A Few Thoughts on the D.C. scrap

"I answered him yes because I have the confidence in that readiness and knowing that you can’t blink, you have to be wired in a way of being so committed to the mission, the mission that we’re on, reform of this country and victory in the war, you can’t blink."
Sarah Palin

I tend to rag on Sarah Palin a lot, don't I? She's earned it. Sarah Palin might be one of the most useless pseudo-politicians in a big crowd, contributing nothing to the McCain campaign except a plug on a dying skit comedy show, still trying to talk a big game after she's made it staggeringly clear that she has little to no idea of how Washington works, and showing up frequently in my newsfeeds. All of 'em. She's replaced George W. Bush as the GOP media darling, and I've got a problem with this; George had an affability to his incompetence, a kind of good-ol'-boy air that he was just trying his hardest, that he was just a simple Texan man trying to make some good in this world by running a big chunk of it. That air, of course, fell apart when anyone remembered that he was a Bush, that he had grown up around politics--that his father was President. Sarah just reeks of uselessness. She's got no amiability to her; George, I have said many times, might be surrounded by fundamentally evil human beings, but I'd still like to have a beer and talk baseball with him. I don't want to be in the same state as Sarah Palin. That quote, I think, sums her up: all enthusiasm, no coherence.

Speaking of Palin, not too long after she announced boldly that she'd like to take a stab at the White House herself (though she'd still also gladly endorse John "The Zombie" McCain), Sam Wurzelbacher threw himself back into the spotlight again, this time to let America know that John McCain "ruined his life." For those who get their news entirely from headlines, Mr. Wurzelbacher is better known as "Joe the Plumber," the popular face of "middle America." He was, for a stint, the GOP's wet dream; a good looking middle-middle class American calling the face of the opposing party a "Socialist." Now Joe has turned his back on McCain and Palin, saying that the McCain campaign has "screwed up his life." He said that he supported McCain as "the lesser of two evils," but now makes a fantastic comment that "at least [Obama] was honest about what he was going to do."

That's the kind of politics I have to admire, and the kind of political sense I like. Wurzelbacher made a point of saying that he still firmly disagrees with more or less everything Obama and his administration represents, but he at least tosses him the grudging admiration of honesty. I felt the same way about a few politicians on the ticket in 2008, and I'm sure I'll feel the same way about whoever they line up at the abbatoir in 2012.

In other news, happy Lent to all my Catholic followers. Here's to hoping that your fast went well, that your ashes didn't get in your eye, and that those 40 days without whatever go by quickly.

P.S. Here's an interview of Wurzelbacher with Sean Hannity. In true Fox News form, about as fair and balanced as a skinhead in a synagogue:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,586332,00.html

Question for my readers: what do you think of Hannity's questioning here? I'll share my thoughts later; I want to hear from you. Mahalo!

Wide-eyed, fully aware. Every single stimulus sending my nerves into overdrive. The moment of anticipation, the pause between the leap off the cliff and the fall. One pause of terrifying glory. One of the few moments when you've genuinely woken up.

Today was dead-slow, as far as news goes. I realized that George W. Bush has completely faded away, dropped entirely under the radar, and I was impressed. This was the President that cameramen practically tripped over themselves to catch, if only for the entertainment value. The blurb-writers loved him; in four years he offered up so much imparseable pseudo-wisdom that there are now a dozen "Bushism" calenders, each with different quotes from "Dubya." Anyone know what he's up to these days? According to wikipedia, he's in Texas, writing a book about his stint as Fearless Leader of the Free World. But when was the last time he was on camera? His farewell address? Did he attend Obama's inauguration? I don't remember. Still, you've got to admire that. The man has his time in the limelight, and he's bowed out quiet. I suppose the media has plenty to say and a few more talking heads to pick up the "Absurd Quotes" quota.

I wonder what goes through his head these days. I can't help but think about the lambasting from....more or less everyone left of center, and I wonder if he still thinks he made the right decisions.

This is sloppy writing, and I know it. At this point, I'm writing to get words on the page. get my head used to the idea of thoughts going directly from brain-meat to onscreen with no in-between. I'll need that pretty soon.

In other news, the B-Radical harmonica got released today. I'll do a write-up of my experience with the B-Radical, but I'll say this; it lives up to the hype.

Entry One: Early Morning Ramblings

It's 8:11AM, and I've spend the past three hours watching local news channels and googling how to clean guns. Such a combination of inane pseudo-reporting and firearms blended with ungodly amounts of caffeine I pour into myself every night leads to some unusual thought processes. Stuff like "If Richard Nixon were still alive, would he have gotten into a fistfight with John McCain?" and "I should bombard the news stations with bizarre anonymous letters simultaneously praising and condemning every nuance of the program I could possibly think of." And, of course, there was the granddaddy of the strange ideas, the one that still makes perfect sense and probably will until I get some sleep:

"Hey, I've got stuff to say. I should start a blog!"

And so here we are, you and I (whoever you out there might be.) First thoughts of the day are on something I caught on the Channel 4 Power Hour or whatever the hell they're calling these "newscasts" these days. Sarah Palin is on the chopping block again, this time for keeping Q&A session notes written on the palm of her hand. The more tongue-in-cheek commentators have taken to calling this "Palmgate," because the '-gate' suffix won't get old in American politics until we can't actually remember who Richard Nixon was. Whatever your thoughts on Palin's actions and how that reflects on her leadership/intelligence/right to claim that she is, in fact, sentient, what this really shows is that Sarah Palin has now become the GOP's rodeo clown. While the Party scrambles to pull itself together in time for the 2010 elections (and starts pre-gaming for the Big Race in 2012,) they're tossing Sarah "Can See Russia From Her House" Palin, the woman who has been cited as the number one reason John McCain lost the Presidential election, in front of all the cameras for her to do her thing. From making less-than-offhand comments about taking on Barack Obama in '12 to the latest Palin "whoopsie" moment, Sarah is exactly what the GOP could use now: a face to make them look comfortable and ridiculous (certainly anything but a threat!) while the real players get lined up. It's an opossum's play, and it's working fantastically at the moment.

So who are the "real players?" I'm betting Scott Brown; this is a young, charismatic, good-looking guy with a fantastic military record who sits just on the fence enough on major issues to be relatively comfortable to most people. He's certainly bold enough to go for the Big Chair after a two-year stint in the Senate. Word has it that Jeb Bush will run; I wish him the best of luck. He was a miserable soul-sucker of a governer and the brother of the most lambasted president since Jimmy Carter. The Bush name, if you ask me, is still mud in D.C. Some familiar faces, Bobby Jindal, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney...more thoughts on all this later. Just something to keep in mind: watch how often Sarah is in the media, and remember the giggles when the GOP starts swinging.