You Can Put Lipstick On a Nazi, But.......

The photo is from the film "Triumph of Will," by Leni Reifenstahl. Reifenstahl was one of Hitler's favorite Nazis, as well as being an accomplished film-maker.

The torchlit parade seen here was the culmination of the Nazis' assimilation of power; "Ein Reich, Ein Volk, Ein Furher"...one nation, one people, one leader.

So why would this come to me now? Because the McCain/Palin campaign is using the same playbook of Adolph Hitler. Steve at "Out Of The Bingo Ditch" once related a law professor who said, "If you have the law on your side, pound the law. If you have the truth on your side, pound the truth. If you have neither, then pound the table."

There is a lot of table-pounding going on, and this is not politics as usual. No, the last few days are revealing something about modern America that is scary as hell. So far, in response to the drumbeats of Palin and McCain has generated shouts from their rallies that included the words "Terrorist!", "Kill him!", and "Treason!" The McCain campaign is inciting violence against a candidate for the presidency of the United States. Used to be against the law.

But, after the last eight years "the law" is apparently a very flexible thing. Perhaps, like after defending the Confederate flag in South Carolina, John McCain will apologize for lying; for betraying his precious "principles" to win an election.The fact that it might result in the death or maiming of Barack Obama would never, of course, be his responsibility. Nor Palin's; after all, she's only been at this what, five weeks? Totalitarian tactics don't need a lot of practice.

It should be borne in mind that the Bush years, or the Rove years, if you will, have gone way beyond polarizing the populace of America. No, they have been teaching the sweet scent of intolerance of others; of that wonderful feeling of standing shoulder-to-shoulder with another soldier of righteousness. Compromise, reason, honor, patriotism....all are perverted into only one interpretation. Everyone not like us is an enemy, not a fellow countryman.

This disturbs me the most about Sarah Palin's latest rounds of invective. She is actually telling listeners, over and over, that Obama/Biden are not "real" Americans. Anyone with any semblance of education, life experience, or just plain intelligence would recognize the fact that there are many people out there just waiting for guidance to violence. It is dangerous, disingenuous, and frankly, un-American.

On a personal note, I've reached the limit of John McCain's constant referral to his POW years. ("Now goshdarnit, John, there ya go, talkin' about the past again"). Two of my uncles were prisoners of the Japanese for three and one half years. Rats and rice were a delicacy for them. They were starved, beaten, worked as slaves, tortured...and so on. I don't know how they survived, but they did return home (unlike 40% of Japanese POW's who did NOT) to learn that their brother had died the previous year fighting the Nazis.

I'll never forget what one uncle told me growing up,"Don't ever trust a government. They are designed to lie no matter what. But, always respect and love the flag. Too much has been sacrificed for it." Wise words, I think, and the man who told me this was a man of honor, through and through. He was a Republican; a very honorable one til the day he died in 1986. May he rest in peace, for I sure do miss him.

And I really miss the party he once belonged to. I think it died this year.

John McCain: Meet Some Of Your Fundamentals

Forest City is one of those places in western North Carolina that does not evoke images of much. Primarily because no one has ever heard of it. Nearby is Lake Lure and Chimney Rock, and that's about it. It is, however, a nice place to live; one of those "small towns" with matching "values" that the McCain campaign is quick to extoll, thanks to the Embarracuda, Sarah Palin.

There are no hockey moms or soccer moms. Maybe a bunch of Joe six-packs. It is the essence of what the Republican Party refers voters to when complaining about the evils of liberalism.

But....Forest City was also once a hub of textile activity. After NAFTA the area was devastated by plant closings. One by one the jobs (and machinery) made fast exits for China and Mexico. One remained however. National Textiles (Haynes Brand) still chugged along. In the Fall and Winter, one could see the plume of steam from the National Textiles plant rise in the clear sky. It was like the last candle burning on the cake.

Two weeks ago the evening shift was called together at 8 p.m. The plant was closing. The machinery was going to be relocated to Honduras. Good luck and don't let the door hit you on your unemployed ass. 500 people have been tossed onto the globalization bonfire, but that's small potatos, I guess. But in a small town, that's 500 families, 500 car payments, 500 mortgages. Anyone who has undergone this can relate to the rather implausible future that requires one to adjust from say $17.00 per hour at 40 hours a week to the Walmartized standard of $7.00 with no more than 32 hours a week.

This happened because of the 2005 Central American Free Trade Agreement, or CAFTA. So I did a little digging, and this bill passed with a razor thin margin in the House, and by a 55-45 vote in the Senate. The votes were as follows:

Voting in favor:

Elizabeth Dole (R-NC)
Richard Burr (R-NC)
JOHN McCAIN (R-AZ)

Voting against:

Barack Obama (D-IL)
Joe Biden (D-DE)

Now maybe the adults among those 500 families, tossed into the wilderness by the above votes, will go for McCain because Sarah Palin is cute; winks good, and promises "change." They may, as is the pattern, fall for the "re-education required" to get themselves "decent" jobs in the future. And hey, they are part of the strong "fundamentals" that McCain/Palin insist are strong.

