Apparently the red uniforms beat the blue uniforms to win the World Series.  Anyway, there’s the zone Obama was trying for; the middle.

Just watched the Obama 30 minute ad, and to be honest, I have to say I had a hard time identifying with it.  I guess it was just too blatantly pitched to the middle class;  whoever they are.  I should say up front that I’m one of those Americans who will suffer a tax increase under an Obama administration because, in fact, I’m way inside the top one percent of all wealthy Americans these days.

How wealthy am I?  I’m not really sure, what with the roller coaster economy these days, but as an admirer recently marveled, I have a $60 million dollar custom built jet, and a $24 million dollar doggy jet that follows it with our two dachshunds, Willie Wanker Warhol and Dandy Dick The Dachshund.

Liberals attacked McCain for not knowing exactly how many residences he owns, but truth is, the guy is a pauper, really.  Oh, Cindy has some beer bucks I’m told, and seven homes might impress a few single home owners;  but I own twenty-seven homes that range in price from Obama’s 1.6 million dollar dump to my private island estate at $300 mil.  But enough about my munnies.

It was clear from the Obama ad—  I don’t care for the McCain “infomercial” slur— that he’s in the tank for the middle class.  It’s just too bad that a big gaggle of them are outright racist, another flock are confused Republicans who think they’ll get rich some day, and then there’s the Democrats. Why anyone would try to unify this rabble is beyond me. And no, I won’t try and scare you with that socialism shtick, God forbid the middle class figures that out. The less said about “spreading the wealth around” the better.  Just give me a president who will make my tax cuts permanent and keep the war machine crackin’ open new markets.

So yeah.  Middle class? Save your ass; vote for Palin-McCain so the wealth will continue to trickle down to you, and we can have victory wherever we choose no matter how long it takes, or how many of your kids get to make the ultimate sacrifice to keep our nation free.  And don’t worry about me.  I’ll be fine.

(LOFL)

Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade

Some further reflections on this comment I posted at The Lake this morning, vamping off Blue Texan’s analysis of the disaster that John McCain’s pick of Sarah Palin is proving to be:

“He chose…poorly.”

Great line, delivered by the ancient guardian knight in the second Indiana Jones movie about the holy grail.

The greedy bad guy has to choose the actual cup used at the Last Supper (which is suppose to confer eternal life). Instead of selecting the humble wood one, the kind that would be carved by a hard working (social activist!) carpenter, he chooses (identifies with) the most ornate one, as befitting a great king, poisoning himself in the process.

How fitting.

If the antagonist had related to Jesus as the humble Prince of Peace instead of the mighty King of the Holy Roman Empire, he would have chosen wisely and not have died such a horrible death.

In the scene depicted below, Indy uses the healing power of the grail to restore a worthy life, his father’s, a life dedicated to the quest for knowledge. Contrast that with the desire to merely prolong an unworthy life, one dedicated to greed and power.

Redemption, at least in the secular sense, is a theme the USA and the rest of the world might want to pursue now that the neocon Republican world view has proven such an utter disaster.

Sarah Six-Pack was in Loveland, Colorado today, saying Barack Obama is an advocate for “Socialism,” and that “. . .now is not the time to experiment with Socialism.”

Peggeh Noonan

The recent groundswell of Republican pundits with enough character and honesty to look fairly at Barack Obama, or at least John McCain and Sarah Palin, are having a rough time coming to grips with the vicious mental indolence of their own “conservative” base.  Though not the most recent one to come out of the cold, Peggy Noonan, whom Americans came to know most famously as Ronald Reagan’s “Surly bonds of earth” speech writer, has also felt the indiscriminate sting of valueless conservative thuggery.

(My bold) Peggy Noonan:

. . .[W]e have seen Mrs. Palin on the national stage for seven weeks now, and there is little sign that she has the tools, the equipment, the knowledge or the philosophical grounding one hopes for, and expects, in a holder of high office. She is a person of great ambition, but the question remains: What is the purpose of the ambition? She wants to rise, but what for? For seven weeks I’ve listened to her, trying to understand if she is Bushian or Reaganite—a spender, to speak briefly, whose political decisions seem untethered to a political philosophy, and whose foreign policy is shaped by a certain emotionalism, or a conservative whose principles are rooted in philosophy, and whose foreign policy leans more toward what might be called romantic realism, and that is speak truth, know America, be America, move diplomatically, respect public opinion, and move within an awareness and appreciation of reality.

