Weekly Roundup, August 29-September 4, 2011

by Blueberry T

Monday, August 28, 2011

Palin’s Willful Ignorance of American History

Dusty17 offers an instructive trip through American history, cataloging the expansion of the right to vote – a precious right that is under siege again in this country, after taking almost two centuries to reach all Americans. “Who you choose to vote for is your business but when you voice your opinion or attempt to influence other’s opinion as Sarah Palin does, then just maybe you need to review the history of this nation and understand that others fought so that you would have the right to vote and it took 172 years before everyone in this county was granted the right to vote. Your vote does matter and in a national race your vote impacts the entire nation…”

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Speculation About Palin Continues

The speculation about whether Palin will enter the presidential race is heating up. Kathleen covers some of the recent commentary, analyzing what effect her candidacy would have on other extreme right-wing politicians like Perry and Bachmann. The conventional wisdom seems to be that Mitt Romney would benefit most from a Palin run, because she would further split the far-right vote. Time will tell; the chips are starting to fall.

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Will She or Won’t She (Show Up in Iowa)

This was such an entertaining day, with the on-again, off-again, on-again insanity of Palin’s speech in Iowa on Saturday. Even some of her defenders had to admit that this was a “mess” and showed how incompetent and disorganized she is. For the rest of us, watching her dysfunction was comedy gold! I couldn’t help but feel that there was poetic justice, because Palin is too cheap and scattered to organize her own events, so instead she takes advantage of the organizing that others do (and usually gets a fat paycheck in the bargain). What a deal! Except that since she's not in control, things don't always go the way she wants, and then she has to throw a hissy fit and throw everything into chaos.

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Geoffrey Dunn’s Post on Omissions in Bailey’s Book

Kathleen’s post highlights an important and revealing recent article by Geoffrey Dunn, in which he compares Palin’s bunker mentality to that of President Nixon and critiques Frank Bailey’s selective recall in Blind Allegiance. Dunn points out that Palin’s “Prayer Warriors,” then including Bailey and his wife, have “…all the makings of a bizarre religious cult, with Palin as a figure of idolatry and worship.” He says that “the Sarah Palin in Bailey's book is the precisely same Palin as in mine - duplicitous, lazy, erratic, recklessly ambitious, mean spirited, an unloyal friend and family member, possessed of a faux Christianity that is neither loving nor forgiving. The big difference is, of course, that I never bought into Palin's phony charisma - not for a second - while Bailey sucked it up until the well ran dry.” He goes on to show that Bailey provided false testimony in Troopergate and unfairly smeared Wooten, John Bitney and Andrée McLeod. VERY worth the read.

Friday, September 2, 2011

Coming Soon to a Theater Near You: “You Betcha”

Nick Broomfield is a man with a camera and a sense of humor, and both served him well in filming “You Betcha,” the soon-to-be-released documentary about Sarah Palin. The trailer highlights his engaging style as he interviews Alaskans who know Palin well, and give wonderful insights about her that should serve as a great counterpoint to the fake narrative that she has constructed. Great line from Pastor Bess: "nice lady," "genuine smile" and “she’d kill you, like that!"

Saturday, September 03, 2011

Palin in #IA

The long-awaited Palin speech in Iowa finally arrived, and even better, it ended very soon thereafter. I predicted she would announce today, but I think Karl Rove jinxed the date! Here is a choice quote: “I want all of our GOP candidates to take the opportunity to kill corporate capitalism that is leading to this cronyism that is killing our economy.” Okay, kill corporate capitalism. Hmm. Did she really say that? Huh? Sadly, C-SPAN seemed to think this speech from a has-been ½ governor was worthy of live-streaming and the NYT put it on the front page on-line. I would think the crowd estimated from 500-2000 was a bit disappointing given all the hype. A round of applause to Azure Ghost, whose poster celebrating this auspicious event is one of her most brilliant ever!

