Monday, February 8, 2010

Last one…promise!

Polititions "The Tea Party is the future of politics." ~~Sarah Palin

Well, I guess we're in a whole shitload of trouble then, aren't we?

I've been procrastinating on writing this, because I'm just really tired of seeing and hearing this lobotomized drone. But the sooner I get it done, maybe I can put it out of my mind...at least until the next idiotic comments we hear coming out of her mouth. It's only a matter of time, after all.

I watched her speech Saturday night. It was so profoundly disturbing and hurt my brain so terribly that I had to lay down and take a nap to recuperate. First off, she is such a horrible speaker. Her timing and cadence is poor, her voice is grating, and her words seem stilted and unnatural. (I'm sure many will disagree with me and find her a fascinating and compelling speaker. If so, you're hearing something I am not.)

She hit on current topics, leveling plenty of criticism against the Obama administration, but offering few solutions of her own. One of her main topics was national security, saying that the President spent little time in his State of the Union speech addressing that issue. His main focus in that speech was on job creation; I'm certain that if it had mainly been about national security, she would have bitched about how he doesn't care about Americans and job creation. She wished for a strong national defense, despite the fact that defense spending takes up the largest percentage of the President's submitted budget.

New terms used like “overseas contingency operation” instead of the word “war.” That reflects a worldview that is out of touch with the enemy that we face. We can’t spin our way out of this threat.

That's pure bullshit, and everyone knows it. Of course the President speaks of war--his predecessor got us into two of them, after all.

Palin duct taped She accused the President of blaming Bush for everything. Well, that's pretty much the reality of things, isn't it? All the shit that is going down was in place and happening before Obama took office. Now he's left with the Herculean task of trying to clean up a shit-tastic Augean stable full of arrogance, jingoism, corporate greed, and international hatred for what Cheney and his minions perpetrated on the rest of the world. The collective amnesia I'm seeing in the teabaggers is perplexing and maddening. While I don't want to hear every other word out of the President's mouth be "Bush did it," apparently people do need a reminder of who got us into this FUBAR'd mess in the first place.

She spoke about how she rejected the stimulus dollars and then mentioned that she was over-ridden and Alaska accepted the money. Now who is passing on the blame, Palin? For someone who never takes responsibility or blame for any of her frequent failures, it's rather amusing that she enjoys accusing the President of doing that.

She ridiculed intelligence by once again talking about "elitists," and those who have a "fat, elite résumé in their back pocket." She said that we need a "Commander in Chief, not a professor of law standing at a lectern." I get the impression that she thinks that being Commander in Chief is all about tough talk and bombing the hell out of anyone who disagrees with you. Again, we know how well that worked.

She harped on Obama's use of a teleprompter--although that particular dig needs to be put to bed, after his stellar performance, sans teleprompter, at the Republican Caucus--all the while looking down for long seconds at a time at her own notes. (More about that in a moment.) She let her snark loose, asking Obama's supporters, "How's that hopey, changey thing workin' for ya?" Well, it's working great for me, you dork. I finally feel like I don't have to be embarrassed by my government when I say I'm an American. And I've been seeing that "hopey, changey" phrase on the Web for at least six months now. Get some new material, or at least stop getting your one-liners and witty bon mots from Zazzle.

After the speech, she took a few questions asked by a moderator. It seemed pretty obvious to me that the questions had been chosen beforehand and given to her; her responses were immediate, with no deliberation or thought...she just immediately started talking. I did read in a couple of places today that the questions were indeed submitted to her prior to being asked. In one of her rambling answers, she said that we need to get back to our roots as a God-fearing nation, and mentioned seeking "divine intervention." This is as scary as anything she has ever said...we are not a theocracy, and praying for "divine intervention" goes against everything I believe (or don't believe) in.

