The only thing more pathetic than Sarah Palin's laughable attempt to upstage the 4th of July by resigning as Alaska governor on the Friday afternoon before the nation's birthday are the bleating and blather from pundits and political operatives who actually think her move is part of some grand political strategy.
Strategy is not part of Palin's vocabulary. Hell, this bimbo couldn't plan a Saturday afternoon lunch for her family, much less a run for the Presidency.
The sad fact that this dimwit became a national political figure says more about the ineptitude of the John McCain campaign that thrust her into the limelight and the outright stupidity of the Republican Party for ever even considering her fit for office.
An even sadder fact can be found in the realization that Sarah Palin is not an anomaly of the American political system. Politics brings out the misfits, the con-artists, the egomaniacs and the unfit.
This, after all, is the system where an obese, Oxycontin-popping blowhard like Rush Limbaugh can become the de facto spokesman for the Republican Party.
The same system put George W. Bush into a job beyond both his emotional and mental capabilities.
It allowed a megalomaniacal despot like Vice President Dick Cheney to exert considerable power in office and it put a ditzy housewife from Wasilla Alaska into a position to become a step away from the Presidency.
Her rambling, incoherent announcement on Friday did not come from a woman ready for national office. A woman without substance or the intellect to handle the situation appeared before the cameras. It reminded some of Richard M. Nixon's "you won't have Dick Nixon to kick around anymore" speech. Nixon came back from that to become President but Nixon was a shrewd politician. Palin isn't.
Palin's meltdown before the cameras reminded us of Sen. Edmund Muskie's self-destruction in New Hampshire in 1972 or Colorado Congresswoman Pat Schroeder's tear-filled withdrawal from her Presidential race in 1987. Although both continued to serve in Congress, neither regained any real national stature and both had far more going for them than Sarah Palin.
Financially, Palin will not suffer. Her book deal will bring millions into the family bank account and fools around the country will pay her outrageous fees to speak on issues she can't comprehend. Her resignation will bring her mounting ethics problems to end, along with the increasing debts of fighting those investigations.
America, it appears, loves losers and Palin will be the latest to cash in on her failures. For a while, at least, the media will continue to cover her like she is someone who really matters and the Republican Party will shamelessly use her to raise money.
But I doubt she will ever hold another elected office. Polls show Alaskans are fed up with their dilettante governor and she is no Hillary Clinton who can pick a state at random, buy an expensive home and become a Senator.
With luck, Sarah Palin will fade into well-deserved obscurity and we can await the arrival of the next substance-deprived national political phenomenon.
Technorati Tags: Doug Thompson
Palin is a quitter. Alaskans voted her into office apparently because they wanted her for their governor. Now she's quitting her obligation to serve as governor because she "decided against being a lame duck governor." Tough shit, Palin, you were elected, so do your job.
Now that the FBI has announced it is not investigating Palin, I suspect more than I did prior to the FBI announcement there is a huge scandal looming.
Doug,
Since I'm not a pundit or political operative I know you aren't referring to my column as bleating and blathering. However, on the off chance it influenced you when you wrote this I want to make clear that when I wrote this I didn't mean to suggest she has a realistic strategy.
She's running. You betcha. I heard her come close to saying it outright today. I wasn't drunk and I assure you I'm not delusional. Gov. Sarah Palin all but announced her bid for the Republican nomination for 2012.
Far from it. If she aspires to be president this is based on her own narcissism.
I agree with what you wrote. I would add to your impression of her announcement that it came from someone who will NEVER be qualified for national office. No amount of study and experience can change the hard wiring in her brain.
We should be so lucky that she will fade into obscurity.
Re: Nicholas H's comment
I believe the FBI stated the truth as far as it went. The FBI didn't deny handing the case over to state officials. They didn't say they hadn't compiled evidence, nor did they deny cooperating with state law enforcement officials.
If my understanding is correct, if both state and federal law is violated there is discretion allowed as to which level it is investigated and prosecuted at.
