Making the Pie Higher
You know, it’s somewhat mystifying to me why, given that there are so many clever Republicans, when they start thinking about the top spot they always go for the dummy. It wasn’t always this way; when my brother was born in 1965 his scalp hadn’t closed, and the doctor peeked right into his brain and reassured my mom, “Don’t worry. He can still grow up to be President,” and proceeded to sew him up. What do doctors tell worried mothers these days? He could grow up to be a bank president? FEMA Director? Supreme Court Justice? Nope. Dummies work in those spots, too, especially if they’re Republicans.
Since the other requirement for Republicans seeking high office is a bit of the crazy, institutionalized since Nixon, throwing a big pile of dumb on top carries certain risks, but overall Republicans have decided that dumb works, ever since Reagan got away with many equally crazy things that Nixon didn’t because he was sweetly doddering and napped a lot. But Reagan was at least skilled at something–acting. I think it was Jack Warner who said, upon hearing Reagan was running for Governor, “No, Jimmy Stewart for Governor. Ronald Reagan for Best Friend.” But the Best Friend role served him well. He could declare ketchup a vegetable, preside over and help cause two deep recessions, fight undeclared wars and sell weapons to terrorists, and when caught lying about it, be widely forgiven because he was such a lovable old coot.
And sadly, compared with what they’re come up with since, Reagan wasn’t even that dumb. First, Bush. (I don’t count Bush Sr. Does anybody?) Ridiculously, they tried to sell Bush as a “best friend,” too, somebody you’d like to have a beer with, since he had no other discernible talents or experience, when from the start it was clear that he wasn’t just dumb, he was also an asshole. A spoiled ne’er-do-well with a chip on his shoulder the size of all Texas being anybody’s friend was a notion so ridiculous that if it hadn’t been for the media, nobody would have fallen for it. Bush’s proud ignorance and pettiness eventually soured his political “legacy,” to Republican’s considerable detriment. Now, if you were the brains behind the party that presided over this debacle, you might think, “Next time we should get someone smarter.” But, if you were a Republican, and held your voters in such contempt that it didn’t even matter if your spokesmodel/candidate could tell time, you’d jump right over from Bush to Sarah Palin, and why not have Michael Steele chair the Republican National Committee, to boot? By the time Trig’s old enough, the Republicans will probably be running him. No child left behind, and all that.
Is this because their exact policies that have been so demonstrably calamitous are all they have to sell, and fewer and fewer smart people embrace them? No, that would be too innocent. The stupider the candidate appears, the more the teabaggers will swoon, and better yet, set a trap for the liberal media, daring them to mention lies, flubs, and blatant contradictions. Thus, Sarah Palin, failed VP candidate and half-term governor of Alaska commanded 40 minutes of live coverage on three networks to babble incoherent yet venomous nonsense about whatever she’d written on her manicured hand, and the gasbags didn’t see anything odd or irrelevant about this, much less fact check her more inflammatory misrepresentations. That sort of thing would be demeaning to God’s children. Sarah said so.
I was always flabbergasted by the inanities that rolled out of Reagan, that is until I met George W, when the head-slappers got considerably scarier and worse. But Palin… She raises the stupid bar so high I I’d need a spotting scope to find it. Call me a cock-eyed optimist, but I do have a little faith in America. Run, Sarah, please.
Oh yeah. It’s Straight Pride Day. Go Saints.
Yes, Sarah should run.
Suggested campaign slogan:
“Palin. The America’s Answers are in Her Hands”
How about America’s Hand Job? It’s shorter, and it reflects a healthy Christian disdain for intimacy.
I like yours better, William!
Drat. Should be “Americas Answers…”
And for a lot of Republicans, Sarah’s in their hands, too. Funny, if it weren’t so plausible.
And if anyone tries, they’re met with this sort of reminder:
Greta Van Sustern:
Or, as a commenter at a rightie site put it
And, from yet another commenter (me, actually)
You sly devil.. I bet the rightie babes all want to see you naked now. If you’re lucky one or two of them might be as cute as Maureen Dowd…. But seriously, is calling such gibberish “plain talk” really going to work? Sheesh, even Greta had to force it.
Plain-talking idiot: a perfect reflection of her constituency (which could be a plurality of all voters).
It was really hilarious when Palin called Navy medics “corpse men”. If only she’d gone to Harvard.
Tom:
Please explain some more the defense (yours or anyone’s) of a plainly stupid person who blithely appears in public and thinks, nay insists, that she can be a major national political figure.
What virtue is at work when people, like you apparently, bristle at others, like some here, who for good reason mock and deride such a non-entity, hypocrite, grifter and demagogue as Sarah Palin?
How could this woman possibly serve this country well, during such times as we are living in? It is precisely her facade and empty interior which must be ripped to shreds so that she is stopped from acquiring real national power.
She is, simply, dangerous.
And please don’t go off on a riff about Obama. This is about her.
Lay out the contours of the anti-intellectualism in this particular country which holds that someone from a good school, a school admittedly hard to get into, like Harvard, and, yes, elite, is to be reduced to a cipher up against such an empty vessel as Sarah Palin.
