The crowd went crazy as Palin hit the stage....

On NPR this morning:

In the meantime, Palin is a hero to the GOP's "Tea Party" base — that portion of the party that is passionately and vociferously opposed to President Obama's policies. "She will play a tremendous role in the activist and the conservative movement," says conservative blogger Ed Morrissey. It's a constituency that views Palin "as someone very much like" them, he says. "Not somebody from the elite, not somebody from academia, but somebody who's a conservative mom — coming out of that same mold."

And in the Eagle:

(Texas Gov.) Perry, who is stoking populist fires with antiestablishment rhetoric, has dismissed the Cheney endorsement as the usual dealings of Washington insiders. He is also reminding supporters that former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has cast her lot with him.

I have in my previous postings called Palin and "Empty Suit." I have not changed my mind. I should read her book, but she just turns me off, not just because of the hype that has now been built around her, but more so because she just does not come across to me as very smart. Which, come to think about it, is why she is well liked by the tea baggers - she is just like them, not very smart.

Now the nuttiness that passes itself off as conservatism is not what I am talking about. There are conservative ideas and liberal ideas that hold water on their own, but this new movement to define a "true conservative" is sophomoric and reflects poorly on the Republican party who has catered to it and is now afraid of offending it. . It is extremely difficult to be analytical and logical in one's thoughts while also espousing ultra-conservative views. Unless, of course, you don't believe them and only profess them to keep yourself "in."

In a nut shell, those "elite" and "academia" folk that are not like them, those are people with what we call brains. Smart people, intelligent people, learned people, circumspect, pragmatic. Smart people do not buy into hype. Not-so-smart people, do. So if she is "just like them" and "them" are folks who do not see themselves as smart, why the hell would we want her leading us or think she has anything of value to say?

The idea that the best person to run a country is an average Joe type is scary. I want brilliance, intelligence, knowledge in my leader, just like I want the smartest doctor, the smartest lawyer, the smartest investment advisor. Why would I want someone who is less than that?

So when Kay Bailey Hutchison - who is running against Perry - starts to believe that she too must cozy up close to one of the poster children for perfect conservatism, something is really going wrong with the Republican Party. Hutchenson is a smart lady - smart is OK, even in the Republican family. Stupid is as stupid does. Lets be smarter than a tea bagger, birther, or a Sarah Palin.


......Little Kay Bailey was lost for the price of a touch and a gash across her face! Oooooh.

(with apologies to the Who)

Call me irrersponsible........

shakes head back and forth.........

"She is a beloved figure in the Republican Party," conservative commentator Pat Buchanan said on MSNBC. "If she's not running for governor and wants the option to run for president, what sense does it make to stay in Alaska? She's saying, in effect, I'm liberating myself."

Any reader to this blog will know I am no fan of Sarah Palin. She is all hat as they say in Texas, and anyone who thinks she would make a better president over other more seasoned and dare I say, stable, candidates proves what is wrong with the Republican party pre Newt. You want a viable female Republican candidate, look at Kay Bailey Hutchison or Carol Browner for starters.

Palin may be leaving politics for good, an understandable decision on her part. For every stupid person who finds her a darling, there is a mean, vindictive person who will attack her kids and family going so low as to make fun of her Down's child. I don't think she was prep'd correctly to start this battle and unfortunately has paid a high price for it. No one deserves to be treated this way.

And yet they still look to the sky........

Palin is celebrity - she is also a loose cannon, unpredictable, and - what has been shown to date - lacking in the wisdom to be a good leader. Prior to elevating her to Republican goddess she may have been able to carve out a legitimate resume. Since all it takes to vote is age and being a citizen, we the people are known to make poor decisions and choices, crave celebrity, and respond to rhetoric over wisdom, this may indeed be Palin's high water mark.

What sense does it make to stay in Alaska? Well Pat, maybe to show guys like me and the world that she has the personal character necessary to lead in times of good and bad. This is the mark of a true leader - the sticktoitness to finish what they start and do the best job they possibly can for the right and just reasons.