Palin's hand Finally, this brings us to the teleprompter line. By now, I'm sure most of you have seen the video of her glancing at her hand in order to answer one of the questions. (If not, you can see it here.) Now, I'm not one to begrudge anyone a teleprompter or notes for a speech. I know I have always needed notes whenever I've had to speak; I don't think there is anything wrong with that at all. What bothers me about this, though, is that despite looking down frequently and lengthily at her own notes (one of the things that makes her a bad speaker, in my opinion), she still used that tired line about the President being a "charismatic guy with a teleprompter." The worst thing, however, is that the question asked was what should the top three priorities be for conservatives? She managed to get through one, but then had to look at her hand to remember what the other two were. Isn't that a pretty basic question, summing up a personal philosophy of conservatism? Shouldn't you kind of have that ingrained, at least if you're a political figure who talks about common sense conservatism? AND she had the questions beforehand! It wasn't like this came out of left field and surprised her!

Well, she was playing to her audience. They loved her, and I know I won't change any minds here, if anyone supports her. It obviously gave people like me even more reason to despise her (and I do, I do). I've also heard opinions from some independents who said that she did nothing to reach out to them, or give them any reason to support her. So she was essentially preaching to the choir, who lap up her witticisms [exaggerated finger quotes] like they are savoring the taste of the sweet, sweet tears of liberals.

I'll leave you with one final thought from the woman that some people inexplicably think is capable of leading our country:

And around the world, people who are seeking freedom from oppressive regimes, wonder if Alaska is still that beacon of hope for their cause.

Alaska...beacon of hope to the world's downtrodden.

11 comments:

  1. I'm glad you recapped this for me, because I can't listen to her speak for more than 12 seconds--and that's a long time--before changing the channels.
    She is all talk and no substance.
    She is all blame and no solution.
    As for the "hope-y, change-y" I, too, am loving it compared to what we might have gotten: dope-y, mangey.

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  2. Horrible timing, horrible speaker, complete lack of substance. She is nothing more than an opportunist.

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  3. Bravo on your coverage of everything that went on in Nashville the last few days. What an embarrassment on display there, capped off by the performance of one of the more ignorant people currently residing on this planet.

    The idea that more than five people could honestly support her being president makes me think my life has turned into one giant Candid Camera moment.

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  4. The last few days I've been telling Paul what I've read about Palin. I kept referring to these people as teabaggers. Paul was in hysterics. If the shoe fits. (Hugs)Indigo

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  5. all i can say is that she spoke at the gaylord opryland.

    gay lord. two words conservatives usually dont put together. . .

    snort

    xxalainaxx

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  6. Thanks for the recap, Beth. I can't seem to listen to her because she makes me furious. I get all embarrassed for her bigot-y teabag-y friends!
    We need to just ignore her and all those teabaggers. Don't give them any attention at all. They are not worth the energy. Not even a little bit.

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  7. Okay, I'm finally fed up enough to go blatantly elitist: Palin's is a cult of personality as baseless and hollow as James Ray's. She's got a beauty pageant mentality...the sort that goes over big with the folks who can't get enough of American Idol...those who've been so heavily and selectively marketed to identify with the cheap, the shallow, and the inane that they don't know that they represent an aberration in America's culture rather than its apogee. I am too old to migrate, but, if Palin figures seriously into our country's future governance, damned if I can stay and watch.

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  8. Beth she is a horrible speaker. More importantly she is an empty shell. No heart, no mind, no soul. I can't blame her for using the notes, that is pretty common, but I can criticize her for lack of credibility and intelligence. Her haphazard scrambling for celebrity is simply disgusting.

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  9. Thanks for all the info, your comments, and the comments of others who read your blog. Just hearing about Palin's idiocy and the sheep who follow her makes me woozy. . . and slightly frightened.

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  10. I've decided to invent a new flavor of tea to characterize those Teabaggers, Republicans and people who worship Sarah Palin, and who think our current government is a socialist organization out to ruin their pitiful little lives...

    It's called 'sour grapes tea.'

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  11. (((Beth)))
    Yipeee, I finally made it to your blog and love it!
    I also watched the idiot, uh Palin, speak at this convention. In many ways this "Tea Party" and their nonsense is a form of a cult and Palin is nothing but a cult! A complete nut-job. This whole thing, Tea Party and Palin is just disgusting.
    Thank you for the great post. I totally enjoyed reading it :) Good job!
    Hugs, Gayla

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I'm funny how, I mean funny like I'm a clown, I amuse you?