YEAH BUT WE'VE HEARD THIS BEFORE

Palin released a statement on her Facebook site and Politico covered it. She trotted out the all-too familiar whine about unfair press coverage and repeated her goal of furthering these stale GOP memes:

“I am now looking ahead and how we can advance this country together with our values of less government intervention, greater energy independence, stronger national security, and much-needed fiscal restraint, Palin wrote. “I hope you will join me. Now is the time to rebuild and help our nation achieve greatness!”

Why does Palin think the American public needs more of this crap from a new source?

YOU MIGHT RECALL THE PINE TAR GAME

George Brett hit a home run off Goose Gossage and Billy Martin pointed out to the umpires that there was more than 18 inches of pine tar on Brett's bat. That's against a simplistic interpretation of the rules, so Brett was called out. This gives you an idea of his reaction:



And you may also recall what Gossage said:

"I can sympathize with George," Gossage remarked after the game, "but not that much."

That was my initial reaction to Reid Wilson's whine about politics:

Anyone who seeks to run for or hold office as a conservative should have their head examined. They and their family and friends will be endlessly savaged in every way possible.

I wrote "not much" because not only what happened to Gore and Kerry but also because of Palin's own divisive politics. Paybacks are sometimes a bitch and I don't think the GOP will give up on talk radio tactics until we shove the same up their kazoos.

I RUN INTO ANOTHER PALIN SUPPORTER

On this Politico thread, I got a chance to read what EMILY09 thinks. Here was the 1st sign that she's a little lost:

It's a friggin joke made for idiots who believe anything any stupid brainless libbie tells them because they are so mentally retarded after having been drinking water with sodium fluoride in it for years that they couldn't figure it out if their very life depended on it.

The 2nd sign:

THIS MAY VERY WELL BE THE LAST INDEPENDENCE DAY WE WILL BE ABLE TO CELEBRATE AS A SOVERIEGN NATION FOR SOME YEARS TO COME.

And the confirming symptom:

However, why don't you look at the recent research on how it [sodium fluoride] lowers your IQ? Some are saying that a good portion of our population is now mentally retarded because of mainly that, but other chemicals and drugs being used by the population.

Which recalls this marvelous exchange from a famous Cold War movie:

General Jack D. Ripper: Mandrake, do you realize that in addition to fluoridating water, why, there are studies underway to fluoridate salt, flour, fruit juices, soup, sugar, milk... ice cream. Ice cream, Mandrake, children's ice cream.
Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: Lord, Jack.
General Jack D. Ripper: You know when fluoridation first began?
Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: I... no, no. I don't, Jack.
General Jack D. Ripper: Nineteen hundred and forty-six. Nineteen forty-six, Mandrake. How does that coincide with your post-war Commie conspiracy, huh? It's incredibly obvious, isn't it? A foreign substance is introduced into our precious bodily fluids without the knowledge of the individual. Certainly without any choice. That's the way your hard-core Commie works.

ANOTHER PORTION OF WORD SALAD FROM PALIN

WTF does this mean?

"No productive fulfilled people determined where to put their efforts choosing to wisely use precious time to build up — and there is such a need to build up — and fight for our state and our country and I choose to fight for it."

SOURCE: NYT transcript of Palin's speech

THE MOTIVATIONS OF THE PROPHETS OF DECEIT

I came across this quote from the Book of Jeremiah on the frontispiece of Prophets of Deceit, a book about the rabble-rousers of the 30s and 40s.

JEREMIAH 23:25-27 (American Standard Version)

25 I have heard what the prophets have said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. 26 How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies, even the prophets of the deceit of their own heart? 27 that think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbor, as their fathers forgat my name for Baal.

I immediately thought of people like Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Richard Land and James Dobson but it also applies to the prominent wingnuts, like Hannity and Krauthammer. Paul Krugman asks of these folks:

I mean, they’re not stupid — life would be a lot easier if they were. So they know they’re not telling the truth. But they obviously believe that their dishonesty serves a higher truth — one that is, in effect, told only to Inner Party members, while the Outer Party makes do with prolefeed.

