Jeralyn and Solon Are Kindred Spirits But Don't Know It

See her post-Palin speech thread. A hilarious video followed by very brief, very biting prose. First sentence: "Here's to Gov. Palin and her PTA experience."

A bit later:

For her cheap shot at Miranda rights, my gloves are coming off.

Sigh

Culture Wars are alive and well....

I will be brief and pay as much attention to her speech as she supplied substantive comments. Oh, I have exceeded my limit.

She is incredibly condescending. All she has is one ad personam after another. And, if you are going to attack you opponent for elitism, it is counterproductive to attack your opponent's activities as a community organizer in the South Side of Chicago. When you do this, you appear like... an elitist.

"Character is the measure of the election..." What about the issues?

If you are going to spend ten minutes introducing your family, you cross the line on the public/ private distinction, especially when they exemplify your "virtue."

Your "proud" to be an American? Do you want to discuss families, maybe over drinks?

If you are going to deliver a speech of self-introduction, you should introduce yourself. Tell us what your real beliefs, or any beliefs are. Tell us your views on creationism, sex education, abortion, etc., even if your views are beyond extreme. Make sure those beliefs match your deeds. When you say you didn't support the Bridge to Nowhere and we saw photos that show you did, we don't believe you.

Only sixty days of identity politics left.

A Quick Recap of the Republican Convention:

This is a sad convention. It is a mix of we hate democrats and USA! USA! I think Homer Simpson wrote each speech and the themes of the convention.

Here are the most important topics in case you decided to do something better with your time.

USA! USA! USA!

Islamic Terrorism is Bad.

G-D. G-D. G-D. G-D. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.

Barack Obama is Bad.

Sarah Palin is a saint. (Look at this shiny trinket.) She is the future!

John McCain was a POW.

Drill here, drill now.

John McCain is going to personally defeat all terrorism on the face of the Earth. He will crush it against the Gates of Hell.

Taxes are bad. Prosperity is good.

Country first, (just ask all are CEOs who are speaking tonight).

Because of John McCain's virtuous character, the American people will become better just because John McCain will be president.

Unmentioned tonight:
George W. Bush. Abortion. Same-sex marriage. Any substantive issue.

Well, the speech of the century is about to begin.

For Fun, Watch Mike Murphy & Peggy Noonan Attack Palin on a Microphone They Thought Was Off

GOP Mouthpiece malfunction, indeed.

In the Midst of the TalkLeft Pyrotechnics, A Heroic Comment Emerges

The heroic comment in question appeared in response to "miriam," who huffs in Response to the recent thread about the interview in which Cindy McCain disagrees with her husband and with Sarah Palin on Rape and Incest Victims having access to abortion (although, Cindy of course would lock it down in any other context). But where were we? Oh yeah. In response to that thread, "miriam" huffed:

Then the "Choice" Issue will have to be fought all over again. But this time all the younger women who have genuflected before Obama can fight the battle. God knows they deserve some consequences for dismissing and dissing Hillary Clinton and the concerns of those of us who fought the last battle.

(But now the Tide is Turning on TalkLeft. Jeralyn has been swinging for the fences against McCain all along, and this has only intensified of late. Awesomely, she has been no less pointed in her attacks on Palin. At one point yesterday she reminded a particularly angry commenter that hers is "not a feminist blog," but a blog concerned primarily with criminal justice issues. This was important for some to remember. The world is not a perpetual graduate theory course where everyone is obsessed with race and gender, however so much some would like it to be.

Meanwhile, comment wars continue to rage. Fascinating to check in on, Harrogate definitely recommends it [but don't act like you know him, if you run into him running his mouth, there]).

So that was the brilliant ruminations of "miriam." Good God, it was wondrous to see the following vociferous, eloquent refutation of "miriam," appear courtesy of "IndiDemGirl"

So women who didn't support your candidate deserve to lose power over their own bodies? What about Gitmo -- do people there deserve to be tortured because your candidate didn't win? Do the soldiers in Iraq deserve to stay there longer because your candidate didn't win? Does the entire world deserve the consequence of a McCain/Palin presidency because Hillary didn't win the nomination?

The more of this kind of Talk that makes it out there, the better.

Quote of the Day

Robert Gibbs, the communications pro for the Obama Campaign:

"If executive experience is really important on the Republican side, maybe she should run for president and John McCain should run for vice president.”

Palin/ McCain 08

In Honor of the GOP Convention and the People At the Top of the Ticket, Part Deux

Three Themes that Sum Things Up Pretty Well.