Hal:
Never thoght for a minute that you were taken in by Palin. I think I know you better than that.
Doug
Doug,
On the other hand if you bestowed the title pundit or political operative on me I'd have to ask you for a raise....
What I find kind of amusing is that with all the serious news the only thing that competed with TV coverage of Sarah Palin and Michael Jackson today was President Obama and President Dmitri A. Medvedev.
They provide amusement for us columnists and hopefully our readers, but we aren't taking either of them seriously.
Hal
The American voters have filled our government with loons...repeatedly. They'll line up to do it again. Why? We all know why.
If publishers are willing to pay her millions....the lecture circuit is willing to pay her tens of thousands for a one hour babble session, then surely our voters, who 1 in 3 can't name the 3 branches of government...will see her as a media battered woman who is the Patriot's Patriot...well, the fame and notoriety will feed her ego to the point that one day she'll no longer be able to contain herself and seek a public office somewhere between the House and President.
She's a loon alright...but somebody is buying loonyism by the bucket full...and add to the bucket about 50 million other loons who was elated to have her run with McCain...and voted for them.
The three branches of government are:
1. The whorehouse, divided into two floors, one floor full of cheap whores and the other full of fewer but more expensive whores, which passes legislation written by MIC-lobbyists forward to the pimp's house.
2. The pimp who signs MIC-written legislation forwarded from the whorehouse into law, and enforces that law if or when he feels like it.
3. The 9-member Greek chorus which interprets laws in favor of the MIC.
Kent Shaw
Kent
Man I love your post. Your description of congress had me LOL ing all over the place!
SP is like the ancient Greek Oracle: she blathers incoherently and the pundits and true believers project their own hopes and fears onto her words.
She’s bright enough and attractive enough, but she has no real depth and no real interest in learning; she has certitude and faith in a vague libertarian/conservative fantasy.
She’s glib and smart enough to learn a few debating tricks; add a few feel-good, quasi-patriotic buzz words and you have something that sounds like a speech: false populism and pandering to the religious right.
By all accounts she is narcissistic and vindictive. That’s just what this country needs: an American Caligula.
Sarah Palin isn't fit to run for office, as you made clear. But, the fact that 'W' was elected to the Presidency with the same skills as Sarah proves that it can be done. She is the darling of the far right and can't be ignored, no matter how much we desperately want to.
First of all, she is raking in the bucks with SarahPAC. Other than a campaign, what can that money be used for?
Secondly, which is worse - someone who resigns from their elected position to run for another office or someone who takes a leave of absence while on the campaign trail while still collecting a paycheck for a job they aren't doing? The latter is the norm.
I do not support her in any way, but I can see this as the beginning of her egomaniacal climb to national office. I almost suspect that someone is advising her (shades of Rove or Cheney, perhaps?)
With Romney as her main GOP competitor, and his ability to draw millions from devout Mormons worldwide, she would need to start now raising funds.
And, if Pres. Obama's attempts to salvage the economy haven't born fruit by 2012, there's a very good chance that the people will elect whoever opposes him. And, if she gets the nomination, guess who that would be?
So, I don't think we can rule her out. She may not be the brightest bulb in the box, but she does have a certain shrewdness (deviousness?) about her that can't completely be ignored.
But, quite honestly, I am hoping for a scandal of major proportions to knock her out of the running. Until that happens, though, the prospects are frightening.
--------------------------------------------------
"There is a sufficiency in the world for man's need but not for man's greed." ~ Mohandas K. Gandhi
Why not Palin in 2012?
If the American public can reelect George W. Bush in 2004, the American people can elect Palin in 2012. H.L. Menken had it right: "Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard."
Dumbya didn't quit Texas. He was sold as the New Reagan. Palin will have no such support. The scandal that has yet to be revealed (so sue me, bitch) will not affect her loyal dupes, but party regulars will disassociate themselves from her.