The question is, what is that higher truth? What do these people really believe in?

I think F. A. Hayek gave a mostly correct answer back in 1961: They believe in Power. Mostly correct, because there are certainly other motivations, such as money, as commenter Stacy at Balloon Juice points out:

So for Limbaugh, he benefits from having the country go downhill. The shittier the county is, more bitter and pissed off people are, and they will be more likely to gravitate to someone that gives them an easy scapegoat for that anger. People like Rush and Glenn Beck provide that service. The more angry people, the more fans they get, more money.

Some undoubtedly have psychological problems that keep them trapped in paranoid delusions, like Michele Bachmann and the Census. Others naturally have an authoritarian personality and seek relief from Otherness in the "family values" movement.

IF TRUE, THIS IS REALLY BAD NEWS

If the employment situation doesn't turn around in time for the 2010 elections, the Dems will certainly lose more seats than expected for an off-year election.

White House Adviser: Stimulus is Working -- But Unemployment Could Grow in 2010
July 02, 2009 2:42 PM
ABC News’ Rick Klein reports:

Jared Bernstein, chief economist and economic policy adviser to Vice President Joe Biden, said on ABCNews.com’s “Top Line” today that the latest jobs report doesn’t tell the full story.

“The unemployment rate will likely be higher in 2010 than in 2009, just as it’s ramped up over the course of the year. In that sense you’ve got a tougher labor market,” Bernstein said.

AN ACCURATE ASSESSMENT OF PALIN

I'm a bit surprised that Krauthammer was this honest and I suspect he'll get a lot of e-mail from Palin's more rabid supporters. (h/t Ben Smith at Politico)

Now, as to Palin, I agree entirely with what Mara said. She is — she has star power without any doubt. She has an extremely devoted following. But she is not a serious candidate for the presidency.

She had to go home and study and spend a lot of time on issues in which she was not adept last year, and she hasn't. She has to stop speaking in clichés and platitudes. It won't work.

It could work for eight weeks if you're the number two candidate, as she was last year. But even so, she got singed a lot in that campaign. You cannot sustain a campaign of platitudes and clichés over a year and a half if you're running for the presidency.

Of course, cliches and platitudes are exactly what right-wing radio thrives on.

NEO-CON PAPER TURNS FASCIST TOOL

I heard this last night on FAUX News radio and I thought FAUX had once again messed up and mistook a story from The Onion for reality. I was wrong. The WaPo decided to get into the influence-selling business, promising to arrange meetings with not only administration officials but also Post reporters and columnists.

Does Dana Milbank have anything to say about this? Will he be even the teeniest bit less pompous?

MORE RADIO GASBAGS AT THIS YEAR'S RUBE VOTERS CONVENTION

(It's "Values Voters" but there's no sense repeating that euphemism. )

The prominent radio gasbags are much more in evidence at the 2009 hate fest:

Glenn Beck
Lou Dobbs
Sean Hannity
Laura Ingraham
Mark Levin
Rush Limbaugh

Bonus Krazies:

Rep. Michele Bachmann, Pat Buchanan, David Horowitz, Bill O'Reilly, Gov. Sarah Palin and Ben Stein.

In 2008, there were 8 gasbags but many were from the minor leagues, like Kevin McCullough. In 2007, there were only 5, only 2 from the majors.

2009 VALUES VOTER SUMMIT (MINUS ONE)

(h/t Steve Benen)

The Family Research Council, the explicitly political arm of Dobsonism, decided to uninvite Gov. "I just met a girl named Maria" Sanford. Kyle at Right Wing Watch has the screen captures.

SOME GOOD NEWS FROM PAKISTAN

(h/t David Corn)

Pakistanis still don't like us but they REALLY don't like the Taliban & Al Qaeda and that's a very welcome change. A new WorldPublicOpinion.org poll conducted May 17-28, 2009 and found:

There has been a huge increase in those who think the "activities of Islamist militants and local Taliban" are a critical threat to Pakistan--a 47 point rise to 81 percent, up from 34 percent in late 2007.