Dollars:



War Dogs:


And, it Being Governor Palin's Historic Night, Fatal Amusement:

In Honor of the GOP Convention, and the People At the Top of Their Ticket......

Harrogate humbly offers this joke, a popular one of late:

What's the difference between apathy and ignorance? "I don't know and I don't care."

Assy McGee Award®: Many TalkLeft Commenters

In BTD's Open Thread tantrum, mentioned earlier by Solon, and in which BTD scolds Jeralyn and everyone else who has had the temerity to critique Governor Palin. In that thread, a commenter who goes by the moniker "rise hillary rise" offered the following piece of Rhetorical and Philosophical brilliance:

my thoughts exactly. what I want to know: "Is there ANY woman good enough for you people?"

Hmmmmm.

Let this stand in as a representative of what is going on over there, for those not interested in surveying the cartoon rhetoric that has stormed its gates.

Another brick falls out...

Will McCain challenge the patriotism of his VP because of the VP's views on Alaskan secession?

I understand that this is not as serious as whether Obama wears a flag-pin, but someone should ask McCain.

Police State 101: Amy Goodman at the RNC

From Talk Left: Police Arrested Amy Goodman, host of Democracy Now, at the RNC. She was charged with "conspiracy to riot."

There is video of the footage.


This is what democracy looks like.

A few musings on Sarah Palin's baby mama drama...

• The baby mama/grandmama "scandal" rumors are just gross. If someone demanded that I produce evidence that I gave birth to my son, I would certainly tell that someone to go fuck him/herself.
• Bristol Palin's pregnancy does not make Sarah Palin a bad mother (as some comments on the Daily Kos--and probably elsewhere--suggest). Yes, abstinence-only sex education is bullshit, but plenty of women who know all about birth control still experience unplanned pregnancies.
• This revelation, I think, can easily be twisted to further Palin's pro-life agenda: "See--my daughter is keeping her baby and marrying the father. And our family loves and supports them no matter what. This is what everyone should do."
• All of this People.com worthy business is detracting from the real issues at hand (once again).
• The "liberal" blogs that pushed the rumor that Sarah Palin's infant son is actually her grandson have provided Fox News (and their friends) with more "evidence" that feminists are full of shit (we don't actually care about women--only a liberal point of view) and that Democrats are a bunch of hypocrites (how can we complain about the sexist treatment of Hillary Clinton, then attack Sarah Palin's motherhood?). And I have to say that the points made by Laura Ingraham and Bill O'Reilly tonight regarding these rumors were not completely off-base--and it's very painful for me to admit this!
• I can recognize that Palin's role as VP candidate for the Republican party is a noteworthy moment in women's history. However, the circumstances under which she was selected undermine any feminist goals because I fully believe that she is being used as a manipulative tool and that she was selected only because of her gender and social conservatism--not because she is the best person for the job.
  
• I feel bad for her daughter. I wonder if she even wants to marry that boy--and if she has a choice in the matter?

A Survey Question

Name a song that you

A)Think is a Really Bad Song, but;

B)Love anyway

Harrogate kicks things off with one of his very favorite songs that suck:



Next time you're teaching figurative language in a lit class, why not break out:

With you I'm not shy to show the way I feel
With you I might try my secrets to reveal
For you are a magnet and I am steel

There Was Always Plenty to Attack About Her Politics, Without 'Going There'; or, an Open Letter to Andrew Sullivan

Let it go, Andrew Sullivan.

Your outrage at McCain's selection of a hard right, red meat, social conservative is understandable. Many of us share that outrage. But you've got to get control of yourself on this thing before you lose any ability to persuade audiences beyond yourself and that multitude of other Reaganites who support gay rights.

Drop it. Even Kos is dropping it. Demean her politics. Not her motherhood.

What Role Will Hill Play From Here on Out?; or, In Politics, Politics is More Important Than the Personal

New York Times, on Hillary Clinton in Light of the Palin selection.

A snippet we've been waiting for, though it's too watered-down, and we wish it was coming from the Senator herself:

Mrs. Clinton’s friends said she was galled that Ms. Palin might try to capitalize on a movement that Mrs. Clinton, of New York, built among women in the primaries [. . .] Guy Cecil, the former political director of Mrs. Clinton’s campaign, said it was “insulting” for Republicans to compare Ms. Palin to Mrs. Clinton.

