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Governor Palin's Reading List
Fascist writer Westbrook Pegler, an avowed racist who Sarah Palin approvingly quoted in her acceptance speech for the moral superiority of small town values, expressed his fervent hope about my father, Robert F. Kennedy, as he contemplated his own run for the presidency in 1965, that "some white patriot of the Southern tier will spatter his spoonful of brains in public premises before the snow flies."
It might be worth asking Governor Palin for a tally of the other favorites from her reading list.
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Given that McCain/Palin are getting substantial support from the same folks who did a complete rewrite of terrorism history (a rewrite that includes editing out the assassinations of Sen. Robert Kennedy and Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., not to mention listing the KKK as having carried out "0"...as in ZERO... acts of terrorism), why should any of us be surprised? (FYI: We've been running audits of said data for members of Congress, so I'm not making this up, folks.) In the real world, the one most of us live in, racists are racists and intelligence is not a marketing device, especially not in time of war. In the Bush/McCain universe, however, racists are constituents and intelligence (such as it is thanks to said corruption) has been reduced to little more than a rationalization for environmental destruction and social injustice, not to mention global rape and pillage on an unprecedented scale. Thus, the GOP is no more the party of National Security than it is the party of fiscal responsibility. McCain/Palin in '08? God help us all.
The KKK itself admits being a terrorist organization. But it's far-right wing, so it isn't on Bushit's list of terrorist organizations.
Neither is the Neo-Nazi party.
I wonder why that is?
Sure, to keep an open mind you should read not only books written by people you like or people who agree with you. But there is a difference between reading My Kampf and quoting Hitler in the most important speech of your life. If I am going to quote only one author, I'll go for either someone I really admire and/or someone whose work had a profound impact on me.
I know what kind of books she's been reading lately:
1- Foreign policy for dummies
2- The Bush doctrine for dummies
3- Lying is not lying if you believe it, by George Costanza
4- The Alaskan market: More moose recipes from a helicopter hunter's kitchen
There is a big difference between reading authors you don't agree with and approvingly quoting them.
And naming your book "The Audacity of Hope" for instance.
Does anybody remember Louis Nizer, who wrote "My Life in Court"? Nizer's biggest achievement was his successful lawsuit against Westbrook Pegler, whom he went after for libel.
It seems the McCain-Palin camp are taking a leaf from Pegler's book, libeling Obama left and right, especially right, and hoping no one will contradict them.
On the other hand, hearing that Palin approvingly quoted Pegler doesn't decrease my respect for her one bit. Guess why?
Is it that you have no respect for her to begin with?
I wish she was reading your list of books YA. I have a feeling she's reading the notes the cliff note editions of those books written for her by an aide.
They aides are reading them to her.
Big deal. She read a book by an obnoxious author.
In my day I read parts of Mein Kampf plus stuff by Karl Marx, not to mention a whole host of stuff my other people whom I am inclined to abhor.
Actually, reading stuff by people with whom I disagree is more fun and interesting than reading stuff by people with whom I do agree. It's what's called "keeping an open mind".
In any event, it's nice to know what your opponents are saying and thinking.
She quoted Pegler in her acceptance speech. Quoting someone who espoused such views in a televised speech at a political conference has far greater implications than just reading his work. If she didn't write her speech, she probably doesn't know who she was quoting, but whoever wrote it surely did and that's disturbing.
Unfortunately, Palin doesn't read books that offer the "other side". She bans those books.
LOL! That quote is priceless! Thanks! :D
Does anyone really believe this woman has read anything of substance..ever?
She a liberal?????????? Oh, no say it aint so Joe. Only ones I know that don't read the "other side" is the NeoLibs.
You'd be right, except she quoted the guy in the most important speech of her life. One thing to do oppo research. Another altogether to be influenced enough and inspired enough to quote the guy to an audience of 38 million people.
actually it's like QUOTING parts of "Mein Kampf" positively, in the biggest speech of your CAREER!