OTOH, 82% are opposed to our drone strikes in Pakistan, so maybe we should reduce, if not eliminate, them?

IT'S A COMPLICATED WORLD

This story in the San Francisco Chronicle highlights how two seemingly politically distant groups can agree on one major political stance. This probably traces back to the agrarian myth of the self-supporting, independent farmer that began in Jefferson's time and apparently still lives for some American.

State's most conservative county uses much cash
Kevin Fagan, Chronicle Staff Writer

Tuesday, June 30, 2009
The prevailing attitude among the right-wing ranchers and modern hippies who define Modoc County is of fierce self-reliance...

Ken McGarva and Tina Hodge will both tell you with equal ardor that government should stay out of their faces. But you wouldn't know they could agree by looking at them.

McGarva is a cowboy. The real kind, one who ropes and brands his cattle in the dot-in-the-road town of Likely. At 70, he loathes liberal politics.

Hodge is a back-to-the-land hippie. The real kind, one who raised her kids in a tepee on a remote mountaintop near tiny Eagleville and now lives off the grid in a hobbit-style house on that same mountaintop. At 57, she loathes conservative politics.

PALIN IS A LIE FACTORY

Andrew Sullivan catalogued dozens of her lies and now CBS reveals another one in campaign e-mail:

"That's not part of their platform and he was only a 'member' bc independent alaskans too often check that 'Alaska Independent' box on voter registrations thinking it just means non partisan," Palin wrote. "He caught his error when changing our address and checked the right box. I still want it fixed."

Palin was attempting to bend the facts ever so slightly to fit neatly into her version of events. In truth, the box that Alaskans have the option of checking when registering to vote states the full name of the party, "Alaskan Independence Party," not "Alaska Independent," which would make an error by uncommitted voters more plausible.

ANOTHER GOOD QUESTION...

why haven't the "family values" mullahs spoken or written about Gov. "I just met a girl named Maria" Sanford? Could it be they don't want to speak out against a fellow social conservative from the South? At least one of these groups did speak out about Sen. Ensign but he's not from the Bible Belt.

Family Values Groups Still Silent on Mark Sanford
July 01, 2009 11:37 AM ET Dan Gilgoff
By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country
US News and World Report

One week after Mark Sanford admitted to his affair with an Argentine woman—and a day after he called his mistress his "soul mate" and acknowledged further indiscretions—I'm struck by the total silence of pro-family groups.

The Family Research Council has been completely quiet on the South Carolina governor's affair. So has Concerned Women for America. Ditto for Focus on the Family.

CAN CNN DO FRACTIONS?

Apparently not....

The first sentence in this article tells us a "fact":

The new president of the American Medical Association, which represents the interests of the nation's doctors, said Wednesday the group is open to a government-funded health insurance option for people without coverage.

At the end of the article, we are also informed of this fact:

The 162-year-old AMA has about 250,000 members, including practicing physicians, medical students and retired doctors. Overall, there are more than 900,000 doctors in the United States.

Doesn't this mean that the AMA only represents a minority of our nation's doctors?

MEDIA WINGERS BACKING DOWN?

Today, a caller to the Glenn Beck Show asked a hypothetical question: What would've happened to our revolution if the Founding Fathers had adopted the non-violent tactics of Gandhi and Martin Luther King? He clearly wanted an answer that would support the call for violence in the face of what the wingers think is an authoritarian, statist Federal government. I have to give Beck some credit because he shot down the callers pre-supposition: "anyone who picks up a gun is going to destroy the Republic."

In an interview with Ann Coulter¹, Bill O'Reilly also back away from incendiary winger madness:

COULTER: Right, right. Well, apparently, this one random nut who shot Tiller, I don't really like to think of it as a murder.

O'REILLY: Easy.

COULTER: It was terminating Tiller in the 203rd trimester.

O'REILLY: You can't -- you can't diminish what that killer did or you have anarchy.

COULTER: I am personally opposed to shooting abortionists, but I don't want to impose my moral values on others.

O'REILLY: OK. But if you can't...

COULTER: If you don't believe in shooting abortionists, then don't shoot an abortionist.