Her book will be buoyed by bulk purchases by right-wing organizations then plunge from the charts. Her career will continue like that of loyal Bushies as a counterfactual pundit.
Untreated Bipolar Disorder appears to be the most likely explanation for her . . . strange . . . behavior. It is highly treatable and usually takes less than three weeks to balance the medications and stabilize a patient's condition.
Kent Shaw..... thanks for the laugh..... and I'm only laughing 'cause I'm tired of crying.....
The D-Crappers are just as willing to be led around by the nose as the Republikaners is (*Bushism*) so you can bet your cheap pearl handed revolvers Super-Bimbo is going to be the next 'Bush' candidate of the Elephants.
And of course, during the 2012 election, the D-Crappers will be blaming all of its bad luck on Nader. I just was ROTFLMAO at the end of election night when Sir Obama of Camelot won and all the Democratic Sugar Rush blather about 'a new era' and everything would be OK.
The mentality of a significant portion of the Amerikaner Reich News agencies comparing Palindrome to Hilary Clinton is PATHETIC, but a whole lot of volken just lap it up quicker then a cat on steroids can lap up a saucer of milk in a pan.
I tried to get into an intelligent discussion with some volken who just adored Palindrome and all they could say in her defense is 'She's a Fox' & 'I'd do her in a New York Minute'.
The Amerikaner public can't totally be blamed, because the media truly is the state news agency; however, it was a D-Crapper, Bill Clinton, that signed the Telecommunications Act of 1996 that brought on corparate media mergers...thank you for that Mr. Bill.
The past & continuing legacy of Nancy Fancy Pants Pelosi and Hairy Reed continues. What with Nan-C and her worn out motto of 'No more Blank Checks for Bush' along with Hairy's voting & stumping for retro-active immunity for telecoms...esepecially loved it when Brave Sir Hairy stated in his best Churchillian tone in the never ending fight with the Republicans: "We will never give in, Never!"
Government always releases what they want us to forget late on Fridays, and particularly Fridays before a holiday. Have to wonder what she is trying to hide.
The affirmative action president is no better or more intellectual than Palin. He has better speech writers, a teleprompter and a press who loves him.
Palin is hardly a brainiac, but give the same press fawning that the affirmative action candidate received, she could despite not being ready for primetime, look just as good.
He is a media package, she was not afforded the same opportunity.
She was treated worse than Hillary. Clearly, our media hates women.
So a Harvard Law School graduate and former professor of Constitutional Law at the Chicago University Law School is no more intellectual or qualified than a beauty pageant runner-up who spent 5 years getting a bachelor of communications-journalism?
I understand cynics, especially of our political system, but ignorance feigning as cynicism is no substitute for reason. And being a bitter "can't-get-over-it" Clinton supporter is a personal problem, not an industry wide mania.
Palin never claimed to have campaigned in 56 states. Neither did Hillary.
Obama did, but it's all good.
Biden said we misread how bad the economy was, but hey, it's ok.
Your boy is only as good as his teleprompter. Off the teleprompter plantation, he sounds as bad as Palin.
You may not like my opinion, which is fine, but I call it like I see it and I find it personally offensive, you refer to the truth as bitterness.
Chris Matthews "thrills running up my leg". Tom Brokaw blubbering on Innauguration Day we finally got us a black president. David Shuster who proclaimed "Hillary pimped her daughter"
for the campaign. McCain's daughter campaigned. No one said a word about that. All's fair in the completely unbiased media. Right?
Palin did balance a state budget. Obama never so much as managed a Dairy Queen, and it shows. He was a "community organizer" Thank God for caucuses .
Even Biden was quoted as " I see Barack brought in his Chicago crowd" referring to groupies at the Iowa caucus.
Just the facts. Dang, they are bound to sting just a bit, unless you are a total kool aid drinker.
Memorized Talking Points spewed by right-wing morons, dolly, that's all you got?
Why do you repeat such idiocy? Can you not form your own thoughts on the subject?