With all the foolishness that has followed Palin to this point and now this, for her to remain a beloved figure shows just how clueless those controlling the Republican party are. We the people - despite our stupid behavior - deserve better.

Throwing the first stone

It was a simple question, “who are you voting for?” asked to random University of North Texas students in the October 24, 2008 Homecoming Edition of the North Texas Daily.

“John McCain” Senior Sarah Carroll responded. “Mostly for moral issues” she replied when asked why.

So what are these “moral issues” that persons of Ms. Carroll’s persuasion speak about? And why do they attach them to Republicans, and more specifically, to Sarah Palin?

Is it Abortion? I think a lot of folks tend to vote Republican for their steadfast opposition towards Row v. Wade wrapping them in the morality blanket called “pro life.” This one single issue does produce a conundrum for those voters that see abortion as a strong moral issue.

But it is not just abortion that has led the self-proclaimed righteous ones that tag themselves as “values voters.” No, it is this simplistic idea that if you say you are Christian, wear a flag pen, decorate your car with a yellow ribbon, and fly the American flag you are somehow more moral then those of us that think deeds matter more than labels.

So there was McCain, struggling with his base of conservative value voters. Despite what he has persevered through, what he has done while in congress, and how he has led his life, he just wasn’t conservative enough for the base. No, they needed someone like them, someone they could identify as having Christian values. Enter Sarah Palin. “OMG! She is sooooo, like, value plus!”

There is a strange dichotomy on the Right. They like her for what they think she is, they do not like McCain because of what they think he isn’t. So using just a bit of irony and logic here ……

• Palin was born in 1964, that puts her at 44 years old
• She had attended the Wasilla Assembly of God, a Pentecostal church, for 32 years and until 2002.
• In 2002 Palin was 38 years old, which means she has been raised in a Pentecostal environment since she was about six years of age.
• She was the head of the “Fellowship of Christian Athletes” chapter at her high school.
• She was married on August 29, 1988.
• Her son, Track, was born on April 20, 1989 when she was 25.

OK, so if I do the math correctly that means Track was born…..premature!

Is this one of those “mostly for moral issues” things that girl was talking about? It is not that Palin needs to be tarred and feathered for her sin, heck there but before the grace of God go I, but come on! She is as far from being a poster girl for morals as Bill Clinton is.

At some point you need to see yourself as flawed, which means that everyone else is flawed too. You don’t own morality because you claim yourself to be a Christian or conservative. Even with Jesus in her life, 25 years of age, the Church, and her Christian Values, Palin still sinned.

I just wonder if that was Hilary would these “moral issues” voters be so forgiving about her past?

The two McCains

Trey Parker and Matt Stone put out some of the best parody and satire around. The sad thing is that they would have never made it this far had they not been able to meld the two ingredients - lampoon and shock value - together to get a large number of eyeballs to watch the show. In the beginning it was more the latter but as they have matured so has the show particularly in its parody sophistication. Without the crudeness it would not have an audience anywhere near what it has now, and without the wit it would not be watched by people like me. What an odd combination of the two. But it works.

Which brings me to John McCain. He was on Letterman last night to eat crow about missing a scheduled appearance on the show. What struck me was how much I like John McCain when he is being John McCain. When he is in political mode – he makes me turn away. So there I was watching the two different McCain’s talk when it dawned on me why I am bothered by it. It doesn’t work.

The idea behind the straight talk express was for McCain to be McCain. It worked getting him the nomination because there is a lot of substance there. Not everyone in the Republican Party wanted him, but enough did to cause the others to drop out. But getting your Party’s nomination and winning the election are two different things which McCain soon found out would be his situation. He needed the Republican base and that base doesn’t want straight talk they want red meat.

Enter Sarah Palin. She is everything that McCain is not to the base. An evangelical-gun loving-gay loathing-conservative values-liberal hating-rhetoric spewing answer to what is all wrong with America. She is the artery-clogging red meat that was necessary to “energize” the folks that now make up the base of the Republican Party. These are the same ones that would have stayed home on Election Day because McCain was just not conservative enough for them.