Three weeks from the election and they are getting all the "education" they need. And it's real simple:

Their votes are needed to stop "radicals" like Obama and Biden from winning this election. After that, they won't be needed for anything.

The Hurricane Ike Election

In the year 1900, William McKinley and William Jennings Bryan fought for the presidency. McKinley, the Republican, beat Bryan in that election. At one campagin stop in West Virginia, Bryan was cussed out on the train platform by my great-grandfather. Bluntness runs in the family I guess.

But then, my great-grandfather had two brothers who fought in the Civil War, and being the only state formed because of that Civil War, it was reasonable to assume no Democrat was going to get a warm welcome in that state. The scars from the Civil War still ran deep forty years after the firing upon Ft. Sumter.

Also in 1900, the city of Galveston was destroyed by a hurricane. Not damaged, but destroyed, along with over 6,000 people. It was the worst loss of life in U.S. History. The scars and memories from that ran very deep.

But scars heal and sometimes fade a bit. People forget things, or memories of one generation fail to get passed on to another. Not to sound like a prig, but that is what history is for; it lets us travel the future with references from the past.

So I'm a little taken aback by those in Galveston who ignored dire warnings, and decided to "tough it out" while Hurricane Ike chewed up the Texas coast. Anyone who has lived through a hurricane knows that you don't "tough it out." You boogey, and then some.

Yet thousands didn't, and now await rescuers out risking their own lives needlessly. Despite all the technology available to warn people, these foolish souls decided to ignore what Galveston had gone through a century earlier.

I thought there is an anology here. It's why there is such a "buzz" about a former P.O.W. turned bald-faced liar and a neophyte neocon sycophant running for national office. The American electorate (or at least a sizable portion) are fascinated by the soap-opera aspect of this. It's fun, and let's just not get bogged down in details. Details like, oh, maybe at least four more years of policies (or non-policies) inflicted on those who adhere to Einstein's observation that insanity is doing the same thing over and over yet expecting different results.

2008 is the year Americans actually vote on a hurricane. Oddly, instead of wanting it to go away and let the damage control begin, there is this narcotic effect luring people to ask for a hurricane's return. It's insane, but let's try the same way just one more time.

Indeed.

Ms. Hitler Wants To Go To Washington

I have watched two speeches in their entirety so far. One was Barack Obama's at the closing of the Democratic Convention. The other was that of Sarah Palin.

Obama's was less lifting than instructive. He rebutted some points but at the same time made precise declarations of what his goals are. His economic plan obviously begs the question as to how all this is going to be paid for. It's a fair question, no doubt. But, the key to his speech was in the direction he wants to take this country.

Palin's speech last night was instructive also, but not anywhere near Obama's. If one were to methodically go through her words (or whoever's words they were) there are 3 points that stuck with me.

1: The McCain/Palin ticket is going to go to Washington and clean up "the mess." This is an 8-year-old ploy to convince people with a flash that Bill Clinton's 16 year run in the White House is coming to an end; that George W. Bush never left Crawfor and this "mess" can only be mopped up by the very people who have been in charge for 8 years now.

2: The purpose of public service is to "leave the country better off than how we found it." Ditto on the previous paragraph, except to say that if on January 19th 2009 you feel the nation is better off (not you, but the nation) then you belong in that glaringly all-white asylum in St. Paul. By the way, the cameras kept panning the audience and repeatedly zeroed in on a black man. Perhaps he was the only black in the place.

3: That John McCain's POW experience somehow places him as the spokesman for all prisoners of war; that his character and mettle are what entitles him to speak for those whose suffering and perseverence speaks to the durability of the human spirit, NOT any political party.

Sarah Palin's family, while "off limits" to questioning, were flashed and spoken of and used as props. Short of Abraham offering up Isaac to God for sacrifice, I don't know what more they could have done. The display did not paint her as an ordinary Jane, but rather a user; one whose goals are far more important than means.

But the most strking thing was her demeanor. Deliberatly repeating the big lie about "no thanks" to the Bridge to Nowhere (not mentioning that the state of Alaska got the funding anyway) she failed to note that Alaska never gave the money back. The speech was Rovian all the way but given with such relish that I think Gov. Palin could have improved it with her own fire and brimstone. It could be said that Karl Rove actually would exert a restraining influence on this candidate.

There was sarcasm, derision, with a face that invites any challenges. Yet challenges are not on the agenda. Palin will be bunkered as well as Dick Cheney has been. Other than popping out of a hole from time to time in order to guttersnipe, she will not be "available" to the miscreants in the press who have a question or two. She splendidly solidified the Republican "base." Much like the adoring members of Hitler's Reichstag, they applauded with everything except their feet. This year the Republican Party is particularly insulted that the Democrats might actually pick up a cudgel or two, unlike previous elections. One of the hallmarks of bullies is that screaming indignation when someone gives them a dose of their own medicine.

