George W. Palin

The Republicans have found their new George W. Bush.

Governor Palin, Governor Bush -- what's the difference? They're almost exactly the same. It's as if the Republicans looked at the real Bush and said, "Aw fiddlesticks. We can top it -- drop the Texas, add Alaska and some non-prescription glasses and ta-daaa!"

Like President Bush, the Republicans can feed this vessel -- like a Dutch Harbor crab boat -- with every lie and smear they're able to conjure. They're capable of dumping into the Palin Tank their pots full of veiled racism and knee-jerk sloganeering; their disingenuous trickery and divisive ranting. Their fear-mongering.

Last night, Governor Palin proved herself to be comfortable and capable of repeating her marching orders by rote -- after all, it's well-known that her speech was largely written before she was even selected. Only the proper names, personal pronouns and biographical information were crow-barred in and amongst the far-right rage and exclamatory desperation.

Not unlike President Bush who was often controlled by neocon strategists, the far-right can control Palin's foreign policy views. Put it this way: is there anyone on either side of this who believe that just because Alaska borders Russia that Sarah Palin will assert herself against Dick Cheney's successors? As we speak, she's being schooled by the same failures who both crafted and endorsed eight years the Bush-Cheney approach to war.

Like President Bush, it's very possible, based upon the sermons of her pastor, that she believes God mandated the invasion of Iraq.

Like President Bush and his administration, she's comes pre-packaged with her own syllabus of scandals. Do the list and you'll find that it's a healthy start to her very own "Bushed!" feature on Countdown.

Like President Bush, she's a far-right fundamentalist with out-of-touch social views, and the statements from both her and the McCain campaign prove that she's not afraid to flaunt the contradictions and hypocrisies evident in her public remarks. She's anti-choice and anti-privacy as it pertains to the Fourth Amendment and would work to deny our daughters of their right to choose and to keep private their medical decisions, and yet all week we've been hearing about her choices and her right to privacy.

Ties to Big Oil interests? Check.

Ties to corruption? Check.

Denies that global warming is man-made? Check.

Eight years ago, it was the Bush family name that propelled George W. to the White House, and this year it's the Palin family story that's propelling her -- otherwise lacking substance beyond her familial narrative.

Drop the plainspoken Texas drawl and "armadilla'" pronunciations and replace them with an Edie McClurg-meets-Fargo accent and phrases like "first dude."

Of course, both President Bush and Governor Palin say "nookyooler," and as such, last night's speech required the phonetic spelling "new-clear" on the TelePrompter. And if this video is any indication, so did George W. Bush's 2000 acceptance speech (see timecode 5:02).

I understand that short attention spans and even shorter memories are relatively well-known American character flaws. But, seriously, this is ridiculous. The dark, twisted madness of the last eight years is being entirely ignored in the face of the exact same bogus Republican packaging -- the exact same script. Only this time it's louder, more obnoxious and loaded with the kind of mockery that's more appropriate coming from Malkin's blog commenters than public officials who are seeking to represent our interests and safety on the world stage. I mean, hasn't our national dignity and our moral authority not been damaged enough?

This time, however, I'd like to think that the gimmicks and hackery have become too obvious to suffice as a distraction from the realities of what's really happening. Or perhaps the failures and incompetence of eight years of Republican domination have blunted the agitprop and fist pounding -- revealing the truth beneath the bumper stickers.

Yet based upon the cable news coverage I'm seeing so far today, the usual suspects are falling for it. Again. Collapsing like fainting sheep under the coercion and rage of Republican attacks -- backpedaling as they did for four years until Katrina smacked them out of their collective stupor (more or less).

So the sooner Americans realize that Governor Palin is just the latest floor model representing everything loathsome and menacing about Reaganomics and the failed policies of the Bush administration, the sooner voters will be equipped with the proper evidence to prevent the same disasters from happening all over again.

What's the difference between Sarah L. Palin and George W. Bush?

Lipstick.

Bob Cesca's Goddamn Awesome Blog! Go!

Read more analysis from HuffPost bloggers on Sarah Palin

Comments

[mnkors]

Now we learn that Palin was a Mayor-Queen of the methamphetamine capital of Alaska.
What is so wrong with the GOP that they cannot shoot straight? They are truly the people with "Cheney syndrome"
Why it took her to attend several schools to get a bachelor degree in a profession she does not practice? What again are her credentials? -- Meanness and spectacular ignorance are obvious. Or does she have anything else to "serve the country"?
Palin = GOP's Bridge to Nowhere.

[krocklin]

Are Maddow and Olbermann the ONLY ones not getting on the Palin bandwagon>

Even Obama is praising the Surge.

Chris Matthews is ecstatic about "no issues" Palin. Buchanon senses the Second Coming.

[JBS]

Jon Stewart don't seem to be on board.

[renatam]

Excellent post! Let's also support www.mediamatters.org to ensure we monitor and pressure MSM to DO THEIR CONSTITUTIONALLY PROTECTED JOBS - or risk losing their licenses.