So McCain parked the straight talk bus and tried to disguise himself as red meat too. Trouble is he is not. Parker and Stone can make South Park work because they understand both aspects of what their show has to be in order for it to be successful. When they are crude it is because they themselves think it is funny – they get it. And when they parody and lampoon - they get that too. They understand it because they can relate to it, and because they relate to it they can pull it off.

McCain does not understand or relate to the base he needs for support so when he tries to placate them it falls flat and the attempt turns me away. He is substance only and substance doesn’t sell to the Republican base that doesn’t want to hear straight talk. They want to hear and be fed terrible things about Obama – and McCain don’t play that – at least not very well.

Neither Obama nor McCain will win because of the votes from people like me. We are drowned out by the “kill him” mindset that makes up too many of my fellow Americans. They care little about the substance in the rhetoric thrown to them. This needs to change. Call me naive but I really do think straight talk and hope are tangible but only if their messengers believe fully in them.

"You know what, I've learned something today…"

What God Wants Woman to Do

Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary offers the Bachelor of Arts in Humanities with a concentration in homemaking. I have no problems with that, just like I have no problems in academic programs designed around dance, or art, or recreation, or anything else a person would want to explore. To deny a woman the right to pursue a path, any path, that she sees as worthwhile for her life would be wrong. So why bring this up- this woman only class - if I feel this way?

It is always about the reason, the why so to speak, that must be put out there for all the world to see. If a woman chooses to be a stay at home mom or a homemaker, or adopts the position of being 2nd or subservient to her husband, that is – and must – be allowed to take place in order for that woman to be truly free. If It is her choice, done without fear, dogma, pressure, or ignorance then you go girl! But that is not why we have this class being offered. It has nothing to do with providing as much opportunity to women as possible so that they may participate in society equally with men.

As men, society asks us to assume certain rolls, but it also puts very few constraints on the pursuits we can participate in. For woman, this is not the case. The position of Southern Baptists is that a woman may work outside the home so long as her husband agrees. So when a little girl grows up in a Southern Baptist household she faces two doors – one that will close her life off to other pursuits based on what her husband may or may not allow and the other that will provide some freedom, again at the whim of her husband. So with only two options, a Southern Baptist girl that becomes enlightened as she enters womanhood would be faced with either leaving her religion or giving up on her dreams.

Does the leadership of the Southern Baptists understand this? Yes, every dogmatic or oligarchic group since recorded time has figured this out to be a problem for the population they wish to control. Enlightenment breeds questions, questions require answers, and the answers given expose their hypocrisy. Although we can make the answers always fit our model, eventually you will run up against the brick wall of logic. Case in point: In a recent interview Rev. Akin said he supported Palin’s candidacy, arguing that while the bible speaks about the role of women in church and home, it says nothing about woman in government.

Argggg! And this guy is their leader? If, according to Rev. Akin God’s assignment to young women is” to be a homemaker,” how can Southern Baptists – who predominantly vote Republican – cast a vote for a candidate that will have a woman as his vice president? A woman with five young children no less! Oh this creates such a dilemma! Doesn’t Timothy 2:12 have Paul say “I permit no woman to teach or have authority over a man?” [that smell you detect is their little brains on overload]

“There is no disconnect or inconsistency whatsoever” Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission is quoted as saying. “We do not go beyond where the New Testament goes. Public Office is neither a church, nor a marriage.” No hypocrisy there! And to prove my point I am sure that the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary will soon offer a new course for women wishing to assume high level government elected positions. Maybe that can be an elective after they have taken Subservient Practices 101.

Source: The Eagle, October 4, 2008

http://www.theeagle.com/faith_values/Southern-Baptists-OK-with-Palin-as-vice-president

Note: The above article states that Southeastern offers this class. My research shows that they do not. It is Southwestern that offers the class. I will hold that the quoted statements are true until I find out otherwise.