2008: A YEAR ON STEROIDS, Part 1

To fans, Sarah P is "the fatted golden calf

being marched in glory around the bonfire" -- 

painting by Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665).

Random observations, thoughts, and rants on 2008, Part 1 (of 3)


by Noah


1. SARAH PALIN, A ONE-WOMAN CELEBRATION OF IGNORANCE

To Repugs, she is the fatted golden calf being marched in glory around the bonfire by her chanting supporters. She is the end product of Repug religious and education policy, their ideal. Africa is a country. Obama is a Marxist. The world was created only 6000 years ago.

Similar things could easily be said about that other Repug icon of ignorance named Joe the Plumber, who sits on Sean Insanity's surreal circus of a TV show and pronounces himself an expert on foreign policy because he "looked up some stuff in the dictionary."

Great for you, Joe! You can read. Now how about working on that comprehension problem you have. Better yet, get a plumbing license before you call yourself a plumber, and while you're at it, pay the taxes you owe before you bitch about taxes you don't.


2. GOVERNOR "SPRITZER" AND THE VALUE OF A BUCK

As governor of New York, Eliot "The Spritzer" Spitzer -- the poster boy for politician arrogance -- was in charge of the budget for one of the biggest states in our country. We trust these people to make judicious choices when it comes to spending money. I have to question whether he did this with his own money. I mean, he was spending $4000 a spritz on a 22-year-old hooker! Only he could tell us if he thinks he got his money's worth, but if that's the way he measures "bang for the buck," it may be a good thing that he's no longer governor of New York.

And I still have questions. Clearly, my world is different from the Spritzer's, but are there really 22-year-old girls these days who are worth that kind of money in bed (even in cheap 2008 dollars)? Is anyone? When I was that age, the girls were lucky if they got a cheap dinner and a movie.


3. RACHEL MADDOW AND KEITH OLBERMANN: IT'S A START

Rachel is a strong breath of fresh air, an honest, totally uncontrived TV personality and journalist. Keith opened the door for real progressive voices on television, and Rachel ran right through it. Thank you, Keith. You have given voice to the concerns and feelings of millions who are not otherwise served by the holders of FCC licenses.

I really think that Olbermann and Maddow have had a positive effect on how Americans look at the issues of our time. MSNBC has been pleasantly shocked by the ratings. They had nothing to lose, and they lucked out.

It's a start. Let's hope that there is more to come, maybe on some other networks too. Someone should have the sense to give Thom Hartmann a TV show. Instead, we get the likes of Greta van Himmler, Glenn Bug-Eyes Beck and tired old Larry King, seemingly actually held together by his suspenders.


4. THE REPUG PARTY IS STUCK IN THE MID-20TH CENTURY

The Repugs lost the White House because they ran in the wrong century. Right now, instead of looking inward, they are lashing outward, bizarrely blaming the media, who bent over backwards and forwards to not expose the dark undersides of John McCain, Sarah Palin and a whole toxic cloud of candidates with the big red R on their chests and next to their name. They partied in Minneapolis like it was 1949. They ran an irascible, corrupt old coot who lives in a cave at the edge of town and who picked the George Wallace of the North for his running mate.

They didn't realize that the average voter has grandparents younger than John McCain. The most vibrant part of the voting pool now has grown up learning their way around a computer before they even went to first grade, and there's still no evidence that McCain has ever touched a keyboard -- or a cell phone, for that matter. To those voters, being gay is not a crime of any kind and skin tone does not determine one's place in line.

Go ahead, Repugs, make my day. Stay in the mid-20th century. The rest of us have productive lives to lead.


5. BUT ARE REPUG VOTERS MOVING INTO THE 21ST?

During this year's campaign, John McCain actually stopped being a living fossil for a brief moment in time and uttered something that is a complete, utter blasphemy to Repugs. He said that if elected he would make climate-change issues a priority!

"Suppose we're wrong, and there's no such thing as greenhouse gas emissions [a major Repug mantra], and we adopt green technologies. All we've done is give our kids a better planet. But suppose we're right, and do nothing?"

Mentioning such a possibility, even if you don't believe it, counts as evil if you are a Repug. You may go home one night to find that your Fox "News" access has been denied, or an intervention team has been sent to kidnap you. No wonder the Repugs never warmed to the old geezer. I'm surprised they didn't march on his home (all 11 of them, or however many it is) with torches and burn him at the stake like the witch they must think he is. Or maybe, in their primitive minds, they just thought he was possessed by evil spirits.

The question is: Does the little window McCain opened portend that some Repugs may start coming around to reality on this issue? Well, probably not. Such "free thinkers" will always be a terribly minuscule minority in a party that doesn't take to minorities well. The whole talking point that the deniers recite, like the mindless robots that they are, is nothing but programming from corporations that stand to lose something in the short term if we take steps to deal with the problem -- corporations that contribute mightily to purchase politicians, especially Repug ones.

The irony is, of course, that corporations stand to lose a whole lot more in the long term if they don't do something to meet the problem head-on. Putting it in terms of what they stand to lose is the only way to reach corporatistas and their minions. What we or "the earth" stand to lose will never move them.

But what of Repug voters? This past summer, Ayers, McHenry and Associates polled registered Repug voters and discovered that a whopping, eye-opening 75 percent of them believed that global warming is a problem. They also agreed by greater than two to one that reducing CO2 emissions could be tied to creating more American jobs and reducing dependence on Middle Eastern oil.

Repug politicians can't wrap their oil- and alcohol-soaked brains around such concepts. It doesn't compute. Instead, they and the talking heads they own just stand around like the Beavis and Butt-Head clones they are and ridicule Al Gore by pointing at his beard or his increased weight. That's as substantial as they get on the issue. They have way too much invested in the "idea" that global warming is a hoax.

Independents are moving toward the Democrats over this and other issues. How soon before some Repug voters do the same? Like I said, the Repug Party is stuck in the mid-20th century. Hell, some of them are still fighting the Civil War, so maybe it's even earlier.


6. JOHN EDWARDS: LIAR, LIAR, PANTS ON FIRE FOR REAL!

Just imagine if this guy had ended up being the Democratic Party's presidential nominee. We'd be saying "Hello, President McCranky" on January 20. It wasn't just a crime of personal responsibility, John boy.


TOMORROW IN PART 2: Dubya's pardons, Hank the Grifter's bailout, Person of the Year, GOP election-stealing, and more

SUNDAY IN PART 3: CNN and the illusion of news, piggies everywhere, the Supremes who gave us Pres. Dubya, and more

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