by Blueberry T
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Geoffrey Dunn Book Reading
This post gave me the idea that perhaps we PoliticalGaters can contact our own favorite bookstores, to encourage them to invite Geoffrey Dunn to do a reading from his book. And/or, perhaps there could be a panel, with Dunn, Bailey and McGinniss, highlighting the common themes that emerge from their books… what do you think?
Toki de la Vega? Seriously, RAM?
Missing Person Alert!
In a scene worthy of the theater-of-the-absurd, Sarah’s “trusted aide” Rebecca Mansour confided to an internet acquaintance named “Toki de la Vega” about some behind-the-scenes goings on in Palin’s inner circle, including disparaging comments about Mitt, Newt and Bristol. What could be more Presidential than your aide using Twitter to write confidential DMs to someone she “met” on the internet, with the moniker of Toki de la Vega? (It reminds me of the Masked Avengers, for some reason.) This latest fiasco should be fair warning to anyone out there who thinks Sarah Palin could run the country: she can’t even manage her own pitiful staff. H/T to Patrick, whose files include some interesting stuff on Toki, and to Micmac, crystalwolfakacaligrl, lidia17 and other readers, who found some more, including the change in tone that occurred in 2010 – transforming from Palinbot to critic.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Sarah’s MO
Ennealogic returns with another insightful guest post. This one highlights Sarah’s MO: vengeance. Her motto: No slight is too slight (to be ignored.) The post highlights the new Frank Bailey book, which follows in the footsteps of other books by formerly extreme right-wingers who have redeemed themselves (at least in part) through the publication of revelatory mea culpas. Predictably, the pushback against Bailey’s book is in the form of fierce ad hominem attacks. But the book’s revelations about Sarah’s disturbed psyche and her pettiness, dishonesty and deceptive tactics are well supported by extensive documentation, displaying both Sarah’s and Todd’s vindictive natures and the dysfunction that affects everything that Sarah touches. They also echo themes from Dunn's book, and probably from McGinniss' too (wild guess). A nice addition to the 2011 Sarah Palin book club!
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Sarah Palin’s image as a modern-day Queen Esther
It is hard to believe that people are really fooled so much by Sarah Palin that they equate her with the biblical Queen Esther. But the first video in this post shows that not only do her followers view her in this way, but that Palin herself encourages the comparison. In fact, Lou Engle wrote to Palin on the eve of the VP debate to promote this exact analogy. Writers Michael Gross, David Gibson, Andrew Sullivan and others have tried to reveal how Palin taps into this potent biblical symbolism of the extreme-Christian fundamentalists. That Palin has none of the courage of Esther is beside the point. She knows the biblical code and her messaging and actions seek to make this link in the minds of her followers.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Another Crazy Week, Another Crazy Bus Tour
Since the Rapture fizzled, unfortunately Sarah is still with us here on earth, so we are left to try to sort out the events of another Palinesque week. There’s the new house in Arizona (why’d she buy a house if she was going to be Raptured? Oh she of little faith.). The RAM-Toki de la Vega missives. The new bus tour (using the same bus as in SPAK!). And Palin has reemerged on the front pages of numerous papers (NYT, Boston Globe, etc.) as speculation mounts about whether she will run for President. The post includes hear Lawrence O’Donnell’s take on the “will she or won’t she” question: some of us agree; some don’t. Happily, Henry Blodget of Business Insider continues to challenge Palin to prove that she gave birth to Trig, including photos illustrating the impossible changes in her physique shown in photos taken mere days apart.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Palin’s Upcoming Bus Tour Kicks Off by Exploiting the Rolling Thunder Rally
Patrick’s post covers a few recent developments in the continuing soap opera of Sarah Palin’s life. We start with a little propaganda, and then learn that the new bus tour will recycle the bus used in Sarah Palin’s Alaska – how nifty and thrifty! Then it turns out that the organizers did not invite Palin to the Rolling Thunder event and consider her presence to be a distraction. They apparently didn’t get the message that their event would provide the cast of thousands that Sarah needed for her tour kickoff, without having to do any work herself. This way she knows there will be a big crowd…rather than taking the risk that she would have a kickoff event and no one would show up. Clever little exploiter, that Palin. But I have to say, the Washington Post’s “script” for Sarah’s new propaganda movie is the cherry on the cake – who knew WaPo had this in them? On a more serious note, the analogies to the propaganda and manipulation of the press that occurred during the rise of the Third Reich are a warning of how a weakened press puts us at risk.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
McCain and Sullivan on Sarah’s Chances Against Obama, Plus Palin Coopts Rolling Thunder’s Veterans Event
Who among us was surprised that Sarah showed up in black leather and high heels, Bristol, Piper and Todd in tow, arriving via the front gate? She attracted lots of attention, including media coverage by NYT, WaPo and others, but fortunately, not all the reporters and commenters swooned over her – many seem to be seeing her for the shameless opportunist that she is. Kind of funny, for someone who aspires to world leadership, that she couldn’t even put on her helmet by herself… This is someone who, according to McCain and Sullivan (for different reasons) has a chance at defeating President Obama. I think most of us agree that that is extremely unlikely, unless something very dramatic occurs – essentially a 10.0 earthquake that radically changes the political landscape.
This was a terrible week for folks in Oklahoma and other states. Cheeriogirl, Leadfoot_LA and others who have relatives in the area kept us apprised of the alarming situation as tornados wrought destruction. PoliticalGaters’ hearts go out to those in Joplin, OK and other communities that were devastated.
