October 6, 2008
In the days before the Vice-Presidential debate, many wise Republicans were calling for Sarah “The Gumball” Palin to be “thrown under the bus” and off the Republican ticket. As I discussed on September 15, Sarah Palin has a limited skill set to fulfill her role as Vice-Presidential candidate. (This became painfully obvious during the interviews with Charlie Gibson and Katie Couric.) The Gumball can recite a small number of memorized answers very well, while looking directly into the TV camera to “connect” with her like-minded audience. She can follow instructions from her handlers and recite the correct answer number as necessary. She can read speeches, written by her handlers and deliver them in an enthusiastic way. At the Vice-Presidential debate, she again demonstrated the ability to work from within her limited skill set to connect with the disappointed Republican “base”. Nevertheless, at the debate, we saw her include another talent in her repertoire: the ability to read answers from cards. Her “say it ain’t so, Joe” talking point was read from a card and delivered too quickly to have the full impact intended by the writers. As she reached the following passage, we could see her reading it off a card:
Now, doggone it, let’s look ahead and tell Americans what WE have to plan to do for them in the future.
Because she avoided catastrophe at the debate, her performance was considered a “success” by many. This inspired the strategists and handlers to give The Gumball a new role: carrying the “dirty” water for the campaign – to deliver the negative attacks against Obama – Biden, in accordance with the latest game plan. Palin’s debut in this role, following on the heels of yet another, scathing Tina Fey send-up of this fool, has made her appear as an individual whose ignorance is exceeded only by her obnoxiousness. It makes me wonder what the campaign really has in mind for her. Is this just another way of throwing her under the bus? In this role, she has changed from “goofy” to actually detestable. Let Palin sling the mud and if it doesn’t work, the guy at the top of the ticket can disown it.
What really gave me the creeps about the mainstream media’s analysis of the VP debate was best exemplified by the remarks of NBC’s White House correspondent, David Gregory, during NBC’s Meet The Press on October 5:
She made a decision that she was going to be rhetorical and not substantive on the issues.
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I think she took herself off the table as an issue that could bring down the McCain Campaign.
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She chose to ignore a lot of the substantive aspects of the debate and speak right to the American people.
At this point, most people with an I.Q. above 80 realize that The Gumball doesn’t decide anything about this campaign or what her statements will be in the pursuit of victory in this election. Her job is to follow instructions — to read or recite what she is told and nothing more. The fact that someone of Mr. Gregory’s stature would expect the viewing public to believe the myth that The Gumball, herself, has anything substantive or strategic to contribute to this campaign is insulting to our intelligence. Mr. Gregory: Do you really think we are all so stupid as to believe that The Gumball can do anything other than recite prepared “talking points”, read scripted speeches and follow instructions? Why is it so important for you to have us pretend that this numbskull can make important campaign decisions? Do you have “handlers” directing you to deliver such absurd propositions to us?
On the other hand, Peggy Noonan’s remarks during that same panel discussion on Meet The Press, provide a candid view of the ugly truth about the current campaign:
We live in the age of political strategists. We live in the age of “The Guys on the Plane”. We live in the age of “The Blackberry Guy” saying: “Let’s get ’em this way – Let’s get ’em this way!”
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I have the sense sometimes, lately, that these “Guys on the Plane” think history is their plaything. History is not their plaything.
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This is not a time for playfulness and mischief. It ain’t right!
Rest assured that The Gumball will be spat out by “The Guys on the Plane” as soon as she loses her flavor. This is likely to happen by November 5. After that: Watch what happens to her political career.
Who Was The “Kill Him!” Guy?
October 9, 2008
It was Monday, October 6, 2008. Sarah “The Gumball” Palin was speaking before a crowd in Clearwater, Florida. She was dressed in white. Behind her, stood a predominately female group of individuals, similarly dressed in Klan white. Palin stood before the crowd and launched into the long-discredited attempt by the McCain campaign to assert that Barack Obama “pals around with domestic terrorists”.
As many have learned by now, Obama’s involvement in the Annenberg Foundation’s program to assist public education (The Annenberg Challenge Project) placed him in contact with a former radical activist of the 1960s, William Ayers. Both Obama and Ayers live in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood, near the University of Chicago. In 1995, Ayers hosted an informal fundraising event for Obama’s first run for the Illinois State Senate. During the years 2000-2002, Obama and Ayers served on the board of an anti-poverty group, The Woods Fund of Chicago. Bill Ayers is the son of Thomas G. Ayers, the former Chairman and CEO of Chicago’s electricity monopoly, Commonwealth Edison Company. Having such a background in the 1960s, resulted in the political radicalization of many similarly-situated young people. Bill Ayers became part of a militant faction of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) called The Weathermen. They eventually changed the name of the organization to the gender-neutral Weather Underground. In 1969 (when Obama was 8 years old) Bill Ayers felt outraged by the fact that there was a statue in Chicago (not far from where Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Studios are now located) commemorating the deaths of seven police officers involved in suppressing the “Haymarket Riot” of 1886. An untold number of protesting laborers were killed during that chaos. This event resulted from the original “May Day” celebration of the rights of laborers (May 1, 1886). Ayers decided to participate in a successful plot to destroy the statue with a bomb. No live humans were injured in that event. Although the statue was rebuilt two years later, the Weathermen blew it up again within a few months.
Dana Milbank reported in the Washington Post, what many of us saw on the news concerning Palin’s remarks about Obama at the October 6 rally in Clearwater:
As a result of this incident, many commentators have expressed their outrage that the current rhetoric of the McCain campaign could motivate someone to call for the assassination of Barack Obama. Others have suggested that it cannot be discerned as to whether this man was calling for the killing of Obama or Bill Ayers. In either event, I would expect (and as a taxpayer – demand) at this point, that Barack Obama’s Secret Service detail would be contacting Palin’s Secret Service detail to request any and all photographic and video information that might depict the man yelling “kill him!” at that rally. I would also like to believe that the Secret Service is in the process of identifying this individual. One would expect them to have a few things to discuss with him. Once this maniac is identified, the Secret Service should let us know who he is (or, at least, see what he looks like) if they cannot locate him. If he turns up in my area, I and many of my friends, would like to be able to advise the Secret Service of his current whereabouts, should we spot him.
The Gumball vocalizes indignation over “domestic terrorism”. Shouldn’t that fury result in some sort of response to her audience member who proposed such an act to her very face?