain or Obama.
Obama may be the bright shining star of this election cycle, but he is still an empty suit doing the bidding of his masters. His nebulous policies and continually shifting positions(reopening NAFTA waffle,indecision on Iraq pullout timing, FISA telecom immunity vote) demonstrates his lack of principle or core conviction.
Compared to McCain he is the obvious choice in a two man race. It isn’t a two man race and I refuse to prop up the broken “sorry you’re fucked once again” system because I fear the other bastard’s rise to power. That tired ass narrative doesn’t work for me anymore. Good luck with your hope and change (everybody needs something to believe in).
Peepers: I respect your opinion, as always. However, as an opponent of the two-party system, are you at least willing to admit that the advent of a third party system can not originate on a national level?
As far as hope and change: you’re goddamn right I believe in it. What the fuck choice do I have? I’ve gone through my periods of apathy and frustration and despair with the current state of the world. But that isn’t changing anything.
Hope and change can not exist if the belief in them dies. It’s that simple. While I remain pessimistic about the future, I will – I must – continue to cling to the hope that humanity can change its present course and our eventual destiny will trump these petty concerns. It isn’t the Obama rhetoric of “hope and change” that people cling to, it’s the IDEA of hope and change. The idea will outlive the rhetoric.
It’s not a “tired ass narrative”. You know as well as I that McCain or Obama will be President. The decisions, the influence they receive, over the course of the next four years will affect you. Which one do you want making the decisions?
Is the system broken? Absolutely. But, again, if you’re expecting some mass political awakening in this country regarding a political alternative, it ain’t happening right now.
The movement you seek, I seek, those who read this blog seek, and countless others seek, must be formed and shaped into something recognizable. Until then, it’s simply a mass.
This political movement must be supported on a small scale and grow over time. It’s going to take years, probably decades. Until that time, it’s a two-party system, but it doesn’t have to be the way it is now. People could have voted for Ron Paul or Dennis Kucinich, but they didn’t. I think you would agree that those were two candidates connected to the two-party system that could have evoked change in this country. But no one supported them outside of a small group of people.
And then you have the Legislative Branch, which is, in my opinion, arguably more important than the Executive. Even if Obama was actually a ray of sunshine or a third party candidate was elected, if the House and Senate is made up of elitists, it’s not going to make a damn who’s President. Again, that’s where cultivating options to the two-party system would work best if it starts at the state and local level.
So what are you going to do? Live on a political island until the rest of the world catches up with you (if they ever do), safe in the security of your knowledge but having no impact on the immediate world that affects you, or will you make the best possible choice and continue to do what ever you can as a citizen of this country to improve the political process, however limited one’s involvement may be?
I understand your frustration and cynicism over the current political state but this is the situation we find ourselves in. It’s going to take a while. While we’re making our way, I’d rather have the current system populated by the lesser evils. If that makes me part of the “tired ass narrative”, so be it. If hope and change is just a dream, then consider me a dreamer.
I wish those who had supported Nader (or not voted at all) had voted for Gore. I know it sounds simplistic but I really mean it. The fact that Republicanism has been taken over by neo-conservatives and religious fascists (dominionists) has changed the game.
I can not pretend to know what kind of president Gore would have been, but I do know that what has happened over the last eight years is not only incompetence and self interest and manipulation – but also very fucking evil. Many of these people are Armaggedonists (including born again Bush) who believe there can be no (nor should there be no) peace until the great conflagration and subsequent second coming. Those neos who do not have that belief do not contest it since the believers are part of their “base”. These people are of one mind: might makes right.
They allowed the attacks on our soil to happen. They squandered a surplus budget. They have undermined civil liberties. They have fattened the wealthy and squeezed the rest of us. They have further besmirched the name of of the US in the minds of the world. They have insured the divide between Islam and Christianity (two belief systems comprised primarily of moderates but run by radicals)(this divide fits nicely into their Armageddonist neo conservative game plan). They have dismantled hundreds of environmental initiates and continued our dependence on big oil and big power… on and on and on. I believe that if the Democrats had been elected, this list would not be as long or as diabolical.
Obama is saying the “right” things to get elected. What politician is advised not to. But I think he is truly a man who is open to dialog and solutions. And that is a start for a world which can not endure eight more years of neo conservative saber rattling fascists.
peace peeps
Manco: A viable third-party will not originate on any level. The duopoly’s control system tentacles are far too entrenched. The corporate media will deny coverage of a third-party ensuring its limited message exposure. The media propagandists control what is seen, heard, or accepted on the political landscape. As a result, any burgeoning party will be starved into obscurity.
“While I remain pessimistic about the future, I will – I must – continue to cling to the hope that humanity can change its present course and our eventual destiny will trump these petty concerns.”
Although I agree with you on that point, I do not believe any one politician can ignite the changes that are necessary in this country, or the World. I have zero faith in the political system. The snake-oil salesmen, dream peddlers, and empty promise political pimps are mere actors in a rigged production titled “Death to Liberty.”
For many years I closely followed politics and felt a genuine civic pride, had faith in the tripartite system, and voted for the actors that appealed to my own views. I have since come to the conclusion that the game of politics is merely a charade designed to ensure that half the citizens blame the other half for electing the latest buffoon. In the ensuing perpetual political tail-chase, the rats destroy the nation unabated.
