JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind. – With days still to go in the White House race, backers of vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin are talking her up as a possible contender in 2012, speculation that irritates other Republicans who contend she’s a drag on the ticket and that her lightweight image — unfair or not — will be hard to shed.
The Alaska governor has done little to quiet the talk. In fact, she fueled the discussion this week when she signaled that she will remain on the national political scene no matter what happens Tuesday. “I’m not doing this for naught,” she said in an interview with ABC News.
This, kids, is the biggest argument against marriages of convenience I can think of.
Now, I’ll be blunt and say I’m looking forward to the end of this election as much as anyone, but I do have to admit that I’m going to miss the spectacle of these two throwing each other under the bus on a daily basis. Most soap operas don’t hold a candle to this.
So it’s not exactly news anymore, but I think it bears examination nonetheless: the NRCC performed a little triage last week and pulled their financial backing from the Congressional reelection races of among others, noted nutjobs Michelle Bachmann (MN-06), Tom Feeney (FL-24), Joe Knollenberg (MI-09) and Marilyn Musgrave (CO-04).
It’s not as if all of these races are unwinnable; Bachmann and Knollenberg, at least, are rated by Pollster as tossups right now. As far as Musgrave and Feeney are concerned, despite the fact that both of these Winger poster children are expected to lose (Feeney being Abramoffed and Musgrave being just plain weird), you’d think the NRCC would at least stay in for the sake of appearances, you know, not alienating Crazy Base World and all.
True, the NRCC is strapped for cash and has been all year, and they simply have too much to defend at this point; they’ve got to make some decisions, and those decisions will not make everyone happy. But why pull out on the loony right if it’s their supposed base? Why not dump Chris Shays in CT-04, or the Madia-Paulsen race in MN-03, or give up on taking back NH-01?
Unless… Hm… Maybe that’s the point? Maybe the Family Research Council wasn’t just being paranoid when they squawked about the NRCC’s choices? Maybe the national party, after having taken out a ton of stock in Crazy back in the ’90’s, have realized that Crazy is a rotten long-term investment, yielding sparse and unpleasant dividends?
A guy can dream.
Fact is, there are sharp lines being drawn in the Republican party right now, and it’ll make for an interesting show after Nov. 4th. No matter who wins the top spot, the Republicans are sure to lose ground in both the House and the Senate, further reducing their influence and stature to the level of a regional party of racist whackos. The blame is already flying and the knives are already out.
The complete implosion is mere days away, and the social conservatives, the fiscal conservatives, and the neocon frauds will be at each others’ throats to see who gets custody of the scarred and battered shell of the legal entity once known as the Republican Party.
Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-N.C.) is running in a tight race against Democrat Kay Hagan. Attack ads aren’t surprising finds in any political battle, let alone one that is contentious. But Sen. Dole took a giant leap into Crazy Town by creating an ad alleging that Hagan is an atheist that ends with a Hagan impersonator saying “There is no God”.
Sen. Elizabeth Dole’s latest advertisement suggests her Democratic opponent, Kay Hagan, is a godless heathen.
“A leader of the Godless Americans PAC recently held a secret fundraiser for Kay Hagan,” the 30-second spot says, showing footage of the group’s members talking about their atheist beliefs on cable news.
“Godless Americans and Kay Hagan. She hid from cameras. Took godless money,” the ad concludes. “What did Kay Hagan promise in return?”
At the very end of the ad, a voice sounding like Hagan’s says: “There is no God.”
Hagan is actually an elder and Sunday School teacher at her Presbyterian church- which is easily proven. Sen. Dole might be attempting to jump on the fear mongering bandwagon of the Republican party, but she’s at a disadvantage in that her opponent is a kindly looking middle aged white woman. Instead of stirring up fear or hatred, Dole ends up looking like a liar that’s grasping at straws.
Kay Hagan is seeking a cease and desist order on the ad. Her campaign released two response ads and the candidate herself delivered a speech while standing beside her pastor.
I’m a little nervous writing about this paperie, because I can’t remember where I heard of them. If I stole the original idea from one of Brandy’s Indie Retailer posts, please forgive me. The Frantic Meercat makes absolutely charming pastiches of vintage text, images and sentiments. Some remind me of the Anne Taintor line, but most ring true as their own personal spin on old-time ephemera or new-time sardonics.
get well, 7 x 5″ card for $3 (inside reads, “I recommend the worm cakes. Get well soon.”)
I haven’t had a chance to watch this yet. I was visiting a relative in the hospital when it originally aired and have been really busy since. But I hear it’s good!
The guys from Five Thirty Eight have been on a road trip for these last few weeks of the election season, bringing readers the story from the ground. They attended John McCain’s rally in Miami (held at Everglades Lumber) and witnessed the kind of hate-filled aggression that has become typical of the McPalin Mob:
After the rally, we witnessed a near-street riot involving the exiting McCain crowd and two Cuban-American Obama supporters. Tony Garcia, 63, and Raul Sorando, 31, were suddenly surrounded by an angry mob. There is a moment in a crowd when something goes from mere yelling to a feeling of danger, and that’s what we witnessed. As photographers and police raced to the scene, the crowd elevated from stable to fast-moving scrum, and the two men were surrounded on all sides as we raced to the circle.
The event maybe lasted a minute, two at the most, before police competently managed to hustle the two away from the scene and out of the danger zone. Only FiveThirtyEight tracked the two men down for comment, a quarter mile down the street.
“People were screaming ‘Terrorist!’ ‘Communist!’ ‘Socialist!’” Sorando said when we caught up with him. “I had a guy tell me he was gonna kill me.”
Asked what had precipitated the event, “We were just chanting ‘Obama!’ and holding our signs. That was it. And the crowd suddenly got crazy.”
Garcia told us that the man who originally had warned the two it was his property when they had first tried to attend the rally with Obama T-shirts was one of the agitators. Coming up just before the scene started getting out of hand, the man whispered in Garcia’s ear, “I’m gonna beat you up the next time I see you.” Garcia described him for us: “a big stocky man wearing a tweed jacket.” He used hand motions to emphasize this was a large guy. We went back to look for the gentleman twenty minutes after the incident but didn’t find him.
I attended a Michelle Obama event in my hometown over the summer. There were a few “protesters” outside: people standing nearby that were holding up signs or attempting to hand out pamphlets. The crowd exiting the event just walked past them, politely ignoring or avoiding them. No one tried to engage them in any way. Because that’s the sane and intelligent response to people standing idly by with signs you disagree with. If your worldview is so flimsily defined that a piece of cardboard can make you blind with rage, you need to work out some issues, stat.
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