Also, while your considering my request, please understand that I went to college in Boston, my hometown, although not Harvard.
What I learned there, amidst the entire, cross-city atmosphere of lectures, mixers, inter-school exchanges of all kinds, and many neighborhood events tied to school activities, would not allow me to accept the premise that being well educated, in the classical sense, is a malady of some sort, or defect, rather than the greatest of all human assets.
.
Don’t know where you’re from, Tom, or where you went to school, but I would not for a minute stand still and be told I must take such a person as Sarah Palin seriously.
There is just something extremely dishonest about this woman and the people behind her; it’s part of a political program to play on the fears and ignorance of plain people across the country, at a time of serious threat to us all.
The program is designed to slake a thirst and lust for power.
Playing it, as she does, as though she’s “like them,” or, “one of us,” is the pretense. The show.
And the outfit which ran the so-called convention in Nashville is a for-profit entity, paying Palin 100K for her “appearance.”
There were T-shirts, coffee mugs, CDs and DVDs peddling the “program,” and all sorts of other neat little souvenirs to buy.
A nice circus, a kind of Elmira Gantry tent show.
Bad theater. A cruel joke.
A hoax.
Heh, yeah, I have to tell you, CH, that when I do stuff like that there’s a disjointed pause in the comments before the return to all out flag waving and nastiness.
But it can be fun.
I’ll bet. That’s a kick I haven’t tried yet. I’d have to come up with a righty version of my handle, though; don’t want to dilute the brand. “Palm Beach Palinite?” Wordy. “Olive?” (nah, too subtle..) You’re giving me ideas.
Plain talk? I don’t know if I’ve ever heard a speech so vague. Whole lotta nothin’ .Of course, they loved it. Mabye she could be in a Seinfeld sequel?
Don’t think she’d make much difference herself, other than as a tool for others. She’s not a “dummy” ($100k, or that) , just wilfully ignorant, and incuriouus.
Oh yeah. It’s Straight Pride Day. Go Saints.
Re last post, never been to Nashville, but Knoxville looks a lot like Utica……..NY. (not exactly a classical treasure). Maybe the Nashvilleans mean Athens, NY ?
I’ve been to Utica, too, although I’ve blocked most of it. If you die having missed Nashville, St. Peter won’t knock off too many points. Trust me.
It’s been proven before, however, that dummies can’t do much, but they do know how to cash checks. As wingnut welfare goes, Sarah’s fixed for life; she don’t need no book learnin.’ The less, the better.
^ *$100k for that
t3, if you want more fun like that, go to the congressional GOPer blog . A couple years ago, I got a message from The Tan. They were going to join the cool kids, and have a blog . Did I want to be on the email list? I replied : ” Sure. Let me know what you weasels are up to.” No reply, but somebody saw it. I’m on the list .
One of my favorites, is, when they’re getting all hysterical about the terra-ists , and competing to see who wants to kill the most people, to post something ~ “They’re right out in the open,& NOBODY’S PAYING ATTENTION! [Have to get some alarmist caps in.] Here’s some terrorists that need watching : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HV1p252pD48&feature=related ”
or similar .
Those guys are good, but they ought to eat a vegetable once in a while. Maybe they should hook up with Sarah Palin’s personal trainer.
Other than poking the junkyard dogs, the (sneaky) point of that is mainly the audience. To see faces of the evil/scary Arab/Muslims that they want to kill all of. Khaled has a great smile, and is kinda goofy at times, so kills the angry/scary vibe ( I hope). Don’t expct anything out of that, especially not a sudden change. Just hope that if somebody finds himself(usually is male) enjoying that in spite of himself, he might go further,(the music,Algeria,etc) and eventually have a change of attitude. *shrug* ??
I would bet real money (not as if I have any) that Sarah could not point out Iran on a map if all the country names were redacted.
She isn’t smarter than a fifth grader, also.
Redacted. Interesting the way you psuedo-thinkers attempt to paint anyone that disagrees with your inanities as stupid when the fruits of your hunt and peck are nonsense at best.
I don’t “paint anyone that disagrees with me” as stupid, Tom. I point out stupid when something IS stupid.
Certain ideas, no matter who spouts them, are stupid. For example, tax cuts during huge unemployment and low revenue is a stupid idea. Privatizing Social Security after the arguably worst stock market crash and economic downturn in our collective lifetimes is stupid.
Cutting benefits to Medicare beneficiaries – the most vulnerable and vociferous of voting blocs is stupid.
Playing the “war card” is stupid.
Demanding Obama’s birth certificate is stupid.
Rallying around racist, bigoted immigration reform is stupid.
I could go on and on.
No doubt you will go on and on.
However, if there are laws governing the residence and employment of aliens, shouldn’t they be enforced? Regardless of the unemployment rate? Is enforcement of EXISTING laws racist and bigoted? What other laws are racist and bigoted? If, indeed there are others, why haven’t they been challenged in the courts? There doesn’t seem to be any lack of representation for such efforts.
