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The Palin Doctrine: Why the Neocons Are So Excited
Sarah Palin may not have known what the Bush Doctrine was, but we're getting a pretty good idea of what the Palin Doctrine is. Or will be -- because it's still currently under construction. And what is it going to look like? Let's just say, it's going to seem familiar.
According to London's Daily Telegraph, the architects of the Palin Doctrine are a group of people who have been singularly wrong about virtually everything in the last decade -- the neocons, who have been briefing Palin for weeks.
As predicted, the fact that she didn't know anything wasn't a bug, it was a feature. She's perfect for the neocons: likeable on the outside, a blank slate on the inside. To borrow from an old cliché, if Sarah Palin didn't exist, the neocons would have had to invent her.
In fact, this is how one former White House aide describes her: "She's bright and she's a blank page. She's going places and it's worth going there with her."
Of course, the place her neocon mentors hope she's going is the White House. Given their dismal track record, they're smart enough to figure that the American public wouldn't be too keen on letting them in the front door again, so they are trying to sneak in hidden behind Palin's skirt. The Trojan Moose approaches.
The Daily Telegraph details how the neocon talent scouts spotted their political Eliza Doolittle back in the summer of '07. The love connection began, appropriately enough, on a love boat:
"Sources in the McCain camp, the Republican Party and Washington think tanks say Mrs. Palin was identified as a potential future leader of the neoconservative cause in June 2007. That was when the annual summer cruise organised by the right-of-centre Weekly Standard magazine docked in Juneau, the Alaskan state capital, and the pundits on board took tea with Governor Palin."
So nice to meet you, Governor. And don't forget, cucumber sandwiches and preemptive invasions on the Lido Deck at four!
Not surprisingly, Palin's biggest fan is Bill Kristol, who describes her as the "specter of a young, attractive, unapologetic conservatism" that "is haunting the liberal elites."
Among her other Henry Higginses is neo-neocon Joe Lieberman, who is reportedly helping prep Palin for the big ball -- her debate with Joe Biden.
She's already passed her first test with flying colors: being willing to link 9/11 with Iraq, something not even the president is still willing to do. Last week, she told a group of Iraq-bound soldiers that they were going to "defend the innocent from the enemies who planned and carried out and rejoiced in the death of thousands of Americans."
By George (Bush), I think she's got it! Congratulations, Professor Kristol, your student is coming along just fine.
Of course, the neocons know they already have an ally at the top of the GOP ticket. McCain may have been a reformer on campaign finance, but when it comes to foreign policy, he has always been solidly in the neocon club. He loves to burnish his foreign policy bona fides by talking about how he wanted to fire Donald Rumsfeld months before Bush did. But he doesn't talk a lot about how, in the days immediately after 9/11, he was part of the neocon crowd itching to get into Iraq.
Just a few days after the attack, McCain was already talking about "some other countries" that helped Bin Laden. Countries like Syria, Iran, and...Iraq. And a few weeks later, during an October 18, 2001 appearance on David Letterman, McCain answered a question about how the war in Afghanistan was going by announcing that the invasion of Iraq would be "the second phase" of the war on terror (how prescient of him to know that Saddam wouldn't give up those nonexistent WMD). What's more, he tried to buttress the case for attacking Iraq by claiming that the recent spate of anthrax attacks "may have come from Iraq." Or Fort Detrick.
Six years later, demonstrating how little he's learned from the debacle in Iraq, McCain hired Randy Scheunemann, a neocon darling who helped form The Committee for the Liberation of Iraq in 2002, as his campaign's chief foreign policy advisor.
As TPMMuckraker noted in July, "Of all the hawkish Washington foreign-policy types pushing both before and after 9/11 for war with Iraq -- a war that an overwhelming majority of Americans now considers a mistake -- Scheunemann, though not a marquee name, was among the most energetic and influential. And in the invasion's aftermath, he consistently opposed steps that might have helped stabilize the country."
And now, according to the Daily Telegraph, Scheunemann is briefing Sarah Palin.
McCain's selection of Palin may have been reckless, but it was anything but random. The neocons' view of the world may be disastrous, dangerous, discredited, and deadly -- but it's far from dead. Their patron saint, Dick Cheney, the scowling embodiment of the Neocon Doctrine, had way too much baggage -- and way too low approval ratings -- to mount a run for the White House.
That's why the Palin pick was so brilliant. On the outside, she's exponentially more likable and talented at connecting with people than Cheney ever was. But on the inside, once she graduates from the neocon finishing school, she'll be a complete and total Dick. Cheney. With lipstick.
Follow Arianna Huffington on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ariannahuff
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Sarah Palin is nobody else's problem. She is a Republican's problem. She is McCain's problem. Obama should keep out of this and keep repeating this that he has nothing to do with her and is not responsible for her lack of understanding of different subject matters. Yes, she is a problem but democrats have nothing to do with this mess. McCain brought her in and he should explain to the nation that how he is going to handle this immense and present danger of Sarah Palin.
