That Crazy College Girl…

what is most amazing is the collective amnesia of just about everyone in this matter.
has everyone simply forgotten about the inglorious history of the college republicans?
fact is, most, if not all, of the preeminent dirty tricksters – including esteemed alum, karl rove – got their start in the college republicans.  it’s the minor leagues of the gop school of dirty politics.
considering the facts of the matter, why is it not reasonable to investigate whether higher-ups in the mccain campaign had something to do with the incident?
the “i don’t know how this happened” and “i have mental problems” lines coming from this supposedly disturbed young woman just don’t make sense.
let’s see…
in a state that mccain believes he has to win…
in an area of that state where racial tensions have historic roots that have been spoken about recently…
she is WORKING FOR THE MCCAIN CAMPAIGN…
at a crucial time of the campaign, when lots of voters are just starting to make up their minds…
this allegedly disturbed woman comes up with a story that conveniently touches on many of the racial/sexual trigger points that could easily create an electoral avalanche – if it had actually happened – in mccain’s favor.
and to top it all off, the entire gop noise machine – from drudge to fox to the corner to many other typical outlets – immediately starts to pimp the story, with a big assist from the principals, mccain and palin, personally.
has everyone just fallen off of the turnip truck?
are some things just so obvious that no one wants to deal with the sordid issues that arise, if you actually confront those issues?
isn’t it pretty obvious that this was not the deranged act of some loony college girl with an overactive imagination?
when are people going to start inquiring about mccain campaign involvement?

If Palin Was A Cat….

I love my cat, Carl.
He’s a good guy.  But he has a bad habit.
When I eat bar-b-qued ribs, he will sneak up on me and actually bite my fingertips.  He will actually take a good chomp on my sauce-stained fingers and when I invariably yelp and stare down at him, he simply stares right back, a blank unfeeling look in his eyes.  He appears to be thinking: well, what do you expect?  I’m a cat.
Right then, I realize that the only reason he hasn’t eaten me is because he is 10 pounds of pampered feline.  If he was a 150 lb wild cat, a cougar or leopard or lion or any other such larger, predatory cat, he would surely snack on my old bones, and not think twice about it.
I thought about this as I watched the NBC interview with Palin and McCain.  And there was one moment when I thought I saw my same concerned stare on McCain’s face.
Palin had interrupted McCain, misstated a small, but important – to him – fact and McCain had turned his torso around to look at her.
While he stared at her, I could imagine his thoughts: if you were just a little bit more powerful, a bit stronger, you would toss me under the bus in a second.
It was an extraordinary look – to me – and I doubt if he really knew how revealing his body language actually was.
One good thing about McCain is that it is pretty tough for him to lie.
Bush is not that good at it, either, though he does it with a bit more enthusiasm.
Cheney is a world-class liar, who seamlessly slinks from one outrageous falsehood to another.  His voice, his body language betrays no sign that he is being deceptive.
Palin is also in Cheney’s class.  And her obvious enthusiasm for whatever lie she is telling also helps to mask the pure fiction that is coming out of her mouth.  She is truly shamelss.
McCain, however, is a lousy liar.  If you watch him closely, it becomes pretty clear when he is lying and when he is telling the truth.  One of the “tells” is that he becomes much more emphatic about a particular point when he lies, as though he has to actually still sell himself on his lie.
The look on McCain’s face, as he sat there, cut off by his vice-presidential choice told the real story of his relationship with Palin.
He clearly understands how ruthless she is, and he now understands that she looks at him as just another roadblock on her road to fame and fortune and power.  From little Wassilla to Anchorage to Juneau to Washington, that highway is littered with the broken bodies of former friends and mentors who’ve been stabbed in the back and then discarded in a ditch.  McCain now understands that he is now going to be the latest victim of Palin’s ambition and the look on his face finally betrayed him.

Why There Is No Bradley Effect

the reason is pretty simple.
because of the insular nature of their communications apparatus – talk radio, fox news – they do nothing but listen and speak to each other.
to them, there is nothing outrageous at all about those statements. they just do not perceive them to contain any racist sentiments at all because everyone they hang around with reinforces those same views.
and the sorry-a@# black folks they do encounter do the damnedest stepin fetchit routine one can ever imagine.  those modern-day stepin fetchits do nothing but echo and reinforce the most overtly and subtly racist tripe we see out there.
things have gotten worse in that sense over the last 20 years or so.
25 years ago, most non-southern politicians would not make those kinds of statements, at least publically.  look back on how nixon and ford and that generation of republicans, right after the civil rights movement, spoke about racial issues.  they did so with a great deal of sensitivity, and circumspection, carefully avoiding making blatantly racist statements.
remember nixon’s benign neglect?  the premise behind it was that he couldn’t afford to be seen as being assertively opposing black aspirations.  therefore, neglecting black folks, with a smile, was the best way to go.
law and order?  that phrase seems quaint, nowadays, even if everyone knew what it really meant.
racism certainly informed many of their decisions and policies, but they were very careful not to make public statements that would reveal and betray that racism.
that all changed with reagan, who made it politically palatable for white folks to say outright racist things, with no negative feedback.
and so now we are at the point where, in the most ridiculously illogical twist of all, blacks are accused, routinely of racism because they speak up about it and complain.
witness the uproar over congressman lewis’ statements, the accusation that he is playing the race card.
now, white folks, especially in the right-wing echo chamber, feel pretty much free to say whatever the hell they want to say, and if anyone complains, they just sic hannity and rush and mark levin and michelle malkin on them.
that reality is the big reason i do not think the bradley effect exists anymore.
again, back then, white folks felt constrained about revealing their racism.
now, with the help of fox news and its ilk, they revel in it.
why would any voter care if a pollster or anyone else knew he wasn’t voting for the n@gger, just because he is a n@gger?
they basically say the same types of thing on fox news and right-wing radio all day.