The “demand for Obama’s birth certificate” is something the left keeps accusing somebody of doing but they’re the ones that keep bringing it up. A straw giant, if you will.
“Playing the war card”? What’s that mean? How do you “play the war card”? Isn’t the POTUS sending additional troops to the middle east right now? Are they going over there to teach midnight basketball? Is that stupid?
Medicare and Medicaid are destined for financial meltdown according to government budget experts. Does that make them stupid? Privatization of just a percentage of social security, a New Deal Ponzi scheme that’s a demographic impossiblility, is stupid? I’m too stupid to make my own choices about my financial future? Does that mean that 401Ks, where Daddy government ALLOWS me to save some of my own money for the future in carefully circumscribed ways is stupid as well?
And allowing people to keep a larger portion of the money that they’ve earned is stupid? OK, if that’s the case, and the government is better qualified to spend MY money than I am, why don’t they just take it all? Well, we all know why. Because, then, as experience has shown over and over again, if there is no incentive, nothing gets done. As the Swedes used to say, “They take half of our money, so we work half as hard.” But they were stupid.
As usual, your ideology and steady diet of misinformation negates your arguments. No country on earth is run according to your principles. Why? Because no country is that stupid. Social Security has worked fine for over eighty years… Name me one ONE! Republican program that hasn’t proved a disaster in a tenth of that time.
And for the last time, quit lying about taxes. Nobody’s going to take your money, except perhaps GoldLine or the Franklin Mint. The “experiment” of taxing the rich so lightly has tanked the economy, created an overbearing overclass that strangles our future and buys our politicians, and ripped off everyone from shareholders to consumers.
The Swedes are doing considerably better than we are these days, so I’d find a new made-up quote to use unless you’re in friendly company, which can’t possibly be very often.
Why is it with you nincompoops that anyone who objects to your utopian dreamscapes is automatically a Republican and that all failed programs are “Republican”? In many respects we do live in a bi-polar world, “up-down, right-left, front-back, two eyes, two arms, good-evil, and so on. But applying this same thinking to everything, that anyone who refuses to toe the socialist line is a “Republican”, that simply proves how silly you nitwits are. The miracle of modern technology gives you the potential to embarrass yourselves before the entire world without shuffling down to the street corner and climbing up on a box to shout and wave your arms. That’s progress, maybe.
Tom, you spout Republican (usually false) talking points. You use the Fox News definitions of “socialism” and other words not found in any dictionary. All of your “ideas” could have come straight from Dick Armey or Tom DeLay. But your grating and domineering personality, larded over with the overconfidence that comes with boneheaded stupidity and ignorance of everything would give you away even if it weren’t for these clues.
Despite my constant entreaties, you have never been able to point to any country that has adopted your polices successfully, preferring to rant about some other subject where your arguments look marginally less weak.
I’m sorry you’re so embarrassed about what you are. I would be, too.
So it’s a “Republican talking point” that it’s morally wrong for the government to take my money and give it to some one else? That’s been an objection to government since Hammurrabi was putting the sword to the throats of Babylonian serfs 4000 years ago. And you bogus pacifists never seem to get the connection that a government that can confiscate your funds can use them as they wish, will use them to blow stuff up. Or engineer the destruction of the family, hated by all utopians, by subsidizing out of wedlock births. Worst of all, and truly morally bankrupt, is government’s addiction to deficit spending, passing debt along to generations yet unborn for things that they may not need to solve problems they’ll be able to solve themselves. It’s the very apex of hubris to believe that you’re not only smarter than every one else alive now with your clever “ideas”, but also more intelligent than generations yet to come. It’s an amazing outlook to have on the human race.
No. It’s a Republican factual outcome that the government takes your money and gives it to Halliburton, Blackwater, and Exxon. Don’t worry, no welfare mothers are helped by your taxes. (Maybe half of one, if you’re really rich…)
And who ran up the deficits, now? There’s math involved, so maybe you might have to read your hand…. That’d be Reagan, Bush, and Bush. They didn’t spend it, well, socially. What you’re whining about I find baffling.
Obviously bafflement comes easily to you. That’s why you’re a socialist.
But ya know, Sarah “is appreciative of having some good information at my fingerprints now.” That’s how she’s going to win the White House!
…She reads her left hand and flails about with her right.
Would it be chauvinistic to call her Alpha-Bimbo?
Now that we all have to agree that she might as well, can we please try to see the overall beauty in President Palin? A cute face and great lines that will often make Dubbya look intelligent! Hey, maybe she can convince Tina Fey to become VP and they can take the world by storm looking like identical twins.
Oh can we, please, please?….
Us chauvinistic heels will hence either be aroused or amused. Looking forward to years (she will be a two term president, no doubt) of tears from laughing….
OT, but might have some political applications :
http://scienceblogs.com/notrocketscience/2010/02/the_english_language_is_full.php#comments
End-of-a-thread Fox laugh on Palin’s Telepalmer, as it’s being called
I can see it now–a conversation following the obliteration of Iran:
Well, I think Tucker is nearly as dumb as Palin, and that’s why he likes her, but that little exchange was especially revolting.
No wonder the righties are so uppity.