But Sarah Palin's insta-qualification based upon this speech is misleading to say the least. She painted herself as another Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. She's a "maverick," and "new star." She may be, but it's with a very old, tried and true formula. Rail against the very things you do yourself. Promise order out of chaos. Promise strength while weakening the fabric of the society you claim to love so much.

The most revealing revelation about Sarah Palin came out the other day. It's not as interesting as her daughter's pregnancy, or her husband's DUI over twenty years ago. Nor was it the emerging details of her firing of the Wasilla police chief.

Running close was her putting a political knife in the back of her own mother in law when it was her turn to run for mayor. Todd Palin's mom, you see, is pro-choice. And family, my friends, is nothing compared to ideology.

First runner up might be Palin's affiliation with the Alaska Independence Party. Actually entertaining "states rights" and secession are remarkable to say the least. Perhaps the party of Lincoln (of all people) has nominated Jane C. Calhoun. In 1861 James Petigru described his state of South Carolina as too small to be a sovereign nation but too big to be an insane asylum. Maybe Alaska is big enough to be a sovereign state. As for the insane asylum...well, Sarah speaks; you decide.

But the top one; the one revelation that should make any sane person perk up, is how as mayor of Wasille, Sarah Palin put the screws to the local librarian to have certain books banned. You can get bogged down in the details of Evangelical Christians versus everybody else.....or you can recognize a clear authoritarian streak that runs contrary to what used to be the Republican Party. Or the United States, for that matter.

Since she likes to evoke memories of Harry Truman, I thought of one during her speech. In the 1948 election, Truman told crowds that if they voted for Republicans, then they were dumber than he thought and deserved just what they were going to get.

If the American electorate wants another "decider," then so be it. To hunker in a bunker is not governing. People are funny that way; they like to question the people who work for them.

Not the other way around.

Sarah Palin & The 80%

Why would someone write about Sarah Palin but place an image of Marie Antoinette in the article?

Because Marie Antoinette was the quintessential "compassionate conservative." When informed that the people of Paris had no bread to eat, the empress is reported to have replied, "Then let them eat cake." The phrase has lingered in our language for several centuries now. And why? Because it's a perfect example of someone being completely out of touch.

Not out of touch with those within her "world," but those outside of her economic and social orbit. For someone enjoying the fruits of a fuedal-style form of life (at least on the rich side of it), keeping one's bearings is dependent soley upon checking the references of all those who live in nearby castles. The empress, if anything, understood her base.

The United States has had presidents who, although born into and raised with great wealth, fashioned a credible and sincere form of sympathy for the masses. Franklin Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy are two who come to mind. However, America has swung mightily towards the worship of wealth to the exclusion of government. The masses (as Coke Roberts likes to refer to us) don't exist. Oh, wait. Yes, at election time. But not at governing time.

Currently there is great swirl about Gov. Palin. The public conversation revolves around her inexperience, behavior as governor of Alaska, her NRA membership, her views on abortion, her physical appearance, et cetera......

What I haven't heard is that little "governing bit," which the Republicans still can't get the hang of in this century. It's not "the economy, stupid," but "economics, stupid." You don't have to have a professorship in the subject, just a decent grasp on reality. One needs to ask two important (actually critical) questions:

1: Who writes the rules for how we live in this nation?
2: Who enforces those rules?

Answer: The Congress. They write them....or their lobbyists do. And whatever president in power at the time enforces them. According the Constitution. If you believe in it.....ha ha ha. (hat tip to George W.)

Those said rules have changed...slowly but perceptively towards an America that is rich in both riches and poverty. At the current rate, each generation is going to have to accept lowered expectations than the generation before. That is, for the bottom 80%; those who don't really "count" to those accustomed to a plutacracy. A Kingdom of the wealthy unbeholden to anyone who is not.

During the Saddleback rodeo, John McCain jokingly answered a question as to what his definition of rich is by saying that anyone making $5 million a year or more. It is revealing...that sarcastic dismissal of what to me was the most important question asked.

John McCain has a similar approach to the healthcare of veterans. His plan is simple (as all "great" ones are): when you leave the service, find somebody really rich and marry them. By turning his back on his "comrades" McCain has proven in vote after vote that they were never comrades at all.

It is the votes that count. And how Gov. Palin approaches the subject of the general welfare is more important than any other topic that will be covered. Sadly, promoting the general wefare was a phrase used several centuries ago...and nowadays will be twisted by the Republicans (again) into a clarion alarm for getting deadbeats off the government teat.

Unless you're on acid and working at The Weekly Standard, you might figure out that the general welfare of the republic invovles everyone, not the top 20%.

There has not been enough sunshine in America for years. This election is either going to open the door to a new sunrise, or lead us into the shadows of twilight. Again.

Onto the stage of Karl Rove's Thousand Year Reich comes Sarah Palin. While charming, she does not appear to be deflected from the same banana republic agenda of the status quo. And if we should (God forbid) enter that economic darkness; should a President Palin ever be told that Americans don't have any bread, expect the predictable:

"Let them eat moose."