TGIF is no longer just the happy hour marking the end of "Casual Friday" and is becoming less festive as "Casual Friday" has evolved into "Casual Everyday" with so many people having been laid off, but late Friday remains popular as the preferred time for politicians to release information they hope will go unnoticed.
This past Friday's late-in-the-day disclosure was Sarah Palin being found guilty of abuse of power and of violating Alaska's ethics law. When questioned about it, Palin maintained that she was cleared, beaming while claiming to be pleased that she'd been cleared of any ethical misconduct, which was not the case. Asked if she felt she'd done anything wrong, her answer was Bush-like, a resolute, "No."
Should we assume she believes what she's saying? Or does she think it's her prerogative to say, "Thanks, but no thanks" to the investigating team's conclusion?
In another disturbing incident, Palin, at a rally on Monday, took some fans to be hecklers and reprimanded those far from the stage signaling they couldn't hear by interrupting her remarks and saying, "I hope those protesters have the courage and honor to give veterans thanks for their right to protest." Again, she either jumped to an incorrect conclusion or was choosing to define the actions so as to support her own agenda.
There's a serious disconnect between these realities and the Alaskan governor's responses. Flagrant denial is recognized as a symptom of paranoia. Another is delusions of grandeur, the only way to account for Palin's unflailing confidence that she's equipped to be second in command of our country.
Is the candidate paranoid? Are there therapists out there prepared to address this question? And what does McCain's choice of running mate suggest about his emotional competence?
3 comments:
How can someone be paranoid if everyone loves her? And if the people who ask her "tough" questions are annoying, then I guess it would mean that she is just insightful.
Oy. The Palin wig. The Palin glasses. The Palin attitude. Enough duplication. How about some open minds.
"Everyone loves her?!!" Have you noticed what's happened to McCain's ratings with the addition of this running mate?
Aren't you frightened by the prospect of her in charge of the country? Do you really trust that she's thoughtful enough and informed enough?
Tough questions? Like asking what she's read? Or asking which Supreme Court decisions she disagreed with? They're tough only because she was unable to answer.
Never mind an open mind. How about he should have picked a candidate with a mind? McCain might have had a chance if he'd selected Romney.
Is it a tough question to ask a governor which Supreme Court decisions she'd disagreed with?
Palin's future, according to Garrison Keillor
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We are a stalwart and stouthearted people, and never more so than in hard times. People weep in the dark and arise in the morning and go to work. The waves crash on your nest egg and a chunk is swept away and you put your salami sandwich in the brown bag and get on the bus. In Philly, a woman earns $10.30/hour to care for a man brought down by cystic fibrosis. She bathes and dresses him in the morning, brings him meals, puts him to bed at night. It's hard work lifting him and she has suffered a painful hernia that, because she can't afford health insurance, she can't get fixed, but she still goes to work because he'd be helpless without her. There are a lot of people like her. I know because I'm related to some of them.
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Low dishonesty and craven cynicism sometimes win the day but not inevitably. The attempt to link Barack Obama to an old radical in his neighborhood has desperation and deceit written all over it. Meanwhile, stunning acts of heroism stand out, such as the fidelity of military lawyers assigned to defend detainees at Guantanamo Bay -- uniformed officers faithful to their lawyerly duty to offer a vigorous defense even though it means exposing the injustice of military justice that is rigged for conviction and the mendacity of a commander in chief who commits war crimes.
If your law school is looking for a name for its new library, instead of selling the honor to a fat cat alumnus, you should consider the names of Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift, Lt. Col. Mark Bridges, Col. Steven David, Lt. Col. Sharon Shaffer, Lt. Cmdr. Philip Sundel and Maj. Michael Mori.
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It was dishonest, cynical men who put forward a clueless young woman for national office, hoping to juice up the ticket, hoping she could skate through two months of chaperoned campaigning, but the truth emerges: The lady is talking freely about matters she has never thought about. The American people have an ear for B.S. They can tell when someone's mouth is moving and the clutch is not engaged.
When she said, "One thing that Americans do at this time, also, though, is let's commit ourselves just every day, American people, Joe Six-Pack, hockey moms across the nation, I think we need to band together and say never again. Never will we be exploited and taken advantage of again by those who are managing our money and loaning us these dollars," people smelled gas.
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Some Republicans adore her because they are pranksters at heart and love the consternation of grown-ups. The ne'er-do-well son of the old Republican family as president, the idea that you increase government revenue by cutting taxes, the idea that you cut social services and thereby drive the needy into the middle class, the idea that you overthrow a dictator with a show of force and achieve democracy at no cost to yourself -- one stink bomb after another, and now Governor Palin.
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She is a chatty sportscaster who lacks the guile to conceal her vacuity, and she was Mr. McCain's first major decision as nominee. This troubles
independent voters, and now she is a major drag on his candidacy. She will get a nice book deal from Regnery and a new career making personal appearances for forty grand a pop, and she'll become a trivia question, "What politician claimed foreign-policy expertise based on being able to see Russia from her house?" And the rest of us will have to pull ourselves out of the swamp of Republican economics.
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Your broker kept saying, "Stay with the portfolio, don't jump ship," and you felt a strong urge to dump the stocks and get into the money market where at least you're not going to lose your shirt, but you didn't do it and didn't do it, and now you're holding a big bag of brown bananas. Me, too. But at least I know enough not to believe desperate people who are talking trash.
Anybody who got whacked last week and still thinks McCain-Palin is going to lead us out of the swamp and not into a war with Iran is beyond persuasion in the English language. They'll need to lose their homes and be out on the street in a cold hard rain before they connect the dots.
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