I am quite certain that you would pass off my world view as naïve new-age insanity, and I don’t blame you. I firmly believe that we manifest the type of reality that we focus on. Our collective psychosis brought people like Bush into power (along with Diebold, Katherine Harris, The Supreme court, etc…). The answer to our problems is not a political solution. The answer is to transcend the false choice dialectical political system through a massive shift in consciousness. I will expand on that theory in future posts.
I agree that either McCain or Obama will be elected. I do not want the responsibility of ushering in either, or their disastrous policies. Neither of those two men will be instrumental in single-handedly shaping domestic and foreign policy. The president’s job is to read his teleprompter and stay awake during cabinet meetings.
Policy is shaped by unelected men in private meetings (i.e., the CFR, the big banksters, and powerful lobbies that do not represent the country’s best interest.) You are fed the illusion that the president is decision maker to buttress your faith in the electoral process. The system is beyond broke – it has been pulverized into fine powder and flushed. Bill Hicks used to say something to the effect of – the puppet on the left or the puppet on the left, does it really matter? He also talked about the immediate post-election meeting with the president when the projector that comes down showing the alternative camera angle of JFK’s head being blown to smithereens. Any questions president? Yeah, what’s my agenda?
I prefer living on a political island to hammering another nail into a condemned outhouse. My vote for either of the candidates would be a repudiation of my core values. My success, happiness, and emotional and psychological well-being are not dependent on the outcome of this election. I wish to relegate the rat race affairs to those who are the most absorbed with its workings. The control system (and its quadrennial beauty pageant) are of decreasing importance to me every single day.
I hope I wasn’t too brash with this, or my last comment. I understand that you are very passionate about this Obama fellow and the upcoming election. If Barry loses the election by 1 vote than you have every right to thrash me into a broke-backed heap drowning in my own blood and piss. I just ain’t buying his (or any other politician’s) schtick.
Johnny, Manco,
“I always hear government is the problem. I don’t hear enough that we’re the problem.”
Okay…eh hem…here it goes. You guys are the problem.
Timotheus
That includes you too, dickface.
Madcow,
If you don’t work, drink all night, sleep all day, and live off of my taxes, then you are a much larger part of the “problem” than the rest of “us”. Why don’t you channel your blogging energy into a resume and they may just take you as a greeter at Wal-Mart.
Let’s hear your didactic response to that, bro bro.
Timotheus
If I’m working prior to drinking all night and sleeping all day,then please explain to me, half-pint, how am I living off your taxes? I suggest you learn how to compose a sentence before you step to me, dumbass.
There is no separation between you and I; we are citizens of the United States of America. You must stop raising yourself above others in this country as a way for you to feel self-important. If the hammer falls, it will affect all of us – no matter our race, economic background, religion or other illusion we have made to keep ourselves from realizing this fact.
I would never work at Wal-Mart. It’s a filthy and corrupt business. Its’ only aim is profit, greed and exploitation. I won’t contribute to their stain on the planet. No, I’m quite happy doing what I do.
If you would engage in critical thinking you might come to a similar conclusion regarding what is happening to our country. Unfortunately, after dealing with your worthless ass for a few months now, I have no reason to believe that you will ever reach that goal.
Madcow,
Two quotes from you:
“If I’m working prior to drinking all night and sleeping all day, then please explain to me, half-pint, how am I living off your taxes?”
“I don’t work at 7/11, Mr. Tim. In fact, I don’t work. I live a very comfortable existence off your tax dollars…and I love it.”
Now you explain to me how your critical thinking produced these two comments, genius. Thanks for playing “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?”; we have some lovely consolation prizes for you backstage, bro bro.
Timotheus
I don’t see what your point is, Timmy. I admit writing both of the quotes you listed above. What about it? They’re both true. The first was a reaction to your poorly written sentence in the comment above, while the second one is nothing more than a manifestation of what you already assumed.
Are you finished with this nonsense?
Manco,
I’m just trying to help you with your street cred. You had two contradicting comments. Do you work or not? Do you live off my taxes or not?
Peeper’s audience would like to know if you are being truthful. How can you successfully convince the audience to consider your ideas and opinions if we keep getting misrepresentations coupled with epithets?
Am I finished with this nonsense? What nonsense? I am as serious as a meth induced heart attack, bro bro.
Johnny, do you have a Lou Reed lunchbox?
Timotheus
Tim: What is this street cred you speak of?
I work and I live off your taxes. It’s a bit grueling at times but, what can I say, I’m an overachiever. Now, do you have anything further to add to the subject of this post or, like most conservatives, do you avoid discussing the issue at hand by blurring what the issue truly is?
Peeper’s audience can kiss my ass.
Dude, your whole life is concentrated nonsense. I have never met one so truly mind-numbingly idiotic as yourself. Pat yourself on the head, little fella.
And, bro bro? Careful there, Timmy. You don’t want your pitiful attempts at slang to result in you having your “White Male Privilege” card revoked, do you?
Manhole,
Why you disrespectin’ me?
Timotheus