Sarah Palin and my Republican father

[Plaid Adder]

I have posted here before about my dad, the lifetime Republican. I sort of think I may have to stop calling him that now. He did after all vote for Kerry in 2004, and as for 2008...

He called tonight to talk about something unrelated to politics. I mentioned that my partner was out an open meeting of a local school council (PJ is not school-age yet, but my partner believes in advance preparation). He said, "Ah, doing the PTA thing already." I said, "Yes, soon we will be qualified to be Vice President of the United States."

I know he's in Massachusetts where his vote doesn't really matter; but still, it did my heart good to listen to him rant about Palin. He started off with "the whole thing is a farce" and went on from there. He is starting to feel about the Christian right almost the same way I do, and is similarly struck by her utter lack of preparedness for the job. "How do you think she'd do dealing with a guy like Putin?" he asked. I said, "I don't know, I guess she'd just look into his eyes and see his soul."

And, see, this is the thing that really creeps me out about Palin: the more I find out about her, the more she looks like George W. It's all there in her time as Wasilla's mayor: the narcissism, the obsession with loyalty, the grabbing for all the power she can reach, the belief that as the "executive" she has absolute power and to hell with the City Council, and even the asinine insistence that you can make things better by changing how you think about them.

That last point is made in a Seattle Times piece about Palin's first year as mayor of Wasilla. If you are still all wound up over the pregnancy stuff, I beg of you, go read this and find some REAL ammo. Most of the piece is about the wrongful termination suit filed by the incumbent chief of police after Palin fired him. One of the reasons she gave for firing him was that he was not sufficiently enthusiastic about filing the regular "positive" reports she had demanded of her department heads. Here's the relevant section of the article:

The day after Christmas, Palin sent a memo to Stambaugh and the other department heads. "What a wonderful time of year!" she wrote. "As we enter 1997, let's take this opportunity to start the new year off on a positive note."

From now on, the memo said, Palin wanted each department head to send her a weekly report, due Friday, with an "update of activities" and "at least two positive examples of work that was started, how we helped the public, how we saved the City money, how we helped the state, how we helped Uncle Sam, how we made operations run smoother, or safer, or more efficient."

"Please use numbers when appropriate," she wrote, adding: "Staff, I believe if we look for the positive, that is what we will ultimately find. Conversely, look for the negative and you'll find that, too. ... Wasilla has tremendous assets and opportunities and we can all choose to be a part of contributing to the improvement of our community ... or not. I encourage you to choose the prior because the train is a'moving forward!"

"I realize this is an added chore, but at least it's a positive one!" she wrote.

It certainly was an added chore; as the article points out, at the time this memo circulated the police chief was already filing daily and monthly reports with her plus attending weekly staff meetings. But apparently she was quite attached to these positive reports, because when the police chief's lawyer contacted her to ask why she fired him, that was the reason she gave: Stambaugh was filing the reports, but she could tell his heart wasn't in it, and that made her realize that she "did not have his full support."

This is a portrait of someone who has both power and a lot of insecurities but no clue in her head about how to get things done. So naturally, the Republican party wants to make her Vice President.

While I'm on this tear, may I just say that McCain had damn well better take that "Celebrity" ad out of circulation? Because what is Sarah Palin if not McCain's attempt to filch for himself, or at least his ticket, a little of that celebrity stardust that he has been eyeing enviously from his corner? Palin is apparently not ready for a press conference--she's certainly not ready for the office for which she is running--but she's already a full-blown celebrity, and apparently that's what matters now. One wonders whether the media would also have hailed it as a move of genius, whether he would have gotten the same bounce in the polls, if he had just gone the whole hog and actually put Paris Hilton on the ticket.

Anyway. My dad hopes that Obama will win and that Palin will molt once "her wings get too close to the sun." He could be right.

C ya,

The Plaid Adder

[John Q. Citizen]

1. I like how your dad puts it into mythical proportion. Too close to the sun indeed!

[Tarheel_Dem]

2. Paris Hilton on the ticket? LMAO....

I mean, why not? Same difference. They have been perfectly envious of Obama's star power, which is why they attacked it, and now they've got their very own tabloid celebrity. My only solace is that there will be a media overload of Palin, and the American public will want to see ANYTHING other than Sarah on the teevee, and the checkout.

[Plaid Adder]

3. Well, seriously, why not Paris Hilton?

She's supposed to be hot, and in her response to the "Celebrity" ad she demonstrated the ability to deliver a comic script effectively, which are the two main qualifications that Palin seems to have.

I guess Paris can't field dress a moose, but she's probably be willing to try if you made it part of a reality show.

