"Interesting — no applause for sanctions on Iran. No applause for Palin’s speculations that democracies keep the peace." –David Frum, YouTube blogging Sarah Palin’s speech to the Tea Party convention in Tennessee.
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Sarah Palin is a total dum-dum, so you shouldn’t attack her. Because she’s pretty, and comes from Alaska.
Let’s see, she reads off her talking point notes on the podium, and Obama reads off his talking points on the electronic teleprompter. She got her shitty education by her parents dollars, and he got his ivy education by getting aid as a minority. Nobody should attack either for looking pretty and coming from far off places. What?
David Frum is another matter. Wasn’t it him who wrote GWB’s State of the Union speach that got everyone jazzed up on the Axis of Evil?
He actually wrote Axis of Hate; somebody changed it to Evil–maybe Shrub himself?
Frum Frum had expected the speech he wrote for Shrub to be severely edited, but it was read by Shrub almost verbatim from Frum Frum’s pen. Frum’s inspiration was
FDR’s speech upon the bombing of Pearl Harbor–FDR took the opportunity to
cast Hitler’s Germany as the real threat, given Japan had only 10% of the production capacity of the USA, was already involved in a war in China, and had to import food.
Clean Break strategy continues. Bombing Iran next up on the plate. Frum indeed.
“He actually wrote Axis of Hate; somebody changed it to Evil…”
‘Hate’ was too close to Orwell’s actual text so they had to find an alternative (’cause you never want to give away the ending of a good war).
Not surprised David is nervous about Sarah. The New Majority he is pushing does not consider someone like Palin as a viable canidate to carry out the neo conservative card which needs to be far more obedient than Bush turned out to be. The neo conservatives are working hard to unseat Obama in the next election and have many fronts covered, even Clinton who has been kissing up so she can get her shot at the white house. Bush capitualted near the end and fell back to his old oil not blood loyalties and did not carry out their wishes to blow up Iran. Although Plain can likely be talked into “putting on the lipstick” she may actually turn out like Bush and sooner or later stop short. What they really want is someone like McCain who will go all out and deliver the final solution as he believes in too.
By the way, her eis a great article in Joshua Landis’s Blog,
link to joshualandis.com
and is a must read to understand why the region is in the state its in.
Thanks, BradAllen–damn, that’s a meaty article on Syria’s perspective for the last 40 years. The NYT should pay the writer and publish it. Will it ever see MSM print in the USA?
Here’s the correct url reference:
link to joshualandis.com
Tapline was begun immediately post-WWII by American companies eager to tap Saudi Arabian oil and pipe it to Mediterranean. Syria was on the route, but was a major stumbling block. There’s a one-line, blase reference to the way western interests dealt with Syria’s tough negotiating stance — the US started a war in Syria.
While trying to find that brief reference to the war the US just had to start, this quote popped up– Israel being Israel: link to almashriq.hiof.no
Here’s another POV on Palin at the first Tea Party convention–suddenly she’s an expert on the Middle East, sounding just like Shrub did?
link to politics.nashvillepost.com
Sorry, the blog i was referring to is this :
link to joshualandis.com
If only Frum could be president, then things would go well for the US.
Too bad he’s an Israeli, by way of Canada… Ah, the power of international Zionism.
Sarah Palin’s just hanging around collecting money. Demonstrating on numerous occasions that she has little insight into national or international politics, she’s a political Hollywood sideshow to distract from important issues.
The Sarkozy prank phone call was the moment many people realized what a
sucker she really is.
White House security once arrested Frum as the arresting officer actually thought
you had to be an American citizen to work in and around the White House. Frum was a Jewish Canadian citizen at the time.
Palin doesn’t need any foreign policy insight. AIPAC will furnish the canned speech–recall that Reagan had none either; he delegated that arena. She likes her fictional fantasy of Reagan.
I think we should all do well to notice that the new Tea-baggers have a lot in common with the peasants of old. They are feared by the oligarchy in power (whether jewish and not) because the new movement distrusts intelllectualism, and by extension, they distrust reason itself. And that is why I expect the neocons – as this article on David From recounts – are working overtime trying to find a way into the mists of palin’s brain, and the guts of huckabee.
Alas, this may not work much better than it did in the middle ages and in the early 20th century. When princedoms and empires crumble, peasant revolts can get quickly out of hand, and many did. Some were violently suppressed, some were accomodated by deflecting them against the jews (the tax collectors and lenders of old), and some triumphed, but then turned against the jews anyways (protestanism?).
And then there was one which the thinking passionate rebellious jews thought they could surf – all the way they rode – and even led the wave of advancing communism. Didn’t quite work out so well for them, did it? A scary thought about Palin: Stalin too was a philistine to start with. Yes, he was not averse to politics, and there’s evidence he could actually think, but Palin’s got her rasputins in the form of frum to make up for any deficiencies in that department, no? and, unlike the days of old, there’s now plenty of money available to grease what wheels need to be greased. thinkers can be bought. believers sure were (just check out hagee and weisel). As for feelers – cf genuine tea partiers – well, that’s the question, isn’t it?
Time to get worried.
Didn’t the Tea Party rise up initially as a reaction to the bank bailouts, and how they were handled? And by common people grown tired of being screwed by lefties and righties? The notion that neither Barney Frank nor Wall St, nor Greenspan’s Fed Reserve ever did anything but stick it to them? Toss in Shrub Incs fraudulent war?
And maybe they realize that whether Obama health insurance gets passed, or not–either way they will still be on the losing end?
Just asking. They don’t yet have an official leader or party platform, right?
They’d be smart to put up a new way to pay for campaign finance since that’s at the root of both domestic and foreign policy issues–purely public funding, even though they generally are libertarian it seems–populist and libertarian.
