Archive for September 2nd, 2008
September 2nd, 2008
Last evening, I quoted ABC News as reporting that Sarah Palin and her husband were members of the quasi-secessionist Alaskan Independence Party in the mid-1990s.
Today, the McCain camp produced records indicating that Palin never officially registered with the state as a member of the AIP, but other records SHOW that her husband, Todd, belonged to the group for most of seven years. And there’s a REPORT that Sarah attended the party’s 1994 convention in her hometown of Wasilla, where she later served as mayor.
There also surfaced today a report on something AIP founder Joe Vogler once SAID:
“The fires of hell are frozen glaciers compared to my hatred for the American government…And I won’t be buried under their damn flag.”
That was in 1991, and it would be unfair to hold either of the Palins even remotely accountable for such a statement. Nor is that my intention here.
I just want to pose this question: If it were Barack Obama or his spouse who had been associated with a group whose founder employed such rhetoric, what do you think would be the reaction among right-wing Republicans? What would the Limbaughs and Hannitys and the others have to say? What would even the mainstream media have to say?
I’m guessing it likely would be something akin to their apoplexy over the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
If Palin doesn’t get roughed up over what Joe Vogler once said before her husband belonged to the group – and she shouldn’t be roughed up over it — don’t forget the treatment Obama likely would get in the same circumstances. The pseudo-patriots of the Republican right would go berserk, and the inflammatory words of Joe Vogler would be repeated over and over.
Who can doubt that? That’s what the smear merchants of the radical right do. That’s what they’re about. Just ask Barack and Michelle Obama — y’know, the couple famous for the terrorist fist jab and for hating America.
September 2nd, 2008
September 2nd, 2008
Remember Campbell Brown’s total emasculation of McCain mouthpiece Tucker Bounds, which I SHOWED YOU this morning?
Well, golly, the thing got Mr. Straight Talk so UNNERVED that he’s cancelled a scheduled interview tonight on CNN. And he only would have had to face lob-pitcher Larry King.
Maybe he can get Sarah Palin to pinch-hit. She probably wouldn’t be so afraid.
UPDATE: I forgot. They’re keeping Palin UNDER WRAPS.
September 2nd, 2008
And please, please, please, no boring stuff about your problems at other forums.
September 2nd, 2008
The story, perhaps an apocryphal one, is told about a debate among true believers over an English translation of the King James Version of the Bible.
Said one of the participants: “If it was good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for me.”
This tale comes to mind in light of Sarah Palin’s answer to a certain question on an Eagle Forum Candidate Questionnaire a few years ago:
Q: Are you offended by the phrase “Under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance? Why or why not?
PALIN: Not on your life. If it was good enough for the Founding Fathers, its good enough for me…
Of course, there’s a two-fold problem with Palin’s answer: 1) The Pledge was first published more than a century after the Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution, and 2) The words “under God” weren’t added to the Pledge until 1954, just 10 years before Palin was born.
There are several interesting ironies about the Pledge, not the least of which is that it was written by a Socialist, Francis Bellamy. It was first published in 1892 in the children’s magazine The Youth’s Companion (pictured above).
Bellamy’s original text read: “I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
The text was amended a few times over the years by one group or another and was officially recognized by Congress in 1942.
Various legal challenges to mandatory recitation of the Pledge in public-school classrooms date back to the 1940s, some of them having nothing to do with the words “under God.”
September 2nd, 2008
One of these new polls is the Rasmussen Daily Tracking Poll, which seems to be a favorite of several of our commenters here at Applesauce (but perhaps no longer). Here’s the STORY.
Interestingly, in a separate Rasmussen SURVEY, fewer than one of every five supporters of Barack Obama say they are voting primarily against John McCain rather than for the Democratic candidate. But more than a third of McCain’s backers say they’re voting against Obama.
September 2nd, 2008
She’s absolutely awesome here in taking apart Tucker Bounds, a spokesman for John McCain’s campaign:
September 2nd, 2008
If you’re a part of that political minority that dislikes Barack Obama, I have a gift for you that you’re sure to enjoy.
It’s a column from Asia Times Online by a guy who calls himself simply Spengler, a reference no doubt to the German historian and philosopher Oswald Spengler, who is best known for his two-volume work “Decline of the West,” which was first published nearly 90 years ago.
Our latter-day Spengler, whose real identity is unknown to the masses, predicts that Obama will lose in November because of his “flawed character.”
I find it all a bit over the top, but Spengler is serious. Check it out HERE. (And don’t say I’ve never been gracious with my intellectual lessers.)
UPDATE: Gosh, I hate to say this, I really do, but after reading Spengler’s piece four times, I’m beginning to wonder if it’s not very subtle — I mean very subtle — satire. Lemme know what you think.