[jeanrenoir]

It's like Lord of the Rings. We can't just whine about how dark and twisted the Republicans are. That's always a given. We simply have to get tougher, and beat them in the brutal trenches with the mob both have to win over to win. Everyone knew all this was coming. It's time to show that Obama and Co., from Chicago, know how to fight fire with fire.

[jeanrenoir]

Carville, and Hillary's relentless "fight" for the working class on economic issues, which made her hugely popular, after years of being reviled by the same people, show Obama the way, IF he has the balls to take it. He MUST relentlessly attack McCain-Palin-Bush on the economy, stupid. And he must sound angry about it. Palin won the hall last night in the old fashioned George Wallace, Reagan, Hitler way: channel the bitter resentments of the mob and direct them at the scapegoat "enemy." The bitter mob is sadistic in its wrath, and you win points with them by "Giving them hell." Think of Truman's victory, too. Unless Obama gets more of the fire in his belly he seemed to display at the convention, he's going to be outmanned by Palin, just as he was almost outmanned by Hillary, both of whom outgunned him in the channeling rage sweepstakes that always win US elections. The mob is alway bitter and straight out of Day of the Locust. The Republicans GET this, via Wallace, and they run with it. It was Reagan's secret, it was Lee Atwater's for Bush I, it was Rove's for Bush II, it was Carville's for Clinton. It's really the only thing that works with the mob. Dems have got to win the mob, always the majority . Unless they can "stoop" to conquer, they will be dead meat yet again. And Rush and O'Reilly will mock them for twelve more years as pathetic wimps.

[Rog49Thomas]

Less Adlai more Harry.

[CapitalBill]

Oh, puh-leaze! "..channel the bitter resentments of the mob and direct them at the scapegoat "enemy." That would be the Liberal Dems that do that. They've been using the old Catholic Church parlor trick that goes as follows: Preach doom and gloom (fire and brimstone) and claim to be the savior of all (attend our church and we'll send you to heaven). Most Americans like a little backbone in our leaders...Not wishbone.

[FrancisK]

Last night Barack Obama made 2 huge mistakes,

#1: He sat down w/ Bill O'Reilly



#2: and said this:

The troop surge in Iraq has been more successful than anyone could have imagined, Barack Obama conceded Thursday in his first-ever interview on FOX News’ “The O’Reilly Factor.”



Hillary NEVER would have said this! Obama is simply not ready yet! We need to reconsider this entire process.

[maxwellinformed]

Huh? He has always said that when you put more American troops in any place they will succeed.

more than 1,000 American troops have died, and despite the improved security situation, the Iraqi government has not stepped forward to lead the Iraqi people and to reach the genuine political accommodation that was the stated purpose of the surge. Our troops have heroically helped reduce civilian casualties in Iraq to early 2006 levels. This is a testament to our military’s hard work, improved counterinsurgency tactics, and enormous sacrifice by our troops and military families. It is also a consequence of the decision of many Sunnis to turn against al Qaeda in Iraq, and a lull in Shia militia activity. But the absence of genuine political accommodation in Iraq is a direct result of President Bush’s failure to hold the Iraqi government accountable.

[Bitsko]

No, you didn't write that. Must be having a flashback.

[fistbump]

Hillary never admitted that her Iraq vote was wrong. She never admits that anything she did or does is wrong. That's why she lost.

You really need to move on.

[maxwellinformed]

George Bush was a popular Governor of Texas. A lot of good his executive experience has done us.

[JustJoan]

With Rove now running McCain's campaign it is not surprising what we heard from Palin..those are Rove's words. It is the mccain/ROVE/palin ticket with a Ken Mehlman undertone. Doesn't everyone recognize the smell??

[springsm]

Yes we do, but who counts in all of this is the talkingheads and pundits and they would never be so open as to be honest and forthright. These TV guys/gals except for a tiny few...are absolutely disgusting. The MSM yakky yaks are stooges, one and all.

[Rog49Thomas]

Sadly not many voters.

[ProfessorDuh]

Not the EXACT same script. The Republican play set used to include only GI Joe Flyboy "Mission Accomplished" Bush, Death Cyborg Cheney with his moveable torture whip and Maverick John with his "Real Yee-ha! yell." But now they've added Caribou Barbie.

[SandWedge]

This is a good blog. but I think just calling her Republican Sarah Palin every day will be enough. Turn Sarah into her middle name, make Republican her first.

[Puller58]

She is indeed Bush in a skirt. Ignorant, and with troubled child. (Remember the Bush twins antics?) Where Palin goes further is her involvement with the Alaska Independence Party. The RNC appears to be fending off the press, but there will be an expose down the road. Her participation in this nutter's ball and her social views bring to mind the late Helen Chenoweth of Idaho. Maybe we can expect Governor Palin to promote keeping an eye out for black helicopters and praising the militia movement. The Dem 527s need to pluck this chicken till McCain explodes in a temper tantrum that seals his doom in November.