Some Comments and Links:

ProChoiceGrandma: The Queen consulted: "Magic Mirror, on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?" The Queen did not like the Mirror's answer, not at all!
"Christine O'Donnell is by far younger and cuter than thee"
In a rage, the Queen ordered her henchmen at C4Pee
"Cut HER out of MY Tea Party!"

Linda1961: She will find some way to blame Obama for her faking being pregnant with Trig.

Maelewis: Right now is the time to reflect about what it means to be part of a community and a country. In another week, we will sadly remember the anniversary of September 11. Innocent people died, and brave first responders risked their lives to save others. We are saddened at the loss of property and life in so many human disasters around the world and in the United States. While we watch a selfish, vain, thin-skinned, overly-made up woman address her Tea Party crowd in Iowa over the Labor Day weekend, she should be the reminder that we are all bigger and better than that.

Annes_123: If S.P. can't even negotiate issues (piddly ones! just giving a speech) with her OWN people...How could she ever negotiate with congress if she were duh Prez? How could she ever negotiate with World Leaders? These are her own people. Her own patriotic American grassroots people. People that adore her.

SCmommy: The Iowa Event's format has now been changed, due to appearances of both Sarah Palin and Christine O'Donnell. It will now be a Spelling Bee, moderated by George W. Bush. First word: Nuclear. [Later:] I'm tellin' ya--it's anorexia & she's also bulimic--when she can no longer control it, and has to eat the 4 bags of oreos & loaf of bread, she then has to purge it up, hence the big, red swollen knuckles on the skeltor hands, attached to the starving African arm.

Femme7: So let me see if I have this straight...... They kept the witch and dumped the bitch, or did they dump the witch to keep the bitch? But then the bitch said she would not appear with the witch. So, they had to dump the witch a second time but the bitch hasn't committed to replace the bitch.

Whatever it is, Palin is not making any friends by calling her fan base in Iowa (teabagger group) LIARS. Ouch....that's gonna leave a mark. Think they will be going out of their way to campaign for her after this fiasco? I think not.

Teutonic13: I still think we are ALL GETTING PLAYED. At a time when Palin's ship should be sinking, we are at each other's throats, which is dead on what happens whenever Palin is cornered. Controversy flies about, and poof- smoke and mirrors replace good judgement and better instincts. People are taking sides and their eye is off the prize. Think about it.

Older_Wiser (on the C4P meetup at the Machine Shed): Reminds me of "The Dead" followers but without the music, fun and pot. : )

Kilob: NWS has issued a severe storm warning for Indianola IA due to Topical Storm @Sarahpalinusa. Residents are urged to seek shelter and protect their wallets.

EbbtideMB: Can't stand her. Won't watch it. But would somebody please remind me why an unannounced, non-candidate, non-politician talking (screeching) to a couple of hundred "fans" in a cornfield on a Saturday afternoon is NEWS?

indy_Girl: "I am not for sale." Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!! ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha (breathe) Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, ha ha ha ha ha ha!! *wipe eyes* ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha !! That Sarah!! She's funny, isn't she???

HopeforAmerica: Americans need a leader, not a drama queen.

Marieke02 linked to these excellent charts from Daily Kos.

Zane1 posted this on the 20 most dangerous conservatives.

TruGal linked to talkingpointsmemo on Palin’s “doomed” presidential dream.

Cheeriogirl posted this on 15 differences between Democrats and Republicans.

ProChoiceGrandma linked to Truthout on Republican candidates, “The Unacceptables.” and this from a former GOP operative who “left the cult.” (also posted by Dusty17)

HonestyinGov pointed out this on the Iowa speech from Jason Easley on Politicususa:

The Last Word and it can’t be repeated too often, IMO):

Patrick: Let's look forward and let's not get sucked into the trap of division and strife. Let's focus on what the target is, and why we are doing all this, for several years now. We are not doing it to have blog wars and author wars and shout at each other. We are doing it to defeat Sarah Palin and make sure that she is properly exposed, so that her political career will have no future.