Michelle, ma belle..... the mean girl syndrome

I'm not a big fan of Michelle Bachmann. I'm frankly amazed at the outpouring of praise that the media and even democrats (who want her to be the candidate in the same way they would welcome Palin or Trump) have heaped on Michelle after her noticeably improved appearance at the debate....While that was encouraging for her candidacy, if you have followed Michelle's career at all, it doesn't matter how many evangelical followers, how many conservatives and how much money from all those carpetbaggers like the Koch brothers that Michelle drums up. She will never be president. I'm from Minnesota. I've tracked her career. I know what she has said. I know how many times that outrageous foot will go in that outrageous mouth. She can't make a dent with Hispanics or blacks. She really can't make a dent with the majority of women in this nation. She might win with white men...not sure. I don't want to prejudge them. She can't withstand the heat of the campaign, and she cannot operate on a world stage. She will implode. She will never be nominated.

Nevertheless.

Bachmann has been savvy enough to realize that the media and the Democrats want to see her have a cat fight with Palin. She won't. No matter how much bait Palin puts out there.

Think about mean girl behavior. Think about planning a "film premiere"...in Iowa? There, if you're Sarah Palin, you can go to the theater with........ 345 people. Sizeable crowd. Think about making sure that your premiere dovetails with the likely launch date for Michelle Bachmann. So, it was just a coincidence that you tried to upstage her on "her" day? Now think about your secret weapon, if you are Palin. You can't be openly insulting about Bachmann because people will think less of you. So you use the weapon... your not quite 21 year old daughter. I don't make fun of Bristol because I feel sorry for her and feel she's been used all her life. But, she's an adult now. She lives somewhere other than Mommy's house. She makes her own choices. And yesterday, this is what she said about Bachmann:

"I think [Bachmann] dresses a lot like my mom. But a lot, a lot of women have done that the last few years. I do think it's odd, you know, seeing people with red blazers with their hair up with glasses."
"I don't know if she's wearing glasses but you want to be hummmm, do you think that people don't notice you're dressing like my mom?"

Talk about passive aggressive. Talk about a mean girl. Just like mom. Does she really think that Michelle is copying her goofy mother... in how she dresses? (Not that anybody cares).

So, I thought I'd post a clip of Bachmann that I'm particularly fond of. It's from 2006. I think Palin was in her between-mayor and governor period at that point. Don't know and don't care what she looked like, I'm sure Bachmann didn't know her from Adam and certainly wasn't copying a look she'd been wearing . Michelle has cultivated the ladylike suits, jewelry and hair in the 11 years she's been in politics, first as a Minnesota state senator, and, since 2006, in the federal House of Representatives.

In this clip, Michelle wears a ladylike pink suit and ladylike jewelry. The best part, though, is what she says. It should make your jaw drop. Sigh. This type of biased woman is running for President. Help us all. Despite her failings, though, Bachmann does not need the "Palin treatment"...reserved for anyone who upstages Sarah. And neither does the public. I could care less about how Michelle dresses....Sarah, too. I just wish they'd practice "live and let live". (And I'm sure France does, too.)

A Week Of Irony

As the week wound its messy way on, I couldn't help but be struck by the absolute irony present in three of its biggest stories.


1. War and Peace:


Andrew Sullivan's quotes about the ironic trip Obama found himself taking to Oslo...

"Last week, Obama's address on Afghanistan both escalated and promised an end to the war there. This week, Obama opened his Nobel Peace Price acceptance speech with a long disquisition on the nature of war and its necessity--complete with a brief survey of "just war" theory."

"Why is hope audacious?

Because the world is inherently tragic. Because, in Camus' words, men die and they are not happy. Because in Obama's words, "We will not eradicate violent conflict in our lifetimes. There will be times when nations -- acting individually or in concert -- will find the use of force not only necessary but morally justified... For make no mistake: Evil does exist in the world. " "








I fear what will come in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

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2. Tiger Tale (Tail??)

Then there was the irony of the world's best known and best paid athlete. A man so used to not getting caught, he literally must have been bewildered about just how OVER it is for him, given the way the story took flight. How does a man this used to winning, schooled by his father, with all of the money and fame in the world do this?

I'm glad he decided to leave his message last night and let the world know he wasn't going to golf for awhile. After all of this smarmy coverage since Thanksgiving, I'm sure we all feel like we could use a shower. Porn stars, escorts and blondes, oh my.

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3. Pick Your Spots

And lastly, the irony of someone who could be a great and goofy entertainer, but fancies herself a world leader, courting scorn and embarrassment. Why? Pick your spots.


