Friday, September 12, 2008

If you put her to your ear you can hear the ocean roar


The title of this blog entry is stolen from a very short, very funny song by woefully neglected songwriter Biff Rose, (who coincidentally is getting some attention because a song of his was recently covered by Vetiver, on their new album of covers, Things of the Past. BTW, Rose has been covered by David Bowie - Fill Your Heart from Hunky Dory, and by John Denver - Molly's Song.)

Anyway, the song lyric is, "He's just a shell of a man, but if you put him to your ear you can hear the ocean roar."

It's how I feel about Sarah Palin,

Her interview with the less-than-agressive Charlie Gibson, who put on his serious face, but rarely directly challenged one of Palin's vapid, rehearsed, and contradictory answers. His idea of a "gotcha" was "the Bush doctrine." She was rightfully confused. WTF is the Bush doctrine? To act without thinking? To lie repeatedly with no remorse? To send us into an immoral, murderous, treasury-draining war? To alienate our allies? To rob us of our liberty? To keep administration crimes and corruption top secret? C'mon Charlie.

So what was Palin's response when she finally thought she figured out what Gibson was referring to? She thinks George Bush was agressively pursuing those who are "hellbent on our destruction." Does that mean he's sending the troops into to attack Wall Street bankers, hedge-fund operators and high-risk mortgage lenders?

"Hellbent?" The Bush administration, and conservative zealots like Sarah Palin have done more to bring us to the brink of hell than any terrorist has ever done. We are now a morally and financially bankrupt nation which has abandoned the poor and the middle class for the increasing profit of the rich. We have tortured, kidnapped, imprisoned and murdered in the name of liberty. We have created a deeply secret shadow government of spies, eavesdroppers, felons and mercenaries. We have abetted divisions between race, class, religion and economic status. And we've done it all with our hands on our hearts saluting a flag soiled by a patriotic tunnel vision that doesn't allow us to examine the destruction we leave in our path.

And where does Sarah Palin place the responsibility? In God's lap. And her empty-headed trust in a vengeful God is challenged, she passes the squawling baby of war to Abraham Lincoln.



I know that if I visited the Lincoln Memorial today, Abe Lincoln would have his head hung low.

Saras Palin is bad. As bad as George Bush. Sarah Palin is dangerous. As dangerous as Dick Cheney. She is willing to sacrifice any sense she might have had for honesty and decency to push forward an idealogy which is as frightening as it is divisive. She will push us into war with Russia. She will rail against big government while she fortifies the military industrial complex. Like an inquisitioner blinded by zealotry, she will invoke the name of Jesus as she stands ankle-deep in the blood of the infidel.

She is a vessel into which conservative idealogues have poured the venom of their philosophy. She is a blank slate upon which Karl Rove has written his disdain for the freedom and liberty of his countrymen. She is a puppet whose strings are being pulled by the rich and the powerful, who will crush you to make the wine that intoxicates them. She is the opposite of what she says she is, and when she corrects what she says, she is the opposite again.

I'm angry and insulted, and I hope you are too. As Johnny Rotten once sang, "Anger is an energy." I hope this anger drives me, and you, to work our asses off to be sure that this monster is not elected to sit within a heartbeat of the presidency.

1 comment:

Alaska Diva said...

The Anchorage Daily News asked readers to respond about Palin's candidacy. It's running 80% negative for her. She's still popular with hesitation, but, people don't think she's qualified to be. ...leader of the free world!

George Lakoff is dead on...Obama needs to reframe the issues. How hard could it be faced with McSame and Pontious Palin?

I thank the Connecticuter who emailed me your blog link! Great job. Consider me a regular reader from now on.

See below for the questions the Anch. Daily News editors want to ask the governor! Great stuff. Too bad the MSM didn't read them.

Brooke Heppinstall
Palmer, Alaska....right next door to Wasilla, only not a strip mall development and big box store rehab center.

http://www.adn.com/opinion/view/story/520272.html






Questions for Palin
This week, she'll finally emerge from her protective shell



(09/08/08 22:04:55)
There's no polite way to say it: Sarah Palin has been hiding out from hard questions. It took 10 days from when John McCain announced his pick until the McCain campaign agreed to schedule Palin an unscripted interview with a serious journalist.

ABC landed the big "get" with Palin. She'll talk to Charlie Gibson of "Good Morning America" later this week.

McCain's camp has handled their vice-presidential pick like some celebrity who will only deign to give an interview if conditions are favorable. McCain campaign manager Rick Davis told Fox News Sunday, Palin would take questions "when we think it's time and when she feels comfortable doing it."

Palin has accused Barack Obama of being a me-first celebrity candidate for president. At least he has been facing media questions for the past 18 months.

Here are some of the questions Palin should be answering, for Alaskans and the rest of the country:

• You present yourself as a Republican maverick who took on your own party's corrupt political establishment. In November's election, your party is running an indicted U.S. Senator, Ted Stevens, who is awaiting trial on charges he accepted more than $250,000 of unreported gifts from the state's most powerful lobbyist. Will you vote for his opponent? Will you urge Alaskans to help you change Washington and vote him out of office? If not, why not?

• Sen. Ted Stevens' trial is still pending; he has declined to say whether he would accept a pardon from President Bush before Bush leaves office in January. Do Alaska voters deserve an answer to that question before they cast their vote for or against Stevens in November? What is your position on a president pardoning a public official before a jury has ruled on guilt or innocence?

• Alaska Congressman Don Young appears to have won his Republican primary, even though you endorsed his opponent. Will you vote for your fellow Republican Don Young, who has spent over $1 million on legal fees without telling his constituents what sort of legal trouble he is in?

• Why have you reneged on your earlier pledge to cooperate with the Alaska Legislature's investigation into Troopergate?

• In spring of 2004, the Daily News reported that you cited family considerations in deciding not to try for the U.S. Senate: "How could I be the team mom if I was a U.S. senator?" What was different this time as you decided to run for vice president?

• As governor of Alaska, you have not pushed for laws or regulations that put your personal views on abortion, same-sex marriage and creationism into public policy. As vice president, will you push to outlaw abortion, restrict same-sex marriage and require the teaching of creationism?

• If you were a fully qualified vice-presidential candidate from the get-go, why did you wait more than 10 days to face reporters?

• McCain spokesman Rick Davis told Fox News the media didn't show you enough "deference." How much deference do you expect to get from Vladimir Putin or Hugo Chavez?

• You have said victory is in sight in Iraq. In July 2007, when you visited Kuwait, you said, "I'm not going to judge the surge." In the March 2007 issue of Alaska Business Monthly, you were asked about the surge and quoted saying:

"I've been so focused on state government, I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq. . . . While I support our president, Condoleezza Rice and the administration, I want to know that we have an exit plan in place."

Define "victory" in Iraq? What is the exit plan?


BOTTOM LINE: The nation deserves to hear Palin's unfiltered answers to serious questions.



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Copyright © Tue Sep 09 2008 12:44:08 GMT-0800 (Alaskan Daylight Time)1900 The Anchorage Daily News (www.adn.com)