Showing posts with label Sarah Palin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sarah Palin. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

THE CRUSADERS HAVE BREACHED OUR CITY GATES


Sarah Palin, like George W. Bush, is stupid in at least two classical definitions: Closed to the challenge of thinking for oneself, and unable to think flexibly. She is by her own admission not a reader. Her inability to speak with clarity or consideration is most on display when she is placed in a non-scripted situation, which she consequently avoids at all costs. She opens her mouth mostly to earn a fee, and she has (mostly) learned to allow others to tell her what to say.

She is quintessentially the dimwitted beauty queen who is sullen about being asked questions instead of the swimsuit competition sufficing, just as Bush was the rich frat boy claiming a cowboy heritage not his own because he saw cowboys as likewise inarticulate, small-minded, and not expected to observe social niceties (an outsider's patronizing view that too many urban Texans-by-migration gleefully embraced as well).

So when one of these mouthpiece symbols makes a horrific blunder in the course of a teleprompted speech -- as Bush did when he called his invasion of Iraq a "crusade" and Palin has now done invoking the vile Jew-hating phrase blood libel to express outrage at being questioned about the consequences of her targeting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords -- it is not as simple as another example of their stupidity on display. Nor can we explain it away solely as their existing in an elite theocratic bubble where such fundie hate phrases are bandied about in conversation, leaving dimwits such as Palin and Dubya to later use the language without comprehending what it means.

No, someone who is paid to design messages inserted those two words into Palin's carefully crafted video, which was (as always) intended to keep her in the money-making public eye without expecting actual work from her. It was not miss-speak. This is bolstered by Andrew Breitbart, that Goebbelesque liar, also using the same phrase in recent days.

What was its dogwhistle intent, then?

For fundies, it reinforces the simultaneous martyrdom they cling to -- the delusion that Christians are the only genuinely persecuted group in our culture, because we refuse to allow them to convert and control the rest of us in Jesus's name -- and the rationalization that Jews have it "coming to them" because they killed Christ. It is a coded reinforcement of anti-Semitism which is intrinsic to Christians who believe they have the right to kill as part of G*d's will.

In short, that gunsight leveled on Giffords was, actually, justified.

Study the rest of Palin's commentary. She asks when political debate was ever less heated, revealing she operates in the End-Timer maelstrom of constant fear and rage. She speaks of praying but not of finding resolution or growth from prayer, because her ilk believe they have already heard from G*d and will not ever require a course correction. And she whines about the apportioning of blame, but never mentions the word responsibility.

Because responsibility implies the possibility of error, something Christian soldiers never have to worry about.

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Monday, February 8, 2010

REAL HUMOR DOESN'T INCLUDE SEXISM

Photo from Reinke/AP

Thanks to a tip from DCap, I just read Mike Lupica's column reacting to Sarah Palin's speech at the National Tea Party Convention this weekend: Tea Party favorite Sarah Palin has delusions of grandeur if she thinks she can be President.

It's a smart, unheated rendering of why she is (and should be treated as) a joke that for me is remarkable because Lupica does not once resort to sexism to take a swipe at her. A feat far too many progessive men can't seem to pull off.

It's all the stronger for avoiding references to gender-based issues (how many kids she has or how they've turned out, how she dresses, or the writer's unsoliticed sexual fantasies) which would never be trotted out to illistrate the unsuitability of a male candidate for leadership. Lupica does remind us that her base tends to support her for sexist reasons but doesn't play the game of "so therefore I can take a crack at objectifying her as a woman myself".

I see no reason why we can't all keep it this clean and substantive. I mean, they give us plenty to work with.

[Cross-posted at Group News Blog

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Monday, November 17, 2008

SPIKE IN DEATH THREATS AGAINST PRESIDENT-ELECT OBAMA

Yes We Did poster by Alvin Blair (Poster image by Alvin Blair)

I sat down to write a post on this and discovered Digby already covered it yesterday, with good detail, so I'll begin by referring you to her post Losin' It: The Secret Service is reporting a spike in death threats against President-Elect Obama which "from Maine to Idaho, it’s the most threats ever made against a President-elect."

The Statesman Journal from Salem, Oregon reports that the Secret Service has warned the Obama family about the dramatic surge in threats, and that they have begun investigating former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin because her attacks on Obama are believed by them to be responsible for the increase in threats.

According to a cited Associated Press count, "One of the most popular white supremacist Web sites (Stormfront) got more than 2,000 new members the day after the election" and had to temporarily go off line because of the increased activity.

The Statesman Journal article states "The verbal attacks by Palin on Obama had provoked a near lynch mob atmosphere at her rallies, with supporters yelling 'terrorist' and 'kill him.'"