You're doing OK, Sarah. I can't stand you, but as a private citizen, you have the right to peddle your book all over the US of A. And it's going well for you. Stick with that. So, try to insure that you speak only of what you know something about. Trying to talk about stuff you don't know anything about got you in big trouble before (Russia, the powers of the Vice Presidency, what she will do about Wall St.). And if you take on anyone, try to make it someone that is of your stature on a topic you know something about. Here's what I mean:


Don't accuse this guy of stealing ideas from you for a speech on war and foreign policy. You know nothing about war or foreign policy :







"Following an interview with the former vice presidential candidate and fierce Obama critic on Thursday, USA Today reports that Palin "praised" him for his speech in Oslo, and "said the president's defense of war to combat evil could have been taken from the pages of her memoirs."



How could that be? He used words of more than one syllable!!!


AND


Don't start a war of words with this guy over the environment:

After spending the past few days slamming Gore and other proponents of climate change science, Palin back-pedaled when asked if she would debate the former vice president on the issue during a radio interview with conservative pundit Laura Ingraham.

"You know, it depends on what the venue would be, what the forum," Palin told Ingraham. "Because Laura, as you know, if it would be some kind of conventional, traditional debate with his friends setting it up or being the commentators, I'll get clobbered because, you know, they don't want to listen to the facts."


Ah, yes, the facts. The facts from a small town mayor who served for 6 years in a city the size of St. Cloud,Mn. Then as governor of the 49th state, she was determined to quit before her term was over, serving 2.5 years. A woman who has a bachelor's degree in journalism that she cobbled together from 5 different stints at western colleges. A failed Vice Presidential candidate who has co-written her autobiography.

Contrast that to a Harvard graduate, 16 year legislator, who served in the military for two years, went to Vietnam, and who served for 8 years as Vice President, won a Presidential election - but decided not to dispute that fact in our courts, due to the divisiveness it would cause. A man who has devoted the last 9 years to the environment, going back to his passion from the two energy and science committees he chaired in the Congress, winning an Academy award for a documentary he filmed with others and a Nobel Peace Prize for his environmental efforts. A man who is on the visiting faculty at 4 different universities in America.

And he routinely uses words with more than one syllable!!!

One of these two has a pretty good intersection with the facts on Climate Change. And one of them is on a book tour with a bus that has her face on it.

AND

But last night, Sarah Palin took on an opponent that she was a worthy adversary to. And she did a great job of it. It was entertaining. She has found her niche and it is television. Who was her opponent?

"Sarah Palin ruffled William Shatner's feathers a bit last night when she surprised the funnyman by showing up to The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. The Star Trek vet has been on the late show multiple times, and usually makes it a point to mock the politician's tweets and speeches, and he took on her new book Going Rogue last night, according to NY Daily News. But, Palin came out on stage and got him back by reading lines of Captain Kirk's original autobiography from 2008. Take that! It was all in good fun though, as the two apparently left the stage holding hands -- after the funny business was over."

C'mon, you know they are equally "mavericky" and funny.

Sarah Palin takes on Captain Kirk. Awesome. Enjoy.

OMG HERE SHE COMES AGAIN

Palin Redux


Day 4, and even I, who can go on endlessly about this woman, am tired of the overexposure.



My reaction to her book?

"Whine, whine, whine"

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She's Gone Where the Goblins Go

Goodbye politics... hello money!



I can live with the Palin who can appear Pat Buchanan-like or Greta Van Susteran-like on news shows, or give speeches wherever (Note to Sarah: please practice; the resignation speech was "rambling, incoherent and illogical") candidates need her political support. I breathe a sigh of relief for the family who was placed in the national spotlight, all their dysfunctional threads dangling. I sincerely hope she makes all the money she seems to need. That she's a quitter is no surprise. A narcissist? Of the highest order. I hope there is no "hidden political scandal or investigation" forthcoming, because, because, because, because, because....

We Have Had Enough of Sarah Palin

go quietly into that good night.....