Some Comments and Links:
Tada did some sleuthing about Palin and the Safari LLC, and raised a good question: Something smells fishy about this. Why would someone running for Mayor of a small town like Wasilly have the need to hide her investments by incorporating an LLC in Delaware back in 1996?
AzureGhost had a great name for Palin’s bus: The Straitjacket Express and
Comeonpeople2 dubbed the trip the Magical Mythery Tour.
Consciousatlast: Palin pretends in many areas. She pretends to know about energy. She pretends that she has a "traditional" family life. She pretends that she knows about foreign and domestic policy issues. She faked a pregnancy. So, Sarah just might initiate a PRETEND campaign for POTUS. The point of the campaign would of course be $$$ and media attention which drives $$$ etc. As most of us here agree, her behavior is quite un-presidential. Her various pathologies would probably not allow her to "go the distance" in a real national campaign. What's more, she does not want to actually be the POTUS. She quit her Alaskan position - who would take her as a serious candidate?
Sir Guestalot: Yes, she is damaging to the US and the world. Yes, she has a deal going with Big Oil, the Kochs and Murdoch. But she is not going to win a primary, and she cannot win as an independent. Her negatives continue to GO DOWN the more exposure she gets. That's why she hides. Just my humble 2 cents for the day....
465janedoeseeker: The most infamous political propaganda film ever made is "Triumph of the Will", a documentary made for the purpose of introducing (or should I say, reintroducing) Adolf Hitler to the German people. The film had three themes: religion, power, and unity.
These are the same three themes I see being portrayed in the Palin campaign: religion ('christian' dominionism, to the exclusion of all other beliefs), power (the use of demagogic appeal to engage her audiences in a militaristic and combative mood toward other people and nations), and (false) unity ("One Nation"is a phrase written on her bus, while seeds of racial and ethnic and political division are sown on every side).
I don't think any of this is a coincidence or accident. It worked for Hitler (though not so well for Germany or the rest of the world). Will it work for Palin?
Psalm023: Yes, Patrick's right that Sarah's staff might cause confusions; leak out inconsistent bits of unconfirmed info where it would create media "squirmishes", so Sarah can accuse them of being lamestream. I can just see her now rubbing her hands together concocting all these sinister little plots to confuse and create chaos. Then she'd again roll her eyes, and say how she's such a victim, so please donate more to my PAC.
Ivyfree: …She needs a drug screen. She's too irrational. Maybe she's not using, but this is tweaking my inner alarm system, the one I use for patients. Something is off, with her and drugs and alcohol. I'd bet on it.
Older_Wiser had an excellent longer comment; here is the last part: The hell with empire and being "Number One"--it's a pyrrhic victory and one which leads to real moral collapse but it's also one which appeals to our baser nature of Fearing the Other. Will we ever have a Dept of Peace and see the Pentagon as the Dept of Death?
Just Ask: I have to say as a Veteran with a long line of Veterans in my family and a brother in law who is serving currently this really does piss me off in the worst way…this money hungry, narcissist has to push herself onto all of us today and steal the spotlight from those who deserve it. She can't just sit down and be quiet while being respectful for 5 minutes. The sooner someone takes her down the better. In my entire life I've never witnessed a person who has less of a grasp on reality or the desire to allow others to have their moment without her taking full advantage of it just so she can get her ego stroked over and over. She's like a 3 year old that has a tantrum and does something outrageous when she's not getting enough attention from the grown ups in the room.
Lilylake: Palin treats her mental illness the way she treated her "pregnancy" - she refuses to go straight to an emergency room and get HELP.
Lou Snider: She likes the smell off emissions? Sarah, I fart in your general direction. (With apologies to Monty Python.)
Cheeriogirl found this on Newt & Callista Gingrich’s little line of credit with Tiffany’s.
Older_Wiser gave us something to laugh about: titles for the SP movie.
Ella linked to Rolling Stone on Roger Ailes and the Fox Fear Factory.
Another great blog post from Laura Novak, with Brad Scharlott.
Sunnyjane on the Tea Party’s support by (and to keep from regulating) Wall Street.
Hope for America linked to this article on veterans criticizing Palin’s policies that affect soldiers returning to Alaska.
The Last Word (with a prologue from BBT): There are a few areas of disagreement among even our most loyal readers. One is whether Palin will run for President; that will be resolved soon. Another is whether it is better to focus on the Reckless Ride instead of Babygate. A third is whether to highlight the similarities between Palin and Hitler. Fortunately, Politicalgates allows dissent! Here is Patrick’s response to a critique of his comparisons to the way in which Palin is trying to rise to power, and the tactics employed by the Third Reich.
Patrick: …Hitler was just as an extreme narcissist like Palin. That's one of the facts I am trying to point out. I don't say that they are identical or have similar goals. But there are quite a number of similarities in my opinion. Just as Palin, Hitler couldn't accept any criticism, was obsessed with the military and with his real or perceived enemies and believed to be on a "godly" mission, guided by "higher forces" - strongly believing that his mission was his destiny. I know that these comparisons might not be popular, but I simply cannot just ignore them. It's also not my fault that Palin's advisors seem to have studied the "art of Nazi propaganda" very carefully. Her upcoming "keep the lamestream media out" campaign is basically the Nazi-playbook. Control the message, try to control the voters, no critical questions allowed, use rousing speeches instead, appeal to the emotions of the supporters rather than their brains, use new technologies etc etc. I could go on. If you don't like all these observations, just ignore them, please. I will try to keep them at a minimum, I promise. But I have studied the Nazis very carefully, and contrary to what it might appear, they didn't become big because they had brown shirts marching through the streets, but because they were capable of very subtle, innovative and efficient propaganda campaigns, and the people who were manipulated usually didn't realize it.
