Quote of the Day: Palin is the "retarded" clone of Dubya

We have already given one obviously unqualified Western governor a chance to wreck the country in the last decade, and not even the Republican Party that continues to defend and like Bush is so clueless and self-destructive that it would go to the country with a female version of the disaster we just experienced.

According to Daniel Larson at the "American Conservative" magazine, the chances of Caribou Barbie (aka Sarah Palin) successfully gaining the nomination of the Republican party in 2012 is zero.  As the above quote elaborates, Palin represents the absolute worst aspects of George W. Bush: evangelical religiosity, ignorance of  both domestic and foreign policy, irrationality, pettiness when confronting criticism, and easily manipulated.  In addition, given establishment requirements, party support, and corporate influences, Larson concludes that it is near impossible to imagine her ascendancy.

It pains me to write about this ignoramus or any possibility that she and the maladroits around her may inflict even more damage to the world than has been done by the Bush Administration (i.e. denial of climate change, destroying the American economy, waging two unsuccessful wars in Middle Eastern countries... etc.).  Palin  herself is representative of both the mindless political theater and the absurd anti-intellectualism that defines so much of American life.  Like Seinfeld, she represents a reality that "nothingness" is somehow a virtue.  Instead of insightful discussions on different policies that may elevate millions out of unemployment and end the Great Recession, we are bombarded with fluff pieces over what Caribou Barbie will say next and whether the Teabag express and their racist invective will shutter the Obama presidency.

Surprise, Republicans and Sarah Palin Lie Again!

Whereas all politicians and their paid hacks in the MSM constantly lie and ply the public with erroneous data, deliberately misleading statements, and more-often-than-not propaganda, few entities are as skilled in dissembling as the Republican Party.  Case in point is a recent flare up on the right-wing news cycle by Caribou-Barbie (aka Sarah "I'm an idiot" Palin), in which she accused the Obama administration of deliberately not waiving a 1920 law, called the Jones Act, which "requires all shipping between U.S. ports or in U.S. coastal waters to be carried in U.S.-flag ships that are owned and crewed by U.S. citizens." (Kevin Drum, MotherJones.com).

As McClatchy Press states:

From former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to Arizona Sen. John McCain to junior members of the House of Representatives, conservative Republicans have accused President Barack Obama of failing to do all he can to help clean up the Gulf of Mexico oil spill because he hasn't waived a U.S. maritime law called the Jones Act.

The Republican talking point is that the Obama administration is preventing much needed foreign vessels from engaging in clean-up efforts arising from the Deepwater Horizon rupture, which still remains uncapped to this day.

The central problem with this bit of hysterics is that "Maritime law experts, government officials and independent researchers say that the claim is false. The Jones Act isn't an impediment at all, they say, and it hasn't blocked anything."  Furthermore, Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen said that no Jones Act waivers were necessary, since all the activities were occurring outside the 3-mile limit to which the act was applicable.

On Tuesday the State Department announced that new offers of aid would be accepted from 12 foreign countries and international organizations, but spokesman P.J. Crowley noted that booms donated by Mexico, Norway and Brazil had been in use since May 11,and that 24 foreign vessels from nine foreign countries already have been helping with the cleanup.

With the exception of McClatchy, most in the press did not find it odd that ex-Governor Palin (technically 1/2-term Governor and full time moron), who claimed to understand oil politics better than any past or present governor, doesn't understand the basic facts surrounding the maritime law she is quoting.  Senator John McCain, another lying dingbat, stated that the Jones Act was subverting the recovery and was costing Americans jobs!  Others were quick to realize that the preening of the Republicans had little to do with maritime conservation or assisting the Gulf coast community, but rather an attempt to push for the removal of a federal law that limited foreign interests from controlling maritime trade within US waters.

The perennial willingness of Republicans to sell out national interests to the first multinational corporation with a fist-full of dollars, is as close to treasonous as it gets.

Ralph Nader: The Democrats have 'Punked' You!