But it’s unclear whether she is Bushian or Reaganite. She doesn’t think aloud. She just . . . says things.

Her supporters accuse her critics of snobbery: Maybe she’s not a big “egghead” but she has brilliant instincts and inner toughness. But what instincts? “I’m Joe Six-Pack”? She does not speak seriously but attempts to excite sensation—”palling around with terrorists.” If the Ayers case is a serious issue, treat it seriously. She is not as thoughtful or persuasive as Joe the Plumber, who in an extended cable interview Thursday made a better case for the Republican ticket than the Republican ticket has made. In the past two weeks she has spent her time throwing out tinny lines to crowds she doesn’t, really, understand. [sic]

Find me a hundred Americans in any particular media market who could diagram that sentence to determine if Ms Noonan was talking about Palin not understanding the “tinny lines“ she parrots, or the “crowds” that wallow in them.

This is not a leader, this is a follower, and she follows what she imagines is the base, which is in fact a vast and broken-hearted thing whose pain she cannot, actually, imagine. She could reinspire and reinspirit; she chooses merely to excite. She doesn’t seem to understand the implications of her own thoughts.

As if McCain, her ventriloquist puppet master, understands his? Only Karl understands:  it’s point number three of the 14 defining characteristics of fascism;  i.e.,

3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause — The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists;  socialists, terrorists, etc.

No news conferences? Interviews now only with friendly journalists? You can’t be president or vice president and govern in that style, as a sequestered figure. This has been Mr. Bush’s style the past few years, and see where it got us. You must address America in its entirety, not as a sliver or a series of slivers but as a full and whole entity, a great nation trying to hold together. When you don’t, when you play only to your little piece, you contribute to its fracturing.

Come on, Ms Noonan; say it with me:  You. contribute. to. its. total. dis. int. igration.
You. contribute. to. its. total. dis. int. igration. Thaaaaat’s the ticket.

In the end the Palin candidacy is a symptom and expression of a new vulgarization in American politics. It’s no good, not for conservatism and not for the country. And yes, it is a mark against John McCain, against his judgment and idealism.

“A mark against John McCain“??  “Vulgarization”??
Ah, no, Ms Noonan.
It’s an indictment of John McCain’s judgment and idealism; a condemnation of John McCain’s judgment and idealism; a criminal conviction of John McCain’s judgment and idealism.

I gather this week from conservative publications that those whose thoughts lead them to criticism in this area are to be shunned, and accused of the lowest motives. In one now-famous case, Christopher Buckley was shooed from the great magazine his father invented. In all this, the conservative intelligentsia are doing what they have done for five years. They bitterly attacked those who came to stand against the Bush administration. This was destructive. If they had stood for conservative principle and the full expression of views, instead of attempting to silence those who opposed mere party, their movement, and the party, [?] would be in a better, and healthier, position.

Some people may never come to realize, at least in this life here, that “conservative principle” has been an oxymoron since Reagan sold arms for hostages to terrorists.  And dealing with the monsters of hate and fear that “conservatives” have cultivated in their base are just like a certain rabid black preacher has warned; like chickens coming home to roost.

Oh.  The “S” word?  No. It’s not “socialism.” That’s a fuckin’ joke.

The “S” word is:  “Stupid.”

The Mouse Circus and the Blogosphere are saying Obama “trounced” McCain.

What would you expect the “liberal left” MSM to say?
That McCain’s angry lizard temperament was just what America needs?

You wont need to use a scalpel to unpack the debate performances of “that one” and the fighter jock, because it’s as plain as the flicking tongue who won what voters.  Let’s take a look.

The “Vote angry” vote.  They have “every reason to be angry,” and John stroked them where they live. McCain took every last one of the “too angry to think straight” vote.

McCain then courted, and won, the Joe-the-Plumber vote. Plumbers around the country with butt crack fatigue will vote for McCain without ever looking at the tax benefits Obama layed out for them.

