November 23, 2010

Your Sarah Palin crazy moment for the day

Actually, not really crazy, but actually sad. And ironic. When she tells her buddy Sean Hannity that she is interested in working outside her Fox bubble (my words), but won't waste her time with Katie Couric, she adds this typically Palinesque critique of the media:
"'I want to help clean up the state that is so sorry today of journalism,' she added. 'And I have a communications degree."
And she wants to be President. Of course, we have already had one idiot as President, so why not? And speaking of that guy, we might want to remember what he actually did as President--invading a country on false intelligence and then authorizing torture--regardless of the story he is telling now.

But it isn't just Bush and Palin. Just reading through the Huffingtonpost this morning, I see that Rand Paul compares Obama to Hitler, and Michelle Bachmann says that Obama is anti-American.

And this, as SOF pointed out to me, from the Simpsons, on the racism of the right.



People like to point to the crazies on the left, including some from the 60s who advocated violence. Those groups were not incorporated into the Democratic party. In fact, they hated the Democratic party. But on the Right, the Republicans have worked very hard to make the racists and crazies feel at home.

11 comments:

Noah said...

This Hitler shit is so old and overused.

Here's a conspiracy theory for you that I just dreamed-up: they cry wolf a million times now about a President being just like Hitler. The, "they" finally win the presidency and take-over, and actually do real Hitler-esque things like invade Mexico and put Muslims in internment camps. But when someone says "that's just like Hitler," nobody listens because that's been done to death.

See? They're just setting themselves up for some real good ol' fascism and oppression.

steves said...

I am ok with a complete ban on any comparison to Hitler or Stalin unless the person in question has committed genocide.

As for Palin, I wouldn't bother with Couric either. Couric has made it clear that she doesn't really care for Palin, so why bother?

Streak said...

I am fine with the ban, but think that we should be able to talk about actual comparisons with fascist states. There is more to Hitler and Stalin than genocide, after all.

Second, it shouldn't be about personalities, and really isn't even in this case. It isn't about Couric, but about anyone who asks Palin tough questions.

steves said...

I know, but most politicians are very careful about who interviews them. There are a few, such as Dennis Kucinich, who agree to be interviewed by someone that may not like them, but most look for someone who asks the easy questions.

I think there are valid comparisons to fascist states, but most people using the 'Hitler' argument are doing it for the shock value.

Streak said...

Steve, please don't tell me that you are trying to suggest that Palin is just another politician. Please. Others may cultivate certain reporters they trust, but Palin has studiously avoided anyone except loyal fox conservative assholes. She doesn't even put herself in the position where someone might ask her a hostile question--scratch that--or ask her a hard question.

Please. Couric did just that. I know that while not a fan, you have liked to defend Palin as not being as bad as some of us think, but come on. She is a lightweight anti-intellectual who is dangerous for our democracy. And revels in that. She is so uninformed that she is proud of being uninformed.

steves said...

Yes, I think she is mostly a politician, or at least is positioning herself for some kind of run in the future. I don't really mean this as a compliment. I think she advocates many bad policies, but I do think that some of her critics have an irrational hatred of her (e.g. Andrew Sullivan).

In this case, I didn't mean to defend her, but please point out some politicians/pundits that allow themselves to be interviewed by a person that really doesn;t like them. I can only come up with a few. IIRC, Al Sharpton goes on Hannity and Bill O'Reilly went on the View.

Noah said...

Bill O'Reilly went on Fresh Air. He got grumpy at Terry Gross and stormed off.

Streak said...

Bill O'Reilly isn't a politician, and since when did this question include pundits? And outside actually the Bush administration, who refused to be interviewed by most of the media? Hell, I hear even conservative republican idiots being interviewed on NPR, and have seen all sorts of liberals even dare to go on O'Reilly. And that isn't even the point, because that is about theater. I am talking about being willing to be asked hard questions that are actually about policy. Couric didn't even do that much, but she dared to ask questions that Palin didn't like, and most importantly, that she couldn't answer. She couldn't answer basic questions like those about the Supreme Court (though she did better than the GOPer who named Dred Scott as his recent case), and she couldn't even answer a softball question like that about which papers she reads.

Hell, she can't even answer those questions on Glenn Beck, but because he doesn't follow up (although he did on the favorite Founder question), she doesn't see him as hostile.

Yeah, Cheney knew to send certain people on Tim Russert if they wanted to get out their message, and Bush was most comfortable being interviewed by Fox, but even those guys would dare answer questions from others. That is the part that annoys me about Palin. She has locked off 90% of the media as "lamestream" and doesn't even consider answering questions from them.

She is a cultist and demagogue. Calling her a politician is even a stretch. It isn't her policies that I object to nearly as much as her basic "I am a good American, and Obama is not" message that so many right wing fucktards use. I am just tired of that crap. So freaking tired of, as a liberal, always being dismissed as not even being American.

steves said...

She couldn't answer basic questions like those about the Supreme Court (though she did better than the GOPer who named Dred Scott as his recent case), and she couldn't even answer a softball question like that about which papers she reads.

Her answers were dreadful, but even worse was part-time Con-Law, law school grad, Biden's answers. To this day, I don't understand why the media gave him a pass and didn't call out his ingorance. Instead, the entire focus was on Palin.

If Palin ever gets off of her book tour and speech tour and makes a run for another office, then she will have to answer questions and face tough interviews. I am not going to hold my breath.

Streak said...

Yes, I remember Biden's response too. He got the "pass" because he has a track record of gravitas (mixed with, of course, craziness) where as Palin has demonstrated absolutely none of that.

I think she is everything that is wrong with our system. She is famous and popular for her looks, and for a vague sense of her being tough. She plays the Christian card and then acts completely unChristian. She plays the patriotism card with the panache of a fascist. I am closer to Sullivan on her than I am to others.

steves said...

I think she has shown very little in terms of substance. I suspect that there maybe more to her than she is showing, but I doubt she will continue to do more than spout some populist BS.