Reading and proudly quoting a racist in your acceptance speech are two very different things. Palin had made another big gaffe, and she should apologize or stick by her remark.
"In my Day" huh? I'm guessing that was before "The Email". Maybe you and Senator McCain could discuss the finer points of Westbrook Pegler over a friendly shuffle board game. No? Bingo perhaps? Who says the dinosaurs are extinct...
Souns like you have an "ageism" problem worlds biggest ah.
Sir, your post has me very upset about what is happening in our country. Not that the politics is rotten, but that a lot of folks seem to think they don't need to look for the reality in the way the GOP is going: Fascist/racist ideology always seems to grab those who do not take the time to see reality. Saying one thing and doing the opposite seems to be a GOP problematic these days. Who do they think we/they are?
Do you think that she knows who this person actually is? The woman is supposed to be born-again. Assembly of God is a charismatic "holiness" church. I do not think that any true christian would knowingly quote a fascist or a racist. Either she didn't know who she was quoting or she's a hypocrite. Either way, she has a problem....
check out the videos from her church, particularly the masters commission boot camps for teenagers.
that's no christian behavior I've ever seen before.
Robert Jr., I was born in 1970. I was not fortunate to hear your father speak but because of technology I have been able to watch his speeches. There are not too many people in history that have amazed me as to the sincerity and compassion of a public servant such as your father. I know he is smiling in heaven seeing a black man win the Democratic nomination. It will be my honor to cast my vote for Obama this fall!
I am a conservative but will step up to the plate when my fellow man is in need. Does this make me a Democrat? I don't know but I am willing to bend over backwards to get Obama elected.
Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total; of all those acts will be written the history of this generation.
Robert Kennedy
Your vote ... Your VOICE ! Yell it out people. Let them hear it from all over this land. We are sick and tired of being ripped off by the cronies in Washington and it is up to each and every one of us to make this stand!
No conservative would vote for a socialist like Obama. You are not a conservative.
Think again Macmo. Apparently, not all conservatives are as blind as most. :)
A socialist? Laughing ... We as a society have prospered the most when we collectively benefit. I don't have a problem paying my 39% taxes each year as long as the money is being used wisely. Some people, who claim to be conservative, scream when they hear of spending on Medicaid/Medicare or any government social program. Let's lay out the spending side by side. Social services vs The Military Industrial Complex over the past 30 years.
In the long run ... What has hurt our economy the most? Reaganomics or The Great Society? I honestly would have preferred neither but any troglodyte with the slightest bit of financial education could tell you the answer to this one.
I have always considered myself fiscally conservative. If you consider this current group of Republicans conservative take a look at our deficit. A true conservative knows how to make/save money. It truly is funny that a socialist like Bill Clinton managed to bring a surplus to the table.
When was the last Republican to do this?
This McCain/Palin ticket reminds me of the Wizard of Oz. I am waiting for someone to pull open the curtain.
Excellent, eloquent post.
Well, I don't know if you are a Democrat or conservative...I think those terms have become so convoluted that no one really knows what they mean. I think you are a reasonable person making decisions based on the value that we are our brother's keeper and we should do unto others. I applaud you.
I am a retired army officer. I consider myself a hardcore manly man, your posting put tears in my eyes and warmed my heart.
this is the best post! and so true- we all need to wake up and vote. Pay attention to our whole nation. Look at how stupid we appear whenever our President tries to speak to the leaders of other countries. Ditch the Bush doctrine. and don't vote the same group who has wrecked our economy back in to office!
Palin most likely doesn't have a clue who she quoted. The campaign braintrust know they can't win without the racist vote so they plant this little gem in her speech with a wink to bigots all over the country.
The math is pretty simple; 30% (based on Bush's approval rating) of Americans would vote Republican even if Elmer Fudd was running, 7% are Evangelicals who overwhelming favor Palin, 5% would never vote for a black candidate and up to 27% of whites hold attitudes or beliefs that make them ideal candidates for the "Bradley effect". Thus, allowing for some overlaps in the first 3 categories, there are 36% of Americans who are definite for McCain-Palin. If the "Bradley effect" holds for half of those who seem eligible to succomb to its influence , that would add about another 11% to McCains totals. Thus 47% of Americans are basically in the bag for the Republicans in this election before there is any discussion of issues. But who needs issues when all you have to do is wink?