Ah, I see that’s already an issue as the SOP Repubs try to take over the Tea Party:
link to tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com
I know you have been pressing the public financing idea and kudos to you for continually bringing it up as the only way our sick electoral system can be remedied. Of course, for that very reason the oligarchy will resist such idea with every fiber in their mean little greedy bodies. Remedy is the last thing they want. Wish I knew a way forward.
As for the tea-baggers, you are right about how it started. One of my points above was that no sooner a populist movement rises that the powers-that-be will attempt to co-opt and harness its energy for their own causes – which are exactly what the populists were against in the first place. What’s going on now is a major campaign by the republican party apparatus to divert the populist anger to where they want it aimed, namely Obama. Hence the attempt to conflate bank bail-outs, rising deficits and hand-outs to special interests with the current administration. I see an obvious try at re-casting the populist narrative. The neocons are obviously keen to infiltrate the populist movement as well, though so far with very limited success. hence the frum frustration.
My warning has to do with what happens if republicans succeed in their goal of derailing the climb out of recession, which is obviously what their entire thrust is. They see poor economic conditions as playing into their hands – just as it brought down Bush, so they hope it can bring down Obama. My worry is that encouraging economic deterioration – which is what the republicans are up to – is a slippery slope indeed. Once it sets course, it’s far from clear that they’ll be able to ride the disenchantment wave back to power.
Well, you hooked me until you starting talking about the republicans intentionally trying to derail any climb out of recession. I think both the left and right see poor economic conditions as playing into their hands.
You know, ditto as in Weimar Germany? Maybe the Tea Party is saying
we really don’t like either of you brown shirts or reds beating us up in the alley, and then proclaiming you are patriots? I don’t disagree with your conclusion that what is happening is a slippery slope, and something to reasonably fear.
I guess, what I don’t get, Danna, is any view from you of what the remedy might be? Would you favor Obama telling Israel “I said freeze those settlements! They are a giant obstacle to peace in the Middle East, which all nations should favor. You have one month to stop those settlements expanding. Then, we will cut off all foreign aid to Israel. We are no longer going to tolerate Israel’s chatting about dividing up a pizza while it eats it.”
Citizen,
I actually agree with you about both left and right seeing deteriorating economic conditions as playing into their hands. Each for their own reasons, of course. republicans in general see no upside in anything Obama can claim as success (because it’d keep them out of power), and the left (as in left on the progressive side) is perhaps too vested in seeing through the final derailment of the capitalist model, so as to usher in a new era of supposedly great keynesian universe. Neither, IMO, realizes just how vast and complex the country is, and how the unintended consequences of their counter viewpoints – small vs large government, free vs regulated markets – will likely end up as a boomerang hurting everyone.
personally, I do understand the sentiment of “the pox on both your houses” that animate the tea baggers. But turning away is not a solution either.
Alas, I am more of a dianostician than a true activist. Due to entirely practical personal considerations rather than inclination. i realize that the disease is much easier to diagnose than to cure. of course, I’d totally favor Obama acting like a real mensche when it comes to israel, just as you suggest, but especially since I know Israelis only understand the language of power- and I know he may just succeed, were he both brave and carefree enough to take this course (meaning he would likely be short lived too). In any case, it is precisely the likelihood of success of a strong arm policy from the US that sends israel and friends in the US to work overtime to weaken Obama – any way they can.
Perhaps not all is lost though. If the different interests actually succeed in really paralyzing the government, even as the “people” (cf regular citizens) continue to suffer from the downturn that no one can or dares cure, perhaps there might just be a new window of opportunity to blow new winds into sails into public financing idea. I know this is one of the things Howard Dean and his DFA group support and is what Ron paul and Kucinich support as well. It is what most rank and file democrats support as do libertarians (the real not the pretend ones) and not a few republicans even. The day of the outsiders may yet come, now that Obama, the great white hope, has somewhat wilted in the limelight.
BTW, did you read Chris Hays’ column in The nation on System Failure and Corporatism? worth a read.
link to thenation.com
I agree with your take here, Danaa. I will check out your referenced url–thanks! Some day the rank and file may yet connect the dots (pork, earmarks,
special interests) everybody recognizes into an actual sentence: John Q Public
will gladly pay for campaign coverage, debates, ads. It actually looks like the US Supreme Ct’s recent ruling will dilute individual votes further–next thing you know fictitious persons will have the only free speech as a practical matter.
Danaa, here’s a good follow up read to Hay’s column; it hits Obama hard with a whole laundry list he should be speaking directly to the American people on, over-riding the System via the Bully Pulpit.
link to counterpunch.org
You think David “axis of evil” Frum is helping by writing her speeches
There were 600 people at that convention. 600. And the press calls it a movement? And how many were press people?
MALE TEABAGGER: “I might be an old codger, but I sho like Miss Sarah. She’s one good lookin’ gal! Those legs. That caboose. What a rack!”
TRANSLATION: I’m not gay. Really, I’m not. Honest injun!
P.S.
Friday, October 03, 2008
Projecting through the Screen, By Rich Lowry, 10/03/08
A very wise TV executive once told me that the key to TV is projecting through the screen. It’s one of the keys to the success of, say, a Bill O’Reilly, who comes through the screen and grabs you by the throat. Palin too projects through the screen like crazy. I’m sure I’m not the only male in America who, when Palin dropped her first wink, sat up a little straighter on the couch and said, “Hey, I think she just winked at me.” And her smile. By the end, when she clearly knew she was doing well, it was so sparkling it was almost mesmerizing. It sent little starbursts through the screen and ricocheting around the living rooms of America. This is a quality that can’t be learned; it’s either something you have or you don’t, and man, she’s got it.
link to corner.nationalreview.com