Sarah Palin was chosen out of desperation. It wasn't about McCain putting country first. She clearly is not qualified to be Vice President of the U.S. and honestly...I'm not sure how she won the gubernatorial election in Alaska. For more on the real reason she fired Monegan and her complete ignorance of American history..visit the following links! I'm doing my rounds of cyber-snooping and I'm literally amazed at what's out there about this woman.
http://roschellenelson.blogspot.com/2008/09/sarah-palin-and-founding-fathers.html
http://roschellenelson.blogspot.com/2008/09/palins-troopergatethe-real-reason.html
Palin is a very charismatic, very ambitious egotist with average intelligence and below average patience and perception. This is just the sort of person who very intelligent folks can manipulated into doing just what they want them to do when she thinks she doing what she wants and they are helping.
The Neocons are all about getting someone else to do their dirty work while they simply make the money and have the power. Bush is a tool of them. He appoints tons of ambitious "mediocre and the shiniest". Palin is right in the mold of those ambitious very mediocre idealogue he was getting to run the Justice Department and other federal agencies. Thousands of soldiers die for them. Fox News propogandizes for them, each of the "shiny", good looking reporters thinking spewing this Neocon junk is the best way to "move up". Everybody thinks they are on the "right team" to "move up" and they are working in their self-interest.
Gov Palin is not quite the blank slate as portrayed. Just as she keeps other parts of her agenda quiet she has yet to reveal her true calling as she would put it. It is shown in her videoed spots in her radical church, her secretive running of government, her secessionist husband's presence at top level state business, her willingness to deceive, and her seemingly not taking any major financial gain. Her hand on the tiller is to move the US or at least Alaska to an ultra conservative theocratic enclave. She has already shown her hand by intimidating a local librarian and supporting creationism in school. She is off balance but deadly serious. Maybe the neocons think they are using her but she agreed to it to have them return the favor.
Neocons love Sarah Palin because she is a blank slate, as George Bush was. Anyone who is a blank slate, yet holds very conservative views, is easy to manipulate. Let's face it, to a devout conservative 9-11 was an Arab plot and the country of origin hardly matters. As long as we are attacking someone, it will suffice. Thus, Kristol and all the other discredited neocons can whisper in Palin's ear that Iran is one step fom attacking us or Israel and Palin will do their bidding. The neocons recognize a blank slate when they see one.
What's the old saying about it's better to keep your mouth shut and let someone think you're stupid, then to open it and remove all doubt? I'm GRATEFUL Sarah Palin hasn't learned that lesson and has been spouting off. She's her own worst enemy and the more she speaks, hopefully the more voters will listen and realize this woman isn't fit to be in any political office, much less second in line to lead the U.S.
Given this time of financial crisis, where would a Palin administration lead us besides "drill, drill, drill?" It is a scary thought.
McCain represents the past. The polling numbers bear that out. Some closed-minded mature adults long for the past and some closed-minded young to middle-aged adults also long for the past because the potential future threatens their indoctrination, everything that is the comfortable La-Z-Boy to which they have become accustomed -- Archie Bunker like. That spring is sticking them in the rear however, when will they get a clue?
Obama represents the future. The polling numbers bear that out as the registration of new voters swells. Many are rising up to say, I may have never voted, or I may have voted for Bush and Reagan, but not this time! The Iowans sent a message from the fields of dreams to say that change and hope is the stuff of dreams. New Hampshire said, yeah but Hillary is still a queen. On this, we cannot disagree. She is firmly at home now. Let us march on to victory.
We have had the nightmare scenario or the mediocre experience, time to unleash the dogs and not wonder who let them out -- Time to unleash the future and drown cynicism and doubt -- Time to grow a pair and show the GOP what great nations are truly all about.
Therefore, how you vote is a vote for the future or the past. It is a vote for change or more La-Z-Boy spring sticking you in the @ss.
My personal opinion of Palin is that she sure isnt impressive thats for sure.I think you can believe in a higher power and also have a realistic idea of how old the planet is.But Ariannas right shes perfect for the people on the far right.Looks intelligent on the outside but probly not too high of an IQ realistically.When your still trying your hardest to link iraq to 9-11 when theres no link.Or when your saying we are winning the war when you cant even define what a win is your way too far behind in the times for me.
This quote from today's article about Palin in the Washington Post says it quite succinctly for me:
She is going to be the deliverer of the message," said Bitney, who is now chief of staff to the state House speaker, "as opposed to sitting down and hashing out the war strategy for the Mideast."
Just another mouthpiece/puppet--like Bush.