Sarah Palin obviously scares the bejeebers out of you. She is, indeed, just a breath or 'heartbeat away' from the presidency and we didn't even vote for her in the primaries! Think about it - she was picked for us by McCain's Neocon controllers. How is this process better than it was when this nation was founded when someone could have been voted into office who could very well have been an opponent of the President's policies? Call me a litttle suspicious but don't you think that some smart rascals wanted to deprive Americans of real "choice" in the presidency?
Also, per the "heartbeat" away concern. If McCain/Palin get elected and if something happens to McCain, Palin will not be president. Sure she will have the title, but a group of insiders and "advisors" (neo-cons) will actually be running the country. And no one voted for these people and no one knows who they are; all the issues argued about and discussed in this very long electoral process will be flushed. Palin would be only a figure head.
This is what is really scary.
We have already had almost 8 years of an unqualified, lazy necon-puppet -president who was easily manipulated by war-mongers of the military-industrial complex into invading a country that had done nothing to us (and giving them billions of dollars worth of no-bid contracts). That the voting public can't see through the Republican motives and methods is truly frightening.
Please for the love of God and all things holy, can someone please, please, please make this into a 527 ad? I think if people en masse knew about this, it would be the end of the McCain campaign.
I WHOLEheartedly agree! I join your request. Please. Whoever can make this happen, please do, and quickly.
The quote was simply too harmless in and of itself to get any traction in an ad.
Hmmm.
Nobody with the money or time will waste it on making this a 527 ad. This is a non-story. Nobody cares except the extreme left liberals who will vote for Obama anyway.
I see that you're trying to make that a truth. But it's not.
I couldn't agree more! Why aren't the Democrats framing McCain as a trigger happy kook and his sidekick as a radical nutcase? Please forward your thoughts to the likes of MoveOn etc. Good luck.
Right. Democrats need to put this in very simple terms and make an ad. It's not a small deal, as some Republicans want us to agree to. It's big. It's sickening that a person running for VP of the USA (not just a radio jock or behind-the-scenes Rovian speech writer) would even think of quoting in a positive light such a dispicabley racist, supremicist person as Pegler.
Please keep in mind that, when caught, Palin will say, "Oh gosh, I'm everywoman, just like you. Haven't you all found a good quote for a speech or term paper in college and not read the whole book? I'm just like you." And she'll get wild cheers for that. (Yeah, Sarah, but we aren't trying to be Vice President of the USA.)
Also, if you now ask her for a list of books she's read, she'll rattle off a memorized list that everyone will agree on.
Be ready for this and nail it with some really telling questions. I know you can.
We're going to have to simplify the message. Many Democrats are too busy working two jobs to pay much attention to politics.
Great idea. Let's let MoveOn.org continue to run the country. Don't you people have a clue?
America's in trouble and we want to elect a 143 day wonder boy (not racist") to run this country with a do nothing democratic congress run by the likes of Polosi and gang. Put some thought into this before you go to the den of MoveOn.org.
Somebody uses a common catch phrase and some folks throw a hissy fit, yet when those same folks champion the words of some hateful so-and-so whose stated desire to see the demise of the president of the United States was actually fulfilled, in the manned in which he proposed it happen, suddenly those folks are quiet as snow on snow in the dead of winter. Mr. Kennedy, I think you should publicly call for an apology, on general principle.
The woman has five kids (including a pregnant teen-aged daughter and a very young baby with challenges), has been thrust into the national spotlight, and is on a whirlwind stummping tour, where she must continually bone up on what it is that she thinks, and appear to be bright and peppy and "genuine."
If she were so inclined -- when would she have time to READ?