Since the election of Barack Obama, liberal supporters have become extremely frustrated with him and the Democratic Party. Many have said that the Democrats and Mr. Obama's deference to the corporations and former Bush administration policies that led America to this economic precipice cannot continue. Bill Maher made it clear to America on his HBO show, "This is not what I voted for." Arianna Huffington who was one of Obama's greatest Internet promoters said, "He is demonstrating a preference for compromise and reconciliation even before the fight has been fought." Paul Krugman, makes the point that, "progressives increasingly feel that the administration is on the wrong side of [the] line." While Frank Rich of the NY Times, does not pull his punches and states clearly that he believes that Mr. Obama has "punked" him and liberal America with his bait n' switch policies.

The global economy lies broken and the once imperious financial intuitions that once towered over Battery Park in New York and in London’s Financial District have been reduced to eunuch’s beggaring for public welfare. Corporate criminality has never been more apparent, with the investments of workers and pensioners stolen to feed the addiction of casino-capitalism. And despite the obvious fact that there has hardly been a more auspicious time for transforming the relationship between corporations and the government in the public interest, the Democratic Party and their leader seem paralyzed to confront these Brooks Brothers wearing pirates.

Ralph Nader succinctly describes the current situation in America:

In short, the global corporations want Washington, D.C.; to continue being their massive deregulator and cash cow perpetuating the abandoning of American workers, the pillaging of the American taxpayer and the defrauding of the American consumer.

Forget about corporate law and order to restrain the corporate crime wave. The harmony, bipartisan President Obama and his chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, have outsmarted themselves. What worked to defeat Hillary Clinton last year has succeeded in splitting the Congressional Democrats into progressives, corporate liberals and Blue Dog Conservatives. Republicans can scarcely believe their luck and are busy exploiting these schisms.

Rep. Steny Hoyer, the number two House Democrat, undermines his Speaker, Nancy Pelosi’s “public option” plan for health insurance. Senator Max Baucus—a closet Republican masquerading as the Democratic Chair of the Senate Finance Committee, is working hand-in-glove with right-wing Republicans and the White House to craft a weak “bi-partisan” bill that keeps getting weaker as the corporatist Republicans sniff increasing weakness in the White House.

President Obama, instead of merely fighting Republicans and entrenched corporate interests, has by alienating his base, now forced to manage a two prong internecine conflict within his own ranks. His heralded election machine that dispatched the poorly managed Clinton campaign in the primaries and John McCain in the November finals appears fractured, confused, and slipping erratically into paralysis. Unless he jettisons these useless and spineless corporate Democrats and follows through with his campaign promises for transparent and effective governance, the demise of the American experiment in democratic governance will be finalized.

Todd S. Purdum on Sarah Palin | vanityfair.com

Andrew Sullivan's criticism of Sarah Palin during the 2008 election was devastating and continues to be unyielding. As a conservative commentator, he dispels any doubt that her choice as VP was a grotesque political folly and perhaps, to the persistent detriment of the Republicans, the single most important reason why independent and moderate voters thought John McCain was unfit to be President. Sullivan excoriates Palin in his review of the Todd Purdum's Vanity Fair piece, which in itself is an examination of the duplicity, fraud, and freakishness of the candidate of "real Americans."

Sullivan states:

The narcissism, the pathological and incessant lying, the viciousness, the delusions of grandeur, the vindictiveness, the fathomless and proud ignorance, the opportunism, the vanity, the white trash concupiscence and fraudulence in almost every respect: these are now indisputable. How an advanced democracy came that close to having this farce of a candidate running the most powerful country on earth reveals how deep the corruption of our politics and especially our media are.

As an aside, America at the federal level is not a democracy. America is a plutocracy, as it is defined by the "fusion of money and government" and controlled by a small elite of wealthy individuals (including corporations). If one recognizes this fact, it then is not unexpected that the titular (public) leaders of both predominant parties are often populist molded figureheads who espouse so-called average middle-American sensibilities. As an example, in the 2008 elections, Republican candidates McCain, Giuliani, and Romney each were multi-millionaires and portrayed themselves as vanguards of entrepreneurs, middle-class people, and the religiously devout. On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton, Edwards, and Obama were all millionaires and equally pledged allegiance to America's poor, minority groups, and middle class values. Earlier this year when Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL), Majority Whip, attempted to pass legislation to provide homeowners with the legal option of changing mortgage terms, bank lobbyists assisted in defeating the bill. Durbin stated, "And the banks -- hard to believe in a time when we're facing a banking crisis that many of the banks created -- are still the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. And they frankly own the place."