Sunday, September 07, 2008
OBSERVATIONS ON THE REPUBLICAN CONVENTION
It is difficult for the Militant Moderate to be objective in his opinions and observations of the Republican convention. That party tends to be extremely militant, and not at all moderate, in the rhetoric of its speakers and in its platform.
The first day of the convention was a bust. Sympathy for those on the gulf about to be hurricane victims was the theme, although it is difficult to assuage the memories of an incompetent republican administration and the tragedies of Katrina in New Orleans. This sympathy seemed a bit maudlin.
The second day was in gear, but nothing really spectacular occurred. Speakers tried to rally the crowd without a lot of luck. On the third day, McCain’s vice presidential pick, chosen in deference to his right wing base, hit the crowd like a thunderbolt. She engendered high emotions and exuberance with her attack rhetoric.
Those republicans who wondered why McCain picked an unknown for a running mate were in part reassured, as she proceeded to set up one straw Obama man after another and then kick them over. Her strident rhetoric appealed to the party faithful, and her good looks and smile won much acclaim. Actually written by one of Bush’s writers, what her speech lacked in honesty and truth, it made up in style.
Unfortunately, Ms. Palin was inadequately vetted by candidate McCain and his people. She is virtually an unknown person, which speaks much about the wisdom of that choice in and of itself. But she is now being checked out carefully by the news media. Her former acquaintances are speaking out.
She has depicted herself as “a pit bull with lipstick,” and she brags about being nicknamed “the Barracuda.” The movies used a similar phrase, “hellion in high heels” to refer to persons such as she describes herself. That is indeed her reputation.
The picture that is emerging is one that includes a small town mayor who fired the city staff, including planner, management, and police chief. She pressured the city librarian for a “book burning” cleansing of literature she thought morally bad. She inherited a city with no debt and left it $22 million in hock, with a lightly used “money pit” sports complex but no modern sewer system. Her touted “tax cuts” were in high-value property taxes, and these were compensated with a consumer sales tax that included groceries.
Ms. Palin stretches her meager resume’ somewhat. Her claim to selling a jet plane on e-Bay was false, and it was sold privately at more than a half-million loss to the state. The pipeline for which she took credit hasn’t even been started.
As mayor she hired a lobbyist affiliated with the indicted Alaska senator and took millions in earmarks from the federal dole. As governor she was for the “bridge to nowhere” before she was against it, but she took that “pork” earmark money and spent it on her own pet projects.
Ms. Palin bragged about vetoing expenditures as governor. Most of these impetuous vetoes turned out to be for government functions she did not understand. It is said that she later signed bills for most of the same items.
Ms. Palin does not believe in human causes of global warming, and she believes in teaching creationism in science classes. She believes that sex education should be “abstinence only,” which has been proven ineffective in studies all across the country and in her own family. She has attended meetings of the Alaska Independence (Secession) party, of which her husband is a member. She thinks God is guiding the Iraq war.
Abuse of power in office showed in the 22 contacts made by her people to the public safety director seeking the firing of a former brother-in-law. The director was fired when he would not succumb to pressure. An investigation is underway. She has a lawyer. Both the commissioner and the brother-in-law are now speaking out. She and the McCain campaign camp label all this as just politics.
But does this say anything about the campaign’s touting of “change” from Bush and company? Remember the corrupted U.S. district attorney system, purging all who were not loyal enough to the party to base prosecutions on politics? Remember Scooter, who illegally exposed a CIA agent for political reprisal at the urging of White House staff and the Vice President? He was convicted, but the president commuted his sentence.
Ms. Palin attacks news media, using such names as the “eastern elite” to describe media people, as well as Obama and other detractors. McCain has himself blustered complaints of bias, intimidating news media into giving him airtime for his personal attacks on Obama during the latter’s trip to the Middle East and Europe.
Does anyone out there recall the attacks voiced by a previous vice-president on the media and the intellectual and scientific community? Does anyone remember the attack phrase: “nattering nabobs of negativism?” How about the phrase: “effete corps of impudent snobs?” Those went over big also.
For those with bad memory or of young age, these were utterances of the crooked vice president of a crooked republican president of the United States. Both eventually resigned in shame. Spiro Agnew, criminally convicted of bribery and corruption, was the attack dog on the democrats and the media for Richard Nixon, also a crook.
The McCain camp has denied press access to Sarah Palin. She will have no press conference, they say, and will not expose herself to any reporters for interviews unless chosen by the campaign staff. Of course, she does not want to answer public questions about her record, but what does this say about openness in government? Isn’t this just another Bush policy?
