Like many bloggers, I find Palin irresistible to watch like a primate without an opposable thumb: a reverse evolutionary wonder that is able to function despite the obvious advantages of other competing mammals. The Tea Party convention (covered adoringly by Fox) was no disappointment with Palin proclaiming that she is prepared to run against Obama and his “hopey, changey” policies. When asked about her priorities for the nation, she quickly rattled off three priorities, including oil/gas exploration and an Administration that openly seeks “divine intervention” so that we can prosper again.
The godly answer comes around 3:45 on the video. What is so striking is how Palin attributes the current crisis to the failure to publicly call for divine intervention.
Palin also introduced the country to the poor person’s teleprompter with clearly visible notes written on the inside of her hand, here.
The crowd clearly relished every line, including such greetings as “I am so proud to be an American. Thank you so much for being here tonight. Do you love your freedom?” The correct answer to yes.
Continuing her effort to fully morph into Tina Faye’s stereotype from Saturday Night Live, Palin asked “This was all part of that hope and change and transparency. Now, a year later, I gotta ask the supporters of all that, ‘How’s that hopey, changey stuff working out for ya?'”
Palin appears to be combining a potent mix of monotheistic faith and monosyllabic words to rally her base. In this faith-based fantasy world, simply calling for divine intervention is likely enough to push the Dow back above 10,000 and restart the housing market. She fails to explain how the crash occurred under Bush who made faith-based politics what it is today. But none of that matters to this crowd, which appears desperate to hear a leader say that it is merely a matter of drilling and praying to return to “the good days.”
Byron,
The underlying implication of those two questions was that the concept of government and personal responsibility are opposites and inherently incompatible. Imagine I asked you “Why do you believe that government can’t solve any problems? Aren’t laws inherent in living in a civilized society?”
As for the K\Wall street, let’s just put it this way: You hire an advertising firm, you get a commercial that shows your company designing concentration camps in Nazi Germany followed by a voice saying “You Know the Germans Make Good Stuff,” and decide to put it on T.V.
Now, were bad decisions made by you, the advertising firm, or both? Elements of both streets are part of the problem, but neither of the two is THE problem.
The actual quote I mangled earlier is “For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.”
Ecookie,
Maybe it will be Hanges her way and JR does BVD. One would not want to be too brief.
Buddah’s case in point
http://www.ignatius-piazza-front-sight.com/2010/02/08/what-would-you-do-to-this-dirtbag/#video
Byron,
I’m about to say something terrible about you, so apologies upfront.
You are both an optimist and an idealist.
There.
I’ve said it.
I know, I know. Harsh words.
But when I read your posts there are consistent blind spot in your analysis that the more I see, the more I see a pattern. And that pattern is optimism. You seem to operate under the premise that all things being equal people will usually try to do good. While an admirable aspiration, I don’t think your optimism is well placed if that is the case. This is in part where your reliance upon the ideal of rational self-interest comes from too. Gyges point is straight on in this respect. Binary distinction are great for programming (or engineering) but not so valuable when dealing with human nature. People are messy as a rule. You are optimistic that most people are good and that this innate goodness will lead them to have rational self interests that comport to the good of society. History shows this simply not to be the case. If anything, humanity’s capacity for capricious cruelty outweighs our capacity for compassion. Part and parcel of the proper function of law is to protect society from harms possible in our nature be they issued from the barrel of a gun or the point of a pen.
Humans can be wonderfully civilized, but are more often not.
Think of the cruelest most evil thing you can do to another human being.
Now know that somewhere out there is someone bent on doing something to somebody, today, that is a thousand times worse. And for no other rational reason than they can.
I hope that people are basically good. I am not operating under the illusion that they are. Experience tells me otherwise. If anything, people tend to be watery creatures that tend to take the paths of least resistance and good and/or bad kind of shakes itself out along the way. Rarely is a person the polar example of either behavior, but usually a little of both. Consider that there is more to the yin-yang symbol than black and white. The shape also conveys that they are interacting (the “tears”), within each other (the spots) and still one (the containing circle).
Your optimism is admirable, but it often keeps you from seeing how dangerous a tool the legal fiction of corporations (a shield against liability) really is in the wrong hands.
Byron–
“did I not say that if K St, Pennsylvania Ave. and Capitol Circle were cleaned up then Wall St. will not be a problem?”
**********
Do you think it would follow that the people working on Wall Street would be less greedy then?
Gyges:
did I not say that if K St, Pennsylvania Ave. and Capitol Circle were cleaned up then Wall St. will not be a problem?
Please explain how my statement is a false dichotomy.
“You offer it to me freely?
I do not deny that my heart has greatly desired this….in the place of a Dark Lord you would have a Queen! Not dark but beautiful and terrible as the Morn!
Treacherous as the Seas! Stronger than the foundations of the Earth! All shall love me and despair!”
AY – we can always dream. Maybe JR wasn’t shot, only tasered. What do you think?
Byron,
Hey look, a false dichotomy: “Why do you think government can do everything for everyone? Isnt individual responsibility inherent in living in a free society?”
Ones and zeros are great for programing, terrible for thinking.
Also, you do realize that a large chunk of K street works for Wall-street right?
Swarthmore mom and others:
here is an interesting article on the 2008 recession:
http://fee.org/doc/the-house-that-uncle-sam-built/
Empirecookie, I thought the science was settled.
empire cookie,
Sarah will be here in Texas once again to campaign for her champion Rick Perry. What is interesting in this mix is Bush has endorsed Kay Bailey. I wonder if the rocking R can get it back before the election. Heck, maybe Cheney will even take Sarah hunting. Many of an in-law has been shot accidentally. Things just happen.
Morning fellas – here’s some more of that teabagger convention:
http://washingtonindependent.com/75949/birther-speaker-takes-heat-at-tea-party-convention
Ah ha, the Empire strikes back. Yes, you were correct. Wasn’t she Pregnant with JR’s child? You see Oklahoma was going to all women this right.
http://jonathanturley.org/2009/04/05/protecting-life-or-license-to-kill-oklahoma-moves-to-give-pregnant-women-enhanced-rights-to-use-lethal-force/
Good Morning Ecookie, the Flirt of the day is……
It was Patrick Duffy with a Crab.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8k3oahdeYIE&hl=en_US&fs=1&]
Palin & The Crab 2012 – Puppets You Can Believe In!
Bob Dole was unsuccessful VP with Gerald Ford (1976) then nominated for President in 1996.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_Republican_Party_presidential_tickets
Democrats have two, F.D.Roosevelt (1920) (1932)
and Walter Mondale (1980) (1984)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_Democratic_Party_presidential_tickets
Whether this argues for optimism or only persistence on the part of Democrats, I don’t know.
No it wasn’t Sue (Ellen). It was her sister, Kristen.
Yup, it’s all in fun and games if you’re listening to Palin…. but then you realize a big chunk of the stupid that make up our ‘idiocracy’ is actually taking all this perfectly serious, and agrees!
It’s time we split America, put the ‘real’ America somewhere Texas, the ‘fake’ America somewhere in New York, and if they finally, the f*, stop bickering I’ll start believing in devine intervention.
“The earth was not created by a supreme being, these are results you can only expect from an office temp with a bad attitude..” – Carlin, in short.
To Anonymously Yours,
I think you read my question too fast.
I asked: “Have the Repubs ever nominated for president the UNsuccessful
VP candidate of the previous election?”
You ventured Nixon. But Nixon was nominated for president in 1960 after having been the VP for the previous eight years and in ’68 having been in “political retirement” in 1964.