O'REILLY: You must have society, or it will collapse, that has laws.

¹Fox News Network
June 22, 2009 Monday
SHOW: THE O'REILLY FACTOR 8:29 PM EST
Ann Coulter Weighs in on Tiller Murder
BYLINE: Bill O'Reilly
GUESTS: Ann Coulter

AN EASY ANSWER

(h/t David Neiwert at Crooks & Liars)

In his article on Caribou Barbie in Vanity Fair, Todd Purdum raises this question:

What does it say about the nature of modern American politics that a public official who often seems proud of what she does not know is not only accepted but applauded?

The answer is pretty simple: ignorant populism is alive and well in the conservative movement. In fact, one of the movement's leaders thinks credentials are elitist. These people confuse self-assertion with a refusal to learn.

MORE CONSERVATIVE SECURITY WEAKNESS

This is another example of the neo-conservatives failures on national security.

Back on Sept. 15, 1999, the Hart-Rudmann Commission published a report on the security challenges of the 21st Century. This was among the conclusions:

1. America will become increasingly vulnerable to hostile attack on our homeland, and our military superiority will not entirely protect us.

The United States will be both absolutely and relatively stronger than any other state or combination of states. Although a global competitor to the United States is unlikely to arise over the next 25 years, emerging powers--either singly or in coalition--will increasingly constrain U.S. options regionally and limit its strategic influence. As a result, we will remain limited in our ability to impose our will, and we will be vulnerable to an increasing range of threats against American forces and citizens overseas as well as at home. American influence will increasingly be both embraced and resented abroad, as U.S. cultural, economic, and political power persists and perhaps spreads. States, terrorists, and other disaffected groups will acquire weapons of mass destruction and mass disruption, and some will use them. Americans will likely die on American soil, possibly in large numbers.

Here's what the war whore wizards at the Weekly Standard ("Newt Gingrich’s Last Boondoggle") and PNAC thought of the commission :

In fact, the H-R commission has been something of a joke on the taxpayer almost since its inception.

RADIO TIDBITS

Don Imus let Pat Buchanan spew his bigoted BS about Judge Sotomayor and then let Stuart Taylor repeat the wingnuts "9-0" meme.

Hannity repeated one of his few true claims: if there is health care reform, there's no going back because it will never be repealed.

Randi Rhodes doesn't think Al Franken is a liberal but I didn't hear why.

BACHMANN'S BEEN TEH KRAZY FOR A LONG TIME

(h/t Nate Carlile at Think Progress)

Just like that nut Caribou Barbie, Michele Bachmann had the wingnut crazy virus a long time before she hit the national scene, as this Minneapolis Star-Tribune editorial points out:

Conspiracy theories have been a constant in Rep. Michele Bachmann's political career since she first ran for the Stillwater school board in the late 1990s. She made her initial foray into politics by claiming that the Profile of Learning amounted to social engineering. Her anti-gay-marriage ideas were rooted in notions of sinister forces bent on destroying traditional marriage. Her bizarre rants within the past year against "anti-American" members of Congress, a global currency and government-mandated youth "reeducation camps" all exhibit the same disturbing tendency.

Bachmann began here political career as a partisan for a office that was usually non-partisan - school board member ¹:

The last Stillwater school board election was apparently a real yawner, attracting fewer than 10 percent of registered voters.

Tuesday's election, which will put five of 19 candidates on the seven-member board, might be more like a jolt of strong coffee.

For the first time in most people's memories, a political party has endorsed a slate of candidates. Those five Republican-backed candidates _ Michele Bachmann, Bill Dierberger, Doreen Fiest, Doug Nelson and Barbara Harper _ united in their opposition to the state's new graduation rule, the Profile of Learning, and they've pooled resources, including yard signs and campaign fliers, to run as one. Four of the five candidates have children in private schools or home-school them.

