Why is former Governor Sarah Palin getting knocked around for writing notes on her hand?
As a fighter pilot I not only wrote things on my hand, but had a grease pencil with me to write things on the canopy of the aircraft.
Escorting a couple of EB-66s over North Viet-nam? Write your call sign and theirs' on the canopy (both sides) so that when the MiGs show up you can look at them closing and when you mash the mike button it is easy to say "SCOTCH LEAD, SHEBOYGANS AT NINE, BUZZER BREAK LEFT! (Scotch lead being us and Sheboygan being the day's code word for enemy aircraft and Buzzer being the two EB-66s.) At a time when one is seconds from missiles in the air one does not want to clutch and use the wrong call signs and code words.
So, if arrogant fighter pilots make notes, it seems OK to me for a mere Governor to do so. It wasn't like she had borrowed the TOTUS.
Regards — Cliff
TOTUS? Ha HA!
ReplyDeleteIs former half term Governor ready to do question time at the next House Dem Retreat?
Don't call signs change on a routine basis to maintain OPSEC, also?
It was right after she mocked President Obama for using a teleprompter that the notes scribbled on her hand became visible. So reading a speech is bad but peeking at notes written on your hand in magic marker is good? Aren’t they pretty much the same thing? Isn’t ridiculing one while doing the other a bit hypocritical?
ReplyDeleteThere's a moment in "The Hangover" when comedian Ken Jeong, playing an incredibly gay gangster, explains why he's laughing so hard--"It's funny because he's fat". And it is.
ReplyDeleteWith apologies for the sheer political incorrectness of such a joke--"It's funny because she's stupid".
Yes, in the Air Force, in wartime, except for Air Defense, call signs and code words change every day. Top Secret in the morning and unclassified by midnight.
ReplyDeleteAnd, I see a big difference between a couple of notes and the TOTUS.
I am not sure she is stupid. She is definitely not a graduate of some East Coast school. Is she smarter than Senator John Kerry? Or is that an unfair comparison? Anyway, only time will tell.
Regards — Cliff
I agree with Dick, but not to unceasingly mock her as stupid though as some others have.
ReplyDeleteYou know I like Sarah, but not sure where she is going at the moment. When she decided to step down as Governor, then she pretty much decided not to run for President at that point. Yes, the oppositional research was nuts nitpicking her and yes, it was probably best to step down too for the sake of her state, yet I hope she eventually finds something and sticks with it in the private/non-profit sector other then being a motivational speaker.
We need to stop putting politicians and candidates on pedestals, even President Obama was awkward when he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize. Also it was so embarrassing for conservatives around the country to automatically idolize Scott Brown.
Cliff,
ReplyDeleteThe political MO, on both sides, is to diminish people of interest. My liberal friends will wail over someone like Newt Gingrich because, in part, he is good at what he does. Though I do not agree with Newt, he certainly deserves respect. For political purposes, none will be forthcoming from moi. ;v)
Now in Obama's case, he was protrayed as an unserious type, an "empty suit." You, for sake of humor tinged with partisan expediency, refer to the teleprompter. I'm cool with this because we both know otherwise. Barack Obama is a very serious political intellect.
What irks folks is the colossal crutch the GOP provides to Sarah Palin. This person is not qualified to be operating at the level she aspires. Yet, many, including you, are complicit in her persistance in our national debates because she "comes in handy." Palin should be run out of town.
Palin could be Dennis Rodman ferchrissakes. If Rodman swayed several million teabaggers and bolstered the fundraising machine of the GOP, he would be raised up on the same pedestal. But he is black and kinda too comfy in his sexuality for GOPers to cling to.
Your party should be embarassed by the exploitation of the village idiot.
Caveat emptor, I guess, huh?
The problem Jack is, that how can we take you seriously when you use the term 'teabaggers'.
ReplyDeleteand while I'm at it here living paycheck to paycheck like everyone else waiting patiently and respectfully as our government can help guide us out of it....
ReplyDeleteDan Kennedy's Media nation talks about liberals being condesending...
http://www.dankennedy.net/2010/02/09/why-liberals-are-condescending/
oh and...