I wouldn't be concerned with McCain/Palin possibly making it into the White House. The next 4 years the whoever the President is, he is going to have to deal with disastrous economy, very high unemployment, a much high crime rate through every city in the United States. The worst of this collapse is yet to come..Hang on for life, it's not going to be pretty.
you are correct except for your first sentence. from your tone , it seems you believe that whoever is in the whitehouse will be too "busy" to fundamentally destroy this country. i really don't understand how you think the rest of your comment supports your first sentence. Mc Cain Palin will ,under the deceptive urgency of self protection (for the country) will implement the closest facist government we have ever experienced in America. we have already moved toward that goal significantly. those of us on the "inside" of policy, have watched business take over government on so many levels that career government lawyers such as myself have seen ( subsquenetly) numerous "rights' eroded or stripped. this policy and climate will accelerate under McCain Palin. Just the fact that McCain Palin is the pick for the ticket tells me all I need to know aboutthe future.
Wow. As a woman, next time a man belittles another woman--I'm shutting up. Let's just say whatever cards we had, my insistence that we can do any job a man can (except physical stuff), this is all being flushed down the toilet with the McCain's side getting the Barack side to AGREE to take it easy on (their words) "the inexperienced VP-Sarah Palin." "Shield her." But she can be PRESIDENT in possibly 2009 if something happens to McCain. Can we ask Russia's President, wacky Iran's president, "take it easy on her." People give me a break! I'd rather her BS it with Biden instead of, "keep it short with her." Hillary can free wheel it with anyone from a street corner hustler to McCain to a crazed Communist president--and no I still don't believe Barack got it wrong by selecting Biden, he's a good man. McCain's camp is shoveling crap on us, but hey, take it easy on her. I'm taking the side of men who for years WOMEN pounced on when WE didn't get our way. I thought, well we deserve it. No-Here we are "shielding" a woman, taking it easy on her, keep it short, and, she's probably going to be the president of the USA one day and she'll reverse Roe v Wade and, stand for guns, against educating teens on sex, and screw any and all minorities. Single Moms lovin Palin--Post a comment here in July 2009.
I was horrified to hear Palin is meeting with Karzai. What experience does she have with foreign policy, that she's a hockey mom with a very limited resume? This seems like a Saturday Night Live skit, except it's not funny.
The problem is, that the extreme right-wingers and ultra-conservatives, think that they are on a righteous crusade in the name of God, and that rest of the world are atheist communists.
The problem is that too many people actually think they can do the tough job without any impediments like, you know, knowing stuff. They watch Harry Potter defeat Voldemort by being pure of heart, and Chuck Norris can beat the bad guys by just being tougher and more manly, and they think, "Hey, that's me! I can do that!!"
Who needs an education when you just KNOW the TRUTH? Who needs to be competent when you're TOUGH? None of this wimpy THINKING and choosing based on rational analysis (heh, heh, he said anal!).
They can simply make the tough decisions no matter what, because God is on their side and the greatness of America cannot be thwarted.
We have an entire generation that thinks it's living in a TV show and they're the immortal, un-beatable heroes.
you are totally correct; i "converse " with many people that don't think that having a harvard law degree means anything more than a bachelors in journalism. as far as being on the Harvard Law Review; the average person has no clue what your level of "gifts" must be to accomplish such academic prestige. they do understand being a hockey mom but they don't understand that Obama has most of the mistakes we have made in the last 200 years in his head.
Ms. Huffington,
Trojan Moose! That's hilarious,...my mom will swallow her teeth on that one,...BTW, Gov. Palin did ask George W what the Bush Doctrine is and he said; "I can't do no doctrin,...I ain't got a medical license."
Ring - ring...
Hello
John, this is Karl
Wassup
The boys and I just had lunch and think you are going to be toast soon. As a result we offer you
a choice. We want you to choose Sarah Palin as your VP.
Who is a Sarah Palin?
She is the governor of Alaska and a good neocon. Loves all our lies and doesn't seem to have a concience. Perfect fit! Besides, she gives Max a woodie. George has turned out to be a fur ball stuck in our throat and we need some new blood. Besides, she will drive the Clinton women nuts! We nearly have our money in Wall Street secured and our war contracts locked up, so it is time to have fun.
I don't want Palin as my running mate. What's my other option?
Tough noogies John, pick her our we are going to release your medical records.
OK...Bye.
Palin is already self-destructing as we speak.
But should she actually become VP or P, America will loose the little respect it still has around the world and its leadership will continue to decline.
The Europeans will sit a McCain/Palin presidency out, while China and Russia will have a field-day.
I agree with you.
I also apologize for singling you out but something has been driving me nuts for a while on blogs and posts.
Would everyone please spell the word LOSE properly? Its "l-o-s-e", not "l-o-o-s-e".
Again, sorry to single you out!
Peace!
we won't have to worry about respect, we will need to figure out which part of the global war they will get us into, that we will have to report to since everybody will have to be drafted regardless of age or infirmity and what we will eat and shoot with. i wonder which language i should start learning ?
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