by Nomad
After Palin appearance in Iowa, many Republicans snapped awake from their hypnotic trance and asked "Who is this character?" It's a little late in the day, of course. As one columnist points out, looking at the next wave coming out of Texas, the fun has only just begun.
There's no denying it. Sarah Palin's speech in Des Moines had a lot of conservatives shaking their heads in dismay. Could it be possible that they have finally awaken from their "long infatuation" with that woman from Wasilla?
Jim Schutze, writing for the Dallas Observer, has an interesting op-ed piece on that very subject. It seems that when it comes to Palin, the thrill is definitely gone.
Schutze quotes conservative Matt Lewis in The Daily Beast :
Schutze quotes conservative Matt Lewis in The Daily Beast :
"It's worth considering that maybe her early critics saw some fundamental character flaw -- some harbinger of things to come -- that escaped me."
Harbinger, shmarbinger!
It might have escaped you, Matt, but the truth about Palin and her character flaws was pretty damned obvious to the rest of us.
It might have escaped you, Matt, but the truth about Palin and her character flaws was pretty damned obvious to the rest of us.
As Schutze writes, perhaps we who understood what Palin was all about should have been more blunt, less polite. We kept ringing the doorbell, but nobody was at home.
The Sarah of Des Moines was, in fact, nothing very extraordinary. At least not to those of us who have been paying attention.
It's the same woman who said:
It's the same woman who said:
"Mr. President, the only thing that stops a bad guy with a nuke is a good guy with a nuke."
The same woman who thought North Korea was an ally.
This is the same woman who thought that a turkey being slaughtered would make a fine backdrop for an interview.
This is the same woman who thought that a turkey being slaughtered would make a fine backdrop for an interview.
The assorted instances of misrepresenting history and attempts to blur the lines between religion and politics. The manipulations and the phony folksiness, the far-fetched tales of the birth of her baby.
Most of us on the Left stopped laughing at Palin's antics a long time ago. We gave up trying to convince those on the Right. You were in love and you refused to listen. Every time we said "This woman is dangerous/crazy" you answered with "You're just jealous" or "But she's so pretty!"
You didn't want to admit that Sarah Palin was your own bad judgement personified. In his article, Schutz lays out his case in blunt language- the kind of terms even Palin supporters can comprehend.
She is an idiot. She is a moron. She is an uneducated, ill-read and ill-informed person of atrocious taste and horrible conduct whose appalling hillbilly brood gets into drunken brawls in which people call each other fucking cunts in public.
Breaking up is hard to do. Once upon a time, it was love and now all that remains is recrimination and regret. Palin was your saucy rogue. Too bad you never bothered to look up the exact definition of the word. There it is: "An unprincipled, deceitful, and unreliable person; a scoundrel or rascal."
We watched in stunned silence as the Right fall under her spell. What could we say when National Review Editor Rich Lowry declared back about Palin's first party speech in 2008,
"It was so sparkling it was almost mesmerizing. It sent little starbursts through the screen and ricocheting around the living rooms of America."
"It was so sparkling it was almost mesmerizing. It sent little starbursts through the screen and ricocheting around the living rooms of America."
The Far Right, blinded by love for this bizarre- and many
thought detestable or mentally-unstable - personality, seemed to ignore so much that was
obvious to the rest of us.
After such a long honeymoon, the Right Wing voters are now wondering what the heck they ever saw in Ms. Palin.
After such a long honeymoon, the Right Wing voters are now wondering what the heck they ever saw in Ms. Palin.
The only question is what has really changed? Has Sarah Palin actually become suddenly ridiculous or have the conservatives finally decided that they have tired of this woman's non-stop incoherence, her money-grubbing self-promotion and her sound bites from the loony bin?
So this is where you are, Republicans. You are beginning to suspect that Sarah Palin, whom you loved, may be a vulgar idiot and a moron. What's next? What else do you need to know about yourselves? This is where Texas comes into play.Here in Texas we have elected an entire slate of Sarah Palins to most of the highest elective offices in our state.
If you think Sarah Palin was an Iowa train wreck, then, Schutze writes, stay tuned. Put on your crash helmet and brace yourself. Texas has a gift for the rest of the country and this is the kind of gift you can't return.
Conservatives- the few remaining sane ones, anyway, in the months ahead are going to be watching in horror as the attack of Palin clones make their appearance.
Conservatives- the few remaining sane ones, anyway, in the months ahead are going to be watching in horror as the attack of Palin clones make their appearance.
It's the whole Koch Brothers campaign to co-opt the conservative movement and turn it into an imbeciles crusade, a street brawl against reality, a vast army of fools who can be made cannon-fodder for the uber-rich in their war on civilization.
Babbling Sarah in Des Moines? Oh brother, you ain't seen nothing yet.