“The Mobile-Exxon” vote goes to McCain; Obama will take away their huge tax break over our dead bodies.

Irish  business vote went to McCain because he mentioned Ireland’s business tax rate.

Auto industry voters got an ass whipping from Obama for falling behind the curve; vote to McCain.

“Any trade agreement is a good trading agreement” vote to McCain.

Responsible “Pay as you go” freaks— to Obama.

Insurance executive vote:  McCain.

“Send money to people that don’t like us very much” vote is totally McCain’s.

“Sarcastic Admiration of Obama’s eloquence through a McCain filter” vote:  to McCain.

“Drugs killing young Americans” vote: McCain.

“Columbia internal politics be damned, trade agreement a no brainer” vote to McCain.

Peruvian vote: Mostly Obama’s.

“Stand up to other countries” vote goes 100% McCain.

“Ham-handed gestures” vote exclusively McCain’s.

“Throwing money at the problem” vote planning group suicide, but survivors will vote McCain. [Read more →]

Circular firing squads has generally been a behavior attributed to Democrats, but as the McCain campaign implodes, the Rethugs are giving them a run for their money…

Update 1: Chris Buckley Is Down Wit Da Obama Man

Buckley’s Son Leaves National Review

October 14, 2008, 2:16 pm

By Patricia Cohen

Christopher Buckley, the author and son of the late conservative mainstay William F. Buckley, said in a telephone interview that he has resigned from the National Review, the political journal his father founded in 1955.

Mr. Buckley said he had “been effectively fatwahed by the conservative movement” after endorsing Barack Obama in a blog posting on TheDailyBeast.com; since then, he said he has been blanketed with hate mail at the blog and at the National Review, where he has written a column.

As a result, he wrote to Richard Lowry, the editor of the National Review, and its publisher, Jack Fowler, offering to resign, and “this offer was rather briskly accepted,” Mr. Buckley said.

Mr. Buckley said he did not understand the sense of betrayal that some of his conservative colleagues felt, but said that the fury and ugly comments his endorsement generated is “part of the calcification of modern discourse. It’s so angry.” Paraphrasing Ronald Reagan’s quote about the Democrats, Mr. Buckley added, “I haven’t left the Republican Party. It left me.”

Update 2: W’s re-election strategist, Matthew Dowd, compares the Rethugs’ infatuation with Sarah Baracuda as a bad Halloween candy binge.

[Read more →]

PLAYING WITH FIRE

“I play to win. I do whatever it takes to win.
If I have to fuck my opponent to win I’ll do it.
If I have to destroy my opponent I won’t give it a second thought.”
—John McCain

The quote is from Capital Hill Blue’s Doug Thompson.  It is a personal recollection of Thompson’s, from a GOP gathering of the National Republican Senatorial Committee where McCain outlined his strategy for winning his race for the Senate.

Given McCain’s self-described canon, it’s hardly a stretch to believe he professed such a crass philosophy.  And above all other considerations, it puts the lie on his religion; whether it was Rethuglican bravado or genuine credo.  Embracing such a tactic er, strategy— or the meaningless distinction McCain draws between the two— is tantamount to embracing evil.

Evil.  Soul destroying wickedness. Playing with the fire of mortal existence. Not the physical “fire” of some make-believe eternal torture pit unthinking Christians ascribe to God as thee Supreme Torturer, but the cessation of the gift of life— forever.

Grownups can agree: there really is no fate worse than eternal death. Such a fate is, of course, a judgment made by an Infinite Father for his errant children, whom God allows through free will choice to be the architects of their own destiny.

It should be instructive to any moral being— but especially professed Christians like McCain and Palin— that choosing and abusing hypocrisy— the one sin the Son of God yelled at the Sanhedrin for— is very dangerous ground. No matter how you bullshit yourself, don’t expect our Divine Judges to reason with you that “politics” is just that sort of “game.”

The greatest punishment (in reality an inevitable consequence)
for wrongdoing and deliberate rebellion against
the government of God is loss of existence
as an individual subject of that government.
The final result of wholehearted sin is annihilation.
In the last analysis, such sin-identified individuals
have destroyed themselves by becoming
wholly unreal through their embrace of iniquity.
—The Urantia Book

* * * * * * *

UPDATE:

Georgia Congressman John Lewis says John McCain and Sarah Palin are “stoking hate” by creating the atmosphere at Republican campaign events to those of George Wallace, the segregationist former governor of Alabama.  Said Lewis, “Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are sowing the seeds of hatred and division, and there is no need for this hostility in our political discourse.”

