...nor do I (completely) agree with everything the author (Matt Taibbi, published in Rolling Stone) says. But. It makes me think. And that's what we should ALL be doing, instead of allowing ourselves to be blindly led to-and-fro by media frenzy. If you've talked to me at all, you're probably well aware that I am NOT a Palin-for-VP fan. She may be just lovely as a person, as a soccer mom, as a smalltown mayor, and maybe even as a governor, but she is NOT vice-presidential material. What I saw of the debate last night pretty much sealed that for me.
Let's not be swayed by emotion, people. I'm hoarse from yelling correct pronunciations at the poor woman. And I'm not a professional speaker, but when I DO speak in public, I do my best to lay off the droppin'-my-Gs-at-the-end-of-my-words so I don't sound like a complete dumb-ass hick. Of course, that might have been just the population she was gunnin' for last night. ;-)
Anyway...here are the excerpts from the piece by Taibbi:
"Here's the thing about Americans. You can send their kids off by the thousands to get their balls blown off in foreign lands for no reason at all, saddle them with billions in debt year after congressional year while they spend their winters cheerfully watching game shows and football, pull the rug out from under their mortgages, and leave them living off their credit cards and their Wal-Mart salaries while you move their jobs to China and Bangalore.
And none of it matters, so long as you remember a few months before Election Day to offer them a two-bit caricature culled from some cutting-room-floor episode of Roseanne as part of your presidential ticket. And if she's a good enough likeness of a loudmouthed Middle American archetype, as Sarah Palin is, John Q. Public will drop his giant sized bag of Doritos in gratitude, wipe the sizzlin' picante dust from his lips and rush to the booth to vote for her. Not because it makes sense, or because it has a chance of improving his life or anyone else's, but simply because it appeals to the low-humming narcissism that substitutes for his personality, because that image on TV reminds him of the mean brainless slob he sees in the mirror every morning.
Sarah Palin is a symbol of everything that is wrong with the modern United States. As a representative of our political system, she's a new low in reptilian villainy, the ultimate cynical masterwork of puppeteers like Karl Rove. But more than that, she is a horrifying symbol of how little we ask for in return for the total surrender of our political power. Not only is Sarah Palin a fraud, she's the tawdriest, most half-assed fraud imaginable, 20 floors below the lowest common denominator, a character too dumb even for daytime TV – and this country is going to eat her up, cheering every step of the way."
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12 comments:
Oh WOW. After talking with Craig yesterday about the debate, I was starting to feel a little bad for coming down a little too hard on Sarah. But reading this made me feel like a saint, so thanks for that :)
But in all seriousness, caustic venom aside, there's certainly something to be said for the brainless voting of most Joe Sixpacks (although I'm about as sick of that expression as I am of the word "maverick"). Let's pray that we can do better as a voting public this year.
Chet told me last night he thinks I'm becoming "un-American". Not sure exactly what he means by that. I think he means I don't have any pride at all in our country. *I* think I don't have any pride in what our country's becoming (already become). And especially in the political arena.
I'm just disgusted with all of it.
Late for a football game...gotta stop the rant here! ;-)
Interesting thought. I need to think about that some more. My first thought is that I don't believe it's un-American to have critical opinions about the government.
On the other hand, I think we probably do need to guard against cynicism. At the summer institute at our church this year, one of the speakers said that we need to be careful that we're not defining ourselves by what we are against. He was talking specifically about the evangelical church, but I think it applies to politics, too. I'm as guilty of that as anyone.
Wow, never thought I'd live to see the day when someone like you would be reading something like Matt Taibbi's articles from Rolling Stone, a magazine to which I have subscribed for the past 28 years. I generally enjoy his articles and agree with his conclusions, but something tells me if you were to go further back and read a few more, you might hesitate in siding with him on some issues. Funny.
Anyway, there is a clear choice to make between two sets of major party candidates. Now more than ever, the better of the two is so obvious. We're allowed to vote for someone who isn't on our "team". I wish people would change their normal way of thinking. This isn't sports... this is literally the future of the world at stake.
On the other hand, since neither you nor I live in battleground states, our votes for president actually do not matter much as the inevitable winners in our states are already known.
I'm certain I would hesitate to side with him on some things, Jerry. ;-) But I DO appreciate his caricature of the voters to whom I believe Sarah Palin will be most appealing. I don't think she's as dumb as he's stated, but I think a lot of the American public IS...they don't see the puppet strings behind this game.
I appreciate your comments (and yours, too, Erin) and I'd LOVE to hear you further define the "someone like you" comment...I would find that most interesting!! :-)
My struggle with this election is that I DON'T see a clear choice between the two parties. Do I see differences? Yes. Do I agree/disagree with both parties on some issues? Yes.
The thing is, I don't agree with either of them enough to vote for either one. My dad told me I might as well vote for a Communist today when I told him I've decided to vote for Bob Barr, but as I've studied the issues and his positions (and especially his position on the war), he lines up more closely to what I believe is good and true and right than either of the two major party candidates.
So, now I've outed myself politically on my own blog, as well as in comments on a few others. Quite a change for a former die-hard Bush supporter, eh? ;-)
Vote common sense.
Vote Democrat.
Nuff said. ;)
Not gonna happen, sweetie. :-)
BAH!
Someday you'll see the light..
a few of my thoughts as I read the post and comments...
1. I'm not a big supporter of Sarah Palin. I think McCain might make an ok president, but pandering for votes by selecting her as a running mate is likely to cost him the election.
2. I thought the article was pretty ugly and never really touched on any of my significant beefs with her as a candidate.
3. I think it might actually be a pretty "American" thing to feel freedom to criticize the government. After all, isn't that supposedly what that whole first amendment thing is all about and one of the things we are supposedly fighting to give the Iraqi people... or have we moved away from the "spreading democracy" battle cry to a strictly "trying to protect our own interests against Afghani and Saudi terrorists by going to war in Iraq?"
4. I really am tired of the ridiculous political rhetoric. The whole guilt by association, "Obama is a terrorist" crap really just ticks me off. And the fact that McCain and Palin are promoting it while they try to play the "we have character and the Democrats don't" card seems unbelievebly hypocritical. I have to think that nobody with an IQ above about 17 is actually swayed by such absurd/idiotic/asinine comments, but it would seem that they are pretty effective... which is sad in its own way.
5. Things would definately be better if I ruled the world... well, for me at least.
I truly hate it that a political post gets more comments than anything else I've written about, because I am REALLY not a political person. I'm just extremely irritated at the blatantly obvious ploys in this campaign (most of them, IMO, orinating from, or at least somewhere near, the McCain-Palin camp, which is why I quoted this particular article).
The article IS ugly, Geoff--I completely agree with that. I do, however, agree with the author that Palin's been set up as the middle-class archetype, cute and sassy and with just enough "down-to-earthness" enough to appeal to the so-called soccer moms. And their red-blooded American husbands, of course. I see her as not much more than a caricature of what the campaign THINKS will click with middle-class America. And they very well may be right. So, middle-class America will be voting for an idea...not a person.
If you rule the world someday, can I be your vice president, Geoff? I can't see Russia from my backyard, but I can correctly pronounce "nuclear"! ;-)
My fingers are itching to start a paragraph on the war, but...I'll save that for another time. My personal pendulum is swinging WAAAY far to the left right now, to compensate for all those far-right years. Someday, hopefully soon, I'll get all re-centered and calm again.
I agree, Dena.
...and you mean it's not pronounced "nuc-u-lar"?
Thought you might find this interesting:
http://www.236.com/video/2008/palin_dow_9361.php
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