We tell lies when we are afraid... afraid of what we don't know, afraid of what others will think, afraid of what will be found out about us. But every time we tell a lie, the thing that we fear grows stronger. ~Tad Williams

The glory which is built upon a lie soon becomes a most unpleasant incumbrance. How easy it is to make people believe a lie, and how hard it is to undo that work again! ~Mark Twain

With lies you may get ahead in the world - but you can never go back. ~Russian proverb

If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything. ~Mark Twain

There is no well-defined boundary between honesty and dishonesty. The frontiers of one blend with the outside limits of the other, and he who attempts to tread this dangerous ground may be sometimes in one domain and sometimes in the other. ~O. Henry

Honesty pays, but it don't seem to pay enough to suit some people. ~Frank McKinney "Kin" Hubbard

Some people will not tolerate such emotional honesty in communication. They would rather defend their dishonesty on the grounds that it might hurt others. Therefore, having rationalized their phoniness into nobility, they settle for superficial relationships. ~Author Unknown

Quotations from the Palin....how I've missed her

"Reagan knew that real change and real change requiring shaking things up and maybe takin’ off the entrenched interest thwarting the will of the people with their ignoring of our concerns about future peril caused by selfish short-sighted advocacy for growing government and digging more debt, and taking away individual and state’s rights and hampering opportunity to responsibly develop our resources, and coddling those who would seek to harm America and her allies."

From a recent speech where she borrowed from Newt and Craig Shirley. A succinct, almost musical potpourri of words. But what the hell does it mean?

Don't Want to Get Hung Up On Clothes -

BUT I REALLY CAN'T IGNORE HYPOCRISY...

THANKS TO BLOGGER GEORGIA10

Let's pretend we have a time machine. And let us travel back in time to visit wise words from the John McCain of old. Let's travel back to May 25, 1993, specifically, when the old John McCain stood on the floor of the Senate and presented the following eloquent condemnation of the abuse of campaign funds :

Mr. McCAIN:
"Madam President, the amendment before the Senate is a very simple one. It restricts the use of campaign funds for inherently personal purposes. The amendment would restrict individuals from using campaign funds for such things as home mortgage payments, clothing purchases, noncampaign automobile expenses, country club memberships, and vacations or other trips that are noncampaign in nature.
Madam President, I want to emphasize I will be citing some examples of how campaign funds have been used which are extremely egregious, but I want to point out they are not illegal, and the purpose of this amendment is to restrict the use of those campaign funds because, if we are truly going to have campaign finance reform, I do not believe that campaign funds should be used for such things as country club dues, tuxedos, vacations, and other purposes for which they are now almost routinely used by certain Members of both bodies.
I point out that Senators and Members of Congress currently earn $139,000 a year, which means that Members of Congress are in the top 1 percent of wage earners in the country. So let there be no mistake, Members of Congress do earn a good wage, a wage that does not leave them poor.
I think it is worth contrasting a Member's salary and perks with that of a typical American family.
According to the U.S. census, in 1990 the median family income in America was $30,056. With that $30,056, the average American family was expected to put a roof over their head, feed their children, and send them to school. It seems to me that we should be able to survive as well at a salary level of $139,000 per year. [ed. note: Sarah Palin's salary as Governor of Alaska is $125,000 per year]
The use of campaign funds for items which most Americans would consider to be strictly personal reasons, in my view, erodes public confidence and erodes it significantly.
Sara Fritz, a reporter for the Los Angeles Times, in her book `Handbook of Campaign Spending' calls campaign funds that are used for personal reasons nothing more than a slush fund. [...]
Under House and Senate ethics rules, Members of Congress must use campaign funds for political--not personal--purposes. Yet the commonly accepted definition of a political expenditure has grown so broad and enforcement of the rules has been so lax that congressional campaigns now routinely make purchases that on their face appear to be personal, such as resort vacations, luxury automobiles, expensive meals, apartments, country club memberships, tuxedos, home improvements, baby sitting, and car phones.
I want to point out again, Madam President, that the examples I am going to cite are legal and they will seem egregious, but the fact is, in my view, they should be severely restricted.

Further, Ms. Fritz later concisely points out:
In many cases, in fact, [the use of campaign funds for personal purposes] has transformed middle-class politicians into members of the country club set, isolating them from their constituency.
One major reason the public does not approve of Congress is that they believe we are isolated and nonresponsive, and we, of course, do not want to maintain a policy that encourages the Congress to be even more separated and disconnected from the people.
If we in Congress learned one thing from President Clinton's $200 haircut last week, it should be that the public does not approve of its elected officials being treated as royalty. We should be no different.
The solution to this problem is simple; restrict the use of campaign funds solely to campaign purposes. [...]
According to Ms. Fritz, campaign funds have been used to buy items such as globes and trips to exotic locales such as Thailand, Taiwan, and Italy, tuxedos and an unexplainable $299 for bow ties.
I cannot imagine being able to justify to the public what will soon be the use of tax dollars in this fashion. [...]
I point out these abuses, in my view what are abuses, because they are certainly not what the average contributor intends for their funds to go to. "