I volunteer at Saint Michael's in the school library with an older woman. We talked about politics in between classes, thinking due to her nature she would vote for Brown. I was wrong, she was voting for Coakley, because Democrats care about the working people and the poor.
She didn't trust Brown and thought Republicans were all dangerous. I listen mostly, just listened. At the end of the day she told me it will be God's Will, I told no it is really our will not His. We make the decision, not God.
Today she comes up to me, telling me how happy the Brown won in the end. Being on Social Security and a small pension as a renter in Lowell, she was sick of all the mailings and phone calls of the Democrats asking for money. 'Shouldn't they know I'm poor?', she told me. She still doesn't like Republicans, but she sees the Democrats in a completely different light,
She and her husband are going down to city hall to change (D) to (U).
and another...
On the day of the election I was reading an article from a Catholic publication being critical of Martha Coakley's stance regarding Catholic medical institutions, because disagreed with Kennedy's position that medical care providers have a right to their own conscience not to prescribe a potential abortificant (plan B), that 'Catholics shouldn't work in ERs'
Right beside the article was a Google as for Coakley side by side with an image of Kennedy, I contacted the editor he blocked it. A few hours later, same ad with a different link he had to block again.
oh Cliff may be of interest ... regarding political celebrity and substance
http://spectator.org/archives/2010/02/08/the-lion-as-catholic
Massachusetts & the Kennedy mystique
" By today’s standards, certainly, John F. Kennedy was a conservative president. As James Piereson has pointed out in his perceptive book Camelot and the Cultural Revolution, the JFK of liberal myth is not the man who, during his tenure in the White House, enthusiastically slashed taxes, boldly confronted the Soviet Union in Cuba and Berlin, and initiated an undeclared war in southeast Asia. The “Camelot legacy” bears scant resemblance to JFK’s actual career. Piereson shows how the political left transformed the image of JFK after his death, converting a conservative Democrat into a liberal icon. But he may underestimate how much Ted Kennedy influenced that process. For 40 years the youngest of the Kennedy clan was the guardian of the Camelot legacy, and unlike his brothers Ted was never linked to any conservative cause. "
Teabaggers: http://progressivealaska.blogspot.com/2009/11/tribute-to-teabagger-erudition.html
ReplyDeleteTea Party folks are not the same. Not that I bother much with Libertarians, but they are a legitimate political philosophy.
Teabaggers are a-holes enjoying their 15 minutes of fame. Sarah Palin is their queen. "Real America," bah!
Don't take me seriously, Renee. It is a free country. I certainly don't take teabaggers seriously.
More on Palin: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/35319315#35319315
Today, when we gathered at noon for the weekly poker game, I was pimped by a fellow blogger over this post, the assertion being that I am out flacking for Sarah Palin. My only good retort was that he hasn't blogged in three weeks.
ReplyDeleteNotwithstanding the fact that Ms Palin is trading at about 24 on InTrade, I think she still has a ways to go before she is ready for a run at the Presidency. But, that is not to say she is not smart. I will take her over Senator John Kerry any day.
As for the term of derision toward the members of the Tea Party movement, I am mildly offended, but if one is going to be in blogging or politics one must expect to be offended once in a while. At least it isn't like I am being called out for being a Democrat. But, one wonders if folks trying to put down Tea Party members talk to their mothers that way.
Regards — Cliff
I'm no expert in Phrenology, nor do I know all the metrics that measure smartness. I do know used cars saleman are "smart." As many pimps have a wisedom that keeps them large and in charge.
ReplyDeleteBut to say, Cliff, that you would "take her over Senator John Kerry any day," is not to claim intellectual parity. It is a statement of preference. If you could hand the keys to the White House over to one of them tomorrow, which one would you choose?
Now, as to my derision of the tea people, let me be clear. There are some hateful individuals out there. They hate that which does not reflect an acceptable mirror image. These native born US residents, imo, know little about the spirit of America. Which is why I avoid calling them Americans.
These folks rave about "real America" when they know little about what they rant of.
If you comingle with these folks, do so without me. If you foster or cultivate their political influence, then we are at odds in a very big way.