Let’s All Watch Colin Refuse To Stand Up, Once Again!

Colin Powell is going on Meet the Press this weekend and speculation is ringing around the country that he may endorse Barack Obama.
I would not count on it.
If there is one thing about Powell that you can bet on, it is this: that he will always disappoint.
I always used to wonder what Bill Clinton was saving his political capital for.  Once Hillary began her political career, the answer to that riddle became clear.
I’ve wondered, always, what Colin Powell was hording his capital for. 
He has squandered many an opportunity to weigh in on important issues and actually make a difference, and on each occasion, he has always stayed on the sidelines, his capital still clinched in his fists.
The only occasion where he has stuck his neck out for any issue was the “affirmative action” statement in front of the republican convention.
While he is perfectly capable of standing up, I’d bet that what we will see is another disappointment, another instance of Powell choosing to remain on the sidelines.

Will Obama Do Dems A Favor And Permanantly Destroy Palin?

Sarah Palin is a dangerous political opponent.
She has proven that she will say and do anything in furtherance of her political goals and career.
She is one of the most dangerous demagogues to appear on the American scene in recent decades, primarily because she is a physically appealing presence, whose extreme words and actions are ameliorated by her pleasant facade.
In this election campaign, it is clear that she is not ready for prime time, and that she is not competent to perform the tasks of the office she seeks.  But given a few years of seasoning, a bit more polish and the benefit of time, she could easily present herself as a formidable foe in 4 or 8 years.
But the report just issued by the Alaskan legislative committee, concerning her abuse of power provides an opportunity for Democrats to destroy any chance she might have to bedevil them in future election cycles.  At least on the national level.
If they aggressively emphasize the ethical violations detailed in the report, they can establish a public face that will be difficult to ever overcome.  If they aggressively tie her actions to the types of abuses routinely performed by the Bush administration, while those abuses are still fresh in the public mind, they will be able to paint Palin as a Bush clone, W in glasses and a skirt.  Such a portrait and public persona would be incapacitating and would make it difficult, if not impossible, to ever successfully run for public office in the future.
Unfortuntely, the caution and defensive nature of the Obama campaign makes it unlikely that they will take this step.  They may view such a course as unnecessary for their more immediate goal of winning this election.  They may believe that such a course will not sufficiently benefit them to warrant the risk of alienating voters, who may see such a course as negative and off-putting.
Those concerns may be valid.  But they are also incredibly short-sighted. 
I believe that, absent this type of incapacitation now, Palin will re-emerge in the future, like Richard Nixon, and come back to haunt, both Democrats and Barack Obama, as he navigates his way through his political future.  A bit of foresight and a small amount of risk-taking would, i believe, pay off handsomely in the future. Instead of having to wrestle with and push back against an extremist demagogue who would present a formidable challenge in coming years, Obama could destroy her possibilities right now, improve his chances in this election and in the process, do Democrats a huge favor.  They simply need to aggressively push the conclusions of the Alaskan report: that Palin abused the power of her office and that she is someone who can never be trusted with the power provided by a higher office, now that we know how she will handle that power and authority.

Is McCain A Racist?

while it certainly possible that mccain harbors those feelings i do
not think that we have any more than uneasy feelings in that regard and
i think that more is needed before someone is tarred with that brush. i
don’t think that anyone should ever be put in the position of having to
prove that they are NOT something horrendous. i think affirmative proof
is needed.

i’m hesitant to do so with mccain because there is ample evidence
that he treats just about everyone the way he is treating obama – and
we saw it on full display in his treatment of mitt romney during the
primary campaign – so i am more inclined to chalk it up to him simply
being a grade a asshole, rather than attribute it to a racism that has
never manifested itself before in his long years of service.

while the degree of his disdain is probably a bit higher, i’d
attribute that to the fact that the stakes are higher and we are
finally seeing him in an arena with just one opponent and not an entire
field of candidates. frankly, i loved it when he tore romney a new one
in the primaries, though i was a bit uncomfortable watching it. if he’d
been alone on the stage with romney for many events and if he’d have
been in competition with romney for months, with no other opponent to
draw his attention away, i could easily have imagined the same kind of
vitriol being directed at poor mittens.

Sorry, But McCain’s An Asshole, Not A Racist

“How the fuck, did I lose to a nigger…”
i’m sure those are the sentiments of many republicans in the mccain crowds.
i’ll give johnny mac the benefit of the doubt, however.  i don’t think any racial animus or element goes into his thinking or his bewilderment about losing to this young whippersnapper.
i just think that he cannot believe that he’s lost to someone he believes to be so lacking in the kinds of qualifications he brings to the table.
i’ve said it before, maybe i’m being naive, but i attribute his attitude to the same kinds of disdain  he obviously had and showed towards mitt romney.

Passion and Anger That Works…

Now this is the passion that I’d like to see from Obama on a regular basis.

Taking On A Smear

Jeffrey Goldberg tackles the Obama-hates-Jews smear head on.
Good to see someone simply tell it like it is, instead of tiptoeing around the nastier aspects of these issues.
That is the only approach that works.

Who Will Rid Me Of This Troublesome Priest?

Channeling King Henry, this is basically what john mccain is saying right now.
Will some nut take him up on it?
There seem to be plenty of folks who seem willing to volunteer.