Meanwhile, from the "no shit" category, although again, we'd rather here it from Obama himself in front of cameras:

Mr. Obama’s advisers sharply disputed the argument that Clinton supporters might be drawn to Ms. Palin on the basis of sex, given that Ms. Palin opposes abortion rights and other commonly held positions for Democrats.

And then from the "depressing as it gets, if this is true" category:

But Clinton advisers presented a more nuanced view, saying that some of her supporters — they could not specify how many — could be open to the McCain-Palin ticket depending on how Ms. Palin performed and whether she appeared to be a forceful, sincere advocate for the concerns of working women, their families and for policies that would help them.

Here's the Real "Money Line" from the article:

“It is insulting to compare Hillary’s lifetime of service and her commitment to progressive causes with that of a novice, right-wing governor,” Mr. Cecil said.

Perhaps the Palin selection will give some people pause before they assert so assuredly from now on, that "the personal is political." The conviction behind this statement is often attributed to the more theory-leaning academics, but it has arguably infected the popular culture as well.

Certainly, the Republicans are banking on the likelihood that it has.

Happy Labor Day Musical Tribute

The Abortion Issue's Not-So-Secret, Secret Stranglehold on American Politics

Most people know it. Abortion has its foot on the throat of American politics in a way that no other issue does. The Culture Wars in general are bad. As Solon remarked to Harrogate on the phone the other day, Obama seems earnestly hopeful to tone down the culture wars, to get rid of the hate and the zealotry and to do the hard work of finding compromise on these boilerplate questions. But sadly, "Maverick" John McCain's pick of Sarah Palin pretty much demolished any possibility that the Culture Wars can be toned down any time soon.

Yea and verily, the Palin pick reinforces the fact that once again, Republicans will be given a reprieve, among many human beings in America, for any kind of accountability at all with respect to questions of war and peace, questions of economic justice, and questions of governmental transparency.

Now, as the New York Times has reported, and as TChris posted today on TalLeft, the Republican Party retained in its official platform bans on Abortion with NO EXCEPTION, including cases of Rape, Incest, or Even if the Life of the Mother hangs in the Balance.

This, despite the fact that McCain in 2000 and again as recently as May, argued that exceptions should be made in those cases.

(BTW, you have to give it to TalkLeft, especially Jeralyn Merritt and TChris. Both of them supported Hill full-throttle during the primary, and now, despite the persistent deluge of craziness in the site's comment box, Jeralyn has been calling McCain and Palin out on ideological grounds, wire to wire. She is, in other words, unlike the cartoonish "Hillary supporters" among her commenters, actually credible as a Hillary Clinton supporter. What has happened to that site, via the comments, is a sad, sad thing; under another moniker Harrogate used to post there copiously, and enjoyed the banter. Now it is on the verge of collapse. It is one of many things that makes Harrogate, who voted for her in the primary, wish that
Hillary Clinton would go on a little offense against the people who are overtly and cartoonishly exploiting her, and mocking her supporters. Sigh.)

But anyway. Seriously, where is this Abortion Train taking our politics? One very possible scenario is this:

1)McCain and Palin win. It is a vindication for those who see abortion as murder. (As per the status quo. Any Wars McCain starts along the way, any damage he does to the economy, he will not be held accountable for);
2)McCain puts two to three justices on the High Court. He has already stated that Scalia and Thomas are his models;
3)Roe v Wade finally goes down.

But what then? Guerilla warfare state-to-state. Hand to hand combat, literally.
Harrogate has come to believe that one way or the other, the Abortion Divide is going to lead to widespread outbreaks of violence and will further strangle our politics along the way.

Compromise would have been nice. Reasonable efforts to lessen unwanted pregnancy. Efforts to put in place social programs for the poor. Comprehensive sex education.

You took a laudable shot at it, Obama, but you failed on this one, even if you win the election. And solon is damned right. John McCain has shown himself bereft of even a scintilla of political or personal honor.

Palin the Feminist

Always look on the cancerous side of life, eh?

Palin and Institutionalizing Creationism; or, A Paraphrased Transcript From "Meet the Press"

Brokaw: Palin argues that Creationism and Evolution should be taught side by side in the public schools. Do you agree with that?

Pawlenty: Why not expose children to both views, or even more views than that?

Brokaw: Do you think that in the scientific community, that Creationism and Evolution are given the same weight? Is it wise to given them equal tracking at a time when American public education is already falling more and more behind.

Pawlenty: Well, it's a local decision. Personally I believe in Creationism. It does seem that the scientific community doesn't think much of Creationism. But why not teach both theories side by side, if that's what they want to do at a local level?