Eliminationist rhetoric, ably tracked by Dave Neiwert and our own Sara Robinson, is frequently a canary in the mineshaft when a prevailing lie (such as the bedrock of racism in American culture) is effectively contradicted. Our response must deal with the core issue, not just the most evident symptoms. In particular, we must continue on our path of progressive vision without retreating in strategy or downgrading our expectations; we must insist on naming and speaking out against hate speech in all its forms (including from our own ranks, even if it seems to come from a place of "reacting to their attacking us first"); and we must be able to differentiate between examples where constructive dialogue can lead to long-term cultural change versus examples where an imminent threat means seeking legal intervention.

For more reading, check out the Appendix on Eliminationism in America compiled by Dave Neiwert at Orcinus. This appendix supplements Orcinus's 2007 series on eliminationism, and is arranged "by categories of eliminationism, namely: Expressing a desire or a demand for extermination, removal, or infliction of harm; identification of opponents with national enemies; identification of opponents as a target for retaliation or incarceration; expressing a desire for or approval of genocide or murder; identification with vermin or disease."

{Cross-posted at Group News Blog.)

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Thursday, November 6, 2008

LETTERMAN ON THE ELECTION

David Letterman with his son Harry
Letterman On The Election

As Evan Robinson at Group News Blog and I have remarked before, you do not trifle with David Letterman. (Trifle is not the particular word Evan used, but it carries a cultural punch here in the South that works just as well.)

I was looking forward to Dave's take on the election outcome. Sure enough, he was ON FIRE. You can watch his monologue for November 5 here, but below are my favorite lines from it:

"Welcome to the Late Show. Attention, passengers: The Straight Talk Express is no longer in service.

"Ladies and gentleman, Barack Obama is our new President (waits for wild applause), yep, and I think I speak for most Americans when I say, Anybody mind if he starts a little early? Would that be a problem? (More wild applause and laughter, and Paul Schaffer shouts "Not at all!")

"I would like to say one thing to Senator John McCain: Listen, Senator, you don't show up for me, America doesn't show up for you.

"And then at the end of the evening, the electoral vote count was 349 for Obama, 148 for McCain, or as Fox News says, 'Too close to call.'

"Republicans had a bad night all around, everywhere you looked. Even the crooked voting machines in Florida broke down. That was tough.

"Right about now, Joe the Plumber is meeting with his transition team. They're going to help ease him from obscurity back to oblivion.

"Sarah Palin, right now on her way back to Alaska...And I'm thinking, whoo, I wouldn't want to be a moose now.

"And did you see the concession speech last night? John McCain was generous, he was gracious, he was statesmanlike...And I was thinking, well, he should have tried that earlier."
Obama supporters at rally with Michelle Obama in Las Vegas, New Mexico on 29 October 2008 (Photo of supporters at rally with Michelle Obama in Las Vegas, New Mexico on 29 October 2008; photo by Adrienne Booth)

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Thursday, October 30, 2008

HOW MANY SARAH PALINS CAN YOU FIT INTO A LENSCRAFTERS?



It was a bumper crop on David Letterman last night. He reprised a stunt he does regularly, sending large numbers of people dressed in particular costumes into a business near his recording studio and filming the reactions -- i.e., how many Spidermans can we fit into a Jamba Juice? But this time, it was how many women dressed as Sarah Palin can we fit into a Lenscrafters?

Usually nobody notices or reacts. Which is the joke.

Last night, however, after sending in three different Sarah Palins, all of whom stood primly in the front glass doorway facing the camera across the sidewalk, Dave sendd in another two Sarah Palins at once. At this point (up to 5 Palins in view), people on the street start pointing it out to each other. One guy stops to take a photo of his own. An employee of Lenscrafters, an uptight-looking white guy in a suit, is moved to action. Instead of talking to the Sarah Palins, however, he comes out, notices the guy with the camera, and goes to him, apparently thinking he must be behind he stunt. Amazing, how sexism works: It must be the nearest man in charge, not the phalanx of women actually doing the action themselves.

As this is going on behind the manager's back, Dave sends in seven more Sarah Palins. The guy with the camera apparently argues "Hey, it's not me", and the manager notices another bystander also taking a photo. Agitated, he finally turns to go back into Lenscrafters and discovers there are now 16 Sarah Palins clustered in the front of the store.

Dave has now run out of Sarah Palin costumes. He sends in a dog and two space aliens. The manager disappears into the back of the Lenscrafters. Dave sends in the remaining eight folks, dressed as (among other things) a cowboy, a football player, Jesus, Superman, Ironman, and a fat Spiderman.

Enjoy it while you can. Dave also had Alec Baldwin as a guest last night, who talked about his recent appearance on Saturday Night Live and meeting Sarah Palin. He called her Bible Spice. You can watch that segment here.

Sarah Palin NOPE poster

[Cross-posted at Group News Blog.]

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