And the old, principled John McCain reiterated his stance on the issue in January of 1994 :

"Mr. President, I do not believe the general public is aware of how their campaign contributions are being used. I think it would be fair to say that if they did, they would be outraged, and well they should be.
According to Ms. Fritz, campaign funds have been used to buy such items as a jumbo illuminated globe from Hammacher Schlemmer, for trips to exotic locals such as Thailand, Taiwan, and Italy, and for tuxedos and an unexplainable $299 for bow ties. [...]
Mr. President, it is time to break with the norm. What is occurring is wrong, and it must be stopped. T[...]
It is time the Congress, and those whose privilege it is to serve there, learn to live within its means. Restricting the use of campaign funds for personal purposes is a vital first step in that direction. "

And what does the new McCain have to say about Sarah Palin's "abuses" and "erosion of public confidence"? The campaign said it was "remarkable" that people were even discussing the issue. Apparently, if the new McCain has a time machine of his own, he would travel back in time and tell the old John McCain to shut the hell up.

All of the above researched by Georgia10

Perhaps the Lady Sarah can pay the campaign for the clothes (I'm sure she already has a book advance and many paid speaking engagements lined up), and the campaign can give the money to Joe the Plumber, the unpaid focus of campaign marketing. Then Joe could use the money to pay the government all the unpaid taxes he has racked up, and the nation, as a whole, will prosper.

Buffoonery.

The act of amusing others by tricks, jokes, odd gestures and postures, etc., the art of bantering in a manner of coarse or undignified joking.

Spain, pathological lying, dodging Troopergate, offshore oil rigs are safe and fish love them, watching TV with the volume turned all the way down so you can enjoy it.

It just gets better.

A REAL WOMAN OF OUR POLITICAL TIMES

Society as a whole benefits immeasurably from a climate in which all persons, regardless of race or gender, may have the opportunity to earn respect, responsibility, advancement and remuneration based on ability.
– Sandra Day O’Connor

Give it up. Just pretend you didn't say it.

September 21, 2007, 1:44 pm
The Bridge to Nowhere Gets Nowhere
By Patrick J. Lyons
Not coming soon: The bridge would have linked Ketchikan (in the foreground) with Gravina Island (in the distance) across the two channels of the Tongass Narrows and Pennock Island in between. That’s the airport runway just beyond the water on the far right. (Photo by Associated Press for The New York Times)

Word is on the wires that the State of Alaska has officially abandoned the $398 million project to build a bridge between Ketchikan, pop. 7,500, and nearby Gravina Island, where the town’s airstrip is located.
The project had become a symbol of budgetary pork, derided as the “bridge to nowhere” because Gravina Island has only a handful of residents and the cost of building the bridge seemed to many to be grossly out of proportion to its benefits. Critics howled after Senator Ted Stevens and Congressman Don Young, both Republicans, managed to get more than $200 million in federal money “earmarked” specifically for the bridge, as a stipulation tacked on to broader legislation with little or no debate.
Mounting public outrage over pork in general and the bridge in particular led Congress to strip the earmark out again; though Alaska still got the money, it was allowed to put it to any appropriate use. Sure enough, it did, leaving the financing for the Ketchikan project about $329 million shy of a bridge’s worth, Governor Sarah Palin (also a Republican) said today, adding that she has told the state transportation department to find a “fiscally responsible” alternative for easing access to the airport.

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WALL ST JOURNAL - 9/9/2008:

But Gov. Palin's claim comes with a serious caveat. She endorsed the multimillion dollar project during her gubernatorial race in 2006. And while she did take part in stopping the project after it became a national scandal, she did not return the federal money. She just allocated it elsewhere.


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So good it bears repeating.

////Thank you, Algernon !!!! /////


AND MY FAVORITE LITTLE CLIP FROM SARAH, THIS SUMMER. ALASKA FIRST!!

It's too much like Minnesota

I'm sorry. But I'm gonna have to go with the humor on this. Otherwise, I might cry. The Republicans have decided that their 2008 campaign theme will be "Election 90210". There's a great movie starring Kirstie Alley called "Drop Dead Gorgeous". The plot has a lot of relevance and close resemblance to our newest candidate for public office. Be sure and watch it this election season! And enjoy Sara Benincasa, above.

http://www.amazon.com/Drop-Dead-Gorgeous-Kirsten-Dunst/dp/0780628306/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1220507749&sr=1-1