If you're really that confident in her abilities, support her! Buy her book! Donate to her presidential campaign! I'm certain you won't feel cheated when her aspirations amount to nothing.
My guess is she will be on the Fox News channel.
They are stupid enough to pay her for her ramblings.
Or on a show with Rush, yes, I can see that too!
I will say, she is a reminder of how STUPID the Republicans really are.
Maryellen
They are facts my friend. I was never a supporter of Palin. Never will be.
I am simply pointing out the press hates her and it shows.
I am pointing out Obama is loved by the press and IT shows.
I must have hit some raw nerves since your only come back is "talking points" Facts are stubborn things.
BTW, I am no more your "dolly" than you are my personal rectum. Stop acting like a jerk because someone posted less than flattering facts about your "god"
Opinions based on disinformation aren't facts, dolly. You didn't so much hit a raw nerve so much as trigger a bullshit detector. Talking points are the signature of neocon buffoonery and your observations reinforce that assessment.
"Facts are stubborn things" that you apparently have no experience with. As for being a jerk . . .
Please by all means tell me the bullshit. Tell me which of the above statements are false.
I personally witnessed Matthews comments, Shusters comments. I personally witnessed "The One" reading the wrong speech in a joint appearance with the British PM. Do tell.
Now who is the bullshitter?
"Please by all means tell me the bullshit. Tell me which of the above statements are false."
Nope, I don't rationalize argumentative fallacies. They're your assertions, support them.
"Clearly, our media hates women."
Since it is so abundantly clear, you'll have no difficulty providing numerous examples of hatred of women, in addition to Hillary and Sarah, by main stream media. Don't forget to include left-wing MSM sources of misogyny for a fair and balanced assessment.
"Stop acting like a jerk because someone posted less than flattering facts about your 'god,'"
Who is my "god?" Your implication is clear, but the basis for your assertion isn't. Being an atheist, no-one, nothing is a deity, my superior or worthy of anything more than earned respect. Worship is intellectual surrender. So feel free to support your assertion from ANY posting of mine you can find. Provide evidence of my alleged Obama worship.
False premise, false conclusion - in other words, Bullshit.
"An even sadder fact can be found in the realization that Sarah Palin is not an anomaly of the American political system. Politics brings out the misfits, the con-artists, the egomaniacs and the unfit."
This is how I feel about President WOW (Walk On Water) and the previous office holder - whose name skips me...or the previous...or the previous.
We have lousy actors who become presidents and comedians who are not funny become senators. Why not Palin? Heck...Nancy Pelosi made it. Barney Frank represents my district so buffoons are acceptable.
Think it is bad on a national scale? Head to your local legislature and see the breeding ground in action.
I stopped voting in the last election since my choices were based on who I thought would do the least amount of damage.
I have cast my last vote as well.
Our choices are dumb and dumber. The only contest is who is the dumbest?
Storky: Nope, I don't rationalize argumentative fallacies. They're your assertions, support them.
Sherry writes:
What are the fallacies, specifically?
O. That's right. You can't name them.
When BO makes a gaffe, it's just a gaffe. When Palin makes a gaffe, omg she is so stupid.
Again, I am not a supporter. Don't think she is ready for primetime. I felt the same way about Obama. Harvard and community organizing hardly gave him the needed political experience. It's beginning to show.
Check out the links below. I am unsure if they will show, but you can google if you are so inclined.
Shuster accused Hillary of pimping out her daughter to the campaign trail. Note nothing was said about the McCain kids. You don't see any bias there?
Just recently someone photoshopped Palin's Down Syndrome kid. Can you imagine anyone photoshopping Obama's kid?
An Op Ed comic dicpicted a monkey on the back of congress with Obama in the foreground. Racist! They
proclaimed. There used to be a website called
"SmirkingChimp.com" devoted to Bush. We can call Bush a chimp, but don't even go near that with The ONE.
These are just facts. Palin deserved criticism to a degree as all politicians do. They just tend to go a bit over the top on the ladies.