I have sworn an oath that has not ended with my enlistment. Enemies of our nation, foreign or domestic, must be trampled under foot.
Noli Me Tangere, brothers and sisters.
I forgot to mention that Eve Ensler (The Vagina Monologues) appeared on "The Joy Behar Show" on HLN on 8 February and talked about Ms Palin. It is discussed here and by Professor Althouse in her blog.
ReplyDeleteENSLER: Well, I just think the idea that she doesn't believe in global warming is bizarre.
BEHAR: Every scientist at every note believes in it but Sarah Palin doesn't believe in it.
ENSLER: And I think we just kind of have to walk around the world at this point and look at what is happening to nature and earthquakes and tsunamis.
BEHAR: Right.
Maybe Ms Ensler can get together with President Hugo Chavez and talk about how not only Anthropomorphic Climate Change but also the CIA are causing earthquakes.
From Professor Althouse we have this bit of advice: "When you want to call somebody dumb, try not to say anything dumb."
Regards — Cliff
A choice between Kerry and Palin for the White House?
ReplyDeleteCan't we have some other choices?
Regards — Cliff
Jack -- where's the connection between the tea party folks and the nativism? I know I can't convey tone over written text, but I mean that as a serious question..I'm not denying it's there but how are you connecting those dots?
ReplyDeleteGreg,I'll collect some links over the course of the day and report back.
ReplyDeleteBut let me be more precise. I have been trying to differentiate between "Tea Party" and "teabaggers."
I may not agree with someone such as Sandi Martinez, but I certainly don't think of her or her efforts as ugly or un-American.
Unfortunately, I think the GOP, which has never really embraced the minority movement of Libertarianism, has comingled the long term efforts of good citizens with the lunatic energy of haters that have puked up since the landslide election of Barack Hussein Obama.
I'll be back.
The Racism:
ReplyDeleteAccording to Meghan McCain, daughter of John McCain, the Tea Party is chock full of racists. Once again appearing on the View, McCain slammed the Tea Party movement, said young people are “turned off” by its “innate racism,” and attacked Sarah Palin, the washed up former vice presidential candidate who was appointed to lead the hijacked Tea Party movement by the Republicans and the corporate media. Palin has called for attacking Iran and has put her support behind Texas governor Rick Perry.
http://www.infowars.com/mccains-daughter-tea-party-movement-is-racist/
http://www.jackandjillpolitics.com/2009/04/the-rotting-racist-underbelly-of-the-tea-party-protests/
http://search.comcast.net/search/?q=tea%20party%20racists&cat=images
The Birthers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNQUA0bI5b0&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YomD9C8dSmU
The Fearmongers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APnfPnqwv9c&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqfuZ7hiap0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xyj1DSEQuy0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cs1OVE_L9BU
The Secessionists:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udLksW_Qwqw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqpim4rrTtM
Hot Teabagging Action:
(No one does it better than our lesbian friend, Rachel Maddow)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLsKt4O4Yw8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wr86F9rsihU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNozmSN2Nf0
Jack -- thanks for the links. I will do my due diligence and check all that stuff out.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I appreciate the distinction between the bad elements and the people who are genuinely motivated by beliefs about government (i.e. Sandi Martinez).
Since this has drifted toward the Tea Party Movement, here is a comment at Real Clear Politics.
ReplyDeleteRegards — Cliff
I hate to break it to you, Cliff, the theoretical Tea Party is not the effectual Tea Party.
ReplyDeleteWhen slogans about the Cap & Trade Bill are blurted out as Carbon Tax, it is clear that the Tea Party has been hijacked.
Another indication, where were these people prior to 2009?
I was, until August of 2009, an Unenrolled voter. That said, the only Republican I have ever voted for was Brad Jones. We went to high school together.
Before becoming a Democrat, I described myself as the "radical middle." Meaning a member of the middle class, that is politically moderate and seemingly unheard in the ideological turf war of the Ds & Rs.
I think I would be ripe for membership in this "Tea Party."
Imo, the Democratic Party is the best place to focus my energy. The Tea Party, the iteration before us anyways, is a sock puppet for for interests that could care less about working class Americans. Well, that isn't factual. These interest want us viable enough to suck off of.