'Course there's always the teleprompters . . .
"....when would she have time to READ? "
When would she have time to be a mother to her brood?
I'm sure that they will have time to play touch football together.
Books on tape while driving her kith and kin to and from soccer practice?
We have a VP candidate hides from the tough questions. Biden will take care of that in the debates -- if Palin has the nerve to show up.
Hmm... let's think about how Obama might be used in this sentence.
I just had to comment to say how horrified I am to learn that Palin would reference, in a positive way, anything by someone as cruel and ignorant as this man. Too bad someone wasn't there to quote his comments about your father right after her pick of his quotes!
I doubt it would've made a difference.
Sadly, I think you're right. Are we to think that those cheering her on at that moment would have been pleased to know whose words she was quoting?
WOW Dear GOD , how hateful some people are !
Americans ,,,,,,,,,,,think again about hating other FELLOW AMERICANS...........
THIS is why we need OBAMA /BIDEN to prove to the world that we are changing for the better.
just think HATRED is SELF-DESTRUCTIVE.
Very well said Yasmine, in fact the only foreigners pulling for McCain/Palin are either Israeli neocons; people who live in caves and chant "death to America (and are actively working toward that goal); and a very small group of people who's businesses operate in the Cayman Islands. Oh wait, those ARE Americans. The rest of the world is literally DYING for an Obama victory.
To quote that author is to dishonor our country and the entire Kennedy family, as well as JFK's legacy. Is that author still alive? If so, I'll bet he would say the exact same thing about Obama, if not worse! The sick dreams of Westbrook Pegler sum up the fear of all fears for Obama supporters, perhaps even more so for African Americans (I'm caucasian). The hope he represents- the hope for change and the healing of our nation- is so important as to potentially mean a complete paradigm shift for the direction of this country, this planet, and humanity itself.
A McCain "victory", on the other hand, may just be the tipping point which will drive America to the brink of economic destruction, invite more environmental disaster and inaction on climate change, widen the gap between the classes (eliminating the middle-class all together), and, worst of all, lead to ENDLESS WAR.
Mr. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.... you are my hero. Have been for years. Thank you for all that you do.
Everybody vote!
Yep, just ask Obama's preacher about hate. He knows ALL about it.
It's a shame you don't know as well as HE DOES!
Oh, I thought he had been dropped like a hot potato after Palin's preacher came on the scene. Is she attending another church now?
And Obama disavowed him. Let's see Palin do the same thing now. And while she's at it, let's hear her explain why her husband was a member of the AIP for a total of seven years.
Palin is being coached and her speeches are being written by Matthew Scully. Scully was a speech writer for Dan Quayle and W. He has been an editor of National Review, and a contributor to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, and The Atlantic Monthly. He wrote a book, Dominion, about how cruelty to animals in the meat industry is unchristian and has toured churches talking about Christian ethics. He is from Wyoming and is generally identified with a small-town traditionally Christian political philosophy. It is likely Palin has never read Pegler - Scully certainly has and has written about Pegler before.
Pegler was a staunch critic of F.D.R.'s policies in the Great Depression, a widely read pundit, and thinly veiled bigot - especially concerning Jews. Pegler believed that the urbanization and resulting unionization of America would be it's downfall.
That's really no excuse. Palin should know her sources before making any public comments. Like her own words regarding the Pledge of Allegiance. She's just too ignorant for this post!
Maybe some of what Pegler said was needed and/or made sense - everyone - even FDR, Jesus, and Obama needs critics. Mabye we shouldn't throw all that the man said out because he was a woefully flawed racist - Jefferson owned slaves.
An interesting thing though - Scully's motives - he could have just changed the quote slightly or used "an old saying goes..". Which was it?:
- as an ethical professional speechwriter and journalist he didn't want to be accused of plagiarism - even of a short quote more than fifty years old?
-or-
- he knew if he used "as the writer" in a prominent speech - people would flock to their Googles and find Pegler?
I think there is some discipline around Scully - but could he have used Palin?
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