[schmuckwithearlaps]

Sorry, Bob. Palin wiped the floor with the Dem team last night and this one-person swift boat scored big time. The media is now shaking in its boots over threatened Republican reprisals, and Campbell Brown is today left to covering a softball match in Kansas today. Ok, I made the last one up. The fact is that Obama and Biden have not immediately and forcefully answered Palin. For example, the Repubs had a field day with the "community organizer" job and laughed themselves silly, rolling in the aisles and slapping their knees. Where was the Obama reply pointing out that service to one's country includes giving up a Wall street job to work with the unemployed. Answer, no where. Palin has the Dems scared out of their minds and much too frightened to fight back. I do not know why McCain is even bothering to give a speech tonight. The election was one last night.

[JRsNana]

The election was one last night?! What? One what?
Oh - and believe me - Dems are not afraid of W. Palin. It's called strategy. Let them get through their convention. It's only right (pun intended).

[mouselion]

You got it exactly right. Palin is the new W.

[OutsideLookingIn]

I'm not American and live in a safe, civilized place just about as far from the US as it is comfortably possible to be - New Zealand - yet what I'm watching happen at the RNC terrifies me.

It should be unbelievable that it's even possible to contemplate Americans electing to the White House:

1. a creationist - someone who by definition ignores, refuses to accept or convolutes away a mass of solid scientific evidence to the contrary, and who does the same with Global Warming,

2. Someone who bases their entire world view on the writings, beliefs and social mores of a bronze-age tribe of pastoralists as though the intervening three-and-a-half millenia of intellectual progress never happened,

3. Someone who BELIEVES the world was created solely for the benefit of mankind, and that everything that happens does so for a purpose linked to some divine plan which must therefore be infallible and ultimately beneficial, at least for the (self) chosen righteous,

4. Someone who clearly believes that enough people are prepared to close their eyes and ears to blatant lies and hypocrisy to outnumber those who aren't.

George Bernard Shaw observed that "Democracy is a device that insures we shall be governed no better than we deserve." Please America, whatever you deserve the world deserves better than McCain/Palin.

(Shaw also remarked: "Clever and attractive women do not want to vote; they are willing to let men govern, as long as they govern men.")

[Bitsko]

My homeboy Mr. Shaw also admired quite a few murderous despots in his day too.

[aflyinyoursoup]

Thank you, OutsideLookingiIn. Unfortunately your perspective of our American electorate, a la G. B. Shaw, is spot-on. Less than half of us will be forced to suffer the slings and arrows of the outrageous ignorence of a "mere" majority. Democracy + Ignorence = Slavery. I beleive this "empty skirt" will win. (You have no idea how much it pains me to say that)


And even more unfortunately , given the negative global impact of what is likely to be a failed U. S. economy and the certainty of protracted globel wars in the interest of Corporate Imperialsm, you, your countrymen and most of the citizens of the planet will also suffer.


The 4 points you make of "this vapid and dangerous woman" are just as accurate. Let me add a few more, if you don't mind:

5) Someone who beleives that violence should be one of the first and foremost responses to adversity.

6) Someone who has no compunction for the 4000+ U.S. troops and countless tens of thousande of innocent Iraqi citizens who have died merely for the aggrandizement of multi-national OIL corporations.

7) Someone who is so patently unqualified to hold ANY public office yet suffers the delusion that she can lead a world power.

I can continue until the cows come home, but for what?

And the machine churns on!

[elderly]

Unfortunately it is not unbelievable as Americans have already "elected" such a person twice before in 2000 and 2004.

Americans should remember that in life, just as in baseball, three strikes and your out.

Fall of the Roman Empire anyone?

[Tenley]

The hacks on television that used to be credible -- what is going on? Seriously, it's alarming.

[zendem1]

They are employed by Republicans.

[CallMeLiberal]

Furthermore they are cowed by the Repubs -- and by the venal McCain in particular. The rinse-repeat of "blame the liberal media" comes out as often as needed to ensure that the media never actually does its job.

In this case their job would be to point out that McCain is a phony. Yes, he was a POW, that much is true. All the rest is folklore and self-promotion. Palin is scary as hell and is summed up with crystalline precision in John Seery's piece today.

As Andrew Sullivan and others have discerned, the Republican Party is now an evangelical movement, at least at the grassroots. At the top of the structure is an elite of manipulators and liars who bend reality to fit the daily message. All evidence is in on this point -- they are liars to the core, full stop.

"The media" is mostly bedwetters now. The current charade in St. Paul is pushing some (Matthews) to finally realize how fraudulent they are, but most will continue to play the middle in their own minds in an effort to retain some favor with the violent, retribution-prone McCain.

The good news is that today there's more energy on HuffPo and elsewhere than ever. Maybe Palin is a bridge too far.