More from Jonathan Martin:

Appearing with Barack Obama at a forum at Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church in August, McCain included John Lewis as one of “three wise men” he would consult as president.

“He can teach us all a lot about the meaning of courage and commitment to causes greater than our self-interest,” McCain said of Lewis.

Now, Lewis is castigating McCain in the harshest of terms.

“As public figures with the power to influence and persuade, Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin are playing with fire, and if they are not careful, that fire will consume us all,” Lewis said today. “They are playing a very dangerous game that disregards the value of the political process and cheapens our entire democracy. We can do better. The American people deserve better.”

McCain responded with disappointment, but also a challenge to Obama.

“I am saddened that John Lewis, a man I’ve always admired, would make such a brazen and baseless attack on my character and the character of the thousands of hardworking Americans who come to our events to cheer for the kind of reform that will put America on the right track,” the GOP nominee said in a statement this afternoon.”

Read the entire article here.

New-cue-lure.  When I hear a public servant use the Joe Six-pack pronunciation of the word nuclear, I feel a huge tell on stupid.  Of course Bush was the precedent-setting poster boy who taught us abysmal ignorance always follows on the heels of this particular faux pas. But Flailin’ Palin has a few other “tells,” some of which you may have never heard before last night:

Dills.  We are not talkin’ pickles here, ya mopes, we’re talkin’ DEALS.  As in makin’ dills, like that big-assed gas pipeline dill the reindeer are so excited to hang with, the one SP’s always talkin’ about, but has so far eluded actual exitence.

Detells. Not a reference to “tells”— per say—  but more like where Lucifer lives. “The devul is in the detells.” And trust that Sarah rilly believes in Lucifer and his axis of evil, Satan, and Beelzebub. Ponder well what this means when she throws down in the blame game.

Dicktaters. Ever eat any?  Barracudas must eat’m all the time.  For breakfast would be my guess. Where do ya find’m?  Overseas, I think. Home grown in mostly third world countries that are on the Bush shit lists McCain enemies list.  Unlike regular “taters,” these are not tots, but, well, full grown Dicks.

Some ‘Merkans have had their fill of dicktaters:

This may be goin’ viral; let it load.

(H/T to Driftglass for finding this. . .  how does he do it.)

Sarah Palin’s winking libido

From The National Reviews‘ Rich Lowry

“I’m sure I’m not the only male in America who, when Palin dropped her first wink, sat up a little straighter on the couch and said, “Hey, I think she just winked at me.” And her smile. By the end, when she clearly knew she was doing well, it was so sparkling it was almost mesmerizing. It sent little starbursts through the screen and ricocheting around the living rooms of America. This is a quality that can’t be learned; it’s either something you have or you don’t, and man, she’s got it.”

Drill, baby, drill.

Ruh roh;  that Vladdamir Putin is rearin’ his head over there, agin.
I don’t think he’s wearin’ a shirt, either.

What do Bullwinkle, the Flintstones, ANWR, and Putin have in common? The most unqualified vice-presidential candidate in US history.

One who believes that humans and dinosaurs walked the earth together; that Alaska’s proximity to Russia gives her foreign policy and national security cred;  that global warming is a myth; that the pending rapture obviates the need for environmental stewardship.

At least she knows how to field dress a moose.

Update: Katie asks Sarah which newspapers and magazines inform her worldview.

Damn!

It’s getting harder and harder to write satire these days when Insane McCain seems so intent on pushing the envelope of self-parody.

Too bad SNL doesn’t have a male version of Tina Fey to play the guy. Their scriptwriters could take the day off, and just let the script editor insert his own words.

From Politico:

McCain takes credit for bill before it loses

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and his top aides took credit for building a winning bailout coalition – hours before the vote failed and stocks tanked.

Meanwhile, Americans lost some $1.2 trillion in the stock market today.

Bumper sticker idea: Had enough? No? Vote McCain-Palin