Call it bullshit. Quote Jeff if it makes you happy, it's just a fact.
And while I know it just burns you, Palin did balance a budget and your boy didn't. :)
Chaos in the White House - Obama’s teleprompter blows up
| cJJ Dinner: Optics And Energy With Obama
« Iowa Independent s
Video - David Shuster: Chelsea Clinton "pimped out" by parents - Entertainment monitor.com
Fallacy number 1: Burden of Proof
"Tell me which of the above statements are false."
Your assertions require you provide supporting evidence, not demand negative evidence. There is no truth established by means of failure to produce falsity.
Fallacy number 2: Red Herring
I requested you provide evidence supporting your assertion that, "Clearly, our media hates women." You skirted that by misdirecting back to earlier repeated claims. You provide nothing new. You demonstrate no pattern. You eventually backtrack into fail mode, "They just tend to go a bit over the top on the ladies." Naw, not over the top on ladies, over the top on frauds. Palin is a fraud.
Remember, Palin was the subject of the article these comments were meant address. You pulled the false equivalency red herring.
"And while I know it just burns you, Palin did balance a budget and your boy didn't."
Three points:
1. Display documentation of Alaska's balanced budget. Did she repair the $1.65 Billion budget shortfall forecast in February 2009? What about the FY2010 budget that was in equally dire straights?
2. With the 2nd Great Republican Depression in full swing, state, federal and municipal budgets bleeding red ink everywhere and all tax receipts dramatically down, who indicated there would be something other than deficit spending required to overhaul the collapsed economy?
3. How do you know what burns me? You base this on what conversation, or correspondence? I'll clarify for you so you won't have to ASSume anymore: Palin amuses me, your neocon bullshit talking points circulated via party email and in memos, repeated by Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck, John Boehner and Bill O'Reilly burns me!
Moreover, their rallies to incite the overthrow of the current government aren't amusing. The depiction of the President as an ape is distasteful, but the depiction of the President as a dead ape with a bullet through the forehead is sick and perhaps even treasonous.
With regard to your links (that don't work), I don't care. They are irrelevant to the topic at hand.
Storky
Regarding women in the media:
Note: No one accused McCain of pimping out his kids.
Note: Sarah Palin never said, "I can see Russia from my hooouse" People however think she did.
Palin not only balanced the budget in 2008, she refunded the citizens, stating the state should not be over revenuing. Bad choice. She should have kept the money for a rainy day fund.
No she didn't balance the budget for 2009, but then only a handful of states did.
I am all for the tea parties. Of course the ever tolerent Obama drunkards had to use the term tea bagger as a homosexual term.
Obama said, let's take back America. Hey, I'm all for it. Stay the hell out of the auto industry and the banking system. And stop raising my taxes to pay for your follies. You are all pissed off about people taking back the government, yet that is what the Obama folks voted for.
I stated facts to you regarding the treatment of Clinton and Palin. You are skulking off to your corner telling me it doesn't matter.
You are all good with smirkingchimp.com, but not so happy that an ape was depicted as being on the backs of congress and Obama, in the picture was not even the subject of the ape? O you poor baby. What will you do when the press eventually sickens of this lightweight and starts pouring it on?
The race card will only fly so far hon.
As for the neocon label, feel free to call me whatever you like. This neocon voted for Kerry, and Gore. I no longer vote. It's pointless.
Now stick that in your pipe and smoke it.
Well, I was going to point out the thrice recycled content of your post (and the failure to reinforce your argument with new, relevant content), but your incoherent ramblings are harder to decode than Palin's.
On teabaggers - before committing to a slogan, use the Google
On the bailout - well maintained businesses and economies don't need bailouts.
On your taxes - how do you propose government services be paid for?
On the race card - WTF are you talking about?
On the neocon label - the shoe fits, lady.
"I no longer vote. It's pointless.
Now stick that in your pipe and smoke it"
It took forever to get to the punchline! Poor material AND poor delivery!