We question the wisdom of making enemies of media people, even if the owners are republican.
Dr. Edwin E. Vineyard, AKA The Militant Moderate
The first day of the convention was a bust. Sympathy for those on the gulf about to be hurricane victims was the theme, although it is difficult to assuage the memories of an incompetent republican administration and the tragedies of Katrina in New Orleans. This sympathy seemed a bit maudlin.
The second day was in gear, but nothing really spectacular occurred. Speakers tried to rally the crowd without a lot of luck. On the third day, McCain’s vice presidential pick, chosen in deference to his right wing base, hit the crowd like a thunderbolt. She engendered high emotions and exuberance with her attack rhetoric.
Those republicans who wondered why McCain picked an unknown for a running mate were in part reassured, as she proceeded to set up one straw Obama man after another and then kick them over. Her strident rhetoric appealed to the party faithful, and her good looks and smile won much acclaim. Actually written by one of Bush’s writers, what her speech lacked in honesty and truth, it made up in style.
Unfortunately, Ms. Palin was inadequately vetted by candidate McCain and his people. She is virtually an unknown person, which speaks much about the wisdom of that choice in and of itself. But she is now being checked out carefully by the news media. Her former acquaintances are speaking out.
She has depicted herself as “a pit bull with lipstick,” and she brags about being nicknamed “the Barracuda.” The movies used a similar phrase, “hellion in high heels” to refer to persons such as she describes herself. That is indeed her reputation.
The picture that is emerging is one that includes a small town mayor who fired the city staff, including planner, management, and police chief. She pressured the city librarian for a “book burning” cleansing of literature she thought morally bad. She inherited a city with no debt and left it $22 million in hock, with a lightly used “money pit” sports complex but no modern sewer system. Her touted “tax cuts” were in high-value property taxes, and these were compensated with a consumer sales tax that included groceries.
Ms. Palin stretches her meager resume’ somewhat. Her claim to selling a jet plane on e-Bay was false, and it was sold privately at more than a half-million loss to the state. The pipeline for which she took credit hasn’t even been started.
As mayor she hired a lobbyist affiliated with the indicted Alaska senator and took millions in earmarks from the federal dole. As governor she was for the “bridge to nowhere” before she was against it, but she took that “pork” earmark money and spent it on her own pet projects.
Ms. Palin bragged about vetoing expenditures as governor. Most of these impetuous vetoes turned out to be for government functions she did not understand. It is said that she later signed bills for most of the same items.
Ms. Palin does not believe in human causes of global warming, and she believes in teaching creationism in science classes. She believes that sex education should be “abstinence only,” which has been proven ineffective in studies all across the country and in her own family. She has attended meetings of the Alaska Independence (Secession) party, of which her husband is a member. She thinks God is guiding the Iraq war.
Abuse of power in office showed in the 22 contacts made by her people to the public safety director seeking the firing of a former brother-in-law. The director was fired when he would not succumb to pressure. An investigation is underway. She has a lawyer. Both the commissioner and the brother-in-law are now speaking out. She and the McCain campaign camp label all this as just politics.
But does this say anything about the campaign’s touting of “change” from Bush and company? Remember the corrupted U.S. district attorney system, purging all who were not loyal enough to the party to base prosecutions on politics? Remember Scooter, who illegally exposed a CIA agent for political reprisal at the urging of White House staff and the Vice President? He was convicted, but the president commuted his sentence.
Ms. Palin attacks news media, using such names as the “eastern elite” to describe media people, as well as Obama and other detractors. McCain has himself blustered complaints of bias, intimidating news media into giving him airtime for his personal attacks on Obama during the latter’s trip to the Middle East and Europe.
Does anyone out there recall the attacks voiced by a previous vice-president on the media and the intellectual and scientific community? Does anyone remember the attack phrase: “nattering nabobs of negativism?” How about the phrase: “effete corps of impudent snobs?” Those went over big also.
For those with bad memory or of young age, these were utterances of the crooked vice president of a crooked republican president of the United States. Both eventually resigned in shame. Spiro Agnew, criminally convicted of bribery and corruption, was the attack dog on the democrats and the media for Richard Nixon, also a crook.
The McCain camp has denied press access to Sarah Palin. She will have no press conference, they say, and will not expose herself to any reporters for interviews unless chosen by the campaign staff. Of course, she does not want to answer public questions about her record, but what does this say about openness in government? Isn’t this just another Bush policy?
We question the wisdom of making enemies of media people, even if the owners are republican.
Dr. Edwin E. Vineyard, AKA The Militant Moderate