The Plaid Adder

[The Traveler]

8. Paris has several advantages over Palin

First, Paris' voice does not emulate finger nails on a chalk board.

Second, Paris (and I can't believe I am actually saying this) appears to have redeeming social value. Let's face it, the Paris for Pres. video was indeed hilarious. And, according to the film crew, she is a gracious hostess who makes a mean sandwich. I like sandwiches. Sandwiches and pizza account for 70% of my daily nutritional needs ... but I digress.

Third, Paris does not covet power while nurturing insecurity. Vanity, perhaps. But not insecurity. Vanity is easier to deal with. Vanity drops you like a bad transmission if she thinks your attention is wandering. Insecurity driven power lust hunts down your wolf puppies and shoots them in their sleep, and THEN gets mean.

Finally, in the classic confrontation with Putin, the old hack wouldn't stand a chance. The dirty old man could not possibly resist Paris' exotic American charms. He. Just. Couldn't. It is doubtful his ego would survive the encounter.

Trav

[Bette Noir]

9. Too young.

Paris is under 35.

[babylonsister]

4. Wow. I'd like to know how many people she tried to fire who didn't

agree with her 'perception' of things.

[TygrBright]

18. Several. As I posted before, what kind of person does THIS?:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3475941&mesg_id=3476191

It gives me massive creeps.

shudderingly,
Bright

[Cassandra]

5. You can't make things better by changing how you think about them.

But you can make yourself better by changing how you think about things. As you have now noticed in your father.

[BrklynLiberal]

6. Obama has said that the barracuda agrees with prez shit-for-brains even more than McSame does..

Of course, he worded it differently....

[ladywnch]

7. as many enemies as she has made during her political life

I have to believe that there are any number of people who would be more than willing to help sink her. I mean, it's not like she's Karl Rove in lipstick. She couldn't possibly have that much dirt on anyone in such a short career. Plus I don't think she is all that bright.....vindictive, yes, ruthless, yes, vicious, yes, but bright?...not so much. She is the poster child for 'big fish in a very small pond' and she has just moved into the Pacific Ocean. This would be their chance to finish her career once and for all. Someone from AK posted earlier today that her popularity was (early on)80% but has since fallen to 60%. Granted 60% is still impressive but it is also a 20% drop less than 2 years into her term. She is ripe for a hard fall. I'm sure she believes she is invincable; that her iron fist rules (in her small pond) but in the Ocean.....she can drown with a little help from her "friends".

[MadMaddie]

12. Perhaps all those that she has shit on are biding their time

There has to be a lot of them.

[orleans]

14. if she can't win this thing for mcvain then he's gonna be the first to

help her go down. and she'll never recover.

[Monk06]

10. Sounds like Mao Tsi Tung, "Let a thousand poems be written. Let a thousand flowers bloom"

It was his way of opening up discourse by
encouraging citizens to commit their thoughts
to paper through poetry, editorials suggesting
reforms and changes. You know positive stuff.

He then used these public statements to jail his
critics in a run up to the Cultural Revolution.

Palin is no better than a Maoist aparachic or
one of the Red Guards enforcing state orthodoxy
by threats and intimidation.

[Matariki]

11. Oh my lord, she really IS Dolores Umbridge

[nxylas]

17. Or the woman in Donnie Darko

"Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion".

[Matariki]

23. Oh yeah!

:rofl:

[TygrBright]

20. Exactamente:

Hereya go:



helpfully,
Bright

[QueenOfCalifornia]

13. I wish he

would call CSPAN or better, MSNBC when they take the call ins and tell them his story. I am sick to death of hearing from the obnoxious PUMA people. ack....

:thumbsup:

[madrchsod]

15. for all the christian crazies she attracts

she`s turning off republicans like your dad. she brings nothing to the ticket and intelligent republicans know this.

[MooseGoose]

16. Re: "the pregnancy stuff"

I've come to believe that the biggest pusher of the pregnancy stuff was the McCain campaign itself, and they did so to provide the distraction against her record. They know the American media will choose salaciousness over substance every time. Even the constant pleas of "Please stop talking about the pregnancy!" keeps it in the media. I'm pleased that the media tired of that story quickly and is giving more substantial information about Governor Palin. The McCain campaign made a smart pick in terms of election politics, though not necessarily in terms of governance. I suspect they predicted she would come out of the gate strong, as she did, and they only have to keep her looking competent for 60 days.

[iamthebandfanman]

19. bah , his vote matters

the more the merrier ;)

[wickerwoman]

21. Shouldn't it be "more efficiently"?

I mean, I know she went to six colleges in six years. You'd think that one of them taught English.

[high density]

22. She is the same as W and that is scary to me as well

I could see her coming back in 2012 or 2016 and going down the same exact path...