Neither she nor her GOP cohorts were elected² but that didn't mean her political career was over. Next year, she ran for the state senate and was endorsed by movement conservatives over a long-time incumbent who was a moderate.³ Bachmann was described as one of the "strong social and cultural conservatives" in the state party.⁴ She won and in the senate, she was the lone holdout on her sub-committee on a bill to help provide child care for lower income families.⁵ She also voted against state-funded job training⁶ and benefits for gay domestic partners.⁷ She was supported by the very conservative Taxpayers League, which has a simplistic message - "If it raises taxes, it's bad. If it lowers taxes, it's good." The League also used nasty attacks against political opponents, such as Gov. Ventura, "In its almost daily stream of press releases, Ventura has been called a "gutless coward" and "a liar."⁸

Her Christianist credentials are solid; she thinks it's OK to post the 10 Commandments in every Minnesota school, in part because of a standard Fundie lie:

One of the speakers, state Sen. Michele Bachmann, R-Stillwater, told the crowd that the founders of the United States _ including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson _ "recognized the Ten Commandments as the foundation of our laws."⁹

She also takes what I'll call a "Michael Savage" view of homosexuals:

She delivered a 15-minute speech on the Senate floor last session tying homosexuality to mental illness and increased instances of domestic abuse.¹⁰

SOURCES

¹Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN)
October 30, 1999, Saturday, Metro Edition
Partisan twist for school elections;
GOP supporting some candidates in Stillwater and other districts
Norman Draper; Staff Writer
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 1B

²Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN)
November 3, 1999, Wednesday, Metro Edition
Correction Appended
SCHOOL ELECTIONS;
GOP nod fails to help slate of 5 in Stillwater
Norman Draper; Staff Writer
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 5B

³Saint Paul Pioneer Press (Minnesota)
April 4, 2000 Tuesday
LAIDIG LOSES GOP BACKING;
DELEGATES PICK BACHMANN, A NEWCOMER CONSERVATIVE
BYLINE: Mary Divine Staff Writer
SECTION: LOCAL; Pg. 1B

⁴Saint Paul Pioneer Press (Minnesota)
September 9, 2000 Saturday
SENATE DISTRICT 56;
EYES RIVETED ON RACE FOR SENATOR IN PRIMARY
BYLINE: Mary Divine, Staff Writer
SECTION: LOCAL; Pg. 5B

⁵Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN)
April 7, 2001, Saturday, Metro Edition
Child-care funding moves ahead;
One provision of the bill would guarantee subsidies for families with income below a certain level.
Jean Hopfensperger; Staff Writer
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 5B

⁶Saint Paul Pioneer Press (Minnesota)
April 29, 2001 Sunday CITY EDITION
FIRST JOB, NEW JOB, BETTER JOB: ASSESSING THE STATE'S ROLE
MINNESOTA'S 53 WORKFORCE CENTERS ARE AT THE CENTER OF A DEBATE ON HOW, AND EVEN WHETHER, THE STATE SHOULD TRAIN WORKERS TO KEEP THE STATE ECONOMICALLY COMPETITIVE.
BYLINE: DAVID HANNERS STAFF WRITER
SECTION: BUSINESS; Pg. C1

⁷Saint Paul Pioneer Press (Minnesota)
May 2, 2001 Wednesday CITY EDITION
SENATE OKS GAY DOMESTIC PARTNER BENEFITS
CHAMBER HAD NIXED MEASURE ON MONDAY
BYLINE: Jim Ragsdale, Staff Writer
SECTION: LOCAL; Pg. 4B

⁸Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN)
September 22, 2002, Sunday, Metro Edition
Freedom Club/Taxpayers League of Minnesota;
Deep pockets, deep convictions;
A small group of entrepreneurs and donors is making its presence felt within the GOP and beyond, promoting smaller government and lower taxes.
Dane Smith; Staff Writer
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 12A

⁹Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN)
November 1, 2003, Saturday, Metro Edition
'Ten Commandments Rally' draws about 200;
Groups call for Christian values in public life
Dane Smith; Staff Writer
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 2B

¹⁰Star Tribune (Minneapolis, MN)
February 2, 2004, Monday, Metro Edition
LEGISLATIVE AGENDA 2004;
TEN KEY AND COLORFUL LEGISLATORS
Conrad deFiebre; Mark Brunswick; Staff Writers
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 8A